32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 32-36 research article investigating the inhibitory effect of silver nanoparticles against some species of candida and pathogenic bacteria alaa m. hasan, sura m. abdul majeed, rusol m. al-bahrani department of biology, college of science, university of baghdad, baghdad, iraq abstract silver nanoparticles synthesized from aqueous extract of mushroom pleurotus ostreatus exhibited inhibitory effect at the concentration of 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 mg/ml against some pathogenic bacteria and fungi such as candida albicans, candida guilliermondii, candida krusei, candida zeylanoides, geotrichum klebahnii, staphylococcus aureus, pseudomonas aeruginosa, and escherichia coli. the maximum inhibition zone was observed against c. zeylanoides at the concentration of 100 mg/ml was 24.5 mm, while the minimum inhibition zone was observed against geotrichum at the concentration of 25 mg/ml was 8 mm and the concentration of 12.5 mg/ml was not effective against some species. keywords: pathogenic candida, pleurotus ostreatus, silver nanoparticles introduction a new dimension of the metal microbial interaction has been explored for the synthesis of metal nanoparticles such as gold, silver, cadmium, zirconia, and silica titanium.[1] silver compounds have been used to treat burns, wounds, and infections as well as in preventing bacterial colonization of prostheses and catheters.[2] various salts of silver and their derivatives are used as antimicrobial agents. nanosized silver particles exhibit antimicrobial properties. nanoparticles of silver have been studied as a medium for antibiotic delivery, and to synthesize composites for use as disinfecting filters and coating materials.[3] the nanoparticles were important due to their emission properties. these nanoparticles are used for wide range of application.[4,5] antibacterial activity is related to compounds that locally kill bacteria or slow down their growth, without being in general toxic to surrounding tissue.[6] the high bactericidal activity is certainly due to the silver cations released from ag nanoparticles (agnps) that act as reservoirs for the ag+ bactericidal agent.[7] severe fungal infections have significantly contributed to the increasing morbidity and mortality,[8] immunocompromised patients who need intensive treatment including broad-spectrum antibiotic therapy,[9,10] and candida spp. represent one of the most common pathogens which are responsible for fungal infections often causing hospital-acquired sepsis with an associated mortality rate of up to 40%.[11] currently, the majority of yeast species are resistant the available antifungal therapy[12,13] such as on polyenes (amphotericin b), triazoles (fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, and posaconazole) or echinocandins (caspofungin, micafungin, and anidulafungin) which exhibit their toxicity, adverse effects, and drug interaction.[14,15] the objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of a biosynthesized agnps product against some candida spp. and bacteria species to determine how agnps interact with the growth of microbial cells. materials and methods the mushroom pleurotus ostreatus was obtained from fruit body grown on peach tree in salah-alddin province. preparation of hot aqueous extracts of mushroom the oven dried mushroom was blended; the obtained powder was soaked in distilled water at a ratio of 1:10 (w/v) and boiled with agitation at 60 ± 2°c for 30 min. the boiled mushroom powder was then left covered for 30 min. residues were then removed by filtration through gauze and further centrifugation (10,000 rpm, 30 min, and corresponding author: sura m. abdul majeed, department of biology, college of science, university of baghdad, baghdad, iraq. e-mail: suraalsadik80@gmail.com received: apr 04, 2019 accepted: apr 24, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp32-36 copyright © 2020 alaa m. hasan, sura m. abdul majeed, rusol m. al-bahrani. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ hasan, et al.: inhibitory effect of agnps against candida spp. and bacteria 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 32-36 4°c). supernatants were then collected and filtered through whatman no. 1 filter paper. after that, freeze dried extract powders were obtained using freeze dryer and stored at 4 ± 2°c.[16] biosynthesized agnps from p. ostreatus silver nitrate (1 × 10−3) agno3 stock solution was prepared in sterile deionised triple distilled water and the subsequent dilutions were made from this stock solution. the bulk amount of (10) mg/ml of aqueous extract solution of is prepared with sterile distilled water and filtered through syringe filter (0.2) µm. based on the result of a preliminary trial, 2–7 ml of 10 mg/ml of an aqueous extract of p. ostreatus (p2) were filled with sterile distilled water to a total of 10 ml. after that, the solution is added to 5 ml of (1 × 10−3) m aqueous agno3 solution and kept at room temperature and exposed under ultraviolet (uv) (365) nm (long uv). after 24 h incubation, the light yellow color of the mixture solution turned to dark yellow indicating the formation of agnps.[17] candida isolates all candida isolates candida albicans, candida guilliermondii, candida krusei, candida zeylanoides, and geotrichum klebahnii were procured from al-yarmouk teaching hospital. mycological identification was carried out for all samples by commercial carbohydrate assimilation systems such as the api 20 c test kit.[18] all yeast isolates were inoculated in a primary isolation medium such as sabouraud dextrose agar (sda) medium for 2–3 days at 37°c. antimicrobial activity of agnps (well diffusion method) the synthesized agnp was tested for antimicrobial activity by agar well diffusion method against pathogenic microbes for all the previously mentioned bacteria and yeast species. the pure cultures of bacteria and yeast were subcultured on nutrient and sda subsequently. each strain was swapped homogeneously onto the individual plates using sterile cotton swabs. wells of 10 mm diameter were done. the concentration of agnps was poured on each well. after 24 h of incubation the diameter of inhibition zone was measured. three replicates of experiments were carried out.[19] results the formation of agnps was confirmed by the uv-visible spectrophotometry, which showed a strong peak within the range of 200–500 nm, “figure 1.” intensity of particle size distribution analysis to know the size of synthesized agnps, size distribution analysis was performed using light scattering in aqueous solution. the results showed that the size of the particles ranged from 16 to 104 nm. the average size of agnps was determined to be 49 ± 16 nm as in “figures 2 and 3.” discussion antimicrobial mechanisms of nanomaterials are not fully understood, but it is proposed that when they come into contact with cells, they provoke the production of reactive oxygen specie, cell membrane disruption, mitochondrial damage, and dna damage.[20] antifungal activity by agnps has been proved against different candida species, including c. albicans, since microbial cells were inhibited using agnps.[21] furthermore, it was reported that agnps damage the structure of the cell membrane in c. albicans producing “holes” on the surface of the cells and thus inhibiting the budding process.[22] figure 1: ultraviolet-visible absorption spectra of silver nanoparticles after bioreduction by pleurotus ostreatus mushroom aqueous extract figure 2: size of silver nanoparticles figure 3: intensity of particle size distribution of pleurotus ostreatus dried mushroom aqueous extract hasan, et al.: inhibitory effect of agnps against candida spp. and bacteria 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 32-36 the antifungal properties of agnps against c. albicans have been demonstrated in some other studies, although reported minimum inhibitory concentration values are different from the ones we found in this work.[21-24] such differences could be due to the nature of the particles used, the difference in size being particularly important. it is known that size and shape of metallic nanoparticles influence their chemical, optical, and thermal properties.[25] the effectiveness of agnps against bacteria is clearly demonstrated, and in fact, agnps were shown to be effective against e. coli, with cells showing formation of “pits” in the cell wall. the agnps were found to accumulate in the bacterial membrane and some of them were reported to successfully penetrate into the cells.[26] similar results were found in e. coli and vibrio cholera; it was established that agnps provoked changes mainly in the cell membrane morphology, producing a significant increase in their permeability, thus affecting the proper transport through the plasma membrane, and resulting eventually in cell death. they also reported that silver nps with small diameters penetrated into the cells.[27] in our study, ag nps were found surrounding c. albicans cells, similar to the results found in bacteria.[27-29] in this study, the aqueous extracts of mushroom (p. ostreatus) gave showed (ve−) results against all microbial species when used as a control [figures 4 and 5], while the biosynthesized agnps gave showed (ve+) result as an inhibition zones for different microbial species [figures 4 and 5, tables 1,2]. table 1: the inhibitory effect of agnps (mm) against candida and bacterial species candida spp. inhibition zone (mm) 12.5 mg/ml 25 mg/ml 50 mg/ml 100 mg/ml candida albicans --10 12 16 candida guillermondii --10 15.5 20 candida krusie --14.5 15.5 19 geotrichum ktebahnii --8 14 20 candida zeylanoides 15 18.5 21 24.5 staphylococcus aureus 10 11 12 16 pseudomonas aeroginosa --12 13 14 escherichia coli 10 12 13 15 agnps: silver nanoparticles table 2: statistical analysis of the inhibitory effect of agnps (mm) on candida and bacterial isolates microbial species control agnps (mg/ml) s 12.5 25 50 100 candida albicans <0.001d 0±0.0d 10±0.57c 12±0.58b 16±0.58a candida guillermondii <0.001d 0±0.0d 15±0.58c 15.6±0.33b 20±0.57a candida krusie <0.001d 0±0.0d 14.5±0.28c 15.6±0.16b 19±0.57a geotrichumktebahnii <0.001d 0±0.0d 8±0.57c 14±0.58b 20±0.58a candida zeylanoides <0.001e 15±0.57d 18.5±0.28c 21±0.57b 24.5±0.28a staphylococcus aureus <0.001d 10±0.58c 11±0.57bc 12±0.57b 16±0.58a pseudomonas aeroginosa <0.001c 0±0.0c 12±0.58b 13±0.58ba 14±0.57a escherichia coli <0.001d 10±0.57c 12±0.58b 13±0.57b 15±0.58a the findings were described in the table represent the average of three replicates±standard error. small letters (a, b, c, d, e, ba, and ac) indicate to comparison between means in column, similar letters are non-significantly differences between means at (p≤0.05), using (lsd test). agnps: silver nanoparticles figure 4: inhibition zone of silver nanoparticles against several isolates of bacteria; (a) staphylococcus aureus, (b) pseudomonas aeroginosa (c), escherichia coli cba hasan, et al.: inhibitory effect of agnps against candida spp. and bacteria 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 32-36 however, despite the clear antimicrobial properties of agnps, their potential use in the clinic should be carefully evaluated since there is a lack of basic knowledge on the potentially different antimicrobial properties of agnps which may vary depending on many factors, including the method of synthesis, size, shape, functionalizing agent, and application method and also their interaction in more complex systems such as plants, animals, and humans. references 1. a. mohammed, m. girilal, s. a. mahdy, s. s. somsundar, r. venkatesan and p. t. kalaichelvan. “vancomycin bound iogenic gold nanoparticles: a different perspective for development of anti rsa agents”. process biochemistry, vol. 46, pp. 636-641, 2011. 2. j. hardes, h. ahrens, c. gebert, a. streitbuerger, h. buerger and m erren. “lack of toxicological side-effects in silver-coated megaprostheses in humans”. biomaterials, vol. 28, pp. 2869-2875, 2007. 3. j. r. morones, j. l. elechiguerra, a. camacho, k. holt, j. b. kouri and m. j. yacaman. “the bactericidal effect of silver nanoparticles”. nanotechnology, vol. 16, pp. 2346-2353, 2005. 4. b. y. geng, l. d. zhang, g. z. wang, t. y. xie and g. w. zhang. “synthesis and photoluminescence properties of znmns nanobelts”. applied physics letters, vol. 84, pp. 2157-2159, 2004. 5. k. dunn and v. edwards-jones. “the role of acticoat with nanocrystalline silver in the management of burns”. burns, vol. 30, pp. 1-9, 2004. 6. f. von nussbaum “antibacterial natural products in medicinal chemistry exodus or revival”. angewandte chemie 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applied clinical education, pp. 7-8, 2007. 12. t. c. white, s. holleman, f. dy, l. f. mirels and d. a. stevens. “resistance mechanisms inclinical isolates of candida albicans”. antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, vol. 46, pp. 1704-1713, 2002. 13. s. perea, j. l. lopez-ribot, w. r. kirkpatrick, r. k. mcatee, r. a. santillan, m. martinez. “prevalence of molecular mechanisms of resistance to azole antifungalagents in candida albicans strains displaying high-level fluconazole resistance isolated from human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients’’. antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, vol. 45, pp. 2676-2684, 2001. 14. m. d. levin, j. g. den hollander, b. van der holt, b. j. rijnders, m. van vliet, p. sonneveld and r. h. n. van schaik. “hepatotoxicity of oral and intravenous voriconazole inrelation to cytochrome p450 polymorphisms”. journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, vol. 60, pp. 1104-1107, 2007. 15. l. j. worth, c. c. blyth, d. l. booth, d. c. m. kong, d. marriott, m cassumbhoy, 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biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles using mushroom and its antibacterial activities,” international journal of current microbiology and applied sciences, vol. 2, no. 12, pp. 605-614, 2013. 20. a. j. huh and y. j. kwon. “nanoantibiotics: a new paradigm for treating infectious diseases using nanomaterials in the antibiotics resistant era”. journal of controlled release, vol. 156, pp. 128-145, 2011. 21. a. panáček, m. kolář, r. večeřová, r. prucek, j. soukupová, v. krystof, p. hamal, r. zboril and l. kvítek. “antifungal activity of silver nanoparticles against candida spp”. biomaterials, vol. 30, pp. 6333-6340, 2010. 22. k. j. kim, w. s. sung, b. k. suh, s. k. moon and j. s. choi. “antifungal activity and mode of action of silver nano-particles on candida albicans”. biometals, vol. 22, pp. 235-242, 2009. 23. k. j. kim, w. s. sung, s. k. moon, j. s. choi, j. g. kim and d. g. lee. “antifungal effect of silver nanoparticles on dermatophytes”. journal of microbiology and biotechnology, vol. 18, pp. 1482-1484, 2008. 24. m. stevanović, s. škapin, i. braćko, m. milenković, j. petković, m. filipičd and d. p. uskokovića. “poly (lactide-co-glycolide)/silver figure 5: inhibition zone of silver nanoparticles (agnps) (n) against several isolates of candida; (a) candida guillermondii; (b), candida albicans; (c), candida zeylanoides; (d), candida spp. in concentration of 100 mg/ml of ag nps the way of measuring of diameter of inhibition zone. the aqueous solution of pleurotu sostreatus (c) dc ba hasan, et al.: inhibitory effect of agnps against candida spp. and bacteria 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 32-36 nanoparticles: synthesis, characterization, antimicrobial activity, cytotoxicity assessment and ros-inducing potential”. polymer, vol. 53, pp. 2818-2828, 2012. 25. m. a. el-sayed. “some interesting properties of metals confined in time and nanometer space of different shapes”. accounts of chemical research, vol. 34, pp. 257-264, 2001. 26. i. sondi and b. salopek-sondi. “silver nanoparticles as antimicrobial agent: a case study on e. coli as a model for gram-negative bacteria”. journal of colloid and interface science, vol. 275, pp. 177-182, 2004. 27. a. t. le, t. t. le, h. h. tran, d. a. dang, q. h. tran and d. m. vu. “powerful colloidal silver nanoparticles for the prevention of gastrointestinal bacterial infections”. advances in natural sciences: nanoscience and nanotechnology, vol. 3, p. 045007, 2012. 28. a. de. sousa, d. mehta and r. w. leavitt. “bactericidal activity of combinations of silver-water dispersion™ with 19 antibiotics against seven microbial strains”. current science, vol. 91, pp. 926-929, 2006. 29. r. vazquez-muñoz, m. avalos-borja and e. castro-longoria. “ultrastructural analysis of candida albicans when exposed to silver nanoparticles”. plos one, vol. 9, no. 10, p. e108876, 2014. . 75 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 75-79 research article exploration of amylases producing competency of helicoverpa armigera gut bacterial strain, bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00 ashok a. shinde1*, faiyaz k. shaikh1,2, sarwan w. bradosty3, manvendra s. kachole1 1department of biotechnology, mgm’s institute of biosciences and technology, aurangabad, maharashtra, india, 2department of biochemistry, dr. babasaheb ambedkar marathwada university, aurangabad, maharashtra, india, 3department of biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the helicoverpa armigera (hubner) (lepidoptera: noctuidae) is a polyphagous insect pest of agriculturally important crops. the alkaline gut of this insect pest possesses diverse bacterial communities which may assist in digestive physiology. as part our investigations of understanding the role of gut bacterial communities in insect gut, here amylase producing competency of earlier identified h. armigera gut bacterial strain, i.e., bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00 is reported. initial screening for amylase activity was assessed by starch agar plate. upon 7% sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis amylase zymography, bacterial culture supernatant produced seven amylase bands on the gel. the observed molecular weights of amylases were 191.2 kda, 158.0 kda, 131.7 kda, 54.0 kda, 31.3 kda, 67.2 kda, and 44.6 kda, respectively. considerable amylase activity was observed in neutral to alkaline ph with optimum at ph 6.8. the optimal activity temperature of amylases was found to be 50°c, and the activity decreased dramatically at temperatures above 75°c. keywords: amylase, bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00, helicoverpa armigera, zymography introduction the symbiotic associations of gut bacterial communities with the host insects are imperative for the host fitness leading to nutrition, development, resistance to pathogens, and reproduction.[1,2] this class of microorganisms is not only contributing in metabolic activities but also behavior of insect hosts.[3,4] improved digestion efficiency of host insects is attributed to digestive enzymes expressed by gut bacterial communities.[3] the secretion of cellulases and lignases enzymes by gut bacterial communities provides glucose and fatty acid to host insect.[5] the bacterial communities associated with lepidopteran insects recently gained attention from scientific community. some of these insects are considered the most damaging agricultural and forest pests worldwide. helicoverpa armigera is a devastating insect pest of agricultural crops such as cotton, chickpea, pigeon pea, tomato, sunflower, okra, and corn.[6] the use of modern chemical and biological insecticides has limited success in management due to adaptation acquired by this insect pest.[7,8] the detailed exploration of gut bacterial community and their contribution in host digestive physiology and adaptation to insecticides is necessary to cope of these insect pests. the multitrophic association of gut bacterial communities with h. armigera explored.[9-11] the bacterial strain bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00 isolated from gut of h. armigera is reported to secrete proteases enzymes.[10] this proteolytic arsenal may help h. armigera to contribute in digestion and adaptation. earlier, gut bacterial strain with serine protease activity from velvetbean caterpillars was reported.[12] in present communication, the h. armigera gut isolated bacterial strain b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 explored further for its ability to produce amylase enzymes. amylases are digestive enzymes that act in the first step of maltopolysaccharide digestion. they cleave α 1–4 glycosidic linkage exists in starch. insects feed on plants for carbohydrates (starch and cellulose) during different stages of their lives and dependent on starch hydrolyzing enzymes for its survival. the amylase action is necessary to improve digestive performance of insects leading to survival within different living conditions and increase their biological fitness.[13] furthermore, the bacterial communities expressing amylases is receiving more significance due to their potential role in food, pharmaceutical, and fine chemical cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: ashok a. shinde, department of biotechnology, mgm’s institute of biosciences and technology, aurangabad, maharashtra, india. e-mail: ashokshinde05@gmail.com received: apr 13, 2019 accepted: apr 23, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp75-79 copyright © 2019 ashok a. shinde, faiyaz k. shaikh, sarwan w. bradosty, manvendra s. kachole. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ shinde, et al.: amylase producing bacteria from h. armigera 76 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 75-79 industries. we identified and characterized several isoform of amylases produced by b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00. initial detection of amylase activity was carried on starch agar plate. the optimum temperature and ph were estimated by solution assays. amylase isoforms analysis was done by zymography technique. materials and methods isolation, cultivation, and identification of bacteria earlier isolated h. armigera gut bacterial strain, identified, and characterized by fatty acid methyl ester-based analysis[10,14] were used in the present investigation. detection of amylase by agar-plate method primary screening of bacterial strain b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 for amylase activity was done by starch hydrolysis on the solid media containing 1% starch, 0.3% beef extract, and 1.2% agar. strain was inoculated on the media plate and incubated for 24 h at 37°c.[15] plate was stained with starch specific lugol’s solution (0.1% iodine and 1% ki), and zone of clearance (α-amylase activity) was observed visually. amylase production the strain of b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 was cultured in starch broth. the starch broth was prepared by mixing all ingredients except starch together in milli-q water. the ph of broth was adjusted to alkaline condition before sterilization at 121°c for 15 min. starch solution was separately sterilized at 121°c for 15 min. these solutions were mixed aseptically before use. the culture was incubated at room temperature on shaker for 48 h. the cells were harvested by centrifugation at 6000 rpm, 4°c for 20 min. the supernatant was used as crude enzyme source for further studies. the protein concentration was estimated by folin–phenol reagent[16] using bovine serum albumin as standard. starch zymography for starch zymography, 7% sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (sds-page) was carried out according to the method of laemmli.[17] 0.1% soluble starch was incorporated in the gel. about 100 µg of crude protein was loaded on gel with standard molecular weight markers (genei). after electrophoresis, gel was washed twice at room temperature in a solution of 2.5% triton-x 100 for 30 min. after gentle washing with milli-q water, the gel was incubated in 0.1 m tris–hcl (ph 8) at 37°c for overnight. the gel was stained with lugol’s solution, and the zones of starch clearance were detected. molecular weight determination the molecular weight of α-amylase isoforms was determined by comparing its electrophoretic mobility with that of standard proteins having known molecular weights. sds-page was carried out using 7% resolving gel.[17] enzyme activity assay amylase activity was determined by spectrophotometric method as described by fisher and stein.[18] according to the procedure, 1.0 ml of crude enzyme into a test tube and 1 ml of 1% soluble starch in 0.1 m tris–hcl (ph 8) were added in test tube. the test tubes were covered and incubate at 35°c for 15 min in water bath. then, 2.0 ml dnsa (1% 3, 5-dinitrosalicylic acid, 30% sodium potassium tartrate, and 0.2 m naoh) reagent was added in each tube to stop the reaction and kept in boiling water bath for 5 min. after cooling at room temperature, the absorbance was read at 540 nm by spectrophotometer. effect of ph on amylase activity the effect of different ph on the activity of amylase was examined using standard dnsa assay as described previously. amylolytic pattern of amylase at different ph was observed on 7% starch zymography. after electrophoresis, the gel was cut and the stripes of gel were washed twice at room temperature in a solution of 2.5% triton-x 100 for 30 min. each strip of gel was incubated in 0.1 m acetate buffer for ph 2.8, 3.8; 0.1 m phosphate buffer for ph 5.8 and 6.8;0.1 m tris–hcl ph 7.8, 8.8 and 9.8. 0.1 m tris–naoh for ph 11.8, respectively at 37°c for overnight and the gel was stained with lugol’s solution and the zones of starch clearance were detected. effect of temperature on enzyme activity the influence of heating on the catalytic activity of amylases was determined by pre-incubation for 10 min at different temperatures ranging from 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, and 65°c, followed by cooling and measuring the remaining activity. the stability of amylase at different temperature was observed by loading pre-incubated sample on 10% starch zymography as described previously. results and discussion this study deals with deciphering amylase producing competency of bacterial strain which was isolated and identified as b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 from gut of fourth instar larvae of h. armigera.[10] the strain was gram-positive spore forming. this strain was screened for amylase activity using starch agar plate method. the starch agar is a differential medium that assesses the ability of an organism to produce starch hydrolyzing enzymes, namely amylase. in principle, the inoculated microorganisms hydrolyze starch present in medium upon incubation at an appropriate temperature. starch can be stained with lugol’s solution which turns blue-black. absence of the blue-black color indicates starch hydrolysis. here upon initial detection, the presence of clear zone of starch hydrolysis was observed around the growth of b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 on the plate [figure 1]. amylase cleaves the starch into diand oligosaccharides which are transported into the cell to be catabolized. in general, all bacillus species have potential to produce the amylase.[19] the pure culture of b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 was cultured in starch broth for amylase production with optimum parameters. the supernatant recovered after centrifugation was used for further characterizations. the amylase in shinde, et al.: amylase producing bacteria from h. armigera 77 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 75-79 the supernatant was separated into seven bands on the non-reducing 7% sds-page amylase zymography [figure 2]. this is an electrophoretic technique used to study amylase by means of thin gels containing copolymerized starch, under non-reducing conditions. the formation of clear zones against a dark background in the gel stained with lugol’s solution indicated the presence of amylolytic activity.[20] the zone of starch clearing corresponded to a migration distance of amylase by comparison to the molecular weight standards used in the study. these amylases showed differential mobility on the gel resulting different molecular masses. the major amylase bands were observed with molecular weights 191.2 kda, 158.0 kda, 131.7 kda, 54.0 kda, and 31.3 kda, respectively. two moderate intensity bands were also observed with molecular weights 67.2 kda and 44.6 kda. in our study, we found that, amylase isolated from b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 showed optimum activity in slightly neutral ph (6.8) as shown in figures 3 and 4. this parameter assessed under standard assay conditions and zymographically. these amylases had a relatively low activity in acidic ph range, i.e., ph 2.8. the amylases were found to be most active at the neutral to alkaline ph range. the optimal ph for amylases of most of the insect species was found to be neutral to alkaline ph range, which is near to our finding for b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 isolated from gut of h. armigera.[21] the stability of these amylases in the alkaline region indicates that they may be potentially used in digestive physiology of insect. beside ph, temperature is crucial factors that affect enzymatic activity. bacterial amylases were optimally active at temperatures ranging from 35 to 55°c, with a decline in activity above 75°c [figures 5 and 6]. the optimum temperature was found to be 50°c. beyond temperature 75°c decline in activity might be attributed to denaturation of amylases. earlier amylase with optimum activity in slightly higher temperature figure 1: screening of bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00 for amylase activity. strain was streaked on agar plate containing 1% starch, incubated for 24 h at 37°c. the clear zone indicated the hydrolysis of starch figure 2: non-reducing 7% sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis amylase zymography of proteases produced by bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00 figure 3: non-denaturing 7% sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis zymography showing the influence of ph on the amylase activity of bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00 figure 4: effect of different ph values on amylolytic activity of bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00. samples were assayed by standard procedure using starch as substrate shinde, et al.: amylase producing bacteria from h. armigera 78 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 75-79 range than the physiological temperature was reported form bacillus species.[22] the gut of h. armigera has an alkaline ph, and b. subtilis rtsba6 6.00 was found to grow and degrade starch at neutral to alkaline ph. the presence of bacteria producing several amylases with optimal activity in alkaline region could be advantageous to h. armigera. here, it might be possible that these bacterial amylases contribute to amylolytic arsenal of h. armigera, which feeds on carbohydrate rich part of plants. optimal activity at near alkaline ph in lepidopterans may be an adaptive response for the digestion of their diets.[23] the characterization of microbial amylase with thermo stability and activity in wide ph range may also found industrial applications, and hence, our future investigation will focus on the detailed investigations of these microbial amylases. references 1. n. a. moran, p. h. degnan, s. r. santos, h. e. dunbar and h. ochman. “the players in a mutualistic symbiosis: insects, bacteria, viruses, and virulence genes.” proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america, vol. 102, pp. 16919-16926, 2005. 2. j. c. clemente, l. k. ursell, l. w. parfrey and r. knight. “the impact of the gut microbiota on human health: an integrative view”. cell, vol. 148, pp. 1258-1270, 2012. 3. r. dillon and v. dillon. “the gut bacteria of insects: nonpathogenic interactions”. annual review of entomology, vol. 49, pp. 71-92, 2004. 4. f. m. pilon, l. e. visotto, r.n.c. guedes and m. g. a. oliveira. “proteolytic activity of gut bacteria isolated from the velvet bean caterpillar anticarsia gemmatalis”. journal of comparative physiology b: biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology, vol. 183, pp. 735-747, 2013. 5. j. a. breznak and a. brune. “role of microorganisms in the digestion of lignocellulose by termites”. annual review of entomology, vol. 39, pp. 453-487, 1994. 6. v. d. parde, h. c. sharma and m. s. kachole. “in vivo inhibitions of helicoverpa armigera gut pro-proteinase activation by nonhost plant protease inhibitors”. journal of insect physiology, vol. 56, no 9, pp. 1315-1324, 2010. 7. a. a. shinde, f. k. shaikh, p. p. gadge, m. v. padul, s. p. govindwar and m. s. kachole. “conserved nature of helicoverpa armigera gut bacterial flora on different host plants and in vitro interactions with pi proteins advocates role in host digestive physiology”. journal of the saudi society of agricultural sciences, vol. 18, pp. 141-149, 2017. 8. h. sharma, m. dhillon and r. arora. “effects of bacillus thuringiensis dendotoxin-fed helicoverpa armigera on the survival and development of the parasitoid campoletis chlorideae”. entomologia experimentalis et applicata, vol. 126, pp. 1-8, 2008. 9. p. k. mishra and s. m. tandon. “gut bacterial flora of helicoverpa armigera (lepidoptera, noctuidae)”. indian journal of microbiology, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 55-56, 2003. 10. a. a. shinde, f. k. shaikh, m. v. padul and m. s. kachole. “bacillus subtillis rtsba6 6.00, a new strain isolated from gut of helicoverpa armigera (lepidoptera: noctuidae) produces chymotrypsin-like proteases”. saudi journal of biological sciences, vol. 19, pp. 317-323, 2012. 11. p. n. gayatri, a. ojha, m. k. kajla, a. raj and r. rajagopal. “host plant induced variation in gut bacteria of helicoverpa armigera”. plos one, vol. 7, pp. e30768, 2012. 12. l. e. visoˆtto, m. g. a. oliveira, a. o. b. ribon, t. r. maresguia and r. n. c. guedes. “characterization and identification of proteolytic bacteria from the gut of the velvetbean caterpillar (lepidoptera: noctuidae)”. environmental entomology, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 1078-1085, 2009. 13. r. kaur, n. kaur and a. k. gupta. “structural features, substrate specificity, kinetic properties of insect α-amylase and specificity of plant α-amylase inhibitors”. pesticide biochemistry and physiology, vol. 116, pp. 83-93, 2014. 14. j. s. buyer. “improved fast gas chromatography for fame analysis of bacteria”. journal of microbiological methods, vol. 54, pp. 117120, 2003. 15. s. sharmin, m. d. towhid and m. n. anwar. “isolation and characterization of a protease producing bacteria bacillus amoviv-orus and optimization of some factors of culture conditions for protease production”. journal of biological sciences, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 358-362, 2005. 16. o. h. lowry, n. j. rosebrough, a. l. farr and r. j. randall. “protein measurement with the folin phenol reagent”. journal of biological chemistry, vol. 193, pp. 265, 1951. 17. u. k. laemmli. “cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage t4”. nature, vol. 227, pp. 680-685, 1970. 18. e. h. fisher and e. a. stein. “alpha amylase from human saliva”. biochemical preparations, vol. 8, pp. 27-32, 1961. 19. g. g. priest. “extracellular enzyme synthesis in the genus bacillus”. figure 5: non-denaturing 7% starch sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showing the influence of temperature on the amylase activity of bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00 figure 6: effect of different temperatures on amylolytic activity of bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00. samples were assayed by standard procedure using starch as substrate mentioned in material and methods shinde, et al.: amylase producing bacteria from h. armigera 79 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 75-79 bacteriological reviews, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 711-753, 1977. 20. a. andrades and l. m. contreras. amylase zymography”. methods in molecular biology, vol. 1626, pp. 301-308, 2017. 21. f. zeng and a. c. cohen.“partial characterization of a-amylase in the salivary glands of lygus hesperus and lygus lineolaris”. comparative biochemistry and physiology part b, vol. 126, pp. 9-16, 2000. 22. p. c. aryati, a. pangastuti and s. l. a. sari. “amylase production potentials of bacterial isolates obtained from the gut of oryctes rhinoceros larvae”. iop conference series: materials science and engineering, 2017. 23. t. m. clark. “evolution and adaptive significance of larval midgut alkalinization in the insect superorder mecopterida”. journal of chemical ecology, vol 25, pp. 1945-1960, 1999. . 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 58-63 research article performance evaluation and simulation of m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation schemes with vissim/comm software husham jawad ahmad* department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract m-ary modulation schemes are considered one of widely used digital modulation in practice because of its high efficiency in power and bandwidth. therefore, this necessity the need to study and evaluate the performance of m-ary schemes using simulation techniques. in this paper, the performance of m-ary modulations schemes m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (qam) is considered. because of its efficiency in power and bandwidth, m-ary qam (m-qam) is one of the widely used modulation techniques in practice. therefore, a need for studying and evaluating the performance of qam modulation schemes is an important task for designers. in this paper, m-qam modulation schemes for even number of bits per symbol (16, 62, and 256-qam) and an odd number of bits per symbol (32- and 128-qam), over additive white gaussian noise channel, are studied. a vissim/comm simulation[1] model for m-qam is designed. theoretical and simulation results for bit error ratio (ber) performance of qam modulation schemes are obtained using vissim/comm software. the results are evaluated and compared. keywords: bit error rate, communication system, digital modulation, error probability, m-ary introduction quadrature amplitude modulation (qam) is a type of modulation which is widely used for modulating data signals onto a carrier used for radio communications. the use of qam basically consists of the combination of two amplitude modulated signals into the same channel. qam doubles the amount of the bandwidth and hence making it more effective. this combination of analog and digital modulation is very often encountered in digital telecommunication systems.[2] qam is used in many radio communications and data delivery applications.[3,4] in applications of domestic broadcast, 64-qam and 256-qam are often encountered in digital cable television and cable modem.[5,6] 16-qam and 64-qam are currently used in the uk for digital terrestrial television using digital video broadcasting.[7,8] 64-qam and 256-qam are used in the us for digital cable as standardized by the society of cable telecommunications engineers (scte) in standard american national standards institute/scte 07 2000. moreover, various types of qam are also used in wireless and cellular technology application. most communications systems fall into one of three categories, namely, bandwidth efficient, power efficient, or cost efficient. bandwidth efficiency describes the ability of a modulation scheme to accommodate data within a limited bandwidth while power efficiency describes the ability of the system to reliably send information at the lowest practical power level. in most communication systems, there is a high priority on bandwidth efficiency. the parameter to be optimized depends on the demands of the particular system applications. the highest priority of designers of digital terrestrial microwave radios is good bandwidth efficiency with low bit error rate (ber) because they have plenty of power available and are not concerned with power efficiency. they are not especially concerned with receiver cost or complexity since they do not have to build large numbers of them. designers of hand-held cellular phones put a high priority on power efficiency because these phones need to run on a battery. cost is also a high priority because cellular phones must be low cost to encourage more users. accordingly, these systems sacrifice some bandwidth efficiency to get power and cost efficiency. it is noticed that every time one of these efficiency parameters (bandwidth, power or cost) is increased, another one corresponding author: husham jawad ahmad, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: husham.jawad@cihanuniversity.edu.iq.test-google-a.com received: mar 24, 2019 accepted: apr 19, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp58-63 copyright © 2019 husham jawad ahmad. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ahmad: simulation of m-ary qam modulation schemes with vissim/comm software 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 58-63 decreases, or becomes more complex or does not perform well in a poor environment. cost is a dominant system priority. lowcost radios will always be in demand. in the past, it was possible to make a radio low-cost by sacrificing power and bandwidth efficiency. this is no longer possible. the radio spectrum is very valuable and operators who do not use the spectrum efficiently could lose their existing licenses or lose out in the competition for new ones. these are the tradeoffs that must be considered in digital radio frequency communications design. much research has done on the comparison of qam with other modulation techniques. in most cases, the qam tends to have better performance overall. for instance, multiple papers show that qam has better noise resistance and is more adaptive for channel change, and more efficient in bandwidth utilization.[9] while phase-shift keying (psk) modulation schemes often demonstrate better ber performance than their qam counterparts, it may be possible to mitigate this issue with more complex hardware.[9] it is concluded that ber performance of quadrature psk (qpsk) is better than that of 16-qam at the expense of large spectral width. alternatively, 16-qam can carry more traffic than qpsk at the expense of higher ber.[9] basic digital modulations in a digital modulation scheme, the digital modulating signal (data bits) alters the amplitude, phase or frequency of a sinusoidal carrier. figure 1 illustrates these basic modulations in their binary versions. in the binary amplitude-shift keying modulation, the carrier amplitude is switched between two levels according to the modulating data bits. in the binary psk modulation, the carrier phase is switched between two values according to the data bits. in the binary frequency shift keying (fsk) modulation, the carrier frequency is switched between two values according to the modulating data bits. these modulations are the digital counterparts of the analog amplitude modulation, phase modulation, and frequency modulation, respectively. the most popular combined digital modulations is the amplitude-phase keying (apk), in which different symbols may be represented by a carrier signal with different amplitude levels and phases. one of the most important apk modulations is commonly referred to as qam. digital communication system model the system model and the notation that used to represent digital communications over an additive white gaussian noise (awgn) channel are illustrated in figure 2. the awgn channel adds the noise w(t) to the transmitted signal, forming the received signal x(t), which is then correlated with each base-function to form the observed figure 1: basic digital modulation schemes figure 2: system model for pass-band transmission ahmad: simulation of m-ary qam modulation schemes with vissim/comm software 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 58-63 vector x = [x1 x2 · · · xn] t. the transmitted symbol is then estimated based on the maximum likelihood criterion and, finally, the estimated symbol is mapped back into the k data bits it represent. spectral efficiency and power efficiency in digital modulations the spectral efficiency of digital modulation is the ratio between the transmitted bit rate rb and the occupied bandwidth b, that is,  = rb b bits hz, / sec/ (1) the result shown above, expressed in bits per second per hertz (bit/s/hz), is, in fact, a measure of the data packing capability of the modulation. power efficiency is a measure of the eb/no ratio needed for a specified symbol or bit error probability. for most of the systems, spectral efficiency and power efficiency are conflicting parameters, which means that increasing one will often cause a reduction in the other. mathematical model the qam is a type of apk modulation in which symbols are represented by different phases and amplitudes of a sinusoidal carrier. qam modulations are classified into two types, according to the geometric shape of their constellations. modulations with an even number of bits per symbol can have square constellations and are called square qam modulations and modulations with an odd number of bits per symbol cannot have square constellation shapes and are called nonsquare qam modulations. digitally modulated signals can be represented in a multitude of forms using a variety of techniques derived from the three basic forms of frequency, amplitude, and phase keying. in general, a modulated signal can be represented by: min min2 2 ( ) cos(2 ) sin(2 ) 0 ; 1,2... i i c i c s s e e s t a f t b f t t t t t i  = + ≤ ≤ = (2) where emin is the energy of the signal with the lowest amplitude, and ai and bi are a pair of independent integers chosen according to the location of the particular signal point. m-ary qam (m-qam) does not have constant energy per symbol, nor constant distance between possible symbol states, which is why some values of s(t) will be detected with higher probability than others. calculating the ber in this section, we discuss how to obtain the theoretical ber and symbol error rate (ser) for a given qam constellation table 1: m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation bandwidth efficiency m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation bits/symbol (k) (even and odd) bandwidth efficiency (mb/s) 16 4 80 32 5 100 64 6 120 128 7 140 256 8 160 figure 3: calculated of ber (from eqs. (3) to (4)) for different m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation figure 4: simulation model of m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation based on vissim/comm software ahmad: simulation of m-ary qam modulation schemes with vissim/comm software 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 58-63 using a general equation. the ber and ser are important factors in determining the usefulness of modulation schemes. here, we discuss how to obtain the theoretical ber for a given qam constellation using a general equation. the ber is important to factor in determining the usefulness of modulation schemes. the probability of bit error for m-qams is given mathematically in a different manner depending on whether the number of bits per symbol is even or odd. for square figure 5: constellation diagram with vissim/comm software (case 8 quadrature amplitude modulation, k = 4) figure 6: (a-d) constellation diagrams of different m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation using vissim/comm software dc ba m-qam, where k = log2 (m) is even, the pb can be described as follows:[10] m 2 b n=0 2 1 3log2(m) eb pev = 1erfc (2n+1) log2(m) 2(m -1) nom       ∑ (3) 2 b 1 3lo2(m)ebno pod = 1 12erfc log2(m) m -1                (4) ahmad: simulation of m-ary qam modulation schemes with vissim/comm software 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 58-63 bandwidth efficiency in communications, the simple expression m = 2 k is used to relate the symbols to bits. where m is the number of unique symbols and k is the number of bits transmitter per symbol. using shannon’s channel capacity formula, we can calculate the potential capacity of a system using each proposed density of qam. shannon’s formula is described as follows: c b p n b b s n = +     = +    log log [ ]2 0 21 1 bit/s (8) where c is the channel capacity (bits per seconds).[2,3] 20 mhz is a commonly allocated bandwidth for channels in 4g cellular communications systems such as long-term evolution-a and wimax. table 1 shows the increase in capacity with respect to each qam scheme. the shannon bound can be expressed as bandwidth efficiency, η = log2 (1 + s/n) [bit/s/hz] (9) the maximum achievable bandwidth efficiency is calculated using equation (9). the results are shown in table 1. m-qam simulation model to evaluate the ber performance of m-qam modulation, a baseband simulation model, using vissim/comm software is designed. the model is shown in figure 4. it allows implementing of comparative ber performance evaluation of m-qam modulation schemes for different modulation orders (different values of m) over awgn channel. m-qam simulations shown in figure 3 are capable to plot constellation diagrams as well as the power spectral density of the modulated data, and these are shown in figures 5-7. figure 7: power spectrum density of 16-quadrature amplitude modulation figure 8: simulated results of ber using vissim/comm model figure 9: (a-e) theoretical and simulated m-ary quadrature amplitude modulation for square (even and odd values of k) constellation diagram d cba e ahmad: simulation of m-ary qam modulation schemes with vissim/comm software 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 58-63 different m-ary values of qam are shown in figure 5. the simulation of m-qam is performed for different m orders (16, 32, 64,128, and 256) using the above vissim/comm model. the results of the simulations are shown in figure 9. results and comparative evaluation in this paper, the ber performance of m-qam (m = 16, 32, 64, 128, and 256) over awgn channel is evaluated, applying a theoretical and using vissim/comm approach. figure 9 shows the result of simulation of m-qam compared with theoretical calculated from eqs. (3), (4), and (5). results show very good agreement between simulation and theory except for the case 32 qam. fitting method used for the case 32 qam and this gives an approximate empirical expression shown in eq. (10). figure 9 shows a comparison between the simulated and the empirical expression in eq. (10). p = 0.78erfc 15 62 ebno b (10) conclusions in this paper, five m-qam modulation schemes (16-qam, 32-qam, 64-qam, 128-qam, and 256-qam) are studied to find appropriate expressions to calculate and evaluate their ber performances in awgn channel. a simple simulation model of m-qam is designed using vissim/comm software. this simulation approach is applied to evaluate and compare the performance of different m-qam modulation schemes. theoretical results are compared with the simulation results as well as approximate expression of ber is established for non-square constellation diagram (m=32). it is observed that in all cases that the ber decreases when the values of eb/no are increased. qam constellations are, in general, sub-optimal in the sense that they do not maximally space the constellation points for a given energy. however, the rectangular qams are much easier to modulate and demodulate than other nonrectangular qams. however, in terms of energy efficiency, cross qam is usually the better choice, as it has lesser average and peak energy as compared to rectangular qam. finally, it can be stated that vissim/comm software can be successfully used in evaluating the performance not only of m-qam modulation but also of other digital modulation techniques, such as mpsk, mfsk, msk, dqpsk, and oqpsk. evaluate ber data can be helpful for many researchers, in the field of digital modulation techniques, in simplifying the process of passing from simulation to implementation without the necessity of being specialized hardware engineers. references 1. a. g. dayan. “digital transmission, a simulation-aided introduction with vissim/comm”. berlin: springer verlag, 2009. 2. b. sklar. “digital communications: fundamentals and applications”. 2nd ed. usa: prentice-hall, 2001, pp. 30-33. 3. m. g. rashed, m. h. kabir, s. e. ullah and r. yasmin. “performance evaluation of crc interleaved qpsk based wireless communication system for color image transmission.” journal of bangladesh electronics society, vol. 9, pp. 151-159, dec 2009. 4. a. m. wyglinski, m. nekovee and t. hou. “cognitive radio communications and networks: principles and practice”. 1st ed. new york: academic press, 2009. 5. m. r. ahmed, m. r. ahmed, m. r. a. robin, m. asaduzzaman, m. m. hossain and m. d. awal. “performance analysis of different m-ary modulation techniques in fading channels using different diversity”. journal of theoretical and applied information technology, vol. 15. no.1, pp. 23-28, may 2010. 6. l. hanzo s. x. ng, t. keller and w. webb. “quadrature amplitude modulation”. 2nd ed. new york: john wiley, 2004. pp. 142-165. 7. t. l. staley, r. c. north, j. luo, w. h. ku and j. r. zeidler. “performance evaluation for multichannel reception of coherent mpsk over frequency selective fading channels”. ieee transactions on vehicular technology, vol. 50, no. 4, jul 2001. 8. s. w. doyle and j. w. marshall. “performance of frequency hopped msk signals in multitone jamming and additive white gaussian noise”. ieee conference on military communications, 2000, pp. 415-419. 9. j. g. smith. “odd-bit quadrature amplitude shift keying”. ieee transactions on communications, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 385-389, 1975. figure 10: simulated and approximate expression comparison for 32qam (odd value of k) . 85 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 85-89 research article anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in dumpsite workers of erbil governorate ameena s. m. juma, muhsin h. ubeid, tanya s. salih* department of biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the present study aimed to detect the presence of anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus (cmv) antibodies in the sera of dumpsite workers of erbil governorate. eighty nine male dumpsite (kany qrzhala, erbil governorate) workers were included in this study. serum was obtained for the detection of anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cmv antibodies using an automated cobas e411 immunoassay analyzer. no anti-toxoplasma igm antibodies were detected in any of the workers’ sera, while (25.84%) showed a positive result for anti-toxoplasma igg antibodies. all workers’ sera had no anti-rubella igm and igg2 antibodies, while (62.92%) of them revealed the presence of igg1 in their sera. anti-cmv igm was found in (2.25%) of the sera, while (13.50%) of the sera revealed the presence of anti-cmv igg antibodies. keywords: cytomegalovirus, dumpsite workers, municipal solid waste, rubella, solid waste disposal, toxoplasma gondii introduction workers handling wastes are at high risk to be exposed to hazardous biological and chemical factors including different vapors, smoke, fumes, and dust in addition to being exposed to chemical substances and infectious pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, fungi, and even parasites. according to some studies on workers in this sector, they have been found to experience more work-related symptoms and illnesses than other occupational groups.[1,2] waste materials provide a favorable environment in which microorganisms can thrive because of the presence of nutrients and moisture. pathogenic microorganisms are well known to be present in medical and clinical waste or the waste derived from animal and human origins, posing a risk of infection to those handling these materials.[3] irritation of the mucous membrane due to exposure to toxic materials or allergenic effects experienced after inhalation of a large number of microorganisms and their fragments is usually the greatest work-related hazard.[4] waste may include medical and clinical laboratory waste that may include extremely infectious agents, including a wide range of viruses. parasitic diseases can also be acquired by these workers through vectors such as insects or domestic or wild animals such as rodents or cats and dogs that are harboring disease-causing microorganisms or acting as mechanical vectors. these kinds of vector-borne diseases include toxoplasmosis.[5] toxoplasmosis is caused by the intracellular parasite toxoplasma gondii that infects up to a third of the world’s population. infection is mainly acquired by ingestion of food or water that is contaminated with oocysts shed by cats or by consuming contaminated meat containing tissue cysts. in addition, the infection may be acquired by coming in contact with cat feces containing oocysts.[6,7] primary infection is usually subclinical, but in some patients, cervical lymphadenopathy or ocular disease can be present. in immunocompromised patients, reactivation of latent disease can cause life-threatening encephalitis.[8] rubella (german measles) is caused by an rna virus of the togavirus group. it is a contagious disease. most people who get rubella usually have a mild illness, with symptoms that can include a low-grade fever, sore throat, and a rash that starts on the face and spreads to the rest of the body, in addition to the drastic effect of the virus on the fetus in pregnant women.[9] cytomegalovirus (cmv) is an infection caused by a dna virus of the herpes group. the common modes of infections corresponding author: tanya s. salih, department of biology, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: tanya.salam@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: apr 14, 2019 accepted: apr 26, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp85-89 copyright © 2019 ameena s. m. juma, muhsin h. ubeid, tanya s. salih. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ juma, et al.: anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in dumpsite workers 86 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 85-89 are through saliva, urine, stool, breast milk, and unscreened blood transfusion.[10] the diagnosis of acute toxoplasma, rubella, and cmv infection can be established by the demonstration of seroconversion in paired sera or by the demonstration of specific igm antibodies.[11] this study was conducted to detect the presence of antitoxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cmv antibodies in the sera of dumpsite workers of erbil governorate. this may reflect the health status of those workers and their exposure to infectious agents. materials and methods subject selection eighty-nine male dumpsite (kany qrzhala, erbil governorate) workers were included in this study. a questionnaire sheet [figure 1] was filled out for each worker included in the study. sample collection five milliliter of venous blood was collected by disinfecting the antecubital fossa with 70% ethanol and using a disposable syringe questionnaire sheet name: no. gender: status married single age years weight kg education primary secondary college non residence rural urban smoker yes no diabetic yes no hypertensive yes no hypersensitivity allergy asthma eczema other diseases any drug intake other notes figure 1: questionnaire sheet for each worker included in a study concerning the detection of different antibodies in the sera of kany qrzhala dumpsite workers, erbil governorate juma, et al.: anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in dumpsite workers 87 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 85-89 with a 23-gauge needle after applying a tourniquet. the blood was placed in a plain tube and left to the stand for 1 h at room temperature for clot formation. the tube was centrifuged for 10 min at 4°c at 450×g for serum collection. the serum was then aspirated by using a pasteur pipette and was dispensed into sterile glass tubes (0.5 ml in each) and was stored at −20°c until used. detection of anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cmv antibodies the stored sera were used for the detection of anti-toxoplasma igg and igm antibodies; anti-rubella igg1, igg2, and igm antibodies; and anti-cmv igg and igm antibodies, using automated cobas e411 immunoassay analyzer, following the instructions provided with the kits. all sera and test reagents were brought to room temperature. results workers’ information this study involved 89 men with ages ranging from 12 years to 65 years. 92.13% of the workers lived in rural areas, while 7.87% lived in urban areas. 58.43% were smokers and 41.57% were nonsmokers. 38.20% were single, while 61.80% were married. 37.08% were illiterate, 40.45% had primary school education, 17.97% had secondary school education, 2.25% had a diploma, and 2.25% had a b.sc. degree [table 1]. frequency of anti-toxoplasma antibodies none of the workers’ sera revealed the presence of antitoxoplasma igm antibodies, while 25.84% were found to be positive for anti-toxoplasma igg antibodies [table 2]. frequency of anti-rubella antibodies none of the workers’ sera revealed the presence of anti-rubella igm and igg2 antibodies, while 62.92% were found to be positive for anti-rubella igg1 antibodies [table 3]. frequency of anti-cmv antibodies igm antibodies against cmv were detected in two workers (2.25%). 13.5% of the workers revealed the presence of anticmv antibodies in their sera [table 4]. a summary of the results is summarized the figure 2. discussion about 40% of the world’s waste ends up in large rubbish dumps that are usually located close to urban populations in underdeveloped and developing countries. this poses a serious threat to the environment, in addition to human health.[12] increase of solid waste is mainly due to urbanization and population growth and that in turn creates problems for municipal corporation to properly manage that kind and amount of waste. it has been shown that excreta and other liquid and solid waste from household and the community represent a health hazard and are the causes of many serious infection spread.[13] improper handling of wastes represents a serious risk to human health, especially those working in the dumpsites; table 1: demographic description of kany qrzhala dumpsite workers, erbil governorate parameter n (%) live in rural areas 82 (92.13) live in urban areas 7 (7.87) smoker 52 (58.43) non-smoker 37 (41.57) single 34 (38.20) married 55 (61.80) illiterate 33 (37.08) primary school education 36 (40.45) secondary school education 16 (17.97) diploma degree 2 (2.25) b.sc. degree 2 (2.25) table 2: anti-toxoplasma igm and igg antibodies in the sera of kany qrzhala dumpsite workers, erbil governorate parameter ig number of workers number of positive cases % number of negative cases % toxoplasma igm 89 0 0 89 100 igg 89 23 25.84 66 74.16 table 3: anti-rubella igm, igg1 and igg2 antibodies in the sera of kany qrzhala dumpsite workers, erbil governorate parameter ig number of workers number of positive cases % number of negative cases % rubella igm 89 0 0 89 100 igg1 89 56 62.92 33 37.08 igg2 89 0 0 89 100 table 4: anti-cytomegalovirus igm and igg antibodies in the sera of kany qrzhala dumpsite workers, erbil governorate parameter ig number of workers number of positive cases % number of negative cases % cytomegalovirus igm 89 2 2.25 87 97.75 igg 89 12 13.50 77 86.50 juma, et al.: anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in dumpsite workers 88 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 85-89 protection of these people from these health threats should be a major concern. these wastes may also include hospitals and clinics wastes that pose a major health issue, in addition to municipal wastes. moreover, it is well known that insect and rodent vectors are attracted to waste sites and can spread diseases such as cholera and dengue fever. public health service in the u.s.a. identified 22 human diseases that are linked to improper management of solid wastes. waste worker and pickers in developing countries are seldom protected from direct contact and injury.[14-16] despite the fact that the results of the current study showed low number of individuals profiling antibodies against the three microorganisms included; however, their presence does implicate that such workers are at risk of acquiring serious infections. dumpsite workers are continuously exposed to dust that contains many harmful substances including bioaerosols, which are airborne materials and are associated with microorganisms. this will impose a biological hazard due to direct contact, inhalation, or ingestion of these particles by the workers, leading to diseases.[17] t. gondii is an obligate intracellular protozoan parasite that is capable of infecting a variety of intermediate hosts including humans. infected definitive hosts (cats) shed oocysts in feces that rapidly mature in the soil and become infectious. toxoplasmosis is acquired by humans through ingestion of food or water contaminated with cat feces or through eating undercooked meat containing viable oocysts. vertical transmission of the parasite through the placenta can also occur, leading to congenital toxoplasmosis. following the primary infection, t. gondii can remain latent for the life of the host; the risk for reactivation is highest among immunosuppressed individuals.[18] a positive toxoplasma igg result is indicative of the late current or past infection with t. gondii. a single positive toxoplasma igg result should not be used to diagnose recent infection. individuals with negative toxoplasma igg results are presumed to not have had previous exposure to t. gondii. however, the negative results may be seen in cases of remote exposure with subsequent loss of detectable antibody. seroconversion from negative to positive igg is indicative of t. gondii infection subsequent to the first negative specimen.[19] 25.84% of the individuals included in this current study showed a positive result for anti-toxoplasma igg antibodies. this may indicate a previous exposure to the parasite, which could have been acquired during their work in the dumpsite. rubella (german or 3-day measles) is a member of the togavirus family, and humans remain the only natural host for this virus. transmission is through inhalation of infectious aerosolized respiratory droplets.[20] the presence of igg antibodies is an indicator of previous infection, which is the case in the workers included in the current study. a negative cmv igm result suggests that the patient is not experiencing acute or active infection. however, a negative result does not rule out primary cmv infection. positive cmv igm results indicate a recent infection (primary, reactivation, or reinfection). igm antibody responses in secondary (reactivation) cmv infections have been demonstrated in some cmv mononucleosis patients, in a few pregnant women, and in renal and cardiac transplant patients. positive cmv igg results indicate the past or recent cmv infection. these individuals may transmit cmv to susceptible individuals through blood and tissue products.[21] 2.25% of the workers demonstrated a possible active infection, while 13.50% demonstrated a possible previous infection. those with active infections pose a hazard on the community and could pass on the infection to susceptible individuals. periodic surveys and treatment of these workers are essential to keep them healthy and prevent spread of diseases through them. workers should also be trained on the safe and proper techniques of dealing with wastes and how to protect themselves from injury and infection. in addition, protective clothing is advised to be provided to these workers to prevent any harm caused by handling waste. acknowledgments special thanks are due to kany qrzhala dumpsite workers of erbil governorate for providing the samples. figure 2: anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in the sera of kany qrzhala dumpsite workers of erbil governorate juma, et al.: anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in dumpsite workers 89 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 85-89 references 1. j. bünger, b. schapper-scheele, r. hilgers and e. hallier. “a 5-year follow-up study on respiratory disorders and lung function in workers exposed to organic dust from composting plants”. international archives of occupational and environmental health, vol. 80, pp. 306-312, 2007. 2. i. m. wouters, s. spaan, j. douwes, g. doekes and d. heederik. “overview of personal occupational exposure levels to inhalable dust, endototoxin, beta (1->3)-glucan and fungal extracellular polysaccharides in the waste management chain”. annals of occupational hygiene, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 39-53, 2006. 3. ojl. “directive 2000/54/ec of the european parliament and of the council of 18 september 2000 on the protection of workers from risks related to exposure to biological agents at work (seventh individual directive within the meaning of article 16(1) of directive 89/391/eec), ojl 262, 17.10.2000, pp. 21-45, 2000. 4. j. douwes, p. thorne, n. pearce and d. heederik. “bioaerosols health effects and exposure assessment: progress and prospects”. annals of occupational hygiene, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 187-200, 2003. 5. f. m. schets, l. de heer and a. m. de roda husman. “coxiella burnetii in sewage water at sewage water treatment plants in q fever epidemic area”. international journal of hygiene and environmental health, vol. 216, no. 6, pp. 698-702, 2013. 6. a. j. cook, r. e. gilbert, w. buffolano, j. zufferey and e. petersen, p. a. jenum, w. foulon, a. e. semprini and d. t. dunn. “sources of toxoplasma infection in pregnant women: european multicentre case-control study. european research network on congenital toxoplasmosis”. bmj, vol. 321, pp. 142-147, 2000. 7. a. b. ismael, d. sekkai, c. collin, d. bout and m. n. meralece. “the mic3 gene of toxoplasma gondii is a novel vaccine candidate against toxoplasmosis”. infection and immunity, vol. 71, pp. 6222-6228, 2003. 8. j. g. montoya and o. liesenfeld. “toxoplasmosis”. lancet, vol. 363, pp. 1965-1976, 2004. 9. c. coulter, r. wood and j. robson. “rubella infection in pregnancy”. communicable diseases intelligence, vol. 23, pp. 93-96, 1999. 10. s. stagno, m. e. dworsky, r. e. henderson, e. g. moore, p. d. walton and c. a. alford. “congenital cytomegalovirus infection: the relative importance of primary and recurrent maternal infection”. the new england journal of medicine, vol. 306, no. 16, pp. 945-949, 1982. 11. c. shashi, u. arora and a. aggarwal. “prevalence of igm antibodies to toxoplasma, rubella and cytomegalovirus infections during pregnancy”. jk science, vol. 6, no. 4, 190-192, 2004. 12. j. vidal. “smelly, contaminated, full of disease: the world’s open dumps are growing”. global development, supported by bill and melinda gates foundation, 2017. 13. p. singh. “impact of solid waste on human health: a case study of varanasi city”. international journal of scientific and engineering research, vol. 4, no. 11, pp. 1840-1842, 2013. 14. s. rathi. “alternative approaches for better municipal solid waste management in mumbai, india”. waste management, vol. 26, no. 10, pp. 1192-1200, 2006. 15. m. sharholy, k. ahmad, r. c. vaishya and r. d. gupta. “municipal solid waste characteristics and management in allahabad, india”. waste management, vol. 27, pp. 490-496, 2007. 16. n. gupta, k. k. yadav and v. kumar. “a review on current status of municipal solid waste management in india”. journal of environmental sciences, vol. 37, pp. 206-217, 2015. 17. s. laitinen and t. rantio. “exposure to dangerous substances in the waste management sector”. finnish institute of occupational health, finland. available from: https://www.oshwiki.eu/ wiki/exposure_to_dangerous_substances_in_the_waste_ management_sector. [last accessed on 2019 apr 01]. 18. a. m. tenter, a. r. heckeroth and l. m. weiss. toxoplasma gondii: from animals to humans. international journal for parasitology, vol. 30, no. 12-13, p. 1217, 2000. 19. test id: toxgp: toxoplasma gondii antibody, igg. mayo clinic laboratories. available from: https://www.mayocliniclabs.com/ test-catalog/clinical+and+interpretive/34972. [last accessed on 2019 apr 01]. 20. american academy of pediatrics. rubella. in red book. 2012 report of the committee on infectious diseases. edited by lk pickering, elk grove village, il, 2012. 21. cytomegalovirus (cmv) antibodies, igm and igg, serum. centra care laboratory servicespowered by mayo clinic laboratories. available from: https://www.centracarelaboratoryservices.testcatalog.org/ show/0205369-1; https://www.centracarelaboratoryservices.test catalog.org/show/0205369-1. [last accessed on 2019 apr 01]. . 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 53-57 research article long time stability investigation for structural and magnetic properties of ti-doped barium ferrite mohammed abdul malek al saadi* department of computer and communication engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract barium hexaferrite (bhf) (bafe12o19) and its substituted derivatives have been considered as the most potential magnetic candidates with considerable chemical stability and physiochemical characteristics. bhf with x ferrite ions substituted by titanium (ti-doped bthf) (batixfe12-xo19) (x=1 and x=3) was prepared from ferric oxide (fe2o3), barium oxide (bao), and titanium oxide (tio2) of purity >98%. the materials were mixed with deionized water and then dried at 1100°c and 1200°c overnight. for the formation of bafe12o19 phase, the mixture was annealed at a rate of 10°c/min in static air atmosphere until reaching 1200°c and then maintained for 10 h. structural properties of these samples were measured using x-ray diffraction (xrd) and scanning electron microscopy, while magnetic properties were measured using vibrating sample magnetometer (vsm) device. magnetic and structural characteristics are investigated after preserving ti-doped bhf samples at room temperature and ambient conditions for 12 years. the samples are characterized using the same previous techniques to find out the possible effect of long period storage on their properties. the results showed that the storage process has little effect on these properties where the granular size increased due to increased oxidation. xrd tests also showed the absence of ti at low ratios due to increased oxidation of ferrite. vsm results showed increased magnetic properties after storage due to increased iron oxide. keywords: material, electromagnetic, microwave, ferrite introduction the ferrites are homogeneous ceramic materials dark gray or black color which is made up of a blend of different types of oxides with iron oxide and have different crystalline structures.[1] it is also considered as ionic compounds and its magnetic properties due to the magnetic ions they contain. the high permeability due to the distribution of the wall of the field controlled by the sintering density and by increasing the size of particleboard.[2] barium hexaferrite (bhf) and its substituted derivatives have been considered as candidates with the most potential due to their chemical stability and suitable magnetic characteristics.[3] ferrites are ideally suited for making device such as inductor cores, circulators, memory devices, and also for various microwave application. a reduction in size and weight of power supplies can be achieved using switched-mode or resonant concepts. for the voltage conversion, several circuit designs are in use with ferrites as transformer core materials. transformer ferrites must show low-energy losses at high induction levels at higher and higher frequencies; this requires the development of new ferrite materials with constantly improving loss characteristics.[4] although the saturation magnetization of ferrites is less than that of ferromagnetic alloys, they have advantages such as applicability at higher frequency, lower price, and greater electrical resistance. ferrites are classified into two groups, namely, magnetically soft and hard. furthermore, depending on their crystal symmetry, they may be cubic, hexagonal, or orthorhombic.[5] ti, a tetravalent element, is well known candidate to cosubstitute fe3+ ions. the ionic radius of ti4+ ion is 0.605 å, which is smaller than fe3+ ion (0.645 å). furthermore, the electronegativity of ti (1.54) is small compared with fe (1.83). hence, ti4+ ions may easily substitute fe3+ ions in the structure with minimal impact on the intrinsic structure of the ferrite.[6] the main applications of these materials intend to reduce the human exposure to microwaves by means of absorbing coatings.[2,7] ti-doped bhf powder is an efficient absorber of electromagnetic waves in the microwave spectrum. to corresponding author: mohammed abdul malek al saadi, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mohammed.alsaadi@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: apr 20, 2019 accepted: apr 23, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp53-57 copyright © 2019 mohammed abdul malek al saadi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ al saadi: long time stability investigation for structural and magnetic properties of (ti-doped barium ferrite) 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 53-57 optimize the ti-doped bhf microwave absorption properties increase in the saturation magnetization (ms) and a decrease in the coercivity (jhc) are required.[8,9] these properties depend on the localization of the ti4+ in bhf structure. according to literature,[10,11] the ti4+ ions preferentially occupy the octahedral 4f2 sites of the bhf structure when the ti-doped bhf is synthesized using the ceramic route, especially at low doping rates.[12] bhf in powder form is one of widely implicated magnetic ceramic materials by both researchers and manufacturers in many applications such as permanent magnets, microwave absorber devices, and recording media. bhf is attractive due to its high stability, excellent high-frequency response, narrow switching field distribution and its temperature coefficient of coercivity in various applications, fairly large magnetocrystalline isotropy, high curie temperature and relatively large magnetization, corrosion resistivity as well as chemical stability.[1-13] in this paper, bhf substituted by ti4+ (chose cosubstitution non-magnetic ti4+ ions for fe3+ at different levels to obtain a wide range of coercivity and high magnetic permeability) using conventional ceramic techniques is investigated by differential thermal analysis, x-ray diffraction (xrd), scanning electron microscopy (sem), and magnetic measurements by vibrating sample magnetometer (vsm). the approach to saturation law was used to determine zero-field saturation magnetization ms and anisotropy field ha. experimental ti-doped bhf (batixfe12-xo19) is prepared by conventional ceramic techniques (the conventional ceramic methods, i.e., high-energy ball milling was employed to obtain high quality of bhf). the materials used were ferric oxide (fe2o3), barium oxide (bao), and titanium oxide (tio2) of purity greater than 98%. ratios were calculated accurately by weighing of materials involved in the preparation of ferrite samples using an electronic balance its sensitive up to 0.0001 g. after grinding, the mixed oxides individually to obtain homogeneous size distribution and to facilitate the process of granule homogeneity between these compounds during the mixing. the powdered oxides were mixed with deionized water and then placed in the furnace. a time-temperature program was started in the furnace after placing the mixture sample. heating rate was 10°c/min until it reaches the reaction temperature (tc) (1100 or 1200°c) which remained for 10 h then cooling started before collecting the samples. the crystallite phases present in the different samples were identified by xrd utilizing bruker axis d8 diffract meter using cu-ka (ƛ=1.5406) radiation operating at 40 kv and 30 ma at a rate of 2°/min. the diffraction data were recorded for 2θ values between 20° and 80°. the particles morphology was observed using the sem to study the surfaces micrographic appearance, to find out the effect of substitution on the structural properties, and to investigate the particle size measurements distribution of ti-doped bhf samples. the magnetic properties of the ferrites were measured at room temperature using a (vsm; 9600-1 ldj, usa) in maximum applied field of 15 g. from the obtained hysteresis loops, the saturation magnetization (ms), remanence magnetization (mr), and the coercive field (hc) were determined. the same samples were marked and preserved on laboratory shelve in ambient conditions for 12 years and then the same above-mentioned characterization routines were employed for comparison and revealing the effect of long period storage. results and discussion structure and morphology of samples xrd before 12 years figure 1 shows xrd patterns of ti-doped bhf sintering at 1100°c–1200°c for 10 h. when comparing the xrd schemes of x=0, x=1, and x=3, we find that there is a significant correlation in the results. in addition to the appearance of fe3o4 phase at x=3, indicating that the increased titanium ratio generated an increase in ion exchange iron; hence, the fe3o4 phase will appear. it is also clear that increasing the amount of substitution of x gives a lower relative intensity and width peaks indicating a decrease in particle size.[8] xrd after 12 years figure 2 shows the results of the same samples under the same conditions after 12 years. new and very well phases can be seen. sem before 12 years figure 3 shows the images of the surface of ti-doped bhf. image (a) shows that the interaction of this sample when x=1 at t=1100°c for 10 h did not complete and the large pores figure 1: x-ray diffraction patterns of ti-doped barium hexaferrite (a) x=0, (b) x=1, and (c) x=3 at t=1200°c for 10 h before 12 years a b c al saadi: long time stability investigation for structural and magnetic properties of (ti-doped barium ferrite) 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 53-57 have been shown in the surface, while the image (b) shows that the interaction will be integrated and homogeneous when t is increased to t=1200°c for 10 h. the interaction of the ferrite and particle size will be better than in the lower sintering, therefore, less porosity and better homogeneity of the sample, while image (c) shows the surface of ti-doped bhf when x=3 at 1200°c for 10 h. it is expected that increasing of replacing of iron ions by ti ions will decrease the diameter of the crystal; hence, the particle size and porosity will decrease, this is shown by the xrd (1) from the width and low height of the peaks. the pictures above and the table below have shown that grain size decreased with increasing of x and it increased with increasing of tc. the decreasing of x will be better than increasing it. table 1 shows the grain size of the samples. sem after 12 years figure 4 and table 2 show that the grain size decreased with increasing of x while it increased with increasing of tc for the same reasons mentioned above, these granular sizes correspond to the results 12 years ago. however, we note from the results that granular size increases overtime due to increase of oxidation in samples. magnetic properties of prepared samples the hysteresis loop (b-h loop) is an important property of any magnetic material and it is a measure of the lost energy per volume during a magnet cycle. the density of the magnetic saturation is dependent on the composition of the ferrite structure and it increases when the tc increases, and its effective values reduce due to the porosity of samples.[14] nanoparticles with a coercive field strength above 5 koe derived bhf are convenient for permanent magnets, but the magnetocrystalline anisotropy is too large for recording media applications. therefore, the partially substituted fe3+ ions of the hexaferrite phase, for example, with metals co2 +, mn2+, ni2+, and ti4+, etc., were attempted to reduce anisotropy constant. before12 years figure 5 shows magnetic hysteresis loops of the ti-doped bhf samples. saturation magnetization (ms) and coercivity figure 2: x-ray diffraction patterns of ti-doped barium hexaferrite after 12 years figure 3: scanning electron microscopy images and grain size of ti-doped barium hexaferrite (a) x=1 at 1100°c, (b) x=1 at 1200°c, (c) x=3 at 1200°c table 1: grain size of samples before 12 years number of samples t (°c) x grain size (µm) a 1100 1 0.21 b 1200 1 0.38 c 1200 3 0.28 table 2: particle size of samples after 12 years number of samples t (oc) x grain size (µm) a 1100 1 0.57 b 1200 1 0.76 c 1100 3 0.25 d 1200 3 0.59 a b c al saadi: long time stability investigation for structural and magnetic properties of (ti-doped barium ferrite) 56 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 53-57 (hc) extracted from the loops are given in table 3 as functions of the x and tc values. it is seen that both ms and hc decreased with increasing x. hc decreased more rapidly at lower x values, whereas ms decreased more at higher x values. figure 5 shows the hysteresis loop of ti-doped bhf at 1100°c and 1200°c, respectively, for 10 h. figure 5 shows that mr and ms increased with increasing of tc and they decreased with increasing of x,[4] while 11 hc decreased with increasing of x and tc; therefore, the samples will change from hard to soft material when the concentration and temperature increase. these parameters of all samples are shown in table 3. after 12 years it is known that magnetic property of ferrite is influenced by the chemical composition and ion distribution in the crystallographic sites. in the basic structure of m-type barium ferrite, fe3+ ions occupy five different interstitial sites: one tetrahedral site 4f1 (↓), one bipyramidal site 2b (↑), and three octahedral sites12k (↑), 2a (↑), and 4f2 (↓). in addition to the reduction of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy due figure 5: x-ray diffraction of ti-doped bhf: (a) x=1 at 1100°c figure 4: scanning electron microscopy images and grain size of ti-doped barium hexaferrite (a) x=1 at 1100°c after 12 years table 3: the magnetic parameters of ti-doped barium hexaferrite before 12 years x t (°c) hc (koe) ms (emu/g) mr (emu/g) type of material 0 1100 4.5 1.35 0.42 hard 1 = 5.96 1.3 0.76 hard 3 = 0.06 1.1 0.37 soft 0 1200 6.9 16.3 8.94 hard 1 = 2.7 3.85 1.58 hard 3 = 0.04 2.95 0.56 soft table 4: the magnetic parameters of ti-doped barium hexaferrite after 12 years x t (°c) hc (koe) ms (emu/g) mr (emu/g) type of material 1 1100 1790 g 30 14.26 hard 3 1100 168 g 20.7 3.25 soft 1 1200 909.1 g 32.73 10.17 hard 3 1200 145.5 17.87 2.45 soft a b c d a b c d al saadi: long time stability investigation for structural and magnetic properties of (ti-doped barium ferrite) 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 53-57 to the substitution of iron by titanium, a decrease in the hc has resulted. this is in agreement with the magnetic results, figures 5 and 6. the magnetic hysteresis curves show that the original hard magnetic behavior is shifted to soft magnetic by means of high doping content. in effect, it is clearly observed that ti-doped bhf samples exhibit a decrease of hc and ms. it is clear from the patterns below that samples were not significantly affected by the time factor, where they retained their properties. the hard sample remained hard and soft remained soft. furthermore, we will see that hc and mr decreased with increasing of x and tc, while ms will decrease when x increases, but it will increase at x=1 when tc increases while it will decrease at x=3 when tc increases. the ratio of ti is affected by the increasing of oxidation of ferrite due to the storage factor; hence, the samples with the low substitution ratio of x are close to the pure bhf. figure 6 and table 4 show b-h loop and the magnetic parameters of our samples after 12 years. conclusions ti-doped bhf (batixfe12-xo19) prepared by conventional ceramic techniques. in addition to the appearance of fe3o4 phase at x=3, indicating that the increased titanium ratio generated an increase in ion exchange iron; hence, the fe3o4 phase will appear. it is also clear that increasing the amount of substitution of x gives a lower relative intensity and width peaks indicating a decrease in particle size. the results show that the deviation in the value of d is very low, not exceeding 0.007, due to convergence of fixed network values between fe3+ (0.63 a°) and ti4+ (0.68a) ions. the density of the magnetic saturation is dependent on the composition of the ferrite structure and it increases when the temperature increases, and its effective values reduce due to the porosity of samples. the magnetic parameters (mr, mrs, and hc) are increasing with increasing temperature. bhf has been substituted by ti4+ with formula (baitixfe12-xo19), at different x and temperature. the forms of the b-h loop shown the material changes from the solid to the soft material at high concentrations as well as to all temperatures. references 1. c. kittle. “introduction to solid state physics”. 5th ed. new york: john wiley and sons, 1976. 2. z. yang, c. s. wang, x. h. li and h. x. zeng. “(zn.ni.ti) substituted ba-ferrite particles with improved temperature coefficient of coersivity”. materials science and engineering b, vol. 90, pp. 142-145, 2002. 3. g. mendoza, k. k. johal, h. mancha, j. l. escalante and m. m. cisneros. “magnetic properties of zn-sn substituted ba-ferrite powders prepared by ball milling”. matrials research bulletin, vol. 36, pp. 2597-2603, agu 2001. 4. a. j. b. fuller. “ferrites of microwave frequencies”. london, united kingdom: peter peregrinus, 1987, pp. 14-16. 5. m. b. amin and j. r. jams. “tech. for utilization of hexagonal in radar absorbers”. part 1. radio and electron engineering, vol. 51, no. 5, pp. 209-218, 1981. 6. j. li, h. zhang, y. liu and h. yang. “co-ti co-substitution of m-type hexagonal barium ferrite”. materials research express, vol. 2, no. 4, p. 046104, 2015. 7. pamela quiroz, bernd halbedel, angel bustamante, juan c. gonzález. “effect of titanium ion substitution in the barium hexaferrite studied by mössbauer spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction”. hyperfine interact, vol. 202, p. 106, aug 2011. 8. b. halbedel, d. hülsenberg, belau, st., schadewald, u.: cfi/ber. dkg vol. 82, no. 13, 182-188, 2005. 9. nibruchnnay, umberto “microwave ferrite and application” electro. mater., chap. 17, pp. 451,459,460, 1994. 10. rohde and schwarz. news 199/09, pp. 70-72, 2009. 11. p. a. mariño-castellanos, j. anglada-rivera, a. cruz-fuentes and r. lora-serrano. “magnetic and microstructural properties of the ti4+-doped barium hexaferrite”. journal of magnetism and magnetic materials, vol. 280, pp. 214-220, 2004. 12. v. a. m. brabers, a. a. e. stevens, j. h. j. dalderop and z. simga. “ultrasonic attenuation in a batife11o19 single crystal”. journal of magnetism and magnetic materials, vol. 196-197, pp. 312-314, may 1999. ىلع زينغنملاو مويناتيتلا ريثأت» ريتسجام ةلاسر فيان ديعس .13 «ةينيسلا.ةمزحلا تايدمل ةقيقدلا تاجوملل ةصام داومك مويرابلا تيارف .2001 ، رابنالا ةعماج ، مولعلا ةيلك 14. j. matutes, s. diaz, m. mirabal and s. a palomaress. “synthesis by coperecipitation and study of ba-hexaferrite powders”. scripta materialia, vol. 42, pp. 295-299, aug 2000. figure 6: x-ray diffraction of ti-doped barium hexaferrite: (a) x=1 at 1100°c, (b) x=1 at 1200°c, (c) x=3 at 1100°c, (d) x=3 at 1200°c a b c d . 80 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 80-84 research article exploiting wavelet transform, principal component analysis, support vector machine, and k-nearest neighbors for partial face recognition mustafa zuhaer nayef al-dabagh1, mustafa h. mohammed alhabib2*, firas h. al-mukhtar3, hussein ibrahim hussein4 1department of computer science, knowledge university, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of communications and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of information technology, catholic university in erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4school of computer and communication engineering, universiti malaysia perlis, malaysia abstract facial analysis has evolved to be a process of considerable importance due to its consequence on the safety and security, either individually or generally on the society level, especially in personal identification. the paper in hand applies facial identification on a facial image dataset by examining partial facial images before allocating a set of distinctive characteristics to them. extracting the desired features from the input image is achieved by means of wavelet transform. principal component analysis is used for feature selection, which specifies several aspects in the input image; these features are fed to two stages of classification using a support vector machine and k-nearest neighborhood to classify the face. the images used to test the strength of the suggested method are taken from the well-known (yale) database. test results showed the eligibility of the system when it comes to identify images and assign the correct face and name. keywords: k-nearest neighborhood, partial face recognition, principal component analysis, support vector machine, wavelet transform introduction smart face recognition systems are now widely used in diverse locations such as universities, laboratories, airports, and many other public service facilities that attempt to identify and prevent the intrusion of undesirable individuals into such institutions.[1] many researches and researchers brought this subject under the spotlight, trying to aid in finding ultimate practical solutions for the final facial identification of suspected or undesirable personnel. the majority of researches aim at the exploration of new approaches where human qualities are its center of interest, which leads to a facial recognition process that requires a relatively small execution time with easy implementation in many applications.[2,3] when using wavelet transform for feature extraction, one of the most common and popular methods for extracting facial features are called “eigenface” technique.[4,5] eigenface is used by the well-known principal component analysis (pca) algorithm, which transforms the facial image and reduces its dimensionality into low-dimensional space. pca converts the image matrix into a reduced single orthogonal vector with some special values called the eigenface. applying pca to more than one image as a training set will align many vectors next to each other, leading to a linear matrix that has some data variances used for later steps.[6] the next step of the presented automatic recognition system is classification. there are many methods that can be used as classifiers to categorize the input image according to the matrix of data variances resulted from the pca step. one of these methods is support vector machine (svm),[7-9] which is basically a binary classifier that is considered a supervised learning algorithm, which aims at finding what is called the optimal hyperplane in the n-dimensional classification space that gives the highest possible margin between classes. svm achieves this by converting the training set obtained in the cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: mustafa h. mohammed alhabib, department of communications and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mustafa.alhabib1986@gmail.com received: apr 13, 2019 accepted: apr 24, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp80-84 copyright © 2019 mustafa zuhaer nayef al-dabagh, mustafa h. mohammed alhabi, firas h. al-mukhtar, hussein ibrahim hussein. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ al-dabagh, et al.: exploiting wavelet transform, pca, svm and k-nn for partial face recognition 81 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 80-84 case of complex nonlinear data into a higher dimensional space where it is possible to separate the data by a linear hyperplane. svm is often reported to achieve better results than other classifiers.[6,10,11] another classification method is the nearest neighbor (nn) algorithm.[12-14] according to nn, one set of samples is handled such that these samples can be classified by minimizing the distance among them. then, the samples can be represented in different classes where the nn method classifies the testing samples by prediction as it calculates the best linear representation for each class. k-nn is applied primarily due to the fact that it is simple and capable of attaining an outcome that resembles the output of more complicated methods as well as its capability of being used in various applications.[15] many previous researches have been done in the same field with similar methodology. some of these works focused on face identification methods that depend on the concept of cloud computing.[1] the main issue that these methods are trying to address is the unformulated aspect of the human face. here, the authors had suggested a procedure to facilitate the operation of face identification and matching. then, the intent was to design a structure that adheres to the concept of cloud computing side by side with parallel selection process. the authors claimed that their algorithm qualifies as a capable face identification and resolution method according to the practical results they obtained from the system. other works aimed at improving the features gained from facial images by developing methods for this purpose. one of these promising methods is pca and discrete wavelet transform (dwt),[4] in which dwt is utilized for image compression while pca is applied for extracting and identifying features from the images. here, time is to be considered as criteria for measuring the algorithm’s performance. the authors declared that their suggested algorithm required less access time than using pca alone, while achieving up to 93% recognition rate. safety and security are of the main goals of face recognition, which can be applied on personal level such as houses,[4] which presents a system that was set up on a robotic platform used to patrol the area to be covered and give a warning in case of an unidentified personnel. first, the face area was segmented using a method called local binary patterns. afterward, svm is applied for recognizing the face of interest. the authors stated that their real-time robotic architecture had reached 0.59 precision with eigenfaces, 0.81with fisherfaces, and 0.86 with svm. system design the general structure of this research paper consists of four parts. the first part is preprocessing, including image brightness modification using median filtering, followed by contrast enhancement to the extent that qualifies the image for the second step, which involves general implementation of the partial face recognition system. it includes wavelet transform, pca, svm, and k-nn algorithms. in the third part, the recognition system results are reviewed after being applied on a set of training images and compared with the partial face images that are to be distinguished. part four contains the research conclusions. figure 1 demonstrates the steps of the proposed system as below: preprocessing step this step sets the focus on the intensity and brightness features of the image throughout the use of median filtering for enhancing these qualities. the filter acts as a window that sweeps throughout the image pixels, arranging the pixels beneath this window in an ascending order before taking the midpoint and assume it to be the output pixel.[16] this will result in spreading the light evenly across the image. median filtering can be mathematically expressed as follows:[17] y (x, y) = median {g [s, t], (s, t) ∈ w} where, g [s, t] is the degraded image and w is the neighborhood defined by user as a rectangular sub-image window of size m and n. another algorithm is used depending on the output of median filtering, called contrast enhancement method, which is the method that can be applied to enhance the image appearance. contrast is identified as the variation between the highest and lowest pixel intensity levels. the equation for adjusting the image histogram for contrast increment is as follows:[18] g x y f x y f f f bbp, , *min max min ( ) = ( ) − − 2 here, the lowest and highest pixel intensity levels are used in the equation and multiplied by the available range of gray levels. after applying the equation, the quality of the image is improved by enhancing the contrast as the difference among the image histogram bins is increased. read input svm feature k-nn database preprocessi face authorized ? y n end start display the informa�on using gui figure 1: organization of the proposed system al-dabagh, et al.: exploiting wavelet transform, pca, svm and k-nn for partial face recognition 82 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 80-84 feature extraction using wavelet transform a well-known application of wavelet transform in image processing is object detection and classification. dwt aims at providing a representation of time-frequency relevance. in this approach, a group of shifted and expanded wavelet functions ψlh, ψhl, and ψhh is used to portrait the image being applied for two-dimensional (2d) dwt, with a scaling function φll that creates an orthonormal basis for l2(r2). provided a j-scale dwt, an image x (s, t) with a size of n × n can be simplified as follows:[19] x s t u j k i s t w j k i n j k i ll b b j k i n b j , , , , , , , , , ( ) = ( ) + = = = −− ∑ ∑∑∑ 0 1 0 11 φ ∫ kk i j k i s tb, , , ,ψ ( ) with  ll j j jj k i s t s k t i, , , ,( ) ≡ − −( )− − −2 2 22  b bj k i s t j k i s t. . , , . . ,( ) ( ) ≡ − −( )− − −2 2 22 j b j js k t i b b bψ ∫, ,� , . where, nj = n/2j. the coefficients lh, hl, and hh are called dwt or wavelet sub-bands. feature extraction techniques using wavelet transform aim at investigating the characteristics of the coefficient values that are produced through each step of the 2d-dwt transform of the image and produce feature vectors to be examined during this step and in the following step. pca pca[4,13] is a well-known numerical process that can convert an amount of related cases into a less amount of unrelated cases called principal components. the largest possible sum of the data variability is contained in the first principal component and the largest possible sum of the remaining variability is contained in each subsequent component.[4] pca reduces the feature space from a bigger amount of quantities into a less amount of aspects in a “non-dependent” process (the specification of a particular dependent case is not presumed). pca is applied mainly for data compression or dimensionality reduction (i.e., the election of a group of cases from a bigger, more correlated group). therefore, original cases (images in our system) enjoy the greatest amount of correlations with the principal component. mathematical pca can be presented in the points below: 1. the facial pictures to be trained can be represented as r: r1, r2, r3, r4……..rn 2. extracting the average facial image from the set of image scan can be done by: ( )…1 2 n 1 v = r + r + + r n the difference between each instance with the average is:1 nq = r -v ……… r -v 3. the covariance matrix can be computed as below: m n qqt= − 1 1 here, the matrix m is created by aligning n orthogonal vectors, each of which contains some facial image features called eigenfaces. that is, each vector contributes in the original set by a weight vector w, such that: w u qn n t n= where, un t represents the features of the facial image’s orthogonal vectors. classification classification is the final part of the system. in this part, two stages of classifier are used. in the first one, svm is used for determining whether the person in the image authorize to access or not, while in the second stage, k-nn is applied to find the nears image of the person. classification using svm one famous approach that is occasionally used for classification and regression applications is svm. it is classified as supervised machine learning method that is deeply inspired by statistical learning theory and uses the concept of finding the optimal hyperplane for maximizing the separation between classes.[8,20] hyperplane is realized by computing vectors obtained from training data named support vectors. svm tries to address the constraint optimization issue below:[7] ω ξ ξ, , min || || i b i i w c 1 2 2 +      ∑ subject to: yi (<φ(xi), w>+b) ≥ 1−ξi ∀i = 1,…, n ξi ≥ 0 ∀i = 1,…, n., from the previous equation, w represents the vector’s weight and b indicates the bias added to find the orthogonal hyperplane distance from the origin point. slack variables are expressed in εi in addition to a user-defined complexity factor c. due to the presence of slack variables, it is possible that some instances will not be present on the hyperplane, leading to classification errors. following the existence of an upper limit for the co unt of misclassification measure, this kind of svm is called a soft margin classifier.[20] classification using k-nn this method classifies the given attributes using a set of features obtained from the training database examples. it can be implemented by calculating the distance between the trained vectors obtained from the previous steps with the input partial face image to obtain the relevance with each of the available classes. using the euclidean rule,[13] the algorithm tries to determine how much is the similarity between the input face images with the set of training data.[12] euclidian rule is used to determine the distance between two vectors, x = (x1, x2..,, xn) and y = (y1, y2..,, yn) as the following:[14] d x y x yii n i( , ) ( )= =∑ − 1 2 depending on the equation above, the minimum difference is calculated, then the input facial image is given the label of nn class. al-dabagh, et al.: exploiting wavelet transform, pca, svm and k-nn for partial face recognition 83 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 80-84 implementation and results the algorithm presented in this paper is tested versus the well-known (yale) face database, which is used as a training database to train the recognition system against the input image to find the extent of similarity and to recognize the image as one of the face classes available in the dataset. the yale face image database includes intensity images of 15 persons stored as gifs; each person has 11 images to present one facial expression or pattern. the patterns are normal, happy, sad, sleepy, surprised, wink, center-light, left-light, write-light, with glasses, and with no glasses, thus yielding 165 images. for training, 60 images are utilized, leaving the rest of 105 to be applied for testing. the graphical user interface designed for the system is displayed below in two cases, one for authorized face image and the other for an unauthorized image. among the 105 images used for testing, the system resulted in the following parameters: • authorized personnel who are correctly accepted (true positive or tp)=35 figure 2: graphical user interface of the proposed system (accepted image) figure 3: graphical user interface of the proposed system (declined image) al-dabagh, et al.: exploiting wavelet transform, pca, svm and k-nn for partial face recognition 84 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 80-84 • unauthorized personnel who are correctly rejected (true negative or tn)=65 • authorized personnel who are incorrectly rejected (false positive or fp)=1 • unauthorized personnel who are incorrectly accepted (true negative or fn)=35. due to the statistics above, accuracy can be calculated as follows: accuracy tp tn tp tn fp fn = + + + + = + + + + = + � * % � * %100 35 65 35 65 4 1 100 35 65 335 65 1 4 100 95 238 + + + =* % . %. therefore, the given system can reach classification accuracy of 95.238%. conclusions in this paper, an image processing system is built for partial face recognition. it relies on various techniques for preprocessing, feature extraction and selection, and classification. it is inferred that the system is able to recognize the faces of the dataset in different expressions and light source position and intensity. it is also noticed that the system outperforms other methods in the field by giving higher accuracy rate with lower misinterpretation percentage. however, the system is expected to achieve higher accuracy rates by enhancing the approaches currently in use, such as applying adaptive median filtering or using one of the available clustering techniques before classification. references 1. p. hu, h. ning, t. qiu, y. xu, x. luo and a. sangaiah. “unified face identification and resolution scheme using cloud computing in internet of things”. future generation computer systems, vol. 81, pp. 582-592, 2018. 2. a. tolba, a. el-baz and a. el-harby. “face recognition: a literature review”. international journal of signal processing, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 88-92, 2005. 3. l. paul and a. sumam. “face recognition using principal component analysis method”. international journal of advanced research in computer engineering and technology, vol. 1, no. 9, pp. 135-139, 2012. 4. s. kak, f. mustafa and p. valente. “discrete wavelet transform with eigenface to enhance face recognition rate”. academic journal of nawroz university, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 10-13, 2018. 5. c. bhimanwar, r. biradar, n. bhole and m. rane. “face identification”. international journal of engineering science and computing, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 11923-11928, 2017. 6. m. mukhedkar and s. powalkar. “fast face recognition based on wavelet transform on pca”. international conference on energy systems and applications (icesa 2015), india, 2015. 7. g. cavallaro, m. riedel, m. richerzhagen, j. benediktsson and a. plaza. “on understanding big data impacts in remotely sensed image classification using support vector machine methods”. ieee journal of selected topics in applied earth observations and remote sensing, vol. 8, no. 10, pp. 4634-4646, 2015. 8. j. wang, j. zheng, s. zhang, j. he, x. liang and s. feng. “a face recognition system based on local binary patterns and support vector machine for home security service robot”. 9th international symposium on computational intelligence and design. ieee, 2016. 9. y. cha, k. you and w. choi. “vision-based detection of loosened bolts using the hough transform and support vector machines”. automation in construction, vol. 71, no. 2, pp. 181-188. 10. i. kavakiotis, o. tsave, a. salifoglou, n. maglaveras, i. vlahavas and i. chouvarda. “machine learning and data mining methods in diabetes research”. computational and structural biotechnology journal, vol. 15, pp. 104-116, 2017. 11. t. patel and b. shah. “a survey on facial feature extraction techniques for automatic face annotation”. international conference on innovative mechanisms for industry applications (icimia). ieee, 2017. 12. y. song, j. huang, d. zhou, h. zha1 and c. giles. “iknn: informative k-nearest neighbor pattern classification”. springerverlag, berlin heidelberg, 2007. 13. k. weinberger and l. saul. “distance metric learning for large margin nearest neighbor classification”. journal of machine learning research, vol. 10, pp. 207-244, 2009. 14. m. z. n. al-dabagh, m. h. m. alhabib and f. h. al-mukhtar. “face recognition system based on kernel discriminant analysis, k-nearest neighbor and support vector machine”. international journal of research and engineering, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 335-338, 2018. 15. n. pedrajas, j. castillo and g. garcía. “a proposal for local k values for k-nearest neighbor rule”. ieee transactions on neural networks and learning systems, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 470475, 2015. 16. g. hemalatha and c. sumathi. “preprocessing techniques of facial image with median and gabor filters”. international conference on information communication and embedded system (icices). ieee, 2016. 17. m. sukassini and t. velmurugan. “noise removal using morphology and median filter methods in mammogram images”. the 3rd international conference on small and medium business, 2016. 18. s. perumal and t. velmurugan. “preprocessing by contrast enhancement techniques for medical images”. international journal of pure and applied mathematics, vol. 118, no. 18, pp. 3681-3688, 2018. 19. k. ghazali, m. mansor, m. mustafa and a. hussain. “feature extraction technique using discrete wavelet transform for image classification”. the 5th student conference on research and development scored. ieee, 2007. 20. j. choi, j. choi, m. ha, t. trinh, t. yoon and h. byun. “towards a generalized toxicity prediction model for oxide nanomaterials using integrated data from different sources”. scientific reports, vol. 8, pp. 6110, 2018. . 80 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 80-84 research article some immunological and hematological parameters among refugees in kawergosk camp – erbil governorate tanya s. salih, safa safin haydar, muhsin h. ubeid, ameena s. m. juma department of biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the study included 258 syrian refugees of different ages and sex and another 60 volunteers as control group (c.g). these refugees were in kawergosk camp in erbil governorate. blood was collected from each individual for the estimation of white blood cell (wbc), eosinophil, iron, hemoglobin (hb), and immunoglobulin e (ige) levels. mean serum levels of ige among male and female refugees showed highly significant increasing when compared to c.g. most of the refugees had normal iron levels, where iron concentrations were more than 65 mg/dl among 67 males and more than 50 mg/dl among 104 females and 48 children, while some had iron deficiency in which the majority were female (9 males, 24 females, and 6 children had iron deficiency). in addition, hb concentrations were normal among 65 males (more than 13.0 g/dl), 89 females (more than 11.0 g/dl), and 48 children (more than 12.0 g/dl). however, anemia was found among 8 men, 42 women, and 6 children. it was revealed that there was a highly significant rising in eosinophils in male and female refugees in comparison to c.g. wbc count is non-significantly slightly increased in both male’s and female’s refugees when compared to c.g. keywords: eosinophil count, hemoglobin, immunoglobulin e, iron, refugees, white blood cell count introduction there are about 68.5 million people currently displaced around the world, and 25.4 million of them have crossed international borders seeking shelters and safety. traveling and lodging in different places may cause ill health to many of the refugees, although their health status might have been quite well in their original homes. falling ill may be because of poor living conditions in camps, poor sanitation, and lifestyle change that may include inadequate food and water and stress. all these conditions were well known to lead to depression.[1] erbil city currently has four refugee camps – kawergosk camp, qushtapa camp, darashakran camp, and basirma camp, that host around 50,000 syrian refugees. kawergosk refugee camp was the first camp to be established in erbil in 2013 hosting refugees from the town of qamishli in syria. the overall situation of the camp is fair. however, there are two concerns – health and sanitation due to lack of advanced health services and limited availability of water supply.[2] due to displacement and lack of many health facilities, it is common that the general health of refugees might deteriorate with time. moreover, communicable diseases are common among refugees including tuberculosis, hiv/aids, hepatitis, measles, and rubella.[3] the aim of this study is to investigate the levels of white blood cell (wbc), eosinophil, iron, hemoglobin (hb), and immunoglobulin e (ige) levels among refugees in kawergosk camp – erbil governorate. the change in these parameters may be a predisposing factor to further disease development. materials and methods the study included 258 syrian refugees of different ages and sex and another 60 volunteers as control group (c.g). these refugees were in kawergosk camp in erbil governorate. forms were filled for each individual for information that included age, gender, case history, physical, and laboratory examination reports. four milliliter of blood were withdrawn from each refugee and c.g by sterile disposable syringes. blood samples were divided into two parts – 2 ml were placed into ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid-containing tubes for the performance of hematological tests including wbc, eosinophil corresponding author: tanya s. salih, department of biology, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: tanya.salam@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: apr 23, 2019 accepted: apr 27, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp80-84 copyright © 2019 tanya s. salih, safa safin haydar, muhsin h. ubeid, ameena s. m. juma. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ salih, et al.: some immunological and hematological parameters among refugees 81 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 80-84 count, iron, and hb and 2 ml of blood were placed into plain gel tubes and allowed to clot at room temperature, then centrifuged at 2500 rpm for 15 min for serum collection. the serum was transferred into two labeled eppendorf tubes, 0.5 ml of serum in each and stored at −20°c for later estimation of ige levels. determination of complete blood count was made using the automated hematology analyzer for all samples within 1 hour of sample collection. wbc, eosinophil, iron, and hb were evaluated. the stored serums were used for estimating ige after bringing them to room temperature, then determining ige by an automated cobas e411 immunoassay analyzer and using its ige kit (roche company). statistical analysis data were evaluated statistically, analyzed, and organized in tables. computer program software – statistical package for the social sciences version 18 was used to analyze the data. quantitative variables were compared using the students f-test and independent t-test. results were considered highly significant, if the p < 0.01; significant if the p value was between 0.01 and 0.05; and non-significant if the p value was more than 0.05. results wbc count table 1 represents the mean wbc count. it reveals that wbc count is non-significantly slightly increased in both males and females refugee when compared to c.g (p > 0.05). eosinophil count the mean of eosinophil count of refugees in comparison to c.g. is shown in table 2. it was revealed that there was a highly significant rise in eosinophils in male and female refugees in comparison to c.g. (p < 0.01). iron and hb levels figure 1 shows the level of iron among adult refugees (above 15 years of age) and children. most of the refugees had normal iron levels, where iron concentrations were more than 65 mg/dl among 67 males and more than 50 mg/dl among 104 females and 48 children, while some had iron deficiency in which the majority was females (9 males, 24 females, and 6 children). in addition, hb concentrations were normal among 65 males (more than 13.0 g/dl), 89 females (more than 11.0 g/dl), and 48 children (more than 12.0 g/dl). table 1: mean wbc counts in refugees in kawergosk camp in erbil governorate immunological parameter gender no. mean±se no. mean±s t-test p refugees suffer with asthma (c.g) p value wbc 109/l m 121 7.91±0.57 30 6.74±0.47 0.123 n.s f 137 7.67±0.31 30 6.69±0.44 0.089 n.s p: probability, p≥0.05: non-significant; wbc: white blood cell, se: standard error table 2: mean of eosinophil count in refugees in kawergosk camp in erbil governorate immunological parameter gender no. mean±se no. mean±se t-test p refugees suffer with asthma (c.g) p value eosinophil 109/l m 121 5.60±0.18 30 3.50±0.45 0.001 h.s** f 137 5.81±0.15 30 2.80±0.38 0.000 h.s** p: probability; p≥0.05: non-significant; *p<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant. se: standard error figure 1: iron and hemoglobin levels in refugees in kawergosk camp in erbil governorate salih, et al.: some immunological and hematological parameters among refugees 82 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 80-84 however, anemia was found among 8 men, 42 women, and 6 children. data were compared between individuals regarding the relation of hb to iron. the first group had normal hb and normal iron; the females are the highest number with 98 females, 65 males, and 37 children. in addition, the second group was classified to have iron-deficiency anemia in which the highest deficient was among females (6 males, 20 females, and 2 children). furthermore, the results have been recorded to have 2 males, 22 females, and 3 children that suffered from anemia, but their blood iron was within normal range. moreover, it has been found that at least one of the males, females, and children had iron deficiency but had no anemia, as shown in figure 2. serum ige mean serum levels of ige among male and female refugees showed highly significant increased levels when compared to c.g. (p < 0.01), as shown in table 3. discussion the general health of most refugees has been found to be bad. there is no provision of basic health care, no clean drinking water, and no primary education for children.[4] although the wbc count was insignificantly increased in the current study, this may have several indications. these cells are very important constituents of blood. they play a vital role in combatting infections and stabilizing health the condition in an individual. a high wbc count may indicate that the immune system is stimulated due to the presence of an infection. physical and emotional stress has also been found to cause an increase in the wbc count. the presence of some cancers in some people cannot be eliminated, which is another cause of increased wbc counts.[5] eosinophils are one of the wbc types that are an important component of the immune system. causes of eosinophilia are many, but among refugees, it may be because of parasitic infections, allergies, or even asthma.[6] in the current study, eosinophilia was prominent among the studied group. the presence of other infections or asthma cannot be excluded in these people, for a lot of them did show signs of asthma. refugees of all ages and ethnicities have been found to have anemia. the prevalence of anemia in newly arrived populations has ranged from 19% among african refugees resettling in australia to 37% among southeast asian refugees resettling in the united states.[7,8] anemia was identified in 12% of 1247 refugee children in massachusetts, with a rate of 29% among children under 2 years.[9] in addition, a study in maine found that 20% of 127 refugee children were anemic at the time of their new arrival medical evaluation.[10] these findings are consistent with the findings of the current study. anemia may result from a wide range of disease processes. common causes of anemia in refugee populations include iron deficiency, inherited hematologic abnormalities (e.g., thalassemias, hemoglobinopathies, and enzyme defects), and infectious diseases (e.g., malaria and intestinal parasitosis). the ultimate cause is often multifactorial.[11] iron-deficiency anemia, probably the most common cause of anemia in immigrant populations, is usually manifested as a microcytic anemia. the groups most commonly affected are children and women;[12] however, refugees of both sexes and all age groups are at risk. although it is frequently figure 2: correlation between iron and hemoglobin levels in refugees in kawergosk camp in erbil governorate table 3: mean serum levels of ige in refugees in kawergosk camp in erbil governorate immunological parameter gender no. mean±se no. mean±se t-test p refuges (c.g) p value ige iu/ml m 121 281.97±44.81 30 34.33±6.48 0.000 h.s** f 137 317.59±47.29 30 33.32±6.38 0.000 h.s** p: probability; p≥0.05: non-significant; *p<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant. se: standard error salih, et al.: some immunological and hematological parameters among refugees 83 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 80-84 multifactorial, it is primarily caused by deficient dietary iron. chronic blood loss, which frequently adds to iron deficiency, is commonly caused by infection with intestinal parasites, particularly hookworm. helicobacter pylori infections may lead to gastrointestinal blood loss through ulcer formation.[6] ige, named in 1968,[13-15] was the last of the five classes of human antibodies to be discovered, and today is commonly associated with the various manifestations of allergic disease.[16] ige antibodies are well known for their role in mediating allergic reactions, and their powerful effector functions activated through binding to fc receptors fcεri and fcεrii/ cd23.[17] the possible exposure of the refugees to different allergens may be the main reason of the significant increase in ige levels; this could also be the reason for the asthmatic sings in these individuals.[17] one might predict that the high ige levels which present in parasite-endemic regions would be associated with increased rates of atopic disease. however, the data on this point are complicated. a number of studies have pointed to the opposite effect, namely a decrease in allergic conditions in parasitized patients.[18,19] in the setting of chronic filarial infestation, this has been associated mechanistically with an il-10-driven state of th1 and th2 suppression. in contrast, investigations in ascaris or toxocara species-infected patients point to a parasiteinduced increase in allergen-specific th2 responses and allergic symptoms, including wheezing.[20-22] cross-reactivity between parasitic antigens and allergens might play a significant role, as has been suggested by the observation that ige formed in response to the tropomyosin of ascaris lumbricoides recognizes the homologous proteins from the dust mite or cockroach.[23] conclusion mean serum levels of ige among male and female refugees showed highly significant increasing. most of the refugees had normal iron levels, while some had iron deficiency in which the majority were female. in addition, hb concentrations were normal among most of them. however, anemia was found. it was revealed that there was a highly significant rising in eosinophils in male and female. wbc count is non-significantly slightly increased in both male’s and female’s refugees. recommendations follow-up tests or refugees are recommended to avoid any health complications and to ensure the treatment for them. references 1. world health organization. “10 things to know about the health of refugees and migrants”. world health organization, 2019. available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/featurestories/detail/10-things-to-know-about-the-health-of-refugeesand-migrants. [last accessed on 2019 april 10]. 2. “kurdistan regional government, syrian refugees in erbil governorate”, 2019. available from: http://www.cabinet.gov.krd/p/ page.aspx?l=12&s=000000&r=401&p=483&h=1&t=407. [last accessed on 2019 april 10]. 3. “copenhagen: who regional office for europe; migration and health: key issues”. in: health topics, 2015. available from: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-determinants/ migrationand-health/migrant-health-in-the-european-region/ migration-and-health-key-issues. [last accessed on 2018 apr 12]. 4. a. abdi. “a hard life for kurds in the makhmour refugee camp”, 2015. available from: https://www.thekurdishproject.org/ahard-life-for-kurds-in-makhmour-refugee-camp. [last accessed on 2019 april 10]. 5. l. smith. “what to know about high white blood cell count, medical news today”, 2018. available from: https://www. medicalnewstoday.com/articles/315133.php. [last accessed on 2019 april 10]. 6. cdc. “refugee health guidelines, complete blood count with red blood cell indices, white blood cell differential, and platelet count”, 2019. available from: https://www.cdc. gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/guidelines/domestic/general/ discussion/complete-blood-count.html. [last accessed on 2019 april 10]. 7. a. c. tiong, m. s. patel, j. gardiner, r. ryan, k. s. linton, k. a. walker, j. scopel and b. a. biggs. “health issues in newly arrived african refugees attending general practice clinics in melbourne”. medical journal of australia, vol. 185, pp. 602-606, 2006. 8. a. catanzaro and r. j. moser. “health status of refugees from vietnam, laos, and cambodia”. jama, vol. 247, pp. 1303-1308, 1982. 9. p. l. geltman, m. radin, z. zhang, j. cochran and a. f. meyers. “growth status and related medical conditions among refugee children in massachusetts, 1995-1998”. american journal of public health, vol. 91, pp. 1800-1805, 2001. 10. e. b. hayes, s. b. talbot, e. s. matheson, h. m. pressler, a. b. hanna and c. a. mccarthy. “health status of pediatric refugees in portland me”. archives of pediatric adolescent medicine, vol. 152, no. 6, pp. 564-568, 1998. 11. w. m. stauffer, d. kamat and p. f. walker. “screening of international immigrants, refugees, and adoptees”. primary care, vol. 29, no. 4. pp. 879-905, 2002. 12. k. pottie, p. topp and f. kilbertus. “case report: profound anemia. chronic disease detection and global health disparities”. canadian family physician, vol. 52, pp. 335-336, 2006. 13. t. a. platts-mills, p. w. heymann, s. p. commins and j. a. woodfolk. “the discovery of ige 50 years later”. annals of allergy, asthma and immunology, vol. 116, pp. 179-182, 2016. 14. h. h. bennich, k. ishizaka, s. g. o. johansson, d. s. rowe, d. r. stanworth and w. d. terry. “immunoglobulin e, a new class of human immunoglobulin”. bulletin of the world health organization, vol. 38, pp. 151-152, 1968. 15. k. ishizaka, t. ishizaka and m. m. hornbrook. “physicochemical properties of reaginic antibody. v. correlation of reaginic activity with γe globulin antibody”. journal of immunology, vol. 97, pp. 840-853, 1966. 16. h. j. gould and b. j. sutton. “ige in allergy and asthma today”. nature reviews immunology, vol. 8, pp. 205-217, 2008. 17. b. j. sutton, a. m. davies, h. j. bax and s. n. karagiannis. “ige antibodies: from structure to function and clinical translation”. antibodies, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 19, 2019. 18. a. h. van den biggelaar, r. van ree, l. c. rodrigues, b. lell, a. m. deelder,p. g. kremsner and m. yazdanbakhsh. “decreased atopy in children infected with schistosoma haematobium: a role for parasite-induced interleukin-10”. lancet, vol. 356, no. 9243, pp. 1723-1727, 2000. 19. p. j. cooper, m. e. chico, l. c. rodrigues, m. ordonez, d. strachan, g. e. griffin and t. b. nutman. “reduced risk of atopy among school-age children infected with geohelminth parasites in a rural area of the tropics”. the journal of allergy and clinical immunology, vol. 111, no. 5, pp. 995-1000, 2003. 20. g. m. hunninghake, m. e. soto-quiros, l. avila, n. p. ly, c. liang, j. s. sylvia, b. w. hollis and s. t. weiss. “sensitization to ascaris lumbricoides and severity of childhood asthma in costa rica”. salih, et al.: some immunological and hematological parameters among refugees 84 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 80-84 the journal of allergy and clinical immunology, vol. 119, no. 3, pp. 654-661, 2007. 21. s. dold, j. heinrich, h. e. wichmann and m. wjst. “ascarisspecific ige and allergic sensitization in a cohort of school children in the former east germany. the journal of allergy and clinical immunology, vol. 102, no. 3, pp. 414-420, 1998. 22. m. m. alshishtawy, a. m. abdella, l. e. gelber and m. d. chapman. “asthma in tanta, egypt: serologic analysis of total and specific ige antibody levels and their relationship to parasite infection”. international archives of allergy and immunology, vol. 96, no. 4, pp. 348-354, 1991. 23. m. j. sereda, s. hartmann and r. lucius. “helminths and allergy: the example of tropomyosin”. trends in parasitology, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 272-278, 2008. . 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 14-20 research article a face recognition system based on principal component analysis-wavelet and support vector machines laith r. fleah1*, shaimaa a. al-aubi2 1department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, iraq, 2department of computer science department, college of science, salahaddin university, erbil, iraq abstract face recognition can represent a key requirement in various types of applications such as human-computer interface, monitoring systems, as well as personal identification. in this paper, design and implement of face recognition system are introduced. in this system, a combination of principal component analysis (pca) and wavelet feature extraction algorithms with support vector machine (svm) and k-nearest neighborhood classifier is used. pca and wavelet transform methods are used to extract features from face image using and identify the image of the face using svms classifier as well as the neural network are used as a classifier to compare its results with the proposed system. for a more comprehensive comparison, two face image databases (yale and orl) are used to test the performance of the system. finally, the experimental results show the efficiency and reliability of face recognition system, and the results demonstrate accuracy on two databases indicated that the results enhancement 5% using the svm classifier with polynomial kernel function compared to use feedforward neural network classifier. keywords: face recognition, feedforward backpropagation, neural network and k-nearest neighborhood, support vector machines introduction facial recognition is considered as one of the biometric systems and the importance of this field as a topic of research has increased in recent years. face recognition system uses biometric information which takes from human, but the use of this system is more easily than in another biometric system such as fingerprints, iris, and signature, especially with the uncooperative people. face recognition systems are usually used in security systems to monitor people and to discover any security breach, for example, face recognition system uses in the airport for monitoring and arrests the wanted. therefore, face recognition system is used in many security applications such as avoiding crime, monitoring through video, and also for verification of the identity of persons. principal component analysis (pca) is one of the linear transformation techniques that are used to obtain features from data or to decompress the information. it is also known as one of the famous techniques that are used to take global structures from the high-dimensional information set as well as it is applied to decompose dimensionality of the data and take unique features from the faces picture. this technique can be used also to distinguish patterns in data and express the data so as to highlight their differences and similarities between them.[1] wavelet transforms are a very effective method and specifically in image compression and many other types of data. as many coefficients of wavelet transform method become zero or very small. for this reason, wavelet transforms can consider as a very helpful tool for image compression. the primary benefit of wavelet transforms compared than other decomposition methods is that the basic functions that related with a wavelet decomposition typically have short and long support. the short support can effectively act on sharp transitions as the edges of the image; however, long support is operative in representing slow variations of the image.[2] support vector machine (svm) is one of important learning algorithms that are applied in many of applications and it is currently represented one of the very used methods in many application fields. the svm theories were introduced at first in the sixties and seventies from the previous century by the scientists vapnik and chervonenkis, but the svms method is still not implementations practical until the early.[3] cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: laith r. fleah, department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, iraq. e-mail: laith.flaih@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: apr 18, 2019 accepted: apr 25, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp14-20 copyright © 2019 laith r. fleah, shaimaa a. al-aubi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. fleah and al-aubi: frs-pca and svm 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 14-20 it has been applied in many of applications in many various fields such as medical diagnosis, text or image classification and also categorization, spam categorization, detection and recognition of an object, face detection, verification and recognition, bioinformatics, signal processing, prediction, information, and image retrieval.[4] k-nearest neighbor [knn] is one of the most important algorithms used in face recognition system. this algorithm is easy to understand, but in another hand, it is useful in practice. furthermore, it is used in several of applications such as vision, proteins, computational geometry, and graphs. it also considered as one of the best 10 algorithms in data mining.[5,6] knn is considered as one of the non-parametric learning algorithms. this means that it does not produce any supposition on the implicit data distribution. this is very helpful in the real-world application, many of the practical data do not conform the classical theoretical supposition made such as linearly separable and gaussian mixtures.[5,6] the overall structure of the paper is organized as follows: section ii: introduced the structure of the system, this is included pre-processing methods, feature extraction methods, and classification methods. in section iii, the experimental results and its analysis are introduced while section iv concludes the paper. face system structure face recognition system that introduced in this paper consists of the following steps: pre-processing, feature extraction, classification, and in the final steps is identification. the stages of the system are shown in figure 1. pre-processing pre-processing stage is the first process that done in the proposed system. it is applied to improve the image and also to improve the recognition rate through remove the effect of the light on and also to correct the gradient of illumination in the image. in the following, the pre-processing techniques that applied at this stage to get the good results: normalization size of the image: two types of database are used in this thesis and each database has different size of an image; therefore, this technique is used to make all images have the same size. this is because the next stages have an arithmetic operation such as multiplication and division of array. for all these reasons, the size normalization is very significant. contrast stretching: it is also known as histogram stretching. it is considered as one of the techniques that used to enhance an image. the goal of this technique has improved the contrast in an image through stretch the range of intensity values. in other words, this is applied by raising the dynamic range of the gray levels in the image. for example, in an 8-bit system, the 256 gray levels can be shown only but if the number of gray levels in the captured image prevalence through a lesser range, the images can be improved by extended this number to a wider range. features extraction the second stage of this system is feature extraction. it is used to obtain the significant features from the picture of the face and then applied these features to the next stage (identification and classification stages). without this stage, the function of recognition and classification becomes very hard and very difficult because the picture consists of many features and most of these features cannot be applied to implement classification. in this paper, each of pca and wavelet transform techniques is used to obtain the significant features that are important to identify and classify the face pictures. after preprocessing stage is implemented, the face picture i (x, y) that is a two-dimensional matrix (n × n) is then transformed to a vector and that length is had dimension n². thus, the picture with dimension 64 × 64 will transform to a vector of dimension 4096, but this vector cannot be applied directly to recognition directly because the face of human is very comparable from each other and another reason the 4096-dimension space is big and it is needed much time to process. therefore, wavelet and pca techniques are applied to obtain a better feature from face picture and also to enhance the capability of the recognition rate. pca algorithm at first, the training set is generated and this training set consists of a number of images (m) and each image in its to be transformed to the vector (n2). the step after generated the training set is calculated the mean of images as this is described in equation 1: figure 1: the structure of a proposed system fleah and al-aubi: frs-pca and svm 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 14-20 ψ γ= = ∑1 1m n m i (1) γi in the question (1) refers to the image in the training group. then, the normalized is implemented in training set to achieve the zero mean that describes the degree of different between the mean of image and image, and this is described in equation: ϕi = γi–ψi 1, 2… m (2) the covariance matrix c of the training set can be obtained using equation 2. ψ = = ∑1 1m n m i i t  (3) i̇f a vector u satisfies the condition in question (4), the eigenvector of the covariance matrix c is considered a nonzero vector. c uk = vk uk (4) where, vk refers to the corresponding eigenvalues. the size of matrix c with the dimension of n × n is a large size and needs much computational time and size memory to obtain results from it, to solve this problem, the covariance matrix l that has small size compare than the original covariance matrix c is calculated. equation 5 describes how the matrix c can be decomposed: c = aat (5) where, a represents zero means matrix [ϕ1, ϕ2…, ϕi] and the eigenvectors vi can be consideration according to the following: aat vi = µi vi (6) now, by multiply each side of equation 6 by a, we can obtain the following: aat avi = µi avi (7) from equation (7), we can see that represents the eigenvectors of the covariance matrix c and the matrix l with dimension (m × m) can be rewritten as shown in equation (8): l = aat (8) now, we obtained the eigenvectors vi of smaller covariance matrix l that has dimension m and this way, the linear combinations of the training data of the images to the form of eigenfaces ui can be obtained from equation below: u vi k m ik k= = ∑ 1  (8) this eigenvector that has symbol ui is also called as eigenfaces because when transfer these eigenvectors form a vector of length (n) to a two-dimensional matrix with dimension (n × n) and show it. it is shown as the human face. wavelet transform it is the first step of this stage and it is used wavelet transform to remove the noise from the image with saving the quality of an image. the second benefit is to obtain some of a feature from the image and also to decompose the size of the image and by this way, thus reduced the time of the process. the output of the wavelet transform on an image, it consists of four sub-bands. these sub-bands are the following: low-low (ll), high-low (hl), low-high (lh), and high-high. the ll sub-band gives the most important features of the image and hl and lh sub-bands give the horizontal edges and vertical edges, and finally, the high sub-band gives the diagonal edges. the results that obtained after applied wavelet transform are shown in figure 2. when this technique is applied for 1 time to the image with dimensions (112 × 92), the dimensions of the four sub-bands are 56 × 46. we can conclude from the previous paragraph after used one stage of the wavelet transform, the size of the image is decreased to the half. in this work, two levels of the wavelet transform are used. classification stage a classification is the third stage of this recognition system. it is used after each of the previous stages is done. it is a very significant stage. the goals of this stage are classified the interimages based on the information that obtained through the training stage. there are a number of classification methods that can be used to do this job. in this recognition system, svms that are considered as one of the famous classification methods are used to do this function. svms are one of the most important learning algorithms which are applied in many of applications. in this work, we also aim to make a comparison between different kinds of the svms kernel to analyze its results and determine any kernels of them can give a good result with high accuracy rate and also we make a comparison with a feedforward backpropagation neural network (ffbpnn) that used as a classifier to ensure from the power of our methods. svm classifier svm is considering as learning algorithm method depended on statistical learning algorithms. it is used to figure 2: the result after used one level of the wavelet transform fleah and al-aubi: frs-pca and svm 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 14-20 classify the feature of the data by finding a maximum marginal hyperplan that separating between two classes. it also can be applied for linear and non-linear classification using different types of kernel functions. basic svm formulation svms are used to make classification among two classes to give a decision surface. this decision surface is represented a maximum distance that can depend on it to separate closest points in the classification’s class. the closest points are known as support vectors. figure 3 describes the hyperplane of support vector separating. in this part of the chapter, we will consider svms as maximum margin classifiers. to facilitate the condition that supposed, we will consider that input data can separate linearly. under this supposition, we can separate any two classes by obtained the linear hyperplane between them. figure 3 describes the good and bad separation between two classes. let us summed that, a binary classification with xi as the input data, where i = 1, 2, 3..,, l. with identical labels for the two class, now let assumed that the function of decision knows as shown in the question below: f (x) = sign (w x + b) (9) where, symbol represented the inner product and symbol b represent the bias of the function and point x take position directly on the hyperplane and it achieves the condition. w x + b = 0 (10) from calculating the left side of equation (10), we can obtain the label yi of a data, where sign refers to the label of class. the point’s xi on both sides of the hyperplane must achieve the following conditions: xi w + b < 10 (11) xi w + b > 10 (12) equations (11) and (12) can be rewritten as follows: yi (xi + b ≥ 10) (13) using the formulation of lagrangian, the svms prediction can obtain using the following equation: f x y x xi i si m ( ) ,�= < =∑  0 (14) where, m is represented the number of support vectors, xi is a support vector, and αi is represented the corresponding lagrange multiplier, and finally, a sign of f (x) is classified every test vector. we can say that the output of classification is correct if equation (14) holds for all input points. the number of possible combinations of both weights and bias are big and sometimes not optimal. in general, in the binary classification, there is one ideal separating hyperplane is offer. on the ideal hyperplane, the margin among two data is maximized. as shown in figure 4, the margin among two sets of data is represented by d+ and d− which represented the distances between them. figure 5 describes the two separating lines, one of them is ideal and another is random.[7] identification the final stage of the system is identification. the aim of this stage is to find the nearest image for the new image figure 4: the support vector and the separating hyperplane figure 5: samples of yale database figure 3: the support vector and the separating hyperplane fleah and al-aubi: frs-pca and svm 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 14-20 that classified before that using svm or ann. knn is used to implementing that knn is not like svm or ann. it does not need to the training phase, and therefore, all the data are needed for the testing phase. the data that need for testing consist of a set of vectors and class label associated with each vector only. knn for classification in the section, we will see how can be used knn as a classifier. to do that, two data sets will create. one of them is training set and another set is testing set. the goal of this algorithm is to obtain the class label of the new point. the algorithm has various conducts depended on the value of k parameter. the first hypothesis: the value of k parameter is equal to one (k=1) to explain the first hypothesis, let consider that x is the point to be labeled and to obtain the point that closest to it. let consider the closest point y. in this way, the nn rule asks to assign the label of y to x. this appears very simplistic, but this way is correct only when the number of points is not very large. however, in other situations, when the number of data points is very big. the label of x and y may be same. to simplest the explain – let assume that the potentially biased coin. then, maybe the head will appear in next call. the same argument can be applied in this situation. now, lets us apply another case here – suppose that every point is represented in a d-dimensional plane and the number of points is very huge. this led to conclude that the density of the plane on each point of data is high. in other description, in each subspace, a large number of points is offered and consider x point is in the subspace and is many of neighbors, but in this time, consider y be the nn to the point x. we can say that, if x point and y point are very close together, then the following can propose, the probability of point x and point x related to the one class is very big, then using decision theory, the following is obtained, both points related to the one class. bellhumer et al.[8] provided a very good argument about the rule of nn. one of the important results is to obtain a very small error bound. this bound is described in question: * *(2 *) 1 c p p p p c ≤ ≤   (15) where the bayes error rate, the symbol c is represented the number of classes and the symbol p is represented the error rate of nn. the result is given the following conclusion if the number of points very huge, then the error rate of nn becomes less than twice time from the bayes error rate and this is very good results obtained from algorithm as knn. the second hypothesis: the value of k parameter is equal to two (k=2) in general, we aim to obtain the knn and then make a majority voting. as we mentioned previously, the value of k is odd when there are two numbers of classes. let’s assumed that k is equal 5 and there are three instances of c1 and two instances of c2. in this situation, knn method will label the new point as c1. this is similar when there is multiclass want to label. one of the knn techniques is not given 1 to every neighbor and another common technique is give weight to each point according to the distance that calculated. in another way, the values of each weight of point are inversely proportional to the distance of the point that will classify. from the sentence above, the neighboring points have higher values compared than the ultimate points. experimental results a number of experiments on the two different databases are used. the first experiment is applied on the yale database[8] and the second experiment is applied on the orl database.[9] both these database are very famous databases and are used by many researchers. in every database, two experiments are done. the first experiment is compared between different svms kernels to show any kernel give best results and the second experiment is between svm classifier and neural network classifier to calculate the performance of the classifier that used the system. yale experiment yale database is used in this experiment. this database is created by yale university and it is provided free on the internet and anyone can download it. this database contains from 15 subjects and each subject has 11 images take under various conditions. from that mention above, this means that the database consists of 165. this database is applied because it consists of a number of images captured at various conditions; this is included lighting condition or other things; therefore, it can be applied to test the recognition rate of the proposed system and it is also very widely used by many of researchers. in our experiment, the database is divided into two groups; the first group is for train and the second group is for the test. the training group is applied to learn the system and the training group consists of five images of the first 12 classes. the testing group is applied to calculate recognition rate of the proposed system and it consists of the other five images of the same 12 classes as well as all images of the last three classes. this is meant that 40% of the database is applied for training and 60% of the image is applied for the test. in this experiment, the combinations of the pca-wavelet transform are applied for pre-processing and feature extraction, and comparison between various types of the svms kernel is done. figure 6 describes the results of the svms classifier using various kernel functions in yale database. in the second experiment, ffbpnn is applied as classifier instead of the svms. this is done to make a comparison between the results of svms and anns classifiers as well as to calculate the performance of the system. figure 7 describes the recognition rate results of the svms classifier using polynomial kernel function and artificial neural network. orl experiment orl database is used in the second experiment. this database is created by cambridge university computer and anyone can download it from the internet without fees. this database fleah and al-aubi: frs-pca and svm 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 14-20 consists of 40 classes with 10 images for each class. this means that database consists of 400 images. in our experiment, the database is divided into two groups; the first group is for train and the second group is for the test. the training group is applied to learn the system and the training group consists of five images of the first 32 classes. the testing group is applied to calculate recognition rate of the proposed system and it consists of the other six images of the same 32 classes as well as all images of the last eight classes. these three classes are used for test only. this is meant that 40% of the database is applied for training and 60% of the image is applied for the test. figure 8 describes the results of the svms classifier using different kernel function in orl database. in the second experiment, ffbpnn is applied as classifier instead of the svms. this is done to make a comparison between the results of svms and anns classifiers as well as to calculate the performance of the system. figure 9 describes the recognition rate results of the svms classifier using polynomial kernel function and feedforward backpropagation neural network classifier. conclusions face recognition systems are one of the computer vision applications and it is significant in many of. in this work, face recognition system is designing and implementation. in this system, combines between each of wavelet transform and pca methods are applied for obtained feature from the image after that svm is applied to classify these features. the proposed system is tested using two types of databases to guarantee from the power of the system. comparison between the results 91.4285 93.333395.2 95.2 73.333 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 accuracy in yale database linear quard polynomial raduis bias func�on mul�peceptrom func�on figure 6: the results of the support vector machines classifier using different kernel functions in yale database 95.2 87.619 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 svms using ploynomial kernel func�on feed forward backproga�on neural network figure 7: the accuracy results of the support vector machines classifier using polynomial kernel function and artificial neural network 88.3391.25 96.25 91.667 65.833 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 linear quard polynomial raduis bias func�on figure 8: the results of the support vector machines classifier using different kernel function in orl database 96.25 91.667 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 svms using ploynomial kernel func�on feed forward backproga�on neural network figure 9: the accuracy results of the support vector machines classifier using polynomial kernel function and artificial neural network fleah and al-aubi: frs-pca and svm 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 14-20 of proposed system and ffbnn of a classifier is implemented. according to the obtained results, the following conclusions can be stated: • applying wavelet-pca feature extraction algorithms enhanced the recognition rate of the system compared to the using pca only • using svm classifier based on polynomial kernel function increases the accuracy of recognition rate of the system by 5% compared to feedforward neural network classifier, especially in cases where the features of a person’s face are modified with different hairstyles or wearing glasses. the comparison between svm and ffbnn classifiers proved that svm classifier is more accurate than ffbnn classifier in recognition. references 1. s. gupta, o. p. sahu, r. gupta and a. goel. “a bespoke approach for face-recognition using pca”. international journal of computer science and engineering, vol. 2, no. 02, pp.155-158, 2010. 2. m. david. “reversible integer to integer wavelet transforms for image coding”. thesis, university of british columbia, 2002. 3. j. s. taneja. “analysis of e. coli promoters using support vector machine”. thesis, thapar institute of engineering and technology, 2006. 4. m. e. mavroforakis. “geometric approach to statistical learning theory through support vector machines (svm) with application to medical diagnosis”. thesis, national and kapodistrian university of athens, 2008. 5. x. wu, v. kumar, j. r. quinlan and j. ghosh. “top 10 algorithms in data mining”. knowledge and information systems, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-37, 2008. 6. m. zuhaer and n. al-dabagh. “face recognition using lbp, fld and svm with single training sample per person”. international journal of scientific and engineering research, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 180, may 2014. 7. r. o. duda, p. e. hart and d. g. stork. “pattern classification”. 2nd ed. new york: john wiley and sons, inc., 2000. 8. p. n. bellhumer, j. hespanha and d. kriegman. eigenfaces vs. fisherfaces: recognition using class specific linear projection. ieee transactions on pattern analysis and machine intelligence, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 711-720, july 1997. 9. f. samaria and a. harter. d. parameterisation of a stochastic model for human face identificatio. conference: applications of computer vision. proceedings of the second ieee workshop, 1994. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 28-33 research article immunohistochemical and molecular studies of p53 and kras protein and their relations to colorectal carcinoma merza h. homady1*, tanya s. salih2, mariamm m. al-jubori3, mustafa d. younus2 1department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of general biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3college of medicine, babylon university, iraq abstract the study included 50 tissue blocks embedded in paraffin wax (16 females and 34 males), obtained from a patients group with colorectal cancer (crc), as well as 35 tissue blocks that were embedded in paraffin wax from normal colon (ulcerative colitis) as controls. a relatively few oncogenes and most prominently tumor-suppressing genes, kirsten rat sarcoma virus (kras), and p53 genes have been mutated into a significant part of crcs, and a broad collection of mutated genes has been defined in crc subsets. current findings showed very significant differences between patients and control subjects in the p53-positive rate (p < 0.001). tp53 pro/pro genotype positivity was higher in the control group than in the patient group and this was a significant difference (p < 0.001) with an odds ratio of <1. the genotype pro/pro was considered to be protective against colorectal carcinoma preventively fractured 0.767. the positive rate of p53 arg/arg genotype in patients was more frequent and statistically significant (p < 0.01), because the odd ratio was more than one. the genotype arg/arg would be considered a colorectal carcinoma risk factor. we conclude that p53 overexpression is used as an indicator of p53 mutation (as identified by immunohistoric chemistry) and kras protein expression was negatively impaired for all the patients in the current study. keywords: kirsten rat sarcoma virus, carcinoma, stage, colorectal, histology introduction carcinogenesis and colorectal cancer (crc) development are a multistage process where colorectal epithelial cells are transported through small adenoma, large adenoma, and subsequently into adenocarcinoma.[1] the development of crc involves several steps, which occur through the development of several genetic changes, including chromosome defects, gene mutations, and the epigenetics of various genes which control and differentiate cell growth, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. crc generally develops from a benign polyp called an adenoma and the subsequent abnormal cell growth, leading to carcinoma, which can spread to other areas of the body.[2,3] tumor suppressing genes and oncogenes mutations and probably several pathways lead to lesion pathology transitions and tumor drive toward malignancy and metastasis.[3] crc is not one disease; it involves a heterogeneous complex of diseases with various genetic and epigenetic changes.[4] modifications of various genes include activating k-ras oncogene, mutating, and removing p53 antioncogene.[5] in particular, mutations of the tp53 tumor suppressor gene and kras oncogene contribute to more than 80% of cases of crc.[6] tp53 encodes the tumor suppressor protein p53, which is a cell cycle regulator; mutations in tp53 leading to crc commonly occur in exons 5-8 .[7] in mitogen active protein kinase signals, kras encodes a gtpase; crcrelated kras mutations are common in codons 12 and 13, both within exon.[8] then, the aim of this study is, therefore, to clarify the proposed role for mutations in crc of the p53 and the kras genes through the determination of frequent crc mutation of kras and p53 by estimating the rate of protein over-expression employing immunohistochemical (ihc) staining and anti-kras antibodies and anit-p53, respectively. corresponding author: merza h. homady, department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: merza.homady@ cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 16, 2021 accepted: june 13, 2021 published: may 20, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n1y2021.28-33 copyright © 2021 merza h. homady, tanya s. salih, mariamm m. al-jubori, mustafa d. younus. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) homady, et al.: immunohistochemical and molecular studies of p53 and kras protein 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 28-33 materials and methods this study was conducted in the faculty of science, university of kufa, molecular laboratories and al-sadar teaching hospital in al-najaf province. each paraffin block was processed using hematoxylin and eosin stain for histopathological assessment, mutations in p53 (exon 4 codons 72) were detected by polymerase chain reaction (pcr), mutations detected throughout restriction fragment length polymorphism-pcr (rflp-pcr) in krason (exon 2 codon 12), protein expression had been detected in p53 and the immunohistochemical method of kras. mouse monoclonal anti-human kras, p53, and p53 were used to detect kras as primary antibodies, and p53 proteins were described by al-juborii(20l5).[9] staining results: a visual scoring system was used by a light microscope based on the number of positively stained neoplastic cells in each sample of tissue. the intensity and staining pattern was assigned to each slide. total intensity ratings were evaluated by counting the percentage of positive cells in 100 malignant cells at 40× total objective magnification. the immunostaining was calculated as a percent by the number of malignant cells immunostaining (semi-quantitative scoring). the intensity of stain was measured by counting the positive cell percentage in 100 malignant cells in 25 fields representing the most positive area with an objective magnification of 40×. the staining pattern (qualitative assessment) was either faint (staining pattern that could only be detected using higher magnification, ×40 objective) or dense (a diffuse cytoplasmic staining pattern and easily be seen by lower power objective ×4). kras tissue evaluation: three scoring scales were applied at ×40 objective,[10,11] as follows: score 0: none of the cells revealed positively for tumor marker stains 1score l: 10% of positive tumor cells (weak). 2score 2: <50% of positive cells (moderate). 3 score i3: ≥50% of positive cells (strong). p53 tissue evaluation: p53 nuclear protein expression scored according to: [12] score 0: 0–l0% positive staining of tumor cells considered negative staining; score l+: 11–25% i positive staining of tumor cells, mild or weak staining; score 2+: 26–50% positive staining of tumor cells, moderate staining; and score +3i: >50 positive staining of tumor cells, strong staining. results immunohistochemical expression of p53 and kras the present findings showed a highly significant difference in p53-positive rate between patients and control subjects (p < 0.001), table l. however, the result was limited to patients with colonic carcinoma (46%) whereas none of the control subjects exhibited a positive p53 expression (0%). the p53 ihc expression was detected as brown nuclear dots, as shown in figures l-3. the score of p53 was as follows: score l accounted for 2 (9%) of total positive cases; score 2 was seen in 18 (78%) of figure l: immunohistochemical section p53 expression in the form of brown nuclear stain score 1 (arrow). notice that <10% of the cells are stained (10×) figure 2: immunohistochemical section p53 expression in the form of brown nuclear stain score 2 (arrow). notice that around 10–50% of the cells are stained (10×) figure 3: immunohistochemical section p53 expression in the form of brown nuclear stain score 3 (arrow). notice that >50% of the cells are stained (10×) homady, et al.: immunohistochemical and molecular studies of p53 and kras protein 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 28-33 total positive cases; and score 3 was present in 3 (l3%) of total positive cases [figure 4]. the present results did not show any significant difference in the mean age of patients with positive p53 expression in comparison to patients with negative p53 expression. moreover, patients with rectosigmoid location showed the highest rate of p53 expression (53.33%). in addition, there was no significant association between the site of colonic tumor, stage or grade, and p53 expression. kras expression the immunohistochemical results were negative in all cases of colonic adenocarcinoma and there was not significant correlation between greyscale and stage of tumor (r = −0.l50, p > 0.05), [figure 5]. in addition, these findings did not show any significant differences in mean gray scale between patients with positive p53 expression and patients with negative p53 expression p53 genotype determined by pcr the rate of positivity for tp53 pro/pro genotype was more frequent in control than in patients’ groups and this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.00l), as shown in table 2. the risk was estimated by the use of odds ratio statistic which was 0.097 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.034–0.28l, this was due to odds ratio which is <l. pro/pro genotype would be considered protective against colorectal carcinoma with a preventive fraction of 0.767, as shown in figure 6. the rate of positivity for the p53 arg/arg genotype was more frequent in the patients group than in the control group and this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.019), as shown in table 3. risk was estimated by the use of adjusted odds ratio statistic which was 14.2 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.792–245.7 because odds ratio is >1. among these findings, the arg/arg genotype would be considered a risk factor for colorectal carcinoma. the etiologic fraction was not estimated because one of the cells contains zero counts, as shown in figure 7. these results did not reveal any significant association between arg/arg genotype, in patients group, and table 2: age and agnor in colorectal carcinoma patients in relation to pro/pro genotype pro/pro n mean sd p-value age negative 34 49.824 18.300 positive 16 54.875 12.366 0.323 total 50 51.440 16.674 agnor negative 34 6.097 0.817 positive 16 6.238 0.784 0.569 total 50 6.142 0.801 table 3: age and agnor in colorectal carcinoma patients in relation to arg/arg genotype arg/arg n mean sd p-value age negative 42 51.405 16.200 positive 8 51.625 20.220 0.973 total 50 51.440 16.674 agnor 42 6.088 0.737 negative positive 8 6.425 1.099 0.280 total 50 6.142 0.801 table 1: the rate of positive p53 ihc expression in control and patients groups p53 control colonic carcinoma no. % no. % positive 0 0 23 46 negative 35 l00 27 54 total 35 l00 50 l00 p<0.00l, corrected χ2=l9.803; df=i score 1 2 9% score 2 18 78% score3 3 13% figure 4: the proportions of p53 scores figure 5: the spearman correlation between gray scale intensity and stage homady, et al.: immunohistochemical and molecular studies of p53 and kras protein 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 28-33 clinicopathological parameters including age, gender, site of tumor, grade, stage, and agnor count. the rate of positivity for p53 arg/pro genotype was more frequent in patient groups than in control group and this difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001), as shown in table 4. value was estimated by the use of odds ratio statistic which was 5.236 with a 95% confidence interval of 1.852– 14.807 (odds ratio is >l). therefore, we can conclude that arg/pro genotype would be considered a risk factor for colorectal carcinoma (etiologic fraction was 0.657). evaluation of kras mutation using rflp-pcr colonic tissue obtained from all patients with colorectal carcinoma was proved to be negative for kras mutation by the use of the rflp-pcr technique. discussion role of immunohistochemical p53 expression in colorectal carcinoma the present study showed that p53 immunohistochemical expression was not correlated with grade or stage of tumor in patients with colorectal carcinoma. to explain that, one may suppose that p53 mutation is an early event in colorectal carcinoma and hence can be seen in low-grade, intermediategrade, and high-grade lesions and can be seen in all stages of disease.[13] another opinion is that p35 occurs very early in the progression of the tumor during time of conversion from adenoma to carcinoma, and hence, it will be a fixed mutation pattern in all grades and stages and eventually no association will be obtained between p53 mutation and grade of tumor and between p53 mutation and stage of the disease.[14] importantly, the absence of p53 expression in benign tumors indicated that p53 can be considered as a good marker for malignant colorectal tumors. however, and in harmony with several studies;[l3,14] this marker was not useful for the classification of the different histopathological grades and hence prognosis of the disease. the reported pattern of p53 expression in the different stages has been interpreted into different and sometimes contradicting directions. if we consider that only 50% of poorly differentiated tumors expressed p53, p53 might be correlated with poor outcome and bad prognosis. on the other hand, differences between the different histological grades were not significant abolishing the prognostic value of this marker. this might not be surprising if we know that several studies indicated that p53 nuclear staining does not always rule out the presence of mutated malfunctioned p53 protein.[15] menezes[14] studied 82 patients with colorectal carcinoma for the immunohistochemical expression of p53, bcl-2, and ki67 and concluded that there was no significant correlation between the expressions of these markers separately or in conjunction, table 4: arg/pro genotype in colorectal carcinoma patients and control group among this study there was no significant association between arg/pro genotype, in patients group, and clinicopathological parameters including age, gender, site of tumor, grade, stage, and agnor count arg/pro colonic carcinoma control p-value 95%ci no. % no. % odds ratio lower upper ef positive 26 52.00 6 17.14 negative 24 48.00 29 82.86 0.001 5.236 1.852 14.807 0.657 total 50 100.0 35 100.00 figure 6: pcr amplification of the tp53 codon 72 (electrophoresis in 2% agarose get) in 13 colorectal adenocarcinoma samples and control samples. lanes 1 and 10 markers, lanes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, and 13 positive for pro allele (177 bp). lanes 2, 8, 9, and 11 negative for pro allele. lanes 14 and 15 negative control figure 7: pcr amplification of the tp53 codon 72 (electrophoresis in 2% agarose get) in 13 colorecta1 adenocarcinoma samples and control samples. lane 1 and 10 markers, lanes 3, 5, 6, 12, and 14 positive for arg allele (141 bp). lanes 2, 4, 7, 8, and 9 negatives for arg allele. lanes 11, 13, and 15 negative control homady, et al.: immunohistochemical and molecular studies of p53 and kras protein 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 28-33 concerning the grade of tumor. asaad[16] conducted a study on the role of p53 and cyclin d1 in 41 patients with colorectal carcinoma and reported that p53 immunohistochemical expression was not correlated to grade or stage of tumor. another study conducted by malik[17] on 50 patients with colorectal carcinoma and found no association between grade of tumor and p53 mutation. it was reported that by ghavamnasiri,[18] there was no significant association between p53 protein expression and some common clinicopathologic variables such as age, gender, site of tumor, pathologic type, and stage of the disease. the lack of significance reported herein might indicate that the defensive role of p53 expression is accompanied by other pathways that define the prognosis and grade of the tumor. kras mutations, for example, were one of the targets which support that direction.[19] on the contrary, several works of literature had reported significant associations between p53 expression and grade and stage of tumor: [20,21] from the above discussion, one can conclude that the role of p53 as a prognostic factor in colorectal carcinoma is still controversial and need thorough investigation of the contrary to the proven fact of the prognostic value for p53 expression in several other solid tumors. role of agnor in colorectal carcinoma the present study showed that agnor score was significantly higher the patient group in comparison with the control one, and also, it was significantly correlated with the grade of tumor, being higher with less differentiated tumors. these findings can be attributed to the fact that malignant tumor cells are often characterized by aberrant chromatin patterns such as polyploidy and aneuploidy, and this abnormal chromatin pattern will be reflected in the form of high score nuclear organizing regions. arginine and proline genotype polymorphism in colorectal carcinoma the present study showed that pro/pro genotype was protective against colorectal carcinoma while arg/arg and arg/pro genotypes were risk factors for colorectal carcinoma, on the other hands, the present study failed to establish any significant correlation between above-mentioned genotypes and various clinicopathological characteristics of patients enrolled in the study. this may be attributed to the following suggestion: arg/arg genotype may be transcribed into less functioning or malfunctioning p53 protein and as it is well known that p53 is the guardian of the genome, the cell will be rendered liable for targeting by many mutagenic agents with the ultimate acquisition of the neoplastic phenotype. onrat[22] conducted a study on 35 patients with colorectal carcinoma and reported that individuals homozygous for the arg allele have a higher frequency than other alleles and that colon cancer may be related to arg allele frequency. dastjerdi[23] also studied tp53 gene polymorphism in iran and stated that a significant difference between cases and controls was found for the arginine/arginine genotype compared with (grouped) arginine/proline and proline/proline genotypes (odds ratio = 1.451 [1.002–2.103], p = 0.048) and that arginine/arginine genotype may be correlated with overexpression of p53 and increased risk for crc. these findings support the findings of the current study. in the present study, none of the tissue samples taken from the paraffin block of patients with colorectal carcinoma was positive for kras mutation. smith[24-26] stated the kras mutations were significantly more common in rectal than in colon tumors, indicating differences in the pathways of carcinogenesis in these tissues. p53 and kras mutations were rarely found together in the same tumor, suggesting different genetic pathways leading to tumor formation, a finding which strongly supported the finding of the present study. it was reported that the kras and p53 mutations rarely coexist in the same tumor,[27] indicating that these alterations do not represent a synergistic evolutionary pathway, again these findings are similar to the findings of the present study. conclusions from the achieved results of this study, we can conclude the following: p53 is an independent prognostic marker and be regarded as an early event in the pathogenesis of crc. the p53 and kras mutations are not found together in the same tumor and neither kras gene mutations nor its protein overexpression were detected in colorectal carcinoma. such findings necessitate the need for conducting a specific study focusing on kras genes expression and protein overexpression in colorectal carcinoma. references 1. e. r. fearon and b. vogelstein. a genetic model for colorectal tumorigenesis. cell vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 759-767, 1990. 2. a. russo, s. rizzo, g. bronte, n. silvestris, g. colucci, n. gebbia, v. bazan and f. fulfaro. the long and winding road to useful predictive factors for anti-egfr therapy in metastatic colorectal carcinoma: the kras/braf pathway. oncology, vol. 77, no. suppl 1, pp. 57-68, 2009. 3. f. coppedè, a. lopomo, r. spisni and l. migliore. genetic and epigenetic biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of colorectal cancer. world journal of gastroenterology, vol. 20, no. 4, p. 943, 2014. 4. b. leggett and v. whitehall. role of the serrated pathway in colorectal cancer pathogenesis. gastroenterology, vol. 138, no. 6, pp. 2088-2100, 2010. 5. w. jin, m. q. gao, z. w. lin and d. x. yang. multiple biomarkers of colorectal tumor in a differentia1 diagnosis model: a quantitative study. world journal of gastroenterology, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 439442, 2004. 6. s. d. markowitz and m. m. bertagnolli. molecular basis of colorectal cancer. new england journal of medicine, vol. 361, no. 25, pp. 2449-2460, 2009. 7. b. iacopetta. tp53 mutation in colorectal cancer. human mutation, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 271-276, 2003. 8. y. imamura, t. morikawa, x. liao, p. lochhead, a. kuchiba, m. yamauchi, z. r. qian, r. nishihara, j. a. meyerhardt, k. m. haigis, c. s. fuchs and s. ogino. specific mutations in kras codons 12 and 13, and patient prognosis in 1075 braf wild-type colorectal cancers. clinical cancer research, vol. 18, no. 17, pp. 4753-4763, 2012. 9. m. b. al-jubori. immunohisto chemical and molecular study of colorectal cancer patients. ph.d. thesis, college of science, kufa university, iraq, 2015. 10. p. uribe, l. andrade and s. gonzalez. lack of association between braf mutation and mapk erk activation in melanocytic nevi. homady, et al.: immunohistochemical and molecular studies of p53 and kras protein 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 28-33 journal of investigative dermatology, vol. 126, no. 1, pp. 161-166, 2006. 11. l. m. mcglynn, t. kirkegaard, j. edwards, s. tovey, d. cameron, c. twelves, j. m. s. bartlett and t. g. cooke. ras/raf-1/mapk pathway mediates response to tamoxifen but not chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. clinical cancer research, vol. 15, no. 4, 1487-1495, pp. 2009. 12. e. ioachim, m. c. michael, m. salmas, k. damala, e. tsanou, m. m. michael, v. malamou-mitsi and n. e. stavropoulos. thrombospondin-1 expression in urothelial carcinoma: prognostic significance and association with p53 alterations, tumour angiogenesis and extracellular matrix components. bmc cancer, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-8, 2006. 13. p. f. rambau, m. odida and h. wabinga. p53 expression in colorectal carcinoma in relation to histopathological features in ugandan patients. african health sciences, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 234238, pp. 2008. 14. h. l. de menezes, m. j. jucá, e. g. a. de gomes, b. l. nunes, h. o. costa and d. matos. analysis of the immunohistochemical expressions of p53, bcl-2 and ki-67 in colorectal adenocarcinoma and their correlations with the prognostic factors. arquivos de gastroenterologia, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 141-147, 2010. 15. s. strano, s. dell’orso, s. di agostino, g. fontemaggi, a. sacchi and g. blandino. mutant p53: an oncogenic transcription factor. oncogene, vol. 26, no. 15, pp. 2212-2219, 2007. 16. n. y. asaad, m. a. kandil and n. m. mokhtar. prognostic value of cyclin d1 and p53 protein in colorectal carcinoma. therapy, vol. 42, p. 48, 2000. 17. a. malik, r. n. mishra, b. fanthome, r. rao and s. r. patrikar. role of cd34, vascular endothelial growth factor, and p53 in neoangiogenesis as correlated with stage of disease in colorectal carcinoma. medical journal armed forces india, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 320-325, 2011. 18. n. mr. ghavam, t. m. seylanian, e. rezaei, k. ghafarzadegan and h. malekifard. expression of p53 in colorectal carcinoma: correlation with clinicopathologic features. vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 38-42, 2007. 19. a. conlin, g. smith, f. a. carey, c. r. wolf and r. j. c. steele. the prognostic significance of k-ras, p53, and apc mutations in colorectal carcinoma. gut, vol. 54, no. 9, pp. 1283-1286, 2005. 20. c. v. georgescu, a. saftoiu, c. c. georgescu, r. ciurea and t. ciurea. correlations of proliferation markers, p53 expression and histological findings in colorectal carcinoma. journal of gastrointestinal and liver diseases, vol. 16, no. 2, p. 133, 2007. 21. a. hegazy, s. a. daoud, w. s. ibrahim, k. el-atrebi, m. saker and n. abdel-wahab. role of ki-67, p53 and bcl-2 in advanced colorectal carcinoma (histopathological and immunohistochemical study). academic journal of cancer research, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 168-172. 2014. 22. s. t. onrat, e. ellidokuz, a. küpelioğlu and e. durhan. frequency of tp53 codon72 polymorphism in cases with colon cancer. turkish journal of cancer, vol. 39, no. 1, p. 72, 2009. 23. m. n. dastjerdi. tp53 codon 72 polymorphism and p53 protein expression in colorectal cancer specimens in isfahan. acta medica iranica, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 71-77, 2011. 24. g. smith, f. a. carey, j. beattie, m. j. v. wilkie, t. j. lightfoot, j. coxhead, r. c. garner, r. j. c. steele and c. r. wolf. mutations in apc, kirsten-ras, and p53-alternative genetic pathways to colorectal cancer. proceedings of the national academy of sciences, vol. 99, no. 14, pp. 9433-9438, 2002. 25. s. m. salama, i. a. a. ibrahim, n. shahzad, s. al-ghamdi, n. ayoub, a. s. alrashdi, m. a. abdulla, n. salehen and m. bilgen. hepatoprotectivity of panduratin a against liver damage: in vivo demonstration with a rat model of cirrhosis induced by thioacetamide. apmis, vol. 126, no. 9, pp. 710-721, 2018. 26. e. bagheri, k. saremi, f. hajiaghaalipour, f. l. faraj, h. m. ali, m. a. abdulla, s. l. khaing and n. salehen. synthesis of novel derivatives of quinazoline schiff base compound promotes epithelial wound healing. current pharmaceutical design, vol. 24, no. 13, pp. 1395-1404, 2018. 27. d. calistri, c. rengucci, i. seymour, a. lattuneddu, a. m. polifemo, f. monti, l. saragoni and d. amadori. mutation analysis of p53, k‐ras, and braf genes in colorectal cancer progression. journal of cellular physiology, vol. 204, no. 2, pp. 484-488, 2005. . 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 64-69 research article simulation-based evaluation of mobile ad hoc network routing protocols: ad hoc on-demand distance vector, fisheye state routing, and zone routing protocol mohamad t. sultan*, khaled n. yasen, ali q. saeed department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract mobile ad hoc network (manet) is an infrastructure-less and decentralized network without any physical connections. nodes are mobile, free to move, and independent of each other which makes routing a difficult task. hence, a dynamic routing protocol is needed to make manet reliable and function properly. several routing protocols have been proposed with different working mechanisms and performance levels. therefore, the performance study of those protocols is needed. this paper evaluates the performance of manet routing protocols using simulation based experiments to observe the behavior of the network as the density of the nodes increases. the paper evaluates the performance of proactive (fisheye state routing), reactive (ad hoc on-demand distance vector), and hybrid (zone routing protocol) routing protocols in terms of the packet delivery fraction, average throughput, and average end-to-end delay. the simulations of protocols to analyze their performance in different conditions were performed using the network simulator 2 (ns 2). keywords: mobile ad hoc network, routing protocols, wireless networks introduction today, mobile wireless networking is one of the most innovative topics in computer technologies.[1,2] there are two types of the wireless network. the first type is called an infrastructure network. in an infrastructure network, there exists a device called a base station and all mobile devices within the area will communicate with the base station. the base station, in turn, is connected to the wired network. the second type of wireless network is called the ad hoc network.[3] mobile ad hoc network (manet) is a set of nodes, which are able to link on a wireless medium forming an arbitrary and dynamic network. the ad hoc network which is also called infrastructure-less network is deployed in places where there is no availability of network infrastructure. the ad hoc network typically consists of nodes that are portable devices operating in a dynamically changing topology. the base station in such a network is not available. all the mobile devices connect and communicate with each other dynamically without the assistance of fixed devices. the wireless links are the means by which the mobile nodes get connected with each other in an arbitrary manner. in such network, all nodes play an important role in route discovery and maintenance, and at the same time, each mobile node acts as a router where it has the ability to forward data packets as necessary from the source to the destination. in wireless ad hoc network, the mobile nodes are free to leave and join the network at any time without any kind of restriction on their behavior. this is results in a rapid change in the network’s interconnections and topology.[4] manet has many features, and due to its flexibility, it has become suitable to be used in emergency rescue operations, military operations, and surveillance tasks. however, at the same time, it is not easy to handle the operation in the ad hoc networks because of the irregular change in the network’s structure. given this dynamically changing environment, links can become unreliable which creates further challenges for those ad hoc networks. this warrant the need for efficient routing protocol specially designed to handle the dynamic topology of manet. the main issue of routing protocols in manet is how to send data packets from one node to another when there is no direct link exists between the source and destination nodes. this resulted in many routing protocols being developed for manet; these protocols are implemented with some basic objectives. some of these protocols are suitable for limited network’s nodes, and some of them deal with high power consumption or low bandwidth or high error rate.[5] corresponding author: mohamad t. sultan, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mohamad.taha@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: mar 31, 2019 accepted: apr 21, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp64-69 copyright © 2019 mohamad t. sultan, khaled n. yasen, ali q. saeed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ sultan, et al.: simulation-based evaluation of mobile ad hoc network routing protocols: ad hoc on-demand distance vector, fisheye state routing, and zone routing protocol 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 64-69 the rest of the paper is organized as follows: section 2 describes the studied routing protocols, and section 3 gives the details of the simulation environment and the implementation of the routing protocols and the simulation setup used in this research. the simulation results are presented in section 4 and finally, in section 5, we conclude the paper and describe our future scope. the routing protocols in manet routing is a process to choose or to find a path from the source to the destination within the network.[6] the network routing is being used in numerous types of networks, such as electronic data, internet, and telephone networks. in the ad hoc networks, the concept of routing refers to the technique of choosing the correct path to deliver packets from the source to the destination. throughout the process of routing, there will be at least one intermediate node within the network is encountered. the two main activities that have to be mentioned about routing are how to determine the optimal path for routing and how to transfer the data packets throughout the network. moreover, manet routing protocols have to preserve the processing and communication time spent to the lowest possible, and these protocols have to adapt and get used to the unpredictable sudden changes in the network topology. routing protocols in manet can generally be categorized into three approaches, namely, (a) table-driven routing protocols (proactive), (b) on-demand routing protocols (reactive), and (c) hybrid routing protocols.[7] this is shown in figure 2. table 1 presents a categorization of manet routing protocols studied in this research. in the following sub-sections, the three different routing approaches will be discussed. proactive routing protocols in the proactive routing protocols, each node maintains routing information for every other node in the network. the routing information is often sheltered in a number of different routing tables.[7] the tables must be updated as the network topology is changing dynamically. the routing protocol adapts to the sudden changes in topology by broadcasting network updates whenever changes occur. fisheye state routing (fsr), destination sequence distance vector, and optimized link state routing are examples of proactive routing protocols.[8] fsr the fsr protocol[9] is one of the table-driven routing protocols based on link state routing algorithm and uses a hierarchical routing scheme. the mobile nodes refresh the information about the destinations by repeatedly update their routing tables. the main aim of the fisheye approach is to decrease the volume of the information required to represent data using the fisheye technique. the link state packets in the fsr are not flooded. instead, there will be a link state table maintained by the mobile nodes based on the updated information received from neighboring nodes, and this table is exchanged periodically only with their local neighbors without any flooding.[8,9] the fisheye routing is able to see objects when they are close to its focal point in a better way rather than seeing these objects when they are far which means each node keeps precise data about near neighborhood nodes and not so precise data (less detail) about the nodes which are not near or distant. the scope of fisheye is described as a group of nodes which might be reached within a specified number of hops. the fsr has the ability to minimize the bandwidth used to transmit link state update packets between surrounding nodes, and it attempts to decrease the size of the message belongs to topology information because of the exclusion of topology information about far nodes.[9] figure 3 below illustrates how the fisheye technique is applied to a manet. in figure 3, three scopes of fisheye routing are defined with regard to node number 11 which is the focal point. a group of nodes for each scope is defined which can be reached using a particular number of hops. the fsr has the ability to minimize the bandwidth used to transmit link state update packets between surrounding nodes, and it attempts to decrease the size of the message belongs to topology information because of the exclusion of topology information about far nodes. figure 1: example of mobile ad hoc network figure 2: mobile ad hoc network protocols table 1: categorization of manet routing protocols selected manet routing protocols table-driven routing protocols (proactive) on-demand routing protocols (reactive) hybrid routing protocols fisheye state routing ad hoc on-demand distance vector zone routing protocol manet: mobile ad hoc network sultan, et al.: simulation-based evaluation of mobile ad hoc network routing protocols: ad hoc on-demand distance vector, fisheye state routing, and zone routing protocol 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 64-69 reactive routing protocols the on-demand or reactive routing approach is the second and most prominent category of routing protocols in manet. these routing protocols choose routes to other nodes only when they are needed. when a node in the network wants to communicate with another node, a route discovery process is launched. the route discovery process helps the communicating nodes to collect routing information to find the best possible path between the source and destination inside the network. the ad hoc on-demand distance vector (aodv), dynamic source routing, and the temporally ordered routing algorithm are the examples of reactive routing protocols.[8] aodv aodv is a reactive protocol.[10] it uses the hop-by-hop methodology for routing the data. nodes in aodv maintain a route which includes only the next hop routing information for the destination nodes. in aodv, only the active network routes are maintained. when there is a route needed in the network, aodv will execute a route discovery process to find the route to the desired destination. as soon as a route is generated in the network, it is maintained as long as it is still needed using a route maintenance process. the routing information in aodv routing protocol is preserved in routing tables at the mobile nodes. one characteristic of aodv is that it aids nodes in the network by responding quickly to any change in topology and to link failure, and this protocol works in loop-free manner. there are three different types of messages used in aodv which are the route request (rreq), route reply (rrep), and route error (rerr).[11] using those main routing messages, aodv organizes its work as an on-demand routing protocol in ad hoc networks. in case a mobile node in the ad hoc network demands to communicate with another node, it first searches through its existing routing information for a valid route to the other node. if one route is present there the node uses that existing route for communicating with the destination node. otherwise, the node broadcasts a rreq message to its neighbor’s nodes throughout the network to discover a route to the destination. this rreq message contains information such as the ip address of the source and destination nodes, current sequence number, broadcast id, and latest sequence number for the destination known to the source node. then, the intermediate nodes start forwarding the rreq. when the nodes which are either a destination node or one of the intermediate nodes receive the request, it establishes a rrep which includes information that the source node needs with the valid route. if in case any problem happens in the network or link failure is discovered, the protocol will initiate a rerr message. this message will be sent throughout the network with a list of all unreachable destinations.[12] figure 4 represents a rreq broadcast in aodv routing protocol. hybrid routing protocols the hybrid approach in manet is very popular and over time has gained a wide-spread acceptance and applied in various ad hoc networks.[13] in the hybrid approach, the route starts with a simple proactive mode but later uses the reactive flooding to support the request from the mobile nodes in the network. hybrid routing tries to offer a way to minimize the inefficiencies of manet routing. however, the performance evaluation and the implementation in practical conditions of the hybrid routing are still an on-going process. the network in the hybrid routing approach is initially divided into different zones to reduce overhead. the proactive approach is applied when routing to another node in the same zone or when nodes communicate with their neighbors while the use of reactive routing approach is mainly for the purpose of routing to far distance nodes which are located outside the zone area. the hybrid protocols are designed to conform and adapt to any random arbitrary ad hoc network. the most popular protocol that falls under this category is the zone routing protocol (zrp).[14,15] zrp zrp is a proactive or reactive protocol (hybrid routing) that divides the network into zones.[15] zrp tries to address the problems of the proactive and reactive routing by exploiting the preferable properties and eliminate the weaknesses of both approaches. zrp takes advantage of proactive detection within a node’s local neighborhood and applying a reactive protocol for the contact between these neighborhoods. the proactive one that controls and monitors the local zones which are used within routing zones is called intra-zrp (iarp), and the reactive one that controls and monitors the global zones which are used between the routing zones is called inter-zrp (ierp). in the case when the source and destination happen to be in the same zone, the data packets can be transferred directly. this happens because the establishment of a path to a figure 3: fisheye scope figure 4: route request broadcast sultan, et al.: simulation-based evaluation of mobile ad hoc network routing protocols: ad hoc on-demand distance vector, fisheye state routing, and zone routing protocol 67 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 64-69 target node inside the local zone can be done using the stored routing table of the source by iarp. nearly, all of the current proactive systems can be applied as iarp in zrp. the process of determining and finding a route occurs reactively for routes which may be located out of the range of a specific local zone. this happens when the source node initiates a request message to the border nodes of the zone. the message carries the source node’s address, the destination node’s address, and a special sequence number. the borders investigate their local zone for the target to check its availability. if the destination is not available or not found, the node tags to the request packet the current address that it possesses and sends that packet to its borders again as this target is not a member of the current local zone. if it happens that the target node is available and found, it sends back a rrep on the reverse direction to the source as this target is a member of the current local zone. the origin node benefits from the path kept in the reply packet to transfer data packets to the target. simulation setup mobility model the mobility model must attempt to mimic the actions and movements of real mobile nodes. for this research study, the selected mobility model is the random waypoint mobility model which is one of the most widely used mobility models among the research community.[16] this mobility model can highly represent the actions and movements of real mobile nodes in real conditions. simulation parameters in the simulation, various parameters have been defined to analyze the comparative performance of proactive fsr, reactive aodv, and hybrid zrp routing protocols. the configured simulations parameters are shown in table 2. ns-2 simulator the network simulator (ns2) is a discrete-event driven simulation software developed as part of the vint project at the university of california in berkeley and targeted for network simulation.[17] the ns2 simulation project is mainly funded and supported by darpa in cooperation with xerox palo alto research center and lawrence berkeley national laboratory. among networking community, the performance of ns2 as a simulator is greatly trusted and it is an effective standard in simulations. performance metrics to study the routing protocols (aodv, fsr, and zrp), we selected three performance metrics for evaluation which are, packet delivery fraction, average end-to-end delay, and average throughput. packet delivery fraction the packet delivery fraction is known as the ratio of successfully delivered data packets to destination nodes over the total number of data packets produced for those destinations. the packet loss ratio is defined as the packet delivery fraction. average end-to-end delay the average delay in transmission of a data packet between two nodes from a source to destination in the network is known as the average end-to-end delay. this indicates the time that a data packet utilizes to move from the source node to the application layer of the destination node. average throughput the throughput of the network denotes the average rate of successful message delivery over a communication channel. it is the average number of packets successfully obtained their destinations per unit time. the throughput is usually measured in bits per second (bit/s or bps). simulation results this research consists of three main experiments that have been conducted for the aim of an effective evaluation study regarding three different protocols of manet networks under different environmental conditions by the varying the number of nodes. the results after simulation are viewed in figures. packet delivery fraction figure 5 shows the comparison between the simulated routing protocols (fsr, aodv, and zrp) on the basis of packet delivery fraction as an evaluation metric. from the results in figure 5, it can simply be noticed that almost all routing protocols performed relatively well in small mnaet, less number of nodes (20 nodes). this due to the fact that only a few hops need to be taken by the packets to reach the destination node. it can also be observed that as the manet size grows more and the scenario become more stressful, all routing protocols experience lower performance. however, the reactive routing protocol (aodv) has performed better and table 2: simulations parameters simulation parameters parameters values platform linux (ubuntu) 10.04 simulation tool network simulator 2 routing protocols fsr, aodv, zone routing protocol pause time 10 s experiment duration 200 s number of nodes 20, 40, 60 traffic model constant bit rate packet size 512 bytes packet rate 2 packets/s area 500 m×500 m maximum speed 20 m/s mobility model random waypoint mac layer protocol ieee 802.11b antenna type antenna/omni antenna sultan, et al.: simulation-based evaluation of mobile ad hoc network routing protocols: ad hoc on-demand distance vector, fisheye state routing, and zone routing protocol 68 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 64-69 delivered more packets than the proactive (fsr) and hybrid (zrp) counterparts. it can be noticed that the performance of the aodv routing protocol decreases only slightly with an increase in manet size. this is due to the behavior of reactive protocols which always try to guarantee that the packets will be delivered to the destination even if that may cause some delays. therefore, it is the most appropriate consideration for a network if data delivery is of the highest consideration. average end-to-end delay figure 6 shows the simulation results of the average end-to-end delay in milliseconds. the simulation results indicate that all routing protocols experience higher delay values as the number of wireless nodes or network size grows. this is due to the fact that when manet size grows; there will be more broken routes. as those routes break, nodes have to discover new routes which make it possible to have longer end-to-end delays. according to simulation results, the proactive fsr routing protocol has performed well having the lowest end-to-end delay compared to other protocols in this simulation scenario. the reason behind that could be due to the proactive nature of the fsr where the routes for all the destinations are preserved in routing tables and there is no need to initiate the rreq procedure more frequently. therefore, it has less network delay. the performance of the reactive routing protocol (aodv) is almost uniform in this simulation scenario. the results also indicate that the zrp routing protocol did not perform well. it has higher values of average end-to-end delay, especially with a higher number of nodes. average throughput figure 7 illustrates the average throughput results of the comparison between the three simulated routing protocols (fsr, aodv, and zrp). in this scenario, a significant difference in throughput can be observed. this is because of the increase in the number of mobile nodes which results in higher load in the network. the on-demand reactive aodv routing protocol has achieved a higher throughput compared to other protocols. the throughput of aodv seems to be more stable and consistent as the number of nodes increases. among the three routing protocols, fsr has the worst performance. the performance of fsr degrades with a higher number of nodes and it can be noticed that fsr is nowhere near the other protocols in terms of consistency. overall, it can be claimed that the best performance achieved is by aodv closely followed by zrp routing protocol. conclusion manet is an infrastructure-less network with a dynamic nature. nodes are mobile and independent of each which triggers the need for a reliable routing protocol to make the network function properly. several routing protocols have been developed by a researcher, yet choosing a reliable protocol could be a challenging task. this research, study the performance of proactive routing mechanism in manet and compare it with the reactive and hybrid counterparts, to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each of these mechanisms. this study indicates that the routing protocols play a prominent role in developing better communication between nodes in the network. it observed generally that increasing number of nodes results in decline in performance for all routing protocols. according to our simulation results, the reactive routing protocol (aodv) has demonstrated the first best performance and outperformed fsr and zrp in terms of packet delivery fraction and average throughput, figure 5: packet delivery fraction versus number of nodes figure 6: average end to end delay versus number of nodes figure 7: average throughput versus number of nodes sultan, et al.: simulation-based evaluation of mobile ad hoc network routing protocols: ad hoc on-demand distance vector, fisheye state routing, and zone routing protocol 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 64-69 while the hybrid routing protocol zrp has presented an overall average performance except it has suffered from delays, especially under a high number of nodes scenario. fsr has shown the lowest end-to-end delay as a proactive routing protocol. thus, in cases where the delay is a major concern in the ad hoc network, this table-driven protocol could be a good compromise. however, fsr performance in terms of packet delivery fraction and throughput was poor. for future works, other aspects of routing protocols in manet such as privacy and security will be considered. references 1. n. sze-yao, t. yu-chee, c. yuh-shyan and s. jang-ping. “the broadcast storm problem in a mobile ad hoc network”. proceedings of the 5th annual acm/ieee international conference on mobile computing and networking. acm, 1999. 2. s. t. mohamad and k. n. yasen. “homomorphic encryption implementation to ensure data security in cloud computing.” journal of theoretical and applied information technology, vol. 96, no. 7, pp. 1826-1836, 2018. 3. k. young-bae and n. h. vaidya. “location-aided routing (lar) in mobile ad hoc networks.” wireless networks vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 307-321, 2000. 4. u. muhammad, m.a. jan, x. he and p. nanda. “qasec: a secured data communication scheme for mobile ad-hoc networks”. future generation computer systems, vol. 93, pp. 737-750, 2018. 5. a. mehran, t. wysocki and e. dutkiewicz. “a review of routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks.” ad hoc networks, vol. 2, no. 1, 1-22, 2004. 6. r. stefano, k. krużelecki, g. heitz, d. floreano and b. rimoldi. “dynamic routing for flying ad hoc networks.” ieee transactions on vehicular technology, vol. 65, no. 3, pp. 1690-1700, 2016. 7. h. alex, m. ngulube, s. zhu and h. al-aqrab. “a review of routing protocols for mobile ad-hoc networks (manet)”. international journal of information and education technology, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 1, 2013. 8. m. shima, r. hassan, a. patel and r. razal. “comparative review study of reactive and proactive routing protocols in manets”. 4th ieee international conference on digital ecosystems and technologies, 2010. 9. p. guangyu, m. gerla and t.w. chen. “fisheye state routing: a routing scheme for ad hoc wireless networks.” vol. 1. 2000 ieee international conference on communications. icc 2000. global convergence through communications. conference record, 2000. 10. p. charles, e. belding-royer and s. das. “ad hoc on-demand distance vector (aodv) routing”. no. rfc 3561. document, 2003. 11. g. prakhar, p. gole, p. varshney and n. tyagi. “reliability factor based aodv protocol: prevention of black hole attack in manet”. smart innovations in communication and computational sciences. singapore: springer, 2019, pp. 271-279. 12. s. a. rashid, m. s. alkatheiri, s. anamalamudi and j. liu. “cognitive aodv routing protocol with novel channel-route failure detection”. multimedia tools and applications, vol. 2019, pp. 1-18, 2019. 13. b. m. lubdha, r. l. jain and g. d. patil. “study of various routing protocols in mobile ad-hoc networks”. international journal of scientific research in network security and communication, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-5, 2018. 14. y. xueqin, q. chen, c. chen and j. zhao. “improved zrp routing protocol based on clustering”. procedia computer science, vol. 131, pp. 992-1000, 2018. 15. h. j. zygmunt, m. r. pearlman and p. samar. “the zone routing protocol (zrp) for ad hoc networks”. working group, 2002. 16. b. christian, g. resta and p. santi. “the node distribution of the random waypoint mobility model for wireless ad hoc networks”. ieee transactions on mobile computing vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 257-269, 2003. 17. i. teerawat and e. hossain. “introduction to network simulator 2 (ns2)”. introduction to network simulator ns2. boston, ma: springer, 2009, pp. 1-18. . 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 57-61 research article radish juice promote kidney stone deposition in ethylene glycol-induced urolithiasis in rats falah m. aziz1*, dlshad h. hassan2 1department of biology, college of science, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, iraq, 2department of biology, faculty of science, soran university, soran, iraq abstract urolithiasis is a well-known problem that stones could form in various parts of the urinary system and it is the most common disease of the urinary tract. the current study was planned to investigate the effect of radish juice on ethylene glycol (eg)-induced urolithiasis. twenty-one rats randomly divided into three groups. the first group was the control group was received normal standard diet and drinking water and the second group represented the model group received 0.75% eg in drinking water ad libitum. the third group received radish juice (2 ml/kg of body weight) by gavage plus eg (0.75%) in drinking water ad libitum. the experiment was conducted for 28 days. the light microscope examination revealed a disturbed histological architecture of the kidney tissues, including dilated renal tubules, aggregation of infiltrated leukocytes inflammatory cells, and crystal deposition in the model group. the eg plus radish juice treated rats showed higher crystal density with improved renal tubule structure and alleviated inflammation. both treated groups showed various biochemical alterations compared to control group, but the most interest biochemical result was the significant decrease of malondialdehyde, a lipid peroxidation marker, and in the radish plus eg group compared to the eg group. scanning electron microscopy showed clear structural detail about calcium oxalate crystals in which radish-treated group showed higher crystal deposition and calcified tissue compared to eg group. the present study concluded that radish juice promotes stone deposition but exerted an antioxidant effect. keywords: ethylene glycol, kidneystone, radis, urolithiasis introduction urolithiasis is a well-known problem that stones could form in various parts of the urinary system.[1] mankind has been afflicted by urinary stones for centuries dating back to 4000 b.c. and it is the most common disease of the urinary tract.[2] urolithiasis affects about 12% of the world population at some stage in their lifetime.[3] urolithiasis is a complex process that occurs due to imbalance between promoters and inhibitors.[4] the chemicals that can promote stone formation are calcium, sodium, oxalate, urate, and cystine, while magnesium, citrate, and pyrophosphate can inhibit the urolithiasis process.[5] calcium containing stones are the most common renal stones with a percentage of 80% of cases.[6] the process of stone formation begins with supersaturation that is the driving force for crystallization in solutions like urine.[7] as a result of supersaturation, solutes precipitate in urine leads to nucleation and then crystal growth. crystallization happens when chemical concentrations exceed their point of saturation.[8] then after, small hard mass of crystals sticks to each other to form a larger stone that is called crystal aggregation.[7] plants such as oxalis corniculata,[9] phyllanthus niruri,[10] bergenia ligulate,[11] corresponding author: falah m. aziz, department of biology, college of science, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, iraq. e-mail falah.aziz@su.edu.krd received: apr 23, 2019 accepted: apr 25, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp57-61 copyright © 2020 falah m. aziz, dlshad h. hassan. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) and nigella sativa[12] have been used as a remedy for renal calculi. radish (raphanus sativus) is a member of the family cruciferae. this family consists of annual, biennial, or perennial herbs with pungent oils in the sap. there are about 380c genera and about 3000 species.[13] varieties of radish are now broadly distributed around the world, but there are almost no archeological records available to determine its early history and domestication.[14] radish has been shown medicinal benefits such as gastroprotective effects[15] as a remedy for diabetes treatment[16] and antimicrobial activity.[17] the present study has been designed to evaluation of protective effect of radish juice on renal stone. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ aziz and hassan: radish juice promote kidney stone deposition 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 57-61 materials and methods experimental animals and radish juice preparation for conducting this experiment, 21 mature male rats were bred under standard animal house conditions. for radish juice preparation, radish obtained from local market in erbil city, systematic identity confirmed in college of science/ salahaddin university, washed, cut to small pieces, and homogenized then filtered by gauze. the rats were divided randomly into three groups; each group consisted of seven rats per cage group 1, control, the rats of this group were given standard rat chow and tap water for 28 days. group 2, ethylene glycol (eg)-induced urolithiasis model. the rats of this group were given standard rat chow and eg (0.75%) in drinking water ad libitum for 28 days. group 3, radish, the rats received standard rat chaw, radish juice (2 ml/kg of body weight) by gavage, and 0.75% eg in drinking water ad libitum for 28 days. the animals were anesthetized by intraperitoneal injection of combination ketamine hydrochloride 80 mg/kg (trittau, germany) and xylazine 12 mg/kg (interchem, holland). after sacrification, kidneys removed then fixed in desired fixative according to the type of microscopical preparation. kidney weight recording both kidneys have removed, weighted, and expressed as gram per 100 g of body weight. urine flow animals remained in urine collector and urine was collected for 24 h then urine flow measured as ml/h/kg. fluid intake fluid intake recorded every 4 days during the experiment. blood collection at the end of the treatment period, blood samples were collected from all anesthetized rats of four groups through cardiac puncture in which the collected blood samples were immediately placed into gel tube for serum collection, later were centrifuged (hettich d-78532/germany) at 3000 rpm for 15 min. the sera were stored at −80°c (sanyo – ultra-low temperature, japan) until assayed. serum urea determination urine and serum urea was determined by urea kit (biolabo, france). enzymatic and colorimetric method of urea determination is based on hydrolysis of urea to ammonium and carbon dioxide by urease. ammonium reacts with chloride and salicylate and makes a blue-green complex that is proportional to urea concentration and measured at 600 nm. estimation of creatinine and glomerular filtration rate serum-urine creatinine was determined spectrophotometrically using biolabo kit (france). figure 1: left (a) and right (b) kidney weight per 100 g of body weight. different letters on bars mean significant change and the same letters means no significant change figure 2: fluid intake (a) and urine flow (b) of control and ethylene glycol treated groups. different letters on bars mean significant change and the same letters means no significant change a b a b aziz and hassan: radish juice promote kidney stone deposition 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 57-61 figure 4: level of tissue malondialdehyde in control, model, and ethylene glycol +radish treated groups. different letters on bars mean significant change and the same letters means no significant change creatinine reacts with picrate to form a colored complex in alkaline solution. absorbency of samples was read at 500 nm. determination of kidney tissue malondialdehyde (mda) the right kidney of each rat was washed in ice-cold normal saline solution then homogenized in 20 mm phosphate buffer (ph = 7.4; tissue/buffer ratio, 1/10 w/v) by handheld glass homogenizer (chowdhury et al., 2013). homogenates were centrifuged at 4000 g at 4°c for 10 min (beckman j2-21). the supernatants were collected and stored at −8°c until assayed. mda level was estimated according to method of kartha and krishnamurthy (kartha and krishnamurthy, 1978). 1 ml of tissue homogenate was added to 20% trichloroacetic acid. after centrifugation for 10 min, 2 ml of supernatant was taken in a test tube and 2 ml of 0.7% thiobarbituric acid was added to each tube and kept it in the boiling water bath for 20 min. the development of pink color was measured at 535 nm and mda concentration was calculated by the following equation: mda nmol/g of tissue = absorbance at 535 nm×d/ (l×eo) l: lightpath (1 cm) e o: extinction coefficient 1.56×105 m−1.cm−1 d: dilution factor. light microscopy kidneys were removed from the anesthetized animals, immediately fixed in bouin’s solution for 24 h followed by dehydration using a series of ethanol in ascending concentrations (50%, 70%, 95%, and 100%), then immersed in xylene for clearing process, infiltrated with paraffin wax, and embedded in paraffin wax. 5 µm thick paraffin sections were obtained using rotary microtome (bright, mic) and stained by hematoxylin and eosin. the specimens were examined and photographed under light microscope (digital binocular compound microscope ×40–×2000, built-in 3mp usb camera). figure 3: serum creatinine (a) and serum urea (b) of control and ethylene glycol treated groups. different letters on bars mean significant change and the same letters means no significant change a b figure 5: kidney sections of control group (a) show normal appearance(g): glomerulus.×400. hematoxylin and eosin (h&e). (b) kidney sections of model group (b) show a lot of crystal deposition (c) ×400. h&e. kidney section of radish treated group (c and d) shown inflammatory cells and crystal deposition (c) ×400. h&e a b c d aziz and hassan: radish juice promote kidney stone deposition 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 57-61 radish group leading to more kidney damage, this may explain the higher serum urea noticed in this group in comparison to the control group. furthermore, urea is by product of protein metabolism and this rising in serum urea may return to the fact that radish itself contain total protein of 6.5%.[22] as shown in figure 4, the level of mda in model group raised when compared with control group while there was no significant difference between control and radish treated group. mda is by product of lipid peroxidation and is used as marker for this process and oxidative stress induced by eg through elevating mda level confirmed previous findings.[23,24] under hyperoxaluria, oxalate reacts with polyunsaturated fatty acid in cell membrane[25] and make damage. calcium oxalate which induced oxidative stress can help crystal attachment to epithelial cells of nephrons (cellcrystal attachment).[26] radish juice succeeded in lowering the mda level compared with eg group and it may be due to the antioxidant contents of radish since it has been found to contain phenolic compounds and ascorbic acid.[27] paraffin sections of kidney belong to control group (figure 5a) show normal and healthy appearance. kidney sections of model group have shown crystal deposition and dilated tubules [figure 5b] that is match with finding of the previous study.[28] inflammatory cells (ic) accumulation also observed that is maybe due to ability of calcium oxalate to triggering immune system.[29] oxalate, the major stone-forming constituent, has been reported to induce lipid peroxidation and causes tissue damage by reacting with polyunsaturated fatty acids in cell membrane.[23] on the other hand, some investigations say that lipid peroxidation is not the underlying cause of renal injury in hyperoxaluric rats.[30] paraffin section through the kidney of eg + radish juice treated rats has shown more quantity of crystal deposited in lumen of kidney tubules [figure 5d] and a lot of inflammatory leucocytes were observed in kidney tissues [figure 5c]. radish has been found to contain four major oxalic, malic, malonic, and erythroic acid.[31] oxalic acid itself is one of the promoters of renal stone formation. despite promoter activity of oxalic acid, total acidity of these four acids may decrease urine ph and makes a favor environment for calcium oxalate crystals. scanning electron microscopy showed the three-dimensional image of crystals more clearly in comparison to other techniques. the kidneys in the control group were appeared with normal and healthy structure having no crystals [figure 6a]. clear large electron microscopy scanning electron microscopy was done at the university of niece, france. kidneys were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1m cacodylate buffer ph 7.2–7.4. after washing dehydrated in ethanol (50%, 70%, 85%, 100%, and 100%), the samples were put in desiccator for air drying; after mounting, they were coated by coater machine with gold and then examined by scanning electron microscope (sem). statistical analysis data entry was done by microsoft excel 2010 and analyzed statistically by one-way analysis of variance using graphpad prism version 6.01 and spss version 20 and data expressed as mean ± standard error. newman–keuls tests were chosen as post hoc tests. results and discussion as shown in figure 1, both the left and right kidneys weight in model and radish-treated group increased significantly when compared with control group. although many cells may degenerate in response to eg toxicity or to the formation and presence of crystals in the kidney, the increase in kidney weight in eg and eg-treated plant juice was expected at least due to the presence of renal crystals.[18] fluid intake [figure 2a] in eg and radish-treated groups elevated in compare of control group. increasing fluid intake in eg-induced group maybe return to sweet taste of eg[19] or nephron damage that could not reabsorb glomerular filtrate again. as illustrated in figure 2b, urine flow in model group increased significantly when compared to control group; however, there is no statistical difference between model and radish-treated group. with respect of serum creatinine, figure 3a shows significant raising in eg and radish-treated groups when compared to control group, while there is no statistical difference between both eg-treated groups. the elevation of serum creatinine may be due to renal tubules obstructions.[20] figure 3b revealed that there was no statistical difference of serum urea between control and model group and between model and radish treated group but serum urea elevated in radish group when compared to control group. increasing of serum urea is related to the level of nephron injury[21] and since more crystals were deposited in the kidney of eg plus figure 6: scanning electron microscopy of kidney (a) control group showing normal appearance (b) ethylene glycol (eg)-treated group showing crystal deposition (white arrow) and calcified tissue (blue arrow). (c) eg + radish treated group showing more crystal deposition (white arrow) and calcified tissue (elbow arrow) a b c aziz and hassan: radish juice promote kidney stone deposition 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 57-61 crystals were revealed in the kidney tissue of eg-treated rats [figure 6b]. sem of rat kidneys belong to eg + radish juice treated group showed crystals deposition in wide distribution and in the most area, the tissue appeared calcified [figure 6c]. conclusion radish treated group has shown more crystal deposition, damage, and ic in compare to model; however, radish juice decreased mda level significantly. radish juice could not improve the state of experimental rats in kidney weight, renal function tests, and fluid intake. acknowledgment the authors would like to appreciate mr. sarwan barzani for his supports and the assistance of miss chnar najmaddin in light and electron microscopy preparation. references 1. k. kaczmarek, a. 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sharma, w. khan, r. parveen, m. j. alam, i. ahmad, m. h. ansari and s. ahmad. “antiurolithiasis activity of bioactivity guided fraction of bergenia ligulata against ethylene glycol induced renal calculi in rat”. biomed research international, vol. 2017, p. 1-11, 2017. 12. p. hayatdavoudi, a. k. rad, z. rajaei and m. a. r. hadjzadeh. “renal injury, nephrolithiasis and nigella sativa: a mini review”. avicenna journal of phytomedicine, vol. 6, p. 1, 2016. 13. j. glimn-lacy and p. b. kaufman. “botany illustrated: introduction to plants, major groups, flowering plant families”. new york: springer science and business media, 2006. 14. d. zohary, m. hopf and e. weiss. “domestication of plants in the old world: the origin and spread of domesticated plants in southwest asia, europe, and the mediterranean basin”. oxford: university press on demand, 2012. 15. s. alqasoumi, m. al-yahya, t. al-howiriny and s. rafatullah. “gastroprotective effect of radish raphanus sativus l. on experimental gastric ulcer models in rats”. farmacia, vol. 56, p. 204, 2008. 16. s. a. banihani. “radish (raphanus sativus) and diabetes”. nutrients, vol. 9, p. 1014, 2017. 17. s. s. beevi, l. n. mangamoori, v. dhand and d. s. ramakrishna. “isothiocyanate profile and selective antibacterial activity of root, stem, and leaf extracts derived from raphanus sativus l”. foodborne pathogens and disease, vol. 6, pp. 129-136, 2009. 18. l. m. besenhofer, m. c. cain, c. dunning and k. e. mcmartin. “aluminum citrate prevents renal injury from calcium oxalate crystal deposition”. journal of the american society of nephrology, vol. 23, pp. 2024-2033, 2012. 19. j. brent. “current management of ethylene glycol poisoning”. drugs, vol. 61, pp. 979-988, 2001. 20. h. han, a. m. segal, j. l. seifter and j. t. dwyer. “nutritional management of kidney stones (nephrolithiasis)”. clinical nutrition research, vol. 4, pp. 137-152, 2015. 21. j. ran, j. ma, y. liu, r. tan, h. liu and g. lao. “low protein diet inhibits uric acid 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park, m. linnes, h. j. han, j. h. kim, j. c. lieske and s. h. kim. “gallotannin suppresses calcium oxalate crystal binding and oxalate-induced oxidative stress in renal epithelial cells”. biological and pharmaceutical bulletin, vol. 35, pp. 539-544, 2012. 27. r. goyeneche, s. roura, a. ponce, a. vega-gálvez, i. quispefuentes, e. uribe and k. di scala. “chemical characterization and antioxidant capacity of red radish (raphanus sativus l.) leaves and roots”. journal of functional foods, vol. 16, pp. 256-264, 2015. 28. d. h. hassan and f. m. aziz. “histological and ultrastructural study on the effect of celery juice on ethylene glycol induced urolithiasis in male albino rats”. zanco journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 29, pp. 1-12, 2017. 29. s. r. mulay, o. p. kulkarni, k. v. rupanagudi, a. migliorini, m. n. darisipudi, a. vilaysane, d. muruve, y. shi, f. munro and h. liapis. “calcium oxalate crystals induce renal inflammation by nlrp3-mediated il-1β secretion”. the journal of clinical investigation, vol. 123, pp. 236-246, 2012. 30. m. l. green, r. w. freel and m. hatch. “lipid peroxidation is not the underlying cause of renal injury in hyperoxaluric rats”. kidney international, vol. 68, pp. 2629-2638, 2005. 31. r. m. p. gutiérrez and r. l. perez. “raphanus sativus (radish): their chemistry and biology”. the scientific world journal, vol. 4, pp. 811-837, 2004. . 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 7-12 research article characterization of lactobacillus isolates from human mouth and feces as probiotics wala’a sh. ali*, aya t. abdulameer reza department of biology, college of science, university of baghdad, baghdad, iraq abstract probiotics are live microbes that give many health benefits to human beings and animals, the most studied and commonly used probiotics are gram-positive bacteria; lactobacilli and bifidobacteria. at nowadays, lactobacillus spp. constitute more than two-thirds of the total numbers of probiotic species. the present study aimed to characterize lactobacillus that locally isolated from human mouth and feces as probiotics. a total of three lactobacillus isolates; lactobacillus fermentum lb2, lactobacillus rhamnosus lb9, and lactobacillus paracasei lb10 were investigated in respect to acid and bile salts tolerance, antibiotics susceptibility, and cell surface hydrophobicity in vitro using bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbons method. in comparison with the other two isolates, the isolate l. fermentum lb2 was able to grow in all ph values and in the presence of different concentrations of bile salts. antibiotics susceptibility profile showed that the tested lactobacillus isolates were sensitive to ampicillin, amoxicillin, and erythromycin, while they were resistant to the other antibiotics that used in this study. l. fermentum lb2 exhibited high surface hydrophobicity (77.26%), while the other tested isolates; l. rhamnosus lb9 and l. paracasei lb10 revealed moderate adhesion abilities, 68.56% and 65%, respectively. l. fermentum lb2 exhibited good probiotic behavior with respect to acid and bile salt tolerance as well as adhesion ability to hydrocarbons. keywords: acid and bile salt tolerance, cell surface hydrophobicity, lactobacillus, probiotic introduction the attention of probiotic as an effective approach to prevent and treat a wide range of diseases is observed in recent years.[1] the term probiotic consists of two words which are pro, means for, and biotic, means life and totally means for life.[2] in 2001, the food and agriculture organization of the united nations and world health organization defined probiotics as “live microorganisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host.”[3] the us food and drug administration stated that the probiotic is considered as generally recognized as safe.[4] many studies showed that probiotics are used effectively to do many beneficial functions to the host[5-9] when they are taken in adequate quantity, and the recommended dosage of them is ranged usually between 108 and 1010 cfu/day.[10] probiotics can be found in a wide assortment of commercial dairy products[11] as well as they can be prepared as capsules, powder, granules, and fermented or pelleted feed.[12] microorganisms are considered as probiotic when they have several criteria such as the ability to adhesion to gastrointestinal tract, the ability to tolerance acidity and bile salts, and the resistance to antibiotics[13] have health benefits for the host[14] and safety.[15] the most commonly used probiotics are lactobacillus and bifidobacterium species.[16] lactobacilli are the largest group included in lactic acid bacteria[15] and have many functions, such as improvement of growth performance and health of gastrointestinal tract, this answers why they are among the bacteria mostly used as probiotics in animal feeds and human foods.[17,18] the aim of this study was to characterize three locally lactobacillus isolates as probiotics. materials and methods bacterial isolates a total of three locally lactobacillus isolates were used in this study; lactobacillus fermentum lb2 that isolated from the mouth, lactobacillus rhamnosus lb9 and lactobacillus paracasei lb10 that isolated from feces.[19] corresponding author: dr. wala’a sh. ali, department of biology, college of science, university of baghdad, baghdad, iraq. e-mail: dr.walaashali@scbaghdad.edu.iq received: apr 13, 2019 accepted: apr 19, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp7-12 copyright © 2020 wala’a sh. ali, aya t. abdulameer reza. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ali and reza: lactobacillus isolates from human mouth and feces as probiotics 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 7-12 acid tolerance test fresh broth cultures of lactobacillus isolates (lb2, lb9, and lb10) were used at concentration of 1.5×108 cfu/ml according to mcfarland tube no. 0.5 (hardy diagnostics, santa maria). serial dilutions were made in tubes contain mrs broth (oxoid, germany), then bacteria were transferred individually to mrs broth at various ph values (2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5, and 6), and tubes were incubated at different times (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 h) h; thereafter, 0.1 ml from each culture was taken and spread on mrs agar (oxoid, germany) with two replicates. plates were incubated anaerobically for 24 h at 35°c. the pronounced colonies were counted, and results were recorded corresponding to control.[20] bile salt tolerance test fresh broth cultures of lactobacillus isolates (lb2, lb9, and lb10) were used at the concentration of 1.5×108 cfu/ml according to mcfarland tube no. 0.5. serial dilutions were made in tubes contain mrs broth, then bacteria were transferred individually to mrs broth supplemented with various concentrations of bile salts (difco, usa) (0.3%, 0.5%, and 0.7%), tubes were incubated at different times (1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 h); thereafter, 0.1 ml from each culture was taken and spread on mrs agar with two replicates, and then plates were incubated anaerobically for 24 h at 35°c. the pronounced colonies were counted, and results were recorded corresponding to control.[21] the optical density of bacterial isolates growth in each bile salt concentration was measured at wavelength 660 nm after 3 h of incubation. antibiotics susceptibility test fresh broth cultures of lactobacillus isolates (lb2, lb9, and lb10) were used at concentration of 1.5×108 cfu/ml according to mcfarland tube no 0.5; thereafter, 0.1 ml from each culture was taken and spread on mrs agar, and then antibiotics discs (25 µg ampicillin, 25 µg amoxicillin, 10 µg tetracycline, 1.25/23.75 µg trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 10 µg erythromycin, 10 µg gentamycin, 25 µg streptomycin, 10 µg amikacin, 10 µg neomycin, and 10 µg chloramphenicol) (bioanalyse, turkey) were gently placed on mrs agar plates, plates were incubated anaerobically at 35°c for 24 h. the inhibition zones were measured and recorded; the work was done with two replicates.[22] cell surface hydrophobicity test it was determined in vitro using bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbons (bath) method,[23] a fresh cultures of lactobacillus isolates were subjected to centrifugation (6000 rpm, 10 min), cells were washed by phosphate buffer saline (oxoid, germany), resuspended in the same buffer and the optical densities of suspensions were adjusted to 0.8–1 at (od 560), and the data were recorded as a 0.6 ml of lactobacillus suspensions were mixed with 1.2 ml of n-hexadecane (sigma, usa), gently vortexed, and tubes were incubated anaerobically at 35°c for 30min. the mixtures were vortexed rigorously for 2 min and then allowed to stand for 15 min at room temperature to ensure complete separation of the organic and the aqueous phase. the absorbance of aqueous phase was measured at 560 nm and recorded as a, the affinity to solvent was expressed using the formula: hydrophobicity�percentage a0-a a0 �= ( ) ×� 100 a0, before adding n-hexadecane; a, after adding n-hexadecane. statistical analysis statistical analysis system[24] program was used to show the effect of different factors in study parameters. furthermore, least significant difference (lsd) test was used to significant compare between means in this study. results and discussion probiotic strains must be able to survive and colonize in the presence of acidic conditions and bile salt so as to travel through the gastrointestinal tract and reach to digestive tract where they give their therapeutic effect to host.[25] in current study, three lactobacillus isolates were subjected to different ph values with different incubation periods to examine their ability to tolerate acidic conditions. according to the results in table 1, all three isolates were unable to grow at ph 2, while they were able to grow at all times of incubation at ph 4, 4.5, and 5 with a decline in their growth at ph 6 after its rise at ph 5.5. at ph 5, there was no significant difference in the growth of the three isolates except the 1st h of incubation with significant difference in time 3 h for lb9. the gradual decrease in the survival rate of bacterial growth, from ph 5 down to ph 2, as well as the decrease in bacterial growth at ph 6 after its increasing at ph 5.5 can be observed, it seemed there is an affinity of the three isolates to ph 5.5 where their survival percentage reached the highest at this ph value, these results are similar to previous studies that used ph 5.5 in preparation of media as it allows optimum growth for lactobacillus.[26,27] at ph 6, the reduction of the growth of the three isolates is noticeable at the 1st h of incubation while there was no significant difference in their growth in times 1.5 and 2 h for lb2 and in times 2 and 2.5 h for lb10. the significant decrease in the bacterial growth at the 1st h of incubation is due to the sudden change in ph as reported by fernández-calviño and bååth.[28] the ability of three lactobacillus isolates to survive at three different concentrations of bile salts for different incubation periods was examined. the results in table 2 show that all isolates were able to survive at all bile salts concentrations. the results of this study are agreed with previous studies used 0.3% and 0.5% of bile salts concentrations for 2.5 h of incubation.[29,30] the gradual decrease in the survival rate of bacterial growth as a result of the increase of concentration of bile salts can be observed. the significant decrease in bacterial growth at the 1st h of incubation is due to the sudden exposure to bile salts stress while there was no significant decrease in bacterial growth after the 1st h of incubation particularly at high concentration of bile salts. the resistance of lactobacillus to bile salts may be due to different mechanisms such as changes in the composition of cell membrane and cell wall, active efflux of bile acids, and bile salt hydrolysis.[31] figure 1 shows ali and reza: lactobacillus isolates from human mouth and feces as probiotics 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 7-12 the tolerance of lactobacillus to three bile salts concentrations after 3 h of incubation. for probiotic bacteria to be active for a long time in the gastrointestinal tract, they should be able to resist administrated antibiotics. in this study, ten antibiotics were used. the results in figure 2 show that lb2, lb9, and lb10 were highly sensitive to ampicillin, amoxicillin, and erythromycin; this was in accordance with reported by other authors.[32-35] for lb2, the inhibition zone of ampicillin was higher than that of amoxicillin and erythromycin while the inhibition zones of these three antibiotics were the same for lb9 while for lb10, amoxicillin made a higher inhibition zone than other two antibiotics. lb9 was resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, amikacin, and neomycin where there was no inhibition zone; these results are similar to those of coppola et al.[36] table 1: acid tolerance percentages of lactobacillus isolates at different ph values ph h mean of viable count (log10 cfu/ml) survival percentage lb2 lb9 lb10 lb2 lb9 lb10 2.5 1 8.505b 8.612b 2 3 0 3 1 8.748b 8.959b 8.643b 1.5 8.913a 4 25 4 2 8.838a 2.5 8.643b 3.5 1 8.851b 9.017b 8.799b 1.5 8.740a 8.949a 8.505b 2 8.886b 10 33 9 2.5 8.770b 3 8.643b 4 1 9.120b 9.086b 9.004b 1.5 9.110a 9.079a 8.959a 2 9.008b 9.004a 8.869a 46 45 39 2.5 8.954b 8.949b 8.819b 3 8.919b 8.892b 8.698b 4.5 1 9.178b 9.264b 9.093b 1.5 9.152a 9.136b 9.096a 2 9.123a 9.113b 9.079a 55 59 61 2.5 9.079b 9.071b 9.060a 3 8.963b 9.004b 9.045a 5 1 9.274b 9.204b 9.152b 1.5 9.276a 9.198a 9.130a 2 9.247a 9.146a 9.113a 77 64 66 2.5 9.235a 9.130a 9.086a 3 9.227a 9.123b 9.082a 5.5 1 9.298b 9.301a 9.250a 1.5 9.294a 9.278a 9.230a 2 9.271a 9.247a 9.204a 81 80 80 2.5 9.255a 9.230b 9.158b 3 9.247a 9.225b 9.130b 6 1 9.235b 9.206b 9.117b 1.5 9.220a 9.146a 9.082a 2 9.178a 9.127b 9.056a 65 59 58 2.5 9.143b 9.079b 9.045a 3 9.079b 9.075b 8.977b capital letters (a and b) indicate differences between the numbers of 1 h of incubation and control while the small letters indicate differences between the numbers of current hour and 1 h of incubation at p<0.05 based on the lsd test; a,ano significant difference; b,bsignificant difference; -: no viable cells; lb2: l. fermentum; lb9: l. rhamnosus; lb10: l. paracasei; missing ph (2) and hours, no viable cells ali and reza: lactobacillus isolates from human mouth and feces as probiotics 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 7-12 cell surface hydrophobicity of lactobacillus isolates was determined to correlate the data with their ability to adhere to the intestinal epithelium. cell surface hydrophobicity was determined using the method of bath. the percent cell surface hydrophobicity was calculated, as shown in table 3. according to three levels of hydrophobicity (low: 0–35%, medium: 36–70%, and high: 71–100%) that determined by ocana et al.[37] lb2 showed a high hydrophobicity which was 77.26% while lb9 and lb10 showed medium hydrophobicity with percentage of 68.56% and 65%, respectively, the results of lb2 table 2: bile salt tolerance percentages of lactobacillus isolates at different bile salts concentrations bile salt concentrations % h mean of viable count (log10 cfu/ml) survival percentage lb2 lb9 lb10 lb2 lb9 lb10 0.3 1 9.385a 9.372b 9.245b 70 68 58 1.5 9.369a 9.332a 9.212a 2 9.235b 9.278b 9.133b 2.5 9.193b 9.262b 9.130b 3 9.146b 9.260b 9.079b 0.5 1 9.305b 9.324b 9.103b 52 49 43 1.5 9.176b 9.206b 9.089a 2 9.133b 9.146b 9.021a 2.5 9.082b 9.082b 8.924b 3 8.991b 8.968b 9.004a 0.7 1 9.170b 9.060b 9.068b 42 30 44 1.5 9.117a 9.029a 9.060a 2 9.045b 8.954a 9.056a 2.5 9.029b 8.857b 9.037a 3 8.908b 8.851b 9.017a capital letters (a and b) indicate differences between the numbers of 1 h of incubation and control while the small letters indicate differences between the numbers of current hour and 1 h of incubation at p<0.05 based on the lsd test; a,ano significant difference; b,bsignificant difference (p<0.05); lb2: l. fermentum; lb9: l. rhamnosus; lb10: l. paracasei table 3: cell surface hydrophobicity of lactobacillus isolates lactobacillus isolates absorbance hydrophobicity percentage a0 a lactobacillus fermentum lb2 0.8273 0.1881 77.26 (high) lactobacillus rhamnosus lb9 0.9965 0.3132 68.56 (medium) lactobacillus paracasei lb10 0.8206 0.2872 65.00 (medium) a0: before adding n-hexadecane; a: after adding n-hexadecane; low: 0–35%; medium: 36–70%; high: 71–100% figure 1: tolerance of lactobacillus isolates; lb2, lactobacillus fermentum; lb9, lactobacillus rhamnosus; and lb10, lactobacillus paracasei to bile salts concentrations (0.3%, 0.5%, and 0.7%) figure 2: antibiotics susceptibility test of lactobacillus isolates; am: ampicillin; ax: amoxicillin; te: tetracycline; sxt: trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole; e: erythromycin; cn: gentamycin; s: streptomycin; ak: amikacin; n: neomycin; c: chloramphenicol ali and reza: lactobacillus isolates from human mouth and feces as probiotics 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 7-12 and lb9 are similar to previous study of garcía et al.[35] the bath test quantifies the surface hydrophobicity of bacteria, and it has widely been used to estimate the physicochemical component in adhesion ability of bacterial strains.[38] hence, based on the hydrophobicity or the charge of the bacterial outer layer, the adhesion ability to hydrophobic surfaces such as mucus can be characterized indirectly.[39] however, consumption products that contain probiotic bacteria such as dairy products and fermented vegetables as well as eat healthy foods rich in fibers and prebiotics will contribute to increase the numbers of these useful bacteria in our gastrointestinal tract, and this lead to reestablishment of normal microbiota balance and enhancement their activities. acknowledgment we would like to thank dr. nasr noori al-anbari for his help in statistical analysis. conclusion depending on the results of this study, the bacterial isolate l. fermentum lb2 showed up good probiotic behavior in respect of acid and bile salt tolerance and adhesion ability to hydrocarbons. however, more studies are required about this isolate and thus could be good candidate to use as probiotic. references 1. w. s. ali and n. n. mahmood. “probiotic therapy: review”. iraqi journal of medical sciences, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1-6, 2016. 2. s. fijan. “microorganisms with claimed probiotic properties: an overview of recent literature”. international journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 4745-4767, 2014. 3. r. frei, m. akdisa and l. o’mahony. “prebiotics, probiotics, 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and raw cheese”. veterinarski arhiv, vol. 81, no. 1, pp. 133-141, 2011. 33. s. k. allameh, f. m. yusoff, h. m. daud, e. ringø, a. ideris and c. r. saad. “characterization of a probiotic lactobacillus fermentum isolated from snakehead, channa striatus, stomach”. journal of the world aquaculture society, vol. 44, no. 6, pp. 835-844, 2013. 34. r. georgieva, l. yocheva, l. tserovska, g. zhelezova, n. stefanova, a. atanasova, a. danguleva, g. ivanova, n. karapetkov, n. rumyan and e. karaivanova. “antimicrobial activity and antibiotic susceptibility of lactobacillus and bifidobacterium spp. intended for use as starter and probiotic cultures”. biotechnology and biotechnological equipment, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 84-91, 2015. 35. a. garcía, k. navarro, e. sanhueza, s. pineda, e. pastene, m. quezada, k. henríquez, a. karlyshev, j. villena and c. gonzález. “characterization of lactobacillus fermentum uco-979c, a probiotic strain with a potent anti-helicobacter pylori activity”. electronic journal of 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56-60 research article immunological aspects of trichomonas vaginalis infection in women attending maternity teaching hospital and some public health centers in erbil governorate, northern iraq avreen salahaddin nouraddin1, hadi mahdi alsakee2* 1department of serology and virology, public health laboratory, erbil health directorate, erbil, iraq, 2department of biology, cihan university-erbil kurdistan region, iraq abstract trichomonas vaginalis infection is one of the sexually transmitted diseases. it is a health problem all over the world, including iraq. it has also been associated with adverse outcomes of pregnancy and increased risk of hiv. trichomoniasis typically elicits aggressive local cellular immune responses with inflammation of the vaginal epithelium and exocervix in women and urethra in men. the present study was aimed to assess serum level of interferon gamma (ifn-γ), interleukin 10 (il-10), c-reactive protein, antiphospholipid, anticardiolipin antibodies with eosinophil count as well. four hundred and forty women with ages ranging between 16 and 60 years old (average of 34.2 years) who attended maternity teaching hospital and a number of public health centers in erbil governorate were screened for trichomoniasis by direct wet mount preparation and culture technique. serum ifn-γ, il-10, antiphospholipid, and anticardiolipin were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. c-reactive protein (crp) and eosinophil count were assessed by i croma and coulter, respectively. the results revealed that il-10 level (96.46 ± 1.97 pg/ml vs. 91.86 ± 1.48 pg/ml), eosinophil count (0.1 ± 0.07 × 10³/μl vs. 0.1 ± 0.01 × 10³/μl), and crp concentration (2.55 ± 0.74 mg/l vs. 2.27 ± 0.37 mg/l) were non-significantly (p > 0.05) changed in infected women in comparison with negative control group. however, serum ifn-γ level (484.83 ± 38.35 pg/ml vs. 372.15 ± 9.49 pg/ml) was significantly (p < 0.05) elevated in infected women in comparison to the control group. the results also revealed significant increase (p < 0.05) of antiphospholipid immunoglobulin g (igg) antibodies (4.75 ± 0.3 u/ml vs. 3.79 ± 0.11 u/ml), anticardiolipin igg, and anticardiolipin igm antibodies in the sera of infected women, but antiphospholipid immunoglobulin m (igm), were non significantly (p > 0.05) altered in response to t. vaginalis infection. keywords: anticardiolipin antibodies, antiphospholipid antibodies, c-reactive protein, cytokines, il-10, interferon gamma, trichomonas vaginalis infection, trichomoniasis introduction trichomoniasis is the most prevalent non-viral sexually transmitted infection worldwide, caused by an anaerobic, parasitic, flagellated protozoan, and trichomonas vaginalis. this infection is not a potentially dangerous disease that can go undiagnosed for years and is often passed on by an asymptomatic carrier.[1] humans are the only known host, the trophozoites transmitted principally through vaginal sexual intercourse and rarely through fomites. it is very successful as a pathogen causing roughly the same number of sexually transmitted diseases as chlamydia trachomatis, the most prevalent sexually transmitted bacterial pathogen.[2] worldwide, the prevalence of t. vaginalis varies from 2% to >50% depending on region, country, gender, and demographics of the population specifically evaluated.[3] an estimated 180 million infection acquired annually worldwide.[4] it is emerging as a serious reproductive tract pathogen, mainly affecting minorities and people living in poor or disadvantaged communities. t. vaginalis is listed as one of the five neglected parasitic infections in the united states.[5] nearly half of all women with t. vaginalis are asymptomatic. signs of infection in symptomatic women include vaginal discharge, odor, edema or erythema, and colpitis macularis (strawberry cervix) which is characterized by punctate hemorrhagic lesions, vulval irritation, and inflammation. other complaints include dysuria, a yellowish-green frothy discharge, pruritis, dyspareunia, and lower abdominal pain.[2,6] the infected males are usually asymptomatic and infection is usually self-limiting, and thus, diagnosis is often difficult. corresponding author: hadi mahdi alsakee, department of biology, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: hadialsakee@gmail.com received: nov 13, 2018 accepted: apr 17, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp56-60 copyright © 2019 avreen salahaddin nouraddin, hadi mahdi alsakee. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ nouraddin and alsakee: immunological aspects of trichomonas vaginalis infection in women 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 56-60 the general infection areas include urethra, external genitalia, prostate, and epididymis.[7] it is also a known leading cause of prostatitis and urethritis.[8] furthermore, serious complications may be associated with trichomoniasis such as premature rupture of the placental membranes, premature labor, and low birth weight in pregnant women infection, infertility, cervical cancer, pelvic inflammatory disease, birth outcomes, and increase in human predisposition to immunodeficiency virus (hiv), its transmission, and acquisition.[9,10] infection with t. vaginalis is associated with higher genital hiv-1 levels. the treatment of women infected with t. vaginalis results in a 4.2-fold reduction in the quantity of hiv-1 in vaginal secretions.[9] some recent studies have shown that trichomoniasis may be considered as one of the predisposing factors for some human disease such as prostate and cervical cancer.[11] the outcome of infection with trichomonas may be due to genetic variability of the isolates and the host immune response.[12] in iraq, several studies have been conducted in respect to t. vaginalis epidemiology and diagnosis.[13-15] however, little is known concerning the immunological aspects of trichomoniasis among women in erbil. the present study was aimed to assess some immunological parameters including interferon gamma (ifn-γ), interleukin 10 (il-10), c-reactive protein, antiphospholipid and anticardiolipin antibodies, and eosinophil count as well. materials and methods patients and study setting t. vaginalis infection was screened in 440 women with ages ranging between 16 and 60 years old (average of 34.2 years) who attended maternity teaching hospital and a number of public health centers in erbil governorate, northern iraq, over a period of 10 months from september 2012 to july 2013. as a control group, 32, age matched, women who were apparently healthy with no history or clinical evidence of other diseases and who revealed negative results for trichomoniasis by both direct wet mount and culture technique, were enrolled as negative control group. both patients and healthy women were interviewed personally before collection of blood sample and vaginal swab. for each subject, a well-structured questionnaire was filled carefully and included patient name, mobile number, age, address, residency, occupation, marital status, educational level, gestation, and symptoms or history of symptoms (vaginal discharge, fever, and cervix), menstrual cycle, history of allergy or allergic condition, and history of other diseases. specimen collection high vaginal swabs for each subject, two high vaginal swabs were collected under aseptic condition using a sterile cotton swab. one kept in 2 ml saline solution and used for direct microscopic examination, while the second swab was kept in 2 ml of culture medium which was used for the recovery of t. vaginalis. blood sample collection and processing blood samples were collected from the patients for the assessment of immunological parameters (il-10, ifn-γ, anticardiolipin antibodies, antiphospholipid antibodies, c-reactive protein (crp), and eosinophil count). an amount of 5 ml of peripheral blood was collected from each subject by venipuncture. half of the blood was centrifuged for serum separation, aliquot and kept at −40°c, and the rest was used as whole blood for quantitative determination of eosinophils by fully automated hematology coulter. detection of t. vaginalis t. vaginalis infection was detected initially by direct wet mount preparation, in which one of the duplicate vaginal swabs was used to make a direct smear on a glass slide with a drop of normal saline, the slide was initially scanned at ×100, looking for motile trichomonads and then at ×400 to confirm the motility, flagella movement, and morphologic features of the organism. the high vaginal swabs were also cultivated on trichomonas medium (oxoid, uk) supplemented with 8% heat-inactivated horse serum (oxoid, uk) following the manufacturer’s instructions. to suppress bacterial and fungal growth, 500 μg/ml of streptomycin (cox pharmaceutical ltd, uk) and 100 μg/ml of chloramphenicol (oxoid, uk) were added to the complete medium. the ph of complete working medium was adjusted using 1 n hcl and the working medium was sterilized using millipore filter unit (0.2 μm). inoculated cultures were incubated at 37°c and followed up, microscopically for the presence of motile trophozoites at 24, 48, and 72 h of incubation.[14] quantitative estimation of human il-10 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) the omnikine™ human il-10 and ifn-γ elisa kits (assay biotech, usa) were used for quantitative estimation of il-10 and ifn-γ in the sera of the subjects in accordance with the leaflet provided by the manufacturer. quantitative estimation of high sensitive crp (hs-crp) in the sera of the studied groups hs-crp was estimated in the sera of the studied groups using i-chroma™ hs-crp kit (boditech med inc., uk). the procedure was done according to the instructions provided by the manufacturer. quantitative estimation of cardiolipin antibody immunoglobulin g (igg) and immunoglobulin m (igm) anticardiolipin antibodies (igg and igm) and antiphospholipid antibodies (igg and igm) were quantitatively estimated using elisa kits (aesku diagnostics, germany) and following the instructions provided by the manufacturer. ethical consideration this study was approved by medical ethics committee in the college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, and an informed consent was taken from each recruited woman. statistical analysis the association of two categorical variables or difference between two proportions was assessed by chi-square test. nouraddin and alsakee: immunological aspects of trichomonas vaginalis infection in women 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 56-60 analysis of quantitative data was estimated using student’s t-test and anova. calculation of means and standard deviation was made for different parameters. p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. results out of 440 vaginal discharge samples, 14 (3.18%) revealed positive culture for t. vaginalis; however, the number of positive cases was only 12 (2.73%) when direct wet mount technique was used [table 1]. thus, considering culture technique as a gold standard for the diagnosis, the sensitivity (78.5%) of direct wet mount technique was lower than that revealed by cultivation. the 14 positive samples were subjected to immunological parameters. table 2 illustrates the mean concentration of il-10, ifn-γ, and crp in addition to eosinophil count in women with trichomoniasis and women of healthy control group. ifn-γ level (484.83 ± 38.35) was significantly elevated in the sera of women with trichomoniasis when compared with those of healthy control group (372.15 ± 9.49). however, il-10 level, crp concentration, and eosinophil count were non-significantly (p > 0.05) altered in response to t. vaginalis infection. the mean concentration of serum antiphospholipid antibodies and anticardiolipin antibodies for both infected women and control group revealed a significant increase (p < 0.05) in antiphospholipid igg, anticardiolipin igg, and anticardiolipin igm. however, the level of antiphospholipid igm was non-significantly altered (p > 0.05) [table 3]. discussion crp is a known marker of systemic inflammation.[16] in the current study, the level of crp was non-significantly altered in infected women when compared with the control. this finding was inconstant with that obtained by shaker and hussein[17] who revealed that the level of serum crp was significantly elevated in women with trichomoniasis. vaginal bacterial, fungal, and parasitic coinfection significantly change the serum levels of many immunological parameters including crp and cytokines.[18] the results revealed non-significant changes in the eosinophil count in both infected and non-infected control groups. this result was in agreement with that obtained by al-gazali et al.[19] eosinophilia is a common feature of allergic conditions and parasitic infections, in particular, helminthic infection. allergens and also excretory-secretory products of helminths activate th2 arm of the immune system through which il-5 is expressed and this later is an eosinophil growth factor.[20] in trichomoniasis, t helper type 1 (th1) is more likely activated since it could be explained by a significant level of ifn-γ obtained in this study in women with trichomoniasis. ifn-γ level was significantly increased in response to t. vaginalis infection, but no significant change was observed in il-10 level. controversial studies have been published concerning cytokines profile that may be induced in response to t. vaginalis infection. some previous studies in vitro revealed that exposure to t. vaginalis stimulated il-8 secretion in human monocytes,[21] neutrophils,[22] and table 1: trichomonas vaginalis infection among women using direct wet mount and culture techniques diagnostic method number of examined number of positive samples (%) number of negative samples (%) direct wet mount preparation 440 11 (2.5) 429 (97.5) culture 440 14 (3.2) 426 (96.8) χ2=0.371 df=1 p=0.686 table 2: immunological parameter in women with trichomoniasis and control groups immunological parameter infected women (n=12) (mean±se) control group (n=30) (mean±se) t-test p value il-10 (pg/ml) 96.46±1.97 91.86±1.48 1.86 >0.05 ifn-γ (pg/ml) 484.83±38.35 372.15±9.49 2.85 <0.05 crp (mg/l) 2.55±0.74 2.27±0.37 0.33 >0.05 eosinophil (103/μl) 0.1±0.07 0.1±0.01 0.49 >0.05 crp: c-reactive protein, ifn: interferon gamma, il-10: interleukin 10 table 3: serum level of antiphospholipid and anticardiolipin antibodies in women with trichomoniasis and control group autoantibody infected women (n=12) (mean±se) control group (n=30) (mean±se) t-test p value antiphospholipid antibody (u/ml) igg 4.75±0.3 3.79±0.11 2.91 <0.05 igm 3.004±0.45 2.61±0.11 0.82 >0.05 anticardiolipin antibody (gpl/ml) igg 3.32±0.31 2.42±0.07 2.75 <0.05 igm 2.89±0.46 1.85±0.07 2.2 <0.05 igg: immunoglobulin g, igm: immunoglobulin m nouraddin and alsakee: immunological aspects of trichomonas vaginalis infection in women 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 56-60 vaginal epithelial cells.[23] it was further demonstrated that the cytokines il-2 and ifn-γ were secreted by murine lymphocytes infected with t. vaginalis. furthermore, t. vaginalis was also stimulated the secretion of gm-csf but not il-6 and il-1β in pregnant women.[24] however, han et al.[25] reported that tnf-α, il-1β, and il-6 were significantly expressed by human macrophages on exposure to t. vaginalis in vitro. the parasite strain may also be concerned in the immunological studies of trichomoniasis.[25] malla et al.[26] found that il-2 and ifn-γ were significantly higher in mice infected with t. vaginalis isolated from asymptomatic women as compared to isolates from symptomatic women group and in control uninfected animals. in the present study, polymorphonuclear cells that are associated with the infection may be implicated in the induction of significance levels of ifn-γ in t.vaginalis infected women in comparison to non-infected control group. recruitment of polymorphonuclear cells and other inflammatory cells to vaginal milieu in response to t. vaginalis infection is induced by a parasite surface adhesion molecules. fichorova et al.[27] have found that t. vaginalis lipophosphoglycan (lpg), but not lpg from tritrichomonas foetus, the causative agent of bovine trichomoniasis induced a selective upregulation of chemotactic cytokines by human endocervical, ectocervical, and vaginal epithelial cells, which do not express toll-like receptor 4/ md2.[27] t. vaginalis lpg triggered interleukin 8 (il-8), which promotes the adhesion and transmigration of neutrophils across the endothelium, and macrophage inflammatory protein 3α, which is a chemoattractant for immune cells and is essential for dendritic cell maturation. these effects were dose dependent that relived in the absence of cytotoxicity and il-1β release utilizing, in part, a signaling pathway independent from the toll-like/il-1 receptor adaptor protein myd88. this study may also support our finding that crp was non-significantly changed in response to t. vaginalis infection. despite of the presence of inflammatory cells in the vaginal milieu that is later released as a symptomatic vaginal discharge, crp concentration was non-significantly changed that may lead to a suggestion that parasite lpg induced inflammatory response in the cervical-vaginal epithelial cells through induction of il-8 and macrophage inflammatory protein 3α but not tnf-α and il-1β, two pro-inflammatory cytokines needed for the synthesis of systemic crp by hepatocytes.[27] in the present study, there was non-significant difference in il-10 level between t. vaginalis infected women and those non-infected. il-10 contributes to inhibition of th1 immunity and favors a t helper type 2 response.[18,24] in respect to autoantibodies, the levels of anticardiolipin (igg and igm) antibodies and antiphospholipid igg were significantly elevated in women with trichomoniasis. however, antiphospholipid igm level was non-significantly elevated in women with trichomoniasis in comparison to uninfected control women. such elevated levels of these autoantibodies could be explained by the antigenic mimicry between the parasite antigens and host proteins, as cardiolipin and phospholipids are abundant in most cells of multicellular organisms, the former is an important component of the inner mitochondrial membrane, where it constitutes about 20% of the total lipid composition,[27,28] while phospholipids are a class of lipids and are a major component of all cell membranes as they can form lipid bilayers.[29] in respect to our results, the detection of significant titers of anticardiolipin igg, igm, and antiphospholipid igg in the sera of trichomoniasis cases may be explained by the fact that all the infected women were chronic cases as they have been infected weeks before seeking medical advice. that is why igg antibodies against both cardiolipin and phospholipids were detected in their sera. however, the detected levels are still within the normal range that is referenced by the manufacturer. t. vaginalis lack mitochondria instead; it has double membrane-bound organelles, called hydrogenosomes, produced molecular hydrogen. phylogenetic and biochemical analyses of hydrogenosomes indicate a common origin with mitochondria; however, the identification of hydrogenosomal proteins and studies on its metabolism and chemical composition has been limited.[7] however, the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies in the sera of the patients may reflect the presence of cardiolipin in the membrane of hydrogenosome as it’s, phylogenetically, belong to the same origin with the mitochondria. the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies in the sera of the women with trichomoniasis, even low levels, must not be neglected as it can be resulted in undesired, serious consequence in pregnant women. antiphospholipid syndrome is a leading cause of miscarriage and maternal and fetal morbidity. this condition is characterized by thrombosis and pregnancy loss that occur in the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies.[30] conclusion there were no significant differences in crp level and eosinophil count between infected women and control group. ifn-γ level was significantly elevated in the sera of women with trichomotiasis. the inhibitory cytokine, il-10 level was non-significantly changed in response to t. vaginalis infection. trichomoniasis induced significant titers of anti-cardiolipin antibodies (igg and igm) and anti-phosplolipid igg antibodies. references 1. f. xueqiang, z. yingzhi, y. yanfang, d. yutao and l. huiqing.“prevalence and risk factors of trichomoniasis, bacterial vaginosis, and candidiasis for married women of childbearing age in rural shandong”. japanese journal of infectious diseases, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 257-261, 2007. 2. v. j. johnston and d. c. mabey. “global epidemiology and control of trichomonas vaginalis”. current opinion in infectious diseases, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 56-64, 2008. 3. d. n. poole and r. s. mcclelland.“global epidemiology of trichomonas vaginalis”. sexually transmitted infections, vol. 89, pp. 418-422, 2013. 4. a. e. miranda, v. m. pinto and c. a. gaydos. “trichomonas vaginalis infection among young pregnant women in brazil”. the brazilian journal of infectious diseases, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 669-671, 2014. 5. c. nardis, l. mosca and p. mastromarino. “vaginal microbiota and viral sexually transmitted diseases.” ann lg, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 443-456, 2013. 6. o. o. asemota. “trichomoniasis in nigeria : a review”. biomedical research, vol. 29, no. 12, pp. 2532-2539, 2018. 7. k. bouchemal, c. bories and p. m. loiseau. “strategies for prevention and treatment of trichomonas vaginalis infections”. clinical microbiology reviews, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 811-825, 2017. 8. j. j. lee, h. s. moon, t. y. lee, h. s. hwang, m. ahn and j. ryu. “pcr for diagnosis of male trichomonas vaginalis infection with chronic prostatitis and urethritis”. the korean journal of parasitology, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 157-159, 2012. nouraddin and alsakee: immunological aspects of trichomonas vaginalis infection in women 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 56-60 9. r. s. mcclelland, l. sangare, w. m. hassan, l. lavreys, k. mandaliya, j. kiarie, j. ndinya-achola, w. jaoko and j. m. baeten. “infection with trichomonas vaginalis increases the risk of hiv-1 acquisition”. the journal of infectious diseases, vol. 195, no.5, pp. 2-6, 2007. 10. o. e. chinyere, i. i. romanus, o. n. collins, n. okoro and o. e. anthonia. “trichomonas vaginalis associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes : implications for maternal health care delivery system in south eastern nigeria”. biomedical research, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 568-574, 2012. 11. j. h. fowke, x. han, j. f. alderete, k. a. moses, l. b. signorello and w. j. blot. “a prospective study of trichomonas vaginalis and prostate cancer risk among african american men.” bmc research notes, vol. 9, p. 224, 2016. 12. f. mercer, f. g. i. diala, y. chen, b. m. molgora, h. ng and p. j. johnson. “leukocyte lysis and cytokine induction by the human sexually transmitted parasite trichomonas vaginalis”. plos neglected tropical diseases, vol. 10, pp. 1-19, 2016. 13. h. i. khalil, a. h. al-kuraishi, u. a. m. ai-naimi and a. suhai. “trichomoniasis vaginalis in women attending family planning unit in al-liqa a hospital. iraqi journal of science, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 747-754, 2012. 14. a. s. nouraddin and h. m. alsakee. “prevalence of trichomonas vaginalis infection among women in erbil governorate, northern iraq: an epidemiological approach”. european scientific journal, vol. 11, no. 24, pp. 243-255, 2015. 15. m. a. z. merdaw, h. s. khadim, f. alriyahee, n. m. t. al-bashier and l. h. al-taie. “genetic variation of trichomonas vaginalis isolates from iraqi women : association with fertility and cervical abnormalities”. journal of university of babylon for pure and applied sciences. vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 321-338, 2018. 16. n. r. sproston and j. j. ashworth. “role of c-reactive protein at sites of inflammation and infection”. frontiers in immunology, vol. 9, pp. 1-11, 2018. 17. m. j. shaker and r. a. hussein. “immunological study of women infected with trichomonas vaginalis parasite in baghdad city”. international journal of science and research, vol. 3, no. 9, pp. 1145-1148, 2014. 18. d. gonzález-fernández, c. pons, d. rueda, o. t. sinisterra, e. murillo, m. e. scott and k. g. koski. “c-reactive protein is differentially modulated by co-existing infections, vitamin deficiencies and maternal factors in pregnant and lactating indigenous panamanian women”. infectious diseases of poverty, vol. 6, p. 94, 2017. 19. a. f. b. al-gazali, k. a. a. maysoon and a. a. a. haqi. “study of blood parameter in women infected with trichomonas vaginalis parasite”. journal of kerbala university, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 223-227, 2013. 20. l. e. layland, a. hoerauf and p. h. marc. “helminths and their implication in sepsis a new branch of their immunomodulatory behaviour” ? pathogens and disease, vol. 69, no. 2. pp. 127-141, 2013. 21. m. shaio, p. lin, j. liu and k. d. yang. “generation of interleukin-8 from human monocytes in response to trichomonas vaginalis stimulation”. infection and immunity, vol. 63, no. 10, pp. 3864-3870, 1995. 22. h. song, y. lim, s. moon, m. ahn and j. ryu. “delayed human neutrophil apoptosis by trichomonas vaginalis lysate”. the korean journal of parasitology, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 1-7, 2010. 23. r. n. f. bibhuti, n. singh, g. r. hayes, j. j. lucas, u. sommer, n. viseux, e. mirgorodskaya, r. t. trifonova, r. r. sassi and c. e. costello. “structural details and composition of trichomonas vaginalis lipophosphoglycan in relevance to the epithelial immune function,” glycoconjugate journal, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 3-17, 2009. 24. r. c. vilela and m. benchimol. “il-10 release by bovine epithelial cells cultured with trichomonas vaginalis and tritrichomonas foetus”. memórias do instituto oswaldo cruz, vol. 108, no. 1, pp. 110-112, 2013. 25. i. han, s. y. goo, s. park, s. hwang, y. kim, m. s. yang, m. ahn and j. ryu. “proinflammatory cytokine and nitric oxide production by human macrophages stimulated with trichomonas vaginalis”. korean journal of parasitology, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 205-212, 2009. 26. n. malla, m. yadav and i. gupta. “kinetics of serum and local cytokine profile in experimental intravaginal trichomoniasis induced with trichomonas vaginalis isolates from symptomatic and asymptomatic women”. parasite immunology, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 101-105, 2007. 27. r. n. fichorova, r. t. trifonova, r. o. gilbert, c. e. costello, g. r. hayes, j. j. lucas and b. n. singh. “trichomonas vaginalis lipophosphoglycan triggers a selective upregulation of cytokines by human female reproductive tract epithelial cells. parasite immunology, vol. 74, no. 10, pp. 5773-5779, 2006. 28. h. m. a. al-sakee. “autoantibodies in human cystic echinococcosis.” tikrit medical journal, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 53-63, 2011. 29. w. dowhan. “understanding phospholipid function: why are there so many lipids”? journal of biological chemistry, vol. 292, no. 26, pp. 10755-10766, 2017. 30. f. a. f. di prima, o. valenti, e. hyseni, e. giorgio, m. faraci, e. renda, r. de domenico and s. monte. “antiphospholipid syndrome during pregnancy: the state of the art”. journal of prenatal medicine, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 41-53, 2011. . 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 52-56 research article significance of hepatitis b virus diagnosis by real-time polymerase chain reaction over serological markers in hepatitis b virus patients amer a. khaleell*, salah t. jalall, saeed g. hussain2 1department of medical microbiology, college of health sciences-hawler medical university, erbil, iraq, 2department of medical microbiology, college of medicine-hawler medical university, erbil, iraq abstract hepatitis b virus (hbv) is the leading cause of viral hepatitis, as currently over 2 billion people have hbv infection worldwide. nucleic acid assay and quantitative hepatitis b surface antigen (hbsag) have been developed for diagnostic and therapeutic monitoring of patients with hbv infection. these tests might also show correlation between hbv dna and hbs serostatus. the study aimed to find and analyze the frequency and impact of hbsag seropositivity among patients revealed hbv dna negative level through quantitative estimation of both seromarkers. real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) and elecsys assays were used for quantitative estimation of hbv dna and hbs antigen, respectively. a total of 256 blood samples were used from patients referred for either diagnostic purpose and/or hbv viral load monitoring after antiviral therapy. blood profile analysis showed 12.26% hbs antigen seropositivity among patients revealed negative for nucleic acid assay for hbv dna. positive hbs antigen titers ranged from 1000–50,000 coi, with seronegative anti-hbs antibody test for all samples tested positive for hbs antigen. this study delineated that negative or undetectable quantitation of hbv dna level does not exclude hbv infection; as the level might fluctuate in different phases of hbv replication. this gives an impression and raising a question about significance of replacing test for hbsag with quantitation of hbv dna pcr assay. thus, the study refers to a special hbv profile outside the classical pattern. keywords: component, hepatitis b surface antigen, hepatitis b virus, hepatitis, quantitative hepatitis b virus dna introduction hepatitis b virus (hbv) is the leading cause of viral hepatitis, as currently over 2 billion people have hbv infection worldwide. approximately 600,000 deaths occur every year as a result of the acute and chronic consequences of hbv infection.[1] chronic hbv affects nearly 350 million patients worldwide and may further progress to cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma (hcc) in 15–40% of cases.[2] hbv infection is a dynamic process characterized by replicative and non-replicative phases based on virus-host interaction, which are present in some form of all infected patients.[3] to measure hbv dna (viral load), a laboratory measures how many hbv dna units are found in 1 ml of blood. the result is written in international units per ml (iu/ml). high levels of hbv dna indicate a high rate of hbv replication; however, low or undetectable levels–<2000 iu/ml indicate an “inactive” infection.[4] during hbv infection, markers can be detected in sera samples using immunoassays. for example, patient sera that contain anti-hbs indicates immunity from past infections or vaccinations, and a patient with anti-hbe antibodies in their sera is considered as spontaneous resolution of infection or therapy-induced improvement.[5,6] one of the serological methods using for the diagnosis of hbv is enzyme immune assays. the hepatitis b surface antigen (hbsag) and hbv dna levels were considered to be a risk factor of hepatocarcinogenesis in untreated hb patients.[7] the levels of quantified hbsag are considered as a marker with which to evaluate the host immunological control of infection and hbv replication.[8] low hbsag levels in some hbv patients are considered to indicate a high likelihood of hbv clearance and lower hepatitis activity.[7,9] the aim of this study was to estimate hbv-dna positivity states among serologically screened patients and to compare the sensitivity of molecular and serological methods for the diagnosis of hbv infections. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: amer a. khaleel, college of health sciences-hawler medical university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: ameralikhaleel@yahoo.com received: mar 31, 2019 accepted: apr 17, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp52-56 copyright © 2020 amer amer a. khaleel, salah t. jalal, saeed g. hussain. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ khaleel, et al.: significance of hbv diagnosis by rt-pcr 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 52-56 materials and methods for this cross-sectional study, a total of 256 blood samples were collected from hbv patients referred to erbil central laboratory, from june 2017 to september 2017. both sexes were included (154 males and 102 females), with age range between 20 and 60 years. real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) as a molecular and elecsys assay as a serological method were used for the diagnosis and comparing their sensitivity purposes. for rt-pcr technique, 5 ml of venous blood were collected using edta tubes and centrifuged at 1000 rpm for 5 min and patients’ plasma was separated. viral dna was extracted from a 200 µl aliquot of serum using a qiagen mini blood kit (qiagen, hilden, germany) according to the manufacture instructions. viral loads of hbv dna were estimated by rt-pcr (hbv rg pcr artus, germany). the amplification was performed in a 50 µl reaction mixture containing 30 µl of mixture of hbv rg master mix (buffer, dntp, primer, probe, and enzymes) and hbv rg inhibition control mixed with 20 µl of dna template to each reaction. the primers hbv-taq i (forward primer): caa cct cca atc act cac caac and hbv-taq 2 (reverse primer): ata tga taa aac gcc gca gac ac were used from the sequences of the conserved regions of the hbv surface gene used previously by weinberger et al.[10] for performing rt-pcr, rotorgene 3000 (a machine used routinely in erbil central laboratory for detection of variety of dnas and rnas) was used following manufacture’s instructions. the rt-pcr cycling parameters consisted of denaturation at 95°c for 15 s, 55°c for 30 s, and 72°c for 15 s. the results were considered positive if a signal was detected in cycling a fam, whereas no signal detection indicated as negative results. the quantitation of hbv dna was performed for all blood samples and the results were considered positive and significant if viral load was more than 1×105 viral copies/ ml. titers <50 iu were considered as negative for hbv dna. the screened results were categorized according to positive hbv dna titers into inactive, gray zone, and active carriers. quantitation of hbsag was measured using the elecsys hbsag quantitative assay. detection of hbsag by elecsys utilizes a sandwich principle and this assay has two stages: first, a complex is formed with two monoclonal hbsagspecific antibodies, one of which is biotinylated and the other labeled with a ruthenium complex. this complex joins to the solid phase through the interaction of biotin and streptavidin after the attachment of streptavidin-coated microparticles.[11] the mixture is subsequently aspirated into a measuring cell, where application of a voltage induces chemiluminescent emission, which is measured by a photomultiplier. all serum samples were tested at a dilution of 1:400. the elecsys hbsag quantitative assay is calibrated to give results in iu/ml.[11] statistical analysis statistical analysis was done using spss 23.0. hbv titers expressed as means ± standard error. comparisons between active and inactive carriers use t-tests. comparisons between multiple groups were performed by anova. p ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. results and discussion of the 256 cases, 154 (60%) were male and 102 (40%) were female, with age range between 20 and 60 years. rt-pcr results showed that 163 of 256 samples were hbv dna negative, from them, 20 samples showed positive results for hbsag quantitation [table 1]. the asian pacific association for the study of the liver, european association for the study of the liver, and the guidelines of the american association for the study of liver diseases refer that the disappearance of hbsag is the ideal and cornerstone during natural course of hbv infection.[12-14] from the clinical standpoint of view, the progression from chronic hepatitis b to cirrhosis is increasingly signified through the hbv viral load.[8] meanwhile, quantitative hbsag level was regarded as marker for clearance, hepatitis activity, and immunological host response to control hbv replication and the likelihood of inactive virus carrier.[9,7,15] however, little is known about correlation between hbv replication and low levels of hbsag, as reported in some patients with chronic hbv infection.[16-18] the results of the present study showed 12.26% hbs seropositivity (range 1000–5000 coi) among patients seronegative for hbv dna [table 2], with highly significant difference (p ≤ 0.001) between mean of hbv dna seropositive table 1: baseline patient’s characteristics variables all patients (n=256) gender male 154 (60%) female 102 (40%) hbv dna iu/ml 256 <50 (negative) 163 (63.67%) 101–500 22 (24.44%) 501–1000 10 (11.11%) 1001–2000 10 (11.11%) 2001–20,000 20 (22.22%) >20,000 31 (34.44%) qhbsag tested 163/256 (63.67%) <10 coi 143 (55.85%) 1000–2000 coi 3 (15%) 2001–3000 coi 4 (20%) 3001–4000 coi 8 (40%) 4001–5000 coi 5 (25%) anti-hbsab tested 20 positive 0.00 negative 20 (100%) hbs positive, hbv dna negative 20/163 qhbsag: quantitative hepatitis b surface antigen, hbv: hepatitis b virus table 2: frequencies of hbv dna seropositivity among patients negative for hbv dna assay number screened hbv dna pcr +ve hbv dna pcr−ve (n=163) hbs +ve hbs −ve n=256 93 (36.32%) 20 (12.26%) 143 (87.73%) hbv: hepatitis b virus, pcr: polymerase chain reaction khaleel, et al.: significance of hbv diagnosis by rt-pcr 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 52-56 and negative titers [table 3]. regarding to the gender positivity for pcr test, in total of 154 male patients 65 (42%) were positive and of 102 female patients only 28 (27%) were positive [table 4]. the seromarkers profile among patients negative for hbv dna revealed anti-hbs antibody seronegative among the total 20 patients positive for hbsag [table 5]. however, results of anti-hbs titers among patients negative for hbv dna showed 20 samples were positive showing different titers [table 6]. during the immune-tolerant phase, hbsag level is the highest one, and the level decreases progressively from immune tolerance to inactive phase that reflects a low replicative phase of immune control.[19] the detection of hbv infection is vital for diagnosis our group published a paper that delineated the impact of pcr dna assay for the diagnosis of hbv infection.[20] the data of this study are agree with other studies[21] for the serologic profile of hbsag seropositivity among patients screened negative for hbv dna. they reported 6% of their samples gave hbsag positive among donations negative for hbv dna level, others[8] referred that in nine patients with hcc; hbv dna was undetectable but the level of hbsag was ≥2000 coi. others reported 31.4% hbsag positive among patients negative for hbv dna.[22] however, data from another study showed that 100 of 140 patients were seronegative for hbv dna.[23] another study[24] reported that 69% of confirmed hbsag-positive donations had undetectable hbv dna levels. however, others[25,26] found that none of the hbsag-positive donors with very low or negative for hbv dna were anti-hbs antibody positive.[24,27] among explanation for such unusual hbv serologic profile, the patients may be chronically infected with hbv particularly; they are in the non-replicative phase as part of the natural course of infection.[22] the question might be raised here is about such serologic profile of hbsag positive among patients negative for hbv dna, are these patients infectious and transmissible for community,[21] referred for the need of larger sample volume (5–10 ml) necessary for extraction and concentration to determine the real hbv dna status among samples negative for dna. in this study, pearson’s correlation analysis revealed no significant correlation between serum hbv dna and hbsag levels (r = 0.331; p > 0.3) [figure 1]. different studies reported discrepant results regarding correlation between hbv dna and hbsag levels, our data were disagree with other studies who reported positive correlation.[28-34] meanwhile, our results agree with others for no correlation between hbv dna and hbsag levels.[35,36] such correlation is only weak in patients negative for hbsag.[19,30,37,38] this is because the level of hbv dna fluctuates from undetectable to >2,000,000 iu/ml.[12] this is why the level of hbsag does not fall in the same proportion or level when correlated with hbv dna level as a marker for table 3: mean titers of hbv dna among patients screened number screened hbv dna pcr +ve (n=93) hbv dna pcr −ve (n=163) p-value n=256 18,582,661.24±5,934,488.97 31.12±4.45 0.000 hbv: hepatitis b virus, pcr: polymerase chain reaction figure 1: pearson correlation between quantitative hepatitis b virus dna level and hepatitis b surface antigen. r = 0.229, p = 0.331 table 5: hbsag and anti-hbs seromarkers profile among patients negative for hbv dna serological profile hbs anti-hbs (n=20) >10 coi +ve <0.9 coi −ve <10 iu/ml −ve >10 iu/ml +ve hbv dna pcr negative (n=163) 20 (12.27%) 143 (87.73%) 20 (100%) 0.00 hbv: hepatitis b virus, pcr: polymerase chain reaction, hbsag: hepatitis b surface antigen table 4: frequencies of hbv dna positivity according to the gender gender positive pcr negative pcr total p-value male 65 (42.20%) 89 (57.79%) 154 ≤0.001 female 28 (27.45%) 74 (72.54%) 102 total 93 (36.3232%) 163 (63.67%) 256 hbv: hepatitis b virus, pcr: polymerase chain reaction table 6: distribution of hbsag and anti-hbs titers among patients negative for hbv dna hbs titers coi anti-hbsab iu/ml non-reactive <0.9 coi 1000–2000 2001–3000 3001–4000 4001–>5000 non-reactive <10 reactive >10 0.00 3 (15%) 4 (20%) 8 (40%) 5 (25%) 20 (100%) 0.00 hbv: hepatitis b virus, pcr: polymerase chain reaction, hbsag: hepatitis b surface antigen khaleel, et al.: significance of hbv diagnosis by rt-pcr 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 52-56 disease progression.[4] martinot-peignoux et al.[39] referred that hbv dna diminished with time from seroclearance; however, covalently closed circular dna as integrated hbv dna remained detectable in liver biopsies. it is thus critical for clinicians to be aware of the significance of hbv dna serial measurement and lifelong follow-up to establish and confirm that inactive carrier condition is maintained.[4] among major guidelines, if hbv dna is undetectable, either prophylaxis with lamivudine or strict follow-up every 1–3 months for alt and hbv dna level is indicated.[13] conclusion serology will undoubtedly continue to be widely used in the detection of hbv infection; however, hbv dna assays can serve as an important tool, especially in detecting low levels of hbv dna and in patients with the past hbv infection. data from the present study also concluded that negative or undetectable quantitation of hbv dna level does not exclude hbv infection; as the level might fluctuate in different phases of hbv replication. this gives an impression and raising a question about significance of replacing test for hbsag with quantitation of hbv dna pcr assay. thus, the study refers to a special hbv profile outside the classical pattern. references 1. world health organization. “world health organization hepatitis b factsheet”. geneva: world health organization, 2017. 2. s. baig, a. a. siddiqui, w. ahmed, h. qureshi and a. arif. “the association of complex liver disorders with hbv genotypes prevalent in pakistan”. virology journal, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 128, 2007. 3. g. fattovich. “natural history of hepatitis b”. journal of hepatology, vol. 39, pp. 50-58, 2003. 4. i. pita, a. m. horta-vale, h. cardoso and g. macedo. “hepatitis b inactive carriers: an overlooked population?” ge portuguese journal of gastroenterology, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 241-249, 2014. 5. l. m. villar, h. m. cruz, j. r. barbosa, c. s. bezerra, m. m. portilho and l. de paula scalioni. “update on hepatitis b and c virus diagnosis”. world journal of virology, vol. 4, no. 4, p. 323, 2015. 6. i. j. radii and a. m. saud. “comparative assessment between serological and molecular diagnosis for patients groups with hepatitis b virus”. international journal of current microbiology and applied science, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 742-748, 2017. 7. t. c. tseng, c. j. liu, h. c. yang, t. h. su, c. c. wang, c. l. chen and j. h. kao. “high levels of hepatitis b surface antigen increase risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with low hbv load”. gastroenterology, vol. 142, no. 5, pp. 1140-1149, 2012. 8. 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hbv genotypes in egypt among hepatitis patients”. journal of american science, vol. 6, no. 11, pp. 185-190, 2010. 24. w. k. roth, m. weber, d. petersen, c. drosten, s. buhr, w. sireis and e. seifried. “nat for hbv and anti-hbc testing increase blood safety”. transfusion, vol. 42, no. 7, pp. 869-875, 2002. 25. s. sato, w. ohhashi, h. ihara, s. sakaya, t. kato and h. ikeda. “comparison of the sensitivity of nat using pooled donor samples for hbv and that of a serologic hbsag assay”. transfusion, vol. 41, no. 9, pp. 1107-1113, 2001. 26. h. hennig, i. puchta, j. luhm, p. schlenke, s. goerg and h. kirchner. “frequency and load of hepatitis b virus dna in firsttime blood donors with antibodies to hepatitis b core antigen”. blood, vol. 100, no. 7, pp. 2637-2641, 2002. 27. m. c. kuhns, a. l. mcnamara and r. perrillo. “intermittent pcr positivity for hepatitis b viral dna in surface antigen negative anti-core positive individuals”. transfusion, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 95s-95s, 1999. 28. y. j. kim, h. c. cho, m. s. choi, j. h. lee, k. c. koh, b. c. yoo and s. w. paik. “the change of the quantitative hbsag level during khaleel, et al.: significance of hbv diagnosis by rt-pcr 56 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 52-56 the natural course of chronic hepatitis b”. liver international, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 817-823, 2011. 29. j. jaroszewicz, b. c. serrano, k. wursthorn, k. deterding, j. schlue, r. raupach and m. cornberg. “hepatitis b surface antigen (hbsag) levels in the natural history of hepatitis b virus (hbv)-infection: a european perspective”. journal of hepatology, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 514-522, 2010. 30. a. alghamdi, n. aref, m. el-hazmi, w. al-hamoudi, k. alswat, a. helmy and a. a. abdo. “correlation between hepatitis b surface antigen titers and hbv dna levels”. saudi journal of gastroenterology: official journal of the saudi gastroenterology association, vol. 19, no. 6, p. 252, 2013. 31. p. p. primadharsini and i. wibawa. “correlation 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2015. 35. a. ganji, a. esmaeilzadeh, k. ghafarzadegan, h. helalat, h. rafatpanah and a. mokhtarifar. “correlation between hbsag quantitative assay results and hbv dna levels in chronic hbv”. hepatitis monthly, vol. 11, no. 5, p. 342, 2011. 36. r. m. mukherjee, j. arava, p. b. reddy, p. n. rao, r. gupta and d. n. reddy. “role of hepatitis b virus surface antigen quantification in e antigen negative chronic hepatitis b infection”. global journal of science frontier research, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 1-5, 2013. 37. h. park, j. m. lee, j. h. seo, h. s. kim, s. h. ahn, d. y. kim and j. y. park. “predictive value of hbsag quantification for determining the clinical course of genotype c hbeag-negative carriers”. liver international, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 796-802, 2012. 38. a. j. thompson, t. nguyen, d. iser, a. ayres, k. jackson, m. littlejohn and g. k. lau. “serum hepatitis b surface antigen and hepatitis b e antigen titers: disease phase influences correlation with viral load and intrahepatic hepatitis b virus markers”. hepatology, vol. 51, no. 6, pp. 1933-1944, 2010. 39. m. martinot-peignoux, m. lapalus, c. laouénan, o. lada, a. c. f. netto-cardoso, n. boyer and p. marcellin. “prediction of disease reactivation in asymptomatic hepatitis b e antigennegative chronic hepatitis b patients using baseline serum measurements of hbsag and hbv-dna”. journal of clinical virology, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 401-407, 2013. . 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 26-31 research article investigation of the zinc oxide nanoparticles effect on thyroid and testosterone hormones in male rats noori m. luaibi,* noor a. zayed department of biology, college of sciences, university of al-mustansiriyah, baghdad, iraq abstract exposure to zinc oxide nanoparticles (zno nps) has been increasing steadily, causing more attention being paid to their potential toxicity, including cytotoxicity and genotoxicity. hence, this study aimed to investigate the effect of zno nps on thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (t3), thyroxine (t4), and thyroid-stimulating hormone (tsh) as well as testosterone hormone in male adult rats. a total of 54 sprague-dawley albino adult male rats were divided into nine groups each of six rats, daily treated intraperitoneal with zno nps two different doses (30 and 60) mg/kg in three different periods of time (7, 14, and 28) days, as following: control groups (groups 1, 2, and 3): respectively received intraperitoneal injection with distilled water for 7, 14, and 28 days, experimental groups (groups 4, 5, and 6): they were rats, respectively, received intraperitoneal dose (60 mg/kg) of zno nps for (7, 14, and 28) days, and group (7, 8, and 9) experimental groups were rats, respectively, received intraperitoneal dose (30 mg/kg) of zno nps for (7, 14, and 28) days. data showed high significant decrease (p < 0.01) in level of t3, t4, tsh, and level of testosterone also decrease at high and low dose for 7, 14, and 28 days. keywords: t3, t4, testosterone, thyroid-stimulating hormone, zinc oxide nanoparticles introduction zinc oxide nanoparticles (zno nps) are inorganic compounds, called multifunctional material due to unique chemical and physical properties.[1] zinc is an essential metal it is an activator for more than 300 enzymes in the body.[2] zno nps are one of most widely used in cosmetics and sunscreen because of their efficient uv absorption properties, they are used due to the antimicrobial properties in food packaging.[3] they are also being explored for their potential use as fungicides in agriculture.[4] as well zno nanoparticles are used in anticancer drugs and in biomedical applications.[5] commonly considered to be a material with low toxicity because the zno is an essential trace element in human body and is existing in food or added as nutritional complement, so zinc attracts little care during assessment of toxicity of nps.[6] zno nps can induce the formation of reactive oxygen species (ros) that disrupt intracellular metabolic activities and the antioxidant system; these alterations permit generated ros to interact with and damage dna, lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins.[7] thyroid gland is one of major endocrine glands of the body responsible of creating the hormones, thyroxin, and triiodothyronine which are essential for the proper organism development in particular for the nervous system and heart, normal growth, and skeletal maturation.[8] it is considered one of the main regulators of biological processes, during development, and childhood.[9] decrease in the production of thyroid hormones means hypothyroidism.[10] many evidence suggesting the role of zinc in the formation and function of thyroid hormones.[11] zno nps cause higher levels of oxidative stress, resulting in inflammation, and cell toxicity.[12] man testis has two main functions, the production of testosterone and the production of male germ cells, maintenance of spermatogenesis process needs testosterone, the androgen production is regulated by luteinizing hormone, while follicle-stimulating hormone is critical for initiation and maintenance of spermatogenesis.[13,14] testosterone is the main androgenic hormone in males, it is largely produced by the leydig cells of the testes, zno nps were internalized by sertoli cells and leydig cells resulted in cytotoxicity in a time and dose-dependent manner through the induction of apoptosis, caused by increase in ros related with loss of corresponding author: noori m. luaibi, department of biology, college of sciences, university of al-mustansiriyah, baghdad, iraq. e-mail: sznl@uomustansiriyah.edu.iq received: apr 25, 2019 accepted: apr 28, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp26-31 copyright © 2020 noori m. luaibi, noor a. zayed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ luaibi and zayed: zinc oxide nanoparticles effect on thyroid and testosterone hormones 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 26-31 mitochondrial membrane potential, so injection of zno nps produced structural alterations in the seminiferous epithelium and sperm abnormalities in male rats.[15] materials and methods adult male sprague-dawley albino rats, age about 2.5–3 months, average bodyweight 200–225 g. they were obtained from the national center for drug control and research/ministry of health, then transferred to the animal house of the college of science, mustansyriah university. all animals were allowed to acclimatize to the laboratory conditions for 7 days before starting the study. they were kept in clean separated plastic cages with metal network cover under climate-controlled condition of the animal house with 22–25 temperature, 60% humidity, 12 h light, and darkness period and allowed free access to food ad libitum and water. this study was conducted after obtaining the approval from the ethical consideration to deal with experimental animals that is the ethical committee of the college of science, mustansiriyah university and all ethical behavior with the laboratory animals was taken care and has priority in our work in accordance with the globally adopted guidelines of the animal care and experiments. preparation of zno nps solution zno nps used in this study was obtained from sky spring nanomaterials, they were in white to light yellow colored powder with 99.8% purity, particle size was 10–30 nm in diameter. the stock suspension was prepared by dissolving 1 g of powder zno in 10 ml of distilled water and then mixed by vortex for 10 min to prevent agglomeration, then distributed in to following groups: group of 60 mg/kg of zno nps (high dose) 120 µl of stock +880 µl of distal water. group of 30 mg/kg of zno nps (low dose) 60 µl of stock +940 µl of distal water. experimental design to study the effect of zno nps, animals were divided into nine groups with six rats each as follows: • groups 1, 2, and 3 (control group), respectively, received intraperitoneal injection of distilled water for (7, 14, 28) days. • groups 4, 5, and 6 (the experimental groups); rats, respectively, received intraperitoneal dose (60 mg/kg) of zno nps for 7, 14, and 28 days. • groups 7, 8, and 9: (the experimental groups); rats, respectively, received intraperitoneal dose (30 mg/kg) of zno nps for 7, 14, and 28 days. measurement of the levels of hormones concentration it was represented by the enzyme immunoassay tests (tosoh) for the quantitative determination of concentrations of thyroid gland hormones t3 according to braverman et al.,[16] t4 according to ormston et al.,[17] and thyroid-stimulating hormone (tsh) according to fisher.[18] furthermore, the reproductive hormone testosterone was measured according to sigberg.[19] collection of blood samples the end of each experiment animals were completely anesthetized by diethyl ether for several minutes, and blood samples were obtained by heart puncture collected in to non-heparinized tubes used in biochemical examination, 4 ml of blood collected from each rat was used to obtain sera (0.5–1.0) ml separated by centrifugation 3000 rpm for 5 min, then they were kept in −20°c until analysis for the measurement of the level of tsh, measurement of the level of t3, measurement of the level of t4, and measurement of the level of testosterone. results thyroid hormone function statistical analysis for the effect of zno nps on t3, t4, and tsh serum levels is shown in figures 1-3. t4 (µg/dl) serum level displayed high significant decrease (p < 0.01) in both treated groups (30, 60) mg/kg (3.10 ± 0.01), (2.90 ± 0.02) (µg dl), respectively, at day 7 compared to control groups (3.34 ± 0.01) (µg/dl), at day 14 also showed high significant decrease (p < 0.01) at the same concentrations (2.71 ± 0.01), (2.21 ± 0.02) (µg/dl) when compared with control group (3.35 ± 0.01) (µg/dl), in addition to 28 period of time exposing to zno nps observed high significant decrease (p < 0.01) of the level of t4 in different concentration (30, 60) mg/kg (1.91 ± 0.02), (1.66 ± 0.01) (µg/dl) compared with control groups (3.36 ± 0.01) (µg/dl), as shown in figure 1. statistical analysis of the level of t3 (ng/ml) showed high significant decrease (p < 0.01) in both treated groups (30, 60) mg/kg (0.685 ± 0.007), (0.600 ± 0.010) (ng/ ml), respectively, exposed to zno nps for 7 days compared to the control groups (0.786 ± 0.008) (ng/ml), also there was high significant decrease (p < 0.01) in the level of t3 at both concentrations (30, 60) mg/kg at 14 days (0.581 ± 0.01), (0.438 ± 0.019) (ng/ml) in comparison to control groups (0.786 ± 0.008), and at 28 days (0.440 ± 0.01), (0.335 ± 0.01) (ng/ml) in comparison to control groups (0.795 ± 0.009) (ng/ml), as shown in figure 2. while serum level of tsh (µlu/ml) showed high significant decrease (p < 0.01) at different treatment durations exposing to zno nps in both treated groups (30 and 60) mg/kg (0.186 ± 0.007), (0.190 ± 0.010) (ng/ml), respectively, for 7 days compared to the control groups (175 ± 0.008) (ng/ml), also there was high significant decrease (p < 0.01) in the level of (tsh) at both concentrations (30 and 60) mg/kg in 14 days (0.188 ± 0.01), (0.195 ± 0.019) (ng/ml), respectively, in comparison to control group (0.175 ± 0.008), and at 28 days (0.191 ± 0.01), (0.198 ± 0.01) (ng ml) in comparison to control group (0.174 ± 0.009) (ng/ml), as shown in figure 3. testosterone statistical analysis of the present study of zno nps on testis function is observed in figure 4 there was a high significant decrease (p < 0.01) in testosterone level at 30 and 60 mg/kg for 7 days (160.83 ± 1.16), (149.00 ± 1.29) ng/dl, respectively, compared to control group (184.67 ± 1.05) ng/dl. testosterone level exhibited significant decrease (p < 0.01) at day14 luaibi and zayed: zinc oxide nanoparticles effect on thyroid and testosterone hormones 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 26-31 when treated with zno nps (30 and 60) mg/kg (138.50 ± 0.99), (121.50 ± 0.99) ng/dl when compared with control groups (181.00 ± 1.31) ng/dl. there was significant decrease (p < 0.01) showed in testosterone level at a period of 28 days treatment (30 and 60) mg/kg (117.00 ± 1.52), (104.17 ± 1.42) ng/dl in comparison to control groups (184.17 ± 1.24) ng/dl. discussion results of the present study are in agreement with previous study of zno nps by cheric and rafieirad[20] showed that injecting zno nps with three different doses (1.25, 2.5, and 5) mg/kg to 42 male rats divided into 7 groups, the blood samples of experimental with different doses were taken on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 15th days after receiving nano zno intraperitoneally (ip) to measure the amount of t3 and t4 hormone levels, results observed that acute injection of nano zno reduced the amount of thyroid hormone t3 and t4, the effect occurred in different doses, but is more significant in the medium and long term, even in small amounts can cause negative effects on the activity of the thyroid gland and disrupt creation of thyroid hormones. another study by espanani et al.[21] who treated 48 male rats by zno nps ip (5, 10, 20, and 40 mg/kg), after a 21 days period results showed significant increase in tsh hormone level in animals that were treated by high dose of zno np, but those who treated by 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg do not show this effect. dean et al.[22] found a reduction in thyroid function t3, t4 when he fed chicken with zn in diet at 73 ppm or 5280 ppm for 1–2 weeks, have demanded that high zn intake change the production and secretion of thyroid hormones, they suggested that decrease in thyroid hormone function was due to reduced effects of thyroid gland might be induced by the reduced regulatory effect of pituitary gland on thyroid gland, and decreased circulating thyroid hormones figure 2: effect of different concentrations of zinc oxide nanoparticles (30 and 60) mg/kg on t3 levels of rats with different periods of time (7, 14, and 28) days in comparison with control groups and between treated groups themselves. **high significant decrease (≤0.01). a,b,crepresents the significant difference between groups with days as a fixed factor and concentrations as a variable factor. a,b,crepresents the significant difference between groups with concentrations as a fixed factor and days as a variable factor figure 1: effect of different concentrations of zno nps (30 and 60) mg/kg on t4 levels of rats with different periods of time (7, 14, and 28) days in comparison with control groups and between treated groups themselves. **high significant decrease (≤0.01). a,b,crepresents the significant difference between groups with days as a fixed factor and concentrations as a variable factor. a,b,crepresents the significant difference between groups with concentrations as a fixed factor and days as a variable factor figure 3: effect of different concentrations of zinc oxide nanoparticles (30 and 60) mg/kg on thyroid-stimulating hormone levels of rats with different periods of time (7, 14, and 28) days in comparison with control groups and between treated groups themselves. **high significant decrease (≤0.01). a,b,crepresents the significant difference between groups with days as a fixed factor and concentrations as a variable factor. a,b,crepresents the significant difference between groups with concentrations as a fixed factor and days as a variable factor figure 4: effect of different concentrations of zinc oxide nanoparticles (30 and 60) mg/kg on testosterone levels of rats with different periods of time (7, 14, and 28) days in comparison with control groups and between treated groups themselves. **high significant decrease (≤0.01). a,b,crepresents the significant difference between groups with days as a fixed factor and concentrations as a variable factor. a,b,crepresents the significant difference between groups with concentrations as a fixed factor and days as a variable factor luaibi and zayed: zinc oxide nanoparticles effect on thyroid and testosterone hormones 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 26-31 may be indicative of hypothyroidism due to zinc toxicity. lu et al.[23] stated that zn decrease the binding of t3 to its receptor in several preparations in vitro. kaya et al.[24] conducted the experiment using 130 hisex brown laying hens from 56 weeks to 68 weeks of age, then they were divided into five zinc treatment groups (0, 25, 50, 100, and 200) mg/zinc/kg diet respectively, the values of 100 and 200 mg/zn/kg decreased plasma level of t4 compared to control, while plasma level of t3 was reduced by 100 mg/zn/ kg compared to groups fed less zn, these data might suggest that a high intake of zn changes production or secretion of the thyroid hormone.[25] used 12 lambs and 12 goats that were divided into two equal groups as control and zn groups in separate experiments, both species of animals in the zn groups were fed a basal ration supplemented with zinc sulfate adjusted to 250 mg zn/kg diet showed significant decrease in hormone level t3 and t4.[26] randomly distributed 120 male rabbits into four groups, the control groups were fed on a basal diet with zinc-free premix, while experimental groups received the basal diet supplemented, group 1 with 60 mg/kg nano zno/kg diet, group 2 60/kg mg nano zno/kg diet, and group 3 30/kg mg nano zno/kg diet, respectively, results observed that rabbits showed no significant changes among the treated groups in respect to serum tsh concentration. in contrast, baweja et al.[27] demonstrated that the levels of tsh were raised after 8 weeks of zinc supplementation in female wistar rats. another study that disagree with present report by shirband et al.[28] that administered iron oxide nps with three different dose (20 µg/kg, 50 µg/kg, and 150 µg/kg) for 15 days to male rats, results showed significant increase in t4 level in groups receiving a dose 50 µg/kg and caused significant decrease in tsh in the group receiving a dose 50 µg/kg and 150 µg/kg. it is likely that np effects can be applied through the inhibition of endocrine pituitary axis hypothalamus which affects the hypothalamus, and probably due to decreased tsh levels. nps affect hypothalamic pituitary thyroid axis and therefore affect the level of thyroid hormones that were demonstrated in this study. in a study by[29] used 32 adult male mice treated daily for 35 days: 5, 50, and 300 mg/kg zno nps, respectively, while control group received distilled water orally for 35 consecutive days, results observed significantly changed in 50 and 300 mg/kg zno nps treated mice in epididymal sperm parameters including sperm number, motility, and percentage of abnormality, while significant decrease in seminiferous tubule diameter, seminiferous epithelium height, and maturation arrest was observed at 50 and 300 mg/kg zno nps, this study established that znp has cytotoxic actions on testicular germ cells in a dose-dependent manner, nps might also affect sertoli cell functions.[30] who treated 40 female wistar rats with zirconium oxide nps with a dose of 100, 200, and 400 ppm injected intraperitoneally showed a significant decrease in level of testosterone at high doses. reports of a study by mohammadi et al.[31] injected titanium dioxide tio nps intraperitoneally to wistar rats weighing 150–250 g, 1 ml tio2 nps in doses (30 and 50) mg/kg, injection repeated every other day, results showed decrease in testosterone level, could be caused by adverse effects of nps in the leydig cells, as leydig cells are testosterone production factories. another study by fuse et al.[32] showed that zinc nps disorder leads to atrophy to the seminiferous tubules and impaired spermatogenesis in male rats. in a study by shirvani et al.[33] was intraperitoneal injected of different doses (25, 50, and 100 mg/kg) of zno nps (25 nm) to male wistar rats showed decrease but no significant in level of testosterone, synthesis of testosterone is inhibited as a result of responding to the inflammation which is caused by zno nps. [34] treated rats with zno nps with dose (5, 10, 20, and 40 mg/ kg) results revealed significant increase in level of testosterone in blood serum of rats at high dose of zno nps (40 mg/kg), results assured exposing to zno nps damaged to public health and reduced fertility potential. zno nps are related to (ros), which results in an increase in dna double-strand breakage and a decrease in sperm motility.[33] kolesarova et al.[35]reported that metal nps induce changes in reproductive organs, histology of laboratory animals and cause disruption in reproductive cells production and hormones. thyroid hormone deficiency affects all tissues of the body including multiple endocrine changes that alter growth hormone, corticotrophin, gonadal function, and glucocorticoids, as primary hypothyroidism is associated with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, so hypothyroidism decrease free testosterone concentration as thyroid hormone affects in sex hormone-binding globulin (shbg).[36] alterations in gonadal steroid genesis and pituitary functions have been stated in hypothyroid males, hypothyroidism was found to be associated with an increase in level of total cholesterol and reduction in the levels of testosterone and progesterone without any alteration in the levels of gonadotropins and estradiol, the decline in level of testosterone could be explained by reduction in serum triiodothyronine, a higher rate of alteration of testosterone to estradiol or the further decline in the rate of alteration of progesterone to testosterone.[37] increasing in tsh level that was caused by zno nps decreased gonadotropinreleasing hormone secretion by negative feedback inhibition that led to lh and fsh reduction, while inhibin hormone that is usually released by sertoli cells can affect fsh hormone level.[21] considering the results of the above mentioned studies and the alterations in results from the present study, these outcomes could be related to the dosage of zno nps used, animal species diversity, route of administration of nps and different durations of exposing to nps, nps showed cytotoxic effect on testosterone and thyroid hormone levels in dose and time-dependent manner. conclusions the results of this study showed that the size, doses, route of administration, and time depended can be a factor that effects thyroid hormone level and testosterone, the decrement in t3 andt4 can be caused by dose and duration of zno nps, decrease in levels of thyroid hormones due to toxic effect of zno nps that effects on the function of thyroid gland or on release of tsh. nps affects the reproductive system of male by complex and varied mechanisms; results indicate that thyroid hormone deficiency has effects on testosterone level, as hypothyroidism decrease free testosterone concentration, also thyroid hormone has effects on shbg. acknowledgments the authors would like to thank mustansiriyah university (www.uomustansiriyah.edu.iq) baghdad, iraq, for its support in the present work. 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wistar rats”. international journal of basic sciences and applied research, vol. 3, pp. 180-185, 2014. 34. e. h. reza, s. kobra, s. leila, y. vahid and a. esmaiel. “investigation of the zinc oxide nanoparticles effect on testosterone, cholesterol and cortisol in rats. research journal recent science, vol. 3, pp. 14-19, 2014. 35. a. kolesarova, m. capcarova, a. sirotkin, m. medvedova and j. kovacik. “cobalt-induced changes in the igf-i and progesterone release, expression of proliferation-and apoptosisrelated peptides in porcine ovarian granulosa cells in vitro”. journal of environmental science and health part a toxic luaibi and zayed: zinc oxide nanoparticles effect on thyroid and testosterone hormones 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 26-31 hazardous substances and environmental engineering, vol. 45, pp. 810-817, 2010. 36. a. w. meikle. “the interrelationships between thyroid dysfunction and hypogonadism in men and boys”. thyroid, vol, 14, pp. 17-25, 2004. 37. a. kumar, b. p. mohanty and l. rani. “secretion of testicular steroids and gonadotrophins in hypothyroidism”. andrologia, vol. 39, pp. 253-260, 2007. . 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 37-44 research article nutritional characteristics of pregnant women and its relation with anemia during pregnancy in a sample of kurdish women/iraq rushna g. abdulwahid1, hamdia m. ahmed2* 1cardiovascular perfusionist, surgical specialty hospital/cardiac center, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. 2basic sciences unit, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract anemia in pregnancy is a major public health problem, especially in developing countries. this study aimed to assess the nutritional characteristics of pregnant women and find out its relationship with anemia during pregnancy. a descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on 600 pregnant women who attended four primary health-care centers which randomly selected according to the geographical area. a specially designed questionnaire was prepared by the researcher after extensive review of relevant literature. the severity of anemia is determined according to alene and dohe. estimation and calculation of dietary characteristics was done according to food frequency questionnaire, frequencies and percentage, mean and standard deviations, and chi-square test of association and regression analysis. there was a highly statistically significant association between anemia with eating vegetables and chicken, and a high significant relation of anemia with eating beef and eating nuts. furthermore, there was a highly significant association between severity of anemia with eating nuts, and a significant association with eating vegetables, while there was no significant association with other variables. logistic regression analysis revealed that eating less than normal of vegetables, beef, and nuts were indicated risks of anemia. eating less than normal of vegetables, beef, and nuts were indicated risks of anemia during pregnancy. keywords: anemia, diet, nutrition, pregnancy introduction anemia in pregnancy is a major public health problem, especially in developing countries. it affects 41.8% of pregnant women globally.[1] anemia in pregnancy is defined by the world health organization (who) as a hemoglobin (hb) concentration below 11 g/dl.[2] nutritional anemia is the most common type of anemia worldwide and mainly includes iron, folic acid, vitamin b12, and vitamin c deficiencies. iron deficiency contributes to half of the burden of anemia globally. iron deficiency affects 1.3–2.2 billion persons out of that 50 % are women of reproductive age. in ethiopia, nearly 17% of women with age of 15–49 years are anemic of these 22% are pregnant women.[3] anemia in pregnant women has severe consequences on health, social, and economic development. anemic pregnant women will be at risk of low physical activity, increased maternal morbidity and mortality, especially those with severe anemia. in addition, both pregnant women and their neonates encounter negative consequences including fetal anemia, low birth weight (lbw), preterm delivery, intrauterine growth restriction, and perinatal mortality.[1] a large number of women experience micronutrient deficiencies (of iron and vitamin a, for instance); almost half of all pregnant women in the world are thought to have anemia and 9.8 million pregnant women have night blindness. an estimated 19.1 million pregnant women (the highest proportions in africa and south-eastern asia) have low serum retinol concentrations. maternal deficiencies in micronutrients may lower infant birth weight and jeopardize development and survival: maternal iodine deficiency is associated with congenital malformations, and mental retardation in children and a link between vitamin b12 deficiency and an increased risk of diabetes has been described in india. insufficient intake of specific fatty acids, such as docosahexaenoic acid, may also impede children’s development.[4] during pregnancy, a woman needs good nutritional status for a healthy outcome. women who have a poor nutritional cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: hamdia m. ahmed, college of health sciences, hawler medical university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: hamdia76@gmail.com received: apr 12, 2019 accepted: apr 18, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp1-37-44 copyright © 2020 rushna g. abdulwahid, hamdia m. ahmed. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ abdulwahid and ahmed: nutritional characteristics of pregnant women 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 37-44 status at conception are at higher risk of disease and death; their health depends greatly on the availability of food, and they may be unable to cope with their increased nutrient needs during pregnancy in situations of food insecurity. maternal nutrition is a fundamental determinant of fetal growth, birth weight, and infant morbidity; poor nutrition often leads to long-term, irreversible, and detrimental consequences to the fetus.[4] studies have shown that the adverse consequences of maternal anemia may affect not only the neonate and infant but also increase the risk of non-communicable diseases when the child grows into an adult and the risk of lbw in the next generation.[5] low maternal hb levels are associated with increased risk of preterm delivery, lbw babies, apgar score <5 at 1 min and intrauterine fetal demise.[6] according to the results of two previous studies in erbil city regarding anemia during pregnancy, the prevalence of anemia was 55.5%, and 70% of participants had risk factors.[7,8] according to the knowledge of the researcher, no study focuses on dietary characteristics of anemic women. because the anemia during pregnancy is still a major public health problem and a high prevalence in kurdish women, therefore the researcher interested to study it concerning diet of them. therefore, this study aimed to assess the nutritional characteristics of pregnant women and find out its relationship with anemia during pregnancy. methods a descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the nutritional characteristics of pregnant women in primary health care centers (phcc) of erbil city, kurdistan region, iraq. the study was conducted during the period october 1, 2015–november 13, 2016. the period included data collection, analysis, and interpretation. the study was conducted among pregnant women who attended antenatal care in phcc in erbil city. during time of data collection, 21 primary health centers were in erbil city which 19 of them were provided with maternal and child health care services. four phcc were randomly selected according to the geographic area from north, south, east, and west. a purposive sampling of 600 pregnant women was included in the study. the sample size was estimated using the general formula for targeted population size, allowed error 5%, prevalence (ratio of the studied phenomenon in the population in similar study) and using the 95% confidence interval. the sample size of each phcc was according to their ratio in the targeted population. the sample size from kurdistan phcc was 117, brayati was 168, mahamad bajalan was 117, and malafande was 198. mothers who had the following criteria were included in the study: pregnant women who were in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimester of pregnancy and woman who accept to participate in the study. pregnant women with history of chronic hypertension, diabetes, thyroid, cardiac diseases, and systematic lupus erythematosis, woman’s with hemoglobinopathies such as thalassemia and woman’s who have early and late vaginal bleeding or antepartum hemorrhage (abruption placenta and placenta previa) and hemorrhoid were excluded from the study. before data collection, the official permission was obtained from college of nursing, erbil general directorate of health, and phcc for carrying out the study in erbil city. face to face interview method and reviewing antenatal card were used for data collection after taking permission and explanation the objectives of the study to the mother’s. each interview session took approximately 15–20 min. blood hb level was measured to assess severity of anemia. the severity of anemia is determined according to alene and dohe (2014) as the following: mild (hb level between 10.0 and 11 g/dl), moderate (hb level between 7.0 and 9.9 g/dl), and sever (hb level <7 g/dl). a specially designed questionnaire was prepared by the researcher after extensive review of relevant literature, which consists of three parts: socio-demographic characteristic obstetrical characteristics, dietary characteristic of pregnant women which included how often did the mother eat the followings: fruit, vegetables, chicken, fish and seafood, beef, other meat, nuts, beans, dairy, eggs, grains, sweets, caffeinated soft drinks, coffee and tea, and what was the usual serving size for each of them. estimation and calculation of dietary characteristics was according to food frequency questionnaire (ffq). the validity of the study questionnaire was presented through panel of 14 experts of different specialties related to the field of the present study. they recommended some modifications and suggestions regarding some questions and all responses were taken into consideration in the final draft of the questionnaire format. a pilot study was conducted on 20 mothers who attended antenatal care units. according the results of the pilot study, some items of the questionnaire were removed and other was added to the questionnaire form. the proposal of the study was approved by ethical committee from the college of nursing and general directorate of phcc. informed consent was taken from study participants. data were entered into a computer using the statistical package for the science services (spss version 23) and following statistical procedures were applied: frequencies and percentage, mean and standard deviations, and chi-square test of association and regression analysis. results the highest percentage of 57.3% of the study sample aged between 25 and 36 years old. all participants of the study sample were living in urban areas. the highest percentages of 34.3% of the study sample were graduated from institute, college, and above. regarding occupation, the highest percentages of 78.7% of the study samples were unskilled workers. regarding economic status level, the highest percentage of 49.7% of the study sample had low economic status [table 1]. table 2 shows that the highest percentage of 59.2% of the study sample regarding age at the first pregnancy was in age group 13–23 years; regarding gravidity, the highest percentage of 64.3% of the study sample was multigravida; concerning parity, the highest percentage of 48.3% of the study sample was nulliparous, and the highest percentage of 71.5% of the study sample had no abortion. table 3 shows that the highest percentage of 53.2% of the study sample was in second trimester. the highest percentage of 92.3% of the study sample took iron and folic acid supplementation; the highest percentage of 87% of the study abdulwahid and ahmed: nutritional characteristics of pregnant women 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 37-44 sample took <30 tabs/month, the highest percentage of 97.8% of the study sample did not have anemia before pregnancy. table 4 shows the prevalence and severity of anemia of the study sample. prevalence of anemia during pregnancy was 46.2%, regarding the severity of anemia the highest percentage of 67.1% of the study sample had mild anemia, while the lowest percentage of 32.9% of the study sample had moderate anemia, and there were no cases for severe anemia. table 5 shows the dietary characteristics of the study sample for eating daily frequency, serving size, and daily amount. the highest mean for eating daily frequency was related to drinking coffee and tea 1.99, eating fruit 1.55, eating dairy 1.52, and 1.17 eating grains, while the lowest mean 0.24 eating fish and seafood, 0.31 caffeinated soft drinks, and 0.47 eating beef. regarding serving size, the highest mean was 0.98, 0.96, 0.95, and 0.93, respectively, for drinking coffee and tea, eating fruit, eating eggs, and eating dairy, while the lowest mean was 0.50 and 0.51 for eating chicken and beef and fish and seafood, respectively. regarding daily amount, drinking coffee and tea, eating fruit, dairy, and eggs had the highest mean (1.95. 1048, 1.41, and 0.84, respectively), while the lowest mean of daily amount was 0.12 for eating fish and seafood, 0.18 caffeinated soft drinks and 0.23 eating beef. table 6 shows that all of the study samples had dietary daily amounts less than normal regarding fish and seafood, beans, grains, and eggs, while fruits 92.8%, coffee and tea 83.8%, and nuts 81.5% had the highest normal dietary amounts. more than half of the study sample had normal dietary daily amounts of dairy 54.7% and beef 52.2%. furthermore, it shows that there was a highly statistically significant association between anemia with eating vegetables and chicken (p < 0.001), and a highly significant relation of anemia with eating beef (p < 0.01), and eating nuts (p < 0.05). there was no significant association of anemia with other variables (p > 0.05) such as eating fish and seafood, beans, eggs, and grains. table 1: socio-demographic characteristics of the study sample (n=600) variables f % age group/years 13–24 208 34.7 25–36 344 57.3 37–48 48 8 wife education illiterate 96 16 read and write only 24 4 primary school 106 17.7 intermediate school 85 14.2 secondary school 83 13.8 institute, college, and above 206 34.3 wife occupation high professional job 12 2 lower professional job 116 19.3 unskilled workers 472 78.7 economic status level low economic status <90 298 49.7 middle economic status 90–120 177 29.5 high economic status 121–150 125 20.8 table 2: obstetrical characteristics of the study sample (n=600) variables f % age at first pregnancy 13–23 355 59.2 24–34 229 38.2 35–45 16 2.7 gravidity primigravida 214 35.7 multigravida 386 64.3 parity nulliparous 290 48.3 primiparous 142 23.7 multiparous 96 16 grand multipara 72 12 abortion none 429 71.5 1–3 171 28.5 trimester first trimester 33 5.5 second trimester 319 53.2 third trimester 248 41.3 iron, folic acid, fero-folic supplementation yes 554 92.3 no 46 7.7 number of iron and folic acid tablet taking/month <30 522 87 ≥30 32 5.3 none 46 7.7 anemia before pregnancy yes 13 2.2 no 587 97.8 table 3: prevalence and severity of anemia among the study sample prevalence f % anemic 277 46.2 non-anemic 323 53.8 total 600 100 severity of anemia moderate 91 32.9 mild 186 67.1 total 277 100 abdulwahid and ahmed: nutritional characteristics of pregnant women 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 37-44 table 7 shows that there was a highly significant association between the severity of anemia with eating nuts (p < 0.01), and a significant association with eating vegetables (p < 0.05), while there was no significant association with other variables (p > 0.05). logistic regression analysis revealed that eating less than normal of vegetables, beef, and nuts were indicated risks of anemia (p < 0.05 odds ratio [or] = 0.543, 0.147, 0.611, 0.493, 0.689, 0.641, respectively). on the other hand, eating less than normal of chicken was indicated no risks of anemia (p > 0.05 or = 3.062, 1.433, 1.039, respectively) [table 8]. discussion prevalence of anemia in the present study was 46.2% which indicated severe public health problems, which was similar to the results of other studies done in bali, indonesia in 2002 which was 46.2%, in northern tanzania was 47.4% in 2011, and 48.2% in south-east asia, and 44.2% in eastern mediterranean by who 2005, in south-eastern nigeria in 2007 was 40.4%, in kakamega county, and kenya was 40% in 2014. prevalence of anemia in the present study was higher than the results of other studies done in wolayita sodo town, southern ethiopia in 2015 was 39.94%, in makkah, saudi arabia was 39% in 2012, in southeast ethiopia was 27.9% in 2014, in europe was 25.1%, and in americas 24.1% by who 2005, in nablus, palestine was 21.7% in 2007, in mekelle town was 19.7% in 2014, in the lower north of thailand was 17.5% in 2012, in kerman, and iran was 4.7% in 2010. the results of a study done by kefiyalew et al.[9] found that 55%, 32.5%, and 12.5 of the study sample had mild, moderate, and severe anemia, respectively, which was consistent with the results of the present study. dim and onah[2] reported that 90.7% had mild anemia, 9.3% had moderate anemia, and no cases of severe anemia were detected on their studies which were consistent with the results of the present study. women from lower socioeconomic groups are at higher risk of inadequate protein intake due to the associated costs. they are also more likely to choose less expensive processed foods which would put them at risk of small for gestational age babies.[10] results of the present study, there was a high significant (p < 0.001) association of anemia with eating vegetables, chicken, and beef, and a significant (p < 0.05) association with eating nuts, while there was no significant (p > 0.05) association between anemia and eating of fruits, dairy, table 4: dietary characteristics of the study sample (n=600) dietary characteristics eating daily frequency (mean) serving size (mean) daily amount (mean) fruit (apples, bananas, oranges, etc.) 1.55 0.96 1.488 vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, etc.) 0.92 0.57 0.524 chicken (fried chicken, in soup, grilled chicken, etc.) 0.62 0.50 0.31 fish and seafood (tuna, shrimp, crab, etc.) 0.24 0.51 0.122 beef (steak, meatballs, etc.) 0.47 0.50 0.235 nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc.) 0.86 0.63 0.541 beans (tofu, chickpeas, chili, etc.) 0.82 0.56 0.459 dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.) 1.52 0.93 1.413 eggs (omelet, in salad, etc.) 0.89 0.95 0.845 grains (bread, pasta, rice, etc.) 1.17 0.63 0.737 sweets (candy, cookies, pie, etc.) 0.67 0.71 0.475 caffeinated soft drinks (cola, diet cola, energy drinks, etc.) 0.31 0.59 0.182 coffee and tea (hot coffee, iced coffee, black tea, etc.) 1.99 0.98 1.95 table 5: dietary daily amounts of the study sample (n=600) dietary daily amount less than normal normal f % f % fruit (apples, bananas, oranges, etc.) 43 7.2 557 92.8 vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, etc.) 504 84 96 16 chicken (fried chicken, in soup, grilled chicken, etc.) 588 98 12 2 fish and seafood (tuna, shrimp, crab, etc.) 600 100 0 0 beef (steak, meatballs, etc.) 287 47.8 313 52.2 nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc.) 111 18.5 489 81.5 beans (tofu, chickpeas, chili, etc.) 600 100 0 0 dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.) 272 45.3 328 54.7 eggs (omelet, in salad, etc.) 600 100 0 0 grains (bread, pasta, rice, etc.) 600 100 0 0 sweets (candy, cookies, pie, etc.) 533 88.8 67 11.2 caffeinated soft drinks (cola, diet cola, energy drinks, etc.) 582 97 18 3 coffee and tea (hot coffee, iced coffee, black tea, etc.) 97 16.2 503 83.8 abdulwahid and ahmed: nutritional characteristics of pregnant women 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 37-44 sweets, and taking caffeinated soft drinks, drinking coffee, and tea. furthermore, the present study showed that there was no significant (p > 0.05) association of severity of anemia with eating beef, which was consistent to the results of aikawa et al.,[11] who found that there was no significant association of hb level with consumption of meat and meat products. results of the present study showed that eating beef less than normal had 0.688 times more likely to express risks of anemia than in nonanemic, which was consistent to the results table 6: association of dietary daily amounts with anemia during pregnancy (n=600) variables anemic non-anemic p-value chi-square test f % f % fruit (apples, bananas, oranges, etc.) 0.962 less than normal 20 46.5 23 53.5 normal 257 46.1 300 53.9 vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, etc.) 0.002 less than normal 219 43.5 285 56.5 normal 58 60.4 38 39.6 chicken (fried chicken, in soup, grilled chicken, etc.) 0.001 less than normal 277 47.1 311 52.9 normal 0 0.0 12 100.0 fish and seafood (tuna, shrimp, crab, etc.) constant less than normal 277 46.2 323 53.8 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 beef (steak, meatballs, etc.) 0.004 less than normal 115 40.1 172 59.9 normal 162 51.8 151 48.2 nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc.) 0.031 less than normal 41 36.9 70 63.1 normal 236 48.3 253 51.7 beans (tofu, chickpeas, chili, etc.) constant less than normal 277 46.2 323 53.8 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.) 0.060 less than normal 137 50.4 135 49.6 normal 140 42.7 188 57.3 eggs (omelet, in salad, etc.) constant less than normal 277 46.2 323 53.8 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 grains (bread, pasta, rice, etc.) constant less than normal 277 46.2 323 53.8 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 sweets (candy, cookies, pie, etc.) 0.425 less than normal 243 45.6 290 54.4 normal 34 50.7 33 49.3 caffeinated soft drinks (cola, diet cola, energy drinks, etc.) 0.529 less than normal 270 46.4 312 53.6 normal 7 38.9 11 61.1 coffee and tea (hot coffee, iced coffee, black tea, etc.) 0.536 less than normal 42 43.3 55 56.7 normal 235 46.7 268 53.3 abdulwahid and ahmed: nutritional characteristics of pregnant women 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 37-44 of abriha et al.,[12] who mentioned that consumption of meat was another factor which showed significant association with anemia in pregnant women. el-hindi[13] mentioned on their results of the study that there was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.05) between study populations with respect to nutritional, dietary status. kefiyalew et al.[9] mentioned on their results that there was no significant (p > 0.05) association of eating red meat, poultry, fish consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption with anemia, which was in contrast to the results of the present study regarding eating red meat, vegetables, and chicken, table 7: association of the severity of anemia with dietary daily amounts of the study sample (n=277) variables moderate mild p-value chi-square test f % f % fruit (apples, bananas, oranges, etc.) 0.090 less than normal 10 50.0 10 50.0 normal 81 31.5 176 68.5 vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, etc.) 0.027 less than normal 79 36.1 140 63.9 normal 12 20.7 46 79.3 chicken (fried chicken, in soup, grilled chicken, etc.) constant less than normal 91 32.9 186 67.1 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 fish and seafood (tuna, shrimp, crab, etc.) constant less than normal 91 32.9 186 67.1 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 beef (steak, meatballs, etc.) 0.326 less than normal 34 29.6 81 70.4 normal 57 35.2 105 64.8 nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc.) 0.007 less than normal 6 14.6 35 85.4 normal 85 36.0 151 64.0 beans (tofu, chickpeas, chili, etc.) constant less than normal 91 32.9 186 67.1 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 dairy (cheese, milk, yogurt, etc.) 0.797 less than normal 44 32.1 93 67.9 normal 47 33.6 93 66.4 eggs (omelet, in salad, etc.) constant less than normal 91 32.9 186 67.1 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 grains (bread, pasta, rice, etc.) constant less than normal 91 32.9 186 67.1 normal 0 0.0 0 0.0 sweets (candy, cookies, pie, etc.) 0.217 less than normal 83 34.2 160 65.8 normal 8 23.5 26 76.5 caffeinated soft drinks (cola, diet cola, energy drinks, etc.) 0.807 less than normal 89 33.0 181 67.0 normal 2 28.6 5 71.4 coffee and tea (hot coffee, iced coffee, black tea, etc.) 0.521 less than normal 12 28.6 30 71.4 normal 79 33.6 156 66.4 abdulwahid and ahmed: nutritional characteristics of pregnant women 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 37-44 while it was consistent regarding eating fruits. aikawa et al.[11] found on their results that there was no significant (p > 0.05) association of anemia with eating fruit which was consistent with the results of present study, while it was inconsistent regarding eating chicken, vegetable, meat, and meat products. jufar and zewde[14] found on their results that there was no significant (p > 0.05) association of anemia with drinking tea and coffee and taking fruit, which was consistent with results of present study, while it was in contrast regarding eating animal foods and green leafy vegetables. the results of aikawa et al.[11] indicated that there was no significant (p > 0.05) association of hb level with consumption of fish, seafood, and eggs, while there was a significant (p < 0.05) relation of consumption of beans with hb levels. khapre et al.[15] mentioned that there was no significant (p > 0.05) difference of degree of anemia and was found between vegetarian and non-vegetarian type of diet. viveki et al.[16] found on their results that there was no significant association of severity of anemia with dietary habits such as vegetarian and mixed diets. clinical practice guideline nutrition for pregnancy[10] described the food pyramid guidelines as the following: starchy carbohydrates, such as whole grains and fiber-rich foods including breads, cereals potatoes, pasta, and rice, six or more servings a day from this group; where one serving is 1 bowl of cereal, 1 slice of bread or 1 medium potato, fruit and vegetables, at least five or more servings a day; 1 serving is 1 medium-sized fruit, for example, 1 apple or 3 dessert spoons of vegetables, dairy foods which includes milk, cheese, and yogurt, 3 servings a day from this group; 1 serving is 125 g yogurt, 25 g of cheese or 200 ml milk, and protein foods including meat, poultry, fish, eggs or legumes, at least 2 servings a day: where one portion is 50–75 g (2–3 oz) cooked meat, 100 g (4 oz) fish, 2 eggs or 6 dessert spoons beans. murray and mckinney[17] described the food plan and amounts per serving with recommendations intake for pregnancy as the following: food and amounts/ serving of whole grains (1 oz = 1 slice bread and ½ cup rice or pasta) for vegetables, fruits, and dairy group (1 cup milk or yogurt, 1.5 ounce hard cheese, and 2 cup cottage cheese) for protein group (1 ounce meat/poultry/fish, 1 egg, ¼ cup table 8: logistic regression analysis of the factors associated with anemia variables p value odd’s ratio 95% ci of or vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, potatoes etc.) less than normal 0.003 0.493 0.308–0.788 normal (reference category) chicken (fried chicken, in soup, grilled chicken, etc.) less than normal 0.999 1.039 1.017–1.061 normal (reference category) beef (steak, meatballs, etc.) less than normal 0.035 0.689 0.488–0.973 normal (reference category) nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc.) less than normal 0.053 0.641 0.409–1.005 normal (reference category) or: odds ratio, ci: confidence interval cooked beans, ¼ cup tofu, and 1 tablespoon peanut butter), while the recommended intakes for them as following: for whole grains 7–9 oz, vegetables 3–3.5 cup, fruits 2 cup, dairy group 3 cup, and protein group 6–6.5 oz. karaoglu et al.[18] conducted a cross-sectional study about the prevalence of nutritional anemia in pregnancy in an east anatolian province, turkey, who found that 40.2% of study sample consumed egg, 8.1% consumed red meat, poultry or fish, and 42.0% consumed fruit and vegetables daily. el-hindi (2011) concluded in a study done regarding nutrition that 55.4% of the study sample get regular nutrition, while 44.6% get not regular nutrition in anemic group, in non-anemic group and 78.3% of study sample get regular nutrition while 21.7% get irregular nutrition during pregnancy. results of a study done by karaoglu et al.[18] showed that 19.4% of study samples ate one portion of red meat, poultry, and fish consumption every day, while 27.8% of them ate less than frequent of red meat, poultry, and fish consumption. regarding eating fruit and vegetable consumption, 24.3% of participants ate one portion, while 29.1% of participants ate less frequents. these results are consistent with the results of the present study regarding eating chicken and vegetables, while they are in contrast regarding eating fruits and beef. plante et al.[19] conducted a survey on nunavik women about iron deficiency and anemia among women, they found that less than half 37.1% of the sample ate normal meat, which was consistent to the results of the present study, while it was in contrast regarding eating sweets, which indicated that less than half 39.4% of the sample ate normal sweets, on the other hand, it is also in contrast regarding drinking coffee and tea, which found that less than half 37.1% of the study sample drinking less than normal coffee and tea. conclusion eating less than normal of vegetables, beef, and nuts were indicated risks of anemia during pregnancy. references 1. l. gedefaw, a. ayele, y. asres and a. mossie a. “anemia and associated factors among pregnant women attending antenatal care clinic in wolayita sodo town, southern ethiopia”. ethiopian journal of health sciences, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 155-162, 2015. 2. c. dim and h. onah. “the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women at booking in enugu, south eastern nigeria. medscape general medicine, vol. 9, no. 3, p. 11, 2007. 3. m. yesuf and m. wassie. “prevalence and associated factors of anemia among pregnant women of mekelle town: a cross sectional study”. bmc research notes, vol. 7, p. 888, 2014. 4. world health organization. “nutrition of women in the preconception period during pregnancy and the breastfeeding period”. provisional agenda item, meeting, 2012. 5. kalaivani, k. “prevalence and consequences of anemia in pregnancy”. the indian journal of medical research, vol. 130, pp. 627-633, 2009. 6. f. lone, r. qureshi and f. emanuel. “maternal anaemia and its impact on perinatal outcome”. tropical medicine and international health, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 486-490, 2004. 7. a. ahmed and k. ali. “maternal anemia status among pregnant women in erbil city”, iraq. world family medicine journal, vol. 11, no. 8, p. 23, 2013. 8. t. al-khafaji, j. zangana and s. dauod. “prevalence of pregnant abdulwahid and ahmed: nutritional characteristics of pregnant women 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 37-44 women with multiple risk factors attending primary health center in erbil. international journal of humanities social sciences and education, vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 104-113, 2015. available from: http://www.arcjournals.org. 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[last accessed on 2015 may 06]. 13. m. el-hindi. “iron status of pregnant women and their newborns in gaza”. a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of master of biological sciences. medical technology faculty of science. gaza, 2011. 14. a. jufar and t. zewde. “prevalence of anemia among pregnant women attending antenatal care at tikur anbessa specialized hospital, addis ababa ethiopia”. journal of hematology and thromboembolic diseases, vol. 2, p. 1, 2014. 15. m. khapre, r. meshram and a. mudey. “study on multiple causal factors associated with varying degree of anemia among rural pregnant women”. international journal of medical science and public health, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 268-272, 2013. 16. r. viveki, a. halappanavar, p. viveki, s. halkis, v. maled and p. deshpande. “prevalence of anaemia and its epidemiological determinants in pregnant women”. al ameen journal of medical scinencs, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 216-223, 2012. 17. s. murray and e. mckinney. “foundations of maternal-newborn and women’s health nursing”. 6th ed. united states: saunders, pp. 144-150, 551-553, 2014. 18. l. karaoglu, e. pehlivan, m. egri, c. deprem, g. gunes, m. genc and i. temel. “therprevalence of nutritional anemia in pregnancy in an east anatolian province, turkey”. bmc public health, vol. 10, p. 329, 2010. available from: http://www.biomedcentral. com/1471-2458/10/329. 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[last accessed on 2015 mar 03]. . 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 42-49 research article prediction the groundwater depth using kriging method and bayesian kalman filter approach in erbil governorate kurdistan ibrahim mawlood, paree khan aabdulla omer department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq abstract the aim of this research is using the kriging method as one of geostatistics interpolation methods on the measured value of the specific part and bayesian kalman filter to identifying the depth of groundwater in erbil. geostatistics is a tool which is developed for statistical analysis of any continuous data that can be measured at any location in the space. the kalman filter is the bayesian optimum solution to the problem of estimating the unknown state of a dynamic system from noisy data and is more efficient than computing the estimate directly from the entire past observed data. the main goal of this work is to predict anew value at the unmeasured location by kriging method and bayesian kalman filter and compare these two methods. the dataset is the observed values of the (295) wells that had been taken from a known specific place which called shaqlawa – in erbil governorate. the comparison was done by calculating mean absolute error (mae) and root mean square error (rmse) for the value of the depth of groundwater in the eara of the study. the values of (mae and rmse) of each models are compared and the smaller values of them are the better interpolation as it shown in analyzing to evaluate the precision of the prediction. keywords: bayesian estimation, covariance function, gaussian random field, groundwater-surface interpolation, kalman filter, kriging interpolation method introduction the kriging is a spatial interpolation geostatistical method used for the first time in meteorology, geology, environmental sciences, agriculture, and others fields. this method is used to find the best estimator under the assumption of the second order stationarity. geostatistics is a set of tools and models that are developed for statistical analysis of any continuous data that can be measured at any location in the space. verify three data feature in statistical continuous data analysis: dependency, stationery, and distribution. with these features, you can proceed to the modeling of the geostatistical data analysis like simple kriging. in addition, the goal of this work is to predict a new value at the unmeasured location by gaussian semivariogram function (model) and compare the results of this model based on the simple kriging method and understanding their spatial variability with another approach called bayesian kalman filter. kalman filter is an optimal linear estimator which provides the estimation of signals in noise. kalman used the state transition models for the dynamic system in the estimation process. groundwater-surface interpolation in general, spatial statistics and geographic information system (gis) rely on each other in many ways. arc gis is software which can be used to create covariates for inclusion in all statistical models and to bring out the results from statistical models. the work in this study might be very important to evaluate the results from different models in simple kriging interpolation approaches. this kind of comparison presents a relevant meaning for the variability of a physical model which used as a reference to validate the interpolation results. groundwater depth of the wells of any sample point data for generates surface need to be evaluated and preprocessed before interpolation. the locations and values of sample point data will impact the interpolation result. first, all the collected data should come from the same type of wells in the same aquifer. the well information should be carefully evaluated to make sure the data reflect the dynamics of groundwater in the target aquifer, not other aquifers. second, the spatial distribution of sample point data should be carefully considered. the clustered data and sparse data in one area corresponding author: kurdistan ibrahim mawlood, department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: kurdistan.mawlood@su.edu.krd doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp42-49 copyright © 2019 kurdistan ibrahim mawlood, paree khan aabdulla omer. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) received: apr 27, 2019 accepted: may 29, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ mawlood and omer: prediction the groundwater depth 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 42-49 will cause different interpolation results. after collecting suitable data for interpolation, raster calculator in gis is used to calculate the elevation of groundwater table in each well by dividing the surface elevation (digital elevation model) with the groundwater depth.[1] gaussian random field used gaussian random field z(s) to identify the spatial correlation structure, any field of spatial is a set of random variables which parameterized by some set (d⊂rd). the simplest stochastic process form is as follows: z s s d rd( ) :{ ∈ ⊂ } (1) where: z(s): field of random spatial. s: coordinates spatial random variable. d: domain of spatial random variable. rd: d-dimensional euclidean space. any finite collection{z(s1),z(s2).,z(sk).,} is multivariate normal: 1 1( ) ( ) . . ~ , ( ( ), ( )) . . ( ) ( ) i j k k z s s n cov z s z s z s s µ µ                                    if the following assumptions hold, then a spatial random field is called second-order stationary: [2] ( ( ))e z s s dµ= ∀ ∈ (2) (3) where: e: expected value. cov: covariance function of two locations. h=s2−s1: vector distance between z(s1) and z(s2). however, we know that the covariance function can be expressed as follows: ( ) ( ) ( )( ) [ ] 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 ( ), ( ) ( ), ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) s s h cov z s z s cov z s z s h c h e z s z s h e z s z s h    +  = + =   = − + −  = + − (4) when the expected value is equal to zero. ( ( )) 0,e z s s d = = ∀ ∈ (5) then, cov z s z s cov z s z s h c h e z s z s h ( ), ( ) ( ), ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 1 2 1 1 1 1 ( ) = +( )  = = +[[ ] (6) when the mean of a second-order stationary of spatial random field is equal to zero over the d and the covariance function of the locations does not depend on s1 and s2 but the vector h. and for cov h cov z s z s h v z s( ) ( ), ( ) ( )= = +( )  = [ ]0 if variance or covariance function does not exist, the intrinsic hypothesis and the spatial random field are called (intrinsic stationery) if the following assumption holds as: e z s or e z s z s s d v z s z s s s s ( ( )) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) = −[ ] = ∀ ∈ −[ ] = − ∀ µ γ 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 0 2 ,, s d2 ∈ (7) where, v: variance, γ: semivariogram, 2γ: variogram 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 2  = −[ ] = − +[ ] = + −[ ]( ) − v z s z s v z s z s h e z s h z s e z ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (ss h z s e z s h z s 1 1 2 1 1 2 + −[ ]( ) = + −[ ]( ) ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (8) in addition, if the covariance function c(s1−s2)=c(h) or semivariogram γ(s1−s2)=γ(h) depends only on separation distance between s1 and s2, h=||s1−s2||, then the spatial random field is called isotropic.[3] the kriging kriging is a spatial interpolation geostatistical method used for the 1st time in meteorology, geology, environmental sciences, agriculture, and other fields. this method is used to find the best estimator under the assumption of the second-order stationarity. a geological process may not be stationary in reality. in case, where the process is non-stationary, we could use non-linear functions.[4] here, the classifying geostatistical techniques are as follows [table 1]. assumptions in some of the interpolation methods especially geostatistical methods, they have their own assumptions as follow:[5] 1. stationarity 2. intrinsic hypothesis 3. isotropy and anisotropy 4. unbiased. semivariogram function and covariance function the semivariogram function is a structure of intrinsically stationary spatial random field which describes a broader class of erath phenomena. in the case of the second-order stationary spatial random processes, there is an equivalence between covariance function and semivariogram function as follows: table 1: classification of geostatistical techniques model stationary nonstationary linear ordinary/simple kriging universal kriging; kriging using irf-k nonlinear disjunctive kriging simulation simulation of irf-k irf-k: intrinsic random functions of order k ( ) ( ) ( )1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 ( ), ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) , s scov z s z s e z s z s c s s s s d µ µ = − − =  − ∈ mawlood and omer: prediction the groundwater depth 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 42-49 v z s h z s v z s h v z s cov z s h z s v z s ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ), ( ) ( ) + −[ ] = +[ ] + [ ] − +[ ] = [ 2 2 ]] − +[ ] = −[ ] = ÷ = − 2 2 0 2 2 0 cov z s h z s c c h h h c c h ( ), ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )   (10) the semivariogram function is a measure of dissimilarity between pairs of locations or observed value z(s+h) and z(s). there are three parameters of semivariogram function for the spatial second-order stationary processes: nugget effect (c0), range (a), and partial sill (c) which are shown in figure 1. the sum (c0+c) is called the sill (marcin and marek, 2010), (sluiter, 2009). the gaussian semivariogram model the gaussian model is commonly used to represent events with a small scale spatial structure,[6] the equation for this model is similar to the normal cumulative distribution function, and it is given by [figure 2]:  z h c c h a h( ) exp ,= + − −            >0 2 0 21 0 (11) the simple kriging interpolation method simple kriging can deliver the value at any unmeasured location (s0) using a linear estimator λi for the measured values at locations (s1,s2.,sn): z s z si i i n i i n ( ) ( ),0 1 1 1= = = = ∑ ∑  (12) as the sum of all linear estimators equals one, the unbiased prediction is ensured. using the intrinsic hypothesis, the estimation variance is calculated by the formula: ( )2 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 ˆ( ) ( ( ) ( ( ) ( )) 2 ( ) ( ) e n n n i i i j i j i i j s var z s e z s z s s s s s       = = = = = − = − − −∑ ∑∑ (13) the semivariance (sj−s0) and(si−s0) are taken from the variogram model. the goal is to minimize σ2(s) under the unbiased conditions and to find the corresponding weight. the weights are chosen to fulfill: 0 0 ˆ( ( ) ( )) 0e z s z s− = according to the assumption that e[z(s1)−z(s2)]=0 which called intrinsic stationery and to solve this the lagrange multiplier (μ) is introduced, not easy solving this model by any other ways: z s s s s s so i i j i n j( ) ( ) ( ) ( )= − + = − = ∑ λ γ µ γ 1 0 0 (14) the solutions to this linear equation system are the values of the linear estimators. this system is called kriging system.[7] the kriging variance is determined by: σ λ γ µk i i i n s s s2 0 1 0= − + = ∑ ( ) ( ) (15) kalman filtering the kalman filter gives unbiased, linear, and minimum variance recursive estimate to the state of a dynamic system from noisy data taken in separate real-time.[10] kf used in the formulation of a dynamic model for linear dynamical systems provides a recursive solution to the problem of the optimal linear filter. the recursive solution in every state update estimate is calculated from previous estimates and data entry; only the previous estimate requires storage. kf has been widely used in the fields of signal processing and modern control and airborne surveillance systems, radar signal processing and control, and adaptive controls. here, we will provide only the equations needed to develop discrete recursion kf, discrete state equations are given as linear dynamic for signal θt and observation yt. [11] we have two equations: figure 1: the relationship between the γ(h) and c(h) for the second-order stationary of a spatial random variable figure 2: the gaussian semivariogram model with parameters mawlood and omer: prediction the groundwater depth 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 42-49 1. observation equation: y ft t t t= +θ υ 2. system equation: θ θ ωt t t tg= +−1 the initial state vector has a mean θ0 and a covariance matrix p0 that is: 0 0 0 0 ˆ[ ] = and [ ] = e var p   yt is the vector of noisy observation at time t, of dimension m×1. ft is the known matrix at time t, of dimension m×p relates the state vector to the observation vector yt. υt is the vector of observation error (stochastic error term) at time t, having normal distribution with zero mean and covariance vt, of dimension m×θt is the vector of unknown state parameters (signal) at time t, of dimension p×1, system states. gt is the matrix of time-varying state transition matrix dimension pxp. ωt is the system error (stochastic error term) at time t, having normal distribution with zero mean and covariance wt, of dimension p×1. where, vt and wt are variance-covariance measurement and process noise matrices, respectively. the noise vectors ωt and υt process and measurement noise, respectively, are uncorrected white noises (have zero means) they are independent of each other and have normal probability distributions. the disturbances υt and ωt uncorrected with the initial state that as: e( ) = 0υ θt t 0 and e( ) = 0ω θt t 0 for t=1, 2, 3,…,t bayesian estimation of dynamic linear models kalman filter is used for estimating a state of a dynamic system which gives the best-unbiased estimator using previous measurement knowledge. previous algorithms stand from the use of all the previous information to estimate the state of the system at the time of the next step. this dynamic linear model is the simple model represented as: observation equation yt=μt+εt system equation μt=μt−1+σμ2 where the errors εt and ωt are mutually independent and independent of initial information probability (μ0|d0) initial information probability (μ0|d0) represents forecaster’s probabilistic information of about the μ0 at time t=0. the mean m0 and the variance c0 are a point estimate and the associated uncertainty of μ0. dt consists all the information available up until time t, including d0, the values variances values { , : }σ σε µ 2 2 0t > , and the the observations yt,yt−1,…,y1 or, the only new information becomes available at any time t is the observed value yt, where dt={yt,dt−1}. here, we start expressing initial information concerning the parameter μ0 was described in the form of a normal probability distribution with mean m0 and variance c0 is: 0 0 0~ ( , )n m c using a mathematical process and bayes’ theorem at the time (t−1) of the parameter μt−1 is: 1 1 1 1( | )~ ( , )t t t t td n m c − − − − where, dt−1 is d yt t − −=1 1 2 2{ , , }σ σε µ . we aim now to find a final distribution for the parameter μt at last time is the time appointed by our knowledge of all available data, or the time that we want to filter. we recompense an extremely presence of the information is: d y dt t t= −{ , }1 . then bayes’ theorem is posterior ∝ observed likelihood×prior p d p y p dt t t t t t( | ) ( | )* ( | )µ α µ µ −1 (16) where p(yt|μt) represents the likelihood distribution function at time t p(μt|dt−1) represents the prior distribution at time t both of them are distributed normally now to find all of the weighting function p(μt|dt−1) and the prior probability before observation yt, using dynamic linear model and probability distribution as: e y e e e t t t t t t t t t t ( | ) ( | ) ( | ) ( | ) µ µ ε µ µ µ ε µ µ = + = + = and v y v v v t t t t t t t t t ( | ) ( | ) ( | ) ( | ) µ µ ε µ µ µ ε µ σε = + = + = 2 or ( | )~ ( , )y nt t tµ µ σε 2 and from the system equation: e d e e d e d m t t t t t t t t t ( | ) ( ) ( | ) ( | ) µ µ σ µ σ µ µ − − − − − = + = + = 1 1 1 1 1 and v d v v d v d c r t t t t t t t t t t t ( | ) ( ) ( | ) ( | ) µ µ σ µ σ σ µ µ µ − − − − − = + = + = + = 1 1 1 1 1 2 or 1 1( | )~ ( , )t t t tp d n m r − − then by substituting each of (yt|μt), p(μt|dt−1) in equation (2.10.1) we get mawlood and omer: prediction the groundwater depth 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 42-49 p t dt e yt t rt t mt( | ) [ ( ) ( )]µ α σε µ µ− − + − − 1 2 1 2 1 1 (17) we can find that: p t dt e ct t mt( | ) [ ( )]µ α µ− − 1 2 1 (18) now we get mean mt and variance ct of final distribution, respectively, are: m y r m r c r rt t t t t t t = + + = + + − 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 σ σ σ σ ε ε ε ε , and then, the final distribution for parameter μt at time t is ( | )~ ( , )t t t tp d n m c we can write the mean and variance of posterior probability distribution after simplifying them as: m m k y mt t t t t= + −− −1 1( ) (19) c kt t= *σε 2 (20) where k r rt t t= + −( )σε 2 1 (21) where the equation (19) called kalman filter, sometimes called for two equations (19), (20) together kalman filter, and equation (21) is kalman gain. forecasting dynamic linear models we mean by forecasting finding the h-step ahead for each distribution given the data dynamic linear model y1,y2.,yt. for a dynamic linear model, the h-step-ahead forecasting distributions, for states and observations, are obtained as a product of the kalman filter.[12,13] from the observations y1:t to yt+h we noticed that the data y1:t provide information about θt, which, in turn, gives information about the future state evolution up to θt+k and consequently on yt+h. [13,14] then, the general dynamic linear model for h step is: observation equation: y f n vt h t h t h t h t t+ + + += +θ υ υ ~ [ , ]0 (22) system equation: θ θ ω ωt h t h t h t h t tg n w+ + + − += +1 0~ [ , ] (23) let a0=mt, r0=ct, then for h≥1, for forecasting at time t, the forecaster requires the h-step ahead marginal distributions, (yt+h|dt) and (θt+h|dt), predictions start from the posterior estimate of the state, obtained from the kalman filter, on the time (t) on which the forecast is made. the mean and variance for the observation equation are: 1 1 1 ˆ ( | ) ( | ) t h t h t t t t t k t y e y d e f d fg m   + + + + + = = + = (24) q t var y d fg c g f fg w g f v t t h t h t k t t i i t t i h ( ) ( | ) ( ) ( ) = = + + + = − ∑ 0 1 (25) application, results and discussion the study area and data collection spatial variability of any regional variable is a result of complex processes which is working at the same time and over long periods of time. variation of a regional variable has never been an easy task or work. many regional random variables vary not only horizontally but also with depth such as wells of water, oil, and gas. the spatial attribute includes approximately all wells at fields that exist which spatially distributed across the study area to represent the fluctuations of levels from place to another place in whole area. the source of dataset is the observed values of the 295 wells that had been taken from the known specific place which called shaqlawa in erbil governorate. these observations are collected by gps by the ministry of agriculture, figure 3 expresses the location of each well, and each point of the dataset has its name and properties. furthermore, each point has its goal for drilling the well, some of them for drinking or irrigation and agriculture. figure 3 shows the geographical location of the data points of shaqlawa or all wells. they are shown as a surface which can be represented by the most probably prediction map and also by estimated prediction when we are applying a model of the simple kriging interpolation. the figure shows cycles that are many points closer together tend to be more alike than things that are farther apart (quantified here as spatial autocorrelation). results of groundwater-surface interpolation figure 4 can be described as continuous data and represented the random field. it shows a histogram of the observed values and how they distributed in the region. it represents the curve of the observations values, and the results after taken the suitable transformation that has a small standard deviation equal to 0.37924, the skewness of dataset is equal to −0.61614, near to zero and the kurtosis of the dataset is equal to 4.5715 not near to three. these indicated that the distributions of depth in sample data points were approximate to normal distribution. results of gaussian semivariogram simple kriging surface interpolation spatial dependency can be detected in this dataset using several tools available in geostatistical analysis exploratory spatial data analysis and geostatistical wizard in gis software. figure 3: geographical location of the dataset mawlood and omer: prediction the groundwater depth 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 42-49 in geostatistics semivariogram is called spatial modeling (called structural analysis or variography). table 2 shows the model called the gaussian semivariogram. this gives a quantitative description of variability about the same regional variation. the important part of the variogram is the rang which describes the distance. it shows the isotropy of the gaussian semivariogram model for (295) dataset of groundwater of wells in shaqlawa, which all points have equal directional of variability as being north-south and east-west. furthermore, the anisotropy of gaussian semivariogram model expresses the same data (554) that change with the direction which described an ellipsoid, and this ellipsoid specified by the length of two orthogonal axis (major and minor) with its orientation angle θ. figure 5 shows gaussian semivariogram model for isotropy and anisotropy surfaces, these used to predict of random field (spatial field) of groundwater well z(s0) unknown value in the same area, which depends on only maximum (5) neighbors value of the measured values. table 2 contains all cross-validation of isotropy and anisotropy of simple kriging gaussian semivariogram model and the prediction value of the depth of unknown new value of well. table 3 shows all information about simple kriging by guassian semivariogram model to predict a new location of groundwater in the same area for both of isotropy and anisotropy. the prediction value of unknown is measured also depending on (5) maximum and (2) minimum value of neighbors from measured value for the depth of new well with longitude and latitude. in anisotropy gaussian semivariogram model is equal to 173.2582 and its greater than the depth of the isotropy exponential semivariogram model which equal to 132.3405. estimation the depth of groundwater using kalman filter the estimation process of parameters is made using the initial values of the depth of groundwater mean and variances are being of an estimate of it is values. equations (19), (20), and (21) are used to estimate parameters, error covariance, and kalman gain for univariate simple dynamic linear model for each observation of the groundwater depth. table 4 gives the actual value, estimated groundwater depth parameter, error covariance, and kalman gain. examining the table reveals the following: the error covariance is convergence at a time point (t=18) with the value (802.1407). kalman gain is convergence at a time point (t=16) with the value (0.383983). there is two convergences time and the last time convergence is the best estimate for the same time. a compression between groundwater depth resulting from the estimate and forecasting groundwater depth values for all observations is shown in figure 6. the results show how figure 6: difference between estimate values and forecast values for groundwater depth figure 4: the histogram of the dataset figure 5: (a and b) surfaces of the gaussian semivariogram model a b mawlood and omer: prediction the groundwater depth 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 42-49 closely the estimated model matches the forecasting electricity groundwater depth. the blue line is estimate values and the red line is forecasting values. evaluating accuracy (or error) measures for estimation for selections, the best approach (method) for prediction the groundwater depth two accuracy criteria were used, which are (mean absolute error [mae] and root mean square error [rmse]). they are based on the error estimate, which is the difference between the estimated and forecast groundwater depth values. the results are shown in table 5. table 3 represents that kalman filter is the better approach based on the two criteria, where each of them has a small value than simple kriging using gaussian semivariogram model for both of isotropy and anisotropy. conclusions the major results of performing the analysis of two approaches (simple kriging and kalman filter), the following main conclusions have been achieved: 1. the data follow approximately to normal distribution after taken log transformation for variability and secondorder stationary to remove the trend. 2. the variability of the depth of groundwater wells elevation in the region changes from north to south or from westnorth to south-east, this is due to the spatial dependency in the area which is one of the reasons of the depth of well. 3. for unmeasured value used simple kriging with gaussian semivariogram model, in this model the predicted value by isotropy semivariogram model is better than the anisotropy semivariogram model depending on the value of the depth of groundwater [table 2]. 4. when applied the kalman filter for estimating and forecasting the depth of groundwater, we found that the kf is suitable for estimation and yield good results, because in the presence of white gaussian noise because when the normality condition holds, the kf will give optimum and sufficient results. 5. the result shows that the bayesian kalman filter approach has the best estimation and forecasting results compared to simple kriging using the accuracy criteria (mae and rmse). table 2: results of gaussian semivariogram model simple kriging exponential semivariogram isotropy anisotropy nugget (c0) 0.0714 0 rang (α) 2 2 major rang 2554.326 4998.32 minor rang 2554.326 1949.16 partial sill (c) 0.081173 0.093287 lag size (h) 416.5267 416.5267 number of lag 12 12 table 3: accuracy criteria for each approach methods mae rmse kalman filter 13.2975 18.078 simple kriging/gaussian model 29.7364 43.719 mae: mean absolute error, rmse: root mean square error table 4: results of simple kriging gaussian semivariogram model simple kriging exponential semivariogram isotropy anisotropy maximum neighbors 5 5 minimum neighbors 2 2 predicted value x 400,739 400,739 y 421,531 421,531 depth (m) 132.3405 173.2582 table 5: estimated parameters when ( ̂ 0 =126.02, p̂0 =2089.088, and w=500) convergence time actual values estimate error covariance kalman gain 1 189 126.02 2089.088 0.73123 2 201 167.5177 1156.157 0.55345 3 91 133.6806 923.7829 0.442213 4 142 137.0526 846.7026 0.405315 5 100 122.529 818.8316 0.391973 6 130 125.4203 808.4435 0.387 7 160 138.7378 804.528 0.385126 8 140 139.223 803.046 0.384416 9 50 104.9482 802.4841 0.384147 10 151 122.6342 802.271 0.384045 11 183 145.8151 802.1901 0.384007 12 100 128.2224 802.1594 0.383992 13 100 117.3854 802.1478 0.383986 14 220 156.7878 802.1434 0.383984 15 193 170.6927 802.1417 0.383984 16 180 174.2665 802.1411 0.383983 17 200 184.1478 802.1408 0.383983 18 147 169.8836 802.1407 0.383983 19 202 182.2158 802.1407 0.383983 20 151 170.2295 802.1407 0.383983 . . . . . . . . . . 291 239 164.2836 802.1407 0.383983 292 211 182.2219 802.1407 0.383983 293 73 140.2825 802.1407 0.383983 294 91 121.3589 802.1407 0.383983 295 82 106.2469 802.1407 0.383983 mawlood and omer: prediction the groundwater depth 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 42-49 references 1. s. i. gou. “identifying groundwater dependent ecosystems in the edwards aquifer area, zachry department of civil engineering”. texas: texas a and m university, 2010. 2. r. webster and m. olivier. “geostatistics environmental scientists”. 2nd ed. new york, usa: john wiley and sons, 2007. 3. l. marcin and k. marek. “simple spatial prediction least squares prediction, simple kriging and conditional expectation of normal vector”. poland: department of geomatics, agh university of science and technology in krakow, 2010. 4. d, sarma. “geostatistics with application in earth science”. 2nd ed. dordrecht: springer, captial publishing company, 2009. 5. r. sluiter. “interpolation methods for climate data; literature review”. knmi, r and d information and observation technology, 2009. 6. i. clark and w. v. harper. “practical geostatistics”. columbus, ohio: ecosse north america, 2000. 7. m. disse and k. amin. “review of various methods for interpolation of rainfall and their applications in hydrology, thesis of chair of hydrology and river basin management”. munich: technical university munich, 2017. 8. r. e. kalman. “a new approach to linear filtering and prediction problems”. journal of basic engineering, vol. 82, pp. 35-45, 1960. 9. r. e. kalman and r. s. bucy. “new linear filtering and prediction problems”. journal of basic engineering, vol. 83, pp. 95-108, 1961. 10. r. eubank. “a kalman filter primer”. united states of america: crc press publishing, 2006. 11. b. d. anderson and b. g. moore. “optimal filtering”. new south wales, australia: prentice-hall publishing, university of newcastle, 1979. 12. m. meng, d, niu d and w. sun. “forecasting monthly electric energy consumption using feature extraction”. journal energies, vol. 4, pp. 1495-1507, 2011. 13. m. west and j. harrison. “bayesian forecasting and dynamic models”. 2nd ed. new york: springer-verlag, 1997. 14. r. gentleman, k. hornik and g. parmigiani. “dynamic linear models with r”. new york: springer science and business media publishing, 2009. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 1-5 research article occupational exposures and associated health effects among dumpsite workers: a case study of kani qirzhala landfill site, erbil, iraq tanya s. salih, ameena s. m. juma, muhsin h. ubeid department of general biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract eighty-nine male workers from the landfill site in (kani qirzhala), erbil, iraq, aged from 12 to 65 years were investigated in this study. each one had filled out a questionnaire sheet, in addition to their signed consent to take a blood sample from them. plus, a 7 ml of venous blood samples were collected from them. total ige and syphilis antibodies were detected. thus, cbc was conducted on each sample. the results recorded 92.13% of the workers lived in rural areas, while 7.87% lived in urban areas. further, there were 58.43% smokers and 41.57% non-smokers. furthermore, the research sample contained 38.20% single and 61.80% married people. as education illustrated, 37.08% had no schooling, primary school education 40.45%, less than 20% had secondary school education, 2.25% acquired a diploma, and a b.sc. degree. the serum concentration of total ige of dumpsite workers revealed a significant increase when compared to the healthy group. none of the workers’ sera revealed syphilis antibodies except one case which was positive; however, it shows non-significant differences between both groups. wbc count was soared significantly in dumpsite workers when compared to the healthy individuals, yet, lymphocyte and granulocyte numbers showed non-significant increment, while monocyte numbers showed a statistically insignificant rise in workers as compared to healthy group. the number of rbcs and hb level of the landfill workers exhibited a substantial increase. even though, both groups’ platelets did not show significant variance. the rise in wbc counts and ige levels may be due to the exposure of these workers to allergens at the dumpsites as for allergies is the common consequence when exposed to waste and garbage. keywords: ige and allergy, dumpsite workers, complete blood count, syphilis and hematological factors introduction wastes management using open landfill sites is considered a primitive practice and an inadequate service that is still used in many parts of the globe, in addition to the absence of efficacy and scientific concepts. these sites commonly are located at the brinks of towns. such dumpsites are considered health and environmental hazard,[1] they will affect and infect not only the contacted workers but they also will influence the communities who live in the surrounding adjacent areas.[2,3] as such, those people who work and live in a dirty atmosphere are at risk of illness as of their surroundings. they have a high possibility to be caught by many microbial diseases and exposure to many chemical substances causing them, namely, irritation (allergies) of skin, nose, and eyes, in addition to chest and stomach pains, headaches, and diarrhea.[4-7] in fact, the study had isolated various of pathological species of bacteria from the site’s surroundings; top soils, leachates, and the study group for instance; bacillus, staphylococcus, escherichia coli, proteus, streptococcus, klebsiella, pseudomonas, citrobacter, bacteroides, clostridium, and serratia. all these bacteria are known to cause serious respiratory, skin, gastrointestinal, and even central nervous system infections.[8,9] further, dumpsites are known to emit air pollutants, that is, bioaerosols, which are hazardous to those who work in landfill sites and put them at risk of respiratory diseases. admittedly, cough was the most reported symptom by the investigated literature.[10] furthermore, surveys of community corresponding author: tanya s. salih, department of general biology, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: tanya.salam@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 31, 2021 accepted: july 28, 2021 published: august 10, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021.pp1-5 copyright © 2021 tanya s. salih, ameena s. m. juma, muhsin h. ubeid. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) salih, et al.: occupational exposures and associated health effects among dumpsite workers 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 1-5 health from africa had documented a vast of well-being issues: psychological disorders, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory symptoms, skin inflammation besides to nose, and eyes.[2] based on the aforementioned statements, and the scarcity of information, this study is subjected to shed the light on the health status of the local landfill workers. because of their continuous exposure to toxic materials and allergens, hence, the investigation on the immune status of the mentioned workers was carried out. research methods location and groups selection from kani qirzhala, erbil, iraq, dumpsite eighty-nine males were investigated for this study in hand. age, gender, and apparently healthy subjects had selected as criteria for healthy group. figure 1 illustrates the questionnaire that was filled by both groups. in addition, they were subjected to all tests mentioned in the next section. sample collection to collect 7 ml of venous blood from each worker, a standard clean venipuncture technique was administered by disinfecting the anti-cubital fossa with 70% ethanol and using a disposable hypodermic syringe and 23-gauge needle after tourniquet application. afterward, 2 ml of venous blood was dispensed; into dipotassium ethylenediaminetetraacetic anticoagulant tube, and evenly stirred, hence, to facilitate the establishment of the hematological criteria (cbc). the remaining, 5 ml were placed in a plain tube and left aside for 60 min at room temperature for blood to clot. then, the tubes were in a centrifuge for 10 min. afterward, tubes cooled at 4°c at 450× g to collect the serum. later, using a pasteur pipette, the serum was aspirated and dispensed into 0.5 ml sterile glass tubes and frozen at –20℃. antibody detection once they are restored to room temperature, the stored sera were used for the seroprevalence tests. the automated cobas table 1: kani qirzhala landfill site workers’ information characteristics frequency percent live in rural areas 82 92.13 live in urban areas 7 7.87 smoker 52 58.43 non-smoker 37 41.57 single 34 38.20 married 55 61.80 illiterate 33 37.08 primary school education 36 40.45 secondary school education 16 17.97 diploma degree 2 2.25 b.sc. degree 2 2.25 figure 1: the study’s questionnaire sheet to investigate worker’s antibodies in the sera, hematological, and other parameters e411 immunoassay analyzer facilitated the total ige and syphilis antibodies detection. hematology the hematology tests were achieved after 1 h of blood samples collection using an automated hematological analyzer coulter machine (mythic 18 hematology analyzer, orphee, switzerland) for 20 parameters. results workers’ data this research investigated 89 males who were 12–65 years old (no females were found in that site). no significant difference (p> 0.05) was found in the age intervals regarding all results. the majority 92.13% lived in rural areas, while urban areas consisted only of 7.87%. results demonstrated that there were 58.43% smokers and 41.57% non-smokers. further, it showed that most of them were married 61.80%, and only 38.20% were single. more into this, the education level illustrated, 37.08% had no schooling, primary school education 40.45%, 17.97% had secondary school education, 2.25% acquired a diploma, and a b.sc. degree [table 1]; these workers supported their families financially by going into this occupation. concentration of total ige table 2 reveals a high and significant increase the serum concentration of total ige of the dumpsite workers when compared to the healthy group. frequency of syphilis antibodies the results show a non-significant difference between both groups, as none of the collected sera demonstrated the availability of syphilis antibodies except one case was positive [table 3]. hematological parameters table 4 and figure 2 indicate that wbc count increased significantly (p< 0.01) in dumpsite workers in comparison salih, et al.: occupational exposures and associated health effects among dumpsite workers 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 1-5 table 2: total ige concentration in the sera of the dumpsite workers compared with healthy individuals immunological characteristics gender dumpsite workers healthy group t-test p-value p-value no. mean±se no. mean±se ige ng/ml m 89 255.62±51.47 40 98.40±9.04 0.003 h.s.** p>0.05: non-significant; *p<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant table 3: syphilis antibodies in the sera of dumpsite workers compared with healthy individuals immunological parameter gender dumpsite workers healthy group t-test p-value p-value no. mean±se no. mean±se syphilis ng/ml m 89 0.313±0.019 40 0.296±0.004 0.399 n.s. p>0.05: non-significant; *p<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant table 4: hematological parameters in the sera of dumpsite workers in comparison to healthy individuals immunological and hematological parameters gender dumpsite workers healthy group t-test p-value p-value no. mean±se no. mean±se wbc (103/gl) m 89 7.97±0.62 40 6.19±0.21 0.009 h.s.** lymphocyte (103/gl) m 89 2.70±0.22 40 2.20±0.14 0.058 n.s. granulocyte (103/gl) m 89 4.51±0.31 40 4.05±0.18 0.209 n.s. monocyte (103/^l) m 89 0.77±0.11 40 0.47±0.04 0.014 s.* rbc (106/^l) m 89 5.27±0.07 40 4.95±0.09 0.006 h.s.** hb (g/ml) m 89 16.06±0.24 40 13.86±0.18 0.000 h.s.** platelet (103/^l) m 89 225.49±13.85 40 242.97±4.74 0.235 n.s. p>0.05: non-significant; *p<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant figure 2: hematological parameters in the sera of dumpsite workers in comparison to healthy individuals to the healthy individuals, while lymphocyte and granulocyte numbers non-significantly increased (p> 0.05), and monocyte number shows a slightly significant rise (p< 0.05) in workers as compared to healthy individuals. the table illustrates also, significant increment in the number of rbc’s and hb level as contrasted to the control group. further, it signifies no substantial variance among platelet of groups. discussion at present, more than 15 million individuals in economically poor countries endure by retrieving domestic waste. shockingly, children are a big category among those people. they wade through households’ garbage or factories, collecting and selling materials of recycling context to earn their income.[11] many of the enrolled individuals in this current study were children. pollution of garbage emissions is one of the reasons for many microbial diseases.a wide variety of diseases and sickness symptoms have been diagnosed in dumpsite workers including cholera, typhoid, malaria, skin diseases gastrointestinal, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and respiratory allergies. it is should be mentioned that none of the individuals included in this study showed any symptoms of diseases, despite the fact that most of them looked malnourished. insects and specific mosquitoes can also spread various diseases in the area.[4-7,12,13] whereas, the international solid waste association reported a variety of microbial diseases that can be caught from garbage including bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic, in addition to various allergic infections.[14] in general, degraded living conditions have a direct relationship with the immunological status of a person, which makes them more liable to infections.[15] landfill wastes are identified of spreading very highrisk diseases. moreover, the major types are the medical and biowastes.[12] in addition, the dumpsite dwellers are likely to inhale poisonous gases, that is, methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide. moreover, many other medical conditions have been diagnosed in these workers including cardiovascular degeneration, disorders such as osteoarthritic changes and intervertebral disc herniation, problems of skin and respiratory system, and altered pulmonary function parameters.[16] salih, et al.: occupational exposures and associated health effects among dumpsite workers 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 1-5 the research revealed high levels of ige and wbcs in the dumpsite workers. this could indicate allergic reaction to the substance(s) that these workers exposed to. it is of interest to emphasize on the fact that none of the workers were on any medication, including anti-allergic medications. allergic reactions associated with hypersensitivity to substances that are characterized by excessive activation of certain white blood cells named as mast cells and basophil granulocyte by ige.[17] for instance, hay fever triggers the nose, sneezing, itching, and eyes redness irritation.[18] inhaled allergens can generate asthmatic indications, causing the lung’s airways to narrow, mucus production, dyspnea, as well as to wheezing and coughing.[19] further studies have stated that those who work for long hours in compost are vulnerable to acute and (sub-) chronic non-immune or type iii allergic inflammation.[20] in lebanon, through observation, it was assured the escalation tendency in the acute health symptoms among dumpsite people, such as respiratory, gastrointestinal, constitutional, and dermatological.[21] values of increased wbcs may refer to their involvement in immunological responses as they tend to engage in a descending form of instances resulting in inflammatory and certain sickness conditions, that is, hypersensitivity, immunosuppression, immunomodulation, and autoregression on exposure to allergens or environmental contamination.[22] despite the distinct case of syphilis, which have documented in this research, still it is necessary to it put into consideration. this agrees, where evidence indicated that if threats of biological, chemical, and physical exceeded their limitations, work-related diseases may emerge. many workers, and even retired persons, have been found to have many illnesses including ulcers, bronchitis, in addition to hypertension, heart diseases, arthritis, and diabetes.[23] multitude studies reported that waste collectors risk their health and safety when exposed to significant concentration of biological aerosols,[20,24-26] namely, respiratory and gastrointestinal complaints,[6,27-30] infectious diseases such as hepatitis (a, b, and c), and hiv, in addition to syphilis.[31-33] it is worthy to mention that there have been some studies in the kurdistan region regarding the dumpsites. in sulaymaniyah, poor management and lack of waste treatment have resulted in the severe contamination of soil, water, and air of the surrounding area. besides, urban waste, oil refineries, and cement plants nearby unload production residues into the city dump. around 75% of medical waste from local hospitals is also disposed in the same place. soil and water samples taken in proximity of the landfill showed concentrations of iron (fe), manganese (mn), cadmium (cd), nickel (ni), cobalt (co), and chromium (cr) above permissible levels.[34] life on kani qirzhala has been described elaborately and how it is a family affair and lives of families depend on this occupation.[35] the concern about the protection of the environment has largely increased due to the contaminants mainly with anthropogenic origin and has affected and continues to threaten human resources, especially air quality, surface soil, and groundwater in erbil city where the government is working hard to prevent any health issues, especially with the rapid development of the city.[36] conclusion municipal landfills areas and the workers establish a major public health hazard to themselves, families, in addition to nearby communities. because of relationship between dumpsites as a source of income, and the landfill site administration, the workers’ health is at risk. thus, education of these workers on how to protect themselves and their families is essential. references 1. f. p. sankoh, x. yan and q. tran. environmental and health impact of solid waste disposal in developing cities:a case study of granville brook dumpsite, freetown, sierra leone. journal of environmental protection, vol. 4, no. 7, pp. 665-670, 2013. 2. s. abul. environmental and health impact of solid waste disposal at mangwaneni dumpsite in manzini: swaziland. the journal of sustainable development in africa, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 64-78, 2010. 3. n. p. thanh, y. matsui and t. fujiwara. assessment of plastic waste generation and its potential recycling of household solid waste in can tho city, vietnam. environmental monitoring and assessment, vol. 175, no. 1, pp. 23-35, 2011. 4. h. issever, h. gul, m. erelel, f. erkan and g. y. gungor. health problems of garbage collectors in istanbul. indoor and built environment, vol. 11, no. 5, pp. 293-301, 2002. 5. p. o. njoku, j. n. edokpayi and j. o. odiyo. health and environmental risks of residents living close to a landfill:a case study of thohoyandou landfill, limpopo province, south africa. international journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 16, no.12, p. 2125, 2019. 6. m. r. ray, s. roychoudhury, g. mukherjee, s. roy and t. lahiri. respiratory 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medina. solid wastes, poverty and the environment in developing country cities: challenges and opportunities. wider working paper, 2010. 12. a. jorgensen. diseases caused by improper waste disposal. geneva: world health organization, 2007. 13. a. s. juma, m. h. ubeid and t. s. salih. anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in dumpsite workers of erbil governorate. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 85-89, 2019. 14. a. mavropoulos and d. newman. wasted health the tragic case of dumpsites. vienna: international solid waste association, 2015. 15. t. s. salih, s. s. haydar, m. h. ubeid and a. s. juma. some immunological and hematological parameters among refugees in kawergosk camp-erbil governorate. cihan universityerbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 80-84, 2019. 16. r. r. tiwari. occupational health hazards in sewage and sanitary salih, et al.: occupational exposures and associated health effects among dumpsite workers 5 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z. morsi, r. safa, s. f. baroud, c. n. fawaz, j. i. farha, f. el-jardali and m. chaaya. the protracted waste crisis and physical health of workers in beirut:a comparative cross-sectional study. environmental health, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 39, 2017. 22. b. majkowska-wojciechowska and m. l. kowalski. allergens, air pollutants and immune system function in the era of global warming. in: air pollution-monitoring, modelling, health and control rijeka. london: intech, pp. 221-254, 2012. 23. j. a. cimino and r. mamtani. occupational hazards for new york city sanitation workers. environmental health, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 8-12, 1987. 24. j. lavoie, c. j. dunkerley, t. kosatsky and a. dufresne. exposure to aerosolized bacteria and fungi among collectors of commercial, mixed residential, recyclable and compostable waste. science of the total environment, vol. 370, no. 1, pp. 23-28, 2006. 25. i. m. wouters, s. spaan, j. douwes, g. doekes and d. heederik. overview of personal occupational exposure levels 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international archives of occupational and environmental health, vol. 80, no. 7, pp. 649-652, 2007. 30. m. r. ray, s. roychoudhury, s. mukherjee s, s. siddique, m. banerjee, a. b. akolkar, b. sengupta and t. lahiri. airway inflammation and upregulation of p2 mac-1 integrin expression on circulating leukocytes of female ragpickers in india. journal of occupational health, vol. 51, no. 3, 2009, pp. 232-238. 31. g. dounias and g. rachiotis. prevalence of hepatitis a virus infection among municipal solid-waste workers. international journal of clinical practice, vol. 60, no. 11, 2006, pp. 1432-1436. 32. m. a. rozman, i. s. alves, m. a. porto, p. o. gomes, n. m. ribeiro, l. a. nogueira, m. m, caseiro, v. a. da silva, e. massad and m. n. burattini. hiv and related infections in a sample of recyclable waste collectors of brazil. international journal of std and aids. vol. 18, no. 9, 2007, pp. 653-654. 33. p. luksamijarulkul, d. sujirarat and p. charupoonphol. risk behaviors, occupational risk and seroprevalence of hepatitis b and a infection among public cleansing workers of bangkok metropolis. hepatitis monthly, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 35-40, 2008. 34. a. tinti. available from: https://www.ejatlas.org/conflict/dumpsite-in-sulaymaniyah-kurdistan-region-of-iraq. [last accessed 2021 may 20]. 35. e. fitt. life on the kani qirzhala landfill site in iraq, 2017. available from: https://www.recyclingwasteworld.co.uk/ in-depth-article/life-on-the-kani-qirzhala-landfill-site-iniraq/164658. [last accessed 2021 may 20]. 36. s. q. gardi. environmental impact assessment of erbil dumpsite area west of erbil city-iraqi kurdistan region, 2018 available from: https://www.researchgate.net/ publication/324262622environmentalimpactassessmentof_ erbil_dumpsite_area_-_west_of_erbil_city-iraqi_kurdistan_ region. [last accessed 2021 april 01]. . 75 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 75-79 research article design and implementation a non-uniform helical antenna in frequency range of 450–850 mhz for ultra-high-frequency television application firas muhammad zeki mahmood*, adil h. mohammed al-dalawie department of communication and computer, college of engineering, cihan university-erbil, iraq abstract in a domestic region, the people are living inside cities, they complaining from the weak of local tv broadcasting signals in frequency range of 450–850 mhz, in this paper we got a solution by increase the gain antenna by design new antenna have a wideband and high gain compare with antennas are available in the local market. a non-uniform helical antenna designed using helical antenna calculator according to equations then implemented and measured the radiation pattern and gain of antenna, then compare with commercial loop antenna gain found increase in received power about 10–12 db more than loop antenna gain. the results of measurement applied in matlab program to draw the pattern of the antenna. keywords: measurements and television, non-uniform helical antenna, ultra-high-frequency antenna introduction the ieee standard definitions of terms for antennas (ieee std 145–1983) defines the antenna or aerial as “a means for radiating or receiving radio waves.”[1] a convenient element for providing circular polarization is the wire helix. the helical antenna consists of a metal conductor wound in the form of helix and backed at one end by a metal ground plane. it conveniently fed from a coaxial cable with the center conductor connected to the helix and the outer sheath connected to a circular ground plane of the radius of half-wavelength approximately. the helical geometry characterized by its diameter of turn spacing, pitch angle, uncoiled length of turn, and number of turns.[2] the people are living our side cities, they complain from weak of the local tv broadcasting signals, so we got a solution by increase the gain of antenna by design new helical antenna has wideband and high gain comparing what available with commercial antenna. link budget equation for simple formula for link budget equation can be state as, pr pt gt gr l= + + − (1) where, pr is received power (db), pt is transmitted power (db), gt transmission gain (db), gr is receiver gain (db), and l is total losses (db). the item gain will contain the two main antennas gain for transmitting and receiving, the focus on receiving gain which is in our control hand and we success to give a way to boost the received power if increase the gain of receiver antenna.[3] non-uniform helical antenna according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, non-uniform helical antenna is described for use in two or more frequencies tuning to both resonance frequencies can be accomplished by varying parameters of the helical antenna including, for example, the pitch angle, coil diameter, length, and number and spacing of the coil turns; figure 1 shows an example for non-uniform helical antenna.[4] cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: firas muhammad zeki mahmood, department of communication and computer, college of engineering, cihan university-erbil, iraq. e-mail: firas.zeki@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: apr 10, 2019 accepted: apr 24, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp75-79 copyright © 2019 firas muhammad zeki mahmood, adil hussein mohammed al-dalawie. al-aubi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. mahmood and al-dalawie: design and implementation a non-uniform helical antenna in frequency range of 450–850 mhz for ultra-high-frequency television application 76 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 75-79 main parameters of helical antenna pitch angle pitch angle is the angle between a line tangent to the helix wire and plane normal to the helix axis. α π = arctan s d (2) where, α is the pitch angle, s is the turn spacing (center to center), and d is the diameter of helical. and, h = ns (3) where, h is total height of helix antenna, n is number of turns on the helix antenna, and s is the turn spacing (center to center). the helix antenna functions for pitch angles (α) between 12° and 14°. typically, the pitch angle taken as 13°.[3] the antenna in figure 2 is a left-handed helix antenna because if you curl your fingers on your left hand around the helix your thumb would point up (also, the waves emitted from this helix antenna are left hand circularly polarized). if the helix antenna wounded in another way, it would be a righthanded helical antenna. the radiation pattern will be maximum in the +z direction (along the helical axis in figure 1). the design of helical antenna primarily based on empirical results, and the fundamental equations represented here. helix antennas of at least 3 turns will have close to circular polarization in the +z direction when the circumference c is close to a wavelength: 3 4    4 3 c   ≤ ≤ (4) once the circumference c chosen, the inequalities above roughly determine the operating bandwidth (bw) of the helix antenna.[2,5] for instance, if c = 0.5 m, then the highest frequency of operation will be given by the smallest wavelength that fits into the above equation, or λ = 0.75 c = 0.375 m (5) which corresponds to a frequency of 850 mhz, the lowest frequency of operation will be given by the largest wavelength that fits into the above equation, or λ = 1.33 c = 0.667 m (6) which corresponds to a frequency of 450 mhz. hence, the fractional bw is 56%, which is true of axial helical antennas in general.[6] input impedance the helix antenna is a traveling wave antenna, which means the current travels along with the antenna and the phase varies continuously. in addition, the input impedance is primarily real and can be approximate in ohms[7] by zin c = 140  (7) radiation pattern of the helical antenna the helix antenna functions well for pitch angles (α) between 12° and 14°. typically, the pitch angle taken as 13°. the normalized radiation pattern for the e-field components given by: ε ε ω ωθ φ π θ∝ ∝ sin cos � sin sin2 2 2 n n (8) ω = −( ) − +    ks n �cosθ π1 2 1 � � (9) for circular polarization, the orthogonal components of the e-field must be 90° out of phase. this occurs in directions near the axis (z-axis in figure 2) of the helix.[5] the axial ratio for helix antennas decreases as the number of loops (n) added and can be approximated by: figure 1: non-uniform helical antenna figure 2: main parameters of helical antenna mahmood and al-dalawie: design and implementation a non-uniform helical antenna in frequency range of 450–850 mhz for ultra-high-frequency television application 77 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 75-79 ar n n = +2 1 2 (10) where, ar is axial ratio. gain of the antenna the gain of the helix antenna can be approximated by, g c ns c nfs c = = 6 2 6 22 3 2 3 3 . � � . �  (11) n the above, c is the speed of light. note that for a given helix geometry (specified in terms of c, s, and n), the gain increases with frequency. for an n = 10 turns helix that has a 0.5 m circumference as above, and a pitch angle of 13° (giving s = 0.13 m), the gain is 8.3 (9.2 db).[8] for the same example helix antenna, the pattern is shown in figure 3. the half-power beamwidth for helical antennas can be approximate (in degrees)[3] by: hpbw c ns = 65� /   (12) polarization linear polarization occurs when electromagnetic waves broadcast on a single plane (either vertical or horizontal). compared to linear polarized antennas of the same gain, circular polarized antennas will have a shorter read range because they lose about 3 db splitting their power across two separate planes.[9,10] design specifications it is considered the helical antenna design specifications which are as follows: • frequency range: 450–850 mhz • gain: 10 dbi ± 0.5 db • axial ratio: <1.5. using online antenna calculator program to calculate the parameters that are required to the helical antenna design as shown in figures 4 and 5, respectively.[11] the main factors of helical antenna were entire such as wavelength, number of turns, and the space between each coil to calculate the antenna gain and wire diameter, half-power beamwidth, beamwidth first nulls, and effective aperture. table 1 shows the important factor for implemented the nonuniform helical antenna. figure 3: normalized radiation pattern for helical antenna (db) figure 4: helical antenna design with 450 mhz figure 5: helical antenna design with 850 mhz table 1: main parameters of non-uniform antenna designed parameters at 850 mhz at 450 mhz number of turns 3 5 spacing between coils 8.82 cm 16.7 cm d (diameter) 11.2 cm 21.2 cm g (antenna gain) 9.55 dbi 11.8 dbi z (characteristic impedance) 150 ω 150 ω mahmood and al-dalawie: design and implementation a non-uniform helical antenna in frequency range of 450–850 mhz for ultra-high-frequency television application 78 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 75-79 the implementation of non-helical antenna figure 6 shows the antenna which is designed using helical antenna calculator according to equations then implemented from 5 turns for 450 mhz and 3 turns for 850 mhz with circular plate ground and other parameters as shown in table 1 to cover ultra-high-frequency band for tv application then tested in the laboratory of antenna and microwave/communication and computer department/cihan university – erbil. measurements method the far-field patterns measured on the surface of a sphere of constant radius. any position on the sphere identified by the directional angles θ and φ of the spherical coordinate system. a principal plane must contain the direction of maximum radiation. a simplified block diagram of a pattern measurement system is given in figure 7. the method used a commercial figure 7: set of antenna test[2] figure 8: implemented non-uniform helical antenna under test figure 9: commercial loop antenna radiation pattern figure 6: non-uniform helical antenna manufactured table 2: measurements of commercial loop antenna step no. angle (degree) power (dbm) step no. angle (degree) power (dbm) 1 −180 −16 20 10 −19 2 −170 −19 21 20 −20 3 −160 −22 22 30 −22 4 −150 −25 23 40 −28 5 −140 −28 24 50 −29 6 −130 −29 25 60 −30 7 −120 −30 26 70 −32 8 −110 −31 27 80 −32 9 −100 −32 28 90 −32 10 −90 −32 29 100 −32 11 −80 −32 30 110 −31 12 −70 −32 31 120 −30 13 −60 −30 32 130 −29 14 −50 −29 33 140 −28 15 −40 −28 34 150 −25 16 −30 −22 35 160 −22 17 −20 −20 36 170 −19 18 −10 −19 37 180 −16 19 0 −16 mahmood and al-dalawie: design and implementation a non-uniform helical antenna in frequency range of 450–850 mhz for ultra-high-frequency television application 79 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 75-79 figure 10: non-uniform helical antenna radiation pattern table 3: measurements of non-uniform helical antenna implemented step no. angle (degree) power (dbm) step no. angle (degree) power (dbm) 1 −180 −22 20 10 −9 2 −170 −21 21 20 −10 3 −160 −20 22 30 −12 4 −150 −19 23 40 −15 5 −140 −18 24 50 −17 6 −130 −15 25 60 −18 7 −120 −18 26 70 −19 8 −110 −20 27 80 −20 9 −100 −22 28 90 −21 10 −90 −21 29 100 −22 11 −80 −20 30 110 −20 12 −70 −19 31 120 −18 13 −60 −18 32 130 −15 14 −50 −17 33 140 −18 15 −40 −15 34 150 −19 16 −30 −12 35 160 −20 17 −20 −10 36 170 −21 18 −10 −9 37 180 −22 19 0 −6 radiation pattern of non-uniform helical antenna under test, respectively, these results show the deferent received power about 10–12 db more with non-uniform helical antenna gain. the results of measurements applied in matlab program to draw the pattern of the antenna; figure 9 shows loop antenna radiation pattern and figure 10 shows non-uniform helical antenna radiation pattern, respectively. conclusion in this paper, designed and implemented a non-uniform helical antenna by using helical antenna calculator and equations then tested with frequency range 450 to 850 mhz for tv receiver and compare the gain measurements with commercial loop antenna in local market. the results of measurement show the deferent received power about 10–12 db more with nonuniform helical antenna gain but with circular polarization that meaning the antenna will lost 3 db because the tv broadcasting transmitted linear polarization; still, the gain of antenna manufactured improved about 8 db. references 1. a. c. balanis. “antenna theory analysis and design”. 3rd ed. hoboken, new jersey: john wiley and sons, inc., 2005. 2. f. r. connor. “antennas: introductory topics in electronics and telecommunication”. 2nd ed. london: edward arnold, 1989. 3. j. d. kraus. the helical antenna. in: “antennas”. ch. 7. new york, usa: mcgraw-hill, 1988, p. 265-339. 4. available from: https://www.patentimages.storage.googleapis. com/us6112102. 2019. 5. w. l. stutzman. “antenna theory and design”. 3rd ed. new york: mcgraw-hill, 1998. 6. e. p. ogherohwo and b. barnabas. “design, construction and performance analysis of helical antenna operating at 5.8ghz”. international journal of advanced research in physical science, vol. 2, no. 11, pp. 29-38, nov 2015. 7. m. m. ilić, s. v. savić and p. djondović. “internal matching of uhf helical antenna exciters for magnetic resonance imaging”. api 1.1. proceeding of 3rd international conference on electrical, electronic and computing engineering, zlatibor, serbia, 2016, pp. 1-5. 8. y. liang, j. zhang, q. liu, and x. li. “high power dual branch helical antenna”. ieee antennas and wireless propagation letters, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 472-475, 2018. 9. j. l. dinkić, d. i. olćan, a. g. zajić and a. r. djordjević. “comparison of optimization approaches for designing non uniform helical antennas,” in 2018 ieee international symposium on antennas and propagation and usnc/ursi national radio science meeting, boston, ma, usa, 2018, pp. 1581-1582. 10. available from: https://www.blog.atlasrfidstore.com/circular -polarization-vs-linear-polarization. 2018. 11. available from: http://www.daycounter.com/calculators/helical antenna-design-calculator.phtml. 2018. loop antenna used in local market and implemented non-uniform helical antenna; figure 8 shows implemented non-uniform helical antenna under test. tables 2 and 3 show the radiation pattern of loop antenna and measurements of . 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 12-17 research article improving the level of service of a portion of 60-m ring-road in erbil city dlzar b. qadr*, shorsh a. mohammed, ibrahim a. hasan, rawand f. mohammed ali abstract this study aims to implement the factors that can improve the level of service of 60-m ring-road in erbil, kurdistan region of iraq. these factors are minimizing the traffic volume, providing a higher quality pavement, widening the road carriageway, and constructing bridges. the main objective of this paper is to increase the los of a specific road known as 60-m ring road from new city mall to par hospital in erbil city. for this purpose, the data on speed and traffic flow are collected using video camera to collect data to be reasonably analyzed with respect to the speed of the vehicles and set the los for the proposed road. the result shows that average speed in this study is 19 km/h, and this confirms that the los in this particular road segment is at f category. in addition, the calculated peak hour factor is 0.97 which is more than a typical value in urban area. finally, the study revealed that the traffic volume on this specified road is too high. keywords: bridge ramp, congestion, highway capacity manual, level of service, peak hour factor, space mean speed, urban introduction over the past decade, the number of private cars has been significantly increased at erbil city, where the number tends to be more than a vehicle per family. this is due to the absence of the required public transport in the city such as buses, light rapid traffic system (lrts), railway networks, and underground routes. based on the last statistics in 2011, erbil city as a capital of kurdistan region, iraq, is considered to be one of the major cities in the region, with population about 1.6 million people. human settlement at erbil can be traced back to possibly 5000 bc, and it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited areas in the entire world. at the heart of the city, there is the ancient citadel. apart from its strategic geographical position, commercial development, and tourism of attraction resorts, traffic congestion is one of the challenges that has been affected the movement of vehicles in the city.[1] urban areas can be varied as greatly as the variety of activities performed there: the means of production and the types of goods, trades, transportation, and delivery services. the third definition states that urban areas are those locations where there is a chance for a diversified living environment and various lifestyles.[2] in recent years, traffic congestions have significantly increased in erbil city. there are several reasons which directly and indirectly influence the traffic distribution inside erbil city. the presence of public transport tends to encourage road users to reduce utilizing private cars which does not exist as required in erbil city. the main ring road known as 60 m street around the center of erbil is the most strategic road which has the advantage of its wide carriageway, in which the wide is 18 m per each side, divided into five lanes. geometrically, roads with this geometry should provide a reasonably high level of service (los). in reality, due to the existence of several branch roads from the outer and inner of the ring road, the los has been noticeably decreased. los in urban area the term los is used to qualitatively define the operating conditions of a roadway depending on several factors such as speed, travel time, maneuverability, delay, and safety. the los of a facility is designated with a letter, a to f, with a representing the best operating conditions and f the worst as shown in table 1.[3] corresponding author: dlzar b. qadr, department of civil engineering, cihan university, erbil, iraq. phone: 00964 750 472 77 50, e-mail: dlzar.qadr@cihanuniversity.edu.iq doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp12-17 copyright © 2019 dlzar b. qadr, shorsh a. mohammed, ibrahim a. hasan, rawand f. mohammed ali. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) received: apr 03, 2018 accepted: sep 03, 2018 published: may 13, 2019 department of civil engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ qadr, et al.: improving the level of ring-road services 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 12-17 the los is simply one of the pillars of geometric design which is a measurement of any particular road to assess the case of traffic movement depending on the average traffic speed. the los is not smoothly passable defined for heterogeneous traffic flow with different operational features.[4] the los is considered to be a measure of traffic condition on any particular road which has been clarified in the hcm, 2000. depending on the operation characteristics of the vehicles, the los can be differentiated relying on the traffic speed and distribution of the vehicle represented as traffic volume. ideally, the worst los tends to be equal volume to capacity for the traffic condition. in other word, when the volume of capacity ratio is close to one, it indicates poor traffic condition. as a result, the obstacles on the pathway of both sides can significantly drops the traffic speed despite of the multi-lane road.[5] the factors listed below may influence the evaluation of the los:[6] • factors affecting the speed such as traffic restriction. • operating speed and travel time. • quality of traffic condition represented as driving comfort and convenience. • freedom of maneuver with the similar speed required for operation. objective the fundamental aim of this paper is to improve the los for a specified road in which proper solutions are proposed to be constructed in the locations where the vehicle movement becomes reasonably more efficient. this can be achieved using data collection in monitoring system designed for the determination of the vehicle speeds and traffic volume. furthermore, the traffic condition is aimed to be converted from the worst condition to a reasonably better. this may be achieved by proposing proper solutions for that particular road after evaluating the problem. study area the real problem associated with the study area is the branch roads existing on the 60-m ring road. they have a great impact to create traffic jam due to vehicles passing the branch roads to the left turns as shown in figure 1. this possibly generates vehicle conflict minimizing the design speed of the road which is 60 km/h. after inspection stage of 60-m wide ring road of erbil city, the study area was found to be a particular road to conduct the study satisfactorily. the proposed area is located between eskan intersection and koya intersection on the 60-m wide ring road. this portion appeared as the busiest part exposed to traffic congestion. this is due to the branch roads located on the path of the selected road, where the branch roads create traffic conflict as a result of traffic movement passing the branches to the left turns on the medians as shown in figure 1. methodology the following procedure will be undertaken in the field. to set an efficient plan, a map of the proposed area was sketched properly, in a way that the points of two cameras were fixed with the distance of 150 m between them. the ideal position of the cameras has been chosen based on the entering vehicles from the branches to the left turns which exist from the medians of the road. figure 1 shows the opposite side of the 60-m wide ring road, that collect data from two branch roads. consequently, the monitoring process was designed to record the license number of any passing car through the two cameras at two different times. this time is considered to be a travel time to determine the speed of the vehicles based on the actual distance between the two cameras.[7] to guarantee recording the time more precisely, the direction of both cameras was set on the same vision angle. space mean speed (vs) is the average speed of all the vehicles along a given road segment at a typical instant in time (ortuzar and willumsen, 2011). after the monitoring process, the analysis of the collected data and processing were started as shown in table 2. the determination of the speed for any vehicle is calculated utilizing the following formula: actual distance (d) speed (v)= travel time (t)  (1) where; speed (v): the real speed passing through the portion of table 1: level of service in urban street classes (highway capacity manual, 2000) urban street class i ii iii iv range of speeds 70–90 km/h 55–70 km/h 50–55 km/h 40–55 km/h typical speed 80 km/h 65 km/h 55 km/h 45 km/h los average travel speed (km/h) a >72 >59 >50 >41 b >56−72 >46−59 >39−50 >32−41 c >40−56 >33−46 >28−39 >23−32 d >32−40 >26−33 >22−28 >18−23 e >26−32 >21−26 >17−22 >14−18 f ≤26 ≤21 ≤17 ≤14 los: level of service qadr, et al.: improving the level of ring-road services 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 12-17 the studied road (km/h) actual distance (d): the distance between two fixed cameras in km travel time (t): the time spent by any particular vehicle on the study road can be found by subtracting t1 and t0 t0: the initial recorded time from the first camera in seconds t1: last recorded time spent by a vehicle in seconds. to locate a sufficient approach, two cameras were used per day of monitoring during peak hours (8:30 am and 5:30 pm). the operation of monitoring was done triple for each side of the road. the recording process was designed for peak hours. the average speed of 3 days based on the collected traffic condition was calculated as the final result to be a realistic representation of condition and this is shown in table 2. results and discussion the observations undertaken on the study area generate diverse interpretations regarding the traffic condition. the calculated traffic speed required for the determination of los confirms that the traffic condition varies from e to f. according to table 3, the average travel speed for the vehicles in a specific time is 19 km/h which locates at the f category representing the worst los. this confirms that the influence of the branch roads is considerably high. fi * fi ú ui = ∑ ∑ (2) fi*ui=1376  fi 72 ú= = km/hr 1376 72 19� s fi ui ú n     *( )2 1 (3) fi * ( )2ui ú   664  n -1 = fi -1=71   s2= 664 71 �=9.35 s=±3.05�km / hr→ phf= total�volume�for�1�h 4 *maximum�volume�of�15�min (4) phf= 2045 4 *525 =0.97 ú is the arithmetic mean speed. s is the standard deviation. phf is the peak hour factor typically between 0.8 and 0.95. tables 3 and 4 illustrate a part of data collection and statistical analysis. the results show that the arithmetic mean speed of the vehicles is 19 km/h and the standard deviation of the data is approximately ±3.05 km/h. this gives a decent indicator of the differences in distribution of the speed vehicles which is not so high in the range of 16–22 km/h. the typical value of the peak hour factor (phf) is between 0.8 and 0.95 indicating a lower phf characteristic. in this study the (phf) is higher than the typical value (0.97). this proves the worst los on this road segment. figure 2 demonstrates the frequency of observed vehicles for the vehicles traveling this particular road section in which the speed of 17 km/h has the highest frequency, and this is statistically called as a modal speed. figure 1: the location of the fixed cameras in the study site qadr, et al.: improving the level of ring-road services 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 12-17 the median speed is obtained from the cumulative frequency distribution curve [figure 3] approximately as 16 km/h, the 50th percentile speed, and 20 km/h, the 85th percentile speed. solution from geometric design points of view since the most problematic points to highlight are the branch roads which are causing traffic conflict, it is fair to state that the 60-m wide ring road has the advantage of its wideness from geometrical viewpoints. this can be of great importance to design an efficient network system of transport to reorganize table 2: typical illustration of data processing and calculation sample/vehicle no. t0 (s) t1 (s) actual travel time (h) distance (km) speed (km/h) 1 t1–to speed�(v)�= actual�distance�(d) travel�time�(t)� 2 3 : n-1 n average space mean speed (vs) (km/h) table 3: sample of data collection and calculation car no. t0 (s) t1 (s) t actual (h) distance (km) speed (km/h) 1 2 28 0.0072 0.15 21 2 6 42 0.0100 0.15 15 3 20 48 0.0070 0.15 19 4 14 50 0.0100 0.15 15 5 24 54 0.0083 0.15 18 6 30 97 0.01861 0.15 8 : 0.15 6200 0.15 average travel speed (km/h) 19 table 4: sample of vehicle speed data and statistical analysis speed class km/h class median, ui class frequency (number of observations in class), fi fi*ui percentage of observations in class cumulative percentage of all observations f (ui-ú) 2 11−14.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 15−18.9 17 47 799 65 65 4 19−22.9 21 19 399 26 91 4 23−26.9 25 3 75 4 95 36 27−30.9 29 1 29 1 97 100 31−34.9 33 0 0 0 97 196 35−38.9 37 2 74 3 100 324 totals ∑= 72 1376 664 the movement of traffic. ideally, to fix the traffic conflict at this particular area, it is fair to say that designing bridge ramps would be a helpful option for improving the los, specifically for the vehicles traveling from the branch roads to the left turns on the 60-m ring road. the essential considerations that should be taken into account for designing bridge ramps are as follows:[8] • design speed • number of lanes and its width • grades • curve geometry • effect of alignment skew • crossroad median consideration. qadr, et al.: improving the level of ring-road services 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 12-17 in line with the above-mentioned interpretations, it is highly recommended that the proposed ramp should apply the three fixed terms such as safety, economy, and comfort in the design process. however, the restrictions which exist on the studied area may cause some difficulty in design speed, number of lanes, and radius of the curve which may lead to slightly uncomforted traffic condition for the road users. since there are a limited number of solutions such as changing the position of the u-turns or perhaps adding them as well as changing into intersections, therefore the only logical solution is remained to construct bridge ramps to hold the traffic flow which makes the real problem of this study. conclusions it is obvious that the los has been significantly influencing toward its worst condition on the study area due to the numerous vehicles moving straight foreword conflicting with the vehicles coming from the branch roads. despite the real traffic condition, it has been found that the absence of public transport has negatively affected in minimizing the los as well as the traffic awareness of the road users. the results showed that the average travel speed of vehicles was noticeably less than the design speed of the road (19 km/h), while the design speed specified to be 60 km/h. this drop of speed is considered to be a great difference. since the geometrical advantages of the study area are reasonably appropriate for extra changes more than the restrictions, it is highly recommended that the design and construction of bridge ramps may lead to solve the traffic congestion on that particular road. recommendations the most striking point to emerge is that a tremendous number of private cars are used by the road users due to the inefficient public transport. on a larger scale, the existence figure 2: histogram of observed speed vehicles during peak hour figure 3: cumulative distribution qadr, et al.: improving the level of ring-road services 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 12-17 of a sustainable transport system can be of a favorable support including different pillars of sustainability which are efficiency, economically, and socially. from sustainability perspective, increasing awareness is considered to be vital to encourage people using efficient public transport, for example, establishing a variety of lanes for buses, motorists, cyclists, and tramways (lrts). based on evaluating the gathered data taken from monitoring process at the study area, it was found that the los may be significantly improved toward a reasonably better. this could be achieved by designing proper infrastructures which geometrically are of great support. it is highly recommended that construction of bridge ramps may increase the space mean speed (vs) of vehicles traveling on the road segment, avoiding conflicts between vehicles moving from branch roads to the left turns against straight forward moving vehicles located on 60-m wide ring road. references 1. o. k. akram, s. ismail and d. j. franco. “the significant of urban form of erbil city, iraq”. international journal of engineering technology, management and applied sciences, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 96-100, 2016. 2. p. k. bhuyan and k. v. krishna. “defining level of service criteria of urban streets in indian context”. european transport, vol. 1, no. 49, pp. 38-52, 2011. 3. transportation research board. “highway capacity manual. special rep. 209”. washington, d.c: transportation research board, 2000. 4. k. p. patnaik. “level of service criteria of roads in urban indian context”. m.a. thesis, deparment of civil engineering national institute of technology rourkela, rourkela, 2013. 5. r. babit, v. sharma and a. k. duggal. “level of service concept in urban roads”. international journal of engineering science invention research and development, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 44-48, 2016. 6. s. m. madanat, m. j. cassidy and w. h. w. ibrahim. “transportation research record 1457, trb”. in: methodology for determining level of service categories using attitudinal data”. washington, d.c: national research council, 1994, pp. 59-62. 7. j. o. ensley. “application of highway capacity manual 2010 levelof-service methodologies for planning deficiency analysis”. m.a. thesis, university of tennessee, knoxville, 2012. 8. a. swaroopa and l. n. venkata. “proposed alternative system to existing traffic signal system”. international journal of civil, environmental, structural, construction and architectural engineering, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 554-557, 2015. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 9-12 research article likelihood approach for bayesian logistic weighted model: missing completely at random case dler h. kadir* department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq abstract increasing the response rate and minimizing non-response rates represent the primary challenges facing researchers performing longitudinal and cohort research, especially can be seen in the area of pediatric medicine. when there are missing data, complete case analysis makes findings bias. inverse probability weighting (ipw) is one of the many available approaches for reducing bias using complete case analysis. here, a complete case is weighted by probability inverse of complete cases. the data were collected from the neonatal intensive care unit at erbil maternity hospital from 2012 to 2017. in total, 570 babies (288 male and 282 females) were born very preterm. the aim of this paper is to use ipw on the bayesian logistic model developmental outcome. the mental development index approach was used for assessing the cognitive development of those born very preterm. almost half of the information for the babies was missing, meaning that we do not know whether they have cognitive development issues. we obtained greater precision in results and standard deviation of parameter estimates which are less in the posterior weighted model in comparison with frequent analysis. further, research is needed using methods such as bootstrapping, sandwich, resampling, and jackknife methods for dealing with missing data. keywords: likelihood, logistic weighting, missing data, preterm infants introduction increasing the response rate and minimizing non-response rates represent the primary challenges facing researchers performing longitudinal and cohort research. this can especially be seen in the area of pediatric medicine, whereby birth cohorts are often utilized for epidemiological research and randomized clinical trials of parental interventions. the contrition of participants lowers the strength of the research, as well as leading to bias in the results.[1] a non-response usually has more medical and socioeconomic risks and can have systematic variations regarding interest disorders, causing a biased estimate of an adverse outcome.[2] it is also frequently the case that data are missing in social research. they present ambiguities in statistical analyses of a different type to that of the usual imprecisions of samples, which become lower with increases in sample sizes. therefore, greater assumptions are required to permit inferences to be reached. over the past 10 years, there has been much theoretical research into ways of analyzing missing data sets. missing data can be defined as a value that is not recorded for a variable in the observation of interest. almost all branches of scientific research face this issue and will occasionally have to deal with missing data. frequently, the missing data appear as incomplete data on a subject. usually, the following analysis uses only a subject with a complete case measurement (complete case analysis). this proves expensive not only with regard to reductions in sample sizes, as an unclear variance estimate, lower statistical power, and the parameters which are thought to be possibly biased until a complete case analysis represents a random sampling of the focus population. to ensure that bias is considered, it is important to understand the mechanisms and the patterns of the missing data relevant to the research. the missing data mechanisms, as stated by rubin, indicate the link between the missing values and the observed data.[3] it is obvious that bias cannot only occur when there are a systematic dropout and non-response, it can additionally stem from a different sampling probability resulting from the study design. a non-participants rate of, perhaps, 10% might not produce a stronger bias unless the non-response more powerfully relates to the parameters of interest.[4] corresponding author: dler h. kadir, department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: dler.kadir@su.edu.krd doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n2y2020.pp9-12 copyright © 2020 dler h. kadir. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) received: jul 7, 2020 accepted: jul 25, 2020 published: aug 13, 2020 mailto:dler.kadir%40su.edu.krd?subject= kadir: likelihood approach for bayesian logistic weighted model 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 9-12 inverse probability weighting (ipw) an ipw method will directly model the missingness instead of modeling missing data observations.[5] ipw is occasionally termed “inverse propensity weighting.” when a probability score is projected for all subjects, the interest covariate observed values are weighted through the inverse of the relevant probability scores. response probability is able to be modeled with logistical regression models and uses the inverse of the probability scores as one of the factors of adjustment. the ipw adjustment permits a greater number of variables to be employed for predicting non-responses. the more appropriate variable set needs to be used to discover the model, which is the best fit for predicting non-response. this results in a “smooth” adjustment factor distribution, with no need for choosing an arbitrary cut-point.[6] yet, the ipw may possess an extreme value, causing an adjustment factor which might possess a highly covariate weight, and thus, a high covariate weight-adjusted estimates. this issue can be resolved by trimming the adjustment factor or trimming nonresponse adjusted weights. however, such remedies might increase bias possibilities. weighted posterior distributions from a bayesian perspective, we can gather the posterior distribution π(|x) through the combination of two types of information concerning the random variable . one source is given by the observed data which are summarized by the likelihood function, and the other information source is the previous information regarding its distribution π(). weighted posterior distributions can be defined through the replacement of the likelihood function by its ipw counterpart, as discussed in the previous section. the weighted posterior distribution is as follows: � � � � �ipw ipwx l x| |� � � � �� � �� (1) next, we propose ipws evaluated as in the above equation of the form ˆ ˆipw ( ) pw( ; , )θ=i i ipw nx x f . it is apparent that from the part of lipw (x|), we can obtain first-order property of the actual function likelihood under the model assumption; therefore, this has validity for bayesian estimates in a standard manner. one benefit of weighting is that it uses other pseudolikelihood functions, leading to posterior distributions which belong to the same family of those obtained through the use of the genuine likelihood function. therefore, the weighted posterior distributions vary from the genuine posterior distributions for the estimated values. it can seem that there is a conflict between the method and a proper bayesian perspective. this is because the weighted likelihood function is not immediately driven by a probabilistic model; rather, it is driven by adaptive weights. the data still tell a story; however, some values are not consistent with the required models, and we are unable to simply delete outliers, yet it still contributes to the posterior estimate.[7] preterm data for using logistic regression the data were collected from the neonatal intensive care unit at erbil maternity hospital from 2012 to 2017. in total, 570 babies (288 males and 282 females) were born very preterm. we have considered the infants born before 28 weeks. the mental development index approach was used for assessing the cognitive development of those born very preterm. almost half of the information for the babies was missing, meaning that we do not know whether they have cognitive development issues. now let i1 p 0  =   i if thedata was collelected with probability r if thethereis no response (2) • the procedure, therefore, involves: fitting a binary logistic regression, responding to the research under observation (1 if observed, 0 if not) with the more appropriate variable set as an explanatory variable. • obtaining the fitted probability for all infants, pi, i ∈(1,…,n) • calculation of the ipw for all infants ipwi = 1/pi) and uses ipw to fit weighted bayesian logistic regression models using winbugs software. through the assumption that the posterior weighting model is correct, we can obtain consistent parameter estimates to know the effect of the outcome model. yet, the major issue in weighted data analysis is that the weight is not representative of the actual subject number; however, only an expected number might be applicable if the statistical weight features every detail regarding the sampling probability. identical samples appear from simple random sampling (whereby every individual of the same sizes is able to be sampled with an equal probability).[4] an additional issue with using ipw is where a missingness predictor distribution in full cases varies from incomplete cases. the ipw will then greatly vary since complete case analyses, where the missingness predictor observation is nearer the center of the observation distributions in the incomplete case which might obtain a larger weight. this will, therefore, cause a larger standard error.[8] when the weight can account for the missing data, parameters must be predicted. the complete case data variance estimator makes the assumption that the weight is known and ignores any uncertainty in estimations about them.[9] seaman et al. recommend the use of sandwich estimators in accounting for uncertainties in the weights. in reality, the true asymptotic uncertainty is frequently more when a true weight is utilized than when they are estimated. thus, ignoring uncertainties in a fixed weight might cause a standard error.[8] here, the weights value was altered in all iterations using markov chain monte carlo. the weight calculated from the variable weights sampled from posterior distributions instead of being obtained from a fixed value. therefore, in all iterations of the outcome models, various weights values were gained. ignoring any uncertainty between variable and fixed weights was examined to determine if there were any issues. consequently, uncertainties were included in the weight value using variable weights. in addition, weights were standardized (and multiplied by the number of observations/total number of the complete population). this results from the total of the weights being equal to the sums of the sample sizes. if the weights are not standardized, the sum of the weight is then equal to the entire kadir: likelihood approach for bayesian logistic weighted model 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 9-12 population instead of the total amount of observations, meaning that uncertainty (i.e., standard deviation and standard error) in the model without standardization will be underestimated. thus, in this project, the weight is standardized. in these analyses, complete cases are weighted by the inverse probability of there being complete cases. two logistic regression models were operated at the same time for both outcome and response. a covariate of mother birth age, sex, gestational age, and birth weight z-scores was used in the response model. let, ri denotes the outcomes (response (infants where the developmental questionnaire was responded to)/ non-response [infants where the developmental questionnaire was not responded to]). the outcome was modeled with the assumption of the bernoulli distribution. ri ~ bernoulli(qi) (3) where, 0logit 1   = + −  i i q a ax q when statistical models for weight have been recognized, it can then be used in developmental delay model analyses to be run alongside the dataset. nonetheless, weighting is vital and, thus, the amount of information is required to account for the weight relying on particular parameters being considered. inference is normally changed by multiplying the contributions of every infant to a statistic by its statistical weight. for modeling outcome and weight, each individual’s outcome variable value was multiplied by the individual’s weight. ipw for each of the infants is calculated using 1/probability of responses; the ipw was then standardized. therefore, the likelihood functions created in winbugs and is thus: * (1 )= −y ipw y*ipw il p p (4) p is the probability of babies surviving with developmentally delay issues, y is the outcome variable, and ipw is the ipw. five hundred seventy infants featured in the response model. yet, only 235 babies were used in the outcome model analysis (those babies known to be alive). we have used ipws as adjustment factors for babies about which we do not have cognitive developmental delay information. we put weights on the likelihood function using winbugs software. we repeated the analysis using frequentist logistic regression using variable weights. we obtained greater precision in results and standard deviation of parameter estimates as it is shown in table 1, which are less in the posterior weighted model in comparison with frequent analysis. discussion we have developed a likelihood-based approach to place weights which were calculated from response models into outcome models using logistic regression. it is noticed that unweighted models produce biased results. we have realized that a weighted model would provide more precise results in terms of odds ratio and uncertainty. ipw is one of the many available approaches for reducing bias using complete case analysis. here, a complete case is weighted by probability inverse of complete cases. even though weighting is often used in designing and analyzing surveys, using it in analyses of missing data not as well recognized, as the ipw fact parameter estimates can be inefficient in regard to probability-based analysis.[10] the resulting estimate is frequently sensitive to the exact type of models for the response probabilities.[11] in reality, the greatest concern of the data analysis is the efficacy of the ipw approach regarding the likelihood approach. although some methods have been suggested for obtaining more efficient and robust estimates, this approach has not yet been effectively developed to handle more than one situation. alternative methods could have been used in this analysis, for example, doubly robust ipw and multiple imputation. in addition, one disadvantage of this paper is the assumption that the weight is known; we have ignored uncertainties in the weight. to calculate ipw estimator standard error, methods like robust standard error created by weighted models could have been used. other methods such as bootstrapping, sandwich, resampling, and jackknife methods are also possibilities, although these methods require intensive computations.[4,12] references 1. d. wolke, b. sohne, b. ohrt and k. riegel. follow-up of preterm children: important to document dropouts. lancet, vol. 345, no. 8947, p. 447, 1995. 2. s. johnson, s. e. seaton, b. n. manktelow, l. k. smith, d. field, e. s. draper, n. marlow and e. m. boyle. telephone interviews and online questionnaires can be used to improve neurodevelopmental follow-up rates. bmc research notes, vol. 7, p. 219, 2014. 3. d. b. rubin. inference and missing data. biometrika, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 581-592, 1976. 4. m. hofler, h. pfister, r. lieb and h. u. wittchen. the use of weights to account for non-response and drop-out. social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 291299, 2005. 5. l. lazzeroni, n. schenker and j. taylor. robustness of multipleimputation techniques to model misspecification. united states: proceedings of the survey research methods section, american statistical association, pp. 260-265, 1990. 6. b. l. carlson and s. williams. a comparison of two methods to adjust weights for non-response: propensity modeling and weighting class adjustments. united states: proceedings of the annual meeting of the american statistical association, 2001. 7. c. agostinelli and l. greco. weighted likelihood in bayesian inference. new york: proceedings of the 46th scientific meeting table 1: posterior odds ratio and the standard deviation gained from the binary model using variable weights estimates of parameters odds ratio sd 95% credible interval constant 0.54 0.11 0.34, 0.79 gestational age (centered)a 0.79 0.06 0.67, 0.94 mother’s age 0.987 0.02 0.91, 1.02 birth weight z-score 1.05 0.04 0.97, 1.14 female 0.52 0.18 0.27, 0.98 agestational age centered around 28 weeks kadir: likelihood approach for bayesian logistic weighted model 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 9-12 of the italian statistical society, 2012. 8. s. r. seaman and i. r. white. review of inverse probability weighting for dealing with missing data. statistical methods in medical research, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 278-295, 2013. 9. s. r. seaman, i. r. white, a. j. copas and l. li. combining multiple imputation and inverse‐probability weighting. biometrics, vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 129-137, 2012. 10. d. clayton, d. spiegelhalter, g. dunn and a. pickles. analysis of longitudinal binary data from multiphase sampling. journal of the royal statistical society, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 71-87, 1998. 11. r. j. little and d. b. rubin. statistical analysis with missing data. chichester: wiley, p. 5, 1987. 12. l. h. curtis, b. g. hammill, e. l. eisenstein, j. m. kramer and k. j. anstrom. using inverse probability-weighted estimators in comparative effectiveness analyses with observational databases. medical care, vol. 45, no. 10, pp. s103-s107, 2007. . 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 50-55 research article antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus spp. isolated from poultry feces raid d. thanoon1, essam a. makky2,3*, yashab kumar4 1department of biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of industrial biotechnology, faculty of industrial sciences and technology, university malaysia pahang, 26300 gambang, kuantan, pahang, malaysia, 3center of excellence for advanced research in fluid flow, university malaysia pahang, 26300 gambang, kuantan, pahang, malaysia, 4department of microbiology and fermentation technology, sam higginbottom university of agriculture technology and sciences, allahabad, uttar pradesh, india abstract enterococci, especially enterococcus faecalis and faecium, have emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen and represent a serious threat to patients with impaired host defenses. e. faecalis and faecium are part of the normal intestinal microbial flora of poultry and man under most conditions, they are considered as an opportunistic pathogen. in the current study, an investigation of enterococcus spp. isolated from poultry feces and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern was studied, due to the worldwide attachment with poultry by human being. samples were collected from different sites of allahabad, india, 80 samples collected screened for the presence of e. faecalis and e. faecium and identified based on cultural and biochemical characteristics. thirty-five isolates were identified as e. faecalis (57.37%), while 26 were e. faecium (42.62%). the pathogens isolated were tested for their susceptibility toward 10 different commonly prescribed antibiotics. most of the isolates showed resistance toward antibiotics under study. e. faecalis strain suggested a higher percentage of possibility of infection estimated by 15% in comparison with e. faecium as it was found to be less in a screening. the high resistance rate also indicates the negative impact of the antibiotic therapy. to evaluate the extent of transmission and impact of such transmission on the effectiveness of the antibacterial use in human medicine, further study is imperative. periodic monitoring of antibiotic resistance pattern to detect any change in it would be necessary for the effective treatment against these pathogens. enterococci revealed an alarming rate of resistance to the standard antimicrobial agents used for therapy and raised mic values to vancomycin. the importance and infection control were stressed. keywords: enterococcus faecalis, enterococcus faecium, poultry feces, vancomycin resistance introduction enterococci are members of the normal intestinal microflora in humans and animals, and they are common in environments affected by animal and human fecal material. these organisms are not considered primary pathogens, but due to their ability to acquire high-level resistance to antimicrobial agents, enterococci have emerged as nosocomial pathogens worldwide.[1] concern has especially been focused on enterococci that show high-level resistance to the glycopeptide antibiotic vancomycin (vancomycin-resistant enterococci) (vre), which recently has been the drug of the last resort against multiresistant enterococci and methicillinresistant staphylococcus aureus.[2] genetical similarities between animal and human originated enterococci have been reported and role of natural transmission of enterococci from food animals and contaminated foods to human tract cannot be ruled out.[3] enterococci cause food intoxication through the production of biogenic amines and worrisome opportunistic infections due to the virulence traits.[4] some strains are resistant to many antibiotics, but antibiotic resistance alone cannot explain the virulence of enterococci.[3] the differentiation of apparently safe and non-safe enterococci strains is not simple, especially due to effective horizontal gene transfer mechanisms.[5] enterococcus faecalis and enterococcus faecium are the most relevant species of enterococcus genus with regard to clinical aspects.[6] corresponding author: essam a. makky, faculty of industrial sciences and technology, universiti malaysia pahang, 26300 gambang, kuantan, pahang, malaysia. phone: +6013-9553169. fax: +609-5492766. e-mail: essam22001@gmail.com received: apr 10, 2019 accepted: apr 23, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp50-55 copyright © 2019 raid d. thanoon, essam a. makky, yashab kumar. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ thanoon, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus spp. 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 50-55 vancomycin as a definition is an antibiotic at the end of the last resort for the treatment of gram-positive microorganisms such as mrsa and the multidrug-resistant staphylococcus epidermidis [figure 1].[7-10] in addition to the emergence of vre,[11] clinical isolates of mrsa strains with decreased susceptibility to vancomycin[12] (vancomycin intermediate-resistant s. aureus) and more recently with high-level vancomycin resistance [figure 1].[13] avoparcin is a glycopeptide antibiotic that has been used as a growth-promoting agent for food animals in many countries, except the united states and canada. in human medicine, glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (gre) have become an increasingly serious problem in the treatment of nosocomial infections.[14] in europe, gre have been isolated from animals, meat, environment, and healthy humans outside hospitals.[15-17] the widespread use of glycopeptides in hospitals has led to the emergence of vre which is a major concern for healthcare professionals. vre is frequently reported from hospitals in the usa and europe.[19] there is a paucity of information on vancomycin resistance in enterococci from our country.[20] since chicken meat and products are highly consumed by human beings and influx of virulence genes from enterococci of chicken origin to human intestinal tract is a possible route; therefore, it is desirable to study the antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus spp. to ensure the safe consumption of chicken and their products.[21] in this study, the incidence of enterococcus spp. has been isolated, identified, and tested for their antibiotic susceptibility pattern. materials and methods sample collection fresh poultry fecal samples were collected from (mahewa purab patti, naini, atala, and civil lines) allahabad, india, and used in the present study. a total of 80 fecal samples (20 from each site) were collected in pre-autoclaved glass sample bottles and immediately transported to the laboratory for further studies. isolation of enterococcus spp. about 0.5 g of each fecal sample was diluted in 4.5 ml of sterile physiological water and roughly homogenized. serial dilutions ranking from 10−3 to 10−7 prepared. afterward, 100 µl of each dilution has been plated in duplicate into a bile esculin azide agar (bea) medium and incubated for 24–48 h at 30°c, ph 7.1 ± 0.2. the isolates identified using standard morphological, cultural, and biochemical tests.[22] after incubation time, samples were inspected, and those containing from 50 to 100 colonies were selected for preliminary identification based on morphological and physical characteristics like gram staining and production of catalase, oxidase, and acid from glucose fermentation. morphological characteristics various cultural and morphological characteristics of the isolates have been examined, namely, color, elevation, odor, and surface of the colonies on bea agar plates. biochemical tests slide catalase test a glass rod has been used to pick up a colony from a culture plate and has been placed in a drop of 3% hydrogen peroxide on a glass slide. a positive catalase reaction would show gas bubbles. nitrate reduction test this test has been used to identify whether an organism that was able to reduce nitrate into nitrite and further into ammonia or molecular nitrogen. the isolates have been inoculated into nitrate broth media and incubated at 37 ± 2°c for 24 h. nitrate reagent (solution a) sulfanilic acid + acetic acid and solution b – α-naphthylamine + acetic acid added to observe the color change into red indicate positive result. sugar fermentation test this test has been performed to determine the ability of enterococcus spp. to ferment various carbohydrates under anaerobic condition in fermentation tube. for this purpose, basal media have been prepared and 4.5 ml of this media have been transferred into test tube along with inverted durham’s tubes and autoclaved at 121°c for 15–20 min. different carbohydrates, namely, glucose, lactose, galactose, mannitol, sorbitol, sucrose, maltose, xylose, and dextrose have been prepared in 1% concentration in distilled water and autoclaved at 10 lbs/inch² separately. then, 0.5 ml aliquot from sterile figure 1: (a) structure of vancomycin 1 and a binding scheme between vancomycin and a cell wall precursor analog, dada. (b) a cartoon illustration of the type of click vancomycin dimers[18] a b thanoon, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus spp. 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 50-55 stock solution of each sugar added in 4.5 ml of basal medium. one loopful of isolated strains inoculated in each sugar solution and incubated at 37°c for 24–48 h. after incubation, the tubes have been observed for color change and gas production. uninoculated tube period has been taken as control. starch hydrolysis test starch agar media were prepared and autoclaved at 121°c for 15–20 min. then, the plates have been streaked with the bacterial isolates and incubated at 37°c for 24 h. after incubation period, the plates flooded with iodine solution (1 m) and observed for clear zone around the colonies. formation of clear zone around the colonies indicates positive starch hydrolysis. motility test this test has been done to check the motility of the bacteria. tube containing motility agar has been stab inoculated and incubated at 37°c for 24 h. growth around the stab line indicates a positive test. no growth around the stab line indicates a negative test. indole production test test tubes containing peptone broth will be inoculated with test organism and incubated at 37°c + 1°c for 24–48 h. after incubation, the 10 drops of kovac’s reagent will be added to it. a red color ring on the top of the peptone water indicated positive result. growth at various temperatures the isolates have been streaked on the bea agar plates and incubated at three different incubation temperatures, i.e., 10, 45, and 50°c for 24 h. after incubation period, the plates have been observed for microbial growth. study of antibiotic susceptibility pattern of identified bacterial isolates the antibiotic susceptibility of the isolated and identified enterococcus species has been assessed by the disc diffusion method.[23] for this test, melted and cooled muller-hinton agar has been poured in sterilized petri dishes and swabbed with overnight culture of enterococcus isolates. under aseptic conditions, antibiotics placed onto the surface of inoculated plates. following overnight incubation at 37°c, zone of inhibition for each antibiotic measured (in mm). to determine the susceptibility pattern of isolated enterococcus spp., the following antibiotics were used which are as follows: chloramphenicol (30 µg), penicillin g (10 µg), erythromycin (15 µg), vancomycin (30 µg), teicoplanin (30 µ), ciprofloxacin (5 µg), gentamycin (10 µg), streptomycin (10 µg), ampicillin (10 µg), and tetracycline (30 µg). results and discussion incidence of enterococcus spp. isolated from different sites in allahabad city in the present study, among 80 samples collected from poultry feces of allahabad region, 61 bacterial isolates were obtained, of which 35 were identified as e. faecalis (57.38%) and 26 were e. faecium (42.62%) [figure 2]. the percentage incidence of enterococcus spp. was, however, found to be observed that there is a significant difference in primary screening of e. faecalis strain, suggesting a higher percentage of possibility of infection estimated by 15% in comparison with e. faecium as it was found to be less in a screening, isolation, and most importantly the pathogenicity of it at their level of opportunistic pattern in contrast with e. faecalis. among both e. faecium and e. faecalis, some strains produced β-hemolysin with the incidence of this trait being higher for e. faecalis strains (21.3%) than for e. faecium strains (8.3%). hemolysin plays an important role in enterococcal virulence, as it may increase the severity of the infection [table 1].[24] the identification of enterococci isolated from the commercial poultry production environment did not reveal any unusual species, although eight isolates require more discriminate analysis before definitive identification. while multiple isolates were occasionally recovered from the same sample, the elimination of isolates with indistinguishable antibiograms from the same farm provided a collection that was conservative in its estimation of diversity but did not substantively affect the relative proportions of species isolated. antibiotic susceptibility pattern the antimicrobial susceptibility test was performed by disc diffusion method or kirby–bauer technique.[23] e. faecalis was tested for their sensitivity against various antibiotics. most of the antibiotics were found to be sensitive, vancomycin (30 µg) was resistance (10%), and some of them were found to be intermediately resistance against e. faecalis [table 2]. e. faecalis was found to be sensitive to five antibiotics, namely, penicillin g (10 µg), erythromycin (15 µg), ciprofloxacin (5 µg), streptomycin (10 µg), and tetracycline (30 µg), (50%). it was found to be resistant to vancomycin (30 µg) (10%). it was found to be intermediately resistant to gentamycin (10 µg), ampicillin (30 µg), teicoplanin (10 µg), and chloramphenicol (30 µg) (40%) [figure 3]. among the antibiotics, vancomycin, an inhibitor of cell wall synthesis is of major concern as it is one of the last antibiotics broadly effective against clinical infections caused by multidrug resistance pathogens.[25] e. faecium was found to be sensitive to penicillin g (10 µg), ciprofloxacin (5 µg), and tetracycline (30 µg), and it was resistant vancomycin (30 µg) and streptomycin (10 µg). furthermore, it was found to be intermediately resistant to chloramphenicol 61 35 26 total isolates e. faecalis (57.37%) e. faecium (42.62) figure 2: incidence of enterococcus spp. percentages isolated from different sites of allahabad city thanoon, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus spp. 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 50-55 table 1: morphological characteristics and biochemical tests of enterococcus spp. parameter enterococcus spp. e. faecalis e. faecium cultural characteristics entire, flat, non-mucoid, white transparent, elevated, smooth, and entire margin gram reaction +ve +ve shape cocci cocci arrangement monococci monococci growth at 10°c 40°c 50°c +ve +ve growth at ph 9.6 +ve +ve biochemical tests nitrate residuals +ve +ve catalase +ve +ve starch hydrolysis −ve −ve indole test −ve −ve motility −ve −ve esculin hydrolysis +ve −ve sugar fermentation glucose a+g− a−g− lactose a−g− a−g− maltose a−g− a−g− sucrose a−g− a−g− mannitol a+g− a−g− galactose a−g− a−g− dextrose a+g− a+g− sorbitol a−g− a−g− xylose a+g− a+g− a+: acid positive, a−: acid negative, g+: gas positive, g−: gas negative, e. faecalis: enterococcus faecalis, e. faecium: enterococcus faecium table 2: antibiotic susceptibility pattern antibiotics enterococcus spp. clear zone (mm) e. faecalis e. faecium chloramphenicol (30 µg) 15 ++ 12 ++ penicillin g (10 µg) 26 +++ 19 +++ erythromycin (15 µg) 24 +++ 17 ++ vancomycin (30 µg) 10 + 10 + teicoplanin (30 µg) 12 ++ 17 ++ ciprofloxacin (5 µg) 21 +++ 21 +++ gentamycin (10 µg) 12 ++ 12 ++ streptomycin (10 µg) 18 +++ 10 + ampicillin (10 µg) 15 ++ 15 ++ tetracycline (30 µg) 23 +++ 24 +++ +++: sensitive, ++: intermediate, +: resistant. degree of inhibition = +: moderate inhibition zone (6–9 mm), ++: strong inhibition zone (10–14 mm) +++: very strong inhibition zone (15–18 mm or above), –: no inhibition zone, e. faecalis: enterococcus faecalis, e. faecium: enterococcus faecium (30 µg), ampicillin (30 µg), teicoplanin (10 µg), gentamycin (10 µg), and erythromycin (15 µg) [table 2]. conjugal transfer of vancomycin resistance genes from enterococci to other grampositive bacteria has been accomplished in vitro [figure 4]. the gram-positive organisms include group a and viridans group streptococci, listeria monocytogenes, and staphylococcus aureus.[26] this gives rise to concern that such transfer in humans under natural conditions might be feasible. ten (20.8%) e. faecium strains and 6 (12.8%) e. faecalis strains were susceptible to all antibiotics tested. all e. faecalis strains and all but one e. faecium strain were susceptible to vancomycin. e. faecium strains were mostly resistant to vancomycin (30 µg) (2.1%) and streptomycin (4.2%). while ciprofloxacin (56.3%), followed by penicillin (45.8%), erythromycin (27.1%), chloramphenicol (10.4%), tetracycline (6.3%), and gentamicin (2.1%) showed both intermediate and sensitive activity and none were resistant against ampicillin [table 2]. in contrast, e. faecalis strains were mostly resistant to figure 3: antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus faecalis isolates figure 4: antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus faecium isolates thanoon, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus spp. 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 50-55 vancomycin (30 µg) (2.1%) while chloramphenicol (63.8%), followed by streptomycin (46.8%), tetracycline (44.7%), erythromycin (31.9%), ciprofloxacin (27.7%), gentamicin (25.5%), penicillin (12.8%), and ampicillin (2.1%) were found to be intermediate and sensitive. the present results of thesis study showed that a larger number of e. faecium strains than e. faecalis strains were resistant to vancomycin, which may be explained by e. faecium being generally more resistant to vancomycin than e. faecalis. the incidence of streptomycin and vancomycin resistance for both e. faecium and e. faecalis was low, indicating that most of the strains tested did not acquire resistance determinants for these antibiotics. in a study of european cheeses, teuber (1999)[27] also reported a low (4%) incidence of vre. while the incidence of aminoglycoside-resistant enterococci was low among e. faecalis isolates, it was considerably higher for e. faecium. these results indicate that especially e. faecium strains with acquired, high-level aminoglycoside resistance can occur in traditional cheeses.[28] frank (1996)[29] reported that isolates were found in 36 poultry flocks and 10 pig herds and among two of the human isolates, whereas no vancomycin-resistant e. faecium isolates were found among the isolates from calves. the pathogens isolated were tested for their susceptibility toward commonly prescribed antibiotics, namely, chloramphenicol, penicillin g, erythromycin, vancomycin, teicoplanin, ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, streptomycin, ampicillin, and tetracycline. from the present study, the following observations were made in incidence of e. faecalis in poultry feces samples which were maximum (57.37%) and minimum in e. faecium (42.62%). most of the isolates showed resistance toward a few of antibiotics, suggesting that vancomycin (30 µg) (2.1%) and streptomycin (4.2%) cannot be used against e. faecium and e. faecalis. the high resistance rate also indicates the negative impact of the antibiotic therapy. to evaluate the extent of transmission and impact of such transmission on the effectiveness of the antibacterial use in human medicine, further study is required. periodic monitoring of antibiotic resistance pattern to detect any change in it would be necessary for the effective treatment against these pathogens. the presence of high-level resistance to vancomycin eliminates a valuable therapeutic option in the management of serious enterococcal infections. resistance to glycopeptides in these organisms is caused by synthesis of modified bacterial cell wall precursors that demonstrate decreased affinity for vancomycin and teicoplanin.[30] enterococci revealed an alarming rate of resistance to the standard antimicrobial agents used for therapy and raised mic values to vancomycin. the importance and infection control are stressed. conclusion the total isolates of e. faecium and e. faecalis were found to be resistant to vancomycin e. faecium. vancomycin-resistant e. faecalis isolates were detected only among isolates from four poultry flocks. the results of this study illustrate that enterococcus spp. from poultry production and processing operations are frequently resistant to multiple antimicrobials and that some of these patterns may very well reflect the use of approved antimicrobials in poultry. this work also establishes a baseline of resistance among enterococcus spp. that will be useful in monitoring the dynamics of resistance longitudinally. considering some of the current estimates of the extent of antimicrobial use in the poultry production industry for growth enhancement, the increasing potential of such an intensive agricultural operation to affect antimicrobial resistance must be weighed against the reasonable risk that the treatment of human bacterial infections may be compromised. acknowledgment this work was carried out by the first author. the author also acknowledges university malaysia pahang and for providing guidance to fulfill this work. references 1. p. k. linden and c. b. miller. “vancomycin-resistant enterococci: the clinical effect of a common nosocomial pathogen”. diagnostic microbiology and infectious disease, vol. 33, pp. 113-120, 1999. 2. i. kuhn, a. lversen, l. g. burman, b. olsson-lilieguist, a. franklin, m. finn, f. aarestrup, a. m. seyfarth, a. r. blanch, x. vilanova, h. taylor, j. caplin, m. a. moreno, l. dominguez, i. a. herrero and r. mollby. “comparison of enterococcal populations in animals, humans, and the environment-a european study”. international journal of food microbiology, vol. 88, pp. 133-145, 2003. 3. c. m. franz, m. e. stiles, k. h. schleifer and w. h. holzapfel. “enterococci in food-a conundrum for food safety”. international journal food microbiology, vol. 88, pp. 105-122, 2003. 4. g. giraffa, a. m. olivari and e. neviani. “isolation of vancomycinresistant enterococcus faecium from italian cheeses”. food microbiology, vol. 17, pp. 671-677, 2000. 5. t. j. eaton and m. j. gasson. “molecular screening of enterococcus virulence determinants and potential for genetic exchange between food and medical isolates”. applied environmental microbiology, vol. 67, pp. 1628-1635, 2001. 6. l. m. mundy, d. f. sahm and m. gilmore. “relationship between enterococcal virulence and antimicrobial resistance”. clinical microbiology reviews, vol. 13, pp. 513-522, 2000. 7. e. rubinstein and y. keynan. “vancomycin revisited 60 years later”. frontiers public health, vol. 2, pp. 217, 2014. 8. d. h. williams and b. bardsley. “the vancomycin group of antibiotics and the fight against resistant bacteria”. angewandte chemie international edition, vol. 38, pp. 1172-1193, 1999. 9. s. gardete and a. tomasz. “mechanisms of vancomycin resistance in staphylococcus aureus”. journal of clinical investigation, vol. 124, pp. 2836-2840, 2014. 10. p. a. c. maple, j. m. t. hamilton-millerbrumfitt. “world-wide antibiotic resistance in methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus”. the lancet, vol. 333, pp. 537-540, 1989. 11. r. leclercq, e. derlot, j. duval and p. courvalin. “plasmidmediated resistance to vancomycin and teicoplanin in enterococcus faecium”. the new england journal of medicine, vol. 319, pp. 157-161, 1988. 12. k. hiramatsua, h. hanakia, t. ino, k. yabuta, t. oguric and f. c. tenover. “methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus clinical strain with reduced vancomycin susceptibility”. journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, vol. 40, pp. 135-136, 1997. 13. d. m. sievert, j. t. rudrik, j. b. patel, l. c. mcdonald, m. j. wilkins and j. c. hageman. “vancomycin-resistant staphylococcus aureus in the united states, 2002-2006”. clinical infectious diseases, vol. 46, pp. 668-674, 2008. 14. p. vandamme, e. vercauteren, c. lammens, n. pensart, m. ieven, b. pot, r. leclercq and h. goossens. “survey of enterococcal susceptibility patterns in belgium”. journal clinical microbiology, vol. 34, pp. 2572-2576, 1996. thanoon, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus spp. 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 50-55 15. f. m. aarestrup. “occurrence of glycopeptide resistance among enterococcus faecium isolates from conventional and ecological poultry farms”. microbiology drug resistance, vol. 1, pp. 255-257, 1995. 16. i. klare, h. heier, h. claus, g. böhme, s. martin, g. seltmann, r. hanenbeck, v. antanassova and w. witte. “enterococcus faecium strains with vana-mediated high-level glycopeptide resistance isolated from animal foodstuffs and fecal samples of humans in the community”. microbiology drug resistance, vol. 1, pp. 265-272, 1995. 17. a. e. van den bogaard, l. b. jensen and e. e. stobberingh. “vancomycin-resistant enterococci in turkeys and farmers”. north england journal medicine, vol. 337, pp. 1558-1559, 1997. 18. s. m. silverman, j. e. moses and k. b. sharpless. “reengineering antibiotics to combat bacterial resistance: click chemistry [1,2,3]-triazole vancomycin dimers with potent activity against mrsa and vre”. chemistry a european journal, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 79-83, 2017. 19. k. cetinkaya, t. horaud, c. le bougue´nec and g. de cespe´de`s. “location of antibiotic resistance markers in clinical isolates of enterococcus faecalis with similar antibiotypes”. antimicrobial agents chemotherapy, vol. 31, pp. 1394-1402, 2000. 20. p. mathur, a. kapil, r. chandra, p. sharma and b. das. “antimicrobial resistance in enterococcus faecalis at a tertiary care centre of northern india”. indian journal medicine resistance, vol. 118, pp. 25-28, 2003. 21. m. m. aylin, c. a. spiegel and m. s. gilmore. “bacteremia caused by hemolytic, high-level gentamicin-resistant enterococcus faecalis”. antimicrobial agents chemotherapy, vol. 35, pp. 16261634, 2010. 22. v. holt, a. s. baghdayan, m. m. huycke, g. lindahl and m. s. gilmore. “infection-derived enterococcus faecalis strains are enriched in esp, a gene encoding a novel surface protein”. infection immunology, vol. 67, pp. 193-200, 1996. 23. b. m. deasy, m. c. rea, g. f. fitzgerald, t. m. cogan and t. p. beresford. “a rapid pcr based method to distinguish between lactococcus and enterococcus”. systematic and applied microbiology, vol. 23, pp. 510-522, 2000. 24. b. d. jett, m. m. huycke and m. s. gilmore. “virulence of enterococci”. clinical microbiology reviews. vol. 7, pp. 462-478, 1994. 25. a. p. johnson, a. h. c. uttley, n. woodford and r. c. george. “resistance to vancomycin and teicoplanin: an emerging clinical problem”. clinical microbiology reviews, vol. 3, pp. 280-291, 1990. 26. p. courvalin. “resistance of enterococci to glycopeptides”. antimicrobial agents chemotherapy, vol. 34, pp. 2291-2296, 1990. 27. m. teuber, l. meile and f. schwarz. “acquired antibiotic resistance in lactic acid bacteria from food”. antonie van leeuwenhoek, vol. 76, pp. 115-137, 1999. 28. b. e. murray. “diversity among multidrug-resistant enterococci in poultry feces”. emergency infectious diseases, vol. 4, pp. 37-47, 1990. 29. f. m. aarestrup, p. ahrens, m. madsen, l. v. pallesen, r. l. poulsen and h. westh. “glycopeptide susceptibility among danish enterococcus faecium and enterococcus faecalis isolates of animal and human origin and pcr identification of genes within the vana cluster”. antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, vol. 40, no. 8, pp. 1938-1940, 1996. 30. r. leclercq and p. courvalin. “resistance to glycopeptides in enterococci”. clinical infectious diseases, vol. 24, pp. 545-546, 1997. . 70 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 70-76 research article bromodomain inhibitor jq1 as a candidate therapeutic agent in malignant pleural mesothelioma cinaria t. albadri* department of clinical medicine, trinity centre for health sciences, trinity college dublin university, college of medicine, st. james’s hospital, dublin, ireland abstract malignant pleural mesothelioma (mpm) is a rare tumor that develops from the mesothelial linings of the pleural, pericardial, and peritoneal cavities. the actual risk factor for developing the disease is exposure to asbestos in workplace. bromodomain and extraterminal (bet) domain proteins are epigenetic signaling agents that associate with acetylated histones and expedite the transcription of target genes. this study investigates whether the small molecule bet protein inhibitor jq1 specifically may be an effective therapy for mpm. reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction methods reveal an inclusive change in gene expression implying that jq1 is a potential inhibitor which targets the bet proteins. our results report that jq1 has tumor-suppressive effects as it significantly ceased cellular activity in mpm cell lines. we predict that jq1 may be the promising therapy for pleural mesothelioma cancers. keywords: bromodomain and extraterminal domain, jq1, malignant pleural mesothelioma introduction malignant pleural mesothelioma (mpm) is an infrequent type of cancer that affects the pleura (the external lining of the lungs and the internal lining of the chest cavity). mpm includes three main types determined by their appearance under the microscope. mpm includes three main types determined by their appearance under the microscope as: epithelial mpm which is the most popular form, sarcomatoid mpm which is meant to be the most aggressive form and biphasic mpm which mixes both epithelial and sarcomatoid mpms. pleural mesothelioma is commonly caused by the long-term exposure to asbestos fibers that induce pathogenic changes and eventually lead to cell injury, fibrosis, and possibly cancer. it has been also proposed that aside from asbestos, there are other factors which have a role in the tumor pathogenesis, such as sv40 virus infection and genetic susceptibility.[1] mpm incidence has been increasing over the world and is anticipated to grow even higher in the following 20 years due to asbestos huge spread exposure throughout the past 10 years or so.[2] it is rated that about 50–80% of pleural malignant mesothelioma in men and 20–30% in women arose in individuals who were exposed to asbestos.[3] diagnosis of this disease is pretty much difficult even for some specialists because the symptoms do not appear only after a longer period of exposure to asbestos. so far, the only approved treatment for mpm is the combined therapy of pemetrexed and cisplatin, although currently, there have been many clinical trials determining the efficacy of other drugs. bromodomain and extraterminal (bet) domain proteins play an essential role as epigenetic reader molecules that are associated with acetylated histones and aid in the transcription of target genes. bromodomain is, therefore, an acetyl-lysinebinding motif of about 110 amino acids which are found in various transcription regulators and chromatin-modifying enzymes that are encoded by specific genes.[4] research has shown that only members of the bet family (brd2, brd3, brd4, and brdt) may be prospective targets of cancer. these four bet proteins make up a subset of the larger family that consists of 46 proteins which contain 61 brds that have been determined in humans.[5] bet inhibitors are getting to become of huge interest as a potential target due to the prospect that there might be biomarkers which will recognize the patients that may possibly benefit and respond to therapy. those small molecule inhibitors conquer the acetyl-binding pockets of the bromodomains, leading in their detach from active chromatin and repression of downstream transcriptional targets.[6] corresponding author: cinaria t. albadri, st. james’s hospital, trinity centre for health sciences, trinity college dublin university, ireland. e-mail: cinariaalbadri@yahoo.com received: mar 31, 2019 accepted: apr 15, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp70-76 copyright © 2020 cinaria t. albadri. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ albadri: bromodomain inhibitor jq1 71 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 70-76 jq1 has started its journey in the research world as a novel drug in inhibiting the development of some specific cancers. jq1 successfully blocks one of the well-known cancer-causing genes of the bet proteins which are brd4, thereby preventing the early growth of some blood and lung cancers such as leukemia and multiple myeloma. jq1 is a novel thienotriazolo-1,4-diazepine having an attached bulky t-butyl ester functional group at carbon 6. this chemical compound is a vigorous, high affinity, selective bet inhibitor. jq1 detaches bet proteins from chromatin by binding to the acetyl-lysine recognition pocket of bet. jq1 has been used as a chemical probe to investigate the role of bet in the transcriptional regulation of oncogenesis.[7-9] bet inhibitors are a new promising treatment for mpm. this study will focus on the effect of the bet inhibitor (jq1) in mpm. we hypothesized that bromodomains of the bet family are expressed/overexpressed in mpm and hence investigate the effect of the compound jq1 as an inhibitor of those bet. this appears to be the first study of its kind, as far as i know that reveals the role of inhibiting bet domain proteins with jq1 in mesothelioma cancers. materials and methods cell lines in this project, two mpm cell lines were treated with the small molecule bet protein inhibitor and were assessed for antiproliferative activity as a response to that drug. the bet inhibitor used in this study was jq1. the two cell lines used were ren and h226. a brief description of the cell lines as follows: • ren is an epithelial mesothelioma cell line (fast growth rate) • nci-h226 is an epithelial squamous cell carcinoma; mesothelioma cell line (slow growth rate). cell culture cell lines were typically grown and preserved at a fixed temperature of 37°c and a humidified environment of 5% co2 in a cell incubator. these cell lines were cultured in an appropriate cell culture media rpmi-1640 (lonza, uk) which was supplemented with 10% (v/v) fetal bovine serum, 2 mm l-glutamine, and 500 u/ml penicillin-streptomycin. cell lines were regularly passaged in t75 cm2 flasks (nunc flasks obtained from fisher scientific, ireland) as following: all cell culture procedures were done in laminar flow hoods under sterile conditions. cell media discarded and cells were washed with 5 ml phosphate buffer solution. cells were then trypsinized for 5 min at 37°c, and once detached from the flask, media were added to make up a final volume of 10 ml. cells were pipetted many times and each 1 ml transfer to two new t75 flasks labeled with the cell line, passage number, and date. further, 9 ml of media was added to each of these two flasks and cells were incubated at 37°c. in this way, cells were split at a ratio of 1:10. cell subculture for proliferation assays before drug treatment, cells were visualized under the microscope (nikon corp.) and if found to be of about 70–80% confluent, they were trypsinized with 1.5 ml trypsin-edta and 8.5 ml of media to make it up to a final volume of 10 ml. the cells were then counted using a bright-line hemocytometer (sigma, usa) and seeded at 3×103 cells/well in 96-well plate. this was done in triplicate for both cell lines (ren and h226). the plated cells were kept in the incubator at 37°c. treatment of cells once plated, cells were left to recover for 48 h. subsequently, cells were treated with jq1 bet domain inhibitor at the following concentrations (0.25 µm, 0.5 µm, 0.75 µm, 1 µm, 15 µm, 20 µm, and 25 µm) for 48 h. 4 µl of dimethyl sulfoxide (dmso) was added to the control as jq1 was dissolved in dmso vehicle. a concentrated stock (18.6 mm) of jq1 dissolved in dmso was made and further four stock dilutions (1:25, 1:10, 1:5, and 1:2) were set up from that main concentrated stock. all plates were then incubated for 48 h at 37°c. 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (brdu) proliferation assay a brdu assay was performed to measure the proliferative activity of the treated cells. briefly, after cell treatment with jq1 for 48 h, all media were removed from the triplicate 96-well plate, and subsequently, 10 µl brdu labeling solution was added to each well. plates were incubated at 37°c for 4 h followed by the removal of the labeling medium from the wells. 200 µl fixdenat was added to each well and plates were incubated at 25°c for 30 min followed by the removal of fixdenat solution thoroughly. 100 µl anti-brdu pod solution was added to each well and plates were incubated again at 25°c for 90 min. the antibody was then removed and wells were rinsed 3 times with 200 µl/well washing solution. finally, washing solution was removed and 100 µl/well substrate solution added to each well. plates were left for 2–3 min and thence immediately 25 µl/well of 1 m h2so4 was added and measurement of plates was carried out within 5 min. the activity of proliferative cells was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay at a wavelength of 450 nm using a standard plate reader. reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr) cell lines and tissue samples fresh-frozen mesothelial and benign pleural samples were collected following debulking surgery at glenfield hospital, leicester, and were stored in the leicestershire mesothelioma tissue bank. anonymized mpm specimens from 22 patients were transferred to st. james’ hospital, dublin. approval for the storage and use of these samples have been obtained from the st. james’ hospital/the adelaide and meath hospital research ethics committee. a panel of mesothelioma cell lines has been assembled and utilized for this project. rna isolation total rna was isolated using tri reagent® (mrc gene) protocol. samples were mixed and incubated for 5 min at room temperature followed by centrifugation at 13,500 rpm for 5 min. the rna pellet was left to air dry after the removal of the supernatant and finally resuspended in 30–50 µl of molecular grade water and stored at −80°c until further use. albadri: bromodomain inhibitor jq1 72 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 70-76 rna quantification nanodrop 1000 spectrophotometer (thermo scientific) was used to measure the purity of the isolated rna. 1 µl of each rna sample was loaded separately onto the nanodrop and analyzed. the quantity of rna per sample was measured in ng/µl. a 260/280 value of 2.0 indicates the purity of an rna sample. complementary dna (cdna) synthesis cdna was synthesized using revertaid rt according to the manufacturer’s instructions (fermentas). samples were mixed gently, incubated for 90 min at 42°c followed by 10 min at 70°c heating to terminate the reaction. the resultant cdna was then stored at −20°c until required. rt-pcr the cdna which was synthesized previously was used to detect gene expression. for pcr, the following were mixed in a new tube to set up the pcr reaction: 10 µl (2× gotaq® green [promega]), 2 µl (5 µm of each forward and reverse primers), 6 µl (molecular grade water), and 1 µl (cdna). 1 µl molecular grade water was added in the place of cdna for the negative control. pcr samples were loaded on a thermocycler. the pcr cycling conditions involved initial denaturation at 95°c for 5 min, followed by 30–35 cycles of denaturation at 95°c, annealing at the temperature 58°c, extension at 72°c, and a final elongation step at 72°c. gel electrophoresis agarose gel (2%) was used for loading all pcr products. agarose (2%) was dissolved in tris-acetate-edta (tae) in the microwave for 3 min. 4 µl of ethidium bromide was added per 25 ml of agarose solution after being cooled and then poured into a gel tray. the gel was then allowed to set at room temperature for 10–15 min. 4 µl of 100 bp dna ladder (fermentas) was loaded onto the gel in parallel with the samples. 8 µl of each pcr product and 2 µl of the corresponding 18s housekeeping gene products were loaded as well. the samples were electrophoresed using an electrophoresis unit (sigma) and 1× tae was used as a running buffer. the gels were run at 80 volts for 30 min. the resultant bands were visualized and photographed under ultraviolet light using a biospectrum imaging system (ultra violet products, fusion fx, uk). statistical analysis statistical analysis was carried out using two-tailed student’s t-test and one-way anova. data were graphed as mean ± standard error of mean using graphpad prism software. densitometry analysis was performed using tina software. results were considered significant when the p < 0.05. results screen of panel of mesothelioma cell lines for the expression of bet domain proteins a panel of 34 mesothelioma cell lines was screened for the expression of brd2 and brd4 (long and short transcript) variants. all these cell lines are mpms, except for lp9, met5a, np1 and np2, and p31 and p31cisr. beta-actin was used as a positive control which is regularly expressed in all cell lines and a negative control was included also. brd4 long transcript variant shows equal expression in all cell lines, but brd4 short transcript shows a slightly lower expression in some of the cell lines [figure 1]. brd2 also shows an equal expression in all cell lines [figure 2]. screen of primary mpm patient cells for the expression of bet domain proteins a panel of 34 primary mesothelioma cells obtained from patients was examined for the expression of brd2 and brd4 (long and short transcript) variants. these patient samples were divided into benign and three histological subtypes of mpm; epithelial, biphasic, and sarcomatoid. densitometry analysis was performed to identify the differences in expression of the brds between benign and tumor tissue following normalization against the 18s rrna expression for each sample, and a negative control was used in each pcr. brd2 showed expression across samples [figure 3a] and was significantly less expressed in the tumor samples compared to benign [figure 3b and c]. brd4 long transcript variant appeared to be expressed across the three histological subtype samples and less expressed in benign [figure 4a] and following statistical analysis, brd4 long transcript expression was significantly upregulated in figure 1: expression of brd4 long and short transcript variants in a panel of 34 mesothelioma cell lines. beta-actin is a positive control. brd4 long transcript is expressed uniformly in all cell lines and the expression of brd4 short transcript is relatively less in some of the cell lines albadri: bromodomain inhibitor jq1 73 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 70-76 the tumor samples compared to benign [figure 4b]. brd4 long transcript expression levels were significantly higher in epithelial and biphasic subtypes compared to benign, while not significant in sarcomatoid [figure 4c]. on contrary, the expression of brd4 short transcript variant appears to be almost entirely absent in the benign samples [figure 5a] and brd4 short transcript expression was significantly upregulated in the tumor samples compared to benign [figure 5b]. while not significant, a trend toward upregulation of brd4 short transcript was observed in all three histological subtypes of mpm compared to benign [figure 5c]. antiproliferative activity the brdu assay detects incorporated brdu into the cellular dna of actively proliferating cells. this assay was performed to measure changes in proliferating cells after 48 h following treatment with jq1 drug. ren-treated cells appear to show a significant decrease in proliferation activity with 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 µm drug concentrations, while nci-h226 treated cells appear to show significant decline in proliferation with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 15, and 25 µm drug concentrations [figure 6]. the assay was accomplished in triplicate and the statistical analyses expressed as mean of treatments using one-way anova and dunnett’s multiple comparison test. discussion mpm is a rare and aggressive form of cancer with limited treatment chances that have inconsiderable impact on survival improvement. asbestos has been known as a non-mutagenic carcinogen that induces mesothelioma and in such case, cancer may be developed as an outcome of somatic epigenome dysregulation.[10] and so, aberrant epigenetic events have been spotted in mpm. epigenome regulators include dna methylation, histone modifications, chromatin remodeling, and regulation of non-coding rnas. it is not clear why precisely epigenetic modifications are a notable feature of pleural mesothelioma, figure 2: expression of brd2 in a panel of 34 mesothelioma cell lines. beta-actin is a positive control. brd2 is uniformly expressed in all cell lines figure 3: brd2 expression levels. (a) reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for brd2 levels in a panel of primary patient malignant pleural mesothelioma samples of different histological subtypes against 18s rrna housekeeping gene. (b) brd2 expression level in malignant patients is significantly less compared to benign (***p < 0.001, two-tailed t-test). (c) levels of brd2 expression in all three histological subtypes is significantly different compared to benign (*p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, one-way anova using dunnett’s multiple comparisons test). error bars represent mean ± standard error of mean a b c albadri: bromodomain inhibitor jq1 74 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 70-76 but histone modifications have emerged as remarkable modifications in the carcinogenesis of mpm.[11] aberrant regulation of histone modification plays a role in oncogenesis by affecting gene activity. the acetylation of histones is mediated by lysine acetyltransferases. lysine acetylation is mainly recognized by bromodomains and tandem phd domains.[12] bet proteins are readers of acetyl-lysine signs. in some cancer types, bromodomain-containing proteins which identify histone acetylation signs are mistargeted or overexpressed.[13] this study focuses precisely on the role of two bet proteins, brd2 and brd4, in mpm and the effect of jq1 compound as an inhibitor for brds. the expression of these bet proteins in mpm has been evaluated in a panel of mesothelioma cell lines and in primary mpm patient cells. a panel of cell lines [figures 1 and 2] was screened to evaluate whether there are any prominent patterns of expression which need to be identified before screening of primary mpm patient cells. slight changes in expression were noted. brd4 short transcript variant is expressed weakly in some of the cell lines. among the analyzed cell lines are a cisplatin resistance cell line. cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic agent used in cancer treatment. a specific feature of mpm is that it is a cisplatin resistance tumor.[14] although there were no remarkable variations in the expression level of any of the evaluated brds, additional mpm chemoresistant cell lines need to be included so that it would be a conclusive analysis. figure 4: brd4 long transcript expression levels. (a) reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for brd4l levels in a panel of primary patient malignant pleural mesothelioma samples of different histological subtypes against 18s rrna housekeeping gene. (b) brd4l expression level in tumor patients is significantly different compared to benign (***p < 0.001, two-tailed t-test). (c) levels of brd4l expression epithelial and biphasic subtypes are significantly different compared to benign, while not significantly different in sarcomatoid subtype (**p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, one-way anova using dunnett’s multiple comparisons test). error bars represent mean ± standard error of mean a b c figure 5: brd4 short transcript expression levels. (a) reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for brd4s levels in a panel of primary patient malignant pleural mesothelioma samples of different histological subtypes against 18s rrna housekeeping gene. (b) brd4s expression level in tumor patients is significantly different compared to benign (*p < 0.05, two-tailed t-test). (c) levels of brd4s expression in all three histological subtypes show no significance compared to benign (one-way anova using dunnett’s multiple comparisons test). error bars represent mean ± standard error of mean a b c albadri: bromodomain inhibitor jq1 75 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 70-76 subsequently, a panel of primary mpm patient cells including benign, epithelioid, sarcomatoid, and biphasic histological subtypes was screened [figures 3-5]. expression of the three evaluated brds varies in malignant compared to benign cells. expression of brd2 was significantly different in malignant cells compared to benign cells. in addition, all three histological subtypes showed significantly lower levels of brd2 expression compared to benign even though brd2 was expressed in benign. on contrary, brd4 long transcript expression levels are significantly higher in malignant cells compared to benign. in consistent with the results of brd4 long transcript expression levels, the expression of brd4 short transcript confirmed significantly elevated levels in malignant cells compared to benign, and this indicates that brd4 long and short transcripts are overexpressed in malignant cell. our findings have proven that brd2 is downregulated in mpm tumors, while brd4 long and short transcripts are significantly upregulated in mpm tumors. moreover, since brd4 is the main target for jq1, consequently, this makes targeting mpm with jq1 and excellent strategy. to further support our findings, the antiproliferative activity of jq1 was evaluated in vitro using two specific mpm cell lines (ren and nci-h226). these two cell lines were chosen according to their common use in human tumor xenografts, as they perform well when xenograft in mouse models and so, the evaluation of jq1 drug can be smoothly carried out in such in vivo models. jq1 is a bet inhibitor that has been selected for this study. scientists have been competing to develop novel bet protein inhibitors. a recently developed dihydroquinazoline-2-one inhibitor has been found to target bet.[15] brdu assay was the first move in analyzing the proliferative activity of jq1 compound. this assay detects brdu incorporated into the newly synthesized dna of actively proliferating cells. brdu assay was chosen to measure the proliferating activity of cells. ren and nci-h226 cells were treated with a range of jq1 concentrations [figure 6]. response of nci-h226 cells to jq1 was clearly observed, with a significant decrease in cell proliferation starting from 0.25 µm up to 25 µm concentrations compared to untreated cells. while ren cells showed a significant decrease in proliferative activity with concentrations from 5 µm up to 25 µm. dmso was used as a control to ensure that any change in proliferative activity was caused by jq1 and not dmso. dmso induced no change in the cellular activity of both cell lines and so, noted results are accurate. jq1 inhibits the proliferative activity of ren and nci-h226 cells with concentrations of 5 µm and 0.25 µm, respectively. jq1 has shown to have antiproliferative effects on mesothelioma cell lines and efficiently abrogates their clonogenic growth. exposure of sensitive cell lines with jq1 results in decreased proliferative cell activity and induction of apoptosis. in addition to confirming the effect of jq1, the brdu also provided a guideline for treatment concentrations to be used in a further study. conclusion this study has shown that bet domain proteins brd2 and brd4 are significantly altered in the tumors of patients suffering from mpm. critically levels of brd4 are significantly elevated in the tumors. jq1 is a small molecule inhibitor of brd4 and brd2. this study has shown that jq1 may be a potentially effective therapy for mpm in vitro. references 1. b. kroczynska, r. cutrone, m. bocchetta, h. yang, a. g. elmishad, p. vacek, m. ramos-nino, b. t. mossman, h. i. pass and m. carbone. “crocidolite asbestos and sv40 are co-carcinogens in human mesothelial cells and in causing mesothelioma in hamsters”. proc natl acad sci usa vol. 103, pp. 14128-14133, 2006. 2. b. w. s. robinson, a. w. musk and a. lake. “malignant mesothelioma”. lancet, vol. 366, pp. 397-408, 2005. 3. m. carbone, b. h. ly, r. f. dodson, i. pagano, p. t. morris, u. a. dogan, a. f. gazdar, h. i. pass and h. yang. “malignant mesothelioma: facts, myths, and hypotheses”. journal of cellular physiology, vol. 227, pp. 44-58, 2012. 4. s. y. wu, a. y. lee, h. t. lai, h. zhang and c. m. chiang. “phospho switch triggers brd4 chromatin binding and activator recruitment for gene-specific targeting”. molecular cell, vol. 49, pp. 843-857, 2013. 5. p. filippakopoulos, s. picaud, m. mangos, t. keates, j. lambert, d. barsyte-lovejoy, i. felletar, r. volkmer, s. muller, t. pawson, a. gingras, c. arrowsmith and s. knapp. “histone recognition and large-scale structural analysis of the human bromodomain family”. cell, vol. 149, pp. 214-231, 2012. 6. p. filippakopoulos, j. qi, s. picaud, y. shen, w. b. smith, o. fedorov, e. m. morse, t. keates, t. t. hickman, i. felletar, m. philpott, s. munro, m. r. mckeown, y. wang, a. l. christie, n. west, m. j. cameron, b. schwartz, t. d. heightman, n. la thangue, c. a. french, o. west, a. l. kung, s. knapp and j. e. bradner. “selective inhibition of bet bromodomains”. nature, vol. 468, pp. 1067-1073, 2010. 7. m. a. dawson, r. k. prinjha, a. dittman, g. giotopoulos, m. bantscheff, w. i. chan, s. c. robson, c. chung, c. hopf, m. m. savitski, c. huthmacher, e. gudgin, d. lugo, s. beinke, t. d. chapman, e. j. roberts, p. e. soden, k. r. auger, o. mirguet, k. doehner, r. delwel, a. k. burnett, p. jeffrey, g. drewes, k. lee, b. j. huntly and t. kouzarides t. “inhibition of bet recruitment to chromatin as an effective treatment for mll-fusion leukaemia”. nature, vol. 478, pp. 529-533, 2011. 8. j. e. delmore, g. c. issa, m. e. lemieux, p. b. rahl, j. shi, h. m. jacobs, e. kastritis, t. gilpatrick, r. m. paranal, j. qi, m. chesi, a. schinzel, m. r. mckeown, t. p. heffernan, c. r. vakoc, l. bergsagel, i. m. ghobrial, p. g. richardson, r. a. young, w. c. hahn, k. c. anderson, a. l. kung, j. e. bradner and c. s. mitsiades. “bet bromodomain inhibition as a therapeutic strategy to target c-myc”. cell, vol. 146, pp. 904-917, 2011. 9. j. a. mertz, a. r. conery, b. m. bryant, p. sandy, s. balasubramanian, d. a. mele, l. bergeron and r. j. sims. figure 6: 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine proliferation assay following 48 h treatment with various concentrations of jq1. (a) ren cells show significant decline in cell proliferation at 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 µm drug concentrations (p < 0.01, one-way anova). (b) nci-h226 cells show significant decline in cell proliferation at 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 15, and 25 µm drug concentrations (p < 0.001, one-way anova) a b albadri: bromodomain inhibitor jq1 76 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 70-76 “targeting myc dependence in cancer by inhibiting bet bromodomains”. proc natl acad sci usa, vol. 108, pp. 1666916674, 2011. 10. b. c. christensen, e. a. houseman, j. j. godleski, c. j. marsit, j. l. longaker, c. r. roelofs, m. r. karagas, m. r. wrensch, r. yeh, h. h. nelson, j. l. wiemels, s. zheng, j. k. wiencke, r. bueno, d. j. sugarbaker and k. t. kelsey. “epigenetic profiles distinguish pleural mesothelioma from normal pleura and predict lung asbestos burden and clinical outcome”. cancer res, vol. 69, pp. 227-234, 2009. 11. p. k. paik and l. m. krug. “histone deacetylase inhibitors in malignant pleural mesothelioma preclinical rationale and clinical trials”. j thorac oncol, vol. 5, pp. 275-279, 2010. 12. m. yun, j. wu, j. l. workman and b. li. “readers of histone modifications”. cell res, vol. 21, pp. 564-578, 2011. 13. n. sachini. “the role of lysine acetylation, histone acetyltransferases and bromodomain containing proteins in cancer development”. master thesis, umc utrecht, 2013. 14. v. janson. “cisplatin-resistance and cell death in malignant pleural mesothelioma cells”. doctoral thesis, umeå university, 2008. 15. s. picaud, d. d. costa, a. thanasopoulou, p. filippakopoulos, p. v. fish, m. philpott, o. fedorov, p. brennan, m. e. bunnage, d. r. owen, j. e. bradner, p. taniere, b. o’sullivan, s. muller, j. schwaller, t. stankovic and s. knapp. “pfi-1, a highly selective protein interaction inhibitor, targeting bet bromodomains”. cancer res, vol. 73, pp. 3336-3346, 2013. . 71 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 71-74 prospective and semiexprimental the piriformis syndrome: evaluation of seven cases farhad mustafa mousa*, zainab aziz bakr department of physiotherapy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract low back pain is one of the causes of piriformis syndrome. low back pain is the second most common medical complaints encountered by physicians. more than 50% of the population will complain of low back pain at the same time. piriformis syndrome may constitute up to 5% of cases of low back pain, buttock pain, and lower limb pain. this is a prospective and case–control study. in this study, we study 268 cases with low back pain; in 268 cases, seven cases had piriformis syndrome. we studied pain, severity pain, radicular pain, limping, and painful sitting. evaluation of musculoskeletal, bmi, and physical examination of piriformis sign, freiberg sign, and pace sign. neurological evaluation was taken by paraclinical examination elevated through x-ray, computed tomography scan, magnetic resonance imaging, and electromyography. data show as mean±sd and we used ssps software for analysis. in 268 cases with conservative method, 100% of cases were cure treatment after 4 months, in contrast to surgery methods after 1 month. the result illustrated the significantly improved between two methods of treatment (p < 0.0025). in seven cases, four cases had a history of blunt trauma and one case had a history of surgery that after 6 months had complication of surgery and scare tissue that with the second surgery release of scare was done with 100% cure. anomaly of piriformis muscle was seen in one case that surgery was done. tumor was seen in one case that had pressure effect on sciatic nerve that surgery was done. heterotopic ossification was seen in two cases. bmi of all cases was in normal range. all cases with diagnosis of disc herniation were excluded from the study. they were need to surgical operation for herniated disc. piriformis syndrome is differentiated primary from secondary type, in which it is done according to history and physical examination. according to the etiology of piriformis syndrome, the treatments are different. if you see mass that compressed the sciatic nerve, you must remove it. if the patient had sacroiliitis, it must be treated in early phase. surgery of piriformis is not accepted by all surgeons. it is limited to release piriformis tendon and insertion to femur. keywords: piriformis syndrome, low back pain, buttock pain introduction low back pain is the second most common medical complaints encountered by physicians. more than 50% of the population will complain of low back pain at same time. most of us, at 1 time or more, have experienced of low back pain. one of the most differential diagnoses of back pain is sciatica pain and piriformis syndrome is one causes of differential diagnosis to sciatica pain. the piriformis muscle is a pear-shaped muscle in the buttocks.[1-3] the piriformis muscle has origins from several anatomical locations including the anterior surface of the lateral process of the sacrum, the spinal region of the gluteal muscles, and the superior/gluteal surface of the ilium near the margin of the greater sciatic notch. the muscle passes through the greater sciatic notch and inserts on the greater trochanter of the femur. it is one of the six muscles in the hip short external rotator group, coursing parallel to the posterior margin of the gluteus medius.[4,5] piriformis syndrome is an uncommon cause of buttock and leg pain. piriformis syndrome may constitute up to 5% of cases of low back, buttock, and leg pain. piriformis syndrome is an often misdiagnosed cause of sciatica, leg or buttock pain, and disability. dysfunction of the piriformis muscle can cause signs and symptoms of pain in the sciatic nerve distribution, that is, in the gluteal area, posterior thigh, posterior leg, and lateral aspect of the foot. the sciatic nerve may be compressed within the buttock by the piriformis muscle, with pain increased by muscular contraction, palpation, or prolonged sitting.[6-8] it is often not included in the differential diagnosis of back, buttock, and leg pain. in addition, it has received minimal recognition because it is often seen as a diagnosis of exclusion. pain is increased in prolonged sitting; specific physical findings are tenderness in the sciatic notch and buttock pain in flexion, corresponding author: farhad mustafa mousa, department of physiotherapy, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: farhadm.atrushi@gmail.com received: apr 20, 2019 accepted: apr 23, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp71-74 copyright © 2019 farhad mustafa mousa, zainab aziz bakr. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ mousa and bakr: piriformis syndrome 72 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 71-74 adduction, and internal rotation (fadir) of the hip. an initial description was given by yeoman, in 1928. in 1934, freiberg recognized the signs specific to this syndrome. however, it was only in 1947 that robinson called this clinical entity the “piriformis” or pyramidal syndrome. the piriformis muscle has been said to receive innervation from l5 to s3 ventral rami with most sources using s1 and s2 ventral rami as the most common innervation this muscle. the most common nerve branches to the piriformis are from the superior gluteal nerve and the ventral rami of s1 and s2. more recently, many etiologies of sciatic nerve entrapment around the gluteal region or the non-discogenic area have been identified, resulting in the use of a new term “the deep gluteal syndrome.”[9-11] causes • an injury, such as fall, a blow to area or car accident • overuse, such as from frequent running, excessive exercise, or overstretching, trauma to the buttocks or gluteal region is the most common cause of piriformis syndrome • a sedentary lifestyle, especially with long periods of sitting • changing from a sedentary lifestyle to more frequent exercise • buttock muscles wasting away • muscle tension and excess weight due to pregnancy • skiers, truck drivers, tennis players, and long-distance bikers are at high risk • in morton’s foot, the prominent head of the second metatarsal causes foot instability and a reactive contraction of the external rotators of the hip during gait • spinal stenosis can lead to bilateral piriformis tenderness • anatomic variations of the divisions of the sciatic nerve above, below, and through the belly of the piriformis muscle may be causative factors.[12] piriformis syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion. diagnosis of piriformis syndrome is based on a review of the patient’s medical history, a physical examination, and possibly diagnostic tests. piriformis syndrome is often a diagnosis made through a process of ruling out other possible conditions that may be causing the patient’s symptoms such as a lumbar disc herniation or sacroiliac joint dysfunction. the history and physical findings are key elements in differentiating the more figure 3: pace test: pain and weakness are present on resisted abduction-external rotation of the thigh aq1 figure 4: it is combination of abduction and external rotation test, it is positive in all cases aq1 figure 1: piriformis sign: more external rotation in the same side of pain aq1 figure 2: freiberg sign: pain occurs with passive internal rotation of the extended thigh when the patient is supine aq1 mousa and bakr: piriformis syndrome 73 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 71-74 common forms of lbp and piriformis syndrome. many patients who underwent unsuccessful surgery in the lumbosacral region were later found to have piriformis syndrome. the female-tomale incidence ratio of piriformis syndrome is 6:1. in one study at a regional hospital, 45 of 750 patients with lbp were found to have piriformis syndrome. another author estimated that the incidence of piriformis syndrome in patients with sciatica is 6%. the function of the piriformis muscle is to externally rotate and abduct the thigh. in piriformis syndrome, the only true-positive sign is tenderness over the gluteal region.[13] the pain can be reproduced with maximum elongation of the piriformis muscle in fadir of the hip. weakness can be observed with resisted external rotation and abduction of the hip. for diagnosing piriformis syndrome, several authors describe the use of the following signs: 1. lasegue sign: pain is present in the vicinity of the greater sciatic notch during extension of the knee with the hip flexed to 90°, tenderness to palpation of the greater sciatic notch is noted 2. freiberg sign: pain occurs with passive internal rotation of the extended thigh when the patient is supine 3. pace sign: pain and weakness are present on resisted abduction-external rotation of the thigh. robinson, who first described the syndrome, stated that piriformis syndrome had six cardinal features:[14] 1. sausage-shaped mass over the piriformis muscle 2. positive lasegue sign 3. gluteal atrophy in chronic cases 4. trauma to the region 5. pain exacerbated by lifting and relieved by traction on the affected extremity 6. pain in the sacroiliac joint region, gluteal muscles, or greater sciatic notch. beatty explained two maneuvers to reproduced the pain of piriformis syndrome in the following way:[10] 1. the patient lies with the painful side up and the involved leg flexed 2. the knee of the affected side rests on the table. pain in the buttocks is reproduced when the patient lifts the leg and knee slightly above the table. diagnostic considerations • bursitis or weaver’s bottom (i.e., ischiogluteal bursitis) • sciatica caused by compression secondary to a fibrotic band, hematoma, or aneurysm of the inferior or superior gluteal artery • pelvic mass, tumor, or endometriosis (in women) • gout • referred pain to the buttock caused by pronator forces of the foot • spinal canal stenosis. differential diagnoses • hamstring muscle injury • lumbosacral disc herniation injuries • sacroiliac joint injury • lumbosacral discogenic pain syndrome • lumbosacral facet syndrome • lumbosacral spine sprain-strain injuries • lumbosacral spondylolysis • lumbosacral radiculopathy • lumbosacral spondylolisthesis. imaging evaluation computed tomography (ct) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (mri) • ct scans can be used to identify spinal stenosis or arthritic changes • mri findings can rule out other causes of back pain, such as a herniated disc, spinal tumor, or abscess • mri may demonstrate a large mass anterior to the piriformis muscle · the piriformis muscle also can appear enlarged on t1or t2-weighted images.[4] electromyography (emg) • in piriformis syndrome, abnormal patterns are found in the gluteus maximus and piriformis muscles • in piriformis syndrome, emg findings in the gluteus minimum, gluteus medius, and tensor fasciae late muscles are normal • emg can also be performed to determine neurologic or muscular changes • in the case of a herniated disc, all muscles that are posteriorly and anteriorly innervated should be affected. with a herniated disc, a significant delay in the hoffman reflex or h-reflex (motor nerve fiber response after activation of afferent sensory spindle fibers) in the affected limbs is often present during emg.[12] methods this is prospective and case–control study. in this study, we evaluated patients with low back pain or lower limb pain (268 patients). all cases with diagnosis of disc herniation were excluding. in 268 cases, seven cases had piriformis syndrome; these seven cases had low back pain and radicular pain with mean average of 42 years old (12–67 years old). in the first physical examination was done, we studied pain, severity pain, radicular pain, limping, and painful sitting which were taken. for evaluation of musculoskeletal we used bmi and physical examination of piriformis sign, freiberg sign, pace sign. neurological evaluation was taken. and after that, paraclinical examination elevated x-ray, ct-scan, mri, and emg. data show as mean±sd and we used ssps software for analysis. results in table 1, specifications of all seven cases, with conservative method 100% of cases, were cure treatment after 4 months, in which in surgery methods after 1 month that is significant between two methods of treatment (p < 0.00025). in seven cases, four cases had a history of blunt trauma. one case had a history of surgery that after 6 months had complication of surgery and scare tissue that with the second surgery release of scare was done with 100% cure. anomaly of piriformis muscle was seen in one case that surgery was done. heterotopic mousa and bakr: piriformis syndrome 74 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 71-74 ossification was seen in two cases. bmi of all cases was in normal range. discussion in this study, we evaluated patients with low back pain or lower back pain (268 patients). all cases with diagnosis of disc herniation were excluded from the study. they are need surgical operation for disc herniation. the best and most point in piriformis syndrome are differentiating primary from secondary. it is done according to history and physical examination.[18] according to the etiology of piriformis syndrome, the treatments are different. you see mass that compressed the sciatic nerve you must remove it. if the patient had sacroiliitis, it must be treated in early phase. the most differential diagnosis of secondary piriformis syndrome is sacroiliitis in patients with buttock pain. in general, condition sacroiliitis are without sciatica pain.[7,8] however, it may be secondary to tension of piriformis muscle (hiltz – 1976) about 8.22% of sacroiliitis was seen in all low back pain patients. according to this for differentiated, we need to injection to this joint.[10] surgery of piriformis is not accepted in all surgeons. it is limited to release piriformis tendon and insertion to femur.[18] surgery itself has complication and morbidity, scar tissue, and compressed the sciatic nerve. surgery must be limited to only remove tissue around sciatic notch and inferior border of piriformis muscle that limited space around the nerve. the secondary type of piriformis syndrome was seen more in inflammatory process.[15-18] surgery and release of piriformis muscle decrease and removed pain in sacroiliitis indirectly. however, direct treatment of sacroiliitis joint must be done with sacroiliitis girder, manipulation, injection physical therapy and at the end, surgery of joint and fusion the joint. references 1. k. hopayian and a. danielyan. “four symptoms define the piriformis syndrome: an updated systematic review of its clinical features”. european journal of orthopaedic surgery and traumatology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 155-164, 2018. 2. l. m. fishman and m. p. schaefer. “the piriformis syndrome is underdiagnosed”. muscle and nerve, vol. 28, no. 5, pp. 646-649, 2003. 3. k. meknas, a. christensen and o. johansen. “the internal obturator muscle may cause sciatic pain”. pain, vol. 104, no 1-2, pp. 375-80, 2003. 4. a. g. filler, j. haynes, s. e. jordan and j. prager. “sciatica of nondisc origin and piriformis syndrome: diagnosis by magnetic resonance neurography and interventional magnetic resonance imaging with outcome study of resulting treatment”. journal of neurosurgery spine, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 99-115, 2005. 5. m. r. foster. “piriformis syndrome”. orthopedics, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. 821-825, 2002. 6. l. m. fishman, g. w. dombi and c. michaelsen. “piriformis syndrome: diagnosis, treatment, and outcome-a 10-year study”. archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation, vol. 83, no. 3, pp. 295-301, 2002. 7. h. t. benzon, j. a. katz, h. a. benzon and m. s. iqbal. “piriformis syndrome: anatomic considerations, a new injection technique, and a review of the literature”. anesthesiology, vol. 98, no. 6, pp. 1442-1448, 2003. 8. s. k. han, y. s. kim, t. h. kim and s. h. kang. “surgical treatment of piriformis syndrome”. clinics in orthopedic surgery, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 136-144, 2017. 9. p. m. barton. “piriformis syndrome: a rational approach to management”. pain, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 345-352, 1991. 10. r. a. beatty. “the piriformis muscle syndrome: a simple diagnostic maneuver”. neurosurgery, vol. 34, pp. 512-514, 1994. 11. r. p. beauchesne and s. f. schutzer. “myositis ossificans of the piriformis muscle: an unusual cause of piriformis syndrome. a case report”. journal of bone and joint surgery american, vol. 79, no. 6, pp. 906-910, 1997. 12. j. a. brown, m. a. braun and t. c. namey. “pyriformis syndrome in a 10-year-old boy as a complication of operation with the patient in the sitting position”. neurosurgery, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 117-119, 1998. 13. z. durrani and a. p. winnie. “piriformis muscle syndrome: an underdiagnosed cause of sciatica”. journal of pain and symptom management, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 374-379, 1991. 14. a. h. freidberg. “sciatic pain and its relief by operation on muscle and fascia”. archives of surgery, vol. 34, pp. 337-349, 1937. 15. j. w. frymoyer. “back pain and sciatica”. the new england journal of medicine, vol. 318, no. 5, pp. 291-300, 1988. 16. j. j. jankiewicz, w. l. hennrikus and j. a. houkom. “the appearance of the piriformis muscle syndrome in computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. a case report and review of the literature”. clinical orthopaedics, vol. 262, pp. 205-209, 1991. 17. s. p. cass. “piriformis syndrome: a cause of nondiscogenic sciatica”. current sports medicine reports, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 41-44, 2015. 18. c. steiner, c. staubs, m. ganon and c. buhlinger. “piriformis syndrome: pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment”. the journal of the american osteopathic association, vol. 87, no. 4, pp. 318323, 1978. table 1: specifications, age, sex, symptom, causes, treatment, and results of seven cases of piriformis syndrome age sex symptom cause treatment results 61 female hip pain trauma conservative after 6 months cure 45 male lower limb pain trauma heterotopic ossification surgery after 1 month cure 41 male hip and lower limb pain scare of surgery surgery after 3 months cure 67 female numbness and pain in lower limb trauma heterotopic ossification conservative after 4 months cure 42 male low back pain and hip pain anomaly of piriformis muscle surgery after 2 months cure 52 male sciatica blunt trauma conservative after 3 months cure 12 female sciatica tumor of gluteal area surgery after 1 month cure author query??? aq1:kindly cite figures 1-4 in the text part . 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 48-52 research article energy management in wireless sensor networks for internet of things applications reem jafar ismail1*, samar jaafar ismael2, wisam h. ali2 1department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of electromechanical engineering, university of technology, baghdad, iraq abstract internet of things (iot) aims to develop a smart world based on sensing environment. the energy management of wireless sensor networks (wsns) is a big challenge in iot since sensor nodes have limited energy and they need to have long life for collecting data and information. the aim of this paper is to propose an efficient energy routing algorithm in wsn and infrastructure based on construction an adaptive energy map of sensor nodes. the results show improvement in overall system performance and lifetime of wsn compared to traditional scenario. keywords: shortest energy path, energy map, cluster region, multihop routing introduction wireless sensor networks (wsns) consist of number of sensor nodes which are distributed over the environment to monitor various physical characteristics of the real world, especially in internet of things (iot) applications such as health care, education, transportation, or food industry.[1,2] the life of wsn depends on energy of sensor node.[3,4] some proposal saves energy of nodes itself by energy power management of battery;[5] other proposals save energy by proposing efficient routing algorithm in wsn to maximize lifetime of wsn. many researches had proposed for routing protocol to collect data from sensor nodes depending on central or hierarchical routing. in salim and osamy[6] proposed a routing protocol using sink for data gathering from sensor nodes. in khan et al.,[3] heinzelman et al.,[7] biradar et al.,[8] mahmood et al.,[9] kumar and pal,[10] khan and sampalli,[11] shi et al.[12] researches proposed a cluster-based routing algorithm for data gathering in wsns. in hierarchical cluster-based wsn, the network is divided into clusters, and hierarchy of different nodes is defined. each cluster has a cluster head (ch). sensor nodes in each cluster region get the information and send it to ch.[3] in this research, we propose an efficient optimization algorithm that efficiently manages the energy of the cluster region of hierarchical cluster-based wsn. the main contribution of this work is as follows: • the design and implementation of routing algorithm that saves energy in wsns to maximize lifetime of wsn. • the development and construction of energy map of sensor nodes that are used to manage energy of cluster region when routing algorithm is implemented. the remainder of this research described the following: we present works relate to wsn that applied in iot applications for energy saving; then, the propose algorithm is presented and evaluated; and finally, we conclude the work. literature review routing in hierarchical wsn architecture has advantage over centralized architecture since the route from source to destination is controlled over cluster regions that are led to manage the power of sensor nodes efficiently. chauhan et al. proposed a routing algorithm to consume power using minimum number of nodes from source to destination with a static shortest path using dijkstra’s algorithm.[13] the problem with their proposed algorithm is that they did not consider the energy level of the selected nodes of shortest path, where their measure was the shortest distance from source to destination. corresponding author: reem jafar ismail, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: reem_aljanabe@yahoo.com received: apr 13, 2019 accepted: apr 17, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp48-52 copyright © 2019 reem jafar ismail, samar jaafar ismael, wisam h. ali. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ismail et al.: energy management in wsns for iot applications 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 48-52 in, khan et al.[3] a multistage routing protocol is proposed for energy consuming in wsn, where the data are collected from sensor nodes by transferring it from stage to next stage through ch and forwarder to base station by assuming that the ch is usually at the center of the cluster region and the path is direct from sensor node to the ch in the cluster region. table 1 presents an overview for some of routing protocols, where most of them assume that the sensor nodes are distributed randomly in the propose region. proposed routing algorithm for efficient energy management our proposal saves energy by proposing efficient routing algorithm in wsn to maximize lifetime of wsn. in this research, we developed an efficient energy management algorithm that has the following prosperities: • nodes are distributed according to boualem et al.[14] and not randomly, which will affect the overall energy consumption of sensor nodes compared to other protocols • the shortest path between source and destination is not static when same source node sends to same destination node since the path will be updated according to the energy level of intermediate sensor nodes • the controller (ch) will construct an energy map and update it with time since the energy of sensor node is changing with time. in this research, we propose a novel optimization algorithm that efficiently manages the energy of the cluster region of hierarchical cluster-based wsn. in cluster region, we try to collect information from sensor nodes and send it to ch with consuming energy. in our proposal routing, shortest energy path is chosen in cluster region depending on the sensor nodes that have maximum energy. selecting sensor nodes with maximum energy and avoiding sensor nodes with minimum energy will maximize the lifetime of wsn. when sensor nodes send their information to ch, the proposed shortest energy path is used which will maximize the lifetime of wsn. in our proposed algorithm, the ch is responsible on finding shortest energy path and construction energy map of cluster region. energy map of cluster region is constructed when each sensor node in cluster region will send message to ch periodically telling the remaining energy of sensor node. the sensor nodes location is static, but shortest energy path is chosen according to the highest battery charge of sensor nodes not according to distance between them. the shortest energy path from source to destination is not static since in proposed routing algorithm, the shortest energy path will be dynamic according to the energy that will be received from sensor nodes since power level of battery for sensor node is decreasing within time. the dijkstra’s algorithm is an algorithm that finds shortest distance in a given path between the source points to the destination point. dijkstra’s uses these nodes in routing and saves the points where the cost of distance is low.[15] in our proposed energy routing algorithm, the dijkstra’s algorithm is used to construct and find the shortest energy path of sensor nodes. the overall properties of the proposed energy routing algorithm will save energy and increase network lifetime by the following assumptions: • multistage data transmission mechanism where an energyefficient routing protocol for wsns is proposed. it consists of a routing algorithm for data transmission, ch selection algorithm, and a scheme for the formation of clusters[3] also if ch within cluster region died due to energy consumption another head will be chosen for the same cluster region sensor node wants to send data to cluster head (ch) send data with single hop yes no does sensor node have direct link with ch? send data with multiple hop using proposed energy routing algorithm figure 1: sensor nodes sending data to cluster head within cluster region table 1: overview of related works for energy management in wsns algorithms topology organization distribution of sensor nodes in region control node (cluster head) energy map route from s to d within cluster region number of hops chauhan et al., 2015[13] centralized randomly none not constructed static single kayhan et al., 2018[3] hierarchical routing randomly available not constructed static single hop within cluster region since cluster head is centralized proposed energy routing algorithm hierarchical routing enough monitoring for region and not random available is constructed dynamic multihop within cluster region ismail et al.: energy management in wsns for iot applications 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 48-52 • in cluster region, the sensor nodes are not disturbed randomly since the topology of sensor nodes are optimized using semi-random deployment protocol proposed by boualem et al.[14] where the area of interest is covered with a fewer sensor nodes with enough monitoring • if the wireless sensor region is scalable, the proposed algorithm still operate efficiently since the routing is multihop and not single hop in cluster region. this means more sensor nodes could be added within cluster region and the proposed algorithm will still work efficiently. as shown in figure 1, the sensor node will send the data from source to destination using algorithm 1, proposed energy routing algorithm. the objective of algorithm 1 is to maximize lifetime of sensor nodes within the cluster region. algorithm 1. proposed energy routing algorithm input: number of sensor nodes n, graph representation for sensor nodes (node_i, node_j) and energy map vector: [ level_of_node_energy_i,……, level_of_node_energy_n] output: shortest energy path from sensor node to cluster head 1: for each node_i in cluster region specify direct link for all its neighbors as (node_i, node_j) 2: while wsn is life 3: for each node in cluster region send energy level to cluster head periodically 4: cluster head construct an energy map of the cluster region 5: for each node in cluster region 6: find neighbor node which has maximum energy level 7: end for 8: find maximum energy level path from sensor node to cluster head using dijkstra’s algorithm 9: end while. simulation and evaluation in this section, we present the implementation of the proposed energy routing algorithm and then evaluate it, which we did use matlab r2016a (9.0.0.341360). we ran the simulation with 13 nodes, as shown in figure 2; initially, the sensor nodes have full charge so the source node (node no. 13) will reach to destination node (node no. 12), with shortest path using algorithm 1. after the period of time, the energy of the sensor nodes will decrease. as shown in figure 3, which shows the energy map of sensor nodes inside cluster region, the initial shortest path that had been found previously could not be used again since after a period of time, the sensor node energy is decreased, here, all sensor nodes will send a message to the controller about figure 2: proposed wireless sensor network topology figure 3: energy map of sensor nodes inside cluster region where charge is changed overtime where node13 is source and node12 is destination node id 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 charge % 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% a: initial charge of nodes node id 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 charge % 100% 100% 99% 100% 100% 99% 100% 100% 99% 100% 100% 99% 99% b: 1st round, send from node13 to node12 path is: 13, 3, 6, 9, 12 node id 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 charge % 99% 100% 99% 100% 99% 99% 100% 99% 99% 100% 99% 98% 98% c: 2nd round, send from node13 to node12 path is: 13,1,5,8,11,12 node id 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 charge % 99% 99% 99% 100% 99% 98% 100% 99% 99% 99% 99% 97% 97% d: 3rd round, send from node13 to node12 path is: 13, 2, 6, 10,12 ismail et al.: energy management in wsns for iot applications 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 48-52 the percentage of charge and then the controller will update the energy map and ran the algorithm again according to the received information. figure 5: compare number of dead nodes in each round between traditional algorithm and proposed algorithm figure 4: shortest path from node 13 to node 12 using algorithm in chauhan et al.[13] table 2: compare between traditional algorithm and proposed energy algorithm algorithm round number when the first node is died number of dead node chauhan et al.[13] 500 3 proposed energy algorithm 600 1 after a period of time, the shortest path for routing information will be constructed by choosing the sensor nodes which has maximum energy. we assume that all sensor nodes are homogenous. according to rodrigues et al.,[16] the energy spent in single transmission for sensor node is approximately 0.1 mj when using atmega328p platform. hence, for all sensor nodes in the cluster region, we can apply the proposed equation (1) to find energy of sensor nodes: decrease in power level of sensor node_i new energy node_i = current energy node_i (0.1 x number of transmissions of node_i) value of energy to be decreased with time …(1) where we suppose the value of energy to be decreased with time is constant for all nodes and also in evaluation, the energy of senor node will be calculated as percentage of charge because sensor nodes are homogenous. wsn lifetime performance and energy consumption evaluation consider: scalability, energy level for each sensor node, number of alive nodes, and number of dead nodes as parameters for evaluations per round. • scalability, a property of network which will increase the network size by adding new nodes. • energy level of sensor node, this means sensor node power which will be calculated as charge percentage. • number of alive nodes, these are total nodes that have enough energy to communicate in routing. • number of dead nodes, these are total nodes that did not have energy to communicate in routing. results the proposed energy algorithm is evaluation and compared with chauhan et al. proposed algorithm.[13] [table 2] shows the comparison according to round number when the first node is died and number of dead node. figure 4 shows the cluster region, if we suppose that the source is node number 13 and the destination is node number 12. according to chauhan et al.,[13] the route from source to destination will be static since every time 13 send data to 12 where the algorithm will use the same path which is 13, 3, 6, 9, and 12 because it is the shortest path. if we suppose that each transaction 1% of sensor node charge will decrease; then, after 100 transitions between 13 and 12, three nodes will be died due to energy consuming of same sensor nodes which are node 3, 6, and 9. figure 5 shows number of dead nodes compare to round number since we suppose the source is node13 and the destination is node12, as shown in the figure in round 600 about 23% of sensor nodes are dead in algorithm[13] while in our proposed algorithm, 8% are dead that will increase number of alive nodes approximately to 15% in each round. conclusion energy management in wsn needs to be saved since sensor nodes have limited power. to maximize lifetime of wsn, an efficient routing algorithm is proposed using less number of sensor nodes for transmission information with high energy. ismail et al.: energy management in wsns for iot applications 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 48-52 selecting sensor nodes with high energy instead of low energy will keep the topology of wsn stable since the number of alive node will be the same as long time as possible in wsn. each round the energy map is constructed based of sensor nodes power and then the route is found from source to destination with optimized power consuming. the proposed energy routing algorithm considers scalability, where we can add new sensor nodes to the cluster region, especially when some sensor node starts to die. scalability of cluster region will increase number of nodes and then the energy level of the cluster region will also be increased. acknowledgments the authors would like to acknowledge cihan university-erbil, for their support and sponsorship of this project. references 1. x. gu, x. zhou and y. sun. “a data-gathering scheme with joint routing and compressive sensing based on modified diffusion wavelets in wireless sensor networks”. sensors, vol. 18, pp. 724, 2018. 2. w. ejaz, m. naeem, a. shahid, a. anpalagan and m. jo. “efficient energy management for the internet of things in smart cities”. ieee communications magazine, january 2017. 3. m. k. khan, m. shiraz, k. z. ghafoor, s. khan, a. s. sadiq and g. ahmed. “ee-mrp: energy-efficient multistage routing protocol for wireless sensor networks”. wireless communications and mobile computing, vol. 2018, p. 6839671, 2018. 4. y. lu, x. liu and m. li. “study on energy-saving routing algorithm based on wireless sensor network”. journal of computers, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 227-235, 2017. 5. j. a. khan, h. k. qureshi and a. iqbal. “energy management in wireless sensor networks: a survey”. computers and electrical engineering, vol. 41, pp. 159-176, 2015. 6. a. salim and w. osamy. “distributed multi chain compressive sensing based routing algorithm for wirelesssensor networks”. wireless networks, vol. 21, pp. 1379-1390, 2015. 7. w. r. heinzelman, a. chandrakasan and h. balakrishnan. “energy-efficient communication protocol for wireless microsensor networks”. in: proceedings of the 33rd annual hawaii international conference on system siences (hicss ’00). ieee, vol. 2, 2000. 8. v. biradar, s. r. sawant, r. r. mudholkar and v. c. patil. “multihop routing in self-organizing wireless sensor networks”. international journal of computer science issues, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 155-164, 2011. 9. d. mahmood, n. javaid, s. mahmood, s. qureshi, a. m. memon and t. zaman. “modleach: a variant of leach for wsns”. in: proceedings of the ieee 8th international conference on broadband, wireless computing, communication and applications (bwcca ’13). compeigne, france, pp. 158-163, 2013. 10. s. v. kumar and a. pal. “assisted-leach (a-leach) energy efficient routing protocol for wireless sensor networks”. international journal of computer and communication engineering, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 420-424, 2013. 11. z. a. khan and s. sampalli. “azr-leach: an energy efficient routing protocol for wireless sensor networks”. international journal of communications, network and system sciences, vol. 5, no. 11, pp. 785-795, 2012. 12. s. shi, x. liu and x. gu. “an energy-efficiency optimized leach-c for wireless sensor networks”. in: proceedings of the 2012 7th international icst conference on communications and networking in china (chinacom ’12), pp. 487-492, 2012. 13. p. chauhan, a. negi and t, kumar. “power optimization using proposed dijkstra’s algorithm in wireless sensor networks”. international journal of advanced research in computer and communication engineering, vol. 4, no. 7, pp. 326-330, 2015. 14. a. boualem, y. dahmani, a. maatoug and c. de-runz. “area coverage optimization in wireless sensor network by semirandom deployment”. in: proceedings of the 7th international conference on sensor networks (sensornets), pp. 85-90, 2018. 15. l. parungao, f. hein and w. lim. “dijkstra algorithm based intelligent path planning with topological map and wireless communication”. arpn journal of engineering and applied sciences, vol. 13, no. 8, pp. 2753-2763, 2018. 16. l. m. rodrigues, c. montez, g. budke, f. vasques and p. portugal. “estimating the lifetime of wireless sensor network nodes through the use of embedded analytical battery models”. journal of sensor and actuator networks, vol. 6, no. 2, p. 8, 2017. . 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 31-36 research article solving isolated nodes problem in zigbee pro for wireless sensor networks nabaa abdul-khudhur hasan*, f. alaa kadhim department of computer science, university of technology, baghdad, iraq abstract wireless sensor network based on the zigbee protocol consists of many sensor devices. in some cases, the sensor nodes may turn to isolated node because random distribution, particularly when creating the network. in this research was suggested two cases to overcome on the isolated node problem, the first case had able to overcome this problem by distributing the isolated nodes on the router nodes that carry the least number of sensor nodes, it helps to minimize the computational overhead on router nodes too, while the second one is able to overcome this problem by calculating the distance between the isolated nodes and the routers and then adds these nodes to the nearest routers. subsequently, this method helps to minimize the energy consumption. the results show our approach able to solve the problem of isolated nodes using these two methods and when compared between them turns out the second method is better in terms of energy consumption. in addition, we are able to make the network larger scale. keywords: isolated nodes, wireless sensor networks, zigbee pro introduction nowadays, wireless sensor network (wsn) plays an important role because it is used in many applications such as military monitoring, fire control, health observation in patient case, and monitoring of traffic and also used in soil to measure humidity.[1] the demand for the construction of large-scale wsns has been increasing rapidly; the use of conventional wsns encounters a number of critical technical challenges such as the network scalability and energy consumption.[2,3] especially, it must apply a network joining technique that is able to link every node in a big scale wsn with reduced power consumption.[4] many of network joining techniques have been suggested to support trusty connection in internet applications (e.g., dynamic host configuration protocol and duplicate address detection).[5-7] even so, because of the broadcast storm issue, may not be applied this technique and the energy may become not efficient and this will be wasted it,[8] appropriate protocols must be applied to solve the problem of rejoining isolated nodes with conserving energy. to reduce power consumption, zigbee has applied as communication protocol. although some papers have been published concerning the problem of communication in zigbee protocol, but has not been enough and did not cover the problem in complete way when compared with other issues such as routing algorithms[9-11] or data transmission.[12,13] in most of the papers, clouqueur et al.,[14] dhillon et al.,[15] kumar et al.,[16] rahman et al.[17] concerned with the coverage of the sensor network, it assumed that communication in the network is good, but communication in the network is an important and will affect performance, it must focus on. in this paper, we will focus on connectivity improving by solving isolate nodes problem so the network will be large scale. moreover, we will solve the problem in two ways. the first method is called load distribution where the isolated nodes are distributed on the router nodes that carry the least number of sensor nodes. the second method is to add the isolated node to the nearest routing node to it. this will help to reduce power consumption. the remainder of the essay arranged in this way. part ii shows relation works. part iii shows the proposed mechanism where part iv displays environment and part v discussed the results of proposed to estimate the efficacy of our suggested. finally, we deduce this essay in part vi. corresponding author: nabaa abdul-khudhur hasan, department of computer science, university of technology, baghdad, iraq. e-mail: nabaa_alkhafagi@yahoo.com received: mar 25, 2019 accepted: apr 22, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp31-36 copyright © 2019 nabaa abdul-khudhur hasan, f. alaa kadhim. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) hasan and kadhim: solving isolated nodes problem in zigbee pro for wsns 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 31-36 relation works zigbee pro zigbee is a protocol based on ieee standard 802.15.4. it is used in wsn because it has the appropriate characteristics of this network such as low-power consumption and low cost. zigbee is considered a worldwide open standard for wireless radio networks in the monitoring and control fields. the standard was developed by the zigbee alliance (a group of international companies). the zigbee protocol consists of three devices:[18] zigbee coordinator: the network should include only one and be responsible for several tasks such as network establishment, the allocation of addresses, and the decisionmaker regarding the admission or departure of the nodes, in addition to the transfer and processing of messages. it should always be powered on. zigbee router: could be missing in a network, the network may include just one or more based on the size and topology of the network. it is not found in a star topology. it is often used to expand the zigbee network (in the tree and mesh). basically, it executes all tasks of the coordinator, except network establishment (start-up). zigbee end devices: it is located in all topologies the purpose of end devices for sending and receiving the packets. zigbee consists of three topologies: star, tree, and mesh topology. in this paper will focus on tree topology, because the isolated nodes problem happens in this topology. a connectivity improving mechanism for zigbee wsns in 2008, tian-wen song and chu-sing yang,[19] they used the tree topology and modified the connection of nodes, and the joining which succeeded by of a shifting is called extended joining. this operation is specified by three elements nwkmaxchildren, nwkmaxrouters, and nwkmaxdepth which determine if an isolated node is able to add to the network or not this enhancement helps not only the reduction of isolated sensors and wasted costs but also the performance growth of the zigbee sensor network. in 2008, enhancing node connectivity by utilizing rssi for zigbee-based wsn in 2016, chung et al.[20] they could overcome the isolated node problem, they proposed two methods, gaussian filtering with averaging and median method based on rssi samples. the first way is objective to get high accuracy, while the another way is objective to reduce the computational cost of node connection. the result of the proposed is more effective than the existing approach. proposed system first, we will apply our proposed on the tree topology. an example of connectivity problem in a zigbee network is shown in figure 1. there are a number of isolated nodes such as node d; the isolated nodes will cause the expected network operations unreached and waste the deployment costs. hence, we proposed two methods to solve this problem and we will discuss in the next sections. however, before that, we must now discover if there are isolated nodes in the network. hence, we assumed that there is table saved in the coordinator, this table includes the number of routers, end devices, and the links between this device, and shown in table 1. after network establishment, it will start many operations such as send and receive the packets. we will determine the specific time (15 min), for example, if one node will not do any action, this node will be considered as isolate node and added to the table as isolated. in this way, we will know if there is any isolated node in wsn. our proposed system is shown in figure 2. figure 1: illustration of zigbee connectivity issue table 1: the table saved in the coordinator (z) zigbee router a, b, c, e, f, g, r, l, t zigbee end devices w, h, k, u isolated nodes p, d, m, n links z a, g, t a b, e, z b a, c, f, u c b e a, r, k f b g l, z h l l g, h, w t z w l r e k e u b hasan and kadhim: solving isolated nodes problem in zigbee pro for wsns 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 31-36 case 1 in this case, we will distribute the isolated nodes on the routers that carry least number of end devices. moreover, this operation starts after the coordinator will know that there are isolated nodes in the network. the coordinator will open the table and search for the least router that carries end devices. for example, z will send two messages, one of t to tell it that there is new node will join into it, the second message will tell p that t it is the router appropriate for it. after that will start the communication between p and t to join. if there is more than one isolated node, it will follow the same method. in figure 3, the node p will be connected to the router t, and the nodes m, n, and d will be connected to f, c, and r, respectively. the protocol clarifying our proposal for the first case is as follows: • the coordinator (z) opens the table stored in it and searches for a router with fewer end devices. • then, z sends a message to that router tells him that there is an isolated node wants to join him by sending the id of that node. • and z sends a message to that node and tells it that there is a router appropriate to it by sending the id of that router. • after that, isolated node will send his id to the router. • finally, the router will compare if the id transmitted by the node matches the id transmitted by z, if they match, the router will accept the node, and otherwise, it will ignore the request. case 2 in this case, the distance will measure between all isolated nodes and every router, and select, the less distance between them to join. we will use the distance equation (1) to calculate the distance between them.[21] 2 2di = (x1 x2) + (y1+ y2) (1) the protocol clarifying our proposal for the second case is as follows: • the coordinator (z) opens the table stored in it and searches for the number of routers and isolated nodes. • then, z will calculate the distance between the isolated nodes and all routers. • after that, z will compare the distance and select least distance between them (node will be added to the router closest to it). • these nodes are added by sending z two messages; one of them to the router containing the id of isolated node and the other one is sent to the node and contains the id of the router. • finally, the router will compare if the id transmitted by the node matches the id transmitted by z, if they match, the router will accept the node, and otherwise, it will ignore the request. figure 2: the flow chart of the proposed system figure 3: illustration to resolve the connection problem in the zigbee protocol by case 1 hasan and kadhim: solving isolated nodes problem in zigbee pro for wsns 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 31-36 figure 4 displays the coordinates of nodes. applying the distance formula for finding the every node distance value with the help of sensors, nodes coordinate as showing in figure 5, for example, distance between z (coordinator) and t node. z=(5, 4) t=(2, 4) 2 2d1 = (5 2) + (4 4)  2 2d1 = (3) + (0) d1 = 9 d1=3 similarly, the value of all remaining distance is also calculated, which is also shown in figure 4, that is, d2=2, d3=1, d4=2, d5=2, d6=1, d7=2, d8=4, d9=5, d10=4, d11=5, d12=1, and d13=2, using sensor nodes coordinate and distance measurement formula we able to measure the distance between each node in a wsn area. after calculating the distance between the all nodes within the network, now we will calculate the distance between the isolated nodes and the routers only, table 2 explain that, for example, the distance between node p and router a is 8.1 and between node p and router b is 6. moreover, on this basis, we will compare and choose the nearest router to this isolated node to join, show that in figure 6. to measure the energy consumption[22] and compared it in the two cases used. we will use equations (2, 3): etx (k, d)=eelec*k+εamp*k*d2 (2) erx (k)=eelec*k (3) where, eelec is the energy to run circuitry=50 nj/bit, εamp is the energy for radio transmission=100 pj/bit/m2, etx energy for sending k bits over distance d, and erx energy for receiving k bits. programming environment the proposed system was written in c# language version 2013 on windows10. performance evaluations we suggested two cases to solve the problem of isolated nodes, and during the execution turns out, the method two is better than method one. the first method depends on added the isolated nodes to the routers that carry the least number of sensor nodes. the second method depends on the distance measure way, where the distance of the path between the isolated nodes and the routers is measured. then, the appropriate router is then selected for the node to join based on the least distance between the router and the isolated node. the second method was chosen as the best after measuring and analyzing the results for energy consumption; figure 7 shows the energy consumption in the first and second method. figure 4: show nodes coordinate figure 5: display the distance measurement for the nodes table 2: explain the distance between isolated nodes and routers isolate routers a b c e f g l t r p 8.1 6 4 9.2 9.8 8.9 8.2 6 10.2 m 7.1 9.8 9.2 5.8 8.6 7.8 9.2 8.9 10.6 n 7 7.2 5.7 7.3 9 8 8.2 6.7 10.2 d 7.3 6.3 4.5 8.1 9.2 8.2 8 6.1 10 the results show that there is a significant difference in energy consumption between the two methods when the isolated nodes added to the network where the amount of energy consumed in the first method when joining the node m to the router r is 181.4 mjoule, and node n to f hasan and kadhim: solving isolated nodes problem in zigbee pro for wsns 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 31-36 is 131.2 mjoule, node p to t is 59.2 mjoule, and finally, the amount consumed in node d to c is 34 mjoule. as for the amount of energy consumed in the second method when add the node m to the router e is 55.4 mjoule, and node n to router c is 35.7 mjoule, node p to router c is 27.2 mjoule, and finally, the amount of energy that consume for add node d to router c is 34 mjoule. conclusion this work proposed an enhanced the connectivity of zigbee using two ways for solving the problem of isolated nodes in wsn. we have applied the first way by making the isolated nodes join to router who carries the least number of end devices and as for the second way by calculating the distance and added this node to nearest routers. we proved our scheme could overcome the problem of isolated nodes. after that, we compared between the two ways where the second method provides efficiency by achieving less energy consuming compared to the first method. furthermore, our scheme applied to make the network larger scale. references 1. j. sen. “a survey on wireless sensor network security”. international journal of communication networks and information security, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 59-82, aug 2009. 2. m. s. pan, c. h. tsai and y. c. tseng. “the orphan problem in 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society conference on sensor and ad hoc communications and networks (secon’05), santa clara, usa, sep. 2006, p. 510. 14. t. clouqueur, v. phipatanasuphorn, p. ramanathan and k. k. saluja. “sensor deployment strategy for target detection”. 1st acm international workshop on wireless sensor networks and applications (wsna’02), atlanta, usa, sep. 2002, pp. 42-48. 15. s.s. dhillon, k. chakrabarty and s. s. iyengar. “sensor placement for grid coverage under imprecise detections”. 5th international conference on information fusion (fusion’02), annapolis, usa, jul. 2002, pp. 1581-1587. 16. s. kumar, t.h. lai and j. balogh. “on k-coverage in a mostly sleeping sensor network”. 10th annual international conference on mobile computing and networking (mobicom’04), philadelphia, usa, sep-oct, 2004, pp. 144-158. 17. o. rahman, a. razzaque and c. s. hong. “probabilistic sensor deployment in wireless sensor network: a new approach”. 9th international conference on advanced communication technology (icact’07), phoenix park, south korea, feb. 2007, pp. 1419-1422. 18. o. g. aju. “a survey of zigbee wireless sensor network technology: topology, applications and challenges”. figure 6: illustrates the way of connection to the nodes by case two (minimum distance) figure 7: illustration the energy consumed in the two methods it used hasan and kadhim: solving isolated nodes problem in zigbee pro for wsns 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 31-36 international journal of computer applications, vol. 130, no.9, pp. 975-8887, nov 2015. 19. t. w. song and c. s. yang. a connectivity improving mechanism for zigbee wireless sensor networks”. ieee/ifip international conference on embedded and ubiquitous computing, 2008. 20. s. m. chung, k. t. kim, j. song and y. youn. “enhancing node connectivity by utilizing rssi for zigbee-based wsn”. international conference on information and communication technology convergence, 2016. 21. v. v madhav and j. nigam. “ensuring uniform energy consumption in non-deterministic wireless sensor network to protract networks lifetime”. international journal of electronics and communication engineering, vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 1005-1009, 2017. 22. t. kumar, j. davinder, s. saini and s. v. bhooshan. “cluster head selection in a homogeneous wireless sensor network ensuring full connectivity with minimum isolated nodes”. hindawi publishing corporation journal of sensors, vol. 2014, p. 8, 2014. . 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 1-6 research article effect of drinking water hardness on kidney stones formation in ranya district akram o. esmail1*, bahast a. qadir2, hawnaz q. hamad2 1department of soil and water, college of agriculture, salahaddin university, erbil, iraq, 2department of biology, college of sciences, raparin university, raparin-sulaimani, iraq abstract this study was conducted in rania district, raparin university, during september 2018–march 2019, to test the relation between water hardness and kidney stone formation. the investigation depended on questionnaire form which was distributed on 100 person in raparin (rania, hajiawa, and chwarqurna) and patients whom vested the rania clinical during december 1, 2018–january 22, 2019 which were 238 patients and only 20 of them had kidney stones developing which represent 8.4% of the total kidney diseases. the results indicated to significant effect of gender at level of significant 5% on kidney stones formation, 10% of male, and 18% of female having kidney stones. the results of chi-square test indicated to highly significant effect of age on kidney stone formation at level of significant (0.001). the kidney stone formation increased from 19.23% to 75% with an increase in age class from (14–34) to (54 or more) year. the negative correlation coefficient value of (r = −0.63*) was recorded between water hardness and stone risk index due to the high magnesium content of drinking water in the studied area. keywords: ca-hardness, component, mg-hardness, stone risk index, total water hardness introduction the urolithiasis regards as a very complex disease, many factors affecting on urinary calculus or formation of kidney stones.[1] hard water means the water which contains more minerals in comparing with ordinary water. the most important ions are calcium and magnesium. hardness is expressed in terms of calcium carbonate (caco3) mg/l. the degree of hardness increases with increasing the concentration of calcium and magnesium in water if the concentration of them <75 m/l is considered as a soft water, 76–150 mg/l moderately hard, and more than 150 mg/l regards as a hard water.[2] numerous studies were conducted in the kurdistan region about water quality and its suitability for drinking purpose, most of them included total hardness, magnesium hardness, and calcium hardness water which directly related to kidney stones developing or forming or regards as one of the factors related to kidney stone formation in the world depending on type of water hardness and magnesium and bicarbonate concentration in drinking water.[1,3] several factors increase the risk for kidney stones forming or developing which were summarized as inadequate water or fluid intake and dehydration, reduce in urinary volume, and increase in concentrations or levels of certain chemicals in urine such as calcium, oxalate, and uric acid to high level or decrease of magnesium to low level or too low and some medical conditions such as reflux and medullary sponge kidney urinary tract infections in additional to tubular acidosis. anything that reduces or blocks the urine flow like urinary obstruction and genetic abnormalities also increase the risk of kidney stones developing.[4] drinking water hardness in the kurdistan region studied by numerous researchers as follow: the water harness in sulaimani governorate the results indicated that the total hardness was ranged (from 110 to 280) mg caco3/l, it means most of the studied water hard and may have negative effect of kidney stone developing.[5] the water harness study of (chaq–chaq) kliassan stream in sulaimani city showed that the total hardness was ranged from 110 to 355 mg/l; it means most of studied water hard corresponding author: akram othman esmail, department of soil and water, college of agriculture, salahaddin university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: akram.esmail@su.edu.krd received: apr 14, 2019 accepted: apr 26, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp1-6 copyright © 2020 akram o. esmail, bahast a. qadir, hawnaz q. hamad. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ esmail, et al.: effect of drinking water hardness on kidney stones 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 1-6 to very hard and could have negative effect of kidney stone formation.[6] the water hardness of karees, springs, and streams in erbil governorate was studied by esmail,[7] the results explained that the total hardness was ranged from 151 to more than 1000 mg/l with a mean of 321 mg/l. it means most of the studied water was hard to very hard. the water hardness of kapran near erbil city was studied, the results indicated that the total hardness was ranged between 135.48 and 306.93 mg means must studied moderate hard to very hard.[8] the water hardness of springs at halgwrd mountain was ranged between 93 and 122 mg/l caco3, it means that the water of this location is must soft water and suitable for drinking purpose depending on.[9,10] the water hardness in erbil was ranged (138–446) mg caco3/l, it means most of the studied water was hard to very hard.[11] the value of total hardness of the water in bator and southwest and south erbil was ranged between 173 and 900 mg caco3/l, this indicated that most studied water had hard to very hard class or not suitable for drinking purpose[9] or may have negative effect kidney stone developing.[8,12] the mean of total hardness, ca-hardness, and mg-hardness was (248.82–339.30), (207.49–291.21), and (41.34–97.57) mg/l, respectively, for drinking water in halabja as mentioned by schwart et al.[13] the studied water hardness in dohuk governorate had the values ranged between 281 and 972 mg/l as caco3; it means most of the studied water had hard to very hard class.[14] the water hardness of the studied water in sulaimani governorate recorded the total hardness of (200–580) mg/l as caco3 means; it refers to that the studied water has hard to very hard class and may have negative effect on kidney stone forming.[15] the inverse relationship was recorded between drinking water hardness and kidney stones developing (urolithiasis) for 2302 patients in various geographical regions of the united state.[16] the workers found the positive correlation between drinking water hardness and kidney stones forming and developing (urolithiasis) in 1000 general hospitals in the united states of america. on the other hand, the weak correlation was recorded between kidney stone-forming and drinking water hardness as mentioned by churchill et al.[17] and shuster et al.[18] the positive correlation was recorded between total water hardness and kidney stones forming in the united kingdom, due to the water hardness values in south and east of england.[19] the relation between drinking water quality (hardness) and the stone risk index (sri) (kidney stone forming) for 24 provincial capitals of iran, was studied by basiri et al.[1] the results indicated that the water hardness was ranged between 57 and 874 ppm; the sri was ranged between 0.00 and 0.0198. the non-significant correlation was recorded between total water hardness of tap water and kidney stone formation, while the negative significant correlation was recorded between mg-hardness and kidney stone formation with the correlation coefficient value of r = −0.51*. in the study conducted in iran from 20 capital cites depending on large number of samples (21200) the negative significant correlation means increase in water hardness cased decrease in risk of kidney stone forming since 30% of total hardness is magnesium hardness which causes decrease in stone formation. since the drinking water of the kurdistan region is hard, especially the water of springs, wells, and rivers in raparin district is hard to very hard which ranged from 150.46 to 1414.80 with the mean value of 337.71 mg/l as caco3. it means the water hardness of water in the kurdistan region is above the recommended standard value of who.[9] for the above reasons, the aims of this investigation are to study the effect of: 1. drinking water hardness on kidney stones developing or formation. 2. amount of water intake per day, gender, age, and family history on developing kidney stones. materials and methods for scientific research about the effect of drinking water hardness on kidney stones forming, the data were collected from december 1, 2018 to january 20, 2019 in one clinic of rania city specialized in kidney diseases. the number of patients visited the mentioned clinic was 238 patients and only 20 of them had kidney stones developing or forming. the other source of data collecting was the distribution of questionnaire form on 100 persons (50 male and 50 female) inside and outside of raparin university, which included (hajyawa, chwarqwrna, and ranya), the questionnaire form was shown from table 1 which prepared as mentioned from 20. the survey was conduct on water hardness in the kurdistan region, while 52 water samples in raparin district was depended in calculating risk index of stone formation. the water sample was analyzed from raparin during 2018 by dawson,[20] the total water hardness, magnesium hardness, and calcium hardness we determined according to following models and stone risk formation for 52 samples of water were calculate using following equation as mentioned by basiri et al.[1] stone risk index = sri = [(ca mg/l)/(mg mg/l)]/ (bicarbonate (mg/l). table 1: the questionnaire form age gender male female source of drinking water spring well amount of red meat eat high medium low amount of water intake l/day 3–4 2–3 1–2 l/day family history yes no esmail, et al.: effect of drinking water hardness on kidney stones 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 1-6 total hardness = [ca mg/l*2.50+mg mg/l*4.20]. mg-hardness = (mg mg/l*4.20). ca-hardness = total hardness−mg-hardness. the statistical analysis was conduct using chi-square test depend on the spss program version (22) and regression correlation curve was drown using excel program. results as shown from table 2, the gender affected significantly on kidney stones forming at level of significance (0.05), the statistical analysis indicated that the calculated chi-square value (3.81) is more than tabulated value (3.50). the results indicated that 10% of male and 18% of female having kidney stones forming depending on total sample size (100). on the other hand, if the percentage was calculated separately for male and female, the percentage of samples having kidney stones forming was 20 and 30% for male and female, respectively. table 3 indicates to the highly significant effect of age on kidney stone formation at the level of significant (0.001) with the calculated chi-square value of 15.50. the kidney stone formation increased from 19.23% to 75% with increase in age. table 4 indicates to the effect of source of drinking water on kidney stone was not significant in spite of the percentage of kidney stone in case of a source of drinking spring water was 20%, while the percentage was 29.415 in case of drinking well water. table 5 explains that the amount of consumed meat per person had not affected significantly on kidney stones. chisquare test refers to non-significant effect since the calculated chi-square value (1.29) is less than tabulated value (3.40). table 6 explains that the amount of drinking water (l/day/person) had not affected significantly on kidney stone formation. chi-square test refers to non-significant effect since the calculated chi-square value (1.290) is less than table value. table 2: the effect of gender on kidney stone gender kidney stone percentage of patients having kidney have have not from subsample from total (n=100) male 10 40 20 10 female 18 32 30 18 total 28 72 28 calculated chi-square=3.81 tab. chi-square=3.50 p≥0.05 table 3: explains the effect of age on kidney stone age (year) have kidney stone have not kidney stone percentage of patients having kidney stone 14–34 16 67 19.23 34–54 9 4 69.23 54 or more 3 1 75.00 calculated chi-square value (x2)=15.50*** tab. chi-square=3.20 p≥0.001 table 4: indicates to the effect of source of drinking water on kidney stone source of water have kidney stone have not kidney stone percentage of patients having kidney stone spring 3 12 20.00 well 25 60 29.41 calculated chi-square=3.00 tab. chi-square=3.50 p≥0.15 table 5: indicates to the effect of eating meat on kidney stone meat consumption have kidney have not kidney stone % of patients having kidney stone high 7 25 21.88 medium 12 23 34.29 low 9 24 27.27 calculated chi-square=1.29 tab. chi-square=3.40 p≥0.53 table 6: indicates to the effect amount of drunken water (l/day) on kidney stone-forming amount of drunk water l/day have kidney stone have not kidney stone percentage of patients having kidney stone low (1–2) 16 33 32.65 medium (2–3) 6 15 28.57 high (3–4) 6 24 20.00 calculated chi-square=1.47 tab. value=3.20 p≥0.47 esmail, et al.: effect of drinking water hardness on kidney stones 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 1-6 table 7: effect of family history on kidney stone formation family history have kidney stone have not kidney stone percentage of patients having kidney stone yes 11 23 32.35 no 17 49 25.76 calculated chi-square=0.48 tab. value=3.50 p≥0.49 table 8: explains some important chemical properties of water samples in raparin district location concentration (mg/l) sri hardness (mg/caco3/l) mg2+ ca2+ hco3 mg2+ ca2+ hco3 1-spring 17.92 61.80 301.65 0.42 73.63 153.88 227.52 2-river 10.27 44.18 286.88 0.55 42.22 110.01 152.23 3-spring 56.93 267.50 3057.93 0.06 233.97 666.08 900.05 4-well 30.49 128.20 1653.10 0.09 125.32 319.22 444.54 5-well 23.64 102.80 547.48 0.29 97.16 255.97 353.13 6-well 23.02 91.86 474.46 0.31 94.60 228.73 323.33 7-spring 19.93 59.78 318.54 0.34 81.92 148.85 230.77 8-well 17.53 44.62 256.75 0.36 72.06 111.10 183.16 9-river 31.42 65.08 1164.49 0.07 129.12 162.05 291.17 10-spring 11.94 50.48 238.39 0.65 49.07 125.70 174.77 11-spring 17.11 88.30 454.08 0.42 70.33 219.87 290.20 12-spring 20.81 88.52 402.05 0.39 85.52 220.41 305.94 13-well 12.55 209.80 990.03 0.62 51.59 522.40 573.99 14-well 15.72 146.00 735.66 0.46 64.61 363.54 428.15 15-well 19.68 69.40 418.22 0.31 80.88 172.81 253.69 16-well 11.81 63.16 273.65 0.72 48.53 157.27 205.80 17-well 21.60 96.34 506.91 0.32 88.78 239.89 328.66 18-well 24.24 83.22 408.64 0.31 99.63 207.22 306.84 19-well 30.36 100.80 513.80 0.24 124.78 250.99 375.77 20-spring 28.30 89.88 433.77 0.27 116.30 223.80 340.10 21-spring 26.56 78.10 387.17 0.28 109.15 194.47 303.61 22-spring 94.99 411.40 1808.65 0.09 390.42 1024.39 1414.80 23-spring 26.74 65.44 349.90 0.26 109.88 162.95 272.83 24-spring 28.30 78.90 409.86 0.25 116.30 196.46 312.76 25-spring 26.44 69.08 356.67 0.27 108.65 172.01 280.66 26-spring 26.71 70.06 371.55 0.26 109.79 174.45 284.24 27-spring 12.22 40.26 193.68 0.62 50.21 100.25 150.46 28-spring 63.29 234.80 1091.90 0.12 260.11 584.65 844.77 29-spring 38.04 108.90 575.29 0.18 156.34 271.16 427.51 30-well 12.88 55.38 257.73 0.61 52.92 137.90 190.82 31-well 15.78 60.48 296.95 0.47 64.86 150.60 215.45 32-well 14.42 55.46 271.51 0.52 59.28 138.10 197.38 33-spring 29.57 95.16 459.33 0.26 121.52 236.95 358.47 34-spring 31.03 113.70 527.47 0.25 127.54 283.11 410.65 35-river 41.88 99.14 551.32 0.16 172.13 246.86 418.99 36-spring 20.29 64.86 315.92 0.37 83.40 161.50 244.90 37-spring 13.08 43.92 220.33 0.56 53.76 109.36 163.12 (contd...) esmail, et al.: effect of drinking water hardness on kidney stones 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 1-6 table 7 explains that the family history of the studied samples person had not affected significantly on kidney stone formation. chi-square test refers to non-significant effect since the calculated chi-square value (0.484) is less than tabulated value. figure 1 shows the correlation between sri and total hardness of 52 water resources (rivers wells and springs) in raparin district. the coefficient of determination (r2) and correlation coefficient (r) between them was 0.426 and −0.65*, respectively. the sri, coefficient of determination (r2), and correlation coefficient (r) were determined from the data recorded in table 8. discussion table 2 shows that the gender affected significantly on kidney stone formation the highest value (18%) was recorded from female, while (10%) was recorded from male this may be due to human activity of male more than female or may be due to biological difference male and female and lifestyle. table 3 refers to highly significant effect of age on kidney stone (0.001). the kidney stone information increased from 19.25% to 75% for age class of (14–34) year to age class of more than (54) year, respectively, since every 10 years the kidney stone formation is possible as mention by basiri et al.[1] and kumar et al.[4] the statistical analysis using chi-square test also indicated to significant effect of age on kidney stone formation since the calculated chi-square value (15.50) was more than tabulated value which was equal to 3.50. on the other hand, the reverse results can be obtained depending on total sample size of this study because the sample size increased with decrease in age. table 4 explains that non-significant effect of source of drinking water on kidney stone formation or there was no significant difference between water hardness of spring water and well water since both of them are hard water to very hard water.[9] the mg-hardness represents 31% of total hardness as shown from table 8, similar results were obtained by basiri et al.[1] in the main cities of iran which caused decrease in risk of stone formation. the significant negative correlation coefficient was recorded between the risk of stone formation and total hardness of 52 water samples in raparin district with the value of r = −0.65** as shown from figure 1 which decrease in the effect of total hardness of drinking water in kidney stone formation. these results agree with those recorded by basiri et al.[1] table 5 explains that consumed meat not affected significantly on kidney stone formation in spite of the figure 1: relation between total hardness of drinking water and stone risk index of kidney 38-spring 18.40 69.06 328.12 0.42 75.61 171.96 247.57 39-well 10.76 61.48 270.35 0.77 44.24 153.09 197.33 40-spring 17.15 53.76 265.11 0.43 70.48 133.86 204.34 41-well 18.06 77.78 355.94 0.44 74.23 193.67 267.90 42-well 19.45 60.42 304.45 0.37 79.95 150.45 230.39 43-well 23.62 80.14 388.39 0.32 97.06 199.55 296.61 44-well 21.78 76.40 406.50 0.32 89.52 190.24 279.75 45-well 27.19 91.88 451.03 0.27 111.76 228.78 340.54 46-well 34.02 69.10 412.85 0.18 139.82 172.06 311.88 47-spring 17.22 60.98 297.50 0.44 70.77 151.84 222.61 48-well 24.38 84.04 416.33 0.30 100.22 209.26 309.48 49-well 41.02 84.52 553.15 0.14 168.58 210.45 379.03 50-well 25.16 101.50 476.59 0.31 103.42 252.74 356.16 51-well 24.96 92.58 442.01 0.31 102.59 230.52 333.11 52-spring 26.51 118.10 613.05 0.27 108.95 294.07 403.02 min 10.27 40.26 193.68 0.06 42.22 100.25 150.46 max 94.99 411.40 3057.93 0.77 390.42 1024.39 1414.80 average 25.33 93.82 535.83 0.35 104.11 233.61 337.71 location concentration (mg/l) sri hardness (mg/caco3/l) mg2+ ca2+ hco3 mg2+ ca2+ hco3 table 8: (continued) esmail, et al.: effect of drinking water hardness on kidney stones 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 1-6 difference in the percentage of kidney stone formation which ranged between (21.88% and 34.29%). table 6 indicates to decrease in kidney stone formation from 32.65% to 20% with increase amount drunk water per day or water intake per day per person, this may be due to increase water may be prevent precipitation of crystals such as calcium, oxalate, and uric acid in the kidney then decrease stone formation. as shown from table 7, the family history caused an increase in percentage of kidney stone formation from 25.76% to 32.35% but not reached to the significant effect. its appear from the above discussion that there is more than one factor responsible for kidney stone formation for this reason, sometime the result for single factor is not significant, while the combination among the studied factors may cause the kidney stone formation. conclusion and recommendations the kidney stone formation affected significantly by gender and amount of drunken water (l/day/person). the total water hardness was not affected significantly on kidney stone formation since magnesium hardness represents 31% of total hardness which caused decrease in the risk of kidney stone formation. the drinking water in raparin district is hard to very hard, but they have not risk on kidney formation due to high magnesium and bicarbonate of the studied water resources. we highly recommend that: • it is necessary to increase sample size. • it is better to have the same number of studied samples for each age classes. • it is better to have the same number of male and female number in the suture studies. references 1. a. basiri, n. shakhssalim, a. r. khoshdel, h. pakmanesh and m. h. radfar. “drinking water composition and incidence of urinary calculus”. iranian journal of kidney disease, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 15-20, 2011. 2. a. o. esmail. “limitation of some ground water suitability in erbil plain for different uses”. m. sc. thesis, university of salahaddin. in arabic, 1986. 3. a. o. esmail. “economical importance of water quality in kurdistan”. vol. 5. charmo a quarterly academical social and cultural magazine. university of sulaimani, college of agriculture, pp. 13-20, 2015. 4. v. kumar, a. abbas and j. aster. “robbins basic pathology”. 9th ed. usa: elsevier, p. 928, 2012. 5. s. m. al-shahwani. “a study of the primary productivity of sarchnar spring”. msc. thesis, university of sulaimani, college of science, 1980. 6. a. o. esmail. “role of ionic activity in relation between ionic strength and electrical conductivity of ground water in erbil plain”. journal of dohuk university, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 73-77, 2001. 7. r. o. rasheed. “a limnlogical study on the some water system in erbil province”. msc. thesis, salahaddin university, college of science, department of biology, 1994. 8. m. a. k. chnaray. “hydrology and hydrochemistry of kapran basin, erbil north of iraq”, ph.d. thesis, university of baghdad, college of science, department of geology, 2003. 9. a. shahab, s. qi, m. zaheer, a. rashid, m. a. talib and u. ashraf. “hydrochemical characteristics and water quality assessment for drinking and agricultural purposes in district jacobabad, lower indus plain, pakistan”. international journal of agricultural and biological engineering, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 115-121, 2018. 10. f. h. aziz and d. g. a. ganjo. “nutrient status and algal flora in the halgoard (hasarost) mountain area within erbil province, iraq”. journal of dohuk university, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 103-127, 2003. 11. a. q. nabi. “immunological and bacteriological studies on some well water with in hawker city, kurdistan region, iraq”. m.sc. thesis university of salahaddin, erbil, iraq, 2005. 12. h. o. salh. “role of ion paring and activity in classification irrigation water”. m sc. thesis. salahaddin university, erbil, college of agriculture, department of soil and water, 2008. 13. b. f. schwart, j. bruce, s. leslie and m. l. stoller. “rethinking the role of urinary magnesium in calcium urolithiasis”. journal of endourology, vol. 15, pp. 235-250, 2001. 14. m. s. s. dohuki. “evaluation of some well and spring water in dohuk governorate for irrigation and drinking purpose”. msc. thesis, university of salahaddin, erbil, college of science, department of biology, 1997. 15. g. a. m. rasool. “effect of water quality on nutrient availability for corn”. msc. thesis university of sulaimani, college of agriculture, department of soil and water sciences, 2000. 16. r. sierakowski, b. finlayson and r. landes. “stone incidence as related to water hardness in different geographical region of the united state”. urological resarch, vol. 7, pp. 157-160, 1979. 17. d. churchill, d. bryant, g. fodor and m. h. gault. “drinking water hardness and urolithiasis”. annals of internal medcicine, vol. 88, pp. 513-540, 1978. 18. j. shuster, b. finlayson, r. schaeffer, r. sierakowski, j. zoltek and s. dzegede. “water hardness and urinary stone disease”. journal of urology, vol. 128, pp. 422-450, 1989. 19. d. j. barker and s. p. donnan. “reginal variations in the indices of upper urinary tract stones in england and wales”. the british medical journal, vol. 1, pp. 67-70, 1978. 20. b. m. salam. “limiting water suitablity in ranya district for different uses.” msc. thesis salahaddin uinv. college of agricultural engineering sciences, department of soil and water, 2018. . 70 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 70-74 research article capacity analysis of multiple-input-multiple-output system over rayleigh and rician fading channel yazen saifuldeen mahmood*, ghassan amanuel qasmarrogy department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract this paper aims to analyze the channel capacity in terms of spectral efficiency of a multiple-input-multiple-output (mimo) system when channel state information (csi) is known using water-filling algorithm and unknown at the transmitter side which it has been shown that the knowledge of the csi at the transmitter enhancing the performance, the random rayleigh and rician channel models are assumed. ergodic capacity and outage probability are the most channel capacity definitions which are investigated in this study. matlab code is devised to simulate the capacity of mimo system for different numbers of antenna nodes versus different signal-to-noise ratio (snr) values. in addition, the outage capacity probabilities for vary transmission rate and snr are discussed. keywords: channel state information, ergodic capacity, multiple-input-multiple-output, outage capacity, rayleigh, rician, water filling introduction recently, the evolving technologies demand for multipleinput-multiple-output (mimo) system is explosively growing; mimo system offers greater capacity than limited capacity of conventional single-input single-output (siso). mimo system can able to improve channel capacity, range, and reliability without requiring any additional bandwidth or transmit power. the large transmission rates associated with mimo channels are due to the fact that a rich scattering environment provides independent transmission paths from each transmit antenna to each receive antenna, i.e., multipath fading channel is produced. although fading is caused a performance poverty in wireless communication, mimo channels use the fading to increase the capacity.[1,2] mimo channel capacity is related to the shannon theoretic sense. the shannon capacity is the maximum mutual information of a single user time-invariant channel corresponds to the maximum data rate that can be transmitted over the channel with arbitrarily small error probability. in the timevarying channel, the channel capacity has multiple definitions, depending on what is known about the instantaneous channel state information (csi) at both transmitter and receiver, and whether or not capacity is measured based on averaging the rate overall channel states or maintaining a fixed rate for most channel states. when csi is known perfectly both at transmitter and receiver, the transmitter can adapt its transmission strategy relative to the channel using many power control algorithms for wireless networks.[3,4] therefore, channel capacity is characterized by the ergodic or outage. ergodic capacity can be defined as expected value of channel capacity which is suitable for fast varying channels. the outage probability is the maximum rate that can be maintained in all channel states with some probability of outage. when only the receiver has perfect knowledge of the csi, then the transmitter must maintain a fixed rate transmission strategy based on knowledge of the channel statistics only, which can include the full channel distribution just its mean and variance are known. in this case, ergodic capacity defines the rate that can be achieved through this fixed rate strategy based on receiver averaging overall channel states.[5] alternatively, the transmitter can send at a rate that cannot be supported by all channel states, in these poor channel states that the receiver declares an outage and the transmitted data are lost. the remainder of this paper is organized as follows. the next section presents the multipath fading channels (rayleigh and rician). capacity of mimo system will be studied in section 3. in section 4, ergodic capacity and outage capacity notions are explained. section 5, the simulation results with discussions will detail. finally, major conclusion of the paper is discussed. corresponding author: yazen saifuldeen mahmood, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: yazen.mahmood@cihanuniversity.edu.iq.test-google-a.com received: apr 9, 2019 accepted: apr 23, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp70-74 copyright © 2019 yazen saifuldeen mahmood, ghassan amanuel qasmarrogy. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ mahmood and qasmarrogy: capacity analysis of mimo system over rayleigh and rician fading channel 71 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 70-74 fading channel models rayleigh channel the rayleigh fading channel is composed from the effects of multipath embrace constructive and destructive interference, and phase shifting of the signal. the rayleigh distribution is commonly used to describe the statistical time-varying nature of the received envelope of the flat fading signal, or the envelop of an individual multipath component, where there is no line of sight (los) path means no direct path between transmitter and receiver. the envelope of the sum of two quadrature gaussian noise signals obeys a rayleigh distribution.[6] the rayleigh distribution has a probability density function (pdf) given by:               2 22 2             0 0              0 rr e rp r r σ σ (1) where, σ2 is the time-average power of the received signal before envelope detection. rician channel when there is los, direct path is normally the strongest component goes into deeper fade compared to the multipath components. this kind of signal is approximated by rician distribution. rayleigh fading with strong los content is said to have a rician distribution or to be rician fading.[7] the rician distribution has a probability density function (pdf) given by:   2 2 2 ( ) 2 02 2 0, 0 0 0 r a r ar e i a r p r r                  σ σ σ (2) where, i0 is the modified bessel function of the first kind and zero order. the parameter a denotes the peak amplitude of dominant signal. capacity of mimo system csi not available at the transmitter mimo system provides a significant capacity gain over a traditional siso channel, given that the underlying channel is rich of scatters with independent spatial fading. mimo systems offered increasing in channel capacity based on the diversity at both the transmitter and the receiver and also on the number of antennas at both sides. when the transmit power is equally distributed among the n transmit antennas in case of csi is perfectly known at the receiver but unknown at the transmitter, mimo capacity with n tx and m rx antennas can be given in terms of bit per second per hertz by, * 2log det /mimo mc i hh bps hz n            (3) where, ρ is the signal to noise ratio (snr), im is the identity matrix, (*) means transpose-conjugate, and h is the m × n channel transmission matrix. this equation can be reduced as follows:[8] 21 log 1 /  =  = +  ∑m mimo ii c bps hz n (4) where, m = min (m, n) λi are the eigenvalues of h h*, known that the square root of λi is the diagonal matrix, d. the “diagonalization” process has been achieved by performing the singular value decomposition of matrix h which put it in the form. h=u d v* (5) with d being a diagonal matrix, and u and v unitary orthonormal matrices. csi available at the transmitter (waterfilling algorithm) water-filling algorithm is an optimum solution related to a channel capacity improvement. this algorithm makes csi known at the transmitter side which can be derived by maximizing the mimo channel capacity under the rule that more power is allocated to the channel that is in good condition and less or none at all to the bad channels. algorithm steps:[9] 1. take the inverse of the channel gains 2. water filling has non-uniform step structure due to the inverse of the channel gain 3. at first, take the sum of the total power pt and the inverse of the channel gain. it gives the complete area in the water filling and inverse power gain 1 1n t i i p h (6) 4. decide the initial water level by the formula given below by taking the average power allocated (average water level) 1 1n t i i p h channels    (7) 5. the power values of each subchannel are calculated by subtracting the inverse channel gain of each channel 1 1 1 n t i i i p h power allocated channels h       (8) 6. in case, the power allocated value becomes negative stop the iteration process. the capacity of a mimo system is algebraic sum of the capacities of all channels and is given by the formula below.  n 2i 1capacity log 1 power allocated * h  (9) mahmood and qasmarrogy: capacity analysis of mimo system over rayleigh and rician fading channel 72 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 70-74 ergodic capacity and outage capacity ergodic capacity mimo channels are random in nature. therefore, h is a random matrix, which means that its channel capacity is also randomly time varying. by taking the ensemble average of the information rate over the distribution of the elements of the channel matrix h, we obtain the ergodic capacity of a mimo channel. hence, the mimo channel capacity can be modeled as follows:[10] c = e{c(h)} (10) the ergodic channel capacity without using csi at the transmitter side, from (6), is given as follows: m 2 ii 1c e log 1 n              (11) similarly, the ergodic channel capacity for using csi at the transmitter side is given as follows: opt m i 2 ii 1c e log 1 n              (12) where, opt i is the power coefficient that corresponds to the amount of power assigned to the ith channel. outage capacity outage capacity is used for slowly varying channels where the instantaneous snr is assumed to be constant for a large number of transmitted symbols. unlike the ergodic capacity definition, schemes designed to achieve outage capacity allow for channel errors. hence, in deep fades, these schemes allow the data to be lost and a higher data rate can be thereby maintained than schemes achieving shannon capacity, where the data need to be received without an error overall fading states.[11] the parameter pout indicates the probability that the system can be in outage, i.e., the probability that the system cannot successfully decode the transmitted symbols. corresponding to this outage probability, there is a minimum received snr, snrmin given by pout = p(snr<snrmin), for received snrs below snrmin, the received symbols cannot be successfully decoded with probability 1, and the system declares an outage. in other words, the system is said to be in outage if the decoding error probability cannot be made arbitrarily small with the transmission rate of r bps/hz. the definition of the outage probability as follows: pout(r) = p(c(h)<r) (13) results and discussion mimo channel capacity and outage probability over rayleigh and rician fading channel are simulated using matlab m-file for different antenna configurations, different snr, and with and without csi at the receiver. the transmission channel matrix h is chosen randomly from the probability distribution of the considered fading channels. assuming rayleigh distribution of unity σ and rician distribution of unity σ and unity peak amplitude (a) except in figures 1 and 2, where σ has values 1 and 2. ergodic capacity the ergodic capacity average of 10,000 random generated matrix h in case of csi unknown and known at the transmitter side, i.e. without and with using water filling of the system (in terms of b/s/hz) is calculated for rayleigh and rician channels over a wide range of snr. the capacity of siso system is compared in figures 1 and 2 with 2 × 2 and 4 × 4 mimo over rayleigh channel and rician channel, respectively, for a two different values of σ. it is noticeable that the capacity is increased as snr increases and the capacity is increased for increases in number of antennas in both transmitter and receiver sides. in addition, the capacity increases as σ value increases. figure 3 shows that the water-filling algorithm has improved the transmission capacity for both channels of 4 × 4 mimo, especially for low snr. this figure depicts that the rician of unity σ and unity peak amplitude (a) has a higher capacity compared with rayleigh of unity σ. moreover, the improvement is achieved over rayleigh rather than rician channel. figure 1: single-input single-output and multiple-input-multipleoutput capacity over rayleigh channel figure 2: single-input single-output and multiple-input-multipleoutput capacity over rician channel mahmood and qasmarrogy: capacity analysis of mimo system over rayleigh and rician fading channel 73 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 70-74 outage capacity outage capacity is useful to estimate when csi is known at the receiver but not at the transmitter. therefore, the capacity is a random variable, and no matter how small the rate threshold would be, there is always a non-zero probability that the channel is incapable of supporting arbitrarily low error rates. in this section, the outage capacity probability versus transmission rate is simulated for 4 × 4 mimo system. the outage capacity probabilities are shown in figure 4 for a mimo channel for various value of snr (5, 10, 15, and 20). the figure shows the variance of the instantaneous capacity increased as the snr increased for the same system. the outage capacity probabilities are shown in figure 5 for rayleigh and rician channel with and without applying water-filling algorithm, and it has been clear that rician is better compared with rayleigh channel due to the los is existing between the antennas in the formal channel which makes a higher receiving signal level. the figure depicts the outage capacity probabilities mitigated much more when applying water filling on the rayleigh channel. conclusion in this paper, analysis and comparison of the mimo was presented when csi is known/not known at the transmitter over fading channel models by calculating the ergodic capacity and outage capacity probabilities. the results show that the capacity was enhanced when csi known at the transmitter by applying water-filling algorithm on both assumed channel models. this study concludes that water-filling algorithm gives more ergodic and outage capacity improvement over the rayleigh channel than the rician channel considering their simulation parameters although the performance of rician channel is obviously better, in general, than rayleigh channel. references 1. t. hashem and m. i. islam. “performance analysis of mimo link under fading channels”. in: 2014 17th international conference on computer and information technology”. ieee, pp. 498-503, 2014. 2. m. narayana and g. bhavana. “performance analysis of mimo system under fading channels (rayleigh and rician) using svd pca and fsvd”. journal of engineering technology, vol. 5, pp. 116-126, 2016. 3. y. liu, l. liu and c. xu. “spectrum underlay-based water-filling algorithm in cognitive radio networks”. in: 2011 international conference on electric information and control engineering, ieee, pp. 2614-2617, 2011. 4. s. yan, p. ren and f. lv. “power allocation algorithms for ofdmbased cognitive radio systems”. in: 2010 6th international conference on wireless communications networking and mobile computing. ieee, pp. 1-4, 2010. 5. q. sun, s. han, i. chin-lin and z. pan. “on the ergodic capacity of mimo noma systems”. ieee wireless communications letters, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 405-408, 2015. 6. p. bhatnagar, j. singh and m. tiwari. “performance of mimoofdm system for rayleigh fading channel”. international journal of science and advanced technology, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 37-40, 2011. 7. c. xiao, y. r. zheng and n. c. beaulieu. “novel sum-of-sinusoids simulation models for rayleigh and rician fading channels”. ieee transactions on wireless communications, vol. 5, no. 12, pp. 3667-3679, 2006. 8. n. kumar. “enhance the capacity of mimo wireless communication channel using svd and optimal power allocation algorithm”. international journal of electronics and telecommunications, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 71-78, 2019. 9. h. deshmukh and h. goud. “capacity analysis of mimo ofdm system using water filling algorithm”. international journal of figure 3: the capacity with and without using water-filling algorithm over rayleigh and rician channel figure 4: the outage probability versus transmission rate with different signal-to-noise ratio threshold figure 5: outage probability versus transmission rate with signal-tonoise ratio threshold 10 db in rayleigh and rician channel mahmood and qasmarrogy: capacity analysis of mimo system over rayleigh and rician fading channel 74 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 70-74 advanced research in computer engineering and technology, vol. 1, no. 8, pp. 329-333, 2012. 10. a. paulraj, r. nabar and d. gore. “introduction to spacetime wireless communications”. cambridge university press, cambridge, 2003. 11. h. luo, d. xu and j. bao. “outage capacity analysis of mimo system with survival probability”. ieee communications letters, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 1132-1135, 2018. . 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 21-25 research article levels of apelin, endoglin, and transforming growth factor beta 1 in iraqi women with polycystic ovary syndrome noor alhuda k. ibrahim1, wasnaa j. mohammad1, sanan t. abdawahab2* 1department of basic sciences, college of nursing, baghdad university, baghdad, iraq, 2department of medical laboratory techniques, dijlah university college, baghdad, iraq abstract polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos) is one of the most common causes of infertility in women of reproductive age. the aim of the study was to determine the level of apelin, insulin resistance (ir), transforming growth factor beta 1 (tgf-β1), and endoglin in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. fifty pcos patients and 40 non-pcos infertile patients were recruited. the fasting serum levels of folliclestimulating hormone (fsh), luteinizing hormone (lh), testosterone (t), prolactin, fasting blood glucose, insulin, and apelin at the early follicular phase were measured. levels of apelin, lh, lh/fsh, t, and fasting insulin, as well as homeostatic model assessment of ir (homa-ir) in pcos patients, were significantly higher than in the control group. correlation analysis showed that apelin level was positively correlated with body mass index and homa-ir. apelin levels and tgf-β1 were significantly increased in pcos patients while show decrease levels of endoglin. keywords: apelin, endoglin, transforming growth factor beta introduction polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos) is the most common endocrine disease affecting women of reproductive age. the prevalence of pcos varies according to the diagnostic criteria used, with estimates ranging from 9% in women of reproductive age, according to nih criteria, up to 18%, with the rotterdam criteria.[1] it is primarily characterized by ovulatory dysfunction and hyperandrogenism,[2] but the clinical presentation is heterogeneous and patients may present some of various signs and symptoms. this heterogeneity seems to be modulated by multiple factors such as prenatal androgen exposure, nutritional status in the uterus, genetic factors, and ethnicity, insulin resistance (ir) of puberty and/or exaggerated adrenarche and changes in body weight.[3] environmental factors, such as obesity, appear to exacerbate the underlying genetic predisposition. concerning ethnicity, the presence of hirsutism is less frequent in asian patients (around 10%), compared to caucasian ones (70%).[4] obesity is a prevalent characteristic of pcos, ranging from 12.5% to 100%, with a pooled estimated prevalence of 49%, as shown by a recent meta-analysis.[5] the presence of obesity may exacerbate the metabolic and reproductive disorders associated with the syndrome, including ir, dyslipidemia, and metabolic syndrome.[6] a meta-analysis[7] has shown that women with pcos have higher levels of triglycerides (tg), low-density lipoprotein (ldl)-cholesterol and total cholesterol (tc), and lower high-density lipoprotein (hdl)-cholesterol levels compared with control women, regardless of body mass index (bmi). in addition, pcos women present higher risk for type 2 diabetes. pcos is also associated with a clustering of cardiovascular risk factors.[8] however, there is no definitive evidence for increased cardiovascular events, nor data showing that pcos alone leads to increased cardiovascular risk independent of associated risk factors. in fact, more rigorous cohort studies of longterm cardiovascular outcomes and clinical trials of risk factor modification are required for women with pcos. in addition, evidence suggests clinical phenotypes are related with different metabolic risks. in this sense, ir seems to be a specific feature of the classic phenotype and, to a lesser extent, of the ovulatory phenotype. non-hyperandrogenic phenotype behaves as a separate group that is metabolically similar to non-pcos women.[7] cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: sanan t. abdawahab, department of medical laboratory techniques, dijlah university college, baghdad, iraq. e-mail: sanan.thaer@duc.edu.iq received: apr 11, 2019 accepted: apr 22, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp21-25 copyright © 2020 noor alhuda k. ibrahim, wasnaa j. mohammad, sanan t. abdawahab. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ibrahim, et al.: apelin, endoglin, and tgf-β1 in polycystic ovary syndrome 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 21-25 adipose tissue is considered not only a storage tissue but also aproper endocrine organ, metabolically active.[6] ir is considered the main pathogenic factor in the background of increased metabolic disturbances in women with pcos which can explain hyperandrogenism, menstrual irregularity, and other metabolic manifestations seen in this disease.[7] however, it is not a diagnostic criterion for pcos.[8] obesity alters the expression, circulating levels, and signaling mechanisms of adipose-secreted factors and these changes have been linked to the development of ir, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, cancer, and other diseases.[9] apelin is an endogenous cytokine,[10] an adipokine,[11] a regulatory peptide,[12] and a neuropeptide[13] that has been linked to obesity and ir. apelin is a 36-amino acid peptide (ap-36) generated from a larger precursor the 77-amino acid proapelin. the human preproapelin gene is located on chromosome x at locus xq25-q26.1.[10] collected data from both the clinical and basic settings show that ap (1) correlates with states of ir and obesity, (2) stimulates glucose utilization, (3) decreases insulin secretion, and (4) negatively regulates catecholamine-mediated lipolysis. ap seems to be a key regulator in glucose and lipid metabolism and may be associated with ir and possibly implicated in pcos which is known to be associated with increased ir[14] and from hence the possible link to apelin levels. endoglin (seng)/cd105 is a transmembrane auxiliary receptor for transforming growth factor beta (tgf-b) it works as a non-signaling coreceptor of the tgf-b modulating its responses. there are a number of reports suggesting that soluble endoglin may be regarded as a biomarker of endothelial dysfunction, for instance, atherosclerosis, hypercholesterolemia,[15] type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm), and hypertension.[16] tgf-b1 is a multifunctional cytokine that is produced by a variety of cells and its level dysregulated in women with pcos, which might play a role in the pathophysiology of this syndrome. substantial evidences implicate that tgf-b1 activation is closely associated with endothelial dysfunction and hypertension.[17] there is scattered evidence for the association between tgf-b1, visceral adiposity, metabolic syndrome, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, and t2dm.[15] methods this case–control study was conducted at the obstetrics and gynecology department in medical city in baghdad. it was conducted on ninety women during the period from march 2018 to september 2018. these were divided into two groups: group i: fifty overweight and obese women with pcos (pcos group) and group ii: forty overweight and obese women without pcos (non-pcos group). the recruited women were counseled and written informed consent was obtained from each woman before her participation in the study. diagnosis of pcos was made according to the rotterdam criteria[18] in the presence of at least two of the following: (a) oligomenorrhea and/or anovulation, (b) biochemical and/or clinical hyperandrogenism, and (c) ultrasound appearance of polycystic ovaries (multiple cysts >12 in number of 2–9 mm size),[3] bmi p 25 kg/m2. samples were obtained between days 2 and 5 of normal spontaneous or withdrawn menstrual cycle. blood allowed to clot for 10–20 min at room temperature and centrifuged at (2000–3000 rpm) for approximately 20 min to separate the serum from the cells. 2 ml serum was stored at _20_c until the time of ap-36 and hormonal profile assay. hormonal evaluation included a baseline plasma determination of luteinizing hormone (lh), follicle-stimulating hormone (fsh), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, tsh, e2, and free testosterone. all hormones were measured by radioimmunoassay methods using commercial kits (dsl inc., webster, texas, usa). the fasting insulin was measured by radioimmunoassay methods using commercial kits (the intra and inter-assay coefficients of variation were 1.98% and 0.84%, respectively) (immunospect corporation, owensmouth ave, canoga park, ca). fasting glucose was measured by the glucose oxidase method (yellow springs instrument, yellow springs, oh, usa). tc, tg, and hdl were assayed using fully automated clinical chemistry autoanalyzer system konelab 20i ldl was calculated according to friedewald formula: ldl = tc−(tg/5+hdl).[19] ir was calculated by homeostatic model assessment (homa) using the following formula: homa-ir = ([fg in mg/dl_0.05551]_ fi in mu/ml)/22.5. a diagnosis of ir established for homa-ir values >2.71 nmol_mu/l[20] equal (fg in mg/dl_fi in mu/ ml)/405. ir was diagnosed according to the fg to fi ratio. if a participant’s fg/fi was 4.5 or less, she would be classified as being ir and if her fg/fi was >4.5, she would be classified as being non-ir.[21] results the results obtained are shown in table 1 and table 2. the group mean±sd p-value pcos control age (year) 28.28±5.11 33.27±6018 0.00033* bmi (kg/m2) 32.16±2.28 29.07±1.40 0.00001* hirsutism score 13.79±1.2 5.33±0.75 0.00001* tgf-β1 (ng/ml) 19.34±2.73 12.29±1.19 0.00001* table 1: the mean and sd of biochemical and immune markers level in the patients group and healthy control group (contd...) ibrahim, et al.: apelin, endoglin, and tgf-β1 in polycystic ovary syndrome 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 21-25 table 2: correlation between apelin, transforming growth factor beta, and endoglin with other parameters in the pcos disease patients the group correlation coefficient (r) tgf-β1 (ng/ml) s-endoglin ng/ml apelin (pg/ml) age (year) 0.0917 −0.0948 −0.1572 bmi (kg/m2) 0.3333 0.0379 0.0353 hirsutism score −0.2653 0.0955 −0.1134 tgf-β1 (ng/ml) 0.2007 0.1903 s-endoglin ng/ml 0.2007 −0.0502 apelin (pg/ml) 0.1903 −0.0502 fasting plasma glucose (mg/dl) 0.1447 −0.0654 −0.0531 insulin (iu/ml) −0.0978 −0.0906 0.0132 homa 0.1547 −0.1586 0.1233 prolactin (pg/ml) −0.1503 0.3305 −0.223 fsh (miu/ml) −0.0841 −0.0611 −0.1269 lh (miu/ml) −0.0413 0.0798 0.2071 shbg (nmol/l) 0.2081 −0.189 0.198 dhea-s (mg/ml) −0.1289 −0.0002 −0.1991 total testosterone (ng/ml) 0.0887 −0.1985 −0.0872 free testosterone (pg/ml) 0.1543 −0.4447 0.0568 h-crp (μg/ml) 0.0484 −0.1559 −0.0966 cholesterol mg/dl −0.1114 0.0285 0.323 triglyceride (mg/dl) 0.354 0.1584 0.0839 hdl (mg/dl) −0.1063 0.1887 −0.0182 ldl (mg/dl) −0.1063 −0.1289 0.43 *(p<0.05), **(p<0.01), ns: non-significant. pcos: polycystic ovary syndrome, bmi: body mass index, tgf: transforming growth factor, homa: homeostatic model assessment, fsh: follicle-stimulating hormone, lh: luteinizing hormone, shbg: sex hormone-binding globulin, dhea: dehydroepiandrosterone, h-crp: high sensitivity c-reactive protein, hdl: high-density lipoprotein, ldl: low-density lipoprotein the group mean±sd p-value pcos control s-endoglin ng/ml 3.37±1.25 5.02±1.34 0.00001* apelin (pg/ml) 220.92±16.87 367.05±37.87 0.00001* fasting plasma glucose (mg/dl) 94.76±20.71 90.0±14.7 0.00001* insulin (iu/ml) 18.76±4.33 12.0±6.5 0.00001* homa 2.44±1.16 1.72±1.01 0.001375* prolactin (pg/ml) 13.71±1.25 13.14±1.56 0.02867* fsh (miu/ml) 7.04±1.13 6.03±1.32 0.000099* lh (miu/ml) 12.13±1.77 5.88±1.2 0.00001* shbg (nmol/l) 30.25±2.51 54.12±4.3 0.00001* dhea-s (mg/ml) 2.21±0.59 0.95±0.3 0.00001* total testosterone (ng/ml) 0.91±0.41 0.59±0.22 0.000017* free testosterone (pg/ml) 2.65±0.66 1.064±0.26 0.00001* h-crp (μg/ml) 5.75±1.34 2.3±0.7 0.00001* cholesterol mg/dl 172.6±49.9 166.0±27.3 0.254423 ns triglyceride (mg/dl) 155.86±34.69 103.0±32.2 0.00001* hdl (mg/dl) 39.14±10.09 39.92±7.15 0.347843 ns ldl (mg/dl) 103.42±36.31 101.9±24.2 0.413274 ns *(p<0.05), **(p<0.01), ns: non-significant. pcos: polycystic ovary syndrome, bmi: body mass index, tgf: transforming growth factor, homa: homeostatic model assessment, fsh: follicle-stimulating hormone, lh: luteinizing hormone, shbg: sex hormone-binding globulin, dhea: dehydroepiandrosterone, h-crp: high sensitivity c-reactive protein, hdl: high-density lipoprotein, ldl: low-density lipoprotein table 1: (continued) ibrahim, et al.: apelin, endoglin, and tgf-β1 in polycystic ovary syndrome 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 21-25 discussion pcos is one of the most common causes of infertility in women of reproductive age. ir is a main pathophysiologic feature in these patients.[2] apelin (apln) is a recently discovered adipokine involved in the regulation of various metabolic functions. its receptor, aplnr, is expressed in reproductive tissues; however, its role in human ovarian cells is unknown. pcos patients are more vulnerable to develop diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and metabolic syndrome.[3] ir is prevalent in women with pcos independently of obesity and is critically involved in reproductive and metabolic complications of the syndrome.[10] several tests have been developed to measure ir, some very reliable but complex like the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic glucose clamp and others less precise but easier and less invasive like homa-ir.[22] new markers are needed to reach a more reliable assessment of ir. to date, several surrogate markers have been proposed in literature to facilitate and improve the determination of ir. many new proteins are strongly involved with pcos physiopathology and ir such as some adipocytokines (adiponectin, visfatin, vaspin, and apelin), copeptin, irisin, pai-1, and zonulin. many other proteins have been proposed as potential new markers of ir in pcos such as resistin, leptin, retinol-binding protein 4 (rbp4), kisspeptin, and ghrelin, but their role is still controversial.[14] adipose tissue is implicated in the secretion of several hormones such as adiponectin, resistin, leptin, visfatin, apelin, and rbp4 called adipocytokines that are involved in energy homeostasis and metabolism.[11] apelin is a peptide isolated from bovine stomachs, but it is expressed in several other organs and also in visceral and subcutaneous tissues.[4] in our present study, however, serum apelin levels are significantly higher in pcos women compared with controls. moreover, we also observed that apelin level is significantly and positively correlated with bmi and homa-ir. apelin was found to be higher in pcos patients by gören et al.[23] but without a significant correlation with homa-ir. olszanecka-glinianowicz et al.[18] reported an inverse association between apelin and glucose, insulin, and homa-ir values, supporting the role of apelin in the regulation of insulin sensitivity. apelin levels were higher in non-obese pcos patients, suggesting a compensatory mechanism for metabolic consequences of ir. lower serum concentrations of apelin were found in pcos subjects by altinkaya et al.[19] with positive correlation with bmi, insulin, homa-ir, tg, and free testosterone, speculating that apelin can be used as a marker for insulin sensitivity. conversely, sun et al.[20] observed significantly enhanced apelin concentration in pcos patients with positive association with bmi and homa-ir; treatment with drospirenone-ethinylestradiol plus metformin improved ir and apelin levels. discrepant findings among the published studies may be attributed to the differences in ethnicity, age, study design, sample size, genetic characteristics of populations, and assessment methodology. the increase of lh level probably plays an important role in the pathological mechanism of the higher androgens production in the ovaries, which can interfere with the maturation of the oocyte.[21] in the present study, the serum lh levels are significantly higher, while fsh level is lower in pcos women compared with controls. these results further confirm that high lh level and relative insufficiency of fsh are the characteristics of pcos. in line with our results, tal et al. found increased tgf-b1 and decreased seng in pcos. these data suggest that increased tgf-b1 bioavailability may contribute to the pathogenesis of pcos and its increased risk for ovarian hyperstimulation.[17] by contrast, the study conducted by irani et al. found that seng protein concentration was not different between pcos and non-pcos control group at baseline.[15] women with pcos have abnormal increase in tgf-b1 bioavailability (tgfb1/seng) due to an increase in serum tgf-b1 and decrease in seng levels.[17] conclusion polycystic ovary syndrome (pcos) is a condition that affects a woman’s hormone levels. levels of tgf β1, lh, lh/fsh, t, and, as well as homeostatic model assessment of ir (homa-ir) in pcos patients, were significantly higher than in the control group, while show decrease levels of apelin and endoglin levels. therefore the correlation analysis showed that apelin level was negatively correlated with body mass index (bmi) and homa-ir. references 1. e. karimi, a. moini, m. yaseri, n. shirzad, m. sepidarkish, m. hossein-boroujerdi and m. j hosseinzadeh-attar. “effects of synbiotic supplementation on metabolic parameters and apelin in women with polycystic ovary syndrome: a randomised doubleblind placebo-controlled trial”. the british journal of nutrition, vol. 119, no. 4, pp. 398-406, 2018. 2. g. bozdag, s. mumusoglu, d. zengin, e. karabulut and o.b. yildiz. “the prevalence and phenotypic features of polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis”. human reproduction, vol. 31, pp. 2841-2885, 2016. 3. i. r. indran, z. huang, l.w. khin, j. k. y. chan, v. viardot-foucault and e. l. yong. “simplified 4-item criteria for polycystic ovary syndrome: a bridge too far”? clinical endocrinology (oxford), vol. 89, no. 2, 202-211, 2018. 4. x. z. zhang, y. l. pang, x. wang and y. h. li. “computational characterization and identification of human polycystic ovary syndrome genes”. scientific reports, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 12949, 2018. 5. n. naderpoor, s. shorakae, a. joham, j. boyle, b. de courten and h. j. teede. “obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome”. minerva endocrinologica, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 37-51, 2015. 6. j. kataoka, e. c. tassone, m. misso, a. e. joham, e. stenervictorin, h. teede and l. j. moran. “weight management interventions in women with and without pcos: a systematic review”. nutrients, vol. 9, no. 9, pp. e996, 2017. 7. m. h. dahan and g. reaven. “relationship among obesity, insulin resistance, and hyperinsulinemia in the polycystic ovary syndrome”. endocrine, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 685-689, 2019. 8. i. lazúrová, z. lazúrová, j. figurová, s. ujházi, i. dravecká, j. mašlanková and m. mareková. “relationship between steroid hormones and metabolic profile in women with polycystic ovary syndrome”. physiological research, vol. 68, no. 3, pp. 457-465, 2019. ibrahim, et al.: apelin, endoglin, and tgf-β1 in polycystic ovary syndrome 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 21-25 9. e. koivuaho, j. laru, m. ojaniemi, k. puukka, j. kettunen, j.s. tapanainen, s. franks, m. r. järvelin, l. morin-papunen, s. sebert and t. t. piltonen. “age at adiposity rebound in childhood is associated with pcos diagnosis and obesity in adulthood-longitudinal analysis of bmi data from birth to age 46 in cases of pcos”. international journal obesity (london), vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 1370-1379, 2019. 10. i. falcão-piresi, n. gonçalves, t. henriques-coelho, d. moreiragonçalves, r. roncon-albuquerque and a. f. leite-moreira. “apelin decreases myocardial injury and improves right ventricular function in monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertension”. american journal of physiology heart and circulatory physiology, vol. 296, no. 6, pp. h2007-h2014, 2009. 11. b. masri, b. knibiehler and y. audigier. “apelin signalling: a promising pathway from cloning to pharmacology”. cellular signalling, vol. 17, pp. 415-426, 2005. 12. l. li, g. yang, q. li, y. tang, m. yang, h. yang and k. li. “changes and relations of circulating visfatin, apelin, and resistin levels in normal, impaired glucose tolerance, and type 2 diabetic subjects”. experimental and clinical endocrinology diabetes, vol. 114, pp. 544-548, 2006. 13. j. boucher, b. masri, d. daviaud, s. gesta, c. guigné, a. mazzucotelli, i. castan-laurell, i. tack, b. knibiehler, c. carpéné, y. audigier, j. s. saulnier-blache and p. valet. “apelin, a newly identified adipokine up-regulated by insulin and obesity”. endocrinology, vol. 146, pp. 1764-1771, 2005. 14. k. polak, a. czyzyk, t. simoncini and b. meczekalski. “new markers of insulin resistance in polycystic ovary syndrome”. journal endocrinology invest, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 1-8, 2017. 15. m. irani, d.b. seifer, r. v. grazi, n. julka, d. bhatt, b. kalgi, s. irani, o. tal, g. lambert-messerlian and r. tal. “vitamin d supplementation decreases tgf-β1 bioavailability in pcos: a randomized placebo-controlled trial”. the journal clinical endocrinology metabolism, vol. 100, no. 11, pp. 4307-4314, 2015. 16. n. m. rashad, a. i. amin, a. e. ali and m. h. soliman. “influence of obesity on soluble endoglin and transforming growth factorb1 in women with polycystic ovary syndrome”. middle east fertility society journal, vol. 23, pp. 418-424, 2018. 17. r. tal, d. b. seifer, a. shohat-tal, r.v. grazi and h. e. malter. transforming growth factor-β1 and its receptor soluble endoglin are altered in polycystic ovary syndrome during controlled ovarian stimulation”. fertility sterility, 100, no. 2, pp. 538-543, 2013. 18. m. olszanecka-glinianowicz, p. madej, m. nylec, a. owczarek, w. szanecki, p. skałba and j. chudek. “circulating apelin level in relation to nutritional status in polycystic ovary syndrome and its association with metabolic and hormonal disturbances”. clinical endocrinology (oxford), vol. 79, no. 2, pp. 238-242, 2013. 19. s. ö. altinkaya, s. nergiz, m. küçük and h. yüksel. “apelin levels in relation with hormonal and metabolic profile in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome”. european journal obstetrics and gynecology reproductive biology, vol. 176, pp. 168-672, 2014. 20. x. sun, x. wu, y. zhou, x. yu and w. zhang. “evaluation of apelin and insulin resistance in patients with pcos and therapeutic effect of drospirenone-ethinylestradiol plus metformin. medical science monitor, vol. 21, pp. 2547-2552, 2015. 21. c. k. nath, b. barman, a. das, p. rajkhowa, p. baruah, m. baruah and a. baruah. “prolactin and thyroid stimulating hormone affecting the pattern of lh/fsh secretion in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: a hospital-based study from north east india”. journal family medicine and primary care, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 256-260, 2019. 22. b. wiweko, i. indra, c. susanto, m. natadisastra and a. hestiantoro. “the correlation between serum amh and homa-ir among pcos phenotypes”. bmc research notes, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 114, 2018. 23. k. gören, n. sağsöz, v. noyan, a. yücel, o. cağlayan and m. s. bostancı. “plasma apelin levels in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome”. journal of the turkish german gynecological association, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 27-31, 2012. . 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 13-20 research article cytotoxic effects of pistacia khinjuk seed extracts on different cell lines and its mitogenic effects on blood lymphocyte in vitro reshna k. ahmad1*, kawa f. dizaye2, asaad a. al-asady3 1department of basic science, unit of anatomy, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq, 2department of basic science, unit pharmacology, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq, 3department of anatomy and histology, college of medicine, duhok university, duhok, iraq abstract reports indicated that extract pistacia khinjuk has anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antibacterial, and antiviral, in treating of diarrhea and throat infections and has hepatoprotective effects against acetaminophen and carbon tetrachloride. this study was undertaken to investigate the possible cytotoxic effects of methanolic and aqueous seeds extract of p. khinjuk on different tumors (rhabdomyosarcoma [rd] and murine mammary adenocarcinoma [ahmed-mohammed-nahi-2003 (amn-3)]) and normal cell lines (murine fibroblast) and its mitogenic effects on blood lymphocytes. the cytotoxic effects of p. khinjuk seed extracts were evaluated on two tumor cell lines, rd and murine mammary adenocarcinoma (amn-3) and one normal cell line, murine fibroblast (l20b). moreover, the mitogenic effects of the plant extract were studied, on human blood lymphocytes. both methanolic and aqueous seed extracts of p. khinjuk significantly induced tumor cell lines and the normal cell line proliferation, especially in highest concentrations. the results show that the extracts induced significant increases in human blood lymphocyte proliferation at 72 h. this activity of plant extracts recommends it as a good mitogenic agent in researches; in conclusion, seed extracts of p. khinjuk induced proliferation of all tested cell lines. high concentrations of both aqueous and methanolic seed extracts of p. khinjuk showed mitogenic effects. keywords: mitogenic effect, pistacia khinjuk, proliferative effect, tissue culture introduction conventionally, pistacia khinjuk used as tonic and expectorant, it has been used in cough, fever, and asthma.[1] few investigations have been reported the effect of different crude and isolated compound extracts of p. khinjuk on different diseases. some species of pistacia have been used in folk medicine as anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antibacterial, and antiviral, in treating diarrhea and throat infection.[2] kordali et al. tested the antifungal activity of crude extracts obtained from the leaves of pistacia vera, pistacia terebinthus, and pistacia lentiscus.[3] ozcelik et al. used extracts of p. vera and studied antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties of it, it showed little antibacterial activity, a noticeable antifungal activity, and significant antiviral activity.[4] ljubuncic et al. studied the effects of aqueous extracts prepared from the leaves of p. lentiscus in experimental liver disease.[5] taran et al. (2009) studied the anthelmintic effect of p. khinjuk against protoscoleces of echinococcus granulosus, the results of this study indicate in vitro anti-echinococcal activity of the essential oil of p. khinjuk.[6] derwich et al. (2010) studied antibacterial activity of the essential oil isolated from the leaf of p. lentiscus, the study was conducted to determine the phytochemistry and antibacterial activities of pistacia leaves oil against both gramnegative and gram-positive bacteria.[7] in another study, taran et al. investigated the antimicrobial activity of the leaves of p. khinjuk and they found that some major constituents of essential oil from the aerial parts of p. khinjuk extracts showed antibacterial and antifungal activities.[1] dizaye examined the effect of aqueous extract of p. khinjuk on acetaminophen and carbon tetrachloride-induced acute liver toxicity in albino rats, he concluded that an aqueous extract of p. khinjuk has hepatoprotective effects against acetaminophen and carbon tetrachloride.[8] tohidi et al. investigated the antibacterial and wound healing activity in both p. khinjuk and pistacia atlantica; cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: reshna k. ahmad, department of basic science, unit of anatomy, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: reshna.kamal@hmu.edu.krd received: apr 23, 2019 accepted: apr 29, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp13-20 copyright © 2020 reshna k. ahmad, kawa f. dizaye, asaad a. al-asady. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ahmad, et al.: cytotoxic effects of pistacia khinjuk seed extracts on different cell lines blood lymphocyte 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 13-20 the results suggested that antibacterial and wound healing activities of p. khinjuk are better than p. atlantica at the same concentrations.[2] according to our knowledge, no data are available regarding the cytogenetic and mitogenic activities of p. khinjuk. therefore, this study was designed to investigate the cytogenic effects of methanolic and aqueous seed extract of p. khinjuk on two tumor cell lines (rhabdomyosarcoma [rd] and murine mammary adenocarcinoma) and one normal cell line (murine fibroblast). moreover, the mitogenic effects of p. khinjuk was studded on human blood lymphocytes. materials and methods plant collection p. khinjuk were collected from erbil (shaqlawa) governorate. plants were deposited to be identified, the identification done by the department of pharmacognosy, college of pharmacy of hawler medical university, iraq. seeds of p. khinjuk were separated and dried at room temperature according to al-barazanjy. the dried seeds were grind into powder by electrical grinder (mesh no. 0.5 mm), and the powder was kept in plastic bags in a deep freezer (−20°c) until use.[9] preparation of aqueous extracts from p. khinjuk seeds aqueous extract was prepared from the grind powder according to al-barazanjy. then, crude dried extract was placed in labeled, tightly sealed plastic tubes, and stored at −20°c until used.[9] for the following experiments, 1 g of aqueous seeds extract was dissolved into 100 ml phosphate buffer saline (pbs), the suspension then filtered and sterilized using 0.2 µm sterile millipore filter and kept in a deep freeze in (−20°c) until use. preparation of methanolic extracts from p. khinjuk seeds methanolic extraction was prepared according to harborn (1984), then the extract was stored in a tightly sealed plastic test tube at −20°c until use.[10] cell lines rhabdomyosarcoma (rd) cell line this is a human cell line derived from a biopsy specimen obtained from a pelvic rhabdomyosarcoma of a 7-year-old caucasian girl.[11] passages 258–263 of rd cell line were used throughout this study and rpmi-1640 was used for maintaining the cells. ahmed-mohammed-nahi-2003 (amn-3) cell line this cell line is a murine mammary adenocarcinoma cell line derived from a spontaneous mammary adenocarcinoma of female balb/c mice.[12] the cells were maintained in rpmi1640 medium. passages128–135 of amn-3 cell line were used throughout this study. l20b cell line this cell line is a murine cell line derived from mouse l cells (fibroblasts) expressing the human poliovirus receptor.[13] passage numbers (14–18) of the l20b cell line were used in this study and it was maintained in rpmi-1640 medium containing 10% bovine calf serum. cytotoxicity assay the cytotoxicity protocol was depending on flick and gifford, 1984.[14] cells were plated in a 96-well flat-bottomed plate, after adhesion, serial dilutions of aqueous and methanolic extract separately three replicates for each concentration were placed in three columns for each type (200 µl from each extract) to the appropriate wells and incubated for 24, 48, or 72 h at 37°c, 5–10% co2 in a humidified environment. untreated cells were used as controls. then, the supernatants were decanted off and cells in each well were washed with pbs twice from, and 50 µl of 0.01% neutral red dye was added to each well and reincubated for 2 h; at the end of incubation, excess dye was removed by washing the wells twice with 150 µl pbs, then 125 µl of extraction dye solution was added.[10] the optical density (od) of each well was read using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay reader at a transmitting wavelength on 492 nm. mitogenic activity of p. khinjuk seeds extracts in vitro human blood culture was prepared by collecting blood sample by vein puncture and transferred into heparinized tubes containing media (rpmi-1640); then, different extracts of p. khinjuk were added to blood culture tubes (three tubes for each) instate of polyhydroxyalkanoates (pha) and three tubes prepared with pha as control positive and other three without pha as negative control. all tubes incubate in co2 incubator and shacked gently each 15 min at the 1st h, 30 min at the 2nd h, and ones at the 3rd and 4th h then each 12 h and incubated for 48 and 72 h; then, the cells were harvested, slides prepared and stained according to suman et al., 2006.[15] statistical analysis significance level was ascertained by one-way analysis of variance, followed by student-newman-keuls multiple tests. results were expressed as the mean ± standard error of the mean. p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. all statistical procedures were performed with spss software version 16. results cytotoxic effects of aqueous and methanolic extract of p. khinjuk seeds on rd tumor cell line tables 1 and 2 show the effect of both aqueous and methanolic seed extracts of p. khinjuk on rd tumor cell line. the inhibitory effect was found in the proliferation of rd tumor cells when treated with 78.125, 312.5, 625, and 1250 µg/ml of seed aqueous extract for 24 h. however, an increase in the proliferation of rd cells was detected when these cells treated for 24 h with 10,000 µg/ml, in which the od was 0.4773 ± 0.0115. this induction effect was also detected at 48 h treatment with the same plant extract, in which a significant increase was observed at ahmad, et al.: cytotoxic effects of pistacia khinjuk seed extracts on different cell lines blood lymphocyte 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 13-20 48 h of treatment, while the highest level of proliferation was detected in concentration of 10,000 µg/ml at 48 h of exposure with od of 0.1687 ± 0.0064 when compared with its control (0.1133 ± 0.0003) [figure 1]. in contrast, a non-significant difference was observed when this type of cell line was treated with aqueous seed extract of p. khinjuk for 72 h in comparison with its control. whereas the effect of methanolic extract of the same plant on rd tumor cell line was stimulation in growth of the cells at 24 h and 48 h of exposure, particularly at the higher concentrations (5000 µg/ml and 10,000 µg/ml), and the results showed non-significant differences at 72 h of treatment. as shown in figures 2 and 3, treatment of the cells with the highest concentrations of both extracts caused remarkable changes in the confluent monolayer appearance. figure 2: rhabdomyosarcoma tumor cells treated with 10,000 µg/ml pistacia khinjuk aqueous seeds extract 48 h (×400) figure 1: confluent monolayer of untreated rhabdomyosarcoma tumor cells (×400) table 2: cytotoxic effect of methanolic seeds extract of p. khinjuk seeds on the growth of rd tumor cell line concentrations(µg/ml) exposure period 24 h 48 h 72 h control 0.1327±0.0101a 0.1470±0.0012a 0.1427±0.004ab 78.125 0.1547±0.0009b 0.1543±0.0022a 0.1704±0.0053b 156.25 0.1637±0.0015b 0.1543±0.0009a 0.1627±0.0067ab 312.5 0.147±0.0052b 0.1540±0.0017a 0.1667±0.0064ab 625 0.1613±0.0018b 0.1533±0.0035a 0.1607±0.0046ab 1250 0.1633±0.0047b 0.1550±0.0038a 0.1547±0.0015ab 2500 0.1633±0.0019b 0.1653±0.0018b 0.1370±0.0131a 5000 0.164±0.0027b 0.1650±0.0012b 0.1533±0.0026ab 10,000 0.1667±0.0009b 0.1690±0.0036b 0.1537±0.0067ab p. khinjuk: pistacia khinjuk, rd: rhabdomyosarcoma. *similar letters indicate no significant differences. *different letters indicate significant differences at p<0.05 table 1: cytotoxic effect of aqueous extract of p. khinjuk seeds on the growth of rd tumor cell line concentrations (µg/ml) exposure period 24 h 48 h 72 h control 0.3987±0.008b 0.1133±0.0003a 0.1127±0.0019a 78.125 0.3567±0.024a 0.1413±0.0032b 0.117±0.0051a 156.25 0.3520±0.0144a 0.1477±0.0067bc 0.1097±0.0082a 312.5 0.3440±0.0016a 0.1467±0.0027bc 0.1157±0.0113a 625 0.3467±0.0043a 0.1467±0.0027bc 0.1233±0.0035a 1250 0.3463±0.0018a 0.1637±0.0059bc 0.1293±0.0027a 2500 0.3997±0.0023b 0.1667±0.0023c 0.132±0.0044a 5000 0.3977±0.0009b 0.1413±0.0032c 0.1277±0.0062a 10,000 0.4773±0.0115c 0.1687±0.0064c 0.1193±0.0049a p. khinjuk: pistacia khinjuk, rd: rhabdomyosarcoma. *similar letters indicate no significant differences. *different letters indicate significant differences at p<0.05 ahmad, et al.: cytotoxic effects of pistacia khinjuk seed extracts on different cell lines blood lymphocyte 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 13-20 cytotoxic effects of aqueous and methanolic extract of p. khinjuk seeds on amn-3 tumor cell line the aqueous extract was more effective against the proliferation of amn-3 cells at 24 h of treatment than other treatment periods. the treatment for both 48 and 72 h showed non-significant differences in cell proliferation when compared with the control group, but the treatment for 24 h showed significant decreases in the proliferation of amn-3 cells and the effect was started from 78.125 µg/ml to highest concentration of 10,000 µg/ml, table 3. table 4 shows the effect of methanolic seeds extract of p. khinjuk on amn-3 tumor cells which exhibited a significant increase in proliferation of tested cell line in all concentrations at all periods of treatment, particularly at the highest concentrations of 5000 µg/ml and 10,000 µg/ml. figure 4 shows the effect of aqueous seeds extract on amn-3 cells at 24 h treatment, in which some cells with different changes in their shape and size were seen, the monolayer appearance is absent. figure 5 shows the shape and size of amn-3 cells similar to that of untreated cells in control [figure 6]. figure 3: rhabdomyosarcoma tumor cells treated with 10,000 µg/ml pistacia khinjuk methanolic seeds extract 48 h (×400) table 3: cytotoxic effect of aqueous extract of p. khinjuk seeds on the growth of amn-3 tumor cell line concentrations(µg/ml) exposure period 24 h 48 h 72 h control 0.3190±0.2355a 0.1030±0.0089a 0.2267±0.0034a 78.125 0.1027±0.0029b 0.1080±0.0027a 0.2097±0.0018a 156.25 0.0963±0.0015b 0.1067±0.0015a 0.2233±0.0150a 312.5 0.1067±0.0038b 0.0960±0.0025a 0.2303±0.0064a 625 0.1060±0.0051b 0.1070±0.0031a 0.2594±0.0091a 1250 0.1103±0.0060b 0.1062±0.0029a 0.2920±0.0089a 2500 0.1160±0.0035b 0.1340±0.0031a 0.2910±0.0035a 5000 0.1097±0.0019b 0.1270±0.0038a 0.2930±0.0076a 10,000 0.1137±0.0023b 0.1113±0.0033a 0.2937±0.0033a *similar letters indicate no significant differences. *different letters indicate significant differences at p<0.05. p. khinjuk: pistacia khinjuk, amn-3: ahmed-mohammed-nahi-2003 table 4: cytotoxic effect of methanolic extract p. khinjuk seeds on the growth of amn-3 tumor cell line concentrations (µg/ml) exposure period 24 h 48 h 72 h control 0.0820±0.0025a 0.1030±0.0089a 0.2267±0.0034a 78.125 0.1007±0.0029b 0.1133±0.0026ab 0.2277±0.0069a 156.25 0.0957±0.0020b 0.1210±0.0012abc 0.2307±0.0113ab 312.5 0.1023±0.0038b 0.1217±0.0020bc 0.2410±0.0164abc 625 0.1027±0.0033b 0.1207±0.0035bc 0.2443±0.0085abc 1250 0.1020±0.0015b 0.1347±0.0037c 0.2823±0.0033abc 2500 0.0997±0.0012cd 0.1540±0.0049e 0.2990±0.0006abc 5000 0.1093±0.0018d 0.1367±0.0024d 0.3040±0.0025bc 10,000 0.1103±0.0015c 0.1160±0.0065c 0.3093±0.0064c p. khinjuk: pistacia khinjuk, amn-3: ahmed-mohammed-nahi-2003. *similar letters indicate no significant differences. *different letters indicate significant differences at p<0.05 ahmad, et al.: cytotoxic effects of pistacia khinjuk seed extracts on different cell lines blood lymphocyte 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 13-20 cytotoxic effects of aqueous and methanolic extract of p. khinjuk seeds on l20b cell line table 5 shows the effect of p. khinjuk aqueous seeds extract on the growth of l20b cells. during the first 2 days of incubation, the aqueous extract did not stimulate the growth of l20b cells as compared with control [figure 7]. only a significant induction of cell proliferation was detected when treated with 10,000 µg/ml for 48 h of exposure. after 72 h of treatment, the aqueous extract significantly inhibited cell growth at almost all concentrations. this effect is shown in figure 8, in which the cells exhibited different changes in cell shape. some rounded, binucleated, and multinucleated cells were detected when treated with 10,000 µg/ml. viability of l20b cells after treatment with the methanolic extract is shown in table 6. treatment of cells with concentrations of 2500 µg/ml and 10,000 µg/ml for 24 h caused a significant increase in cell viability. all the other concentrations have no significant effects on cell viability. non significant differences were detected when the cells treated with78.125, 156.25, 312.5, and 625 µg/ml at 48 h, while the cells when treated with higher concentrations 1250, 2500, 5000, and 10, 000µg/ml at 48h a significant increases were table 5: cytotoxic effect of aqueous extract of p. khinjuk seeds on the growth of l20b cell line concentrations (µg/ml) exposure period 24 h 48 h 72 h control 0.0947±0.0013a 0.1±0.0061a 0.0993±0.0003d 78.125 0.0940±0.0027a 0.1±0.0015a 0.0707±0.0012a 156.25 0.0947±0.0032a 0.1003±0.0009a 0.0777±0.0007b 312.5 0.0957±0.0039a 0.1030±0.0006a 0.0797±0.0007b 625 0.960±0.0031a 0.1030±0.0006a 0.003±0.0019b 1250 0.0963±0.0017a 0.1077±0.0032a 0.0777±0.0019b 2500 0.0940±0.0015a 0.1083±0.0015a 0.0887±0.0032c 5000 0.1140±0.0135a 0.113±0.0007a 0.1030±0.0025d 10,000 0.1153±0.0019a 0.1753±0.0058b 0.0910±0.0021c *similar letters indicate no significant differences.*different letters indicate significant differences at p<0.05. p. khinjuk: pistacia khinjuk, figure 6: confluent monolayer of untreated ahmed-mohammednahi-2003 tumor cells (×400) figure 5: ahmed-mohammed-nahi-2003 tumor cells treated with 5000 µg/ml of pistacia khinjuk methanolic seeds extract at 72 h of exposure (×400) figure 4: ahmed-mohammed-nahi-2003 tumor cells treated with 10,000 µg/ml of pistacia khinjuk aqueous seeds extract at 24 h of exposure (×400) figure 7: confluent monolayer of untreated l20b cells (×400) ahmad, et al.: cytotoxic effects of pistacia khinjuk seed extracts on different cell lines blood lymphocyte 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 13-20 detected in cell viability. the results also showed insignificant differences at 72 h of exposure. figure 9 shows the induction effect of this extract 10,000 µg/ml for 48 h on l20b cells with different changes such as rounded and binucleated and multinucleated cells. mitogenic activity of aqueous and methanolic extracts of p. khinjuk on human blood lymphocyte aqueous and methanolic extracts of seeds of p. khinjuk 10,000 µg/ml were used to detect its effect as mitogen in blood lymphocyte cultures for both 48 and 72 h exposure; the results were compared with positive control group which was treated with pha as a mitogen and also were compared with the negative control group (group that treated with pbs). significant induction was detected in all treated group with 10,000 µg/ml p. khinjuk seeds extract for 48 h when compared with negative control group, and non significant differences was detected when the cells treated with aqueous and methanolic extracts for 72 h in all groups when compared with positive control group, but a significant induction was recorded in mitotic index (mi) of all groups when compared with the negative control group, table 7. discussion effects of aqueous and methanolic seeds extracts of p. khinjuk on rd, amn-3, and l20b cell lines when both cell lines (rd and amn-3) treated with seed extract of p. khinjuk, a significant increases in cell proliferation were detected for both aqueous and methanolic extracts, except exposure of both types of cell lines for 72h to aqueous extract, this increase might be due to the fact that extractions from some herbs can restrain cancer cells and induce its proliferation. cao et al. estimated that extractions from some herbs can restrain hepatocarcinoma, and the herbal extractions of flavonoid and arsenic trioxide cannot only figure 8: l20b cells treated with 10,000 µg/ml of pistacia khinjuk aqueous seeds extract at 72 h of exposure (×400) figure 9: l20b cells treated with 10,000 µg/ml of pistacia khinjuk methanolic seeds extract at 48 h (×400) table 6: cytotoxic effect of methanolic extract of p. khinjuk seeds on the growth of l20b cell line concentrations (µg/ml) exposure period 24 h 48 h 72 h control 0.1±0.0061a 0.1001±0.0061a 0.993±0.0003ab 78.125 0.1±0.0012a 0.1003±0.0067a 0.0913±0.0017a 156.25 0.1003±0.0019a 0.1003±0.0049a 0.0920±0.0006a 312.5 0.1127±0.0029a 0.1027±0.0024a 0.0937±0.0026a 625 0.1113±0.0009a 0.1323±0.0024a 0.1037±0.0047ab 1250 0.1270±0.0050a 0.2417±0.0197d 0.1033±0.0018ab 2500 0.1777±0.0112c 0.2430±0.0103bd 0.1120±0.0027b 5000 0.1317±0.0038a 0.2073±0.0049d 0.0910±0.0012b 10,000 0.1550±0.1617b 0.2977±0.0089e 0.1030±0.0060ab *similar letters indicate no significant differences. *different letters indicate significant differences at p<0.05. p. khinjuk: pistacia khinjuk table 7: mean±sem for mitotic index of human blood lymphocyte when p. khinjuk used as mitogenic factor exposure period positive control (pha) negative control (pbs) p. khinjuk methanolic seeds extract 10,000 µg/ml p. khinjuk aqueous seeds extract 10,000 µg/ml 48 h treatment 0.4893±0.00445a 0.2438±0.00185d 0.3564±0.02775c 0.3767±0.00845c 72 h treatment 0.4906±0.00561a 0.2862±0.29093b 0.3822±0.00740a 0.3807±0.00491a *similar letters indicate no significant differences. *different letters indicate significant differences at p<0.05. p. khinjuk: pistacia khinjuk, pha: polyhydroxyalkanoates, pbs: phosphate buffer saline, sem: standard error of the mean ahmad, et al.: cytotoxic effects of pistacia khinjuk seed extracts on different cell lines blood lymphocyte 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 13-20 restrain the proliferation of hepatocarcinoma cells but also induce apoptosis of hepatocarcinoma cells.[16] rui-chuan et al. reported that chinese medicine can induce cytodifferentiation of hepatocarcinoma, also rhubarb acid could restrain cell proliferation of various tumors such as mastocarcinoma, lung cancer, hepatocarcinoma, and colon carcinoma, and has synergistic effects when used in combination with mutamycin.[17] it could inhibit synthesis of dna, promote apoptosis of cancer cells, and also it has been found that the inhibitory effect of repression of rhubarb on cancer cells is closely related with cell signal transduction.[18] tohidi et al. and azadpour et al. found that the extract of p. khinjuk showed faster healing compared with control groups, faster wound contraction rate may be due to the presence of flavonoids, which is responsible for the free radical scavenging activity that is believed to be one of the most important components of wound healing that also be an evidence for the increased number of cells when treated with p. khinjuk extracts which may be caused rearrangement of the cell and induction in there proliferation by the presence of some of those phytochemical compounds such as flavonoids.[2,19] in general, oleic and linoleic acids are known for their anti-inflammatory properties. linoleic and alpha-linoleic acid provide lipids necessary for cell membrane repair and cellular respiration.[20] tavakoli and pazhouhanmerhr found that p. khinjuk fruits when analyzed contain linoleic and linoleic acid, and the presence of these two types of essential fatty acids may be caused induction in cell proliferation when used for cell membrane repair.[21] moulos et al., 2009, demonstrated that exposure of lewis lung carcinomas to mastic oil (mastic oil from p. lentiscus) caused a time-dependent alteration in the expression of 925 genes.[22] mirian et al., 2015, found that after the exposure of cell lines to methanolic extracts of three plants, the cells shows high survival when they treated with p. khinjuk extract in comparison with other two extracts, and this property may be due to the presence of essential oils.[23] the effect of those extracts on l20b normal cells was also an induction of cell proliferation at high concentrations of all types of extracts and this induction in currently applied extract, lacks selectivity, and does not spare normal (non-malignant) cells from cancer cells, it also often induces resistance of tumor cells to antineoplastic agents, generally in the form of “multidrug resistance” to structurally unrelated compounds.[24] mitogenic activity of aqueous and methanolic extracts of p. khinjuk seeds on human blood lymphocyte aqueous and methanolic extracts from both leaves and seeds of p. khinjuk were tested as a mitogen on blood lymphocyte. the results of the present study showed non-significant differences were found between the values of mi of each human lymphocyte that treated for 72 h either by aqueous or methanolic seeds extracts of p. khinjuk and positive control group (pha), the same results were obtained after the treatment with methanolic leaves extract for 48h. these results indicated that the activity of all these extracts is similar to that of pha. the increase in a number of cells when treated with p. khinjuk extracts may be caused by rearrangement of the cells and induction in their proliferation according to the presence of some phytochemical compounds such as flavonoids.[2] tavakoli and pazhouhanmerhr found that p. khinjuk fruits when analyzed contain linoleic and linoleic acid and the presence of these two types of essential fatty acids may be caused induction in cell proliferation when used for repairing of the cell membrane.[21] ghosh and gaba mentioned that p. khinjuk fruits and leaves have wound healing properties which may be due to the presence of different phytochemical compounds in these extracts.[25] conclusions methanolic and aqueous seed extracts of p. khinjuk induced proliferation of all tested cell lines. high concentrations of both aqueous and methanolic seed extracts of p. khinjuk showed mitogenic effects. references 1. m. taran, m. sharifi, e. azizi and m. khanahmadi. “antimicrobial activity of the leaves of pistacia khinjuk”. journal of medicinal plants, vol. 9, no. 6, pp. 81-85, 2010. 2. m. tohidi, m. khayami, v. nejati and h. meftahizade. “evaluation of antibacterial activity and wound healing of pistacia atlantica and pistacia khinjuk”. journal of medicinal plants research, vol. 5, no. 17, pp. 4310-4314, 2011. 3. s. kordali, a. cakir, h. zengin and m. e. duru. “antifungal activities of the leaves of three pistacia species grown in turkey”. fitoterapia, vol. 74, no. 1-2, pp. 164-167, 2003. 4. b. ozcelik, m. aslan, i. orhan and t. karaoglu. “antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral activities of the lipophylic extracts of pistacia vera”. microbiological research, vol. 160, no. 2, pp. 159161, 2005. 5. p. ljubuncic, h. song, u. cogan, h. azaizeh and a. bomzon. “the effects of aqueous extracts prepared from the leaves of pistacia lentiscus in experimental liver disease”. journal of ethnopharmacology, vol. 100, no. 1-2, pp. 198-204, 2005b. 6. m. taran, e. azizi, a. shikhvaisi and n. asadi. “the anthelmintic effect of pistacia khinjuk against protoscoleces of echinococcus granulosus”. world journal of zoology, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 291-295, 2009. 7. e. derwich, a. manar, z. benziane and a. boukir. “gc/ms analysis and in vitro antibacterial activity of the essential oil isolated from leaf of pistacia lentiscus growing in morocoo”. world applied sciences journal, vol. 8, no. 10, pp. 1267-1276, 2010. 8. k. f. dizaye. “hepatoprotective effects of the aqueous extract of pistacia khinjuk on acetaminophen and carbon tetrachlorideinduced acute live of toxicity in albino rats”. the asa newsletter. asa 08-3, issue no. 126, jun, 2008. 9. r. k. al-barazanjy, k. dizaye and a.a. al-asadye. “cytotoxic and cytogenetic effects of salvia officinalis on different tumor cell lines”. middle east journal of internal medicine, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 15-25, 2013. 10. j. b. harborne. “phytochemical methods”. 2nd ed. london: chapman and hall, 1984. 11. r. m. mcallister, j. melnyk, j. z. finklestein, e. c. adams and ahmad, et al.: cytotoxic effects of pistacia khinjuk seed extracts on different cell lines blood lymphocyte 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 13-20 m. b. gardner. “cultivation in vitro of cells derived from a human rhabdomyosarcoma”. cancer, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 520-526, 1969. 12. a. m. h. al-shamary. “the study of newcastle disease virus effect in treatment of transplanted tumors in mice”. m.sc. thesis, college of veterinary medicine, university of baghdad, iraq, 2003. 13. e. duizer, k. j. schwab, f. h. neill, r. l. atmar, m. p. g. koopmans and m. k. estes. “laboratory efforts to cultivate noroviruses”. journal of general virology, vol. 85, pp. 79-87, 2004. 14. d. a. flick and g. e. gifford. “comparison of in vitro cell cytotoxic assays for tumor necrosis factor”. journal of immunological methods, vol. 68, no. 1-2, pp. 167-175, 1984. 15. g. suman, r. naravaneni and k. jamal. “in vitro cytogenetic studies of cypermethrin on human lymphocytes”. indian journal of experimental biology, vol. 44, pp. 233-239, 2006. 16. y. cao, q. h. xia, h. meng and a. p. zhong. “antitumor and synergistic effect of chinese medicine “bushen huayu jiedu recipe” and chemotherapy on transplanted animal hepatocarcinoma”. world journal of gastroenterology, vol. 11, no. 33, pp. 52185220, 2005. 17. c. rui-chuan, s. jin-hua, o. gao-liang, c. ke-xia, l. jin-quan and x. xiao-guang. “induction of differentiation in human hepatocarcinoma cells by isoverbascoside”. planta medica, vol. 68, pp. 370-372, 2002. 18. r. h. cichewicz, y. zhang, n. p. seeram and m. g. nair. “inhibition of human tumor cell proliferation by novel anthraquinones from daylilies”. life sciences, vol. 74, pp. 1791-1799, 2004. 19. m. azadpour, m. rezaei, m. taati, m. g. dehnoo and b. ezatpour. “antioxidant, antibacterial, and wound-healing properties of methanolic extract of pistacia khinjuk”. comparative clinical pathology, vol. 24, pp. 379-385, 2014. 20. z. djerrou, z. maameri, y. hamdi-pacha, m. serakta, f. riachi, h. djaalab and a. boukeloua. “effect of virgin fatty oil of pistacia lentiscus on experimental burn wounds healing in rabbits”. african journal of traditional complementary alternative medicines, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 258-263, 2010. 21. j. tavakoli and s. pazhouhanmehr. “fatty acid composition of oils from fruits of three pistacia species growing in iran”. chemistry of natural compounds, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 525-526, 2010. 22. p. moulos, o. papadodima, a. chatziioannou, h. loutrari, c. roussos and f. n. kolisis. “a transcriptomic computational analysis of mastic oil-treated lewis lung carcinomas reveals molecular mechanisms targeting tumor cell growth and survival”. bmc medical genomics, vol. 2. no. 68, pp. 1-15, 2009. 23. m. mirian, m. behrooeian, m. ghanadian, n. dana and h. sadeghi-aliabadi. “cytotoxicity and antiangiogenic effects of rhus coriaria, pistacia vera and pistacia khinjuk oleoresin methanol extracts”. research in pharmaceutical science, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 233-240, 2015. 24. m. beljanski and s. crochet. “mitogenic effect of several interleukins, neuromediators and hormones on human glioblastoma cells, and its inhibition by the selective anticancer agent pb-100”. deutsche zeitschrift für onkologie, vol. 28, pp. 14-22, 1996. 25. p. k. ghosh and a. gaba. “phyto-extracts in wound healing”. journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical science, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 760-820, 2013. . 77 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 77-81 research article ad hoc on-demand distance vector inherent techniques comparison for detecting and eliminating the black hole attack nodes in mobile ad hoc network ghassan a. qasmarrogy*, yazen s. almashhadani department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract it is important to connect wirelessly a group of moving mobile nodes together in a static or dynamic form, to transfer digital data between them, this form known as a mobile ad hoc network. this private network can be used in different essential situations where it depends on each connected mobile node to deliver and pass the data between them, without any fixed access point or router. unfortunately, there are different types of attacks that can affect these nodes, and steal or corrupt the data inside, one of these attacks called the black hole attack. in this paper, a compared study will be done between two major innovative techniques derived from the ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing protocol to avoid the black hole attack; the paper will compare the two techniques in delay, throughput and packet dropping efficacy. keywords: black hole attack, extended data routing information technique, mobile ad hoc network, secure ad hoc on-demand distance vector routing protocol, trusted ad hoc on-demand distance vector introduction some scenarios or situation needs a group of moving nodes wirelessly connected together in a static or dynamic infrastructure form; this can be known as mobile ad hoc network (manets).[1] this form can broadcast or unicast data between each wireless mobile node separately or together. manet can change its form dynamically depending on the moving nodes speed as shown in figure 1; therefore, it shows better moving infrastructure to be used for different types of situations such as military, search and rescue, wireless sensor networks, and many more.[2] where each node can move separately or with its private group to form the new infrastructure without the need of fixed access point or routers. each node in manet is responsible for cooperating with other nodes to send and receive the data smoothly using a different type of routing protocols (rps) that are designed, especially for manet. there are three types of rps for networking transmission operations and routing management, namely, proactive, reactive, and hybrid rps.[3] each protocol is depending on the size and the dynamic nature of the topology of manet.[4] the proactive protocols basically are table driven, meaning. it depends on a specific table that used for routing decisions,[5] while reactive protocols are depending on an on-demand decision where it calculates the path needed for sending the data between the nodes on the same time that they need to transmit the data.[6] hybrid protocols use both reactive and proactive techniques to deliver the data between the nodes.[7] figure 2 shows the types of manets rps. it is essential to secure the data transmitted between the moving nodes to provide maximum security; unfortunately, wireless nodes have many security issues to be attacked.[8] one of these attacks called the black hole attack. in this paper, two major annotative techniques, namely, the trusted ad hoc on-demand distance vector (taodv) rp technique and the extended data routing information (edri)-based technique will be compared and evaluated to prevent and detect the black hole attack. this paper will be organized as follows: in section 1, an explanation will be shown for both black hole attack and it’s two preventing techniques; section 3 will demonstrate a comprising between the two techniques; and finally, section 4 will conclude the paper. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: ghassan a. qasmarrogy, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ghassan.qasmarrogy@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: apr 04, 2019 accepted: apr 25, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp77-81 copyright © 2020 ghassan a. qasmarrogy, yazen s. almashhadani. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ qasmarrogy and almashhadani: ad hoc on-demand distance vector inherent techniques comparison for detecting and eliminating the black hole attack nodes in mobile ad hoc network 78 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 77-81 the black hole attack and aodv rp in manets, all rps have security issues, therefore, creating a robust rp to transfer data between the nodes without any security issues is difficult, due to many problems such as share link broadcast wireless channel, node’s environment insecurity, the absence of center administration, the limitation of resources, and many more.[9] the essential requirements in any communication system to transfer data are integrity, confidentiality, and availability.[10] these requirements insurance the data will be intact without any eavesdroppers that can intercept or replace the transferred data. there are different types of attacks depending on the involvement of the attacker which can be classified into the passive attack and active attack. moreover, each one of these attacks can be classified into external and internal attacks.[11] the black hole attack one of the active attacks in manet is the black hole attack, in this attack, one communicating node in the private network, after receiving the rreq message from the sender node to form a path to the destination and start to transmit the data, replies with a rrep message with a highest sequence number compared to other nodes, forcing the sender to form a path through this node to the destination node, and transmits all the data through this path to that suspicious node, in the end when the suspicious node receives all the data, it will drop it all, without forwarding them to the neighbour nodes,[11] figure 3 shows the fake rrep from the suspicious node. this attack can be considered a serious threat in any wireless private network because all the transmitted data are dropped without any succeed end to end delivery; therefore, it will increase the threshold of successful packet delivery to 100%. aodv inherent black hole preventing techniques aodv is a reactive rp that starts a discovery route from source to destination when manet topology changes and the source node want to transfer data, in aodv, each node in manet stores and uses a routing table, to find the next neighbor node, which has the highest sequence number. in general, before the sender wants to transmit the data, it checks its routing table, therefore if there is a recent route to destination, it will send the data through that path, otherwise it will start a discovery route phase to find more recent route, where the sender will broadcast a request message rreq to their neighbour nodes and then each node will reply with rrep message, and the highest sequence number node will participate in the path formed.[12] trusted aodv routing technique this technique is built on the original aodv trusted protocol. when new manet topology is established and a node wants to transmit information to a destination node, it will send a hello message to all other nodes to find the destination, each node after receiving the rreq message will reply and respond to the sender node with their unique id; after that, the sender node will be built a neighboring list consist of all nodes around its wireless range, which is stored in the node’s memory. this table stores each node’s id in the range, also each node has a trust factor value stored in the table. when the value is small, it means that the node is suspicious, unreliable, and new to the network, and when the value is high, it means that the node is trusted and it was participating in old transmission path figure 1: mobile ad hoc network topology figure 2: the types of mobile ad hoc networks routing protocols qasmarrogy and almashhadani: ad hoc on-demand distance vector inherent techniques comparison for detecting and eliminating the black hole attack nodes in mobile ad hoc network 79 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 77-81 before. therefore, when the sender node broadcasts the rreq message, the trusted value function will be used as a feature found in aodv rp to compute the level of trustiness for each node, and when each node receives the rreq message, they will reply back directly to the sender, so it will be giving a trusting value. after that, when the node involved in a root establishment mechanism, the sender will verify this node by the forward route request rreq to check its integrity and if the integrity is ok, the trusted value will be increased. after each node stores the trust value factor for intermediate nodes, it would become easier to detect the black hole nodes, so when the sender node will send the rreq and establishes the path to the destination node, it will make sure that each intermediate node in the path has a higher trust factor, and other nodes with small trust factor will not participate in the future path for a definite time.[13] figure 4 shows the trusting technique of aodv, where the nodes with higher trusting value are most reliable and with lower trusting value are unreliable. edri technique the second technique also is an extension from aodv rp; this approach uses a data routing information table (dri) and an extended data routing information table (edri); it also uses a data control packet to detect and discover the suspicious nodes in manet. using the edri table, each node dynamically updates and stores their current and previous neighbors node’s id, the dri table including two columns (from and through) and the black hole number (bhn), so when the middle nodes receive a packet from any neighbors’ node, it writes 1 in the from column, but when the same node sends the packet to the neighbor note, it writes in the through column 1. when a neighbour node is detected as a black hole the flag of bhn number will be set to 1 and it will be set to 0 when there is no detection. figure 5 shows the edri table.[14] as known, any suspicious black hole node drops partially or fully all received packets; therefore, control data packets will be sent to check all the middle nodes in the path from source to destination. this packet contains node’s id, next node hop nhn, and a random number that are constant for all data packets in that path, this control’s data packet cannot be forwarded by a suspicious node. another data control packet will be also used which can be transmittable by the suspicious node, to check which node did not respond to the previous control data packet. figure 6 shows the composition of the data control packet. after receiving all the rrep messages, the sender node will analyze and select the best-secured path to the destination, for transmitting the data packets and detect any suspicious black hole nodes in the path and bandit from future mapping. comparison and results to evaluate the two techniques to prevent the black hole attack and isolate the suspicious nodes from manet, a scenario was made to simulate the prevention of the attack; the same metric where used to evaluate the two algorithms, packet overhead, throughput, and delay was measured. when the number of suspicious black hole nodes increases, the end-to-end delay will also be increased, due to the fact of packet dropping, renewal of path formation, and resending of the data message. all of these causes force the sender node to retransmit the packets until it gets acknowledgment from the receiving destination node. in the trusted aodv (taodv) technique, when the sender node requests a fresh route, a path to the destination node will be formed, and only the trusted node with higher trusting value will participate in the new path, the trusted nodes figure 3: mobile ad hoc network’s black hole attack figure 4: ad hoc on-demand distance vector trusting technique figure 5: example of extended data routing information table figure 6: the component of the data control packet in extended data routing information technique qasmarrogy and almashhadani: ad hoc on-demand distance vector inherent techniques comparison for detecting and eliminating the black hole attack nodes in mobile ad hoc network 80 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 77-81 number in total are small; therefore, the end-to-end delay will increase. as a result, from the first running transmission, the number of trusted nodes cannot be increased, which causes the sender to use only the available trusted ones, so the delay will not be decreased rapidly overtime. moreover, when the delay of the message increases, the packet dropping will also increase. furthermore, the packet overhead will increase and the packet delivery ratio will be decreased due to the previous causes. figure 7 shows how the number of trusted nodes values increase over multiple transmissions overtime. in edri technique, the sender node sends an rreq packets to generate a safe path, by sending to the neighbor nodes the data control packet, the delay will increase at the beginning of transmission, after that, when all suspicious nodes detected, overtime the delay will be decreased rapidly, due to the fact that all the suspicious nodes were detected in the first running safe path, and no more rreq packet needs to be broadcasted. figure 8 shows the decreasing number of rreq packets overtime. moreover, overtime when the number of trusted nodes increases due to edri table, the overall delay will be decreased. moreover, the packet overhead will also be decreased overtime, due to the fact that the sender will reach more trustable nodes so connection packet will not be needed anymore between the neighbor nodes. figure 9 shows the main comparison of the delay between the two techniques. the throughput of the network was also compared, in the black hole attack, every single suspicious node sends an rrep to a source node and receives all the data and drops it from that sender, when the number of suspicious node increases, the number of dropping packet increases; therefore, the throughput will decrease. moreover, when the number of suspicious nodes becomes equal or more than the sender nodes, the throughput will be equal to zero. in the taodv technique, the suspicious nodes will not participate in the safe path to the destination, due to the trust value factor, therefore, only the trusted ones will join the safe path, still, the trusted nodes number starting is lower than the normal ones, as a result less throughput and higher packet overhead. in edri technique, all the suspicious nodes will be detected by each sender node in the first run; therefore, the number of figure 8: rreq number evaluation 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 5 10 15 20 25 30 en d to e nd d el ay (m s) no. of suspicious nodes taodv edri figure 9: delay comparison between trusted ad hoc on-demand distance vector and extended data routing information figure 7: graph represents the trusted nodes overtime qasmarrogy and almashhadani: ad hoc on-demand distance vector inherent techniques comparison for detecting and eliminating the black hole attack nodes in mobile ad hoc network 81 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 77-81 figure 10: throughput comparison between trusted ad hoc on-demand distance vector and extended data routing information dropped packets will decrease, throughput will be higher in general, also by time, all the suspicious nodes will be detected, and they will be eliminated, therefore, the throughput will increase through time rapidly. figure 10 shows the throughput for the two techniques. conclusion in this paper, two annotative techniques were compared to detect and eliminate the black hole node attack in manet, the paper compared three metrics; delay, packet overhead, and throughput. as a conclusion, the taodv technique shows a lower delay at the beginning of the transmission, due to the fact that no data control packet was used to detect the suspicious nodes, after that, the delay increases slowly, due to no elimination of suspicious nodes. while in the edri technique, the delay higher in the beginning then it decreases rapidly during the time. in throughput, taodv shows lower packet delivery compared to edri, while edri shows better throughput due to the elimination of suspicious nodes overtime, which increases the packet successful delivery. finally, both techniques show good delay and throughput to detect the problem of black hole attack nodes, but these techniques work only in one run transmission, new protocols needed to detect multiple runs from the 1st time. references 1. s. b. sharma and n. chauhan. “security issues and their solutions in manet”. ieee international conference on futuristic trends on computational analysis and knowledge management (ablaze), pp. 289-294, 2015. 2. r. sheikh, m. s. chande and d. k. mishra. “security issues in manet: a review”. ieee 7th international conference on wireless and optical communications networks, pp. 1-4, 2010. 3. m. n. alslaim, h. a. alaqel and s. s. zaghloul. “a comparative study of manet routing protocols”. ieee 3rd international conference on e-technologies and networks for development, 2014, pp. 178-182. 4. m. chitkara and m. w. ahmad. “review on manet: characteristics, challenges, imperatives and routing protocols”. international journal of computer science and mobile computing, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 432-437, 2014. 5. r. shenbagapriya and n. kumar. “a survey on proactive routing protocols in manets”. ieee 2014 international conference on science engineering and management research, pp. 1-7, 2014. 6. d. n. patel, s. b. patel, h. r. kothadiya, p. d. jethwa and r. h. jhaveri. “a survey of reactive routing protocols in manet”. ieee international conference on information communication and embedded systems, pp. 1-6, 2014. 7. r. dilli and p. c. s. reddy. “trade-off between length of the hash code and performance of hybrid routing protocols in manets”. ieee 2nd international conference on applied and theoretical computing and communication technology, pp. 732-735, 2016. 8. a. dorri, s. r. kamel and e. kheirkhah. “security challenges in mobile ad hoc networks: a survey”. international journal of computer science and engineering survey, vol. 6, no. 1, 15-29, 2015. 9. m. m. alani. “manet security: a survey”. ieee international conference on control system, computing and engineering, pp. 559-564, 2014. 10. m. kuzlu, m. pipattanasomporn and s. rahman. “communication network requirements for major smart grid applications in han, nan and wan”. computer networks, vol. 67, pp. 74-88, 2014. 11. r. ranjan, n. k. singh and a. singh. “security issues of black hole attacks in manet. ieee international conference on computing”. communication and automation, pp. 452-457, 2015. 12. m. s. el-azhari, o. a. al-amoudi, m. woodward and i. awan. “performance analysis in aodv based protocols for manets”. ieee international conference on advanced information networking and applications workshops, pp. 187-192, 2009. 13. m. b. m. kamel, i. alameri and a. n. onaizah. “staodv: a secure and trust based approach to mitigate black hole attack on aodv based manet”. ieee 2nd advanced information technology, electronic and automation control conference, pp. 1278-1282, 2017. 14. a. dorri. “an edri-based approach for detecting and eliminating cooperative black hole nodes in manet”. wireless networks, vol. 23, no. 6, 2017, pp. 1767-1778. tx_1:abs~at/tx_2:abs~at 85 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 85-89 research article effect of isatis spp. extraction on the growth of aspergillus niger and candida albicans zehra odabaş-serin1*, ali h. salim agha2, zhala b. taha2 1department of forest, kahramanmaraş sütçü imam university, faculty of forestry, 46040, kahramanmaraş, turkey, 2department of bioengineering and science, kahramanmaraş sütçü i̇mam university, faculty bioengineering and science, 46040, kahramanmaraş, turkey and cihan university-erbil, department of biology, iraq abstract in this study, the crude extraction of isatis spp. (isatis tinctoria, isatis busichaina, and isatis lusitanica) was investigated for their antifungal activity. each of methanol, ethanol, and h2o was used as a solvent. due to find the most effective part of each species, the plant parts were used separately. the aim of this research was to determine the natural products effect on two common pathogenic fungi aspergillus niger and candida albicans. the results show that most of used plants have significant effect on both used fungal species. extracted each of flower, i. tinctoria was showed the best results comparing to the other used species. extracted leaf and flower of i. tinctoria by methanol were showed the best result on a. niger and c. albicans. the growth zone was around 90 mm for control and 61 mm at 75% concentration of methanolic and ethanolic extraction. the flower was for followed by the stem. depend on the results, the methanol was showed highest number, then ethanol and the lowest inhibition zone area was for h2o extraction. keywords: antifungal activity, aspergillus niger and candida albicans, isatis spp., pathogenic fungi introduction a latest study presented that tertiary care clinics are consuming antimicrobial and antifungal agents improperly. this rising trend is an ever-increasing threat to the health of humans who are currently at risk of dying from previously fixable infections. unluckily, drug resistance (adaptation of the drug target site, drug modification, or restricted drug penetration) improves at a pace quicker than new drug development.[1] this sensation is also happening in the pathogenic microorganism candida albicans, an otherwise commensal kinds found in and on the human body.[2] modern antifungal agents are less active against c. albicans now than when they were first introduced because candida species have developed resistance to these agents. in addition, research by the major pharmaceutical companies in the development of antifungal agents has been on the decline due to low coming back on investment.[3] materials and methods plant extracts three methods were used to extract water, ethanolic, and methanolic, according to several studies, with some modification as needed and as follows:[4] aqueous extraction hot water extraction was performed by mixing 40 g of plant form with 160 ml of distilled water twice (i.e., 1:4 weight:volume), heated to 80–90°c, then stirred and left to cool down and mixed together then placed in refrigerator for 24 h, which was then administered through several layers of medical gauze, and again administered by buchner funnel using filter papers whatman no.1 to dispose of the nonpowdered parts and fibers to obtain the raw liquid extract and then put it in the rotary evaporator device at a temperature not exceeding 40°c, working on the basis of evaporation under pressure and then put the extracted in the shaker incubator at a temperature of 30–35°c. after the drying of the extract, corresponding author: zehra odabaş-serin, kahramanmaraş sütçü imam university, faculty of forestry, 46040, kahramanmaraş, turkey. phone: +90 3443001780. fax: +90 3443001712. e-mail: zehra@ksu.edu.tr received: jan 16, 2020 accepted: apr 27, 2020 published: jun 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp85-89 copyright © 2020 zehra odabaş-serin, ali h. salim agha, zhala b. taha. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mailto:zehra@ksu.edu.tr https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ odabaş-serin, et al.: antifungal activity of isatis spp 86 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 85-89 it was kept in a sealed containers in the freezer (−4°c) and wrote the information on each until use. ethanolic extraction prepare the ethanol extract by mixing 20 g of plant powder in 200 ml of absolute ethanol with stirring (i.e., 1:10 weight:volume) and then leave the mixture in the refrigerator for 24 h. then, the extract was filtered through several layers of gauze and then filtered for 2nd time using whatman no.1 filter papers to remove the non-powdered plant parts and the remaining fibers, then put in the rotary evaporator device at 40°c and after evaporation of the alcohol obtained a thick layer of the extract and then placed in the shaker incubator shaker incubator at 25–30°c. after drying the extract, it was kept in a sealed container in a freezer with writing the information on each until use. methanolic extraction prepare the methanol extract by mixing 20 g of plant powder in 200 ml of absolute methanol with stirring (i.e., 1:10 weight:volume) and then leave the mixture in the refrigerator for 24 h to soak. then, the extract was filtered through several layers of gauze and then filtered for 2nd time using whatman no.1 filter papers to remove the non-powdered plant parts and the remaining fibers, then put in the rotary evaporator device at 40°c and after evaporation of the methanol obtained a thick layer of the extract and then placed in the shaker incubator shaker incubator at 25–30°c. after drying the extract, it was kept in a sealed container in a freezer with writing the information on each until use. media preparation the above studied media were prepared according to the information on the package by the manufacturer company[5] then sterilized at 121°c and 15 lb/kg2 for 15 min. the medium was distributed in petri dishes (diameter 9 cm), and the dishes were left under the temperature of the laboratory until the hardening of the medium in sterilizer hood. a quantity of distilled water was also sterilized for use as a substitute for extracts in control transactions (ddh2o). fungi two types of fungus obtained from the media center in erbiliraq for diagnosing the disease with mention the strain type were used in this study. • aspergillus niger atcc 16404 • c. albicans atcc 10231 preparation of petri dishes to test extracts against fungus for this study, concentration method was used by mixing with the medium. the fungal isolates were planted in petri dishes on the potato dextrose agar media, mixed with three different concentrations of plant extracts that mentioned in previously, then incubated the dishes in the incubator at 25 ± 2°c and 37 ± 2°c. for example, candida species need a temperature of between 25 ± 2°c and 37 ± 2°c for optimal growth according to the nature of their growth to fungus or semi-yeast. the process of incubation continued for 10 days. the readings were taken every 3 days according to replicates, influenced by concentrations of plant extracts.[6,7] statistical analysis glm-univariate analysis was applied to the arithmetic means obtained in spss with 95% confidence interval. if the difference was significant (p ≤ 0.05), the homogeneity groups were determined by tukey b test. the analytical test was done separately for each solvent type (hot water, ethanol, and methanol) to show the effect of the samples part (flower, leaf, and stem) and extract concentration (25%, 50%, and 75%). results and discussion the antifungal compound is one of the vital substances in pharmaceutical sciences that can find in the natural medicinal plants. this needs to identify the activity of the samples compound by different parameters. in this study, the antifungal activities of extracts obtained with solvents that vary from nonpolar to polar were investigated. the results were took after the growth was rich the optimum point of two types of used fungi in optimum incubation condition. the growth of the control petri dishes was 90 mm for both. the following table is showed the effect of isatis tinctoria on a. niger atcc 16404 and c. albicans atcc 10231 growth. the best results were with flower extraction by methanol with 75% concentration against a. niger atcc 16404, following by the stem with methanolic extraction 75% against a. niger atcc 16404 too. in this table, all of the methanolic extraction had significant effect on both fungi a. niger atcc 16404 and c. albicans atcc 10231 [table 1]. the second table is showed the effect of isatis busichaina on a. niger atcc 16404 and c. albicans atcc 10231 growth. the best results were with leaf extraction by methanol with 75% concentration against c. albicans atcc 10231, following by the flower with methanolic extraction 75% against a. niger atcc 16404. in this table, all of the methanolic extraction had significant effect on both fungi a. niger atcc 16404 and c. albicans atcc 10231 [table 2]. however, table 3 shows the effect of isatis lusitanica on a. niger atcc 16404 and c. albicans atcc 10231 growth. the best results were with flower extraction by methanol with 75% concentration against a. niger atcc 16404, following by the flower with methanolic extraction 75% against c. albicans atcc 10231. in this table, all of the methanolic extractions had significant effect on both fungi a. niger atcc 16404 and c. albicans atcc 10231 [table 3]. depend on the results, the significant results were obtained from the extraction of methanol and ethanol for i. tinctoria in all concentrations, plant parts, and both types of used fungi. the aqueous extraction has less effect in correlation with ethanol and methanol [table 4]. the inhibition effects of the extracts of i. tinctoria obtained from leaf, stem, and flower parts using different solvents on the two different strains of pathogenic fungi. the results were compared with the each to find the correlation. the aqueous leaf extracts were showed significant results on a. niger atcc 16404, also the flower was showed the significant results by ethanol extraction for c. albicans atcc 10231, although the flower extracts by methanol were showed the significant results for a. niger atcc 16404. other differences are shown in table 4. odabaş-serin, et al.: antifungal activity of isatis spp 87 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 85-89 table 1: fungi test results of i. tinctoria. (control=90 mm) plant plant part strains growth of fungi (mm) water concentration ethanol concentration methanol concentration 25% 50% 75% 25% 50% 75% 25% 50% 75% i. tinctoria flower c. albicans 85.75 (0.96) 82.75 (0.50) 80.25 (0.96) 81.00 (0.82) 79.00 (0.82) 72.50 (1.29) 73.00 (1.15) 71.75 (0.50) 62.00 (1.41) a. niger 84.00 (0.82) 82.50 (1.29) 79.00 (0.82) 81.25 (0.96) 80.00 (0.82) 78.00 (1.41) 69.75 (0.50) 68.00 (0.82) 61.25 (0.50) leaf c. albicans 84.50 (2.38) 80.75 (0.96) 79.50 (1.29) 79.75 (1.26) 78.75 (0.96) 77.75 (0.96) 70.5 (0.58) 69.25 (0.50) 62.00 (1.41) a. niger 84.00 (0.82) 81.00 (0.82) 79.25 (0.96) 80.25 (1.71) 78.75 (0.96) 77.50 (0.58) 70.25 (0.50) 68.50 (1.00) 62.75 (0.50) stem c. albicans 84.75 (0.96) 82.25 (2.06) 80.50 (0.58) 82.00 (0.82) 80.50 (0.58) 73.00 (1.83) 73.50 (1.29) 70.25 (0.50) 63.25 (1.50) a. niger 84.50 (1.29) 82.75 (0.96) 80.00 (0.82) 81.25 (0.50) 79.25 (0.96) 78.50 (0.58) 70.75 (0.96) 69.50 (1.29) 61.75 (0.50) i. tinctoria: isatis tinctoria, c. albicans: candida albicans, a. niger: aspergillus niger table 2: fungi test results of i. busichaina. (control=90 mm) plant plant part strains growth of fungi (mm) water concentration ethanol concentration methanol concentration 25% 50% 75% 25% 50% 75% 25% 50% 75% i. busichaina flower c. albicans 84.75 (0.96) 80.25 (1.26) 79.50 (1.29) 80.00 (0.82) 78.50 (0.58) 76.00 (1.41) 71.00 (0.82) 70.00 (1.63) 63.00 (1.83) a. niger 83.50 (1.29) 79.75 (0.96) 77.75 (2.22) 80.00 (0.82) 78.25 (0.50) 76.00 (0.82) 70.75 (0.96) 68.00 (0.82) 61.5 (1.29) leaf c. albicans 83.25 (0.96) 79.50 (1.29) 77.00 (1.83) 80.00 (0.82) 79.00 (0.82) 75.50 (1.29) 71.00 (1.15) 66.75 (2.06) 61.00 (0.82) a. niger 83.25 (0.96) 80.50 (0.58) 77.25 (1.71) 80.75 (0.96) 78.50 (0.58) 74.25 (0.50) 70.75 (0.50) 66.25 (0.50) 63.00 (1.83) stem c. albicans 84.00 (0.82) 80.75 (1.50) 77.25 (1.50) 81.75 (0.96) 80.00 (0.82) 78.25 (0.96) 72.5 (2.38) 70.50 (0.58) 68.50 (0.58) a. niger 84.75 (1.50) 82.25 (1.26) 79.25 (0.96) 81.75 (0.96) 80.50 (0.58) 79.25 (0.96) 71.75 (0.96) 70.00 (0.82) 69.00 (1.41) i. busichaina: isatis busichaina, c. albicans: candida albicans, a. niger: aspergillus niger table 3: fungi test results of i. lusitanica. (control=90 mm) plant plant part strains growth of fungi (mm) water concentration ethanol concentration methanol concentration 25% 50% 75% 25% 50% 75% 25% 50% 75% i. lusitanica flower c. albicans 83.25 (0.96) 81.50 (1.29) 79.00 (0.82) 80.50 (0.58) 79.50 (1.29) 78.00 (0.82) 70.00 (0.82) 67.75 (0.50) 64.50 (1.29) a. niger 83.25 (0.96) 80.75 (0.96) 79.00 (0.82) 80.50 (0.58) 78.25 (1.71) 76.75 (0.96) 68.50 (1.29) 66.50 (1.00) 63.75 (1.71) leaf c. albicans 82.25 (1.71) 81.75 (1.71) 79.50 (1.29) 80.00 (0.82) 79.00 (0.82) 76.75 (0.96) 69.75 (0.96) 67.50 (0.58) 66.50 (1.00) a. niger 82.00 (0.82) 80.25 (0.96) 79.50 (0.58) 80.25 (0.50) 78.25 (1.71) 77.50 (1.29) 68.25 (0.96) 65.75 (0.96) 65.25 (0.50) stem c. albicans 84.50 (0.58) 82.25 (0.50) 80.50 (1.29) 81.50 (1.29) 80.75 (0.96) 79.00 (0.82) 72.00 (0.82) 70.50 (0.58) 69.00 (0.82) a. niger 83.50 (1.29) 80.75 (0.96) 80.25 (1.26) 81.50 (0.58) 80.00 (0.82) 79.00 (0.82) 72.00 (0.82) 70.25 (0.96) 69.50 (0.58) i. lusitanica: isatis lusitanica, c. albicans: candida albicans, a. niger: aspergillus niger the inhibition effects of extracts of i. busichaina obtained from leaf, stem, and flower parts using different solvents on the two different strains of pathogenic fungi. the results were compared with the each to find the correlation. for c. albicans odabaş-serin, et al.: antifungal activity of isatis spp 88 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 85-89 atcc 10231, each of aqueous leaf extraction, ethanol extraction of flower and leaf, and leaf extraction by methanol was showed the significant result correlations. for a. niger atcc 16404, the aqueous extraction of flower and leaf, the ethanol extraction of flower and leaf, and methanol extraction of flower and leaf too was showed the significant results. the total result statistics shown in table 5. the inhibition effects of the extracts of i. lusitanica obtained from leaf, stem, and flower parts using different solvents on the two different strains of pathogenic fungi. the results were compared with the each to find the correlation. for c. albicans atcc 10231, each of flower and leaf of aqueous, ethanol, and methanol extraction was showed the significant results. for a. niger atcc 16404, the ethanol and methanol extraction of flower and leaf was showed the significant results. the total result statistics is shown in table 6. some factors have to be measured to select a solvent for extracting herbal medicine. about 65–75% methanol extraction at room temperature for 15 h is practical for routine analytical study. although, it is not fully active to extract other plants with same procedure because of dissimilarities in the biological compositions. this method is appropriate for controlling a large number of fixed samples and needs no special equipment.[8] the present study proved that methanol and ethanol showed best results than water extracts. our study was in accordance with several studies.[9] tryptanthrin, indole-3acetonitrile, and p-coumaric acid methylester were identified by physical and spectral data (ms, nmr) and by comparison with authentic synthesized samples of these compounds. tryptanthrin has already been isolated from i. tinctoria and characterized as an antidermatophytic.[10] phenylpropanoids mainly comprised flavonoid and lignan metabolites, have been considered as the primary antiviral constituents, which table 4: fungi arithmetic values and tukey b statistical analysis results of i. tinctoria c. albicans concentration a. niger concentration tukey b plant part 25% 50% 75% tukey b 25% 50% 75% water flower 85.75 (0.96) 82.75 (0.50) 80.25 (0.96) a 84.00 (0.82) 82.50 (1.29) 79.00 (0.82) ab leaf 84.50 (2.38) 80.75 (0.96) 79.50 (1.29) a 84.00 (0.82) 81.00 (0.82) 79.25 (0.96) b stem 84.75 (0.96) 82.25 (2.06) 80.50 (0.58) a 84.50 (1.29) 82.75 (0.96) 80.00 (0.82) a tukey b a b c a b c ethanol flower 81.00 (0.82) 79.00 (0.82) 72.50 (1.29) b 81.25 (0.96) 80.00 (0.82) 78.00 (1.41) a leaf 79.75 (1.26) 78.75 (0.96) 77.75 (0.96) a 80.25 (1.71) 78.75 (0.96) 77.50 (0.58) a stem 82.00 (0.82) 80.50 (0.58) 73.00 (1.83) ab 81.25 (0.50) 79.25 (0.96) 78.50 (0.58) a tukey b a b c a b c methanol flower 73.00 (1.15) 71.75 (0.50) 62.00 (1.41) b 69.75 (0.50) 68.00 (0.82) 61.25 (0.50) b leaf 70.50 (0.58) 69.25 (0.50) 62.00 (1.41) c 70.25 (0.50) 68.50 (1.00) 62.75 (0.50) a stem 73.50 (1.29) 70.25 (0.50) 63.25 (1.50) a 70.75 (0.96) 69.50 (1.29) 61.75 (0.50) a tukey b a b c a b c i. tinctoria: isatis tinctoria, c. albicans: candida albicans, a. niger: aspergillus niger table 5: fungi arithmetic values and tukey b statistical analysis results of i. busichaina plant part c. albicans concentration tukey b a. niger concentration tukey b 25% 50% 75% 25% 50% 75% water flower 84.75 (0.96) 80.25 (1.26) 79.50 (1.29) a 83.50 (1.29) 79.75 (0.96) 77.75 (2.22) b leaf 83.25 (0.96) 79.50 (1.29) 77.00 (1.83) b 83.25 (0.96) 80.50 (0.58) 77.25 (1.71) b stem 84.00 (0.82) 80.75 (1.50) 77.25 (1.50) ab 84.75 (1.50) 82.25 (1.26) 79.25 (0.96) a tukey b a b c a b c ethanol flower 80.00 (0.82) 78.50 (0.58) 76.00 (1.41) b 80.00 (0.82) 78.25 (0.50) 76.00 (0.82) b leaf 80.00 (0.82) 79.00 (0.82) 75.50 (1.29) b 80.75 (0.96) 78.50 (0.58) 74.25 (0.50) b stem 81.75 (0.96) 80.00 (0.82) 78.25 (0.96) a 81.75 (0.96) 80.50 (0.58) 79.25 (0.96) a tukey b a b c a b c methanol flower 71.00 (0.82) 70.00 (1.63) 63.00 (1.83) b 70.75 (0.96) 68.00 (0.82) 61.5 (1.29) b leaf 71.00 (1.15) 66.75 (2.06) 61.00 (0.82) c 70.75 (0.50) 66.25 (0.50) 63.00 (1.83) b stem 72.5 (2.38) 70.50 (0.58) 68.50 (0.58) a 71.75 (0.96) 70.00 (0.82) 69.00 (1.41) a tukey b a b c a b c i. busichaina: isatis busichaina, c. albicans: candida albicans, a. niger: aspergillus niger odabaş-serin, et al.: antifungal activity of isatis spp 89 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 85-89 table 6: fungi arithmetic values and tukey b statistical analysis results of i. lusitanica plant part c. albicans concentration tukey b a. niger concentration tukey b 25% 50% 75% 25% 50% 75% water flower 83.25 (0.96) 81.50 (1.29) 79.00 (0.82) b 83.25 (0.96) 80.75 (0.96) 79.00 (0.82) a leaf 82.25 (1.71) 81.75 (1.71) 79.50 (1.29) b 82.00 (0.82) 80.25 (0.96) 79.50 (0.58) a stem 84.50 (0.58) 82.25 (0.50) 80.50 (1.29) a 83.50 (1.29) 80.75 (0.96) 80.25 (1.26) a tukey b a b c a b c ethanol flower 80.50 (0.58) 79.50 (1.29) 78.00 (0.82) b 80.50 (0.58) 78.25 (1.71) 76.75 (0.96) b leaf 80.00 (0.82) 79.00 (0.82) 76.75 (0.96) b 80.25 (0.50) 78.25 (1.71) 77.50 (1.29) b stem 81.50 (1.29) 80.75 (0.96) 79.00 (0.82) a 81.50 (0.58) 80.00 (0.82) 79.00 (0.82) a tukey b a b c a b c methanol flower 70.00 (0.82) 67.75 (0.50) 64.50 (1.29) b 68.50 (1.29) 66.50 (1.00) 63.75 (1.71) b leaf 69.75 (0.96) 67.50 (0.58) 66.50 (1.00) b 68.25 (0.96) 65.75 (0.96) 65.25 (0.50) b stem 72.00 (0.82) 70.50 (0.58) 69.00 (0.82) a 72.00 (0.82) 70.25 (0.96) 69.50 (0.58) a tukey b a b c a b c i. lusitanica: isatis lusitanica, c. albicans: candida albicans, a. niger: aspergillus niger probably contribute to the outstanding pharmacological activity of radix isatidis.[11,12] it is distinguished that a solvent system for extraction is selected according to the purpose of extraction such as preparation or analysis, the nature of interested components, the physicochemical properties of the matrix, the availability of reagents and equipment, cost, and safety concerns.[13] the solvent systems included complete ethanol at 25°c by different methods, 95% ethanol, ethanol–water for 10 min,[14] methanol–water, methanol–hcl (1.0 n, 85:15, v/v), and h2o. in another study that done by in 2012,[15] using the ethanol under pressure, extraction condition may be a well choice for viable productions, meanwhile, ethanol may be reused and fewer solvent left over is generated through production. however, extraction with ethanol may be a blameless means to make effective extracts for analysis and research from a minor number of samples. references 1. h. zwickey and l. lipski. “expanding our view of herbal medicine”. the journal of alternative and complementary medicine, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 619-20, 2018. 2. c. van wyk, f. s. botha, r. vleggaar and j. n. eloff. “obliquumol, a novel antifungal and a potential scaffold lead compound, isolated from the leaves of ptaeroxylon obliquum (sneezewood) for treatment of candida albicans infections: oorspronklike navorsing”. suid-afrikaanse tydskrif vir natuurwetenskap en tegnologie, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 1-5, 2018. 3. c. i. montero, y. r. shea, p. a. jones, s. m. harrington, n. e. tooke, f. g. witebsky and p. r. murray. “evaluation of pyrosequencing® technology for the identification of clinically relevant non-dematiaceous yeasts and related species. european journal of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, vol. 27, no. 9, pp. 821-30, 2008. 4. n. rispail, p. morris and k. j. webb. phenolic compounds: extraction and analysis. in: lotus japonicus handbook. dordrecht: springer, pp. 349-354, 2005. 5. r. m. atlas, a. e. brown and l. c. parks. laboratory manual of experimental microbiology. usa: mosby-year book. inc., 1995. 6. a. ahmet, s. munevver, o. hakan, a. guleray. in vitro antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of methanol and hexane extract of astragalus species growing in the eastern anatolia region of turkey. turkish journal of biology, vol. 33, pp. 65-71, 2009. 7. y. n. al-shekhany. alkaloid and glycoside contents and antioxidant activity of two heliotropium species (boraginaceae) from kurdistan region-northern iraq. garmian university online journal, vol. 2, pp. 963-979, 2012. 8. x. li, s. feng, a. farajtabar, n. zhang, g. chen and h. zhao. solubility modelling, solvent effect and preferential solvation of 6-chloropurine in several aqueous co-solvent mixtures between 283.15 k and 328.15 k. the journal of chemical thermodynamics, vol. 127, pp. 106-116, 2018. 9. p. tane, s. d. tatsimo, g. a. ayimele and j. d. connolly. bioactive metabolites from aframomum species. in: 11th napreca symposium book of proceedings. vol. 214, pp. 214-223, 2005. 10. h. wang, g. gao, l. ke, j. zhou and p. rao. isolation and characterization of a lectin-like protein (sblp) from the dried roots of scutellaria baicalensis (lamiaceae). natural product communications, vol. 13, no. 12, pp. 1409-1414, 2018. 11. m. chen, l. gan, s. lin, x. wang, l. li, y. li, c. zhu, y. wang, b. jiang, j. jiang and y. yang. alkaloids from the root of isatis indigotica. journal of natural products, vol. 75, no. 6, pp. 11671176, 2012. 12. d. zhang, j. li, d. ruan, z. chen, w. zhu, y. shi, k. chen, y. li and r. wang. lignans from isatis indigotica roots and their inhibitory effects on nitric oxide production. fitoterapia, vol. 137, p. 104189, 2019. 13. f. chemat, m. a. vian, a. s. fabiano-tixier, m. nutrizio, a. r. jambrak, p. e. munekata, j. m. lorenzo, f. j. barba, a. binello and g. cravotto. a review of sustainable and intensified techniques for extraction of food and natural products. green chemistry, vol. 22, no. 8, pp. 2325-2353, 2020. 14. k. k. adom and r. h. liu. antioxidant activity of grains. journal of agricultural and food chemistry. vol. 50, no. 21, pp. 61826187, 2002. 15. y. nivoix, a. launoy, p. lutun, j. c. moulin, k. a. p. pang, l. m. fornecker, m. wolf, d. levêque, v. letscher-bru, l. beretz and g. ubeaud-sequier. adherence to recommendations for the use of antifungal agents in a tertiary care hospital. journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, vol. 67, no. 10, pp. 2506-2513, 2012. . 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 1-4 research article evaluation of the effect of follower jammer on the mobile bluetooth network abdulqadir ismail abdullah1*, adil hussein m. al-dalawie2 1department of computer science, college of science, knowledge university, erbil, iraq, 2department of communication and computer engineering, college of engineering cihan university-erbil, erbil, iraq abstract bluetooth wireless communication technology has spread rapidly in the past 20 years. it has made life much easier with all the devices that use bluetooth technology around us such as mobile phones, laptops, and watches. with all the good and useful applications of bluetooth technology, it has been used in harmful and bad ways such as cheating in an examination. in this article, parameter design considerations have been discussed for a follower jammer to interrupt a bluetooth network, especially when it is used in unauthorized way. the effects of the follower jammer were studied and tested. the effects were calculated for time and jamming-over-signal ratio for three different distances (1, 5, and 10 m). the testing showed that the follower jammer designed was successful in disrupting the bluetooth signal. keyword: bluetooth, follower jammer, mobile jammer introduction bluetooth wireless technology since its development by ericsson in sweden in 1994 has become an essential tool of everyday life. bluetooth wireless technology (bwt) has been used by many devices such as laptops, mobile phones, and car stereo systems. it has made everyday tasks very easy and efficient.[1] bluetooth-enabled devices use ism frequency band range between 2.4 gh and 2.48 gh. it uses a technique called frequency hopping (fh). this technique is useful for reducing interference. there are three classes of bluetooth networks: class 1 is 100-m range, class 2 is 50-m range, and class 3 is 10-m range.[1] bluetooth wireless networks are subject to interference such as jamming which could be intentional, and this disrupts the service. not all disruptions are bad thing because some people nowadays use bluetooth networks for some purposes which are not allowed.[2] there are deferent types of jamming techniques such as overall band noise jamming or spot jamming and swept jamming. research into the evaluation of the effects of these three deferent methods on the mobile bluetooth network provides good motivation to make a comparison between these techniques. the authors in a research article[3] focused on overall noise jamming techniques, spot noise with bandwidth 5 mhz and 20 mhz, and sweep jammer. the conclusions of the research article[3] were that the block jammer signal (noise powered with different bandwidths 5 mhz and 20 mhz) does not affect the bluetooth network, and it needs high power to overcome the processing gain and the path loss attenuator. the effect appears within 1-m distance by increasing the power density of the jamming signal; the bandwidth of the jamming signal was set to 5 mhz and uses very slow swept noise in order to affect the channels sequentially and keep the channel out of service according to adaptive frequency hopping (afh) and that will reduce the processing gain with time. due to the power problems in the previous work, a new method had to be followed in order to reach better results that, in mid, a new technology was tested and studied in the research article such as the follower jammer technique, which is effected on fh.[3] follower jammer technique fh spread spectrum is particularly useful to combat jamming primarily because it is relatively easy to operate corresponding author: abdulqadir ismail abdullah, department of computer science, college of science, knowledge university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: abdulqadir.abdullah@knowledge.edu.krd received: mar 27, 2019 accepted: apr 09, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp1-4 copyright © 2019 abdulqadir ismail abdullah, adil hussein m. al-dalawie. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) abdullah and al-dalawie: evaluation of the effect of follower jammer on the mobile bluetooth network 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 1-4 over very large spread bands. however, fh can be efficiently jammed by follower jammers (also called “repeat back”) under certain conditions. in follower jamming, the jammer intercepts the transmitted signal, tries to determine the frequency of the hop, and then generates jamming in a narrow range about this frequency. it is the purpose of this article to discuss design considerations to account for such jammers.[4] figure 1 shows the block diagram of a simple follower jammer design. design consideration of the follower jammer bluetooth wireless network uses the fh techniques which operates in the 2.4 ghz ism band over 79 mhz bandwidth. this bandwidth is divided into 79 channels, and each channel has 1 mbps capacity; the time for transmission is separated among 625 µs slots, where each slot uses a new hop frequency technique, as shown in table 1.[1,3] according to these specifications, the design of the follower jamming must cover the band of frequency between 2402 mhz and 2482 mhz with sensitivity <−70 dbm and an output between 0.5 watt and 1 watt. in order to achieve this, the antenna that must be used must be an omnidirectional antenna covering 360° in elevation and 60° in horizontal, as shown in figure 2.[5] the band-pass filter must be passing the frequencies between 2402 and 2482 mhz with low attenuation around 2 db and reject rest frequencies out that range with attention −80 db (fourth-order filter), as shown in figure 3. the low-noise amplifier is designed to receive the bluetooth frequencies and amplified for suitable level, as shown in table 2. table 1: specification of bluetooth network items specification power o/p 1 mw channel b.w. 1 mhz operation bandwidth 79 mhz (2402–2482) mhz processing gain 19 db receiver sensitivity −70 dbm transmitting time 625 µs equipment distance (0.30–1.2) m figure 1: follower jammer block diagram figure 2: x-y plane omnidirectional antenna figure 3: band-pass filter characteristic table 2: low-noise amplifiers characteristic parameters min. – typ. – max. units frequency range 2400–2480 mhz gain 20 db noise figure 3.5 db rf input 1 db compression point 18 dbm input third-order intercept point 23 dbm table 3: modulator specification parameters min. – typ. – max. units rf frequency range 2400–2480 mhz if input bandwidth range 0.5 mhz lo input frequency range 2400–2480 mhz table 4: the calculation of the delay and attenuation for the different distances distance delay attenuating 1 m 6.66 ηsec 40.19 db 5 m 33.3 ηsec 54.17 db 10 m 133.2 ηsec 60.17 db abdullah and al-dalawie: evaluation of the effect of follower jammer on the mobile bluetooth network 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 1-4 the modulator should consider the specification, as shown in table 3. the noise generator can use pin diode (pn) noise generator with clock 500 khz or pin diode or a zener diode with amplifier and low-pass filter 500 khz. the power amplifier is going to amplify the modulated bluetooth frequencies by the noise. the output power was around 1 watt or 30 dbm to satisfy the jamming-over-signal ratio (j/s) >3 db. the filter and antenna are considered the same as mentioned before. the critical point in the follower jammer the time response of the jammer and time wave traveling from bluetooth sender to the jammer and from the jammer to bluetooth receiver must reduce the delay as much as possible to follow transmitting time of the bluetooth network. if we consider the wave speed at 3×108 m/sec, meaning the wave traveling 1 m during 3.33 ηsec and this time is very short comparing with the time of the transmission time which is 625 µsec and that gives the confidence in the method. operation consideration an important consideration is the distance of the jammer from the bluetooth network. for the design parameters in this research work we considered the distances where the jammer is located at 1, 5, and 10 m from the bluetooth network, as shown in figure 4. for this purpose, the distances d2 and d3 which represents the distances of the jammer from the bluetooth units as d2 and d3 are equalt to (1, 5, or 10 m). the delay and the attenuation based on the different distances d2 and d3 were calculated. the calculations are shown in the table 4. the estimation of the timing coverage on the frequency slot according to the distance can be seen in table 5 which shows the percentage time coverage on frequency hop, as we notice that the effect of delay from the distance is almost negligible. in order to do a scientific comparison with bluetooth wireless network specification and the follower jammer, we must calculate the link budget for all cases to find the effect from the power view and j/s ratio (table 6). with the follower jammer technique, the gain processing will be neglected because it uses the same frequencies at the same time, so that the gain margin against this technique will change from 19 db and will become 23.81 db. then, the bluetooth power at 1 m will be=−114+46.81=−67.19 dbm. table 7 shows the calculation of the j/s with respect to distance. from the results shown here, it is clear that this technique will affect the bluetooth wireless network and blocks it. conclusion many jamming techniques have been used to disrupt bluetooth wireless networks for many purposes. one useful way of jamming bw networks is when it is used by unauthorized persons. in this article, an approach was studied using the follower jammer in order to evaluate its effects on the network. the design considerations were followed in order to come up with the best results. from the test results, we can determine that the jammer follower can disrupt successfully a bluetooth network when it can receive the bluetooth signal. it was noticed that in order to avoid the circulation path from transmitter of the jammer to the jammer receiver, the antenna of the jammer must be isolated between them with using rf switch single pole single throw (spst) controlled by signal output of the power amplifier. table 5: percentage time coverage on frequency hop distance delay percentage ratio 1 m 6.66 ηsec 99.999 5 m 33.3 ηsec 99.994 10 m 133.2 ηsec 99.978 table 7: calculations of the j/s with respect to distance distance j dbm j/s db 1 m −9.81 57.38 5 m −24.17 43.02 10 m −30.17 37.02 j/s: jamming-over-signal ratio table 6: bluetooth network link budget item value units output power 0 dbm path attenuation @1 m 40.19 db sensitivity −70 dbm processing gain 19 gain margin 46.81 db figure 4: bluetooth network with jammer references 1. d. s. kushwaha. “application of blutooth wireless technology”. international journal of mathematics and computer research, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 79-82, 2013. 2. p. patel, a. merchant, n. tailor and c. trivedi. “bluetooth security issues”. international journal of computer science and information technologies, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 5295-5299, 2015. 3. a. h. m. al-dalowi and g. qasmarrogy. “performance evaluation of noise power jammer on the bluetooth network”. international journal of computer networks and communications, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 167-174, 2014. 4. e. b. felstead. “follower jammer considerations for frequence hopped spread spectrum”. ieee military communications 5. p. d. vita. “antenna selection guidelines”. st microelectronics, switzerland, 2012. . 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 62-69 research article omega-3 oil ameliorate histological and ultrastructural alterations induced by cadmium chloride in rats testis treefa f. ismaill, falah m. aziz2* 1department of biology, college of education, university of salahaddin, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of biology, college of science, university of salahaddin, kurdistan region, iraq abstract cadmium (cd) is considered to be one of the major environmental pollutants which have potential threat to human health. reports of declining male fertility have renewed interest in the role of environmental and occupational exposures in the etiology of human infertility. cd exposure led to obvious degenerative changes in testicular tissue. this study was performed to investigate the cd-induced structural effects on the testes and to evaluate the possible protective effect of omega-3 oil in adult albino rats. thirty adult male rats were used in the present work, divided randomly into five groups, six rats in each group; the first group was considered as a control group and left without treatment except the standard rat chow and tap water. the second group was given 40 mg/l of cdcl2 in drinking water while the third group was given 60 mg/l of cdcl2 in drinking water. the fourth group was given 40 mg/l of cdcl2 in drinking water plus omega-3 oil (4 g/kg diet), while the fifth group was given 60 mg/l of cdcl2 in drinking water plus omega-3 oil (4 g/kg diet), the cd-treated rats showed dose-dependent histological and ultrastructural alterations which have been ameliorated after exposure to omega-3 oil. the present investigation concluded that omega-3 played a protective role against cd-induced histopathological changes in rat testis. keywords: cadmium chloride, omega-3, testis, ultrastructural introduction cadmium (cd) is a widespread toxic environmental and industrial pollutant. it is listed by the u.s. environmental protection agency as one of 126 priority pollutants.[1] a great attention has been paid to cd pollution by environmentalists due to its toxicity to plants, animals, humans, and even microorganisms.[2,3] cd concentration in the environment has increased as a consequence of anthropogenic activity.[4] it is released into the environment by mining and smelting activities, atmospheric deposition from metallurgical industries, incineration of plastics and batteries, land application of sewage sludge, and burning of fossil fuels.[5] it concentrates along with the food chain and once absorbed irreversibly accumulates in the human body, particularly in kidneys, bones, respiratory tract, and other vital organs such as the lungs and the liver.[6] cd found to induce testotoxicity[7,8] through the production of reactive oxygen species and inhibition of antioxidant enzymes.[9,10] the protective role of omega-3 oil against the toxicity of several toxicants, some of them were minerals such as arsenic,[11] has been studied. however, as far searched, no such studies on the protective effect of omega-3 oil against cd toxicity were found. cd is considered as one of the most toxic transition metal elements that can cause severe damage to testis,[7,8] induced severe necrosis followed chronic degeneration in rat testes, and also induced sex accessory gland atrophy and reduced circulating testosterone through reducing leydig cell function.[12,13] however, its effectiveness dependent on the dose of exposed cd.[14] alhazza[15] showed that administration of 2.5 mg/kg s.c. cdcl2 to male rats caused changes in testosterone and gonadotropic hormones. cd accumulated in testes in response to time and dose increased oxidative stress enzymes, endocrine disruption, and altered apoptosis.[16] cd given parenterally to pregnant laboratory animals induced a variety of adverse reproductive change, decreased litter size, resorption, fetal death, growth retardation, and congenital malformations in offsprings of exposed animals.[17] in female rats subcutaneously injection on the 6th day of gestation with different doses of cdcl2 caused an increase in testes diameters corresponding author: falah m. aziz, department of biology, college of education, university of salahaddin, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: falah.aziz@su.edu.krd received: apr 23, 2019 accepted: apr 25, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp62-69 copyright © 2020 treefa f. ismail, falah m. aziz. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ismail and aziz: omega-3 oil: histological and ultrastructural alterations in rats testis 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 62-69 of seminiferous tubules, a progressive sloughing of germ cells and vacuolization of sertoli cells and leydig cells hyperplasia in the pups were noted.[18] ercolani et al.[19] demonstrated a statistically significant decreased spermatogenesis and testosterone levels as well as discrete changes in ca+2 homeostasis gene regulation in the presence of increasing levels of cd in a rat model. acute cd exposure resulted in hemorrhagic injury to the testis, although some strains of animals were resistant to this effect.[20] cd severely damaged the seminiferous tubules and caused degeneration and disintegration of spermatogenic cells. leydig cells were also lost after cd treatment.[21] the testes of male albino rats intoxicated with cdcl2 showed edematous swelling, congestion, hemorrhage, focal to multifocal white pale depressed areas of ischemic necrotic patches, increased oxidative stress, and histopathological and biochemical effects.[22,23] several studies focusing on cd-related changes in testicular histopathology have implicated testicular blood vessel damage followed by the degeneration of spermatopoietic epithelial, as the main cause of cd toxicity.[24-26] fouad et al.[27] found testicular damage induced by a single intraperitoneally injection of cdcl2 (2 mg/kg), the mechanism by which cd affected testis was oxidative stress and inflammation. intraperitoneal injections of cdcl2 caused a marked and prolonged reduction of spermatogenesis, accompanied by increased permeability of the blood–testis barrier.[28] cd has been found to cause obvious adverse effects on the proliferation of piglet sertoli cells and caused their dna damage, cell apoptosis, and aberrant morphology.[29] treated rats with cdcl2 at a single dose of 2 mg/kg b.w showed various degree of testicular degenerations such as degeneration and necrosis of germinal cells and irregularity and atrophy of seminiferous tubules.[30] krichah et al.[31] and toman et al.[32] showed that exposure to cd also induced a pronounced alteration of spermatogenic process with dramatically reductions of spermatozoa produced in the lumen of the seminiferous tubules sections and a decrease of the intratubular tissue volume, vacuolation in the epithelium, and necrosis were appeared. de souza predes et al.[33] found that cd significantly reduced the seminiferous tubules diameter and decreased volume density of seminiferous tubules. the tubules lumen was filled with degenerated germ cells and multinucleated spermatid aggregates, vacuolization of the seminiferous epithelium was also observed. by scanning electron microscopy (sem) examination, the absence of spermatozoa and height diminishing of seminiferous epithelium were appeared. a serious decrease in the level of testosterone, a significant elevation in serotonin, increased oxidative stress in testicular tissue, poor semen quality (sperm count, sperm motility, and sperm viability), and histopathological alterations in the testis of cd-treated rats have been declared by several studies.[34-36] cd exposure (1.1 µg/g of diet) to the male rats caused increased plasma testosterone levels significantly, while epididymal sperm concentration significantly decreased in contaminated rats as compared to correspondent controls.[37,38] zararsiz et al.[39] concluded that omega-3 fas had favorable effects in rat testis tissue by preventing oxidative damage and increasing the level of testosterone. omega-3 fas have effective protection for testicular tissues against methotrexate-induced testicular toxicity male albino mice.[40] oral administration of omega-3 (2 ml/kg b.w) either before or after treatment with azathioprine was effective in decreasing the dna fragmentation and total sperm abnormalities and significantly increasing the sperm count.[41] the data of uygur et al.[42] suggested that fish omega-3 fas pre-treatment may be beneficial for spermatogenesis following acute doxorubicin (dox)-induced testicular damage by decreasing germ cell apoptosis and oxidative stress. materials and methods thirty adult albino male rats (rattus norvegicus) (200–250 g and 8 weeks old) were used in the present study. they were bred and housed in plastic cages (56 cm × 39 cm ×19 cm), bedded with wooden chips in the animal house of biology department/college of science/university of salahaddin, erbil. the animals were kept under standard laboratory conditions 12 h light:12 h dark with controlled temperature of 22 ± 2°c. the rats were given standard laboratory chow containing 0.5% nacl, 22% protein, and 4–6% dietary fat[43] and drinking water ad libitum. experimental design the rats were divided randomly into five groups (each contained six rats), the first group serves as a control was the rats given standard rat chow and tap water, the second group was treated group given (40 mg/l cdcl2 in drinking water), the third group given cdcl2 (60 mg/l in drinking water), the rats in the fourth group were received cdcl2 (40 mg/l in drinking water) + omega-3 oil (4 g/kg diet), the omega-3 oil purchased from local pharmacy, and the last group received cdcl2 (60 mg/l in drinking water) + omega-3 oil (4 g/kg diet), the experiment period for all groups was 30 days. for studying the effect of cdcl2 and/or omega-3 oil, all animals were anesthetized with ketamine hydrochloride (100 mg/kg b.w.) and sacrificed at the end of each experiment. testes were taken from the rats and were cut into small pieces (<0.5 cm3 in thickness) and kept in the fixative. histological preparations light microscopy (paraffin method) samples of the testes were directly fixed in bouin’s fluid for 24 h and then processed for paraffin method by dehydrating through ascending concentrations of ethanol (50%, 70%, 95%, and 100%), cleared in xylene, infiltrated in paraffin wax, and finally embedded in paraffin wax. sections were cut at 4 µm thickness with a rotary microtome (hunting don, bright. uk). the sections were stained by hematoxylin and eosin method.[44,45] electron microscopy tissue samples (1 mm3) were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 m cacodylate buffer ph 7.2–7.4 for 24 h, post-fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide for 1 h, dehydrated through a graded series of acetone (50%, 70%, 95%, and 100%), cleared in propylene oxide for 15 min (twice), infiltrated with propylene oxide plus ismail and aziz: omega-3 oil: histological and ultrastructural alterations in rats testis 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 62-69 araldite mixture (1:1) for 12 h, and then embedded in resin medium (araldite cy 212: 10 g; hardener 10 g; accelerator dmp 30: 0.5 g; and di-n-butylphthalate plasticizer: 0.6 g). all these chemicals were obtained from fluka and bucha. polymerization was accomplished in an oven at 60°c for 48 h.[46] the blocks were cut by ultramicrotome (reichert-jung) into 0.5–1 µ thickness and stained by 1% toluidine blue in 1% borax for light microscopy. for transmission electron microscopy (tem), 600–900aº sections were obtained and stained by 3% uranyl acetate and lead citrate.[47] these ultrathin sections were examined by (sharp) tem in gazi university, faculty of medicine, ankara, turkey and (leica/ em fc6, cm12 philips) tem in ukm university, science and technology faculty, malaysia. for sem, testes were fixed in 2.5% glutaraldehyde in 0.1 m cacodylate buffer ph 7.2–7.4 for 24 h. after washing by the same buffer, they post-fixed in 1% osmium tetroxide for 1 h, dehydrated in ethanol (50%, 70%, 85%, 100%, and 100%). the samples were put in desiccator for air drying. after mounting, they were coated with gold by coating system (e5200 auto sputter coater),[48] then examined by (zeiss, super a, 557p) sem in ukm university, science and technology faculty, malaysia. results both doses of cdcl2 (40 and 60 mg/l) caused many histological and ultrastructural alterations in the testis, on the other hand, omega-3 oil was very useful in minimizing most of the cdcl2 toxic effects. as shown in figure 1, a healthy histological structure of rat testis having a germinal epithelium undergoing cell division and well-formed spermatids is seen. administration of low dose of cdcl2 to the male rats has caused a histological damage to the germinal cells and also affected the spermatids production [figure 2a and b]. the affected germinal cells appeared highly vacuolated and enlarged spermatogonia and showed cd particles deposition [figure 2c and d]. further, damages due to cdcl2 effect on the other cells of the interstitial space such as leydig cells were noticed. such effect included condensed and crescent-shaped nuclei which looked like characteristic apoptotic feature in addition to the appearance of a large number of vacuoles [figure 2e and f]. these changes have been confirmed by the electron micrographs [figure 3a and b], in which ultrastructural alterations were clearly appeared such as highly spermatids degeneration with shrunken nuclei, high number of vacuolation in all germinal figure 1.sections through the testes of control rats, a&b) paraffin sections showing normal histological structure of seminiferous tubules with a lot of spermatids in the lumen of the tubules, 100x and 400x respectively, h&e, c&d) plastic sections showing normal germinal layer cells and the newly formed spermatids (arrow), 400x and 1000x respectively, toluidine blue. dc ba figure 3. electron micrographs through the testes of the low dose cdcl2 treated rats showing, a) spermatid degeneration (white arrow), shrinkage of spermatocyte nucleus (black arrow), highly vacuolated spermatogonia (sp), vacuole (v), sertoli cells (s). b) thickining of basal lamina (black arrow), large and small vacuoles in the germinal cells (v), shrunken sertoli cells (s) and cd particles ( ), notice the golgi complexs ( ), different shape and size of mitochondria (white arrow), cup shape of spermatids head( ) ba figure 2. sections through the testes of the low dose of cdcl2 treated rats, a and b) low power of seminiferous tubules showing slightly empty lumen of seminiferous tubules 100x and 400x respectively, h&e, c-f) different vacuolated spermatocytes (black arrows), degenerated leydig cells (white arrow), precipitated cd particles (red arrows) 1000x, toluidine blue. dc b f a e ismail and aziz: omega-3 oil: histological and ultrastructural alterations in rats testis 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 62-69 epithelium, especially the spermatogonia, thickening of the basal lamina, variation in the shape and size of mitochondria, and deposition of cd particles. higher magnification of the later electron micrographs showed very large vacuoles with high deposition of cd particles, lysis of mitochondrial membrane, high electrondense sperm, and dilation of endoplasmic reticulum [figure 4a and b]. similar to the low dose, the high dose of cdcl2 caused similar damages to the germinal layer, in which no spermatids were seen in the lumen of the seminiferous tubules [figure 5]. more alteration details were observed by electron microscopic images in the high-dose cdcl2-treated rats which included approximately less spermatids production with defect heads and tails [figure 6a], vacuolated and degenerated leydig cells [figure 6b]. a clear protective role of omega-3 oil was detected in the testis of cdcl2-treated rats in both doses, in which an approximately normal histological structure of the seminiferous tubules was seen [figure 7]. the scanning electron microscopic images have confirmed the histological and ultrastructural results regarding the testicular effect of cdcl2 and the protective role of omega-3 oil [figures 8 and 9]. as revealed by these figures, the cells of the germinal layer of the control group appeared filled the lumen of the seminiferous tubules with a large number of well-formed spermatozoa [figure 8]. the little numbers of sperms and the presence of vacuolation in the germinal layer were clearly appeared in the testis of cdcl2-treated group [figure 9a]. the protective role of omega-3 oil against the cdcl2 toxicity in the testis of male rat was clearly seen by the scanning electron microscopic image, in which a lot of spermatozoa were reappeared in the lumen of the seminiferous tubules [figure 9b]. discussion spermatogenesis is a complex multitemporal process, including proliferation and differentiation of spermatogonia, meiosis, and spermiogenesis. in this process, any of the figure 7: paraffin sections through the testes of cdcl2 plus omega-3 treated rats, (a) low dose of cdcl2 plus omega-3 showing approximately normal structure of seminiferous with high quantity of spermatids in the lumen of the tubules, ×100, (b) higher magnification of the seminiferous tubules in the latter section, ×400, (c) high dose of cdcl2 plus omega-3 treated rat group showing nearly normal seminiferous tubules, ×100, (d) same latter group showing number of spermatids and the healthy germinal cells undergoing cellular division, ×400, hematoxylin and eosin dc ba figure 4: electron micrographs through the testes of the low dose of cdcl2-treated rats, (a) high deposition of cd particles (thick arrow), thickening of basal lamina ( ), lysis in mitochondrial membrane (head of arrow), spermatocyte with high electron density ( ), vacuolation in primary spermatocytes (v), and dilated smooth endoplasmic reticulum (thin arrow). (b) degeneration of spermatid heads (black arrows) with vacuolation and lysed mitochondria (white arrow) ba figure 5: sections through the testes of the high dose of cdcl2treated rats, (a) paraffin section through a number of seminiferous tubules showing empty lumen (arrows), ×100, (b) plastic section through a part of the germinal epithelium showing vacuolation of the cells (arrows), ×1000, (c) large lumen of seminiferous tubule and very little spermatids, ×400, (d) vacuolated spermatocytes with yellow lipid droplets (arrows) near the lumen (l), (arrows), ×1000 dc ba figure 6: electron micrographs through the testes of the high dose of cdcl2-treated rats showing, (a) vacuolated spermatocytes (arrows), (b) healthy (thin arrow) and degenerated leydig cells (thick arrow) showing a phagocytosis mechanism ba ismail and aziz: omega-3 oil: histological and ultrastructural alterations in rats testis 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 62-69 affected areas are likely to cause spermatogenesis impairment and even infertility.[49,50] heavy metals could adversely affect the male reproductive system, either by causing hypothalamic-pituitary axis disruption or by directly affecting spermatogenesis, resulting in impairs semen quality.[51] the present results showed different histological and ultrastructural alteration in rat testis, which included decrease in germinal epithelium thickness, slightly empty seminiferous tubule, and highly vacuolation features. these findings are in accordance with the previous observations.[30,52-53] several studies focusing on cd-related changes in testicular histopathology have implicated testicular blood vessel damage followed by the degeneration of spermatopoietic epithelial, as the main cause of cd toxicity.[26,54] other studies on experimental animals have brought the evidence that oxidative stress is implicated in the toxicity of cd.[55,56] the treatment with cd (0.4 mg/kg b.w.) intraperitoneally caused significantly increased lipid peroxidation in rat tissues, enhancing peroxidation of membrane lipids altering the antioxidant system of the cells, which may cause injury to cellular components due to the interaction of metal ions with the cell organelles.[57] many ultrastructural defects on testes of rat testes were observed in the present study such as spermatid degeneration, shrinkage of spermatocytes, deposition of cd particles, thickening of basal lamina, large and small vacuoles in the spermatocytes, and shrinkage of sertoli cells. the later result concerning the effect on sertoli cells was observed recently by luca et al.[58] kamel et al.[36] revealed that the testes are greatly targeted to damage by cd intoxication and increased oxidative stress resulted from cd intoxication in testicular tissue of treated rats might be responsible in testicular damage and impairment of fertility. it has been reported that the oxidative stress affects the sperm cell through interfering with the membrane fluidity which is the main factor for sperm motility and fusion with the oocyte.[59] the present results showed decrease in the thickness of the germinal epithelium of the seminiferous tubules the testicular toxicity of cd appeared to be mediated by a rapid apoptotic process as revealed by the decrease in the density of sperms in the lumen of the seminiferous tubules of treated rats. these observations agree with other studies indicating the implication of apoptosis in the mechanism of cytotoxicity of cd in testes.[31,60] the data of minutoli et al.[61] confirmed that the i.p. administration of cdcl2-induced significant seminiferous epithelium damages and increased tunel-positive peripheral germ cells were observed in the seminiferous tubules, indicating an involvement of spermatogonia and primary spermatocytes in apoptotic processes. the previous studies of acute cd exposure have reported diminished testicular weight in relation to the cd dosage.[62] these studies attributed to this effect to the necrotic and degenerative changes induced by cd.[63] the study of toman et al.[30] demonstrated that cd caused decrease in the thickening in the wall of the seminiferous tubules, and this may be due to the degeneration of germ cell layers. increase in the levels of total reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxidation was shown in testicular tissue after cd administration, these biochemical alterations are considered as one of the forerunners of pathological changes in testis after cd administration, also reduced level of enzymatic antioxidants and increased production of free radicals severely affected the testicular biology in the presence of cd.[8] testicular effects of cd may be due to cd interference with zinc-protein complexes that control dna transcription, subsequently leading to apoptosis.[64] most of the criteria of apoptotic mode of cell death in the germinal epithelium revealed in other studies that dealt with cd testotoxicity (such as condensation of nuclear chromatin and degeneration of cytoplasmic organelles, especially the collapse of mitochondria)[50] were detected in the present work. elmallah et al.[65] have been recently reported that oxidative stress and elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ros) are the main cause of cellular damage as a result of cd exposure. as revealed by the current investigation, omega-3 fo was succeeded in protecting the testis against most histological and ultrastructural changes caused by cd. the most expected reason for this protection may be through oxidative/ antioxidative mechanism. similarly, uygur et al.[42] suggested that fish omega-3 fas pre-treatment may be beneficial for spermatogenesis following acute dox-induced testicular damage by decreasing germ cell apoptosis and oxidative stress. recently, cd was found to decrease serum testosterone in rats.[7] furthermore, omega-3 was found to elevate the level of testosterone in rats.[39] such elevation of testosterone may the reason behind the protection of germ cells against the degenerative effect of cd which has been detected in the present work since this hormone has been shown to regulate apoptosis in adult human somniferous tubules in vitro.[66] figure 8: scanning electron microscopy image through the testes of the rats in the control group showing normal seminiferous tubules containing high number of sperms (s), germinal epithelium (g), (a) low power, (b) high magnification ba figure 9: scanning electron microscopy images of seminiferous tubules of (a) low dose of cdcl2-treated rat testis showing little sperms in the lumen of the tubules and the formation of vacuoles in the germinal epithelial cells (arrows). (b) low dose of cdcl2 plus omega-3 treated group showing a lot of sperms in the lumen of seminiferous tubules (arrows) ba ismail and aziz: omega-3 oil: histological and ultrastructural alterations in rats testis 67 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 62-69 conclusion the present investigation concluded that omega-3 oil could play a protective role against cadmium induced testicular toxicity due to the antioxidant power of the oil. references 1. m. m. kamel and a. h. abd el-razek. “perinatal eexposure to cadmium affects neurobehavioural development and anxiety-like behaviour in rat offspring”. life sciences journal, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 529-536, 2011. 2. s. a. hasan, q. fariduddin, b. ali, s. hayat and a. ahmad. “cadmium: toxicity and tolerance in plants”. journal of environmental biology, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 165-174, 2009. 3. e. andresen and h. kupper. “cadmium toxicity in plants”. metal ions in life sciences, vol. 11, pp. 395-413, 2013. 4. m. f. 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blood-testis barrier and improves testicular damage and germ cell impairment in mice”. toxicological sciences, vol. 148, no. 1, pp. 311-329, 2015. 62. f. de souza predes, j. c. monteiro, s. l. matta, m. c. garcia and h. dolder. “testicular histomorphometry and ultrastructure of rats treated with cadmium and ginkgo biloba”. biological trace element research, vol. 140, no. 3, pp. 330-341, 2011. 63. a. blanco, r. moyano, j. vivo, r. flores-acuna, a. molina, c. blanco, e. aguera and j. g. monterde. “quantitative changes in the testicular structure in mice exposed to low doses of cadmium”. environmental toxicology and pharmacology, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 96-101, 2007. ismail and aziz: omega-3 oil: histological and ultrastructural alterations in rats testis 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 62-69 64. agency for toxic substances and disease registry. “toxicological profile for cadmium”. atlanta: u.s. public health service, 1999. 65. m. i. y. elmallah, m. f. elkhadragy, m. al-olayan and a. e. abdel moneim. “protective effect of fragaria ananassa crude extract on cadmium-induced lipid peroxidation, antioxidant enzymes suppression, and apoptosis in rat testes”. international journal of molecular sciences, vol. 18, p. 957, 2017. 66. k. erkkila, k. henriksen, v. hirvonen, s. rannikko, j. salo, m. parvinen and l. dunkel. “testosterone regulates apoptosis in adult human seminiferous tubules in vitro”. the journal of clinical endocrinology metabolism, vol. 82, no. 7, pp. 2314-2321, 1997. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 53-56 research article a genetic disaster of human cloning: ethical and scientific implications yaser a. jasim department of accounting, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract human cloning may become a viable possibility in the far future; it is no longer a spectacular science fiction wisdom. the method is accessible. the dilemma is whether it would be ethical and acceptable in society, considering any associated consequences related to human cloning. unlike a normal embryo, this one is abnormal, which has a genome derived from a combination of six sources, a human cloned genome would have one source. this procedure would undoubtedly eliminate the distinct qualities that a real child possesses. its short-term and long consequences, on the contrary, are currently unclear. cell cloning of human research potentially changes the variety of medical diseases treatment in the soon future. human cloning or non-sexual human reproduction is a multidisciplinary problem that has been studied by scholars from several perspectives, including ethical elements and science perspectives, religion, and health. because some scientific discoveries, such as human simulation, are related to human beliefs, several religious scholars have demonstrated distinctive responsivity to religious doctrine and consider such investigations to be contrary to divine verses and religious beliefs; as a result, human cloning has been prohibited. as a result, it is vital to investigate and analyze the reasoning of their contravention to demonstrate that scientific discoveries might not only not diminish but also even deepen religion. keywords: human cloning, genetic disaster, embryo, ethics, religion, and human health introduction human cloning is the technique of producing genetically identical individuals. embryo splitting or nuclear transfer can be used to accomplish this cloning process.[1] the process of separating a developing human being embryo into several parts is known as embryo splitting. every one of those components can evolve toward a blastocyst or “late embryo,” which, if implanted, might evolve into a child.[2] human cloning shares advantages and disadvantages as any developing theory and experiment, so advantages are solving infertility issues, replacing biological parts, developing genetic researches, selecting human characteristics, and developing humans. on the other hand, the disadvantages of human cloning that affects on ethics and safety are designing children, violating human right, degrading cells, identifying exclusive uniqueness, and observing psychological issues on individuals in society.[3] monozygotic twins are produced in this manner as figure 1 illustrates the process of human cloning.[4] artificial embryo splitting has been conducted successfully in cows, sheep, apes, and mice, but only up to the preimplantation phase in human beings.[5] the american society for reproductive medicine (2012) recently published a paper stating that artificial embryo splitting to expand the proportion of implanted human being blastocysts used during various infertility therapies constituted an ethical technique. embryo splitting, on the other hand, can only generate a finite number of cloned human beings since the earliest embryo can only be divided so many times and the process never generate a clone of an already living adult. the second method for creating cloned humans is nuclear transfer and does not have the disadvantages of the embryo splitting approach. most of the health problems, such as transplantation or rejection organs, can be treated by cloning the nucleus (nuclear mass/dna) in somatic cells. human cloning using somatic cell nuclear transfer is classified into two categories: reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning.[6] due to the extreme, sociological and psychological considerations involved, human reproductive cloning remains categorically prohibited. a cloned embryo preparing for implantation into a womb must undergo comprehensive molecular testing to determine whether human cloning corresponding author: yaser a. jasim, department of accounting, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: yaser.jasim@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: december 12, 2021 accepted: march 13, 2022 published: may 30, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp53-56 copyright © 2022 yaser a. jasim. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) jasim: a genetic disaster of human cloning: ethical and scientific implications 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 53-56 procedure is healthy and accomplished.[7] human reproductive cloning is considered unethical according to the high risk of death. several theoretical questions, such as the origin of reproduction and human identity, have been posed, which reproductive cloning may contradict. overall, this research examines a variety of scientific and ethical challenges with embryo splitting or nuclear transfer human cloning. bioethics of human cloning bioethics is concerned with the moral implications of using humans and animals in cloning research. it is a new and multidisciplinary area that aids in the understanding and resolution of a variety of ethical dilemmas that arise in the fields of food, medicine, and life sciences.[8] it might be considered as a more effective and helpful method of protecting vulnerable species and reintroducing endangered species. even though some groups argue that goods generated from cloned animals are hazardous, they lack supporting facts.[9] one of the most significant goals of human cloning is to provide a child to a couple who cannot produce a biologically related child. one of the most important advantages of human cloning is that it aids in the elimination of illnesses that run-in families and is handed down through generations.[10] in consideration of recent advances in the field, it is critical to examine and evaluate the ethical implications of human cloning. as a result, stem cell research rules are founded on a cultural concept that provides particular protection to human embryos, but does not provide them the same moral or legal standing as fully formed persons.[11] ethical considerations about human cloning, as well as many religious references, indicate that the discipline of religious ethics is a relatively new development in islam.[12] although muslim researchers have spoken of ethical principles and created significant investigations on the refinement of human character ethics as moral behavior to guide legal judgments on human cloning.[13] various moral and ethical standards reject human cloning such standards impacts on society, children, individuals, and families. these moral behaviors that are used in a particular context and govern a consecutive method of reply based on ethics.[14] the national bioethics advisory commission contacted scientists, theologians, physicians, and others to gather data regarding ethical and moral principles as well as information concerning the safety of the organism generated through somatic cell nuclear transfer, which was the key concern.[15] due to the ethical concerns about cloning, any effort to create genetically identical embryos for clinical use in assisted reproduction, whether by embryo splitting or nuclear transfer from an existing embryo, is ultimately ruled illegal. embryo splitting human cloning approach as preliminary reports, embryo splitting was performed on the genetic abnormal human embryos in the past decades, but the split embryos succumbed after couple cell divisions. there was no further research on human embryo splitting until 2008 when scientists used blastomere biopsies to successfully develop divided human embryos to the blastocyst stage.[16] the scientists divided the cell embryos into four stages, and the four blastomeres recovered were grown separately in an empty zona pellucida. the ontological status of the embryo is a dilemma about what kind of entity embryos are. individual beings, biological humans, or individuals can all be considered embryos.[17] later, illmensee succeeded in developing blastocysts using twin human embryos.[18] recently, nothing is known about the quality of the embryos produced in this manner, and the conclusions are contradictory.[19] embryo splitting is the most standard technique of artificial cloning, in which the blastomeres of an early embryo are separated which forms two or smaller embryos. the first attempts to clone domestic beings included embryo splitting.[20] as keefer revealed that twins may be generated in sheep and cattle when cleavage stage embryos were separated; and demi embryos were transferred into donors.[21] these experiments revealed that triplets and even quadruplets were possible, but only at lower frequencies due to cellular mass loss. researchers have cloned humans by embryo splitting to improve artificial reproduction technologies, and the experiment has been approved by the american society for reproductive medicine’s ethics committee.[16] the quantity of embryos put into the womb increases the likelihood of a successful pregnancy. this technique acceptance by a reputable ethical authority implies that the issue is not necessarily the duplication of human beings.[21] most people believe that studying the causes of infertility and genetic diseases, for example, is values and moral that is likely to be achieved within existing ethical constraints. the use of human embryo models for reproduction, on the other hand, is far more difficult to justify; such applications are still a fair distance off. however, 1 day it may be possible to transplant an embryo produced from (genetically modified) stem cells to a woman’s womb to treat infertility or to avoid genetic disorders.[22] cloning through embryo splitting has been widely utilized in sheep and cattle to improve the output of progeny from genetically high-grade parents, from the 2-cell figure 1: human cloning process[4] jasim: a genetic disaster of human cloning: ethical and scientific implications 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 53-56 stage up to the blastocyst stage. embryo splitting is significantly less effective in mice than sheep due to the distinct pattern of early development. from a scientific standpoint, it is unlikely to be particularly successful in humans, despite the fact that monozygotic twins and greater multiples occur naturally at a low rate.[7] many religions provide numerous guidelines or ideas on how to do things correctly, on how to live. various philosophers presented several ethical principles or concepts, which can be divided into two categories: secular and spiritual. some ethical or moral concepts are classified as secular or western, whereas religion is classified as spiritual. according to islamic religion research, to grasp natural occurrences and the secret truth underlying the universe, one must eventually uncover the truth and witness evidence of allah’s majesty.[12] a theologian and neo platonic philosopher had considerable power in the early christian era. he stated that killing does not apply to animals because they do not object and are not like humans. he believes that because god created animals for the benefit of humans, people should likewise protect animals for their purposes.[9] in previous amphibian cloning experiments, a modified form of the nuclear transfer method was utilized to circumvent the limitations of embryosplitting cloning.[21] nuclear transfer human cloning approach nuclear transfer is the second to clone human beings the entire controversy began with the nuclear transfer cloning of a non-human animal, a simple technique that has created no additional issues. following dolly, scientists cloned at least cows, mice, rats, goats, pigs, bunnies, cats, horses, and dogs using the same technique, generally without chuckling. this technique implies that the issue cannot be found in the utilization of nuclear transfer as such.[16] dolly was an ovine clone who provided somatic cell nuclear transfer (scnt) to an embryo in which the nucleus was removed, and genetic material was introduced. the ethical debate had already begun before successful animal cloning, but it sparked a significant debate and calls for constitutional restrictions on human cloning. one of the major ethical problems raised by successful animal cloning is whether and under what conditions human emulation is permissible.[8] a related topic is the medical use of human cloning for stem cell research. this approach raises difficult ethical and political problems.[23] reproductive cloning is described as using scnt and other technologies to generate offspring within the original person’s shared genetic code. these same experimental approaches are used in therapeutic cloning for treatments other than reproduction such as embryonic stem cell lines or the creation of solid organs for transplant.[6] scnt for therapeutic purposes, in which embryos are not transferred for pregnancy, may provide the data necessary to make reproductive scnt safe and successful.[24] the nuclear transfer technique can be used in a strategy known as therapeutic cloning, which involves the use of embryos in therapy and research. human embryos may be produced to perform a study on anomalies, illnesses, and medication effects. this technique offers up a wide range of options for performing stem cell-related research that would otherwise be impossible to conduct on regular people. a study finding that might be utilized for therapeutic reasons could be the discovery of how to create cloned stem cells that could be used to regenerate damaged tissue in a patient.[25] human embryo research, within nuclear transfer clones, is commonly permitted for the period of 14 days following conception, subsequent culture, and scientific, and clinical usage of human embryonic stem cells is largely authorized in most nations. in terms of ethics, reproduction of humans is at the core of the cloning debate, with the concepts of design notion of enhancing individuals and advancing the human being race.[16] cloning is the process of producing genetic clones of individual organisms by nuclear transfer in animal and human biology. animal clones need advanced reproductive procedures such as microsurgery, embryo culture, and transfer into recipients (surrogate mothers), as depicted in figure 1. more specifically, a nucleus from the donor’s cell is placed in an embryo that its own nuclear dna had extracted (enucleation). this rebuilt embryo is triggered, allowing embryonic development to proceed. embryos created by this method have the potential to produce a living, genetically identical person the following transfer into a recipient, but at low efficiency.[21] future of human cloning philosophical perspectives various arguments take place over time to examine the legitimacy of animal cloning. these arguments have ended to prohibit the use of cloned animal products and to prohibit the use of animal cloning.[9] because of the significant risk of mortality, human being reproductive cloning procedure is considered unethical. numerous conceptual problems have been raised, such as the origin of reproduction and human identity, which reproductive cloning may challenge. considering the practically power growth of society and law with technology, innovation can provide us a foretaste of human cloning. because of the enormous therapeutic benefits of this approach, it is being studied all over the globe, despite the deepest ethical concerns that if recognized and perfected, this technology may be exploited for non-medical purposes as well.[26] since there is no federal legislation prohibiting human reproductive cloning in the united states; rapid progress is predicted soon, particularly in therapeutic cloning. for current therapeutic cloning research in regenerative medicine, organ transplantation is a viable medicinal and ethical justification. in the united states alone, over 114,000 individuals are waiting for organ transplants, with one candidate added every 10 min and 20 people on the waiting list dying every day.[7] nevertheless, the human race comes to whether or not to authorize human cloning, the uk government’s decision to authorize mitochondrial dna transfer was preceded by an open, early discussion including scientists, bioethicists, regulators, and the general public. conclusion overall, a variety of scientific and ethical challenges with embryo splitting or nuclear transfer human cloning emerges three aspects: (1) risk assessment, which entails performing the advantages and drawbacks study of cloning in its many jasim: a genetic disaster of human cloning: ethical and scientific implications 56 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 53-56 forms, as well as their possibilities. this aspect may be a not possible job, but even if it is, scientists must be aware that ethical parameters appeal to expectations and concerns rather than realistic appraisals of well-being; (2) justice, critical assessments of cloning frequently note would benefit couple individuals that it is not worth the expenditure. this aspect might be accurate. however, scientists should look into cloning in light of many ideas of justice; (3) meanings, scientists must closely review the meanings of words and occurrences, as unnaturalness. society considers the benefits of human cloning as another significant element that many people overlook, first, it allows an individual to reproduce and, second, allows experts in the area to create organs that are genetically similar and suitable for any type of transplantation. considering the hazards that human reproductive cloning can pose to the resultant person and society, human being reproductive cloning should be restricted. according to the researchers, if cloning is conducted for medical purposes, it will be deemed an ethical condition and allowed to proceed unless it poses harm to humans or animals. however, if cloning methods are used just for testing and experimentation, they must be prohibited and regarded unethical and illegal. references 1. c. hugo, m. abdulla, i. ahmed, a. assawamakin, j. bhak, s. brahmachari and g. calacal. mapping human genetic diversity in asia. science, vol. 326, no. 5959, pp. 1541-1545, 2009. 2. r. schramm and a. paprocki. strategies for the production of genetically identical monkeys by embryo splitting. reproductive biology and endocrinology, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-5, 2004. 3. s. kiyani and y. munir. the issue of human cloning: a review in semitic religions’ context. al-milal: journal of religion and thought, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 31-49, 2020. 4. h. niemann, w. kues, a. hahn and j. carnwath. somatic cloning and epigenetic reprogramming in mammals. in: principles of regenerative medicine, new york: heslin rothenberg farley and mesiti p.c. pp. 129-158, 2011. 5. b. ma, t. trieu, s. habib and x. chen. protocol for establishing mouse embryonic stem cells to study histone inheritance pattern at single-cell resolution. star protocols, vol. 1, no. 3, p.100178, 2020. 6. l. yaowei, x. wang, q. zhao, x. zhao and m. sun. robotic batch somatic cell nuclear transfer based on microfluidic groove. ieee transactions on automation science and engineering, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 2097-2106, 2020. 7. s. shafique. scientific and ethical implications of human and animal cloning. international journal of science, technology and society, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 9-17, 2020. 8. a. marx. the ethical and scientific debate behind human reproductive cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer, 2018. 9. n. sinha, s. patil, u. kesigan, t. chaitanya, s. panigrahy and g. tandon. ethical concerns in animal cloning: possible risks and assessment. global bioethics enquiry, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 128-135, 2019. 10. r. jain. human cloning: ethical issues and legal implications. indian journal of law and legal research, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 35-46, 2021. 11. y. peng, x. huang and q. zhou. ethical and policy considerations for human embryo and stem cell research in china. cell stem 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levanduski, a. vidali, n. husami and v. goudas. human embryo twinning with applications in reproductive medicine. fertility and sterility, vol. 93, no. 2, pp. 423-427, 2010. 19. m. omidi, m. khalili, a. rahimi, s. nottola, f. anbari, a. faramarzi and m. palmerini. efficacy of the in vitro splitting of human preimplantation embryos from art programs. turkish journal of medical sciences, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 68-75, 2021. 20. k. simmet, e. wolf and v. zakhartchenko. manipulating the epigenome in nuclear transfer cloning: where, when and how. international journal of molecular sciences, vol. 22, no. 1, p. 236, 2020. 21. l. keefer. artificial cloning of domestic animals. proceedings of the national academy of sciences, vol. 112, no. 29, pp. 8874-8878, 2015. 22. n. rivron, m. pera, j. rossant, a. arias, m. goetz, j. fu and s. brink. debate ethics of embryo models from stem cells. nature, vol. 564, no. 7735, pp. 183-185, 2018. 23. p. rastogi and a. kakkar. ethical issues in cloning. journal of critical reviews, vol. 7, no. 10, pp. 996-1000, 2020. 24. ethics committee of the american society for reproductive medicine. human somatic cell nuclear transfer and reproductive cloning: an ethics committee opinion. fertility and sterility, vol. 105, no. 4, pp. e1-e4, 2016. 25. t. grønning. in: cloning. in: the wiley-blackwell encyclopedia of social theory. new york: john wiley and sons, pp. 1-3, 2017. 26. m. nasr-esfahani, k. khanbeigi and a. hasannia. qur’anic views on human cloning (i): doctrinal and theological evidences. international journal of fertility and sterility, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 73-79, 2021. . 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 25-30 research article automatic identification of communication signals using zero-crossing based techniques emanuel s. h. qas marrogy department of communication engineering, al-mansour university college, baghdad, iraq abstract the identification of different types of modulation for any intercepted communication signal out of the vast hierarchy of possible modulation types is a key fundamental before advising a suitable type of demodulator, where this process is usually a manual option. this technique is extremely important for the purposes of communication intelligence. in this paper, a proposed methodology is suggested, validated, and tested (through computer simulations) for the automatic identification of the modulation type (analog and digital) of the intercepted communication signals. the methodology is based on the zero-based representation of signals and utilization of new algorithms for such identification. keywords: zero-crossing, communication signals, modulation, digital signal, analog signal, algorithms introduction the analysis of zero-crossing technique describes one of the several techniques, which make the use of the information pertaining to the locations in time of successive zero-crossing of a time waveform. such techniques have found applications for several signal processing and pattern recognition tasks. some of these tasks include speech analysis and recognition communications applications.[1] each of these applications has its specific features regarding the nature of the zero-crossing data measurements and the features extracted from such data. some applications utilize the number of zero-crossing, the other may count the time interval between successive zeros. by all means, the work of voelcker[2,3] remains the standard source for clearing the essence of zero-based representation of signals. inspired aspirants working under his directions (e.g. takayuki arai and yuichi yoshida)[4] and sekey[5] cleared out some difficult mathematical problems such as uniqueness, sufficiency, and completion, in addition to characterizing several classes of entire functions (ef) amenable to such representations. in this paper, we will try to extend the prowess of zerobased representations to cover important utilities in the field of communication intelligence, namely, the identification of unknown modulation of intercepted signals. further, a tested modulation scheme, based on manipulating the zeros of the baseband and carrier waveforms, will be illustrated. this scheme has been mathematically and experimentally verified to emulate most analog and digital modulation schemes. fundamentals of zero-based representation of signals this subject warrants a due introduction owing to the fact that these techniques have not been very current due to the special mathematics (mainly the theory of ef) and to the difficult problem of interpolating (reconstructing) a signal by virtue of its zero-crossings. in this paper, a brief illustration introduction of zero-based techniques exemplified by displays of actual signals generated and processed by the author by configuring the hewlett-packard spectrum analyzer and the waveform recorder under the control of the hp computer. the author developed the software to affect all the displayed signals illustrated in this paper. a band-limited (bl) signal s(z) is an ef[6] which can be described by the location of its zeros s z s o z zn n ( ) ( ) ( )( )= ∏ −= ∞ 1 1 (1) corresponding author: emanuel s. h. qas marrogy, department of communication engineering, al-mansour university college, baghdad, iraq. e-mail: emanuel.hanna@muc.edu.iq received: apr 04, 2019 accepted: apr 18, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp25-30 copyright © 2019 emanuel s. h. qas marrogy. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) marrogy: automatic identification of communication signals using zero-crossing based techniques 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 25-30 where z = t + j u; a complex variable whose real axis coincides with the real-time axis s (z) along the real axis coincides with s (t)), zn is the location of the nth zero. the time waveform wholly real zero bl signal s (t) corresponding to the equation (1) can be expressed[7] as s t a sin w t tnn m o( ) * ( ( ))( )= ∏ − −=1 2 2 2 (2) where a is a scale factor. equation (2) was utilized to effect the reconstruction of the bl signal shown in the first trace of figure 1. the second trace displays the hard-limited signal of the first trace. the third trace displays the real zeros of the signal, we can express these zero locations as z sgn s sgn s k n k k= − + +∑ [ )( ) ( )] /( )1 2 1 1 (3) where n = the number of samples, sk is the digitized input signal kth in all our experimentation, the number of samples was chosen to be 400 (for due consideration to anti-aliasing). equation (2) was utilized to reconstruct the signal [the fourth trace of figure 1]. conversion of complex zeros into real zeros we note that equation (2) is valid for real zeros only, while real signals can contain, in general, complex zeros. the occurrence of complex zeros affect the “dimensionality[8] of the signal, meaning that the signal cannot be reconstructed by virtue of its real-zeros only without due consideration to its complex zeros, a methodology must exist to transform complex zeros into real zeros to allow signal reconstruction by merit of its real-zero locations. fortunately, several such methodologies do exist. one such method is to add a sine waveform which frequency is equal or greater than the highest frequency component present in the bl signal. the composite signal x(t) can be expressed as x(t) = s(t) + a cos2n (w + 1)t, 0<t<t (4) where w is the single-sided bandwidth. it is easy to show that the composite signal x(t) will have 2 (wt+1) zeros in the time interval between 0 and t. the original signal, s(t), can be recovered by subtracting the added sinusoid from the reconstructed signal s(t) = x(t) a cos2π (w + 1/t)t (5) the previous methodology is illustrated in figure 2. real-zero interpolation the technique of interpolating a minimum – bandwidth waveform to a set of real zero-crossing on the time axis was first described by voelcker[7,3] and dubbed rzi. the real-zero interpolator rzi suggested in the reference quoted, ingenious as it stands. it has been very difficult to implement practices, and the original set comprised more than 300 shift-register chips was very difficult to construct that limited zero-based technique applicability. one of the aims of this paper is to introduce a computer-simulation version, based on the same principle, easy to implement practices to reconstruct wholly real-zero signals from there zero-crossing. we shall base our simulation on the rzi version figure 3. consider the following representation[9] of the real zero signals srz (t) s t re s t e s trz rz j rz( )( ) ( ( ) ( ))= ( (6) assume τo, τ1, τ2……τi. is a sequence of points on “the realtime axis representing the zero-crossing of the bl real zero signal srz (t). the signal which shall be reconstructed from the real zero locations is the real zero component srz (t) of the original signal s(t). the original signal s(t) can be considered as composed of two components srz (t) and scz (t) as follows s(t) = srz (t)*scz (t) (7) where srz (t) is the real zero signal, scz (t) is the complex zero signal. hard limiting the signal s(t) destroys its envelope and produces sgn s t s t s t rz rz rz 1 1 [� ] ���� , ,� ( ) ( ) ( ) � � � = + − > < 0 0 (8) figure 1: waveform regeneration. (1) input signal, (2) hard clipped, (3) real zeros, (4) reconstructed signal figure 2: reconstructing signal from zero-crossing. (1) original signal s(t), (2) composite signal x(t), (3) zeros of x(t), (4) reconstructed x(t), (5) reconstructed signal s(t) marrogy: automatic identification of communication signals using zero-crossing based techniques 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 25-30 we can write equation (5) in the following form srz (t) = srz (t) cosφ (srz) (t)) (9) where φ (srz) is the ‘instantaneous phase’ of srz (t). each zero-crossing is represented by a delta function” at its location, then the following equation holds ϕ δ τ( ( �)) ( � )�s t n trz i= −∑2nr (10) since srz (t) is an ef; its phase and modules are a hilbert transform pair,[6] thus h s t h trz i( ( ( �)) ( � )��ϕ δ τ= − (11) = 1 n t t iδ τ τ ( � ) �( � �� )��� − −∞ ∞ ∫− (12) = � ��� 1 t − applying the general phase-envelope relationships[9] follows that ln s t trz n nr , � �� ( �) � = −∑ 1 2  (13) =h (φ,srz) (t)) (14) thus integrating the output of the hilbert transform network, exponentiating its output and then multiplying it by sgn (srz(t)) yields the interpolated signal. the previous description of the rzi versions of voeicker and sekey is limited practically by the difficulty of realization of a wideband hilbert transform network. computer simulation provides a suitable answer to this problem. computer simulation of the rzi figure 4 illustrates the developed flowchart describing the methodology for realizing real zero interpolation of a minimum bandwidth waveform fitting the real zero input sequence. figure 5 illustrates the simulation results. the first trace is a sinusoidal input clipped to yield the second trace. impulses are added to characterize the third trace. the fourth trace is the hilbert transform output. the reconstructed clipped signal is shown in the fifth trace. it is clear that it coincides with the clipped input signal. figure 3: a real zero interpolator start clipped input signal f(x) detect zero crossing z = sgn (k+1)* sgn (k))/2 x = h (z) y = ∫ � j = exp ( y ) f ( x) j * sgn f (x)) end figure 4: flowchart for the rzi figure 5: temporal waveforms in real zero interpolation. (1) input signal, (2) clipped input signal, (3) real zeros, (4) hilbert,[4] (5) integral,[5] (6) exp,[6] (7) sgn[2] marrogy: automatic identification of communication signals using zero-crossing based techniques 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 25-30 suitable demodulator can be automatically affected. figure 7 illustrates the conceptual proposed configuration which may affect automatic demodulation of unknown interceptions. to experimentally evaluate the concept illustrated above, the following procedure and algorithms were adopted: a. most widely known classical analog and digital modulation waveforms have been computer-simulated, they are zero-crossing processed in the described manner and the identification “feature” extracted; namely, the zero-pattern time course. figure 8 illustrates the results obtained. it is clear from the different processed modulation types (both analog and digital) that a unique zero-pattern is associated with each modulation type unless in some situation they have similar zero-pattern. a library of zero-pattern displays corresponding to each modulation type is thus constructed and stored. b. the real intercepted communication signal is first processed to obtain the relevant zero-pattern, as explained in the previous step. then, the displayed pattern is normalized for the same frequency as the reference pattern. c. the identification is effected automatically by comparing the interception zero-pattern display with figure 6: processing time vrs number of zeros of interception figure 7: block diagram of automatic demodulation figure 8: method of modulation recognition based on zero-pattern time course for practical applications, it would be of consequence to relate the processing (computational) load to the number of zeros necessary for the interpolation procedure and further to evaluate the effect of change of the sample size (n) on this processing time. practical results of such experimentations are exemplified in figure 6. the processing time is approximately linearly related to the zero count. modulation identification methodology based on zeropattern characterization segmenting an input intercepted communication signal into time windows encompassing a sufficiently large number of cycles of the lowest frequency present; corresponding to sufficient sample size, enables us to correlate the timedependence of the number of intercepted zero-crossing with the type of modulation. correctly and automatically identifying the type of modulation of unknown interceptions has been and will always be a subject of paramount importance in both civil and military communications. in this section, the aspirant wishes to present this contribution which is computer methodological processing of received signals (digitized and handed over to the computer), processing them in the manner described in the last section to arrive at the decision characterizing the type. of modulation; provided that it coincides with a pattern stored in a special library. change to in modulation, each coincides signal with a pattern ins stored in special library. by this means effective switching to a marrogy: automatic identification of communication signals using zero-crossing based techniques 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 25-30 figure 9: modulation identification figure 10: dsb signal generation. (1) modulating signal,(2) carrier signal, (3) real zeros, (4) padding zeros, (5) modulation signal figure 11: ask signal generation. (1) binary sequence, (2) carrier wave, (3) real zeros, (4) deleted zeros, (5) ask signal figure 12: psk signal generation. (1) binary sequence, (2) carrier wave, (3) real zeros, (4) deleted zeros, (5) psk signal the corresponding zero-patterns of the constructed modulation-type library in step (a). the algorithm adopted here for identification is the least square approximation. figure 9 illustrates the experimental results obtained. modulation/demodulation by zero manipulation another contribution presented here is a methodology for affecting different modulation/demodulation schemes using zero manipulation. figure 10 illustrates the methodology for generating an am (dsb) modulated waveform. the first and second traces in this figure illustrate computer-simulated base-band (modulating) and carrier waveforms, respectively. the third trace illustrates the processed zero-crossing of the carrier signal. the zeros of the baseband signal are added in the fourth trace, and the resulting zero sequence is applied to the proposed computer-simulated version of the real zero interpolator to yield the am (dsb) modulated waveform shown in the last trace. the same procedure is repeated for ask and psk. the results and procedures are shown in the subsequent figures 11 and 12. it is evident that such methodologies marrogy: automatic identification of communication signals using zero-crossing based techniques 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 25-30 alleviate the need for complex schemes traditionally employed in conventional modulation schemes. the process of demodulation can be affected in an inverse manner by deleting/or adding the zeros of the carrier waveform and real zero interpolating the resulting zero sequence. figure 13 illustrates the methodology and results obtained for demodulating ask-modulated signal. figure 13 is configured in a manner to illustrate the possibility of incorporating such methodology in the design of modems for data transmission. conclusion this paper shows the potency of zero-based techniques in a wide variety of applications. the success in introducing a computer-based version of the rzi may open the door easily implementing schemes, which could otherwise be very complicated and cumbersome. it is left to the reader to evaluate the impact of the ideas presented here for automatic demodulation of intercepted communication signals (without the need for manual switching of a modulation type switch). references 1. k. s. fu. school of electrical engineering purdue university w. lafayette, indiana 47907. in: spoken language generation and understanding: proceedings of the nato advanced study institute held. vol. 59. france: springer science and business media bonas, p. 221, 1979. 2. n. ishikawa and s. sugiura. “unified differential spatial modulation”. ieee wireless communications letters, vol. 3 no. 4, pp. 337-340, 2014. 3. h. voelcker. zero-crossing properties of angle-modulated signals. ieee transactions on communications, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 307315, 1972. 4. h. zhang, a. d. m. palanivelu, r. u. nabar, s. wu and h. l. lou. “united states patent and trademark ofice. u.s. patent no. 8,195,112”. washington, dc: u.s. patent and trademark office, 2012. 5. a. sekey. “a computer simulation study of real-zero interpolation”. ieee transactions on audio and electroacoustic, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 43, 1970. 6. a. v. oppenheim and g. c. verghese. “introduction to communication, control and signal processing”. class notes for signals, systems, and inference. massachusetts: spring massachusetts institute of technology, 2010. 7. a. neubauer and j. niederholz. “u.s. patent and trademark office”. u.s. patent no. 7,564,926. washington, dc: u.s. patent and trademark office, 2009. 8. s. m. kay and r. sudhaker. “a zero crossing-based spectrum analyzer”. ieee transactions on acoustics speech and signal processing, vol. assp-34, no. 1, pp. 96-104, 2009. 9. t. s. tabatabaei, s. krishnan and a. anpalagan. “svm-based classification of digital modulation signals”. ieee international conference on systems, man and cybernetics, oct. 2010, pp. 277-280. figure 13: zero-based ask modem operation. (1) binary sequence, (2) carrier wave, (3) real zeros, (4) deleted zeros, (5) ask signal, (6) ask signal, (7) real zeros, (8) binary sequence tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 6-8 research article series solution for single and system of non-linear volterra integral equations narmeen n. nadir* department of petroleum equipment, erbil technology institute, erbil polytechnic university, erbil, iraqi abstract in this paper, taylor series expansion is used for finding the approximate series solution of single and system of non-linear volterra integral equations of the second kind. the method allows us to overcome the difficulty caused by integrals and non-linearity; also, it has more precise and rapidly convergent to the exact solution. four examples are considered to show the accuracy and efficiency of the method keywords: integral equations, non-linear, taylor expansion, approximate solution introduction one of the most useful aspects of numerical analysis is to study approximate or/and numerical solution of mathematical equations, including differential and integral equations. the integral equation appears in many scientific problems, particularly, engineering problems such as fluid and solid mechanics, for example, potential flow theory, dynamics of population, and elasticity of structures.[1-3] at the end of the 18th century, the volterra integral equation (vie) was introduced by volterra, in which a variable appears at the upper boundary of the integrals, and it has first and second kind.[4] there are very few available techniques to handle the solution of integral equation in general, and non-linear integral equation in particular. therefore, we introduce approximation, because we aim to carry out some mathematical calculation involving these knowing functions such as performing integrations and differentiations. taylor’s expansion is a traditional and very important tools in the approximation theory, in which we can replace certain complicated functions by an approximated and simple polynomial.[5] taylor’s expansion[6] and its properties are used to find an approximated solution of different types of equations. some important, efficient, and classical numerical techniques for solving different equations are based on the taylor series expansion, for instance, euler method, modified euler method, and fourth-order runge–kutta method.[7-10] many works for finding a numerical solution of nonlinear vies have been proposed (see[11-13]). kanwel and liu[14] presented an algebraic technique based on the taylor expansion technique to find solution of linear integral equation, while saeed[5] used this expansion to treat system of linear problems, including volterra and fredholm integral equations and integrodifferential equations. in this study, we are concerned with the use of taylor series expansion to find an approximate series solution of the single and system of non-linear vies of the second kind, that is, u x v x k x t u t dt a x ( ) ( ) ( , , ( )) ,� � � (1) where v(x) is known, and it is continuous and differentiable on the given domain (a, b), and, u(x) is undetermined and required function, and k (x, t, u(t)) is called kernel function and continuous with respect to the three variables x, t and u(t) on the domain a≤x≤b, a≤t≤x. solution of equation (1) by taylor expansion expand u(x) in taylor series expansion at x=c, i.e. corresponding author: narmeen n. nadir, department of petroleum equipment, erbil technology institute, erbil polytechnic university, erbil, iraqi e-mail: narmeen1712@gmail.com received: jan 12, 2020 accepted: feb 16, 2020 published: jul 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n2y2020.pp6-8 copyright © 2020 narmeen n. nadir. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) nadir: solution for single and system of non-linear volterra integral equations 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 6-8 u x i x a u ai i i ( ) ! ( ) ( )( )� � � � � 1 0 (2) hereafter, we will attempt to find u (a), u’ (a), u” (a). when we put x=a, in equation (1) we have u (a)=v (a). take the first derivative for equation (1) with respect to x using generalized leibnitz formula[9] and get the different equations such as first-order approximation which is known as euler’s method, second-order approximation which is called predictor-corrector or modified euler method and fourth-order approximation which is called fourth runge–kutta scheme.[7-10] in this paper, we were concerned to use the taylor series expansion (2) to find an approximate solution of the nonlinear vie of the second kind. therefore � � � � � ��u x v x k x t u t dt k x x u x a x ( ) ( ) ( , , ( )) ( , , ( )), (3) when we put x=a, in this equation we have � � � �u a v a k a a u a( ) ( ) ( , , ( )) . again, to find u” (a), differentiate equation (3) with respect to x and get �� � �� � �� � ��u x v x k x t u t dt k x x u x a x ( ) ( ) ( , , ( )) ( , , ( ))2 (4) again, when setting x=a, in equation (4) we get �� � �� � �u a v a k a a u a( ) ( ) ( , , ( ))2 , and so on we repeat this process n-time to obtain u a u a nk a a u an n n( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( ) ( , , ( ))� � �1 , n=1, 2,…. (5) putting the values of equation (5) for n=1, 2,… in the taylor series expansion (2) in the order, we can obtain the finite and approximate series solution of equation (1). numerical examples example 1 consider the problem u x x x e e u t dtt x t t a x ( ) ( )( ( ))( )� � � �� ��1 2 2 22 where the exact solution is u x ex( ) .= 2 solution: by using the procedure in section two, where a=0, we obtained u u u( ) , ( ) , ( ) ,( ) ( )0 1 0 2 0 122 4= = = u u( ) ( )( ) , ( ) ,6 80 120 0 1680= =  and u u u u( ) ( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ...1 3 5 70 0 0 0 0= = = = = . using all these values in the taylor series expansion (2), we arrive u x x x x x x n n ( ) � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � 1 2 6 24 2 2 2 2 3 2 4 2  this equation is the nth partial sum of the maclaurin series of ex 2 . example 2 consider the non-linear vie u x u t t dt x ( ) ( ) � � �� 1 10 where the actual solution is u(x)=x and v(x)=0. solution: from equation (5), when x=0 we obtain u u u u u n( ) , ( ) , ( ) , ( ) ,..... ( )( ) ( ) ( )0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 02 3� � � � � � using all these obtained values in the taylor series expansion in (2) to arrive, the exact solution u(x)=x. this approach also can be exploited for solving system of non-linear vie by using lebibntz generalized formula[15] which state that: d dx k x t u t dt x k x t u t dt k x b a x b x a x b x ( , , ( )) ( , , ( )) ( , ( ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) � � � � � � xx u b x db x dx k x a x f a x da x dx ), ( ( ))) ( ) ( , ( ), ( ( ))) ( ) � (6) in this investigation a(x)=a is constant and b(x)=x, therefore (6) reduce to d dx k x t u t dt x k x t u t dt k x x a x b x b x a x ( , , ( )) ( , , ( )) ( , , ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) � � � � � � uu x( )) (7) we can use this principle to convert initial or boundary value problem into an integral equation. for instance, suppose we the following initial value problem �� � �u x k x u x u x( ) ( , ( ), ( )) (8) with u(a)=u0 and u’(a)=u1 are given. take integral for both side of (8), we get �� � � � � � � � �u t dt k t u t u t dt t a t x t a t x ( ) ( , ( ), ( )) (9) use principle of (7) for both side of (9), we obtain � � � � � � �u x u k t u t u t dt t a t x ( ) ( , ( ), ( ))1 (10) take integral again for both side of (10), we can rewrite (10) as, � �� � � �� ��u t u dt k z u z u z dzdx a x a z a x ( ) ( , ( ), ( ))1 (11) u x u a u x a x a k z u z u z dz a x ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( , ( ), ( ))� � � � � ��1 nadir: solution for single and system of non-linear volterra integral equations 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 6-8 thus, we get, u x u a u x a x a k z u z u z dz v x x a k t a x ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( , ( ), ( )) ( ) ( ) ( , � � � � � � � � � �1 uu t u t dt a x ( ), ( ))�� which is non-linear of the second kind and v(x)= v(a)+ u1(x−a). in addition, equation (7) can be used for each equation in the system of non-linear vies as illustrated in the following two examples. example 3[16] consider the following system u x e x t u t dt u x xe e t e x x x x x u 1 2 0 2 2 2 0 2 1 4 1 4 2 1 1 ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) � � � � � � � � � � �� � (( )t dt where actual solution u x x1 1 2 ( ) � � and u x ex2( ) .= u1 (0)=1 and u2 (0)=1 � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � u x e x x t u t dt x x u x u x e x x x 1 2 2 2 0 2 2 2 1 2 ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) �� � � � � � � �� � ��xe e x t e dt x ex x x u t u x2 0 2 21 1( ) ( ) so, � � � � �u u1 20 1 2 0 1( ) ( )and �� � �� �u u1 20 0 0 1( ) ( ) .and by continuing in this process, we can the exact solution. example 4 consider the following system u x x x u t u t dt u x x x u t x x 1 1 2 0 2 2 2 1 2 0 3 ( ) sec( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) tan( ) ( ) � � � � � � � � � �� u t dt2 2( ) with exact solution u1 (x)=sec(x) and u2 (x)=tan(x). u1 (0)=1 and u2 (0)=1 � � � � � � �� � � ��u x x x x u t u t dt u x u x x 1 1 2 2 2 0 1 2 2 21( ) sec( ) tan( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )) ( ) sec ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( � � � � � � � � �� � � ��u x x x u t u t dt u x u x x 2 2 1 2 2 2 0 1 2 2 23 1 ))� � so, � � � �u u1 20 0 0 1( ) ( )and by the same manner, we can get the exact solution. conclusion taylor series expansion was applied successfully to find an approximate or exact series solution of single and system of non-linear vies in the second kind. the method was tested by taking four numerical examples and good results were obtained. we also conclude that the solution obtained by taylor series expansion is given by a function and not only at some points and numerical computations of this method are simple and the convergence is satisfactory. references 1. j. l. hess. review of integral-equation techniques for solving potential-flow problems with emphasis on the surface-source method. computer methods in applied mechanics and engineering, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 145-196, 1975. 2. s. a. edalatpanah and e. abdolmaleki. a new collocation method for systems of nonlinear fredholm integral equations. applied mathematics and physics, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 15-18, 2014. 3. h. ibrahim, f. attah, g. t. gyegwe. on the solution of volterrafredholm and mixed volterra-fredholm integral equations using the new iterative method. applied mathematics, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-5, 2016. 4. a. m. wazwaz. linear and nonlinear integral equations. berlin: springer, 2011. 5. r. k. saeed. computational methods for solving system of linear volterra integral and integro-differential equations (doctoral dissertation, ph. d. thesis, university of salahaddin/ erbil-collage of science), 2006. 6. p. j. davis. interpolation and approximation. new york: dover publication, inc., 1975. 7. k. e. atkinson. an introduction to numerical analysis. 2nd ed. hoboken, new jersey: john wiley and sons, 2008. 8. s. c. chapra, r. p. canale. numerical methods for engineers. 4th ed. boston: mcgraw-hill higher education, 2010. 9. e. w. cheney, d. r. kincaid. numerical mathematics and computing. monterey county: cengage learning, brooks/cole publishing company, 2012. 10. g. hall, j. m. watt. modern numerical methods for ordinary differential equations. oxford: oxford university press, 1976. 11. c. t. baker, g. f. miller. treatment of integral equations by numerical methods: based on the proceedings of a symposium held in durham from 19-29 july, 1982, organized under auspices of the london mathematical society. london: academic press, 1982. 12. l. m. delves, j. walsh. numerical solution of integral equations. oxford, england: claredon press oxford, 1974. 13. o. a. faour. solving non-linear integral equations using (b2-spline) function. journal of university of babylon for pure and applied sciences, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 372-377, 2002. 14. r. p. kanwal, k. c. liu. a taylor expansion approach for solving integral equations. international journal of mathematical education in science and technology, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 411-414, 1989. 15. a. j. jerry. introduction to integral equations with applications, a series of monographs and textbooks. new york: marcel dekker, inc., 1985. 16. a. m. wazwaz. the modified decomposition method for analytic treatment of non-linear integral equations and systems of nonlinear integral equations. international journal of computer mathematics, vol. 82, no. 9, pp. 1107-1115, 2005. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 review article on the development of a multilayered agent-based heuristic system for vehicle routing problem under random vehicle breakdown anees m. abu-monshar1, ammar f. al-bazi1*, qusay h. al-salami2 1faculty of engineering, environment and computing, coventry university, coventry, united kingdom, 2department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract with the recent technological advancement, the dynamic vehicle routing problem is becoming more applicable. however, almost all of the researches in this field limited the source of dynamism from the order side instead of the vehicle and the adoption of inflexible tools that are mainly designed for the static problem, considering multiple random vehicle breakdowns complicate how to adapt and distribute the workload to other functioning vehicles. in this ongoing phd research, a proposed multilayered agent-based model (abm) and a modeling framework on dealing with such disruptive events in a continuous reactive manner. the model is partially constructed and experimented, with a developed clustering rule, on two randomly generated scenarios for validation. the rule achieved reasonable order allocation to vehicles and reacted to different problem sizes by rejecting orders over the model capacity. this allocation shows a promising path in fully adopting the abm model in this dynamic problem. keywords: agent-based modeling, dynamic, vehicle routing, breakdown, heuristic introduction technological advancements in computing and communication are believed to influence how businesses are operated significantly. the internet of things concept is one of the main drivers in revolutionizing business processes by supplying physical objects with electronic devices that will allow for real-time control and monitoring of such objects.[1] the “industrie 4.0” concept further supports such a revolution by providing more customized services efficiently.[2] the transportation and logistics fields are far from these transformational concepts as they are one of the main themes for potential integration.[3] vehicle routing problem (vrp) is one of the well-known logistical problems extended from the travelling salesman problem (tsp) to accommodate additional constraints. the problem was first seen in 1959 by dantzig and ramser,[4] concerned about providing vehicles to visit customers’ locations starting and ending at a depot. other variants of the problem were later introduced: capacitated vehicles, time window constraint, multiple depots, and pick-up before delivery.[5] vrp is proven to be np hard,[6] and solutions adopted are mainly (meta)-heuristics that provide near-optimal routes; for example, solomon[7] adopted an insertion heuristic for vrp with time window and schneider[8] adopted tabu search (ts). although vrp problems have been well-explored, it is only the static type of the problem that has been researched and recent research interested in shifting toward the online and dynamic problem.[9] several pieces of research have been done on the dynamic vehicle routing problem (dvrp); however, it only focused on updates to customer orders, new orders, or cancellation, rather than disruptions in vehicle operations. furthermore, solutions adopted in such dynamic problems are still inspired by the classical and static vrp, making them inflexible in adopting changes. therefore, the agent-based modeling (abm) approach is proposed to dvrp under breakdown due to the responsive and flexible approach in producing solutions in such a dynamic context. this paper addresses this dynamic breakdown problem due to its applicability to recover optimal schedule and routes of a logistical operation where vehicle failures occur or when corresponding author: ammar f. al-bazi, faculty of engineering, environment and computing, coventry university, coventry, united kingdom. e-mail: aa8535@coventry.ac.uk received: feb 26, 2021 accepted: may 07, 2021 published: may 20, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n1y2021.1-10 copyright © 2021 ammar f. al-bazi, anees m. abu-monshar, qusay h. al-salami. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) abu-monshar, et al.: vehicle breakdown in dvrp 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 drivers have problems.[10] the main contribution of this paper is to introduce a novel multilayered agent-based heuristic system for the breakdown vrp problem that solves the breakdown instant by first clustering customers then generating vehicle routes. the rest of the paper is organized as follows: section ii states the problem under study. section iii provides a selection of literature papers relevant to this work in the area of dvrp. section iv justifies using the abm approach in dvrp and presents related work. section v presents the two-layered abm approach, and the modeling framework specifically adapted to the dynamic vehicle breakdowns in the routing problem. section vi provides preliminary results for the partially developed abm model under two problem scenarios. finally, section vii draws the conclusion and future research recommendation. problem statement in a classical vrp with both delivery and parcel collections, vehicles are routed to specific customer locations starting and ending at their representative depots. however, one vehicle or more of the operating fleet might face random disruptions at any time and location while in service. as a result, an issue would arise of sharing the disrupted vehicle workload with the remaining in-service vehicles. this workload is represented by parcels initially supposed to be delivered to/collected from customers by the disrupted vehicle. figure 1 presents this type of vehicle disruption problem. figure 1 shows a set of in-service vehicles scheduled routes, represented by the solid arrows. these scheduled routes have been determined by considering vehicle capacity constraint, customer time window availability, demand quantity of either delivery or collection, and the required servicing time. in terms of distance and time, these original routes’ costs depend on the sequence of customers in the routes. however, a major vehicle breakdown might occur randomly during the scheduled routes and result in some unserved customers. to mitigate the problem, the other in-service vehicles’ routes could be rescheduled to visit the location of the disrupted vehicle that is considered here as a collection point to collect only the delivery load and consider the new reschedule route aiming to minimize these unserved customers. the dotted arrows indicate the rescheduled route by considering the visit to the disrupted vehicle, taking its workload, fully or partially, as well as serving its remaining customers. considering a case with more than 2 vehicles complicates the problem even more, especially when this unpredicted disruption of more than 1 vehicle happens continuously overtime, deciding which and how many of the operating vehicles to perform the visit to the disrupted vehicle(s) as well as how many of the load to burden given the original problem constraints. further complications will arise if the breakdown event occurs again after producing the new rearranged routes. previous work on dvrp since the evolvement of dvrp from the static and traditional problem, it has focused mainly on the source of dynamism from the customer’s side, meaning orders that are revealed dynamically and require immediate replanning. an example of such a problem can be seen in gendreau et al.,[11] where they adopted an insertion heuristic to accommodate newly revealed customers, and ts would improve the overall solution. a good review of dynamic order vrp has been provided by pillac et al.[9] and their adopted solution strategies. this section, however, will provide studies of vrps or similar that encountered vehicle disruptions. a few studies have been conducted on vrp under breakdown; however, they are still limited in terms of how these disruption events are introduced and modeled. vehicle breakdown was first seen in a scheduling context in studies done by li et al.[12] and mirchandani and borenstein[13] as vehicle rescheduling problem (vrsp). they considered that the disrupted vehicle has to be visited by another vehicle to collect its load. they proposed a decision support system (dss) for human schedulers to follow when a disruption occurs. the dss generates possible feasible networks then selects the most suitable ones, in terms of delay minimization, using an auction algorithm. in their later work,[14] they adopted a lagrangian relaxation approach along with column generation (cg) that resulted in better solutions compared to the previously developed dss. the same lagrangian approach was also applied to a simple routing problem (vrp).[15] however, their latest proposed approach faced performance limitation when applied to large-scale problems. furthermore, they only introduced a vehicle disruption once during the model run and were predetermined earlier, making it not dynamic. pandi et al.[15] introduced a breakdown problem to a diala-ride problem, where people are transported from pickup to delivery locations, and proposed a graphics processing unit computed extensive neighborhood search that is triggered every time a breakdown occurs to minimize the fleet size. the approach resulted in improved vehicle utilization and reduced operational costs under disruption with efficient computing compared to cpu-based approaches. mu et al.[16] based their work on li et al.;[15] however, it deals with delivering a single commodity that does not require a visit to the disrupted vehicle. they adopted a method of heuristic insertion of the disrupted customers, resulted from figure 1: problem visualization abu-monshar, et al.: vehicle breakdown in dvrp 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 the disrupted vehicle, and then improved the solution using ts. compared to the exact method, the approach provided a slight cost increase to minimize the number of vehicles, and total distance traveled from the optimal solution. however, the problem understudy was also limited to 1 time pre-specified vehicle disruption. minis also adopted another heuristic/meta-heuristic approach, mamasis and zeimpekis,[17] for a vrp under breakdown with an objective adopted from the team orienteering problem that aims at maximizing customers served. disrupted customers are sought to be routed by an insertion heuristic then compared to an extensive genetic algorithm (ga) approach that allows more time to generate feasible solutions. in a later work,[18] the authors consider a single commodity delivery with a possibility of visiting the disrupted customers for load replenishment. in both papers, the only heuristic approach has slightly costly deviation compared to develop ga making the heuristic approach more responsive. however, an assumption has been made that only one breakdown occurs and is pre-specified, and accordingly, the optimization is done once per problem. van der merwe et al.[19] studied the problem of wildfire responses in the form of vrp under a vehicle breakdown to maximize coverage and minimize deviations from the original plan. they proposed a biobjective mixed integer programming (mip) adapted to the problem after the breakdown and limited the solution time for 30 min. experimental problems with 30, 40, 50, and 60 nodes were considered, each with 10 vehicles. solution for problem sizes of 40 and above could not be produced as mip need more time to search for the optimal solution. the mip approach is limited, and, in the case of multiple random breakdowns, the method would not be applicable. seyyedhasani and dvorak[20] tackled a vrp problem in an agricultural context where land is needed to be harvested using vehicles, and the aim is to minimize the time needed. they considered a problem with three vehicles with a breakdown introduced in one of them at 25%, 50%, or 75% completion of the land. ts is considered an initial solution provided by a saving heuristic.[21] although the approach provided an optimal solution, the problem considered is small, and an assumption of pre-specifying when the breakdown would occur limits the problem. moreover, the solution adopted is restricted to such 1 time optimization per problem. it is necessary to differentiate between vehicle routing and scheduling problems. scheduling explicitly specifies when a vehicle should arrive at a node while routing does not.[22] this specification makes the routing problem much complex as it searches for a more extensive solution space. all the papers mentioned previously are routing problems (vrp), except for borenstein and mirchandani,[12] li et al.,[13] and li et al.,[14] as they are rescheduling problems (vrsp). van lieshout et al.[23] extended the work in li et al.[14] for vrsp by “softening” the time window constraint to maximize the served customers. they proposed iterative neighborhood exploration, resulting in 60% reduction in orders cancellation. however, the problem under study is still limited to one predetermined breakdown. guedes and borenstein[24] also considered vrsp, however, with multiple depots and heterogeneous vehicles aiming to minimize travel costs and the deviations from the original plan due to driver’s familiarity with the routes. a heuristic framework approach has been proposed with truncated cg that does not repeatedly generate columns when the solution is not improving. the approach was tested on large-sized problems (up to 2500 nodes) then applied on a real-life bus transit case study and produced a good quality solution for such a large-sized problem in <3 min. on the other hand, the event of disruption is explicitly specified at a time of the day. the disruption affects up to three vehicles simultaneously. dávid and krész[25] were the only authors to consider the vehicles’ disruption events to be fully randomized across the whole period of the modeling, making the problem fully dynamic. the problem considered is a scheduling problem (dvrsp) routing aiming to minimize the deviation from the original plan. they studied two heuristic approaches, recursive search and local search, and they both resulted in solutions less than 15% in plan deviations. although the problem considered random vehicles’ breakdown over the operating time horizon, it is a scheduling problem and not routing. based on this review, all the previous studies only consider 1 time rescheduling or rerouting per problem and do not consider continuous time optimization for any random breakdown instant introduced to the problem this paper addresses. agent-based in dvrp most of the tools and techniques used in vrp are adopted from the traditional or techniques: exact, heuristics, and metaheuristics.[26] on the other hand, fischer et al.[27] argued that such static methods are not suitable to the dynamic problem and not flexibility adapted due to the need to react to system events while running; they propose the abm to dvrp. mes et al.[28] further supported the use of abm in dvrp, arguing that the traditional or techniques are sensitive to newly emerged information and time consuming. abm is a powerful tool because it models the entities of the system as agents that have rational sense and autonomy for making rulebased decisions.[29] abm has been applied previously in dvrp. kuhn et al.[30] were the first to adopt such an approach in this problem context with agents of orders and trucks governed by a bidding rule. their work has been taken further by different authors. fischer et al.[27] introduced cooperation rule across companies (depots) for order and capacity sharing. kohout and erol[31] added a verifier agent and adopted solomon’s insertion heuristic and bidding rule. zeddini et al.[32] adopted a continuous optimization strategy in which the model reacts instantly when a dynamic event occurs. mes et al.[28] adopted a more decentralized approach by involving companies (depots) less in the bidding process or rule. barbucha and jȩdrzejowicz[33,34] developed an agent architecture that has a solution manager as an agent and adopted a heuristic approach for optimization, moreover, in their later work barbucha[35] and barbucha,[36] they adopted meta-heuristics along with abm. barbucha[37] proposed a multiagent system for dvrp abu-monshar, et al.: vehicle breakdown in dvrp 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 with a meta-heuristic improvement approach of guided local search. vokřínek et al.[38] applied prioritizing rules on the arrived customer orders considering the capacity constraint, while in a later work,[39] rule based on time window has been applied. maciejewski and nagel[40] adopted a more centralized abm approach where routing is optimized centrally by an optimizer agent. gath et al.[41] involved depth-first branchand-bound method within each vehicle agent as a tsp for bid calculation. finally, nambiar and indicula[42] proposed a different architecture of agents; data agent that deals with information update in the system, control agent who deals with the optimization using both k-means clustering and ant colony optimization, in addition to the vehicle agents that execute routes. all of the abm approaches proposed for dvrp previously are limited to orders as the only source of dynamism in the system. no one has adopted the approach in a dynamic vehicle disruption context. multilayered agent-based heuristic system this section explains the proposed methodology to solve the dvrp under vehicle disruption. the main challenge here is how to deal with such disruptions and is addressed by developing a modeling framework that is flexible enough to accommodate the resource changes. input-process-output (ipo) before developing the framework, an ipo model has been adopted to define the scope of the model first. the ipo is mainly concerned about the given problem inputs and the type of process performance indicators represented in the output. figure 2 provides a general overview of such ipo considering the two-layered abm that will be explained in the following subsection. agent input data will be provided from the inputs to determine each agent’s unique attributes. first, order agents will have a demanded quantity, location, time window, and servicing time and type (collection/delivery). second, vehicle agents will have a specific type, constrained capacity, home depot location, and availability from the operating shifts. finally, drivers have a specific skill that dictates which type of vehicle to drive, home location, availability, and previous experience. each agent has a unique id. the inputs will be fed first to the first agent-based layer where a representative agent instance of each order, vehicle and driver will be initiated, then a set of rules will govern how drivers will be assigned to the vehicle, and another set of rules will dictate how orders will be allocated to the previously assigned vehicles and drivers. such rules will be explained later in this paper. this layer will result in clusters; each consists of orders with one driver and one vehicle. clusters data resulting from the first layer will be used to initiate cluster agents in the second. this layer will be concerned about routing orders and optimizing the allocation across other cluster agents based on a predetermined set of rules. this layer will calculate the time advancement in the model by marking which orders have been served. provided aq2 the nature of the problem, the abm layer 2 is assigned to model the random and continuous disruptions of vehicles during their run. the framework in the following subsection will deal with such a disruption event. the output of the second layer and the process output will be the clustering solutions and key performance indicators (kpi) to evaluate the developed approach. the output would be customers grouping and sequencing, the allocation of drivers and vehicles, in addition to kpis: number of vehicles utilized, each vehicle utilization, each driver idle time, and the unsatisfied customers. abm framework under vehicle breakdown when a vehicle faces a breakdown, it has to be withdrawn from the model for the breakdown period. as a result, its previous cluster allocation will be invalid and requires modification. figure 3 illustrates a proposed modeling framework specializing in dealing with breakdown and its required modeling changes. it has been mentioned in the previous section that breakdowns are faced in the second layer during the model time progression. this breakdown needs to be dealt with by updating the corresponding vehicle agent in the first layer, represented by the red arrow, to update the cluster agent that utilizes the disrupted vehicles seen by the blue dotted arrow between the first layer and the cluster agent. this latest update will be concerned about changing the cluster’s optimization strategy from a two-way exchange strategy, which allows it to give and take orders to/from other clusters before the breakdown to only one way allows it to give its orders to other clusters. this strategy change will be put into action once reported to the second layer of the abm, represented by the blue dotted arrow from the cluster agent. figure 4 illustrates how the implementation is done for the two strategies. both exchange policies are governed by a set of optimizing and predefined rules. if the cluster is emptied from orders, the second layer will report to the cluster agent to be deactivated, represented by the blue dotted arrow on the right in figure 3. if the cluster was not emptied, it would remain in the second layer with a one-way exchange policy for possible future consideration of its orders by other clusters, and in case, these remaining orders are not allocated, they noted at unserved. after considering the reallocations, the model is ready to be rerun and serve the new allocation form. the model will also be flexible enough to accommodate another random vehicle breakdown event. sequence messaging to implement the abm model, sequencing of agents’ collaboration is needed, and its logic can be illustrated using a uml sequence diagram, also known as agent messaging.[43] the messaging diagram for the developed model is shown in figure 5. the super-agent initiates the sequence by allowing vehicles to seek drivers and then receiving driver assignment. accordingly, possible orders allocations are sought then the ram for computer rectangle abu-monshar, et al.: vehicle breakdown in dvrp 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 on forming the cluster agents, each will perform the twoway exchange for optimization purposes and determine its next order to serve. once the next node has been approved, the driver agents are notified to drive the vehicle to the order location then perform the order service to be then marked as complete. in case of a random breakdown, a reporting message from the cluster agent to the super-agent to dismiss the vehicle and driver agents affected by the disruption, in addition to cluster policy change to one-way exchange. agent collaboration rules it has been previously stated that a set of rules will be governing the decisions in this abm framework. this section will explicitly state the proposed rules categorized based on the stage of its use. table 1 shows the proposed abm rules in each of their categories. this work is still ongoing research; therefore, abm rules are still not fully developed to comprehend the logic of solving the dynamic vehicle vrp. the first category of rules is the allocation rules that deal with allocating drivers to vehicles. five rules have been proposed: the first rule looks into the driver with the most availability and is allocated first to a vehicle. the second rule seeks vehicles with the most availability to be selected first. the third rule may prioritize experienced high drivers in the allocation due to their route and order servicing familiarity. vehicle agent reports the vehicle-driver-orders grouping to the super-agent to initiate the second layer’s cluster agents. figure 2: the proposed input-process-output model figure 3: agent-based model modeling framework under vehicle breakdown figure 4: cluster strategy change before and after a breakdown abu-monshar, et al.: vehicle breakdown in dvrp 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 the last two rules in allocation are trying to utilize the earliest operating drivers and vehicles first. clustering rules, on the contrary, deal with orders assignment to the vehicle-driver allocations. such assignment may be based on prioritizing orders with their earliest early time window, location to the vehicle-driver, or both. adopting both rules can be seen in the pseudocode represented in figure 6. from this pseudo-code, it can be seen that it prioritizes the order with the earliest early time window to be allocated first to a near vehicle, considering the vehicle’s time and capacity constraints. this process will be repeated until either the orders are assigned or the vehicles are fully utilized. notations: • oi: ith order • qi: ith order demanded quantity • (ei, li): ith order time window • o: orders list • vi: ith vehicle-driver • ci: ith vehicle constraint capacity • cai: ith vehicle allocated capacity • (ai, bi): ith vehicle-driver operating shift • v: vehicle-driver entities list routing rules are concerned with making decisions with the cluster agent to serve next. a decision could be based on the earliest early time window, nearest to the current drivervehicle location, or with the earliest possible arrival time. the latest rule is represented by a pseudocode shown in figure 7, where it performs calculations of possible arrival time for each order in the cluster list then sorting them based on the earliest arrival time. the rule then allocates the earliest order arrival if it satisfies the time window constraint. notations: • oi: ith order • (ei, li): ith order time window • oc: remaining orders in the cluster list • to: time needed to reach the ith order • ct: current time • arri: arrival time at the ith order as this is still ongoing research, more work has to be done to develop rules in each category. another category will be added concerned with the exchange rules among cluster agents. figure 5: agents messaging sequence table 1: rules categories allocation rules 1. driver with longest operating shift 2. vehicle with longest operating shift 3. driver with the most experience 4. driver with the earliest operating shift 5. vehicle with the earliest operating shift clustering rules 1. earliest early time window 2. nearest vehicle-driver 3. both with early time window priority routing rules 1. earliest early time window 2. nearest order 3. earliest arrival time figure 6: clustering rule based on earliest time window and distance abu-monshar, et al.: vehicle breakdown in dvrp 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 experimentation and results analysis the abm system has been partially developed, without vehicle breakdown, representing only order and vehicle agents using python to represent these agents. only one rule has been tested: the pseudocode shown in figure 6 represents orders allocation with early time window and location priorities. two scenarios have been randomly generated; the first is with 200 customers while the other is 500. both problems have 25 vehicles. performing experiments with many customers is to validate the developed rule. the problem map of both of the problems is represented in figures 8 and 9, respectively. for each problem, an allocation solution is provided by generating a color-coded allocation map where each color represents a group of orders and one vehicle, number of customers allocated to vehicles chart and vehicle capacity utilization chart. for problem 1, the system has generated an allocation solution shown in the color-coded map (figure 10). it can be seen that this rule works successfully in providing reasonable allocation of orders concerning their location, although the rule prioritizes the early time window first. all customers have been allocated for this particular problem, and there are no missing customers. figure 11 illustrates how many orders have been allocated to each vehicle. this allocation indicates the amount of workload needed from each vehicle, given that the vehicle has to travel across all its allocated customers. for example, vehicle 1 has been allocated five customers meaning it might be obliged to travel 6 times given that it should end at the depot. figure 12 shows the capacity utilization of each vehicle. since each customer has a specific demand to be either collected or delivered; hence, it is vital to consider the vehicle’s capacity in the allocation process. it can be seen that most of the vehicles are highly utilized, above 60%, while only three vehicles have utilization below 60%. this utilization can be judged to be a higher quantity loaded problem. contrary to the previous problem, the number of customers generated is increased to 500 to test the validity of the proposed clustering rule. figure 9 shows the problem figure 10: problem 1 allocated map figure 7: routing rule based on earliest arrival time figure 8: problem 1 map figure 9: problem 2 map figure 11: problem 1: number of customers allocated to each vehicle abu-monshar, et al.: vehicle breakdown in dvrp 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 2 map, which is highly dense due to the over generation of customers within this limited map setting. figure 13 illustrates the allocation of each order to which vehicle. it can be noticed that there are 99 unallocated customers, represented in black, this is explained because of the massive customers’ increase, and the number of vehicles is the same compared to the previous problem. the number of allocated customers per vehicle has increased, as shown in figure 14, as the increased demand pushed the clustering rule for more allocations to vehicles. for each vehicle capacity, the vehicles in this problem have been pushed to nearly 100% capacity utilization. figure 15 shows the utilization of each vehicle in this problem. only four vehicles did not reach a full 100% utilization. it can be noted that the proposed clustering rule is functioning as indented within the partially developed abm model with the only customer and vehicle agents. it provides simple allocation considering the capacity and time constraints of the vehicles and their possible adoption to different problem sizes by rejecting the customers over the overall capacity. conclusion and future work this paper adopted the abm approach to propose a framework that deals with vrp under dynamic vehicle breakdowns in continuous time. modeling this problem is a promising opportunity to be more agile and responsive to dynamic, disruptive events in transportation and logistics. the proposed abm model consists of two layers: the first is to generate clusters consisting of group of order agents allocated to vehicle and driver agents, the second deal with running the model, routing, and optimization by representing the clusters using clusters agents. a set of rules has also been proposed to govern the agents’ interaction in the model. as this work is still ongoing research, the model proposed here is partially developed that represent only vehicle and customers agents without breakdowns, and only one rule, a clustering rule, has been programmed and tested on two different problem scenarios of different numbers of customers, 200 and 500. the rule has produced good order allocation results by utilizing the vehicles time availability and capacity and neglecting customers who are considered over the overall capacity. the resulted average customer allocation is 3.2 for the small problem compared to 4.04 for the bigger problem. on the other hand, vehicle utilization is less the small problem, with only 8 out of 25 are fully utilized compared to 21 in the bigger problem. future work aims to develop the abm model by further programming the agents with random breakdowns and further figure 12: problem 1: each vehicle capacity utilization figure 14: problem 2: 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approach to the dvrp with gls improvement procedure. singapore: intelligent decision technologies, pp. 117-126, 2020. 38. j. vokřínek, a. komenda and m. echouček. agents towards vehicle routing problems. in: proceedings of the 9th international conference on autonomous agents and multiagent systems, pp. 773-780, 2010. 39. p. kalina and j. vokřínek. parallel solver for vehicle routing and pickup and delivery problems with time windows based abu-monshar, et al.: vehicle breakdown in dvrp 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 1-10 on agent negotiation. 2012 ieee international conference on systems man and cybernetics, pp. 1558-1563, 2012. 40. m. maciejewski and k. nagel. towards multi-agent simulation of the dynamic vehicle routing problem in matsim. in: r. wyrzykowski, j. dongarra, k. karczewski and j. waśniewski, (eds.), parallel processing and applied mathematics. vol. 7204. berlin, heidelberg: springer berlin heidelberg, pp. 551-560, 2012. 41. m. gath, s. edelkamp and o. herzog. agent-based dispatching in groupage traffic. singapore, singapore: 2013 ieee symposium on computational intelligence in production and logistics systems (cipls), pp. 54-60, 2013. 42. s. k. nambiar and s. m. idicula. a multi-agent vehicle routing system for garbage collection. in: 2013 5th international conference on advanced computing (icoac), dec, pp. 72-76, 2013. 43. a. pan, s. y. s. leung, k. l. moon and k. w. yeung. optimal reorder decision-making in the agent-based apparel supply chain. expert systems with applications, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 8571-8581, 2009. tx_1:abs~at/tx_2:abs~at 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 45-51 research article prevalence and characterization of hepatitis b and hepatitis c infection among blood donors in erbil goran n. saleh, chato a. taher* department of basic science, microbiology unit, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract blood transmitting infectious disease still remains a considerable global health problem. hepatitis b virus (hbv) and hepatitis c virus (hcv) are two of the most commonly transmitted infectious agents. this prospective cross-sectional study was conducted between december, 2017, and february, 2018, at the directorate of blood bank in erbil province, northern iraq. during that period, a total of 6173 blood donors donated blood; all blood donors were asked a series of questions through a structured questionnaire designed for such purpose. these patients were serologically examined for hbv and hcv. positive blood samples were further analyzed serologically and confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr). among 6173 blood donors who were investigated for hbv, 7 (0.11%) and 98 (1.6%) were positive for hepatitis b surface antigen (hbs-ag) and hepatitis b core antibody (hbc-ab), respectively, whereas during screening for hcv, 4 (0.06%) were positive for hcv-ab. coinfection (dual infection (hbv and hcv) was positive in 1 patient (0.01%). among 98 reactive samples, 75.5% were positive for hbs antibody (hbs-ab), the remaining 24 samples (24.5%) were regarded as occult hepatitis b infection (obi), since they were positive for hbc-ab, whereas negative both for hbs-ag and hbs-ab. the diagnosis of obi could be confirmed by rt-pcr in 8 samples, 33% of samples. the overall incidence of hbv and hcv among examined blood donors was 0.5 %, and 0.06%, respectively. amidst that incidence, 0.39 % were diagnosed as obi. to prevent viral transmission through blood transfusion is needed to combine a different and sensitive method for hbv detection as well as evolve tests that have high sensitivity and specificity for serological markers. moreover, a molecular tool that is sensitive enough to detect very low copies of viral dna must also be developed. keywords: blood donors, hepatitis b surface antigen, hepatitis b surface antibody, hepatitis b, hepatitis c introduction infections with hepatitis b virus (hbv) and hepatitis c viruses (hcv) are major global health problems worldwide: it is predictable that about 350 million persons are chronically infected with hbv, and nearly 200 million people are infected with hcv worldwide. both hepatitis b and hepatitis c are among common infectious liver diseases worldwide.[1] viral hepatitis is a systemic disease primarily affecting the liver, which induces acute inflammation of the liver, resulting in a clinical illness characterized by fever, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and jaundice. regardless of the virus type, identical histopathologic lesions are observed in the liver during acute disease.[2] both hbv and hcv infections are known for their parenteral transmission; therefore, blood transfusion is a potential route of transmission.[3,4] the risk of infection with transfusion-transmitted viruses has been reduced remarkably since the introduction of serological screening; on the other hand, a zero-risk blood supply remains the ideal aim.[5] the risk of transfusion-transmitted hbv infection has been reduced by screening all blood donations for hepatitis b surface antigen (hbs-ag) since 1970, screening for hbs-ag is still regarded as an important tool for blood screening by the world health organization (who).[6] it was accepted that the disappearance of hbs-ag indicates the clearance of hbv. meanwhile, many reports pointed to the occurrence of post-transfusion hepatitis b despite the screening for hbs-ag, necessitating the use of other markers for viral screening. for this, screening for hbc-ab was recommended by the german advisory committee blood in march 2005, especially for areas with low hbv prevalence.[7,8] recently in the major blood bank of erbil, hbc-ab screening has also been performed for all blood donors. the donated blood with negative hbs-ag but positive hbc-ab will be corresponding author: chato a. taher, department of basic science, microbiology unit, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: chato.taher@gmail.com received: apr 16, 2019 accepted: apr 27, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp45-51 copyright © 2020 goran n. saleh, chato a. taher. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ saleh and taher: prevalence of hepatitis b and hepatitis c infection in erbil 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 45-51 discarded, these groups of blood donors are either infected but have been cured of the diseases, or else the donor is still infected with hbv that can be further confirmed and need to be further analyzed both serologically and by molecular detection using polymerase chain reaction (pcr).[9] the blood donors with hbs-ag negative serology, hbc-abs positive or negative and the presence of viral dna by pcr are known as occult hbv infected occult hepatitis b infection (obi). obi is a risky group playing an important role in hepatitis virus transmission by blood transfusion.[10] regarding the hbv prevalence in the world could be divided into three areas where the prevalence of chronic hbv infection is high (>8%), intermediate (between 2 and 8%), and low (<2%).[11] infection with hepatitis b and c is regarded as a major cause of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. the who estimates that 57% of cases of liver cirrhosis and 78% of primary liver carcinomas result from a hepatitis b or c virus.[12] approximately 70%–80% of hcv-infected patients fail to clear the virus and develop chronic hcv infection, which is a risk factor for liver diseases such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma.[13,14] several studies have recorded the prevalence of hbv and hcv infection in blood donors of different iraqi cities.[15-17] according to the studies that have been conducted in the past years investigating the seroprevalence of hepatitis b and hepatitis c, the prevalence rate in our region is low which is <2%.[18,19] lack of documentary data in erbil governments and immigration of a significant number of refugees from a neighboring country to kurdistan region, as well as foreign tourists and the traveling of kurdish peoples to other countries, necessitate updated research on seroprevalence of infectious agents (hbv and hcv) among blood donors. nonetheless, the hbv vaccine was added to the expanded program of vaccination in early 2000.[20] there was an absence of data on the success of the vaccination program; therefore, we thought of evaluating the antibody for these viruses in the blood which offer an idea of the level of protection against these infectious agents. this study was conducted to find out the incidence of hbv and hcv among blood donors in erbil community. besides this, we further characterized the hbv infected individuals along with the screening for hbs-ab, evaluating the level of protection against hbv infection among our community. materials and methods study population and sampling this is a prospective and cross-sectional study investigating hbv and hcv among blood donors who donated blood in the directorate of blood bank-erbil, iraq. all volunteers who visited the blood bank to donate blood from december 2017 to february 2018 were included in the study: blood donors were selected after an interview through a structured questionnaire designed for such purpose. blood donors with low or high hemoglobin concentration, high body temperature, having any disease, weight <50 kg, cupping in past 6 months, operation in the last year, drinking alcohol, uncontrolled blood pressure, history of taking any drugs, fever, and having tattoos on their body were excluded in our study. in total, 6173 participants donated blood during the specific time and were screened for hbv and hcv. among those blood donors, 109 were reactive for hbv or hcv. fifty healthy individuals were also included in this study as a control group. each blood sample was collected in a 5 ml of a sterile tube, and then the whole blood was centrifuged, plasma was taken and stored at minus 20 freezer. the study was approved by the ethics committee at the hawler medical university, for dealing with the samples and participant information and a written informed consent was obtained from each blood donor for their participation in the study. detection of hbv serological markers elisa screening test for hbs ag and anti-hbc monolisa™ hbs ag ultra (bio-rad, france) assay is a one-step enzyme immunoassay based on the principle of the “sandwich” type using monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal antibodies selected for their capability to bind themselves to the numerous subtypes of hbs ag.[21] serologically, the samples were rechecked by elecsys hbs ag ii by device cobas e411(roche, germany). the elecsys hbsag ii assay uses monoclonal and polyclonal anti-hbs antibodies (mouse and sheep) for the hbsag determination. monolisa™ anti-hbc plus (bio-rad, france) is an enzyme immunoassay (indirect elisa type) for the simultaneous finding of total antibodies to hbv core.[22] chemiluminescent immunoassay (clia) screening test for anti-hbs clia way was used for detecting antibody of hbs by the liaison xl (diasorin, italy). amid numerous enzyme assays that give light-emitting reactions, one of the most successful tests is the improved clia regarding a horseradish peroxidase labeled antibody or antigen and a mixture of the chemiluminescent substrate, hydrogen peroxide, and enhancers.[23] detection of hcv serological markers monolisa™ anti-hcv plus version 2 or 3 (bio-rad, france) is an indirect qualitative enzyme immunoassay for the detection of infection by the hcv based on the detection of anti-hcv antibodies in serum or human plasma.[24] detection of hbv dna (pcr) the extraction of hbv dna is done by a kit ez1 virus mini kit (v2.0 qiagen, germany) using the ez1 advanced xl device (qiagen, germany).[25] the artus hbv rg pcr kit is used in the automated system for the detection of hbv dna using the pcr on rotor-gene q (qiagen, germany).[26] this is conducted for 24 samples that are negatives for anti-hbs and positives for antihbc igg, and six samples are used as a negative control. statistical analysis microsoft office excel and statistical package for the social sciences (spss) are used for data entry and analysis. results among 6173 participants, 109 were reactive for hbv and hcv. fifty negative samples were also included in this study as a control group for further analysis. among the 159 participants saleh and taher: prevalence of hepatitis b and hepatitis c infection in erbil 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 45-51 who were included in this study as a test and control group, the mean and standard deviation in age for the control group was 35.5 ± 8.6 and that for the test group was 40.9 ± 12. the ages of blood donors both for test and control group were grouped into six groups [tables 1 and 2]. the minimum age is 19 years, and the maximum age is 73 years for the test group and 22 and 57 years for the control group. prevalence of hepatitis b and hepatitis c serologically, based on detection of hbs-ag, hbc-ab, and hcv-ab, we decided whether the patient has hbv or hcv infection. these tests were carried out for all the participants (6173). among all examined participants, only 7 patients were reactive for hbs-ag (0.11%), whereas 98 donors were reactive for hbc-ab (1.58%). regarding hcv infection only 4 patients were positive for antihcv ab (0.065%), as described in figures 1 and 2. immune blood donors for hbv infection among the sero-reactive blood donors for hbv, we further characterize them through detection of antibody against hbs-ag (hbs-ab). should individuals of hbc-ab positive blood have hbs-ab in their blood, this indicates that these participants are cured of hbv infection and means that they have immunity to hbv infection. among the 98 sero-reactive blood donors, 74 blood donors were positive for hbs-ab (75.5 %) indicating that they are cured of natural infection. we also examined 50 healthy volunteers that are free from hbv and hcv infection, among them only 4 blood donors were positive for hbs-ab, reflecting the successful vaccination and protection against hbv infection [table 3]. diagnosing occult hbv infection as we defined obi before, blood donors with hbs-ag negative serology, hbc-abs positive or negative, and the presence of viral dna by pcr are known as occult hbv infection (obi). blood donors with only positive hbc-ab in the absence of hbs-ag and hbs-ab are regarded as obi.[10] in our study, we further characterize the positive blood donors. among the samples that are included in our study, 98 samples were positive for hbc-ab, from which 24 blood donors (24.5%) were negative for hbs-ag and hbs-ab (hbc-ab +ve, hbs-ag –ve, and hbs-ab –ve), indicating that these blood donors were defined as having occult hepatitis virus infection [table 3]. these 24 samples were further investigated for the detection of hbv dna [figure 3]. hcv incidence and dual infection in this study, as we mentioned above, besides screening for hbv infection, screening for hcv was also done for these participants. among 6173 participants, only four blood donors were positive for hcv-ab 0.06%. among hcv reactive donors, one individual was positive both for hbv infection and hcv infection, which means that he has a dual infection [table 4]. sero-status in relation to socio-demographic characteristics among the hbv and hcv positive blood donors, the highest frequency of 38 (35%) was found among those aged between 26 and 35 years (young age groups). blood donors with blood group o were found to have the highest frequency for table 1: demographic distribution of the hbv and/or bcv positive samples (positive blood donors) demographic distribution frequency (n=%) test group age groups (year) under 25 4 (3.7) 2–35 38 (35) 36–45 33 (30) 46–55 22 (20) 56–65 7 (6.4) above 66 5 (4.6) blood groups o 39 (36) a 36 (33) b 25 (23) ab 9 (8) occupations private sector employee 73 (67) public sector employee 30 (27.5) unemployed 6 (5.5) student total 109 (100) table 2: demographic distribution of the samples control group (negative blood donors) demographic distribution frequency (n=%) control group age groups (year) under 25 6 (12) 26–35 25 (50) 36–45 10 (20) 46–55 8 (16) 56–65 1 (2) above 66 blood groups o 17 (34) a 18 (36) b 10 (20) ab 5 (10) occupations private sector employee 34 (68) public sector employee 13 (26) unemployed 1 (2) student 2 (4) total 50 (100) saleh and taher: prevalence of hepatitis b and hepatitis c infection in erbil 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 45-51 its immunoreactivity among test group 39 (36%) [table 1], whereas those with blood group a are among those with the highest frequency among control group 18 (36%) [table 2]. most of the reactive individuals for hbv positivity were among the private sector employees [table 1]. none of these parameters were statistically significant. molecular detection of the hbv by realtime quantitative pcr (rt qpcr) for further characterization of serum samples from hbs-ag negative, hbs-ab negative, and hbc-ab positive blood donors were processed for hbv-dna detection using molecular amplification using the rt pcr. this test was done using artus® hbv rg* pcr kit 24, v1 (qiagen, germany). after extracting the nucleic acid of the hbv by ez1® virus mini kit v2.0 (qiagen, germany), we ran the purified dna of hbv by rotor-gene q (qiagen, germany). twenty-four samples were selected (antihbc igg positive and negative for anti-hbs), and six control samples (negative control) were also included in the study. out of these samples, 8 of the samples (33%) were positive, showing the dna in their blood, confirming the diagnosis of occult hepatitis b [figure 3]. discussion hepatitis b and c viruses are responsible for causing about 80% of liver cancer cases worldwide, and it could be the major cause of morbidity and mortality.[27] regarding hepatitis prevalence, the world is divided into three areas; low prevalence area, which means <2%, an intermediate area 2–8% and high prevalence area more than 8%.[28,29] most countries on the earth are still viewed as intermediate to high endemicity for hbv infection.[28,29] hcv follows the same division regarding prevalence such as low prevalence (<1.5%), moderate prevalence (1.5%–3.5%), and high prevalence area, which is more than 3.5%.[30] the current study characterizes and defines the frequency of hbv and hcv (6173) blood donors. for hbv detection, two serological markers were used (hbs-ag and hbc-ab), among those, 98 donors were reactive for hbc-ab (1.58%), whereas only 7 people were positive for hbs-ag (0.11%). for screening of hcv, hcv-ab was used and only 4 blood donors proved positive for anti-hcv-ab (0.065%), as described in figures 1 and 2. the prevalence of reactive blood donors in the current study for hbv is 1.7% (105 out of 6173) from which 1.5% is reactive against hbc-ab and 0.11% is reactive against hbs-ag, whereas for hcv is 0.06%. they are in agreement on a national level with these results by alhilfi et al., who screened 36620 blood donors in missan governorate in iraq, figure 1: serological and molecular characterization of hepatitis b virus and hepatitis c virus infection among blood donors in the major blood bank of erbil city. hbs ab – hepatitis b surface antibodies; hbc ab – hepatitis b core antibodies: pcr – a polymerase chain reaction figure 2: incidence of both hepatitis b virus and hepatitis c virus among blood donors saleh and taher: prevalence of hepatitis b and hepatitis c infection in erbil 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 45-51 they found 0.12% positivity for hbs-ag and 0.09% positivity for hcv-ab.[31] similar results were also found by al-rubaye et al., who screened 69915 blood donors in basra in 2013, from which they found 125 reactive individuals for hbs-ag (0.2%), and 1475 reactive individuals for hbc-ab (2.1%) and hcv-ab positivity in 0.1%.[17] on an international level, similar results to ours were also found in a neighboring country by boustani et al., which was done in ilam city in iran between 2009 and 2013: they screened 72,527 blood donors, they found hbs-ag in 102 (0.14%), and hcv-ab in 27 (0.037%).[32] moreover, another study conducted in southwestern iran, by sajjadi et al., they screened 180,304 blood donors and found hbv in 0.13% and hcv in 0.06%.[33] on the other hand, our data were much lower than that of other related studies performed in other centers. nationally, hussein et al. performed a study in duhok at 2004 found hbs-ag in 62/7900 (0.78%), and hcv-ab in 16/7900 (0.2%).[15] in addition, internationally, our result was lower than those found in india in a study conducted by gulia, they found hbv in 2.54%.[34] in libya, a study carried out by qowaider et al., they examined 78,987 blood donors in different regions in the northeast in libya, and they found hbv in 172 blood donors (0.21%), and hcv in 197 blood donors (0.24%).[35] furthermore, in turkey, hope et al., examined 53,985 blood donors, among them 2.1% were positive for hbv and 0.3% for hcv.[36] besides the blood screening, we further characterized the reactive blood donors (positive samples) among 105 positive samples for hbc ab (1.7%), 98 samples were hbc-ab positive but negative for hbs-ag (hbs-ag −ve/hbc-ab +ve), further characterization was done for these group by investigating for hbs-ab, among these 74 (75.5%) blood donors were hbs-ab positive (hbc-ab +ve, hbs-ag –ve, and hbs ab +ve) which indicated that they are cured of natural infection [figure 1 and table 3] whereas the remaining 24 blood donors (24.5 %) were hbc-ab positive but negative both for hbs-ag and hbs-ab. individuals with negative hbs-ag and hbs-ab but positive hbc-ab are defined as occult hbv infection (obi), this is because hbc-ab is regarded as a pathognomonic marker of hbv infection, particularly when hbs-ag and hbs-ab are negative. we performed hbv-dna detection assay solely on samples of blood donors who tested positive for hbc-ab but negative for both hbs-ag and hbs-ab (24 samples), including six control samples as well. among 24 samples we could confirm the presence of hcv dna only in 8 (33%) samples, using rt pcr, indicating the overall incidence of obi by dna detection to be about (0.13 %; 8 out of 6173) [figures 1 and 3]. based on the reaction graph, most of the positive sample has very low copy numbers since the reaction was arrived at between the 35 and 40 cycles [figure 3]. meanwhile, the remaining 16 (66 %) samples were hbc-ab positive but failed to be confirmed by hbv-dna table 3: distribution of hbs-ab among hbc-ab positive individuals and control group serology (hbc igg) serology (hbs antibody) p-value positive (n=) negative (n=) total (n=) positive 74 24 98 <0.05 negative 6 55 61 total 80 79 159 hbs ab: hepatitis b surface antibodies figure 3: quantitation data for cycling a. green for hepatitis b virus by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction table 4: the incidence and percentage of hcv reactive donors and dual infection serology (hbs antigen) serology (hcv-ab) positive negative total n= % n=% n=% positive 1 (0.6) 7 (4.4) 8 (5.0) negative 3 (1.9) 148 (93.1) 151 (95.0) total 4 (2.5) 155 (97.5) 159 (100.0) hcv-ab: hepatitis b surface antibodies saleh and taher: prevalence of hepatitis b and hepatitis c infection in erbil 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 45-51 detection. in most of the areas, these groups of blood donors are still regarded as obi, and their blood will be discarded to prevent virus transmission.[37] internationally, many studies have been published throughout the world showing the frequency of obi within hbs-ag-negative donors, the results are varied: for example in the united kingdom it was 0.56%;[38] in the united state of america it was 0.8%;[39] in iran it was 2.1%;[40] and in brazil it was 3.1%.[41] on a national level, a similar study performed in erbil city of iraq shows obi in 0.09% which is close to our finding (0.13%).[42] discarding the infected blood on the basis of hbc-ab detection, especially in areas where the prevalence of hbc-ab is high (more than 10%), will negatively affect the blood supply. in the present study, we found that the incidence of hbc-ab in the erbil city was low (1.56%, 98 out of 6173) [figure 1]. further detection of hbs-ab saved 78 of our samples (75.5%) since they were positive for hbs-ab. on the other hand, dna confirms the obi only in 8 samples (33%). in high prevalence area based on hbc-ab detection such as korea, greece, and ghana, they discarded only blood that is positive for hbvdna, consequently saving more blood units.[43,44] meanwhile, in many places, especially in low prevalence countries, blood donor samples were still considered as obi based on hbc-ab positivity, and all such donated blood was discarded to prevent transfusion-transmitted viral infection. despite the above, the failure of detecting hbv-dna might be due to a mutation in viral structure, and the false serological result might be due to the imperfection of the assays used for such purpose.[37] many researchers argued in favor of the implementation of hbc-ab or hbv dna alone or combination for the screening of donated blood.[45,46] in a large study screening, 6.5 million participants using three markers (hbs-ag, hbc-ab, and pcr for hbv dna), prioritizing the use of hbc-ab along with the dna nucleic acid testing was confirmed for the detection of a low level of hbv dna positive donors.[46] conclusion the overall incidences of hbv and hcv among examined blood donors were 0.5% and 0.06%, respectively. among that, 0.39% were diagnosed as obi. the highest avoidance of hbv blood transmission can be attained by combining a different, more sensitive, method for hbv detection with the evolving of tests that have high sensitivity and specificity for hbs ag and hbc ab detection. further, developing a molecular tool that is sensitive enough to detect a very low copy of viral dna would conserve many pints of blood. acknowledgments i would like to express my very great appreciation to the directorate of blood bank and those working in the central laboratory, as well as to all those who have helped to make possible my undertaking of this research. conflicts of interest there are no conflicts of interests to be declared. references 1. b. liu, j. li, y. han, y. liu, l. kong, y. cao and z. j. h. huang. “dynamic analysis of lymphocyte subsets of peripheral blood in patients with acute self-limited hepatitis b”. health, vol. 2, pp. 736-741, 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alobaidi. “seroprevalence of hepatitis b virus in iraqi population”. journal of vaccines, immunology and immunopathology, vol. 2016, p. j102, 2016. 21. t. d. ly, a. servant-delmas, s. bagot, s. gonzalo, m. p. ferey, a. ebel, e. dussaix, s. laperche and a. m. roque-afonso. “sensitivities of four new commercial hepatitis b virus surface antigen (hbsag) assays in detection of hbsag mutant forms”. journal of clinical microbiology, vol. 44, pp. 2321-2326, 2006. 22. a. a. olotu, a. o. oyelese, l. salawu, r. a. audu, a. p. okwuraiwe and a. o. aboderin. “occult hepatitis b virus infection in previously screened, blood donors in ile-ife, nigeria: implications for blood transfusion and stem cell transplantation”. virology journal, vol. 13, 76, 2016. 23. s. kinn, s. akhavan, h. agut and v. thibault. “performance of the diasorin liaison® anti-hbs ii for the detection of hepatitis b surface antibodies: comparison with the abbott architect anti-hbs assay”. journal of clinical virology, vol. 50, pp. 297-302, 2011. 24. h. a. croom, k. m. richards, s. j. best, b. h. francis, e. i. m. johnson, e. m. dax and k. m. wilson. “commercial enzyme immunoassay adapted for the detection of antibodies to hepatitis c virus in dried blood spots”. journal of clinical virology, vol. 36, pp. 68-71, 2006. 25. h. frickmann, r. hinz and r. hagen. “comparison of an automated nucleic acid extraction system with the column-based procedure”. european journal of microbiology and immunology, vol. 5, 94-102, 2015. 26. m. s. han, y. park, h. nah and h. s. kim. “comparison of the qiagen artus hbv qs-rgq assay with the roche cobas ampliprep/cobas taqman hbv assay for quantifying viral dna in sera of chronic hepatitis b patients”. annals of laboratory medicine, vol. 37, p. 248, 2017. 27. world health organization. “global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis, 2016-2021”. geneva: world health organization, 2016. 28. e. franco, b. bagnato, m. g. marino, c. meleleo, l. serino and l. zaratti. “hepatitis b: epidemiology and prevention in developing countries”. world journal of hepatology, vol. 4, p. 74, 2012. 29. j. j. ott, g. a. stevens, j. groeger and s. wiersma. “global epidemiology of hepatitis b virus infection: new estimates of age-specific hbsag seroprevalence and endemicity”. vaccine, vol. 30, pp. 2212-2219, 2012. 30. k. m. hanafiah, j. groeger, a. d. flaxman and s. t. wiersma. “global epidemiology of hepatitis c virus infection: new estimates of age-specific antibody to hcv seroprevalence”. hepatology, vol. 57, pp. 1333-1342, 2013. 31. h. s. q. alhilfi, r. a. h. alhashimi and r. k. a. alsaad. “seroprevalence of hepatitis b and hepatitis c virus among blood donors in missan governorate-iraq”. international journal of innovation and applied studies, vol. 11, pp. 816-820, 2015. 32. h. boustani, e. anvari, s. saiadisartang, m. omidi, e. rostami and z. mohamadi. “prevalence of hiv, hepatitis b and c infections among volunteer blood donors at the blood transfusion center of ilam city, iran”. journal of basic research in medical sciences, vol. 4, pp. 4-8, 2017. 33. s. m. sajjadi, a. a. pourfathollah, s. mohammadi, b. nouri, r. hassanzadeh and f. rad. “the prevalence and trends of hepatitis b, hepatitis c, and hiv among voluntary blood donors in kohgiluyeh and boyer-ahmad transfusion center, southwestern iran”. iranian journal of public health, vol. 47, pp. 944-951, 2018. 34. s. p. s gulia. “seroprevalence of hepatitis b virus infection among blood donors in local population”. the internet journal of pathology, vol. 10, pp.29-33, 2010. 35. s. r. qowaider, m. s. ali, s. a. moftah and f. a. khaled. “prevalence of hbv and hcv infections among blood donors in northeast libya”. international blood research and reviews, vol. 7, pp. 1-5, 2017. 36. v. d. hope, i. eramova, d. capurro and m. donoghoe. “prevalence and estimation of hepatitis b and c infections in the who european region: a review of data focusing on the countries outside the european union and the european free trade association”. epidemiology and infection, vol. 142, pp. 270-286, 2014. 37. m. s. kwak and y. j. kim. “occult hepatitis b virus infection”. world journal of hepatology, vol. 6, pp. 860-869, 2014. 38. h. hennig, i. puchta, j. luhm, p. schlenke, s. goerg and h. kirchner. “frequency and load of hepatitis b virus dna in firsttime blood donors with antibodies to hepatitis b core antigen”. blood, vol. 100, pp. 2637, 2002. 39. s. h. kleinman, m. c. kuhns, d. s. todd, s. a. glynn, a. mcnamara, a. dimarco, m. p. busch and for the retrovirus epidemiology donor study. “frequency of hbv dna detection in us blood donors testing positive for the presence of anti-hbc: implications for transfusion transmission and donor screening”. transfusion, vol. 43, pp. 696-704, 2003. 40. m. sofian, a. aghakhani, n. izadi, m. banifazl, e. kalantar, a. eslamifar and a. ramezani. “lack of occult hepatitis b virus infection among blood donors with isolated hepatitis b core antibody living in an hbv low prevalence region of iran”. international journal of infectious diseases, vol. 14, pp. e308-e310, 2010. 41. f. h. wolff, s.. c. fuchs and a. b. m. brandão. “absence of occult hepatitis b among blood donors in southern brazil”. the brazilian journal of infectious diseases, vol. 15, pp. 159-162, 2011. 42. r. n. hassan and a. h. hussain. “hepatitis b virus dna in blood donors positive of anti-hepatitis b core antibodies and negative for surface antigen in hawler major blood bank, kurdistan region, iraq”. journal of the faculty of medicine, baghdad, vol. 60, pp. 57-61, 2018. 43. d. h. seo, d. h. whang, e. y. song, h. s. kim and q. park. “prevalence of antibodies to hepatitis b core antigen and occult hepatitis b virus infections in korean blood donors”. transfusion, vol. 51, pp. 1840-1846, 2011. 44. e. zervou, g. dalekos, d. boumba and e. tsianos. “value of antihbc screening of blood donors for prevention of hbv infection: results of a 3-year prospective study in northwestern greece”. transfusion, vol. 41, pp. 652-658, 2001. 45. s. a. awan, a. junaid and s. sheikh. “transfusion transmissible infections: maximizing donor surveillance”. cureus, vol. 10, pp. e3787-e3787, 2018. 46. s. l. stramer, s. zou, e. p. notari, g. a. foster, d. e. krysztof, f. musavi and r. y. dodd. “blood donation screening for hepatitis b virus markers in the era of nucleic acid testing: are all tests of value”? transfusion, vol. 52, pp. 440-446, 2012. . 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 21-24 technical article design and implementation a novel research management system omar talal hamid* department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract publications and researches are one of the important activities of higher education institutions (heis) worldwide. many heis, especially in iraq, are facing different types of problems in managing publication information. this paper presents the design and implementation of researches management system (rms) to be adopted in one of the state universities in iraq. rms is a web-based application to manage the publications and researches information in heis. the main goals of this application are collecting all submission publication information in a central database, generating different types of publication reports, generating real-time different statistics, saving all researchers information in the hei, and facilitating checking and tracking the submitted researches. keywords: component, database, management information system, web application introduction the researches management system (rms) is aimed to manage researches information in higher education institutions (heis) to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the research information management processes. scientific researches and publications are crucial activity for heis. the increase in the number of publications, with many types and quantities, has caused many problems in the management, storage, and organization of this information.[1] another important issue is waiting. this problem occurs because a lot of time is required to deliver this publication information to the scientific affairs department, as the data are still manually recording and stored in many files (paper based).[2] furthermore, lack of software availability results in a lot of daily work activity in scientific researches departments, as the clerks must collect publication information, statistics of publications, and reporting by hand (manually).[3] at present, the development of computer system and internet technologies has helped humans to do their work as best as possible.[4] one of these computer systems is management information systems (miss), which is an application used to help and support the human to do his activities such as in a private or public sector institution.[5] the management and monitoring of publications in heis are an extensive and complex undertaking. there are many problems in the current paper-based system. these problems include collecting information from the colleges, organizing the classification of publications, generating publication reports, compiling publication statistics such as local, international, indexed, and no indexed, and displaying all details for each publication such as author names, publisher name, date of publishing, and link for research. the last problem is that there is no database for all researchers’ information. all these issues take a lot of time to do by hand. rms is a web application that is easy to use and work with the different size of screens. rms was developed using various web technologies such as php, html5, css3, and bootstrap. php is used to implement the server-side of the system. html5, css3, and bootstrap are used to develop the graphical user interface. the widespread uses of database technologies have become an important part of information management systems.[6] rms used mysql server as a back-end database because it is free, open source, has strong functions, high speed, access to data by multiple users in real time and handling big size of data.[7] system architecture the general structure of rms is shown in figure 1. there are three types of users (system admin, college admin, and corresponding author: omar talal hamid, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: omar_talal20022003@yahoo.com received: apr 11, 2019 accepted: apr 22, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp21-24 copyright © 2019 omar talal hamid. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) hamid: design and implementation a novel research management system 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 21-24 researchers). all users can access the system through any web browser or smartphone. there are three levels of management authentication in rms and each authentication has own specific roles. the first level is for researchers to submit all their publication information to the scientific affairs in the college (college admin). the second level is for college administrators. each college has an administration person to check all publication information that is submitted by his/her college researchers. after checking this information to ensure that everything is correct, the publication is approved. when he/she has approved this information, it will be available for the third level (system admin) or scientific affairs department in the university. the third level is for system admin, and he/she can see all college information separately along with real-time statistics for each college and the entire university. figure 2 shows the use case diagram for rms which illustrates the interaction between users and system functionalities. as depicted in figure 2, the system admin possesses full authentication such as employee management and can generate any kind of report, see all publication information, and change the user roles in the system. college admin has full authentication only inside his/her college. he/she can see all his/her college information such as college reports, college publication information, and college publication statistics and can add/edit/delete the researcher’s information and accounts in the system. the last one is the researcher; he/she can submit his/her publication information to his/her college and see his/ her personal publication statistics. rms database mainly includes the tables of publication_ information, employees_information, departments, colleges, and jobs. the database schema for rms is shown in figure 3. implementation of rms rms is accessible from any smart device with any web browser to allow the staff and researchers to use the system. rms consists of different modules: researchers management module, publications management module, and reports. each module is related to one authentication. the researchers management module is provided to the administration system staff for adding, updating, deleting, and viewing all researchers information. publications management module deals with all functionalities that are related to the management of researches such as adding new article information, viewing article information, editing article information, or deleting article information. reports module is responsible for generating many different types of reports. this module is accessible only for administration staff as they are the ones responsible for reporting on research activities. rms is a multi-authentication system. it means that there are many different roles/authentications in the system (system admin, college admin, and researchers). each user has a username and password to login to the system. if this information is correct, then the system checks his/her role (system admin, figure 1: structure of researches management system figure 2: use case diagrams for researches management system figure 3: database schema for researches management system hamid: design and implementation a novel research management system 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 21-24 college admin, or researcher) and opens the home page as shown in figure 4. the details of this page are different from one user to another depending on his/her role in the system. the main home page consists of three dynamic parts: general statistics, college details, and main menu. general statistics is the current total statistic. these statistics differ from one user to another depending on the user role. system admin shows all approved, waiting (checking) papers, total number of researchers, and total number of college admin and system admin in the university. college admin shows the statistics for his/her college. researcher shows the researcher’s own statistics. figure 4 shows the general statistics part. college details display the detailed statistics of publications depending on publication classification such as local, international, scopus, nature, science, clarivate, sjr, arabic journals, and not indexed. figure 5 shows the college details part of home page. main menu is a dynamic menu which displays different submenu depending on the user role. for example, system admin shows all subpages, college admin shows only publications management, college reports, college researchers management, and my profile, while researcher displays only my publications and my profile. figure 6 shows the main menu part of home page. my publication submenu includes a list of pages (add new publication, displays all my waiting publications, and displays all my approved publications). when the researcher submits a new publication, the rms sends a request to his/her college admin as a waiting publication to check this information. the college admin receives this request and starts to check this information. after checking, he/she can approve this information and will display this information for the system admin as an approved publication. in this case, the researcher figure 4: general statistics part figure 5: college details part figure 6: main menu part figure 7: add new publication page hamid: design and implementation a novel research management system 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 21-24 cannot update this publication information. figure 7 shows how to add new publication information. another important submenu is reports, which include a list of pages such as waiting report to display all waiting publications for college or all university depending on the user role, approved report to display all approved publications. the last and most important one is a custom report, which is a page used to generate different kinds of publication reports, for example, publication within two different dates or specific classification such as only scopus, ieee, local, international or clarivate, college, department and so on. the results can be downloaded as an excel sheet. figure 8 shows how to generate custom report. researchers management submenu is including a list of pages such as add new researcher, display all researchers, edit researcher information, change researcher role, and display all researchers information. figure 9 shows how to display all researchers information. setting submenu also includes a list of pages (add new college and add new department). this submenu is only for system admin to do the system configuration. the last submenu is my profile. in this page, the user can edit personal information such as name, email, password, and phone. conclusions rms was successfully developed and implemented as a web-based application for scientific affairs department. this system was used and tested by one of the iraqi governmental universities. this testing was done by real users for usability and it showed an acceptable performance and ease of use in solving real problems of publication information management at the university. rms is used to improve efficiency and effectiveness of scientific affairs in the university. furthermore, it is used to reduce the time and effort to create publication reports and reduce the time to check the publication information. moreover, rms is an electronic archiving for all researchers information in the university. rms connects all colleges in real time with the scientific affairs department. the evaluation of scientific affairs department for rms was positive. it is easy to use, offers high accuracy statistics, makes it easy to search for any information about the publications, and is faster than paper process and suitable for managing publication and researches information at heis. finally, the rms has achieved all objectives and fulfilled its purpose to develop a novel web-based application to collect and manage all publication information. this could be a low cost, high-efficiency solution, with high accuracy, and faster for managing publication information in heis. references 1. k. liu, j. jiang, x. ding and h. sun. “design and development of management information system for research project process based on front-end and back-end separation,” 2017. 2. y. liu, y. yao, x. zhang, b. liu and c. ding. “design of research management system based on workflow and rapid development platform technology”. international conference on estimation, detection and information fusion, 2015, pp. 329-334. 3. k. i. satoto. “design of management information systems research, publications and community service”. international conference on information technology, computer, and electrical engineering, 2015, pp. 117-122. 4. a. s. perbangsa and j. suhartono. “research grants management information systems model”. conference paper, nov 2016, pp. 247-252. 5. s. shinde, s. nalawade and a. nalawade. “green computing: go green and save energy”. international journal of advanced research in computer science and software engineering, vol. 3, no. 7, pp. 1033-1037, 2013. 6. “developing a web-based research administration and management system: case study of a south african”. theses and dissertations, jun 2017. 7. k. i. satoto, r. r. isnanto, r. kridalukmana and k. t. martono. “optimizing mysql database system on information systems research, publications and community”. 3rd international conference on information technology, computer, and electrical engineering, 2016, pp. 1-5. figure 8: custom report page figure 9: researchers information page . 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 37-41 research article measuring the score matching of the pairwise deoxyribonucleic acid sequencing using neuro-fuzzy safa a. hameed*, raed i. hamed department of computer science, college of engineering and science, university of bayan, erbil, iraq abstract the proposed model for getting the score matching of the deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) sequence is introduced; the neuro-fuzzy procedure is the strategy actualized in this paper; it is used the collection of biological information of the dna sequence performing with global and local calculations so as to advance the ideal arrangement; we utilize the pairwise dna sequence alignment to gauge the score of the likeness, which depend on information gathering from the pairwise dna series to be embedded into the implicit framework; an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system model is reasonable for foreseeing the matching score through the preparation and testing in neural system and the induction fuzzy system in fuzzy logic that accomplishes the outcome in elite execution. keywords: component, dynamic programming, matching, neuro-fuzzy, sequence alignment introduction deoxyribonucleic acid (dna) sequence matching is an essential area and more approaching nearby in computational biological data.[1] dna sequence analysis is an imperative exploration topic in bioinformatics. assessing the similarity between sequences, this is important for sequence analysis, because similarity proves congruence.[2] the dna atom contains biological, physical, and chemical data; it has turned out to be essential to examine dna sequences statistically.[3] string matching is a strategy to find a design from the predefined info string.[4] similarities between dna sequences may emerge due to the functional, structural, or transformative relationship among them.[5] sequence alignment of two biological sequences may be called pairwise sequence alignment, also in the event, more than two sequences are involved; it may be called multiple sequence alignment.[6] the dynamic programming is the method to implement the dna alignment using the needleman– wunsch[7] and smith–waterman algorithms.[8] here, in this article, we use the pairwise sequence alignment in a global and local algorithms and examined the measure of the matching based on the collected data for dna alignment. the neuro-fuzzy model[9] is used in the matlab tool that implemented by the data set files of measure score matching of dna sequences that deal with the set of biological data. this tool is efficient and fast to evaluate the scoring measure of matching the dna sequences. literature review the study of a biological sequence has been growing exponentially, while the applications of the sequence alignment cover the wide range in bioinformatics. the previous research work has been studied to provide new algorithms with the main purpose for the requirements of matching sequences; the techniques have been used all the latest with providing fast and efficient sequence alignment algorithms. bhukya and somayajulu[1] suggested a new pattern for matching technique defined as exact multiple pattern-matching algorithms that utilize dna sequence. the current method is used to avoid unneeded comparisons in the dna sequence. gill and singh[6] proposed a multiple sequence alignment algorithm which performs fuzzy logic to measure the similarity of sequences based on the fuzzy parameters. nasser et al.[10] suggested the fuzzy logic model for approximate matching of dna subsequences. kim et al.[11] suggested a dna sequence alignment, which uses quality information and a fuzzy inference implementation developed based on the features of dna parts and a fuzzy logic system. chai et al.[12] explained how to perform pairwise sequence alignments utilizing the biostrings bundle using the pairwise alignment function. hameed and hamed[13] discussed how to cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: safa a. hameed, department of computer science, college of engineering and science, university of bayan, erbil, iraq. e-mail:safa.hamid@bnu.edu.iq received: mar 21, 2019 accepted: apr 24, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp37-41 copyright © 2019 safa a. hameed, raed i. hamed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. hameed and hamed: measuring the score matching of dna using nf 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 37-41 implement the pairwise alignment technique to get the score of similarity for a pair of characters. in our work, we use the neuro-fuzzy model that utilizes the biological dataset files for matching dna and measures the score of matching the dna sequences with global and local alignment. sequence alignment dna matching is a significant venture in the sequence alignment. since sequence alignment is a discretionary matching process, there is a need for better algorithms.[10] dna sequence alignment algorithms over computational biological science have been enhanced eventually by different techniques:[11] the (needleman-wunsch) global, the (smithwaterman) local, and (ends-free) cover pairwise sequence alignment issues.[12] pairwise alignment is a technique for scoring the similarity of a pair of characters. it decides the correspondences between the substrings in the sequences like the similarity score is amplified.[13] for it is a large portion basic form, known as pairwise sequence alignment, we provided for two sequences a and b and discover their best alignment (either global or local).[12] aligned sequences represented as rows in a grid. gaps (“−“) need aid embedded between the characters with the goal.[6] the ways we use it to perform the alignment are global and local alignment, these algorithms uses the proposed matrix to measure the similarity of bases in the two sequences. for the needleman– wunsch algorithm, a scoring matrix is ascertained for those two provided for sequences a and b, by setting one sequence along column side, furthermore on the turn sequence side. it is additionally frequently referred as optimal matching algorithm and the global alignment technique.[7] the smith– waterman algorithm, which is the method used to perform the local sequence alignment, local alignment algorithms find the sections of the highest similarity between two sequences and create the alignment to abroad from there, that is, identify the most similar portion comparable subregion imparted between two successions.[8] the proposed method we use the nero-fuzzy technique in matlab tool. the neuro-fuzzy model is very well established approach and has a tremendous potentiality to outcome results with high accuracy ratio and the efficiency with biological data to determine the measure score of matching dna sequencing. those recommended sequence-matching algorithm utilize the three input variables – match score (match), mismatch score (mismatch), and gaps, as shown in “figure 1.” these three inputs would then fuzzified utilizing the following membership functions (mfs) equations and giving the calculated resulting score: matching = 0 if there is no similarity 1 if there is highest simmilarity 100% 1,0 matching score / lenseq          (1) mismatch = 0 if there is no mismatch 1 if there is no similarityy 1,0 mismatching score / lenseq          (2) gap= 0 if there is no need to put a gap 1, 0 gaps score / lens  eeq      (3) figure 1: the three input variables and the output figure 2: the membership function and the training testing phase for the lowest possible error. (a) input membership function. (b) the testing data ba hameed and hamed: measuring the score matching of dna using nf 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 37-41 score= 0 if the resulting score £ 0 1 if the resulting perfect 11, 0 resulting score / perfect score          (4) the variable “lenseq” mean the entire length of the sequence. score = match + (− mismatch) + (− gabs) (5) the simulation results in our work, we perform the neuro-fuzzy model by an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (anfis) tool in matlab, using the data set about 600 samples for a matching measure score of dna sequencing; these data divide into two data files for the training and testing, for the training step, we use the data set about 450 samples, and for the testing step, we use the data about 150 samples.[14] we use these dataset files in anfis system in the range value in equation 1, 2, 3, and 4 and output the result according to the equation 5. we use different processing systems to implement the matching process, and each system has different results with convergent values, and that for choosing the most suitable one with less error percentage and depends on it to calculate the matching score. “figure 2” shows the chosen attempt that gives the results with high accuracy. “figure 2” explains the most suitable anfis system with the lowest average testing error; table 1 shows the different processing systems; we implement it with the details. in this table the most suitable system which has chosen is the system that has the following: trapezoidal mfs that has three mfs, constant mfs output, backpropegation train fuzzy inference system method and the number of epochs which are 500, this system has the lowest average training and testing error which are 0.016572 and 0.01657 respectively, and gives the result with high performance, thus we use it to get the score matching of the numeric data from the dna sequence alignment, show tables 2 and 3. in table 3, we aligned the sequence using the local algorithm; in this method, the algorithm takes the most similar part of the pair sequence, not must in the order and not need to input the gap; the resulting score is the perfect, there are no mismatch and no gaps, and is 100% identical. discussion sequence alignment is a necessary condition for analyzing dna sequencing; in our method, we use the pairwise sequence alignment; it is applied using the global and local alignment algorithm method. in this method, we use the numeric biological data for sequence alignment using anfis system in matlab; this system implements several processing systems to get the most suitable results as shown in table 1; the most suitable system is the trapezoidal with three mf for each input and 500 epochs; it has the lowest average testing error. we use several different sequences to be aligned, as shown in table 2; we aligned the sequences in the global alignment algorithm. in this method, we insert the gaps when the base in the sequence is not similar with the other in the same order in this pair, and shifted the character and input the gap in order to be identical; we use the number of times for (matching), mismatching and gaps as the input in the anfis view tool, and output the score matching, as shown in “figure 3” we can compute the percentage similarity of the alignment by using this code in matlab [score, alignment] = nwalign(‘s1’,’s2’); showalignment(alignment); in order to display a pairwise sequence alignment, as shown in “figure 4.” this use the table 1: the various anfis testing results sequences global alignment identities (%) score aggttgc aggttgc 7-may 0.149 aggtc aggt--c −71% gtaggcttaaggtta gtaggcttaaggtta 15-may 0 tagatc at-ctag −33% agtcca a – gtcca 7-may 0.149 atgtcc atgtcc−71% cggga cggga6-feb 0 attgac attgac 33% ctatccg ctatc cg 7-may 0.425 ctagtcg ctagtcg −71% anfis: adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system table 2: the score matching for global alignment of anfis tool sequences local alignment identities (%) score aggttgc aggt 100 1 aggtc aggt gtaggcttaaggtta tag 100 1 tagatc tag agtcca gtcc 100 1 atgtcc gtcc cggga ga 100 1 attgac ga ctatccg cta 100 1 ctagtcg cta anfis: adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system hameed and hamed: measuring the score matching of dna using nf 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 37-41 number of times similar in the sequence alignment divided on the entire length of the alignment sequence. in table 3, we aligned the sequence using the local algorithm, in this method the algorithm take the most similar part of the pair sequence, not must in the order and not need to input the gap, the resulting score is the perfect there is no mismatch and no gaps, and have 100% identical. conclusion the proposed technique, here, is used to obtain the similarity measure of the pairwise dna sequence alignment; the pattern matching is an essential task of example the disclosure process in this day and age for finding the basic and utilitarian conduct in the dna sequencing. in spite of the fact that, the example of matching is commonly utilized as a part of computer science and information processing. in this paper the proposed algorithms are used that are global and local alignment to measure the score matching, which are utilized; it as a method to be align the two dna sequences. the neuro-fuzzy model is used to evaluate the score similarity by the anfis tool in table 3: the score matching for local alignment of anfis tool mf type input the number of mf for the inputs the mf output train fis method the number of epochs the average training error the average testing error triangular mf 3 3 3 constant backpropagation 50 0.04657 0.06078 triangular mf 5 5 5 constant backpropagation 250 0.01109 0.04306 trapezoidal mf 3 3 3 constant backpropagation 100 0.01898 0.0453 trapezoidal mf 3 3 3 constant backpropagation 500 0.01657 0.01657 gaussian mf 5 5 5 constant backpropagation 350 0.01436 0.04436 gaussian2 mf 5 5 5 constant backpropagation 500 0.02804 0.05415 mf: membership functions, anfis: adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system, fis: fuzzy inference system figure 3: view rules adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system figure 4: the identical alignment hameed and hamed: measuring the score matching of dna using nf 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 37-41 matlab; we implement the method in several processing systems and depend on the most suitable system with the lowest average testing error; we obtain the score matching result for several patterns of dna sequencing; this model presented the matching implementation in fast and efficient. references 1. r. bhukya and d. v. l. somayajulu. “exact multiple pattern matching algorithm using dna sequence and pattern pair”. international journal of computer applications, vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 32-38, 2011. 2. x. xie, j. guan and s. zhou. “similarity evaluation of dna sequences based on frequent patterns and entropy”. bmc genomics, vol. 16, no. 3, p. s5, 2015. 3. w. deng and y. luan. “analysis of similarity/dissimilarity of dna sequences based on chaos game representation”. abstract and applied analysis, vol. 2013, p. 926519, 2013. 4. p. pandiselvam, t. marimuthu and r. lawrance. “a comparative study on string matching algorithms of biological sequences”. in: international conference on intelligent computing, pp. 1-5, 2014. 5. t. chakrabarti, s. saha and d. sinha. “dna multiple sequence alignment by a hidden markov model and fuzzy levenshtein distance based genetic algorithm”. international journal of computer applications, vol. 73, no. 16, pp. 26-30, 2013. 6. n. gill and s. singh. “biological sequence matching using fuzzy logic”. international journal of scientific and engineering research, vol. 2, no. 7, pp. 1-5, 2011. 7. s. b. needleman and c. d. wunsch. “a general method applicable to the search for similarities in the amino acid sequence of two proteins”. journal of molecular biology, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 443453, 1970. 8. t. f. smith and m. s. waterman. “identification of common molecular subsequences”. journal of molecular biology, vol. 147, no. 1, pp. 195-197, 1981. 9. d. nauck, f. klawonn and r. kruse. “foundations of neuro-fuzzy systems”. john wiley and sons, inc., new york, 1997. 10. s. nasser, g. l. vert, m. nicolescu and a. murray. “multiple sequence alignment using fuzzy logic. in: 2007 ieee symposium on computational intelligence and bioinformatics and computational biology, ieee, pp. 304-311, 2007. 11. k. kim, m. kim and y. woo. “a dna sequence alignment algorithm using quality information and a fuzzy inference method”. progress in natural science, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 595-602, 2008. 12. n. chai, l. r. swem, m. reichelt, h. chen-harris, e. luis, s. park and j. mcbride. “two escape mechanisms of influenza a virus to a broadly neutralizing stalk-binding antibody”. plos pathogens, vol. 12, no. 6, p. e1005702, 2016. 13. s. a. hameed and r. i. hamed. “analysing the score matching of dna sequencing using an expert system of neurofuzzy”. journal of theoretical and applied information technology, vol. 95, no. 6, pp. 1255-1262, 2017. 14. dna matching data base-ncbi”. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/nucleotide. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 1-5 research article association of total dietary fats and its subtypes with risk of breast cancer jwan i. jawzali* department of nursing-basic science, nursing college, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq abstract specific classes of dietary fatty acids may be important modifiers of breast cancer (b-ca) risk. aim of this study was identification risk of subtypes of dietary fat for b-ca. this case–control study carried out in rizgary teaching hospital in erbil city. data collected by interview questionnaire and included demographic and reproductive properties; anthropometric measurements; and medical history. dietary data collected by food frequency questionnaire. they were analyzed by program for mosby’s nutritrac nutrition analysis software, for calculation intake of dietary; fiber, total fat, and its subtypes, energy intake, acceptable macronutrient distribution range, and antioxidant nutrients. statistical analysis was performed using spss program. polyunsaturated fats decreased risk of b-ca while saturated and monounsaturated fats (cis form) increased risk among all and postmenopause obese women, respectively. risk of cancer increased significantly in high percentage of energy intake from monounsaturated fats, cooking oil, and dietary red meats. the study concluded that total polyunsaturated fatty acids (pufa) decrease risk of b-ca among obese menopause woman. increase risk of b-ca by cooking oils and animal origin diet may due to increased intake of saturated monounsaturated and specific pufa. these subtypes of dietary fats may promote hormones imbalance and inflammation. keywords: animal origin diet, breast cancer, monounsaturated fats, saturated fats, unsaturated fats introduction breast cancer (b-ca) is the most frequent cancer among women in kurdistan/iraq and increased in the past 10 years. it has been reported that 40% of cancers can be averted by reducing risk factors and by primary prevention.[1] role of dietary fat could result in initiation and development of breast tumor by stimulation production of estrogen and other endogenous hormone, regulation of immune function, and modulation of gene expression.[2] diet may modify risk of b-ca. specific classes of dietary fatty acids may be important modifiers of b-ca risk. unique chemical and biophysical properties of dietary fatty acids have impact on health and disease.[3] the inconsistent and limited evidence warrants research to assess the impact of consumption of fat subtypes on b-ca recurrence and mortality.[4] epidemiologic, animal experiments, and some case–control studies supported the hypothesis that dietary fat can increase b-ca risk, and still remains one of the most controversial hypotheses in nutritional epidemiology.[5] inconsistent results due to limited ranges of fat intake among populations, errors of dietary fat measurement, and high correlation between specific types of dietary fat and b-ca risk. the confounders such as body weight and huge energy intake and food components such as fiber and antioxidants can affect the exact association of total and specific subtypes of fat intake with b-ca risk.[2] fatty acids potentially associated with an increase in cancer risk in humans include saturated fatty acids (sfa), monounsaturated fatty acids (mufa), and trans-fatty acids, and two major classes of polyunsaturated fatty acids (pufa); omega-6 pufa, (pufa 18:2n6) and arachidonic acid (aa, 20:4n6). in contrast, specific pufa, n-3 pufa (α-linolenic acid), may have anticancer effects. studies have shown that sfas associated with an increased risk in contrast omega-3 pufa intake reduced risk of b-ca.[3] pufas are biologically active food components that elicit proand anti-inflammatory responses through several signaling pathways that regulate cell proliferation, apoptosis, and angiogenesis. there is increasing evidence that pufas play a role in cancer risk and progression.[6] corresponding author: jwan i. jawzali, department of nursing-basic science, nursing college, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: jwanjawzali@gmail.com received: jan 26, 2020 accepted: jun 26, 2020 published: jul 10, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n2y2020.pp1-5 copyright © 2020 jwan i. jawzali. this is an open access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) jawzali: association total dietary fat with risk of breast cancer 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 1-5 epidemiologic studies provide unpredictable reports about the associations of dietary pufas and risks of cancer. the previous reviews evaluate overall dietary fat but do not take in to account the variation in the impact of fat subtypes. dietary fat risk to the b-ca may due to the complex composition of dietary fat. therefore, this study conducted to identify contribution of some subclasses of dietary fat to total energy and their risk to b-ca. the study also identify socio demographic and lifestyle factors which act as confounder and some antioxidant nutrients that modify the association of dietary fats and its subtype with risk of b-ca. patients and methods the study was case control, carried out in rizgary teaching hospital in erbil governorate, kurdistan region, iraq. the patients age ranged between 27 and 74 years and included 55 cases of women with diagnosed b-ca (after mastectomy), at different stage, attending outpatient unit of chemotherapy and 55 cancer-free women attending outpatient clinic of rizgary teaching hospital. sample size determined by sample size mode[7] using odds ratio (or) and percentage of controls exposed to total fats from previous case–control study conducted in the same hospital. women whose weighs changed after diagnoses and women who did not complete the interview questionnaire were excluded from the study. they were interviewed after their consent had been taken by questionnaire, which included sociodemographic properties; reproductive history, family history of b-ca, anthropometric measurements; body mass index and waist-to-hip ratio, and medical history. diet history collected by semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire to estimate; type, frequency, and quantity of food using household measurements and standard portion size photographs of common foods. foods intake data were analyzed by program for mosby’s nutritrac nutrition analysis software, version iv (cd-rom), for calculation; total energy, dietary fat intake and its subtypes, cholesterol, dietary fibers, and some antioxidants per individual by, taking into account intake of margarine, butter, oils, and fats used in cooking and baking. calculating amount of omega 6 in cooking oil by righttrak nutrient calculator. acceptable macronutrient distribution range (amdr) represents the percentage of energy contributed by total fat calculated. food groups contributing to intake of fat, red meat, chicken, fish, and eggs, were used in association with risk of b-ca. statistical analysis all data were analyzed by spss version 22.0. descriptive statistics were used to study the mean and standard deviation and standard error for continuous variables. chi-square test was used for association measurements between categories, independents t-test used for measurement differences between the means. odds ratio (or), and binary logistic regression were used in measuring the risk of b-ca. p-value was considered significant when p ≤ 0.05 and was considered highly significant when p ≤ 0.01. results and discussion table 1 shows demographic reproductive properties of the studied samples. there was no significant difference between b-ca and control groups in age, residency, marital status, education levels, age of menarche, age at first pregnancy, and menopause age. table 2 shows no significant difference in anthropometric measurement between b-ca and controls. most were overweight and had normal value (0.8–0.85) of waist-to-hip ratio. in contrast to familial absence of cancer, this showed significant association and decrease in the risk (or=0.14**) and confident interval (ci) ranged to decrease (0.04–0.44) risk of b-ca and indicates to the importance of genetic factors, and increasing rate of b-ca incidence in iraq. this view the same results of the previous studies conducted in iraq by lafta et al. and safil et al.[8,9] nearly 60% of the studied women had family history of b-ca it is much higher than that reported in the study[10] where only 16% of the patients recorded a positive family history. table 3 shows intake of daily energy as kilocalorie (kcal./d), daily total fats and its subtypes as gram/day (g/d), their amdr, dietary fiber (g/d), and some antioxidant nutrients. there was a significant difference between means of saturated fats, unsaturated, and selenium as antioxidants. the results reveal the roles of subtypes of fats on the risk of b-ca. the most important one was pufa which represent mainly total form of two major classes of (pufa); omega-6 and omega 3. interaction with other subtype fats and antioxidants, and their amdr in all samples and largely among overweight and obese patients, decreased risk of b-ca. increased risk of b-ca was found among group with high intake of saturated fats more than 10% of total calories and ≥20 g/day of normal value of saturated fat intake, and among obese postmenopause women who had high percentage of energy intake from mufa. the finding supported by sieri et al.[11] who found positive association between b-ca and saturated fat and was more pronounced among postmenopausal women who never used hormone therapy. higher total fat intake (39% of total energy) than recommendations ensures limitation total fat intake between 20% and 35% of total caloric and restriction saturated fat consumption as stated by makarem et al.[4] furthermore, canadian cohort study showed that higher intakes of saturated fat as a percentage of total energy significantly increased the risk of b-ca death in postmenopausal women and not significantly in premenopausal women. every 5% increase in saturated fat intake, as percentage of total energy, was associated with approximately 65% increased risk of b-ca mortality.[4] otherwise, zhang et al.[12] suggested that intakes of total fat, saturated and monounsaturated fat, and n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fat were not associated with risk of b-ca. antioxidant nutrients (vitamins c, e, and selenium ) and their modulation effect appeared only with selenium that showed significant association with b-ca. this result is in line with pouchieu et al.[13] who suggests that specific sfas, mufas, and pufas were prospectively differentially associated with cancer risk. antioxidants may modulate these associations with interaction with other subtype fats and counteracting the potential effects of these fatty acids on carcinogenesis. significant high risk of mufa which occupies high percentage from total energy among obese patient and decreased risk by polyunsaturated and its amdr mainly among obese postmenopause women is related to body fatness jawzali: association total dietary fat with risk of breast cancer 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 1-5 and estrogen hormone production. this result reveals that the idea of other case–control studies has shown a positive role of mufa in the pathogenesis of b-ca and that body adiposity enhances the production of estrogen, hormonal imbalances in insulin-like growth factor-1 and insulin. increased bioavailable estrogens that are theorized to increase cell proliferation through activation of target genes, thereby promoting carcinogenesis. makarem et al., singh and nimbkar[4,14] concluded that reduction of dietary fat would result in a 2.5fold reduced risk of b-ca among postmenopausal women. table 4 shows significant differences in the mean levels of cooking oils, dietary red meats, poultry meats, and dietary egg between b-ca and controls. this may due to content of cooking oils (largely sunflower and corn oils intake that was abundant in studied samples) of omega-6. effectively sunflower oils showed approximately significant difference between b-ca and controls. highest percentage 77% of sunflower oil and 50% of corn oil composed of omega 6 (n3:6) linoleic unsaturated fatty acids.[15] this result explores pro-inflammatory effect of omega 6 that increases risk of b-ca as stated by prentice and sheppard[16] who concluded increased b-ca risk with increasing dietary ratio of pro-inflammatory (n-6 pufa) to anti-inflammatory (n-3 pufas) and increases in pro-inflammatory eicosanoids such as prostaglandin e2, promotes angiogenesis, and hinders apoptosis. in addition, red meats may contain other carcinogenic compounds formed during meat process and preparing that increase risk of b-ca as stated by khodarahmi and azadbakht[2] that carcinogens such as heterocyclic amines, n-nitroso compound, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are found largely in cooked red meat and soluble hormones or growth factor, could increase risk of b-ca and they may confound the exact relationship of the subtypes of fat with b-ca. significant difference between cases and controls in dietary egg intake may indicate to its association with risk of b-ca and it is in line with[17] that high egg intake may be associated with elevated risk of b-ca. also agree with cho et al.[18] who attributed association of high egg intake with risk of b-ca to estrogen hormone levels and concluded that animal fat intake increase b-ca risk by modulating estrogen levels among women with estrogen receptor (er)-positive cancers compare to women with er-negative cancers. significant difference in poultry meats intake among b-ca and controls conforms result of chandran et al.[19] who found positive association between poultry consumption and b-ca risk in caucasian women, with over 2-fold greater risk table 1: comparison of sociodemographic characteristics for cases and controls and their association with b-ca demographic data b-ca cases controls p-value of t-test mean±sd mean±sd age (years) 47.6±10.0 47.1±11.5 0.74 residency f % f % p-value chi-square urban rural 30 (54.5) 25 (45.5) 38 (69.1) 17 (30.9) 0.169 educational levels f (%) f (%) p-value chi-square illiterate primary school secondary school institute and above 38 (69.1) 8 (10.9) 6 (14.5) 3 (5.5) 30 (54.)5 13 (23.6) 4 (7.3) 8 (14.5) 0.068 marital status f (%) f (%) p-value chi-square married single 48 (87.3) 7 (12.7) 49 (89.1) 6 (10.9) 0.77 mean±sd mean±sd p-value t-test menarche age 13.4±1.5 13.5±0.68 1.4 age at first pregnancy 16.8±10.8 18.2±9.5 0.48 menopause age 43.6±7.6 43.7±9 0.97 f.: frequency, **p-value ≤0.01, *p-value ≤0.01 table 2: comparisons of anthropometric factors and familial history between cases and controls anthropometric b-ca cases controls p-value–t-test mean±sd mean±sd bmi (kg/m2) waist/hip ratio 31.7±5.5 0.84±0.06 30.2±4.6 0.83±0.07 0.13 0.89 bmi category f. (%) f. (%) ˂ 25 5 (9.1) 5 (9.1) 25-29 18 (32.7) 20 (36.4) > 30 32 (58.2) 30 (54.5) family history f. (%) f (%) p-value of chi-square negative 35 (63.6) 51 (92.7) 0.00** positive 20 (36.4) 4 (7.3) f: frequency, **p≤0.01, *p≤0.01 jawzali: association total dietary fat with risk of breast cancer 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 1-5 among premenopausal caucasian women and among women to er-negative tumors. this result may due to the method of preparation as reported by bao et al.[20] who concluded that b-ca risk increased when chicken was consumed with the skin, contains fats or some component produced during cooking. conclusions the study concluded that increased intake of saturated and monounsaturated fats that are derived from animal origin; red meats, poultry and eggs, and specific polyunsaturated fats mainly from cooking oil, may cause hormones imbalance, inflammation, and increase risk of b-ca, particularly among obese menopause woman. in addition, gaining high calories from monounsaturated fats and method of meat preparation and cooking may increase the risk of b-ca. acknowledgment we thank first study participants for their contributions and outpatient clinic staff of chemotherapy unit of rizgary teaching hospital for their support during data collection. references 1. v. g. guerrero, a. f. baez, c. g. c. gonzalez and c. g. m. gonzález. monitoring modifiable risk factors for breast cancer: an obligation for health professionals. revista panamericana de salud pública, vol. 41, p. e80, 2017. 2. m. khodarahmi and l. azadbakht. the association between different kinds of fat intake and breast cancer risk in women. international journal of preventive medicine, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 6-15, 2014. 3. m. maclennan and d. w. ma. role of dietary fatty acids in mammary gland development and breast cancer. breast cancer research, vol. 12, p. 211, 2010. 4. n. makarem, u. chandran, e. v. bandera and n. parekh. dietary fat in breast cancer survival. annual review of nutrition, vol. 33, table 4: comparisons of some food items between cases and controls and their significant differences dietary data intake (g/d) controls b-ca cases p-value of t-test mean±se mean±se cooking oil 31.1±4.0 42.7±4.7 0.05* omega-6 (in cooking oilsunflower oil) 19.9±2.6 27.3±2.9 0.05* red meats 11.4±1.9 22.8±3.5 0.005** poultry meats 21.6±2.4 33.5±4.8 0.029* fish intake 4.2±0.9 5.8±1.5 0.36 egg intake 10.8±1.5 16.2±2.1 0.035* g/d: gram per day table 3: comparisons of energy, fats, and antioxidants intakes between cases and controls and their risk to b-ca nutrients b-ca cases controls p-value t-test or 95% ci mean±se mean±se total energy (kcal/day) 4653.3±1212.9 3019.1±641.2 0.23 total fat 137.8±49.4 85.2±13.9 0.31 % kcal from total fat 39.4±7.6 32.5±1.8 0.32 saturated fat intake f (%) f (%) p-value of chi-square categories 7–10% of calorie is normal ˂7% low normal >10% high 18 (32.7) 11 (20.0) 26 (47.3) 29 (52.7) 15 (27.3) 11 (20.0) 0.01** low intake of sf is reference 3.8**a 1.5–9.5 3.2* 1.13–9.2 mean±se mean±se p-value t-test or 95% ci saturated fat (sf) (g/d) 58±32.2 18.3±3.0 % kcal from saturated fat 10.8±1.6 7.9±0.6 monounsaturated (g/d) 53.7±13.6 40.2±4.6 0.35 % kcal from mafa 19.4± 4.7 18.5 ±1.5 1.7*o 1.04–2.9 polyunsaturated (g/d) 12.7± 1.9 7.3 ± 1.2 0.017* 0.93*a 0.87–0.98 polyunsaturated pafa 0.86**b 0.77–0.96 polyunsaturated pafa 0.62*o 0.4–0.97 % kcal from pafa 4.8±0.8 2.7±0.1 0.013* −0.7**a 03–0.8 cholesterol (mg/d) 400.7±194.4 126.9±18.1 0.66 dietary fiber (g/d) 56.2±105 56.8±119 0.97 vitamin c (mg/d) 521±139.6 797±400 0.52 vitamin e (mg/d) 10.7±2.1 10.6±3.4 0.98 selenium (mcg/d) 97.7±5.2 83.2±4.2 0.03* se is standard error, it is used for comparing between means, **p≤0.01, *p≤0.05, o: risk b-ca among obese, a: risk of b-ca among all sample, b: risk b-ca among all sample with antioxidant nutrients (se and vitamins c and e). mg/d: milligram/day, mcg/d: microgram/day jawzali: association total dietary fat with risk of breast cancer 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 1-5 pp. 319-348, 2013. 5. v. chajes, g. torres-mejia and c. biessy. ω -3 and ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid intakes and the risk of breast cancer in mexican women: impact of obesity status. cancer epidemiology, biomarkers and prevention, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 319-326, 2011. 6. m. azrad, c. turgeon and w. demark-wahnefried. current evidence linking polyunsaturated fatty acids with cancer risk and progression, frontiers in oncology, vol. 3, p. 224, 2013. 7. sampsize project. sample size for a case-control study. 20032005 philippe glaziou. available from: http://www.sampsize. sourceforge.net/iface/s3.html. 8. r. k. lafta, e. q. saeed and s. a. isa. risk factors of breast cancer among women (a sample from baghdad). iraqi journal of community medicine, vol. 1, pp. 1-6, 2019. 9. a. m. al-safi1, b.a. ghalibyassin and e. a. al-tameemi. body mass index among women with proved or suspected breast cancer attending national center for early detection, medical city campus. iosr journal of dental and medical sciences, vol. 14, no. 5, pp. 53-59, 2015. 10. n. a. s. alwan. breast cancer among iraqi women: preliminary findings from a regional comparative breast cancer research project. journal of global oncology, vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 255-258, 2016. 11. s. sieri, v. krogh, p. ferrari, f. berrino, v. pala, a. c. m. thiébaut, a. tjønneland, a. olsen and k. overvad. dietary fat and breast cancer risk in the european prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition. the american journal of clinical nutrition, vol. 88, pp. 1304-1312, 2008. 12. c. x. zhang, s. c. ho, f. y. lin, y. m. chen, s. z. cheng and j. h. fu. dietary fat intake and risk of breast cancer: a casecontrol study in china. european journal of cancer prevention, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 199-206, 2011. 13. c. pouchieu, m. deschasaux, s. hercberg, n. druesne-pecollo, p. latino-martel and m. touvier. prospective association between red meats intake and breast cancer risk modulation by an antioxidant supplementation in the su.vi. max randomized controlled trial. int j epidemiol, vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 1583-1592, 2014. 14. v. singh. and n. nimbkar. in: s. k. gupta (ed.), saff flower in breeding oilseed crops for sustainable production. jammu (j and k), india: sher-e-kashmir university of agricultural sciences and technology chatha, pp. 149-167, 2016. 15. h. j. murff, x. o. shu, h. li, g. yang, x. wu, h. cai, w. wen, y. t. gao and w. zheng. dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids and breast cancer risk in chinese women: a prospective cohort study. international journal of cancer, vol. 128, pp. 1434-1441, 2011. 16. r. l. prentice and l. sheppard. dietary fat and cancer: consistency of epidemiologic data and disease prevention that may follow from a practical reduction in fat consumption. cancer causes and control, vol. 1. pp. 81-97, 1990. 17. n. keum, d. h. lee, n. marchand, h. liu, h. oh, d. aune, d. c. greenwood and e. l. giovannucci. egg intake and cancers of the breast, ovary and prostate: a dose response meta-analysis of prospective observational studies. british journal of nutrition, vol. 114, no. 7, pp. 1099-1107, 2015. 18. e. cho, d. spiegelman, d. j. hunter, w. y. chen, m. j. stampfer, g. a. colditz and w. c. willett. premenopausal fat intake and risk of breast cancer. journal of the national cancer institute, vol. 95, pp. 1079-1085, 2003. 19. u. chandran, g. zirpoli, g. ciupak, s. e. mccann, z. gong, k. pawlish, y. lin, k. demissie, c. b. ambrosone and e. v. bandera. racial disparities in red meat and poultry intake and breast cancer risk. cancer causes control, vol. 24, pp. 2217-2229, 2013. 20. p. p. bao, x. o. shu, y. zheng, h. cai, z. x. ruan, k. gu, y. su, y. t. gao, w. zheng and w. lu. fruit, vegetable, and animal food intake and breast cancer risk by hormone receptor status. nutrition and cancer, vol. 64, pp. 806-819, 2012. . 85 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 85-91 research article a multiband biconical log-periodic antenna for swarm communications bessam al jewad* department of computer and communication engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract in this paper, we present a specific multiband antenna design that addresses the problem of communication with unmanned aerial vehicles (uavs). we consider a scenario where multiband single-antenna uav communicates with the rest of the swarm members that are equipped with similar antennas. the key point in the design is that the communication does not require high or low elevation angles in most of the cases. the suggested design has a sufficient degree of freedom to select the desired features for the field pattern while keeping other features such as antenna impedance and gain relatively stable or at least in the acceptable operation region. keywords: biconical antenna, broadband antenna, component, drone-to-drone, drone-to-infrastructure, frequency-independent antennas, log-periodic antenna introduction in recent years, the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (uavs), also known as drones, has witnessed an unprecedented increase for both military and civilian applications. from airborne traffic surveillance to the more recent mail package delivery, the list of interesting applications for uav swarms keeps growing.[1-3] however, the introduction of the swarm concept, communications have always been a challenge.[4,5] in uav swarms, there are two types of communications: droneto-drone (d2d) in which drones can communicate important navigational information between each other, and drone-toinfrastructure (d2i) in which drones can communicate and take general commands from the ground station (gs). while the former can be relatively simple, the latter is much more complicated and challenging for many reasons. first, in most applications, the uav is equipped with a high-resolution camera sending images and video. therefore, each uav requires a high-speed low-latency communication link in the order of tens of mbps of bandwidth and few tens of milliseconds of latency.[6] that is, of course if such images and videos are to be used for any reliable form of navigation or interaction. second due to the dynamic nature of the uav movement in three-dimensional at speeds ranging from 20 m/s to 50 m/s,[6] the communication channel with the gs becomes time varying with non-stationary noise. it is further hampered by the constant loss of the line-of-sight and the change in antenna characteristics (radiation pattern, polarization, etc.) as well as orientation. currently, existing wireless technologies, such as wireless fidelity, zigbee, and xbee-pro as well as massive multiple-input multiple-output (mimo) and ultra-wideband communication were devised for communication with uavs.[6] however, none of these techniques was designed for this particular application making them highly unreliable for many practical situations.[7] in recent artificial intelligence ai studies, it was suggested that navigational information and low-latency interaction or decision-making between the uav and gs can be minimized if some form of ai algorithm like swarm guidance algorithm was implemented locally on each uav causing the group to have a massive collective processing power.[8] in such an application, the general heading command can be sent by the gs and the swarm can follow a stochastic general path in which each uav can communicate the obstacles, constraints and locally-optimized path solution to the rest of the group.[9] collectively, the group will perform a distributed cost-function minimization and will find the optimal path that minimizes the time and energy for the swarm.[10] in such an application, the design of a special low-cost and ergonomically efficient antenna for d2d communication is highly desirable. at a basic level, a drone swarm is a floating dynamic wireless network, commonly known as a wireless mesh corresponding author: bessam al jewad, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: bassam.jawad@cihanuniversity.edu.iq.test-google-a.com received: apr 17, 2019 accepted: apr 19, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp85-91 copyright © 2019 bessam al jewad. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) al jewad: a multiband biconical log-periodic antenna for swarm communications 86 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 85-91 network. a mesh network is a network topology in which each node relays data for the network. all nodes cooperate in the distribution of data in the network. a mesh network whose nodes are all connected to each other is a fully connected network. many studies suggested the use of multi-carrier, ultra-wideband or multi-band communication. however, one of the limiting factors for such an approach is the antenna. many conventional antennas are highly resonant and only operate over a bandwidth that represents a few percent’s of their center frequency. these narrow bandwidth antennas may be entirely satisfactory or even desirable for single-frequency or narrowband applications where high gain is required. wider bandwidths are required in d2d communication applications, especially as the level of the swarm intelligence and its processing power increase. the more sophisticated the applied ai algorithm gets, the more it becomes necessary to exchange high bandwidth or latency dependent data between swarm members. conventionally, there has been a broad range of work on wideband antennas[11-13] for various airborne vehicle applications. however, d2d rarely will need to communicate at high (or low) elevation angles, especially while flying in a swarm. therefore, a wideband, omnidirectional antenna, with low beam-width is proposed as a solution for such an application. this antenna needs to be effectively small to maintain the weight constraints of the drone design. in addition, it needs to be a broadband antenna to facilitate exchanging high-bandwidth data. in this paper, we present a specific antenna design that addresses the problem of multi-band communications and has a higher degree of freedom in its design to select the desired features of the field pattern while keeping other features such as antenna impedance and gain relatively stable or at least within the acceptable operation region. wideband frequency independent antenna the proposed design is a biconical log-periodic spiral antenna whose conceptual image is shown in figure 1. the goal is to create a broadband antenna with center frequencies of 3.9 and 5.9 ghz and a frequency range of 3.4–10 ghz. the objective radiation pattern is a one with high gain at the horizon and less gain toward the sky or ground. the reason why an array antenna would not work is that arrays are typically narrow band. conventionally, several broadband antennas were utilized in the past. however, biconical log-periodic spiral antennas have an advantage in that they can operate in two main modes: the end-fire axial mode with circular polarization and the broadside normal mode with linear polarization. thus, depending on the operating frequency, they can serve the dual purpose of d2d and d2i communications. this design draws from a range of common antennas including dipoles, arrays, spirals, loops, log-periodic, and conical. the aspects of these antennas and the amount they are used in the design are dependent on the frequency range of operation. in this particular design, the cones are actually present just to support the wire.[14] however, a multi-layered ferrite material can be used inside these cones to adjust the center frequency and change the polarization. as will be shown later each part of a loop will have a different center frequency, and since ferrite material is narrow band, in general, a multi-layer stack of ferrite materials can be utilized depending on the desired characteristics from the antenna. the material around the core can be filled with dielectrics to enhance the capacitive effect of the antenna impedance to adjust the performance. in general, a broadband antenna is defined by two factors: percentage of center frequency and ratio of operation. the percentage of the center frequency is defined by − −= × = ×100% 100% * u l u l p cl u f f f f f ff f (1a) while the frequency ratio of operation is defined as the ratio of the upper and lower frequencies of operation fu and fl. = u l f f f (1b) if the impedance and the pattern do not change significantly over about an octave (𝐹=2) or more, we classify the antenna as a broadband antenna. to meet the frequency independence requirements in a finite structure, the current must attenuate along with the structure and be negligible at the point of the truncation. for radiation and attenuation to occur the charge must be accelerated (or decelerated) and this happens when the conductor is curved or bent normally to the direction, in which the charge is traveling. thus, the curvature of the spiral provides a frequency-independent operation over a wide bandwidth.[12] broadly speaking, each arm of this antenna can be designed independently and placed strategically to provide a set of electrically small loop antenna array elements spaced by half wavelength, and excited at the center. starting from one arm the logarithmic (log) spiral is defined in cylindrical coordinates by r=αθ or ln(r)=θ ln(α) and is shown in detail in figure 2. the radial distance to a point p on the spiral is 𝑟, the angle with respect to the x-axis is 𝜃, and 𝛼 is a constant representing the apex angle. the relationship between 𝜃 and 𝑟 can alternatively be given by θ=tan(β) ln (r). in both relations, the z is not specified. an important control for a log-periodic spiral angle is the relationship for the spacing between each loop.[15] to achieve the broadband nature, the ratio between the 𝑖th loop spacing 𝑠 and the subsequent loop must stay constant. the log-periodic loop array seems a reasonable approximation to the spirally wrapped wire in our design. the loop diameters increase along with the antenna so that the included angle α is a constant and the spacings s of adjacent elements are scaled. this can also be translated in terms of the height of the loop z, which gives: + + − −= = − 1 1 1 i i i i i i s z z k s z z (2) where k is some constant. from this equation, it can be easily seen that z follows a simple difference equation. since the arrangement is logarithmic, it is more convenient to let z=mθ. now to find the height of each loop zi we will assume that completes one full rotation for each discrete loop and is therefore an integer i times 2π. thus, the height of the al jewad: a multiband biconical log-periodic antenna for swarm communications 87 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 85-91 ith loop can be written as zi = mi. therefore, zi+1=m(i+1)=mzi in the same way zi+1=m2 zi-1. substituting this in (2) and solving for m, we find that m=k for a non-trivial solution and therefore z=kθ. it is fairly reasonable to assume that only a single loop (or part of the loop) from the spiral will contribute to the major farfield component and will have the major current distribution according to the frequency of interest. this assumption was validated by several simulations. in this sense, the diameter for any element n+1 is approximately kn greater than the first element, or + = ≈1 1 nnd f k d (3) where 𝐹 is the frequency ratio from equation (1); the smallest loop in the antenna has a circumference equal to a tenth of a wavelength to quantify for the small loop antenna definition which gives the constraint for the diameter of the first loop. therefore, the geometric representation for one arm of the biconical antenna is given by q q q= =/tan   , r e z k (4) equations (3) and (4) constitute the design equations for one arm of the antenna. each antenna arm can be placed in either a frequency selective biconical construct shown in figure 1 or stacked in a broadband uni-conical construct. multi-band antenna matching in the previous section, the antenna was designed to meet several broadband requirements. in general, most selfcomplementary broadband antennas have almost constant impedance. the problem with most wire antennas (like our design) is that the antenna impedance is highly frequency dependent. thus, even though the antenna arm in the previous section may have broadband properties, it can only be used with a single frequency dictated by the matching network. the alternative would be to utilize a broadband matching network and in this case, the matching would not be perfect or easy. in addition, broadband matching in general means a compromise on the antenna gain due to the constant gain-bandwidth product constraint. using the design equations of the previous section, the parameters selected for our design are shown in table 1. the simulation results for the antenna impedance assuming a wire gauge of awg33 are shown in figure 3 for an input port impedance of 50 ohm. the approach that was adopted in our matching is the dual-band impedance matching where the antenna is matched at 3.9 ghz and 5.9 ghz. the same approach can be expanded to match any set of frequencies within the band. in this section, the approach is introduced. analyzing the actual antenna response on the smith chart (from a vector network analyzer) is also performed. the antenna’s frequency response (that is, the reflection coefficient γ) is plotted as a function of frequency on the smith chart, as shown in figure 4. the blue curve in this figure 4 represents the antenna impedance, plotted on the smith chart continuously from 3.4 ghz to 6.2 ghz since the rest of the frequency response is not required for the matching. the black circles indicate the locations on the curve corresponding to 3.9 ghz–5.9 ghz. the corresponding vswr plot for the same impedance above is given in figure 5. the target is to bring both of the above impedance locations to the center of the smith chart with a single matching network. to do this, the low band is matched first. for this step, use is made of only series capacitors and parallel inductors. this is because series capacitors affect lower figure 1: proposed antenna concept table 1: design parameters for the initial antenna matching circuit parameters values circumference ≤λ/10 low frequency 3.481 ghz large frequency 10 ghz β 1.54 radians κ 1.235 radius of wire 0.0899 mm number of turns 5 figure 2: log-periodic loop array structure al jewad: a multiband biconical log-periodic antenna for swarm communications 88 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 85-91 frequencies more than higher frequencies. similarly, parallel inductors affect low frequencies more than high frequencies. as a result, if only those components are used, the low band can be matched with minimal effect on the high band. the matching is done by calculating the required series and parallel impedances by moving on a constant x circle on the immittance smith chart. for the lower band matching a series, capacitor will move the impedance to intersect the re[y]=1 circle. by inspection, we find that a 0.738 pf series capacitor will move the 3.9 ghz impedance to intersect the re[y]=1 circle. from there, we complete the low band match with a parallel inductor of approximately a 0.692 nh. the resulting impedance curve for the group (the antenna, the 0.738 pf series capacitor and then the parallel 0.692 nh inductor) is shown in figure 6. from this, we see that the low band (3.9 ghz) is moved to the center of the smith chart, i.e., we have impedance matched in this region. however, the high band (5.9 ghz) region has moved from its original location, even though that was not intentional. the next step is to try to match the 5.9 ghz point without undoing the 3.9 ghz match. this can be done with the use of parallel capacitors and series inductors (both of which affect high frequencies more than low frequencies). to this end, we want to swing the high band point in figure 5 into the center of the smith chart. using the concepts of the parallel capacitor, we can move the 5.9 ghz impedance to intersect the re[z]=1 circle through a 0.483 pf parallel capacitor. note that by doing so, the 3.9 ghz point is moved slightly away from the center but that can be tolerated. the high band is now set up to be matched with a series inductor. the required value can be found to be approximately 1.61 nh of series inductance. the addition of this component to the overall matching network produces the final impedance curve, as shown in figure 7. figure 3: un-matched antenna impedance figure 4: antenna reflection coefficient frequency response figure 5: original vswr for the antenna al jewad: a multiband biconical log-periodic antenna for swarm communications 89 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 85-91 from figure 7, the high and low bands may not appear exactly matched. however, figure 8 presents the vswr corresponding to the impedance plot of the above smith chart. at 3.9 ghz and at 5.9 ghz, the vswr is <2.0. this is typically considered a good match. if a better match was desired, the four component values could be further optimized to improve the response. the trick to optimize for the component values is to assume that each value has a correction factor of δ. from the location of each desired point, we can determine the sign and value of each δ. the key factor to remember if lumped elements are to be used is the parasitic of each element. the final step in our matching is to convert the lumped elements found into short-embedded transmission lines, as shown in figure 9. the reason for this step is that lumped passive elements rarely behave as pure elements at very high frequencies. for example, a simple inductor will be hampered by stray capacitance and by wire resistance converting it into a more complicated circuit element, and the same applies to capacitors. in addition, the values we found for the matching network are not very practical. thus, the initial lumped-element values found were converted to distributed elements by utilizing the theory of embedded short transmission line.[16] in general, a shortembedded transmission line can approximate a shunt capacitance or a series inductance. as long as the length of the transmission line is kept very small compared to the minimum wavelength of interest, the implementation is possible. other examples exist in[16] for more complicated matching networks, and the selection between different possible matching networks depends entirely on the practicality of the element dimensions. figure 6: matching of the lower frequency band figure 7: matching of the upper frequency band figure 8: vswr for the matched antenna figure 9: short-embedded transmission line implementation of the matching network al jewad: a multiband biconical log-periodic antenna for swarm communications 90 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 85-91 the resulting overall matching network was implemented on a rogers 4350b substrate, as shown in figure 10 for the entire frequency band. simulation results the resulting antenna design from the previous section for a biconical construct is shown in figure 11. this design had been simulated with ansoft hfss. the separation between the two conic sections was selected to give resonance at the 3.9 ghz–5.9 ghz. the 𝑆11 or reflection coefficient is shown in figure 12 and the radiation pattern for the 5.9 ghz is shown in figure 13 for 5.9 ghz. the reflection coefficient response is <−10 db over the entire band of interest and the center frequencies of 3.9 ghz–5.9 ghz have very apparent resonant peaks. this is due to the wideband nature of the spiral antennas. as was devised previously, only part of each loop contributed to the radiation pattern in each frequency. the rest of the stacked loops aided in increasing the broadside gain to 5 dbi by working as a reflector and helping to limit the beam width at high and low elevation angles at the center frequency by working as a guide. conclusion this paper studied a broadband biconical log-periodic antenna design for uav communications. a geometrical analysis of the design is presented along with an hfss simulation. the results show that this antenna has good performance at the proposed frequency range with center frequencies at 3.9 ghz and 5.9 ghz. the results show that this antenna can achieve a gain of 5 dbi. further work will focus on increasing the gain and miniaturizing the antenna size using ferrite stacks and proper dielectric materials. references 1. s. hayat, e. yanmaz and r. muzaffar. “survey on unmanned aerial vehicle networks for civil applications: a communications viewpoint”. ieee communications surveys and tutorials, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 2624-2661, 2016. 2. t. andre, k. a. hummel, a. p. schoellig, e. yanmaz, m. asadpour, c. bettstetter, p. grippa, h. hellwagner, s. sand and s. zhang. “application-driven design of aerial communication networks”. ieee communications magazine, vol. 52, no. 5, pp. 129-137, 2014. 3. j. abatti. “small power: the role of micro and small uavs in the future”. air command and staff college, maxwell afb, al, 2005. figure 11: the biconical log-periodic spiral antenna (dimensions are in mm) figure 10: actual implementation of the matching circuit figure 12: simulated reflection coefficient or s11 (db) figure 13: radiation pattern of antenna (dbi) al jewad: a multiband biconical log-periodic antenna for swarm communications 91 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 85-91 4. p. olsson, j. kvarnstrom, p. doherty, o. burdakov and k. holmberg. “generating uav communication networks for monitoring and surveillance”. in: proceeding international conference on control automation robotics vision, pp. 1070-1077, 2010. 5. e. yanmaz, r. kuschnig and c. bettstetter. “achieving air-ground communications in 802.11 networks with three-dimensional aerial mobility”. in: proceeding ieee infocom, pp. 120-124, 2013. 6. p. chandhar, d. danev and e. g. larsso. “massive mimo for communications with drone swarms”. ieee transactions on wireless communications, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 1604-1629, 2018. 7. a. pospischil and j. p. rohrer. “multihop routing of telemetry data in drone swarms”. in: proceeding of itc, 2017. 8. m. v. ramesh, p. l. divya, r. v. kulkarni and r. manoj. “a swarm intelligence based distributed localization technique for wireless sensor network”. proceeding international conference on advances in computing, communications and informatics, pp. 367-373, 2012. 9. l. rosenberg. “artificial swarm intelligence vs human experts”. international joint conference on neural networks, 2016. 10. c. papagianni, k. papadopoulos, c. pappas and n. d. tselikas. “communication network design using particle swarm optimization”. proceeding international multiconference on computer science and information technology, vol. 3, pp. 915920, 2008. 11. v. rumsey. “frequency independent antennas”. ire international convention record, vol. 5, pp. 114-118, 1957. 12. j. d. kraus. “helical beam antennas for wide-band applications”. proceeding of the ire, vol. 36, no. 10, pp. 1236-1242, 1948. 13. y. mushiake. “self-complementary antennas”. ieee antennas and propagation magazine, vol. 34, no. 6, 1992. 14. j. dyson. “the unidirectional equiangular spiral antenna”. ieee transactions on antennas and propagation, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 329334, 1959. 15. j. d. kraus and r. j. marhefka. “antenna for all applications”. mcgraw-hill, new york, 2002. 16. b. c. wadell. “transmission line design handbook”. artech print on demand, boston, 1991. . 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 61-65 research article in vitro screening of seed extracts of medicinal plants for protease inhibitory activity faiyaz khudaboddin shaikh1,2*, sarwan w. bradosty3, saber w. hamad4, ashok a. shinde2 1department of biochemistry, dr. babasaheb ambedkar marathwada university, aurangabad, maharashtra, india, 2department of biotechnology, mgm’s institute of biosciences and technology, aurangabad, maharashtra, india, 3department of biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of field crops production, college of agriculture salahaddin university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract protease inhibitors (pis) are deployed in the plant kingdom as storage proteins or peptides, regulators of endogenous proteases, and plant protection agents against insect pests and pathogen attack. in humans, they are identified as chemopreventive agents against a range of cancers and have potential as drug to treat an array of disease associated with aberrant activity of proteases. the present investigation reports pis activity data from 30 medicinal plants. the screening for pis activity was done by dot blot assay using x-ray film coated with gelatin. among screened seed extracts, albizia lebbeck, raphanus sativus, mucuna pruriens, achyranthes aspera, and coffea arabica showed high inhibitory activities with trypsin protease. most of seed extracts exhibited moderate activity, whereas ocimum sanctum showed moderate to low activity against trypsin. the presence of varied protein content is reported from all seed extracts with highest in a. lebbeck (50.0 ± 3.4 mg/ml). the data produced in the present investigation could be helpful for further exploration of pis as therapeutic agent. keywords: dot blot, protease inhibitors, proteases, protein, trypsin introduction proteases or peptidases (e.c. 3.4) are one of the largest and the most diverse families of enzymes which selectively catalyze the hydrolysis of peptide bonds in proteins.[1,2] proteases are physiologically vital in all living organisms for cell growth, cell differentiation and death (apoptosis), cell migration, and invasion and are abundant in a wide variety of sources starting from viruses, bacteria, protozoa, metazoan, or fungi ending with plants and animals.[3,4] they perform a variety of functions during the vital processes in organism such as food digestion, blood clotting, embryogenesis, tissue reorganization (e.g., wound healing, regeneration, molting, metamorphosis, etc.), defense mechanisms, and immune responses.[5,6] from the analysis of several genomes, it is estimated and found that about 2–4% of all gene products are proteases with more than 560 members.[7,8] proteases are intricately involved in the protein catabolism and their action can be divided into two different categories: limited proteolysis and unlimited proteolysis. in limited proteolysis, proteases cleave specific peptide bonds in immature proteins or remove the target signals in pre-proteins, whereas the unlimited proteolysis (bulk hydrolysis) of dietary proteins is essential for providing cells with simple metabolites essential for growth and development. on the basis of catalytic types, they can be classified into serine, cysteine, aspartic, threonine, glutamic acid, and metalloproteases.[9] serine proteases are numerous and widespread among the mammals, viruses, insects, bacteria, and eukaryotes, suggesting that they are vital to the organisms. serine proteinases are classically categorized by their substrate specificity, particularly by whether the residue at p1: trypsinlike (lys/arg preferred at p1), chymotrypsin-like (large hydrophobic residues such as phe/tyr/leu at p1), or elastaselike (small hydrophobic residues such as ala/val at p1).[10] they are found to be involved in tissue degradation, blood coagulation, digestion, development, and immune defense.[11] the aberrant activity of these proteases can lead to various diseases and thus has been the focus of intense investigation as potential therapeutic targets. corresponding author: faiyaz khudaboddin shaikh, assistant professor, department of biotechnology, mgm’s institute of biosciences and technology, aurangabad-431003, maharashtra, india. e-mail: faizbiochem@gmail.com received: apr 13, 2019 accepted: apr 23, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp61-65 copyright © 2019 faiyaz khudaboddin shaikh, sarwan w. bradosty, saber w. hamad, ashok a. shinde. thi is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ shaikh, et al.: protease inhibitor activity from medicinal plants 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 61-65 protease inhibitors (pis) are molecules that resist the proteolytic actions of proteases and play a key role in regulation of protein catabolism in the body, the aberrant activity of proteases can lead to various diseases and must be regulated.[2] the diseases which could be attributed are metastasis, angiogenesis, alzheimer’s disease, parkinson’s disease, aids, and ischemia.[12,13] in general, regulation could be achieved by differential transcription, post-translational processing, subcellular compartmentalization, and the presence and activity of pis.[14,15] the existence of pis in nature was first reported by fermi and pernossi.[16] they are small proteins which are quite common in nature and also present in all life forms.[17] in plants, pis are generally concentrated (about 10%) in the seeds as seed storage proteins.[18] in general, pis are grouped into five groups as serine pis, cysteine pis, threonine pis, aspartic pis, and metalloproteases.[19] among these, serine pis is predominant followed by cysteine pis and metalloproteases, while aspartic pis and aspartic pis are rare and dispersed in different families. serine pis are widespread, well-characterized, and most-studied class of pis in plants.[20,21] historically, serine pis were first characterized from soybean plant.[22] proteases are proven therapeutic targets and screening of potent pis against aberrant proteolytic activity could lead to the development of the drugs. earlier plant-based pis are found to be effective against cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, inflammatory diseases, and neurological disorders. several plant pis are under evaluation in in vitro clinical trials for the treatment of many diseases. the pis have widespread applications in different sectors and are one of the prime candidates in biotechnology and medicine. the present investigation reports the detection and screening of pis from 30 medicinal plants. materials and methods procurement of seeds dry seeds of medicinal plants were purchased from the local market of aurangabad (ms), india. procurement of chemicals trypsin (bovine pancreas, e.c. 3.4.21.4), bovine serum albumin (bsa), hexane, acetone, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (pvp) were obtained from sisco research laboratories, mumbai, india. x-ray films were obtained from fuji film, usa. all other chemicals used in this study were of the highest purity available. extractions of pis from medicinal plants the dried seeds were pulverized to a fine powder in a mixer grinder. the fat was removed from the powder by hexane and acetone washes. defatted powder was suspended in milli-q water (1:6 w/v) containing 1% pvp and incubated overnight at 15°c. the suspension was then centrifuged at ×12,000 g for 20 min at 4°c, and the supernatant was termed as crude pis.[23] detection of pis by dot blot/spot test the dot blot/spot test was carried out to determine the potency of pis against protease trypsin, using x-ray film.[23] three different concentrations of the trypsin and pis were prepared: 1 (1:3), 2 (1:1), and 3 (3:1) v/v. the volume of the reaction mixture was adjusted by 0.1 m tris-hcl (ph 7.8). the total volume was made up to 20 µl using buffer and loaded onto x-ray film. the film with spots was incubated for 20 min at 37°c, then washed with running tap water and dried in air. different ratios of enzyme and inhibitor produced different patterns of gelatin hydrolysis on the x-ray film depending on the efficiency of inhibitor, which may be observed visually and scanned at 300 dpi using an hp digital scanner. protein determinations protein content was estimated by following the method of lowry et al.[24] using bsa as the standard. statistical analysis all experiments were conducted and analyzed in triplicate. the means and standard deviations were calculated and compared using microsoft excel 2010. figure 1: protein content of selected medicinal plants. values are mean±standard deviation for at least three replicates shaikh, et al.: protease inhibitor activity from medicinal plants 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 61-65 table 1: classification and protein content of selected medicinal plants botanical name family common name total protein content (mg/ml±sd) hygrophila spinosa acanthaceae talimkhana 12.8±1.4 ocimum basilicum lamiaceae sweet basil 13.9±1.6 raphanus sativus brassicaceae radish 26.8±1.8 daucus carota apiaceae wild carrot 12.1±1.2 mucuna pruriens fabaceae velvet bean 28.3±1.9 putranjiva roxburghii putranjivaceae putranjiva 12.5±1.4 cassia tora leguminosae sickle senna 23.3±1.2 croton tiglium euphorbiaceae jamaal gota 12.0±1.2 albizia lebbeck fabaceae siris tree 50.0±3.4 guizojia abyssynica asteraceae black seed 13.4±1.5 gloriosa superba colchicaceae flame lily 11.3±1.2 cucumis melo cucurbitaceae muskmelon 14.3±2.3 plantago ovata plantaginaceae ispaghul 13.5±1.5 eugenia jambolana myrtaceae jambolan 32.1±1.8 mimosa pudica fabaceae sensitive plant 21.1±1.1 ocimum sanctum lamiaceae tulasi 17.1±1.7 solanum xanthocarpum solanaceae kantakari 26.5±2.7 vitex negundo lamiaceae nirgundi 13.1±1.5 ocimum gratissimum lamiaceae ram tulsi 13.6±2.3 sida cordifolia malvaceae kharinta 19.3±1.3 celastrus paniculata celastraceae malkagani 20.1±1.2 psoralea corylifolia fabaceae bavachi 25.1±2.1 myristica fragrans myristicaceae jatiphala 17.3±1.9 nigella sativa ranunculaceae kalonji 19.1±1.2 gymnema sylvestre apocynaceae gurmar 22.1±2.1 achyranthes aspera amaranthaceae chaff-flower 24.4±2.6 coffea arabica rubiaceae coffee 32.1±2.7 hemidesmus indicus apocynaceae nannari 29.3±1.9 asparagus racemosus asparagaceae shatavari 28.2±2.0 nelumbium speciosum nelumbonaceae lotus/kamal 37.5±3.2 sd: standard deviation results and discussion the past few decades have seen a growing interest in the identification, purification, and characterization of novel pis. they are prime candidates who have numerous applications in agricultural and medicinal biotechnology. plants are good sources of pis which protect them against diseases, insects, pests, and herbivores.[25] they also explored as natural drugs for the treatment of an array of diseases including cancers.[13,26] the current study was undertaken to detect the presence of pis activity in seeds of selected medicinal plants. here, we screened about 30 medicinal plants for pis activity. the initial experiments were designed to explore total protein content from hexane defatted seed powder of these plants. the total protein content was estimated by protein assay developed by lowry et al.[24] in terms of bsa equivalence [figure 1 and table 1]. the protein content was found to be higher in medicinal plants belonging to fabaceae family with highest in albizia lebbeck (50.0 ± 3.4 mg/ml). the higher protein content is attributing to the additional nitrogen that legumes receive through the process of nitrogen fixation.[27] the seed extracts of other medicinal plants were reported to have varied protein content as reported in table 1. the crude seed extracts of these plants were further investigated for pis activity. the presence of pis activity was confirmed by spot test (dot blot) analysis.[23] detection of pis was observed by mixing various concentrations of protease and inhibitor and spotted on the x-ray film, then the clearing zone formed due to gelatin hydrolysis by trypsin and a reduction in the clearing zone by trypsin incubated with an inhibitor was compared. dot blot method was used to screen a large number of pis. the results of detection of pis activity by dot blot are shown in figure 2 and results for screening of seed sample of 30 plants for inhibition of proteases are given in table 2. shaikh, et al.: protease inhibitor activity from medicinal plants 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 61-65 among screened samples, a. lebbeck, raphanus sativus, mucuna pruriens, achyranthes aspera, and coffea arabica showed high inhibitory activities against trypsin. at all selected ratio (1:3, 1:1, and 3:1) of trypsin and the inhibitor, all these samples showed inhibition. most of the screened seed samples such as cucumis melo, eugenia jambolana, sida cordifolia, myristica fragrans, nigella sativa, gymnema sylvestre, hemidesmus indicus, asparagus racemosus, and nelumbium speciosum exhibited moderate to high trypsin inhibitory activity, while ocimum sanctum showed moderate to low activity against trypsin. the present study revealed that seed extracts of a. lebbeck, r. sativus, m. pruriens, a. aspera, and c. arabica were effective in inhibiting the trypsin and could be explored as pis source. proteases are enzymes involved in protein digestion. these enzymes are omnipresent in plants, animals, and also most microorganisms. they are importantly involved in health and well-being by performing a pivotal role in survival and maintenance of the organism. they constitute about 2% of the human genome. the conduct of proteases in spite of many advantages has to be closely regulated and controlled to avoid the excess activity of these enzymes, as it may possibly damage its host organism. this task of controlling is carried out by pis. the pis have coevolved with proteases, to control their destructive nature.[28] cancer is a collection of over 100 devastating diseases that share a number of characteristics, a primary hallmark of which is out-of-control growth. there is a positive correlation between the aggressiveness of a tumor and the secretion of various proteases.[29] a number of reviews on various aspects of the use of pis as a mean to combat cancer have been published recently. therefore, the aim of this study was to screen indian medicinal plants for pis and a. lebbeck, r. sativus, m. pruriens, a. aspera, and c. arabica were found to exhibit pis activity. this study could be useful for the identification of pis, designed for therapeutic applications. acknowledgments the financial assistance in the form of the fellowship to faiyaz k. shaikh from the university grant commission and department of ministry of minority affairs, new delhi, india is greatly acknowledged. authors’ contributions faiyaz shaikh designed, performed, and coordinated the main study. sarwan hamad, saber hamad, and ashok shinde helped in the manuscript preparation and editing. table 2: screening of pis from seeds extract of medicinal plants by dot blot method botanical name trypsin 3:1 1:1 1:3 hygrophila spinosa n n n ocimum basilicum n n n raphanus sativus p y y daucus carota n n n mucuna pruriens y y y putranjiva roxburghii n n n cassia tora n n p croton tiglium n n n albizia lebbeck y y y guizojia abyssynica n p p gloriosa superba n n p cucumis melo p y y plantago ovata n n n eugenia jambolana p p y mimosa pudica n n n ocimum sanctum n n p solanum xanthocarpum n n p vitex negundo n n p ocimum gratissimum n n y sida cordifolia n p y celastrus paniculata n n n psoralea corylifolia n n n myristica fragrans p y y nigella sativa p p y gymnema sylvestre p p y achyranthes aspera y y y coffea arabica y y y hemidesmus indicus p p y asparagus racemosus p y y nelumbium speciosum p y y n: no inhibition, p: partial inhibition, y: total inhibition, pis: protease inhibitors table 2: (continued) botanical name trypsin 3:1 1:1 1:3 (contd...) figure 2: detection of protease inhibitor (pi) of trypsin by the dot blot method. three different concentrations of enzymes and inhibitors (i [3:1], ii [1:1], and iii [1:3]) were used for screening of pis. the faint green spot (gelatin) indicates total inhibition of enzymes, while dark blue spot (gelatin hydrolysis) indicates no inhibition. ti profile of hygrophila spinosa (a), ocimum sanctum (b), cucumis melo (c), and albizia lebbeck (d) a b c d shaikh, et al.: protease inhibitor activity from medicinal plants 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 61-65 conflicts of interest the authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper. references 1. a. j. barrett, n. d. rawlings and j. j. f. woessner. “hand book of proteolytic enzymes”. london: acadamy press, 1998. 2. s. g. fan and g. j. wu. “characteristics of plant proteinase inhibitors and their applications in combating phytophagous insects”. botanical bulletin of academia sinica, vol. 46, pp. 273-292, 2005. 3. a. n. flynn and a. g. buret. “proteinase-activated receptor 1 (par-1) and cell apoptosis”. apoptosis, vo. 9, pp. 729-737, 2004. 4. g. a. joanitti, s. m. freitas and l. p. silva. “proteinaceous protease inhibitors: structural features and multiple functional faces”. current enzyme inhibition, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 199-217, 2006. 5. p. k. lawrence and k. r. koundal. “plant protease inhibitors in control of polyphagous insects”. electronic journal of biotechnology. vol. 1, pp. 93-109, 2002. 6. d. ivanov, c. emonet, f. foata, m. affolter, m. delly, m. fisseha, s. blum-sperisen, s kochhar and f. arigoni. “a serpin from the gut bacterium bifidobacterium longum inhibits eukaryotic elastase like serine proteases”. journal of biological chemistry, vol. 281, no. 25, pp. 17246-17252, 2006. 7. a. j. barrett, n. d. rawlings and e. a. o’brien. “the merops database as a protease information system”. journal of structural biology, vol. 134, pp. 95-102, 2001. 8. x. s. puente, l. m. sanchez, c. m. overall and c. lopezotin. “human and mouse proteases: a comparative genomic approach.” nature reviews genetics, vol. 4, pp. 544-558, 2003. 9. d. n. rawlings, p. d. tol1e and a. j. barrett. “evolutionary families of peptidase inhibitors”. biochemical journal, vol. 378, pp. 705-716, 2004. 10. j. d. tyndall, t. nall and d. p. fairlie. “proteases universally recognize beta strands in their active sites.” chemical reviews, vol. 105, pp. 973-999, 2005. 11. a. j. molehin, g. n. and d. p. gobert. “mcmanus: serine protease inhibitors of parasitic helminthes.” parasitology, vol. 139, no. 6, pp. 681-695, 2012. 12. m. l. j. korsinczky, h. j. schirra and d. j. craik. “sunflower trypsin inhibitor-1”. current protein and peptide science, vol. 5, p. 351, 2004. 13. m. h. lingaraju and l. r. gowda. “a kunitz trypsin 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“protease inhibitors and their peptidomimetic derivatives as potential drugs.” pharmacology and therapeutics, vol. 113, pp. 354-368, 2007. 20. g. c. mello, m. l. v. oliva, j. t. sumikawa, o. l. t. machado, s. marangoni, j. c. novello and m. l. r. macedo. “purification and characterization of a new trypsin inhibitor from dimorphandra mollis seeds”. journal of protein chemistry, vol. 20, pp. 625-632, 2001. 21. s. haq, s. atif and r. khan. “protein proteinase inhibitor genes in combat against insects, pests, and pathogens: natural and engineered phytoprotection”. archives of biochemistry and biophysics, vol. 431, pp. 145-159, 2004. 22. j. w. read and l. w. haas. “studies on the baking quality of flour as affected by certain enzyme actions. v. further studies concerning potassium bromate and enzyme activity”. cereal chemistry, vol. 45, pp. 59-68, 1938. 23. m. v. padul, r. d. tak and m. s. kachole. “protease inhibitor (pi) mediated defense in leaves and flowers of pigeonpea (protease inhibitor mediated defense in pigeonpea)”. plant physiology and biochemistry, vol. 52, pp. 77-82, 2012. 24. o. h. lowry, n. j. rosebrough, a. l. farr and r. j. randall. “protein measurement with folin phenol reagent”. journal of biological chemistry, vol. 193, pp. 265-275, 1951. 25. c. a. ryan. “protease inhibitors in plants: genes for improving defenses against insects and pathogens”. annual review of phytopathology, vol. 28, pp. 425-449, 1990. 26. p. j. magee, r. owusu-apenten, m. j. mccann, c. i. gill and i. r. rowland. “chickpea (cicer arietinum) and other plantderived protease inhibitor concentrates inhibit breast and prostate cancer cell proliferation in vitro”. nutrition and cancer, vol. 64, pp. 741-748, 2012. 27. j. i. sprent. “legume nodulation: a global perspective”. ames, iowa: wiley-blackwell, pp. 12, 2009. 28. n. vergnolle. “protease inhibition as new therapeutic strategy for gi diseases”. gut, vol. 65 pp. 1215-1224, 2016. 29. c. fields, p. mallee, j. muzard and g. u. lee. “isolation of bowman-birk inhibitor from soybean extracts using novel peptide probes and high gradient magnetic separation”. food chemistry, vol. 134, pp. 1831-1838, 2012. . 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 27-33 research article cooperating newton’s method with series solution method for solving system of linear mixed volterra-fredholm integral equation of the second kind talaat i. hasan* department of mathematics, college of basic education, salahaddin university, erbil, iraq abstract in this paper, for the 1st time, we use newton’s method with series solution method (ssm) for solving system of linear mixed volterrafredholm integral equations of the second kind (slmvfie-2). in this work, we use a new technique for studying the numerical solutions for slmvfie-2 which is newton’s method with ssm, first solving this system using ssm and after that cooperation newton’s method with ssm, suggesting an algorithm for the technique. the new results are achieved and some new theorems have proved for convergence of the method, several numerical examples are tested for illustrating the usefulness of the technique; the numerical results are obtained and compared with the exact solution, computing the least square error, and running times which are criterion of discussion. for programming the technique, we use general matlab program. keywords: newton’s method, series solution method, system of linear mixed volterra-fredholm integral equations of the second kind, taylor series introduction integral equations have been one of the significant and principal instruments in various areas of sciences such as applied mathematics physics, biology, and engineering. on the other hand, it has many applications in different areas of science, involving potential theory, electricity, and quantum mechanics.[1,2] in the past 20 years ago, many kinds of problems in integral equation making from various phenomena in applied mathematical physics. the mixed volterra-fredholm integral equations can be constructed form ordinary differential equations with changed argument,[3-5] which arising from the theory of parabolic boundary value problems. in addition, this type of problems appears in various physical and biological problems.[6,7] recently, many kinds of integral equations constructed and reformulated; the approximating methods take an important role for finding the numerical solution for these classes of problems in integral equations. it has many advantages witnessed by the increasing frequency of the integral equations in literature and in many areas, because some problems have their mathematical representation appear directly.[8,9] then, for the reasons, many scientists applied different techniques for finding numerical solution of integral equations, maleknejad, in 2006, solved system of volterra-fredholm integral equations using computational method; chen, in 2013, studied the approximate solution for mixed linear volterra-fredholm integral equation. wazwaz, in 2011, solved volterra integral equation of the second kind using series solution method (ssm). young, in 2015, used newton’s raphson for finding the approximate solution of non-linear equations. hassan, in 2016, found numerical solution of linear system volterra-fredholm integral equation. saleh, in 2017, studied system of volterra-fredholm integral equation of the second type, for extending this work, the system of linear mixed volterra-fredholm integral equations of the second kind (slmvfie-2) is studying and finding the numerical result of it by cooperating the nm with ssm and using power functions u x xi m i m( ) ,= for m=0, 1, 2, 3,…q. some definitions and theorems in this section, discussing some definitions and theorem, which relate to the study. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: talaat i. hasan, department of mathematics, college of basic education, salahaddin university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: talhat.hassan@su.edu.krd received: nov 13, 2018 accepted: dec 24, 2018 published: may 13, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp27-33 copyright © 2019 talaat i. hasan. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ hasan: cooperating newton’s method with series solution method 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 27-33 definition (1) we assume slmvfie-2 as follows: u x f x k x t u t dtdxi i j n ij a x ij j a b ( ) ( ) ( , ) ( )= + = ∑ ∫ ∫ 1  (1) for i=1, 2, 3,…r. where fi(x) and kij(x,t) are analytic functions on domain h= {(x,t), a≤t<x≤b} such that ui(x) is the unknown functions. definition (2)[4,5] a real value function u(x) is called analytic if it has derivatives of all order such that the taylor series at a point b in its domain. u x u b k x b k k k ( ) ( ) ! ( ) ,= − = ∞ ∑ 0 converges to u(x) in the neighborhood of b. definition (3)[10] let f(x)=0 be the non-linear function and x0 be initial solution to the exact solution and then the newton’s method is defined as the form x x f x f xn n n n = − ′− − − 1 1 1 ( ) ( ) , n=1, 2,…. which generating the sequence {xn}. using ssm for solving slmvfie-2 suppose that the numerical solution of slmvfie-2 be analytic function and can be written of the form u x u xi im i m m q ( ) ( )= = ∑ 0 for i=1, 2, 3,…r (2) substituting it in equation (1), we get α λ αip m q i m i ij j n ij im m q i mu x t f x k x t u t dtdx = = = ∑ ∑ ∑= + 0 1 0 ( ) ( ( )) ( , ) ( ) aa b a x i i i i i i iq i q i u x u x u x u x t f x ∫∫ + + + + = α α α α0 0 1 1 2 2( ) ( ) ( ) ... ( ) ( ( ))) ( , )[ ( ) ( ) ( ) .. + + + + ∫∫∑ = λ α α α ij ij i i a b a x j n i i i i k x t u t u t u t 0 0 1 1 1 2 2 .. ( )]+α iq i qu t dtdx (3) from equation (3), in the right-hand side calculating the integrals for variables t and x. getting the system of (r×(q+1) equations. collecting and equating the terms of the same powers of u xi m( ) in both sides. using gauss elimination method, solving the resulting in equation (3) to obtain the values of aim such that the determinate of algebraic system does not equal to zero. by putting the values of aim in equation (2), we get the approximation solution of equation (1). the calculation more terms we use will enhance the level of accuracy of the approximate solutions. in this work, we use power functions u x xi m i m( ) = for m=0, 1, 2, 3,…q. new theorem (1) let v: b(a)→b(a) be a continuous linear integral operator on the banach space b(a) fi(x) be analytic function on [a,b] and kij(x,t) be continuous on h={(x,t), a≤t<x≤b} where |kij(x,t) u1(t)−kij(x,t)u2(t)−|≤di|u1−u2| such that 0<di<1, then vn is contractive mapping. proof: suppose that [ ] 0 0 ( ( )) ( ) ( , ) ( ) , 0, , p x i i ij i i iv u x f x k x t u t dtdx x p p 1.= + <∫ ∫ to prove that vn is contraction mapping for any u1(s), u2(s)  b (a) for sufficient large n. v u x v u x f x k x t u t dtdx f x k i ij xp i ij ( ( )) ( ( )) ( ) ( , ) ( ) ( ( ) 1 2 0 1 0 − = + + ∫∫  00 2 0 0 1 2 0 xp ij xp x t u t dtdx k x t u t u t dtdx ∫∫ ∫∫= − ( , ) ( ) ) ( , )( ( ) ( ) v u x v u x k x t u t k x t u t dtdx d ij ij xp i ( ( )) ( ( )) ( , ) ( ) ( , ) ( )1 2 1 200 − = − ≤ ∫∫ [[ ] p u ui 2 1 22 − by suppose |kij(x,t)u1(t)−kij(x,t)u2(t)|≤di|u1−u2|, then we get v u x v u x d u u dtdx d u u dtdx d p i xp i xp i ( ( )) ( ( )) [ 1 2 1 2 00 1 2 00 − ≤ − = − = ∫∫ ∫∫ ii u u 2 1 22 ] − now, v u x v u x v f x k x t v u t dtdx v i ij xp 2 1 2 2 0 1 0 ( ( )) ( ( )) ( ( )) ( , ) ( ( )) [ − = + ∫∫  (( ( )) ( , ) ( ( )) ] f x k x t v u t dtdx i ij xp − ∫∫ 00 2 = −∫∫ k x t v u t v u t dtdxij xp 0 1 2 0 ( , )( ( ( )) ( ( ))) v u x v u x d d p u u dtdx d p u i i x i p i i 2 1 2 2 0 2 1 2 0 2 2 1 2 2 ( ( )) ( ( )) [ ] [ ] − ≤ − ≤ − ∫∫ uu dtdx d p u u xp i i 2 00 2 4 1 24∫∫ ≤ −[ ] using mathematical induction, we obtain v u x v u x d p u u n n i n i n n( ( )) ( ( )) [ ] .1 2 2 1 22 − ≤ − since by suppose 0<di<1 and pi<1, then we obtain 0<dipi<1 and 0 12< <d pi n i n therefore 0 2 1 2 < <d p i n i n n[ ] then, by definition of contraction vn is contraction on. hasan: cooperating newton’s method with series solution method 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 27-33 new theorem (2) suppose that the hypotheses of theorem (1) are holds; then, system of mixed volterra-fredholm integral equation of the second kind has a unique solution. proof: suppose that u1(x) and u2(x) be any two solution of slvfie-2. u x f x k x t u t dtdxi ij xp 1 0 1 0 ( ) ( ) ( , ) ( )= + ∫∫ and u x f x k x t u t dtdxi ij xp 2 0 2 0 ( ) ( ) ( , ) ( )= + ∫∫ using theorem (1), we get v u x v u x d p u u n n i n i n n( ( )) ( ( )) [ ]1 2 2 1 22 − ≤ − since lim [ ] , n i n i n nd p →∞ = 2 2 0 then we obtain vn(u1(x))=vn(u2(x)), therefore u1(x)=u2(x) hence, slvfie-2 has a unique solution. algorithm for ssm • step 1: let the numerical solution of equation (1) as the form u x u xi im i m m q ( ) ( )= = ∑ 0 , for i=1, 2,…,r. • step 2: by substituting equation (2) in equation (1) and calculating the integrals of variables. • step 3: from both sides collect and equate the terms of the same power for m=1, 2, 3,…,q. • step 4: by solving the system of algebraic equations with unknown coefficients aim. • step 5: substitute the values of aim, in equation (2) for getting the numerical solution of slmvfie-2. numerical examples and results in this section, illustrating the technique from numerical examples. example (1): solve lsmvfie-2 u x e x e xt u t u t dtdxx x 1 2 1 1 2 0 1 0 2 1( ) ( ) ( )( ( ) ( ))= − + − + −∫∫ u x xe x e x x u t u t dtdxx x 2 3 1 3 2 1 2 0 1 0 2 2 3 8 3 ( ) ( )( ( ) ( ))= − + − + −∫∫ using ssm, where the exact solutions u1(x)=−2ex and u2(x)=−2xex? figure 2: (a) graphs of the exact u1(x)=−2sin(x) and the approximate solutions. (b) graphs of the exact u2(x)=−2cos(x) and the approximate solutions. (source: created by researcher) aq1 ba figure 1: (a) graphs of the exact u1(x)=−2ex and the approximate solutions. (b) graphs of the exact u2(x)=−2xex and the approximate solutions. (source: created by researcher) aq1 b a hasan: cooperating newton’s method with series solution method 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 27-33 solution: let u x u xm m m q 1 1 1 0 ( ) ( )= = ∑ then, using ssm, obtaining the values of coefficients a10=−2, a11=−2, a12=−1, a13=−0.3333, a14=−0.083333 and a15=−0.03333, for u x u xm m m q 2 2 2 0 ( ) ( )= = ∑ then, using ssm, obtaining the values of coefficients a20=0, a21=−2, a22=−2, a23=−1, a24=−0.33333 and a25=−0.08333 example (2): solve lsmvfie-2 �� ( ) ( ) sin( ) ( )(sin( ) cos( )) u x x x x x t t u dtdx x 1 2 2 0 0 2 2 2= − − + − ∫ ∫  �� ( ) ( ) cos( ) ( )(sin( ) cos( )) u x x x x t t t u dtdx x 2 10 0 2 2= − − + − ∫ ∫  using ssm, where the exact solutions u1(x)=−2sin(x) and u2(x)=−2cos(x)? table 1: comparison between the exact and numerical results x m exact solution of u1(x)=−2ex approximate value of u1(x) absolute error m+1 m+1 i i ie = u (x) u (x) exact solution of u2(x)=−2xex approximate value of u2(x) absolute error m+1 m+1 i i ie = u (x) u (x) 0.2 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.40000000 −2.44266666 −2.44280533 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 4.2805×10−2 10.3884×10−4 1.8298×10−7 1.2986×10−9 1.1653×10−12 6.7659×10−14 5.3362×10−16 3.6521×10−18 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.45344832 −0.48898815 −0.48856177 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 3.5611×10−2 4.2735×10−4 6.7527×10−7 2.5998×10−9 5.8432×10−11 3.4562×10−13 4.6783×10−15 2.3351×10−17 table 2: comparison between the exact and numerical results x m exact solution of u1(x)=−2sin (x) approximate value of u1(x) absolute error m+1 m+1 i i ie = u (x) u (x) exact solution of u2(x)=−2cos (x) approximate value of u2(x) absolute error m+1 m+1 i i ie = u (x) u (x) 8 π 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.78539816 −0.76211785 −0.76536743 −0.76536686 −0.76536686 −0.76536686 −0.76536686 −0.76536686 2.0031×10−2 1.5507×10−4 5.7028×10−6 2.6223×10−8 1.7146×10−10 2.2083×10−12 5.0679×10−14 3.6582×10−16 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −2.00000000 −1.84578731 −1.84776922 −1.84775903 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 1.5224×10−1 1.9716×10−3 1.0159×10−5 2.8005×10−7 4.8013×10−9 5.6301×10−11 3.9014×10−13 4.3382×10−15 table 3: comparison between the exact and numerical results x q exact solution of u1(x)=−2e x approximate value of u1(x) absolute error p p 1 1e = u (x) u (x) exact solution of u2(x)=−2xex approximate valueof u2(x) absolute error p p 2 2e = y (x) y (x) 0.2 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.8698700 −2.4779392 −2.4424024 −2.44280875 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 −2.44280551 4.2702×10−1 3.5134×10−2 1.4041×10−4 3.2468×10−6 5.8432×10−8 3.4562×10−9 4.6783×10−11 2.3351×10−13 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.79987234 −0.4964455 −0.48553062 −0.48858445 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 −0.48856110 3.1131×10−1 1.2214×10−2 3.0304×10−3 2.3342×10−5 6.3489×10−7 5.7741×10−9 4.5560×10−10 3.2981×10−12 hasan: cooperating newton’s method with series solution method 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 27-33 solution: let u x u xm m m q 1 1 1 0 ( ) ( )= = ∑ then using ssm, obtaining the values of coefficients a10=0, a11=−2, a12=0, a13=0.3333, a14=0, a15=−0.01666, and a16=0, for u x u xm m m q 2 2 2 0 ( ) ( )= = ∑ then using ssm, obtaining the values of coefficients a20=−2, a21=0, a22=1, a23=0, a24=−0.08333, a25=0, and a26=0.002777. newton’s method cooperate with ssm for solving slmvfie-2 since the numerical solution u x u xi im i m m q ( ) ( )= = ∑ 0 is analytic function, then using taylor series expansion at a point x0 it can be written of the form u x u b k x b u b u b x b u b x b i i k k k i i i( ) ( ) ! ( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( ) ! ( = − = + − + − = ∞ ∑ 0 0 1 1 2 2 )) ( ) ! ( ) ...2 3 3 3 + − + u b x bi which is similar to u x u b k x b u b u b x b u b x b i i k k k i i i( ) ( ) ! ( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( ) ! ( = − = + ′ − + ′′ − = ∞ ∑ 0 1 2 )) ( ) ! ( ) ...2 3 3 + ′′′ − + u b x bi table 4: comparison between the exact and numerical results x q exact solution of u1(x)=−2sin (x) approximate value of u1(x) absolute error p p 1 1e = u (x) u (x) exact solution of u2(x)=−2cos (x) approximate value of u2(x) absolute error p p 2 2e = y (x) y (x) 8 π 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.76366864 −0.65484390 −0.78998921 −0.76887972 −0.76539865 −0.76536922 −0.76536686 −0.76536686 −0.76536686 1.1122×10−1 2.6323×10−2 5.2214×10−3 3.2213×10−5 1.1426×10−6 5.7892×10−8 3.4753×10−9 5.2253×10−11 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.52331434 −1.84992540 −1.84790077 −1.84779887 −1.84775968 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 −1.84775906 3.2444×10−1 4.2234×10−2 2.5971×10−4 4.1812×10−5 6.2342×10−7 4.6638×10−8 5.6754×10−10 3.8932×10−11 table 5: comparison between the results which depending on lse and rt at appoint number of terms criterion of ssm for u1(x)=−2ex criterion of ssm for u2(x)=−2xex x q lse rt lse rt 0.2 3 2.5480×10−4 0:0:1.852 3.2361×10−4 0:0:1.852 5 3.6531×10−8 0:0:2.224 4.3452×10−8 0:0:2.224 7 2.8874×10−10 0:0:3.036 2.6674×10−10 0:0:3.036 9 6.4456×10−13 0:0:4.368 9.8678×10−14 0:0:4.368 lse: least square error, rt: running times, ssm: series solution method if we truncating it in the terms of order two, we get u x u b u b x bi i i( ) ( ) ( )( )= + ′ − and put h=x−b such that ui(x)=0, then we get h u b u b i i = − ′ ( ) ( ) then, we obtain this iteration formula: u x u x u x u xi m i i m i m + = − ′ 1( ) ( ) ( ) ( ( )) (4) for m=0, 1, 2, 3,… where m is the number of iteration. cooperating newton’s method with ssm for solving slmvfie-2 the main aim of this section is reformulating and cooperating nm with ssm for getting the approximate solutions of the problem. these proses are accelerating the convergence to exact solution for the problem. first solving slmvfie-2 using ssm. then, cooperating nm with ssm to obtain the new sequence u xi m m ( ){ } = ∞ 1 of approximate solutions for the problem using the relationship in equation (4). u x u x u x u x mi m i i m i m + = − ′ =1 0 1 2 3( ) ( ) ( ) ( ( )) , , , ,...for nm on ssm algorithm input: a, b, x, m, e for i=1 to q for m=0 to max hasan: cooperating newton’s method with series solution method 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 27-33 step 1: using ssm to obtain the numerical solutions u x u xi im i m m q ( ) ( )= = ∑ 0 end for end for for i=1 to q for m=0 to max step 2: getting the new sequence using the relationship in equation (4). step 3: compute the absolute error e u x u xi m i m i + += −1 1( ) ( ). if e ei m+ <1 go to output end if end for end for output: the numerical results of the technique u xi m+1( ) and ei m+1 . table 7: comparison between the results for cooperating mn with ssm which depending on lse and rt at appoint number of terms criterion of ssm for u1(x)=−2ex criterion of ssm for u2(x)=−2xex x q lse rt lse rt 0.2 3 3.5573×10−6 0:0:1.852 5.3428×10−6 0:0:1.852 5 4.2582×10−10 0:0:2.224 3.6680×10−12 0:0:2.224 7 2.4006×10−12 0:0:3.036 6.2314×10−13 0:0:3.036 9 5.8062×10−15 0:0:4.368 7.7451×10−16 0:0:4.368 lse: least square error, rt: running times, ssm: series solution method tables 8: comparison between the results for cooperating mn with ssm which depending on lse and rt at a point number of terms criterion of ssm for u1(x)=−2sin (x) criterion of ssm for u2(x)=−2cos (x) x q lse of ssm rt lse rt 8 π 3 4.4116×10−5 0:0:1.7734 3.5411×10−4 0:0:1.7734 5 3.2984×10−8 0:0:2.1453 4.6905×10−7 0:0:2.1453 7 5.5205×10−12 0:0:2.9784 4.8834×10−11 0:0:2.9784 9 6.8752×10−16 0:0:3.5621 5.9672×10−15 0:0:3.5621 lse: least square error, rt: running times, ssm: series solution method table 6: comparison between the results which depending on lse and rt at a point number of terms criterion of ssm for u1(x)=−2sin (x) criterion of ssm for u2(x)=−2cos (x) x q lse of ssm rt lse rt 8 π 3 6.3489×10−3 0:0:1.7734 2.0036×10−2 0:0:1.7734 5 5.7823×10−6 0:0:2.1453 3.4437×10−6 0:0:2.1453 7 3.5539×10−9 0:0:2.9784 5.7284×10−9 0:0:2.9784 9 5.6127×10−11 0:0:3.5621 4.3582×10−12 0:0:3.5621 lse: least square error, rt: running times, ssm: series solution method numerical examples and results in this section, illustrating the technique from numerical examples. test example: solving example (1) using new technique. solution: by cooperating nm with ssm, we get the following results in table 1. test example: solving example (2) using new technique. solution: by cooperating nm with ssm, we get the following results in table 2. conclusion in this paper, the approximate solutions of slmvfie-2 by cooperating newton’s method with ssm for solving slmvfie-2 are discussed. several examples were solved for illustrating the technique and numerical results were achieved. after testing the numerical technique and its algorithm on numerical examples, the results are written in tables 1-4 for ssm and cooperating newton’s method with ssm. when the number of terms m increasing, the absolute errors are decreasing and the convergence is satisfactory. in addition, the least square error and running times are written in tables 5-8 which are criterion hasan: cooperating newton’s method with series solution method 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 27-33 of discussion for the technique which depending on the number of terms m. then, we conclude that the cooperating newton’s method with ssm is faster and better than ssm for getting the approximate solutions. therefore, this technique is successful for getting the numerical solutions for this class of problems. references 1. z. chen. “an approximate solution for a mixed linear volterra fredholm integral equation”. applied mathematics letters, vol. 25, pp. 1131-1134, 2013. 2. m. paripour and m. kamyar. “numerical solution of nonlinear volterra-fredholm integral equations by using new basis functions”. communications in numerical analysis, vol. 1, no. 17, pp. 1-12, 2013. 3. h. ibrahim, f. attah and t. gyegwe. “on the solution of volterrafredholm and mixed volterra-fredholm integral equations using the new iterative method”. applied mathematics, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-5, 2016. 4. a. d. polynine and a. v. manzhivove. “handbook of integral equations”. 2nd ed. united states of america: crc press, 2008, p. 1238. 5. a. m. wazwaz. “linear and non-linear integral equations methods and applications”. berlin heidelberg: springer-verlag, 2011. 6. b. g. pachpatte. “on mixed volterra fredholm type integral equations”. journal pure applied mathematics, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 488-496, 1986. 7. s. saleh, t. i. hasan and n.a. sulaiman. “fixed point and its improvement for the system of volterra-fredholm integral equations of the second kind”. journal of matematika, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 191-206, 2017. 8. k. maleknejad and m. r. yami. “a computational method for system of volterra fredholm integral equations”. applied mathematics and computation, vol. 183, pp. 589-595, 2006. 9. m. rahmani. “integral equations and their application”. great britain: athenaeum press ltd., 2007. 10. t. young and j. m. martin. “introduction to numerical method and matlab for engineers”. athens, oh: ohio university, free software foundation, 2015. author queries??? aq1:kindly cite figures 1 and 2 in the text part . 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 66-70 research article prevalence of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies among students of cihan university, erbil hadi mahdi alsakee*, sarah hoshyar maroof, gulistan hussein muhammad, asia sherzad muhammad, ilaf abdulrazaq rashid, naza khan tofiq sdiq department of biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract helicobacter pylori is resident in human stomach and causes chronic disease (peptic ulcer and gastritis). the mouth and colon were both known to host a large number of microbes. this study was carried out to investigate the seroprevalence of h. pylori infection among cihan university students. a total of 197 blood samples were collected from the students (53 females and 144 males) from 13 departments of cihan university, erbil, and tested for anti-h. pylori antibodies, using rapid immunochromatography assay. among 197 students tested, 44 (22.3%) showed positive reaction for h. pylori, 32 males and 12 females. it was non-significantly higher among students with ages ranged between 29 and 32 years old. twenty-one of infected students were using tap water for drinking. twenty-six (59.1%) of positive students experienced no symptoms and 18 (40.9%) were symptomatic (13.63% epigastric pain and 27.2% abdominal pain). keywords: anti-h. pylori antibodies, helicobacter pylori, immunochromatography assay, prevalence introduction helicobacter pylori was originally known as campylobacter pylori, is a gram-negative, curved rods, and inhabits the human stomach. it was discovered in 1982 by two australian scientists, barry marshall and robin warren, who detected it in a person with chronic gastritis and gastric ulcers, a condition not previously believed to have a microbial etiology. it is also linked to the development of duodenal ulcers and stomach cancer.[1] however, over 80% of the cases are asymptomatic, and it may play an important role in the natural stomach ecology.[2] more than 50% of the world’s population have h. pylori in their upper gastrointestinal tract.[1] the infection rates are higher among people in developing countries compared to other western countries.[3] despite high infection rates that reported in certain areas of the world, the incidence of h. pylori infection is declining.[4] however, antibiotic resistance is appearing in h. pylori, many metronidazoleand clarithromycin-resistant strains are found in most parts of the world.[5] the way of transmission of h. pylori is unclear.[6] recent studies showed transmission through either fecal-oral or oral-oral route. it may be directly related to the source of drinking water.[1] infection with h. pylori is related to many diseases, for example, iron deficiency anemia, migraine, and coronary heart disease.[7] epidemiological studies demonstrated that h. pylori infection increases with age. it is higher in developing countries and among population with low socioeconomic status.[8] epidemiological data suggest strong associations of h. pylori infection and carcinoma of stomach and that significantly associated with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissues lymphomas (malt).[9] the infection is classified as a human carcinogen by the world health organization. the risk of cancer is highest among patients, in whom the infection induces chronic gastric inflammation. treatment of h. pylori infection significantly reduced the incidence of carcinoma of stomach and malt in endemic areas.[10] since little information concerning h. pylori have been published in erbil, in particular, among university students, the present study was aimed to investigate the prevalence of anti-h. pylori antibodies among university students in erbil as well as studying the risk factors and possible routes of transmission of this bacterium with its relation to the biomass index (body mass index [bmi]). corresponding author: hadi mahdi alsakee, department of biology, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: hadialsakee@gmail.com received: apr 16, 2019 accepted: apr 20, 2019 published: jun 30, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp66-70 copyright © 2019 hadi mahdi alsakee, sarah hoshyar maroof, gulistan hussein muhammad, asia sherzad muhammad, ilaf abdulrazaq rashid, naza khan tofiq sdiq. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ alsakee, et al.: prevalence of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies among 67 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 66-70 materials and methods study design and setting the present study was carried out in cihan university, erbil in erbil governorate, northern iraq. the total number of students in cihan university, erbil, is 5226 students of both genders divided on 20 departments. the period of the study was 7 months from november 2017 to may 2018. random samples of 197 students of both genders (male and female), who are currently studying in cihan university, erbil, from different departments were invited to participate in the study. the aims of the study and its significance, for both, the university community and public health, were explained and formal consents were obtained from the participants. design of questioner and data collection a closed-ended questionnaire was designed including information on the participants; age, weight, length, home address, current residence, socioeconomic level, marital status, animal handling (history of animal contact), sources of drinking water, type of meals (homemade and fast food), number of fast-food meals per week, history of other diseases (asthma and allergic manifestation), and history of clinical manifestations (abdominal pain, diarrhea, epigastric pain, vomiting, nausea, and anorexia). the data were collected through direct interview with the students who agreed to participate in the study. collection of blood specimens and serum extraction blood specimens were collected from the participants, in clean, sterile, test tubes (without anticoagulants). a specific numeric code was used for each sample. the blood specimens were left to clot at room temperature for an hour, the clotted blood then centrifuged at ×2000 g for 5 min. after centrifugation, the clean supernatant was collected by micropipette and dispensed in a clean sterile 1.5 ml capacity eppendorf tubes and stored at –50°c until used for the detection of anti-h. pylori antibodies. detection of anti-h. pylori antibodies h. pylori antibodies rapid immunochromatography test (plasmatec, united kingdom) was used for qualitative detection of anti-h. pylori antibodies in the sera of the participants. the test is one-step rapid chromatography immunoassay. statistical analysis the collected data were interred into the microsoft excel sheets and then translated into codes using a specific designed coding sheet. an expert statistical analysis was done using the statistical package for the social sciences version 17.0 pc software. the association between two or more categorical variables was analyzed and assessed by chi-square test. count and percentages were also used to describe the frequency of different variables between all possible paired combinations of study groups. p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. results a total of 197 students from 13 departments of cihan university, erbil, were involved in the study (53 biology, 10 computer sciences, 24 law, 5 banking and finance, 14 business administration, 34 international relations, 2 civil engineering, 4 architecture engineering, 12 health administration, 19 accounting, 6 media, 8 english, and 6 translation). of those students, 44 (22.3%) were revealed positive reactions for anti-h. pylori antibodies [table 1] with no significant (p > 0.05) differences between males (22.2%) and females (22.6%) [table 2]. eight (18.18%) of the positively reacted tests were of students who are always have house-made meals, whereas 15 (34.11%) of the positively reacted tests were of students who have always had restaurant’s fast-food meals. the students who had mixed restaurants and house-made meals constituted 21 (47.72%) of the positive cases. the infection rate was significantly (p = 0.047) higher among student who had their meals in the restaurants [table 3]. eighteen (40.9%) of the positive cases were with episodes of epigastric pain (13.63%) and abdominal pain (27.27%); however, 59.1% of the students who revealed positive reaction to anti-h. pylori antibodies experienced no symptoms. the statistical analysis revealed no significant (p > 0.05) differences in respect to clinical manifestations among h. pylori-infected students [table 4]. in regard to bmi, 27 (61.36%) of the students who revealed positive reactions to anti-h. pylori antibodies were with normal bmi. the statistical analysis revealed no significant (p > 0.05) association of h. pylori infection and bmi [table 5]. table 1: prevalence of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies among cihan university students according to the academic departments department number of samples number of positive (%) number of negative (%) biology 53 11 (20.75) 42 (79.25) computer sciences 10 0 (0) 10 (100) law 24 4 (16.7) 20 (83.3) banking 5 2 (40) 3 (60) business 14 5 (35.7) 9 (64.3) international relations 34 9 (26.5) 25 (73.5) civil engineering 2 0 (0) 2 (100) architecture engineering 4 0 (0) 4 (100) health administration 12 0 (0) 12 (100) accounting 19 5 (26.3) 14 (73.7) media 6 5 (83.3) 1 (16.7) english 8 3 (37.5) 5 (62.5) translation 6 0 (0) 6 (100) total 197 44 (22.3) 153 (77.7) p=0.009 alsakee, et al.: prevalence of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies among 68 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 66-70 of the 44 h. pylori-infected students, 5 (11.36%) had a history of animal handling, whereas 39 (88.64%) of them did not have a history of animal contact. no significant association (p > 0.05) of h. pylori infection and a history of animal contact [table 6] was detected. h. pylori infection rate was higher among students within age groups 29–32 years old (36.84%) followed by the students with age groups ranged between 25–28 years (30.55%) and 21–24 years old (22.99%). however, statistical analysis revealed no significant (p > 0.05) differences among different age groups studied in this research, in respect to having h. pylori infection [table 7]. in respect to the sources of drinking water, 21 (47.73%) of h. pylori-positive students were routinely using governmental drinking water supply (tap water) comparing with 14 (31.82%) and 9 (20.45%) of the positive students who are always using bottled water and who are using both (tap and bottled) for drinking and cooking purposes, respectively. however, no significant (p > 0.05) association of h. pylori infection and source of drinking water was noticed [table 8]. discussion h. pylori infection infects more than half of the world’s population. the current medical literature is described h. pylori as group 1 carcinogen. the transmission of this infection is rapidly decreasing in developed countries due to improvement in the sanitation.[11,12] in the present study, the prevalence of anti-h. pylori antibodies among university students was 22.3%, similar results were obtained by al-madi et al.[13] among saudi medical students. the prevalence of anti-h. pylori according to academic departments was significant (p = 0.009) which might be due to the lack of information about h. pylori disease which was higher than howler medical university students[14] due to the medical background and different lifestyle from rest of the society. according to the gender distribution, male students were more infected than female students, and this might table 2: gender distribution of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies among cihan university, erbil, students department male female total number of samples number of negative (%) number of positive (%) number of samples number of negative (%) number of positive (%) biology 27 21 (77.8) 6 (22.2) 26 21 (88.76) 5 (19.24) 53 computer sciences 9 9 (100) 0 (0) 1 1 (100) 0 (0) 10 law 19 16 (84.2) 3 (15.8) 5 4 (80) 1 (20) 24 banking 3 2 (66.67) 1 (33.33) 2 1 (50) 1 (50) 5 business 12 8 (66.67) 4 (33.33) 2 1 (50) 1 (50) 14 international relations 26 19 (73.1) 7 (26.9) 8 6 (75) 2 (25) 34 civil engineering 1 1 (100) 0 (0) 1 1 (100) 0 (0) 2 architecture engineering 3 3 (100) 0 (0) 1 1 (100) 0 (0) 4 health administration 9 9 (100) 0 (0) 3 3 (100) 0 (0) 12 accounting 17 12 (70.5) 5 (29.5) 2 2 (100) 0 (0) 19 media 4 1 (25) 3 (75) 2 0 (0) 2 (100) 6 english 8 5 (62.5) 3 (37.5) 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 8 translation 6 6 (100) 0 (0) 0 0 (0) 0 (0) 6 total 144 112 (77.8) 32 (22.2) 53 41 (77.4) 12 (22.6) 197 p=0.350 table 4: clinical manifestations experienced by positively reacted students to anti-helicobacter pylori test clinical manifestations number of positive male (%) number of positive female (%) total (%) epigastric pain 3 (9.4) 3 (25) 6 (13.63) abdominal pain 8 (25) 4 (33.33) 12 (27.27) diarrhea 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) asymptomatic 21 (65.6) 5 (41.67) 26 (59.1) total 32 12 44 p=0.468 table 3: prevalence of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies among cihan university, erbil, students according to meal type feeding habits number of positive male (%) number of positive female (%) total (%) homemade 3 (37.5) 5 (62.5) 8 (18.18) restaurant 12 (80) 3 (20) 15 (34.1) both 17 (80.9) 4 (19.1) 21 (47.72) total 32 12 44 p=0.047 alsakee, et al.: prevalence of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies among 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 66-70 table 5: association of helicobacter pylori infection and bmi bmi number of positive students (%) number of negative students (%) total <16 (severe thinness) 1 (2.27) 0 (0) 1 16–17 (moderate thinness) 0 (0) 4 (2.61) 4 17–18.5 (mild thinness) 0 (0) 2 (1.3) 2 18.5–25 (normal) 27 (61.36) 95 (62.1) 122 25–30 (overweight) 14 (31.8) 46 (30) 60 30–35 (obese class i) 2 (4.55) 6 (3.9) 8 35–40 (obese class ii) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 >40 (obese class iii) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 total 44 153 197 p=0.189 table 6: association of h. pylori infection and history of animal contact h.phylori-positive students history of animal contact total yes (%) no (%) male 4 (12.5) 28 (87.5) 32 female 1 (8.33) 11 (91.67) 12 total 5 (11.36) 39 (88.64) 44 p=0.468. h. pylori: helicobacter pylori table 7: age distribution of helicobacter pylori infection among cihan university students age groups total number of samples number of positive number of negative total number of positive (%) female (%) male (%) female (%) male (%) 17–20 40 2 (13.33) 3 (12.0) 13 (86.67) 22 (88.0) 5 (12.5) 21–24 87 8 (27.58) 12 (20.69) 21 (7.42) 46 (79.31) 20 (22.99) 25–28 36 1 (25.0) 10 (31.25) 3 (75.0) 22 (68.75) 11 (30.55) 29–32 19 1 (25.0) 6 (40.0) 3 (75.0) 9 (60.0) 7 (36.84) 33–36 3 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 3 (100) 0 (0) 37–40 10 0 (0) 1 (11.11) 1 (100) 8 (88.89) 1 (10) 41–44 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1 (100) 0 (0) 45–48 1 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 1 (0) 0 (0) total 12 32 41 112 197 p = 0.601 be due to meals habit as the males have more fast-food meals in the restaurants than females. however, this finding was inconsistent with that reported by hooi et al.,[15] as in nasarawa state university, females were more infected due to accumulating risk factors and other social activities such as bed-sharing.[16] the prevalence of anti-h. pylori antibodies according to feeding habit was significant (p = 0.047) which might be due to contamination of food materials with intestinal pathogens including h. pylori bacteria.[17] in the current study, clinical manifestations that experienced by the infected students were non-significantly (p > 0.05) associated with h. pylori infection and might be due to the existence of more than one strain of the organism that responsible for this illness in erbil community that needs more investigations to be proven.[18,19] association of anti-h. pylori antibodies and bmi was non-significant (p > 0.05) and this could be explained by the fact that most of the positively reacted students experienced no symptoms. h. pylori infection impairs secretion balance of pro-inflammatory cytokines and c-reactive proteins, angiotensinogen, free fatty acids, and leptin hormone, and thus, reactive oxygen species begin to accumulate.[12] subclinical chronic inflammation induced by h. pylori infection occurs through impaired cytokine balance and stimulated macrophages.[20] thus, bmi was not influenced by the infection as most of the cases were subclinical. association of h. pylori infection and animal contact was non-significant (p > 0.05). this finding might be explained by the fact that human is the natural reservoir of h. pylori and this bacterium inhabits the gastric mucosa of human.[16] according to the age distribution of h. pylori infection, students with ages between 29 and 32 years old were more susceptible to be infected. however, this increased frequency was non-significant (p > 0.05) comparing with other age groups that studied in this research. dore et al.[21] were found that h. pylori infection is increasing with age due to the increased risk and opportunity of acquiring the infection.[21] h. pylori infection was non-significantly associated with drinking water sources; however, the infection rate was more detected among the students who use tap water for drinking and cooking purposes. this may be due to recent improvement in water basic system and service. alsakee, et al.: prevalence of anti-helicobacter pylori antibodies among 70 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 66-70 conclusion the prevalence of anti-h. pylori antibodies is relatively high among students of cihan university, erbil, with no significant differences between male and female in respect to having h. pylori infection. the infection rate was significantly higher among students from literate and administrative departments than scientific departments. h. pylori infection was significantly associated with daily feeding habits of the students. bmi, clinical manifestations, age groups, history of animal contact, and source of drinking water are non-significantly associated with h. pylori infection. both university and public communities should be aware of infections caused by the pathogen such as gastritis, peptic ulcer, and about its potential association with malignant transformation. h. pylori should be listed as a public health challenge in erbil community by local health authorities and doing further studies to investigate the pathogenesis, strain variations, and drug resistance of the local strains of this bacterium. references 1. m. amieva and r. m. jr. peek. “pathobiology of helicobacter pylori induced gastric cancer manuel”. gastroenterology, vol. 150. no. 1, pp. 64-78, 2017. 2. m. j. blaser. “who are we? indigenous microbes and the ecology of human diseases”. embo reports, vol. 7, no. 10, pp. 956-960, 2006. 3. l. fuccio, r. m. zagari, l. h. eusebi, l. laterza, v. cennamo, l. ceroni, d. grilli and f. bazzoli. “meta-analysis: can helicobacter pylori eradication treatment reduce the risk for gastric cancer?” annals of internal medicine, vol. 151, no. 2, pp. 121-128, 2009. 4. h. m. malaty. “epidemiology of helicobacter pylori infection”. best practice & research. clinical gastroenterology, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 205-214, 2007. 5. f. mégraud. “h pylori antibiotic resistance: prevalence, importance, and advances in testing”. gut, vol. 53, no. 9, pp. 1374-1384, 2004. 6. p. malfertheiner, f. megraud, c. o’morain, f. bazzoli, e. el-omar, d. graham, r. hunt, t. rokkas, n. vakil and e. j. kuipers. “current concepts in the management of helicobacter pylori infection: the maastricht iii consensus report”. gut, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 772-781, 2007. 7. l. m. brown. “helicobacter pylori: epidemiology and routes of transmission”. epidemiologic reviews, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 283-297, 2000. 8. a. tonkic, m. tonkic, p. lehours and f. megraud. “epidemiology and diagnosis of helicobacter pylori infection”. helicobacter, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-8, 2012. 9. m. i. pereira and j. a. medeiros. “role of helicobacter pylori in gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas”. world journal of gastroenterology, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 684-698, 2014. 10. k. e. l. mccoll. “helicobacter pylori infection”. the new england journal of medicine, vol. 362, no. 17, pp. 1597-604, 2004. 11. t. yucel, d. aygin, s. sen and o. yucel. “the prevalence of helicobacter pylori and related factors among university students in turkey”. japanese journal of infectious diseases, vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 179-183, 2008. 12. a. a. hassan, g. m. elnemr, m. a. almourgi, a. k. alzahrani, n. lilian and o. m. mehanna. “study of the effect of hypoxia on the prevalence of helicobacter pylori infection among saudi students at taif university”. research journal of microbiology, vol. 4, pp. 18-24, 2017. 13. m. a. al-madi, a. aljebreen, f. tounesi and a. abdo. “helicobacter pylori prevalence among medical students in a high endemic area”. saudi medical journal, vol. 28, no. 6, pp. 896-898, 2007. 14. b. hussen, s. s. qader, h. f. ahmad and s. h. ahmed. “the prevalence of helicobacter pylori among university students in iraq”. indian journal of science and technology, vol. 6, pp. 4-8, 2013. 15. j. k. y. hooi, w. y. lai, w. k. ng, m. m. y. suen, f. e. underwood, d. tanyingoh, p. malfertheiner, d. y. graham, v. w. s. wong, j. c. y. wu, f. k. l. chan, j. j. y. sung, g. g. kaplan and s. c. ng. “global prevalence of helicobacter pylori infection: systematic review and meta-analysis”. gastroenterology, vol. 153, no. 2, pp. 420-429, 2017. 16. s. agah, h. khedmat, m. e. ghamar-chehred, r. hadi and a. aghaei. “female gender and helicobacter pylori infection, the most important predisposition factors in a cohort of gastric cancer: a longitudinal study”. caspian journal of internal medicine, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 136-141, 2016. 17. r. m. nyarango, p. a. aloo, e. w. kabiru and b. o. nyanchongi. “the risk of pathogenic intestinal parasite infections in kisii municipality, kenya”. bmc public health, vol. 8, pp. 237, 2008. 18. j. g. kusters, a. h. m. van vliet and e. j. kuipers. “pathogenesis of helicobacter pylori infection”. clinical microbiology reviews, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 449-490, 2006. 19. m. j. blaser, y. chen and j. reibmann. “does helicobacter pylori protect against asthma and allergy?” gut, vol. 57, no. 8, pp. 1178-1179, 2008. 20. j. michalkiewicz, a. helmin-basa, r. grzywa, m. czerwionkaszaflarska, a. szaflarska-poplawska, g. mierzwa, a. marszalek, m. bodnar, m. nowak and k. dzierzanowska-fangrat. “innate immunity components and cytokines in gastric mucosa in children with helicobacter pylori infection”. mediators of inflammation, vol. 10, pp. 1-7, 2015. 21. m. p. dore, h. m. malaty, d. y. graham, g. fanciulli, g. delitala and g. realdi. “risk factors associated with helicobacter pylori infection among children in a defined geographic area”. clinical infectious diseases, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 240-245, 2002. table 8: association of drinking water sources and helicobacter pylori infection source of drinking water number of positive male (%) number of positive female (%) total tap water 17 (53.13) 4 (33.33) 21 (47.73) bottle water 8 (25.0) 6 (50.0) 14 (31.82) both 7 (21.88) 2 (16.67) 9 (20.45) total 32 12 44 p=0.601 . 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 34-41 research article sediment yield problems in khassa chai watershed using hydrologic models mahmoud i. mahmoud1, mustafa n. kasim2 abstract upland erosion and sedimentation are one of the severe problems which faces dams as sediments occupy spaces within reservoirs storage, hence, decreasing live water storage which is the main purpose of dam’s construction. iraq is one of the countries that will face a significant shortage of water income as a result of both the increment in water demand and of the reduction of water shares from the source countries. thus, the existing dams in iraq represent a strategic resource to fulfill water demands, and the sedimentation at these dams is studied to assess the quantity of sediments that reach to these reservoirs and decrease available water volume and useful life of reservoir. in the current study, khassa chai dam is located in the northeast of iraq and its main watershed basin covers an area of about 412 km2 between kirkuk and al sulaymaniyah governorates has been selected to estimate and predict the amount of sediment yield based on 30 years of daily climate data and the events of different intensity rainstorms. automated geospatial watershed assessment (agwa) tool model has been used to simulate khassa chai dam catchment area. this model utilizes the geographic information system (gis) application to analyze the required data from gis layer for digital elevation model, soil type, land use, and land cover by interference with the required climate data. the key components of agwa model are the soil and water assessment tool model and kinematic runoff and erosion (kineros) model which are able to simulate complex watershed behavior to explicitly account for spatial variability of soils, rainfall distribution patterns, and vegetation. the hydrologic characteristics for khassa chai catchment area according to the swat outputs show that the most erosive sub-basins are not able to deliver the eroded material or sediments to the reservoir due to their transmission losses, percolation, and other minor obstacles. kineros model simulation for sediment yield is much closer to the behavior of khassa chai watershed in erosion and sediment transport according to the single storm events and for individually selected sub-watersheds which are closed in their location to reservoir inlet. keywords: automated geospatial watershed assessment, geographic information system, methods of combat, reservoir, sedimentation introduction there are many studies concerning with upland erosion and sediment yield. this chapter represents research works with a variety of objectives, methodologies, and related factors. understanding of the quantity of sediment transported from the upstream due to upland erosion and its reach to the reservoir is necessary for effective reservoir and basin management. sedimentation affects the useful life of a reservoir for which is important for flood control and water supply. some of the following studies are dealing with a number of terms related to the reservoir sedimentation pattern. as the flow velocity decreases. this reduces the sediment transport capacity of the stream and causes settling. the pattern of deposition generally begins with a delta formation in the reservoir headwater area. density currents may transport finer sediment particles closer to the dam.[1] trung (2005) applied soil and water assessment tool (swat) model to simulate water quality problems in upper cong watershed located in vietnam.[2] in this study, swat model simulation results show that sediment is not a severe problem with the watershed, but the real threats are the nitrogen loads. amare analyzed the sediment yield amount from the angereb watershed in ethiopia to estimate the functional life of the reservoir using agricultural nonpoint source pollution model.[3] to improve the functional life for the reservoir, this study recommended the reduction of sediment inflow and removing corresponding author: mahmoud i. mahmoud, department of civil engineering, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mahmoud.izzat@cihanuniversity.edu received: may 03, 2018 accepted: may 26, 2018 published: may 13, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp34-41 copyright © 2019 mahmoud i. mahmoud, mustafa n. kasim. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) 1department of civil engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of civil engineering, kirkuk technical institute, kirkuk, iraq https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ mahmoud and kasim: sediment yield problems in khassa chai watershed 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 34-41 sediment out of the reservoir. the importance of this study is clear from the way of recommending and applying the calibration and verification process according to the local conditions, where most of hydrologic predicting models depend on general limitations and parameters omran (2007) studied the sedimentation in al-adhaim dam’s reservoir.[4] the results indicated that the distribution of sedimentation on the reservoir is approximately uniform along the whole area. this is due to the continuous filling during the operation period and the ground topography. it was found that during a period of 60 years from the beginning of the operation, the thickness of sedimentation could reach 220 cm at the upstream part of the reservoir. al-mahamid (2007) applied arc-view soil and water assessment tool (avswat) 2000 model to simulate mujib dam catchment area. mujib dam was constructed in 2003 and allocated at the kings highway between karak and madaba governorates in jordan. this dam has been selected to estimate the quantity of sediment reached to its reservoir during the period between november 2003 and december 2006.[5] as a result, the study is predicting the quantity and the quality of water and sediment inflow to the reservoir according to the observed data, also using the avswat model abilities to identify the regions with highly soil erosion and sediment yield to manage these regions to reduce these values in sequence to decrease the threats of sedimentations. suresh 2000 shows that there are several factors which affect the sediment yield such as land use and soil type, catchment size, and rainfall.[6] sediment yield is simply defined as the amount of eroded sediment discharged by a stream at any given point. it represents the total amount of fluvial sediment exported by the watershed tributary to a measurement point, and it is the parameter of primary concern in reservoir studies. since much-eroded sediment is re-deposited before it leaves a watershed, the sediment yield is often much less than the erosion rate within that same watershed. the ratio between the erosion rate and sediment yield is known as the sediment delivery ratio.[7] there is a big difference between the sediment yield and soil erosion from a watershed. the soil particles detached, transported, and deposited to other places are referred to as erosion. it is true that all eroded materials from watershed do not get into the stream system, but some of them remain on the watershed. the soil particles detached from comparatively level fields, with little or no surface runoff, move only for shorter distance and are not transported to a downstream point in the watershed.[5] the analysis of sediment sources aims to estimate the total amount of sediment eroded on the watershed on an annual basis, called annual gross erosion. the annual gross erosion at depends on the source of sediments in terms of upland erosion au, gully erosion ag, and local bank erosion ab, thus at = au+ag+ab upland erosion au, generally, constitutes the primary source of sediment, other sources of gross erosion such as mass wasting or bank erosion ab and gully erosion ag must be estimated at each specific site. for instance, the annual volume of sediment scoured through lateral migration of the stream and the upstream migration of head cuts can be determined from past and recent aerial photographs and field surveys. in stable fluvial systems, the analysis of sediment sources focuses on upland erosion losses from rainfall and snowmelt.[1] estimating of sediment yield several methods have been developed to estimate the sediment yield from the watershed. wischmeier and smith (1965 and 1978) developed the universal soil loss equation (usle) for predicting gross soil erosion from agricultural watersheds in the usa, usle predicts average annual gross erosion as a function of rainfall energy and can be used for predicting the average annual sediment yield by applying a delivery ratio (the sediment yield at any point along the channel divided by the source erosion above that point) in large watershed. however, the accurate estimation of the delivery ratio is generally difficult at many places, due to non-availability of measured data. furthermore, usle is not considered an appropriate model for water quality modeling. musle is a modified version of the usle developed by williams, 1975. in musle, the rainfall energy factor is replaced with a runoff factor. this modification, allows the equation to be used for predicting of sediment yield, eliminates the need for delivery ratios, and allows the equation to be applied to individual storm events (neitsch et al., 2005). the modified usle is: sed=11.8. (qsurf. qpeak.a)0.56.k.c.p.ls.cfrg where sed is the sediment yield on a given day (metric tons), qsurf is the accumulated runoff or rainfall excess (mm), qpeak is the peak runoff rate (m3/s), a is the area of the subregion in (km²), k is the soil erodibility factor (metric ton m2 h/ [m3-metric ton cm]), c is the cover and management factor, p is the support practice factor, ls is the topographic factor, and cfrg is the coarse fragment factor (williams, 1995). the above equation represents two main factors; hydrological factors which are qsurf and q peak, and the other main factor is erodibility of land surface system which is divided into two sub-main factors; physical character of land surfaces such as soil erodibility properties and susceptibility to erosion, and watershed management methods to reduce soil erosion such as vegetation cover over land surface and soil conservation practices (das, 2000). methdology to obtain the results, the following methods are used: description of study area location khassa chai dam watershed is located in the northeast of iraq on khassa chai river, 10 km northeast of kirkuk city. the khassa chai river is a tributary of zaghitun river which is flowing into the existing adhaim dam reservoir. automated geospatial watershed assessment (agwa2) model (agwa tool) is used to describe and identify the location of khassa chai dam watershed as shown in figure 1 based on the digital elevation model (dem) layer map and mahmoud and kasim: sediment yield problems in khassa chai watershed 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 34-41 satellite image (landsat tm) that taken in according to the digital projected administrative iraq map layer. topography the global mapper version13 utility application is used to obtain the general topographic description and analysis for khassa chai watershed and the majority of the catchment area as shown in figure 2 with three-dimensional analysis in figure 3. weathered is silt and clay soils. while the area dominant with conglomerate (upper bakhtiari formation), the top soils are characterized by weathered gravels in addition to the transported (alluvium) soils which are differ with their underlain rocks (mowr, 2007).[8] geology physiographic geology shows that the area classified as a foothill zone within an unstable shelf of iraq. this zone is the central part of iraqi unstable platform which shows compressional folding of lower tertiary. the area of a site consists of paleogene–neogene thick molass sediment of fars group (fatha and injana) and bakhtiari group (muqdadia and bai-hassan), in addition to, recent river terraces and alluvial deposition. topographically the area is hilly terrain and slopping toward the southwest. climate the climatic data were taken from the available records of kirkuk meteorological station covering the period (1941–2001) which is compiled by the iraqi meteorological organization. table 1 shows a summary of climatic factors (mowr, 2007).[8] top soil the study area is covered by various soil types, depending on their underlain parent rocks which are decomposed into covered soil by the action of weathering. the outcrops of silty claystone rock (lower bakhtiari formation), are generally formation weathered is silt and clay soils. while the area dominant with conglomerate (upper bakhtiari formation), the top soils are characterized by weathered gravels in addition to the transported (alluvium) soils which are differ with their underlain rocks.[8] modeling of sediment yield the principal sediment modeling problems analyzed in reservoirs can be divided into four major categories:[7] 1. water and sediment yield from the watershed (as in the present study). 2. rate and pattern of sediment transport, deposition, and scour along the reach above the dam under different operation rules. 3. localized patterns of deposition and scour in the vicinity of hydraulic structures. 4. scour, transport, and deposition of sediment in the river below the dam. the model was linked to geographic information system (gis) which is a relational database system that allows management of multiple layers of spatially distributed information by combining forming overlays to aid synthesis and interpretation by users. hence, gis does not generate new data but by manipulating the database to get the relationships to become clearer. erosion or sediment yield models can be implemented in a gis through user interfaces or shells written in a variety of computer languages. the interface allows the user to (1) define a study area;(2) select management practices; (3) select soil and water conservation practices such as contouring, terraces, and strip cropping; (4) access the gis database to attach attributes to model parameters; (5) execute the model modify attribute tables; and (6) analyze and display the results.[7] an example of these models which linked to gis is the agwa model which is applied in the present study. modeling khassa chai watershed using agwa model climate data the required data must be provided on a daily basis for swat model, which give the possibility to predict results simulation on daily, monthly, and annual basis. for more accurate and realistic results, the observed daily data should be represented by long-term database for climate, according to this kirkuk climatological station was selected to collect the daily climate data records for the period (1970–2000). daily precipitation data daily precipitation data were collected from the records of kirkuk climatological station for the period (1970–2000) with annual average precipitation equal to 380.9 mm. temperature data in this study, the model daily temperature of 30 years’ data shows a clear impact on the model operation. as it calculates a set of variables such as evaporation, melting snow and top soil temperature for deferent depth rainstorm event data rainstorm event data are used especially for (kinematic runoff and erosion [kineros2]) model extension in sub-basins modeling. figure 1: description of khassa chai dam watershed location mahmoud and kasim: sediment yield problems in khassa chai watershed 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 34-41 figure 2: topographic distribution of khassa chai dam catchment area figure 3: three-dimensional analysis for the topography of khassa chai dam catchment area satellite data these data include data of landsat satellite for land cover classification elements and dem to extract the variables data of sub-basins. digital terrain data (dem) for this study, basin digital release accurately (30) m was extracted as shown in figure 4. dem represents the foundation to run the model based on gis application. satellite images data in this study, landsat satellite images belong to the year (2009) were used and verified with site observation as shown in figure 5. mahmoud and kasim: sediment yield problems in khassa chai watershed 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 34-41 figure 4: digital elevation model for the study area figure 5: landsat images for the study area figure 6: soil classification of the study area the harmonized world soil database, food and agriculture organization figure 7: annual sediment yield in sub-watersheds table 1: summary of the climate data of kirkuk station (after mowr, 2007) climate factor maximum value minimum value average value temperature °c 49.52 −6.7 22.4 relative humidity % 72 22 46 wind speed (m/s) 30 2.8 evaporation (mm) 398.8 46.3 evaporation (free water surface/year) (mm) 1642.9 precipitation (mm/month) 769.9 201.6 369.3 soil data the soil map prepared by the food and agriculture organization (fao), one of the united nations organizations is the 58 latest classification system and compatible with gis have been issued this map by scale 1/5,000,000 in 2006. fao soil map layer for the study area within the agwa model mahmoud and kasim: sediment yield problems in khassa chai watershed 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 34-41 figure 8: annual sediment yield in streams figure 9: area 1 watershed by kinematic runoff and erosion two model figure 11: sediment yield distribution for watershed and streams of area 1 figure 10: laden runoff in the bottom outlet of the watershed table 2: sediment particles distribution with sediment concentration for area 1 total outflow (m3) sedimentation particle size (mm) sediment yield (tons) concentration (ppm) 347,535.6 0.004 mm 4255.490 12.24×103 0.033 mm 6676.998 19.21×103 0.250 mm 13,707.908 39.44×103 total sediment 24,640.3996 70.89×103 shows two types of soils as shown in figure 6 which identified by calcic xerosols and gypsic xerosols (fao, 2012) with different characteristics.[9] selection of the model at this stage, hydrological modeling depends on the level of results required if it is in the level of the whole main basin or on a sub-watersheds level. the use of swat model suitable for the relative evaluating at the main basin level, while at the level of the sub-basins, the (kineros2) model is a specialist in hydrologic evaluation. furthermore, both models have outputs at the level of the basin and channel. results and discussion the results of agwa model represent the evaluation of land use and land cover effects on the watershed response for water and sediment according to the available climatological data and assigned area of study. the key components of agwa model are the swat and kineros2 models which are able to simulate complex watershed representations to explicitly account for spatial variability of soils, rainfall distribution patterns, and vegetation. mahmoud and kasim: sediment yield problems in khassa chai watershed 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 34-41 swat model results i. as shown in figure 7 for sub-watersheds and figure 8 for channels, the subwatershed no. (4) is highly erosive and more productive for sedimentations. channels in mainstream closer to the reservoir have a higher potential for sediment transport to the reservoir site with annual rates equal to 2.24×103 ton. ii. the hydrological characteristic of khassa chai catchment area according to the swat outputs shows that the most erosive sub-basins (no. 4 and 3) are not able to deliver the eroded material or sediments to the reservoir due to their transmission losses, percolation, and other minor obstacles. kineros2 model results in this study, area 1 has been selected to simulate the sediment yield in khassa chai main watershed according to the location and ability to deliver the sediments to the reservoir with accordance with all required parameters. area 1 consists of sub-watersheds no. (1) and (2) with a total area of 63 km2 and location close to the reservoir as shown in figure 9. area 1 kineros2 model applies a scenario of a single rainstorm event for the watershed (area 1) equal to 60 mm depth during 8 h (mot-imos) which represents similar rainstorms events that take place at the khassa chai upstream and vary from 48 mm up to 80 mm during 6 h up to 24 h. the impact of this rainstorms can be observed by the amount of laden runoff in the bottom outlet of the watershed as shown in figure 10. the results obtained from kineros2 model for sediment yield in the subwatershed (area 1) show the processes for the erosion, transportation, and deposition through digital figure 12: total sediment yield hydrograph for area 1 figure 13: peak outflow hydrograph for area 1 mahmoud and kasim: sediment yield problems in khassa chai watershed 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 34-41 geospatial distribution as shown in figure 11 and supported by the hydrographs representing the total sediment yield and peak outflow hydrograph as shown in figures 12 and 13. the total amount of sediment yield accumulated in the watershed outlet calculated according to the obtained hydrographs for the total sediment yield(kg/s) and peak outflow(m3/s) as shown in figures 5-13 is equal to 24,640.39 tons with sediment concentration equal to 70.89×103 ppm as given in table 2. references 1. p. y. julien. “erosion and sedimentation”. united kingdom: cambridge university press, 2010. 2. l. b. trung. “an application of soil and water analysis tool (swat) for water quality of upper cong watershed, vietnam”, m.sc. thesis, school of civil engineering. asian institute of technology, thailand, 2005. 3. a. admasu. “study of sediment yield from the watershed of angereb reservoir”, m.sc. thesis, faculty of agriculture, department of agricultural engineering. alemaya university, alemaya, ethiopia, 2005. 4. h. a. omran. “movement and transport of sediment in al-adhaim river basin”, ph.d. thesis, department of building and construction engineering, university of technology, baghdad, iraq, 2007. 5. a. mahamid and m. hani. “predicting sedimentation at mujib dam reservoir”, m.sc. thesis, water and environmental engineering department of civil and environmental engineering. mu’tah university, karak, jordan, 2007. 6. r. suresh. “soil and water conservation engineering”. new delhi: standard publisher distributor, 2000. 7. g. morris and j. fan. “reservoir sedimentation handbook”. new york: mcgraw-hill co., 2010. 8. mowr. “ministry of water resources, general directorate for engineering designs, khassa chai dam planning report”. baghdad, iraq, 2007. 9. fao/iiasa/isric/iss-cas/jrc. “harmonized world soil database (version 1.2)”. luxemburg, austria: fao, rome, italy and iiasa, 2012. . 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 research article design and simulation of worldwide interoperability for microwave access computer network for 3×3 km universal sample of building campus ammar o. hasan1*, firas muhammad zeki mahmood2 1department of computer and it, college of science, salahaddin university, zanko, erbil, iraq, 2department of communication and computer engineering, college of engineering, cihan university, peshawa qazi, erbil, iraq abstract the aim of this study to design a wireless computer network of a particular network as a large-scale company or university to improve mobility and to let the teachers and students of the university, for example, stay interacted and connected at any time in any campus location or site. therefore, this study needed to cover the overall area of this campus with efficient wireless coverage that exceeds the university boundaries to maintain wireless signal strength. to do that, the researchers thought that it is very significant to design a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (wimax) computer network with the most powerful and advanced hardware component capabilities to full fit teachers’ and students’ requirements of fast net browsing and files’ download. after designing the university campus of computer network, simulation has done by opnet 14 modular to determine the wimax network design parameters. the purpose of the current research is to find if the design of the campus network is efficient or not and also to determine the performance of the implemented network. keywords: computer network design, data traffic, server http, voice over ip, worldwide interoperability for microwave access network delay introduction in this research, the worldwide interoperability for microwave access (wimax) technology was used to implement this computer network, and the supposed coverage is of 3 km×3 km, which is very suitable for a group of campus buildings on a specific area. the researchers found a very efficient example, which needs a large number of users, and then suggested that this work would be accomplished for an example of a university, which has the nearest specification such as area, mobility, and number of subscribers. hence, if a university teacher needs to move or change his or her position while he is still online with his service provider or wireless distribution node, it will be a very good thing. in other words, if we talk about a university campus, it is very good to let the university staff moves (walking) without cutting his internet service, and hence, mobility will be achieved. in many sectors, nowadays, when you have a wifi distribution device such as access point, wireless router, or nanostation, you must not get too far from your wireless distributer that provides you the service. the wifi range has a limited area with tiny differences depending on the quality of the device used. all wifi devices have small range coverage area comparing with the wimax ones that is due to its wave signal characteristics and specifications such as frequency range, modulation, and multiplexing. on the other hand, the wimax has a much wider coverage area with higher data speed, making it the best wireless communication system for all the reasons above. nowadays, every company or individual wish is to get the higher speed and larger coverage area. therefore, the choice of replacing the existed wifi or/ and wired computer network with wimax systems will be much better. accordingly, the researchers started thinking to prepare a design of a new computer network depending mainly on wimax technology instead of the old one, getting the benefit of centralized network design, which will make it easy to control the whole network, protect, and distribute this network service to the subscribers. wimax ieee standard called as ieee 802.16 can support many protocols such as corresponding author: ammar o. hasan, department of computer and it, college of science, salahaddin university, zanko, erbil, iraq. e-mail: ammar.hasan@su.edu received: apr 03, 2018 accepted: aug 27, 2018 published: may 13, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp1-11 copyright © 2019 ammar o. hasan, firas muhammad zeki mahmood. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 ethernet and ip. wimax technology is able to provide higher bandwidth and it works depending on orthogonal frequency division multiplexed access (ofdma), while wifi depends on carrier sense multiple access/collision detection (csma/ca) technology. ofdma is able to provide higher bandwidth. the designed computer network in this paper can serve 600 users on overall wimax network sites and locations. the wimax network is constructed by three cells; each cell contains wimax station and wimax tower to distribute the wireless service. these three wimax stations are sufficient rigidly to cover the required network area by wimax propagated signals ensuring the quality of internet services. more and more advantages were achieved by simulating a network design on simulators such as gns, packet tracer, or opnet. really, this software has many advanced capabilities of obtaining results corresponding to the computer network determinations. the efficiency mode of mobility and ranging enable wimax base-station to be configured. the base station mac address is designed as a distance based for the workstation. in addition to that in real network implementation, these deadlocks must be fixed, so this in role will add a cost, time emplaced, and more manipulation process to any project, especially, if modification made to overcome these deadlocks, the new upgraded design must be experimented again until solving these deadlocks. simulation can overcome all these problems and cost consequences. after that, when the solution is configured, this simulation can detect, if the last solution (upgraded) is efficient or not, and if it will produce good performance or not. this process can be done repeatedly until getting the best network performance. this cannot be done in real practical case or real computer network experimentation. laboratories can get very big benefits if this simulation software are used intensively for underor post-graduate students. the advantages of using wimax instead of wifi: • wimax can provide service to a larger number of users • the coverage area will be very larger • wimax provides a higher speed • the network architecture will be a little bit smaller, so end devices can be supported with wimax wireless controller (receivers) in addition to wifi interface cards, or cpe devices can be used to convert wimax to wifi which can be distributed easily to any device nowadays. these devices have two jobs or actions. cpe device job is receiving wimax and then broadcasts a wifi. • much more mobility and flexibility of movement will be provided to all users. • wimax efficiency is much higher than wifi efficiency. network construction in general, it is better to look at any computer network from the top; this is called top view. when the top view is taken, a term used by computer network engineers called topology, this network topology covers an area of 3 km×3 km that must be covered by wimax propagated signals to provide the services to all distinct users that is located far from the center distribution towers of wimax broadcasting tower reaching all the campus boundaries. this gives the researchers a reason to check if the network can cover these areas or not. connecting the main computer network to the three wimax towers creates a one backbone star topology; this backbone connected directly to the cloud that provides the ip to whole network and makes the entire users to the internet. the backbone is about high data stream cable (wired media). the network design in this research, wimax network signaling has used to insure the connection and connection establishment, there are many wimax factors such as hardware specification, application definitions, and network configuration details; in this research, researchers will focus on main ones. for this research, the network configuration done as following, the path loss and multipath channel model use itu vehicular and pedestrian mechanism has not used. itu vehicular is a type of signal propagation over the transmission channel used. itu vehicular is given to simulate the higher mobility speed of any workstation (mobile phone), in another word if a person who moves across the coverage area of the supposed network, while he makes a mobile (voice over ip) call and he is moving with a high speed or taking a bike. a number of cells used are three. the geographical overlay (signal coverage) of each cell is shaped as hexagon. users’ distribution over the three areas can be also like grid or circular instead of random depending on the requirements and the demands of the design. in this research, the third one is used to simulate the reality of the motion of end network nodes, and hence, all users can freely move across the suggested network area. the 600 users are distributed on these three cells, and 200 users are distributed around each of these three cells (wimax towers). the users are managed as mobile work stations (mobile phones) in the simulation. the efficiency mode configured as mobility and ranging enable for wimax base-station configuration. base station mac address is designed and configured as distance based for workstation to check the handover. the cell radius of each one reaches 1 km. the subscribing station placement nodes are distributed in circular fashion rather than random. base station transmission power of subscriber node transmission power is 0.5 watt, where the power transmission in which use is 50 watt in each of the base stations. a very powerful and advanced technology was used for this wireless network to maintain network speed and to increase the number of users called wireless ofdm of 20 mhz with modulation and adaptive coding of wireless system phy physical layer with ugs scheduling; the researchers did not use etps rtps or ntps services. where ugs is a type of quality of service (qos) and is useful for voip application, because ugs is very essential to this type of wireless networks. handover threshold hysteresis in db used was 0.4 with resource retain time of 200 ms as one of the handover parameters. throughput was configured to 0.8 mbps. the researchers tried many times to simulate a larger number of users, but unfortunately, the computer did not respond because too many parameters were used. they want to monitor the voip service to check network performance. interactive voice was used for match value of traffic characteristics; this is one of the wimax characteristics. antenna gain of each base station used was 15 dbi, and sud was 1500 byte. in the bottom of each tower, there is wimax base station installed and configured to be able to connect with other two tower base stations. tdd hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 duplexing type of time division had been used, instead of frequency division duplexing. the tdd is more widely used nowadays for modern voice transmission. the base frequency configured at 5.8 gh with bandwidth equals to 20 mh. the wait time used is 1 min. the ground speed was 24 km/h to simulate the maximum movement speed of any mobile user. antenna gain was −1 db. the maximum sustained traffic rate was of 484 k. minimum received traffic rate was equal to 484 k. maximum latency was equal to 30 ms. frame duration was 5 ms. symbol duration equaled to 100.8 ms, and the number of subcarriers was 2048. to full fit the signal transmission performance. one cloud backbone used provides the internet service by cable connecting 3 wimax base stations, each one of base stations is distributing the service by wimax wireless technology. figure 1 show that wimax towers was configured as rectangular shape; it is an effective way to fix these towers in online. voip application was configured in all the computer network mobile devices as well as base station; this application has been configured in the wimax configuration and application profile items in the simulator. wimax configuration and application are main components in the simulator software in which it must be configured carefully. otherwise, the whole network will not be able to work. the network position as shown in figures 2 and 3 shows more zoom-in on the network which is located in the middle east in the kurdistan rejoin of iraq specifically in the kurdistan rejoin capital erbil because most researchers reside in this city. opnet software is one of the best and powerful computer applications that provide so many network deterministic parameters, with its tiny details in very sufficient way, which make it very easy to design and simulate and then determine the results very fast. literature review the researchers found many researches working on wireless networks and especially on wimax; it is a new high interesting and beneficial technology. this technology has many extensions to other corresponding data transfer technologies. therefore, it is getting higher and higher attention and interesting by the researchers in all over the world because it is one of the most important responsibilities and problems is how to get a higher speed data stream with higher bandwidth for longer distance to the far areas in our planet. jaswal and vats[1] practically examined many techniques of qos depending on the ieee standard of wimax. they made a comparison between these technologies and obtain a result of taking one of these as the best technique. they determined that a network of 25 nodes is the medium scale and the larger queuing delay obtained in the bigger network with a larger number of users. therefore, the queuing delay is going to be lower in the smaller networks with less number of users, in addition, the phy losses its transmission figure 1: the network topology showing the network interconnection, constructed by three base stations on three towers, each one of them distributing the service by the coverage shaped to hexagon hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 figure 3: zoom-in to the network location on iraq kurdistan region map figure 2: the network location on rejoin map power with short networks distance and with less number of users. singh et al.[2] studied the bluetooth as a wireless technology and determined a new advanced data exchanging mechanism to improve bit rate and the interconnecting of this technology. murty et al.[3] determined that wimax has a higher level of security if comparison made between wimax and wifi in addition to the wider coverage area of wireless interconnection of the last one. song and issac[4] studied about the data received in addition to delay as a very important factor, which is delay. they found that wimax is very powerful in comparison to wifi, but it has some difficulties. wimax needs to plan well, and it needed to improve this technology, especially considering the market demand. in addition, wimax moved to lte, as the market needs. wee[5] determined by results that csma ca, at any connected node, such as personal computer (pc) or laptop needs to be connected to the network and transmit data. hence, the media must be checked first to avoid any collision caused by the meeting of two frames in hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 figure 4: the network topology shows network trajectories and components for each mobile user, but it is not obvious so much because the overlapping caused by a higher number of them figure 5: network global characteristics of worldwide interoperability for microwave access delay measured in seconds which is competitively efficient with its low value figure 6: network global characteristics of worldwide interoperability for microwave access (wimax) throughput measured in bit/s, this value represents the overall throughput of the wimax simulated network hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 figure 7: network global characteristics of voice over ip delay measured in seconds after 2 min (1 m: 50 s), the network begins to work with fewer values, and this will improve the network performance figure 8: network global characteristics of voice over ip traffic received measured in packet/s after 2 min, the received data start with the handover showed in this curve figure 9: network global characteristics of voice over ip traffic sent measured in packet/s, reaches 54,000 packet/s after few minutes of starting the simulation the same time. moreover, if the media was busy, this pc must wait for a random period and then starts transmitting again. this process continues until the media will go to be free. this means that when media is free, the pc will be able to transmit the information. the source pc transmits a request-to-send packet to the destination pc. the receiver pc will check the hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 figure 10: network global characteristics of voice over ip traffic received measured, but this time is in packet/s figure 11: network global characteristics of worldwide interoperability for microwave access (wimax) load measured in bit/s, this load is of the hall wimax network reaches 53,000,000 bit/s figure 12: network object statistics of wireless base station worldwide interoperability for microwave access (wimax) delay measured in seconds which is much higher than the delay shown in the voice over ip application medium and clear-to-send (cts) packet will be generated. therefore, only when the cts received successfully, the source pc would be able to transmit data. sran[6] funded that only wimax technology can provide a low-cost network service to let the isps get good benefits from the service provided to the users. joshi and yadav[7] took an overview of wimax wireless computer networks, especially on ofdm technology and on the first layer of open system internet working. they focused hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 figure 13: network object statistics of worldwide interoperability for microwave access throughput measured in bit/s, also starts rising after a few minutes figure 14: network object statistics of worldwide interoperability for microwave access base station traffic received, measured in bit/s figure 15: network object statistics of worldwide interoperability for microwave access, base station traffic sent, measured in bit/s which handover is shown on the security features of computer network significantly in wireless network in addition to wimax wireless networks with maintaining the connectivity over its users. tyagi and garg[8] studied both wifi ieee and wimax ieee 802.16 and 802.11 hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 figure 16: network object statistics of worldwide interoperability for microwave access tower base station load, measured in bit/s figure 17: network object statistics of one of the worldwide interoperability for microwave access base station throughputs, measured in bit/s figure 18: network object statistics of worldwide interoperability for microwave access base station traffic sent by one of the base stations, for example, bs.2, measured in bit/s network standards and how these two standards can be used to implement wireless computer network. then getting benefit from the high-speed data transmission for building wireless networks. in addition, the network standards prove that wifi could not be replaced by wimax, but only for supporting and reshaping the wireless networks. lastly, if the wifi is less efficient for practical applications, voip are used to compare the wimax technologies. finally, they focused on the repeatedly interruption that happened if the near users start connecting to the source nodes, then all wireless users will challenge hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 on the environmental conditions (variables) and the software applications. seyedzadegan and othman[16] did a technical overview of concept, technology, standard, and architecture for ieee 802.16 wimax. they proved that wimax technology has a confrontation of many obstacles in market, while on the other hand, it has great advantages that make a very advance interconnecting technology. conclusions the most important criterion that taking into account in any computer network design nowadays is smart device connectivity efficiency; this achieves by high-speed mobility supported by non-line of site signal which avoids small and even large obstacle maintaining the connection with good efficiency and bandwidth performance. the wimax network starts operating and simulation after about 1:45 min, and this interval is compulsory to let the wireless devices achieve the connection establishment process and then soar up to its maximum value. the time delay noticed in the curves as shown in figures 1-20 is caused by other subjects that did not mention in this paper such as fetch, receives, and acknowledgment signals to achieve ip address from dhcp server and the authentications requirements. the throughput figure 19: network object statistics of wireless point-to-point base station throughput, measured in bit/sec figure 20: network object statistics of wireless subnet point-to-point base station throughput measured in packet/s to take connection establishment, to get the service from a access nearest point. murty et al.[9] found that the wimax has no limitation compared with wifi, and the wimax computer network is more reliable, secure, and higher performance. chen[10] designed a radio frequency amplifier to modulate a variable spectrum frequency that could be managed by the administrator to get the best ofdm modulation. thomas[11] used ns3 software to simulate and improve an ofdma downlink mapping technology algorithm by simulating a new model for these technologies. garg and tyagi[12] found that the wimax technology 802.16 is more applicable for mobile node than wifi 802.11 and improved it with more flexibility and high performance. rajaraman et al.[13] proposed a wireless antenna using photolithography technology and specific frequency response used for wimax network and ofdm signal. the electromagnetic field radiation of wimax was very efficient and more compact and cheap. finally, this antenna can be used also for array applications. ravichandiran et al.[14] discussed an algorithm and built it by opnet simulator to find the results. they tried to find better throughput and qos for a mobile wimax subscriber. valencia[15] used four mobile techniques of wimax to make a comparison between them. analyzing and monitoring of the data rate was based hasan and mahmood: design and simulation of worldwide interoperability 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 1-11 results show a reliable bit rate amount, which is sufficient to serve a large area with approximately 600 mobile users. the results obtained classified into two categories, global characteristics result curves and object statistics result curves. the last one showed the results of each object individually such as mobile device, base station, and server. in addition to end-to-end (device to device) or source to destination, results showed data transfer; sending data, receiving data, and time delay of multiple sections. the results show that the voip delay determined has a lower value than the wimax delay. the voip application requires a higher speed of data transfer rate to insure a real-time system. this application has a significant problem, which gets a higher delay if we implement this application on the simulator. these results prove that wimax delay has very low value in this network design insuring the wimax performance by the higher data speed achieved. the researchers were choosing the vehicular to simulate the mobile motion and taking a higher speed motion. references 1. k. jaswal and j. k. vats. “performance analysis of wimax (802.16e) on different sized networks using opnet”. international journal of current research, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 7073-7076, 2014. 2. p. singh, d. sharma and s. agrawal. “a modern study of bluetooth wireless technology”. international journal of computer science, engineering and information technology, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 55-63, 2011. 3. m. s. murty, d. veeraiah and a. s. rao. “performance evaluation of wi-fi comparison with wimax networks”. international journal of distributed and parallel systems, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 321329, 2012. 4. s. song and b. issac. “analysis of wifi and wimax and wireless network coexistence”. international journal of computer networks and communications, vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 63-78, 2014. 5. o. k. wee. “wireless network security: design considerations for an enterprise network”. msc. thesis, naval postgraduate school monterey, dec. 2004. 6. p. v. sran. “wimax: its features and applications”. department of computer science and engineering rayat institute of engineering and information technology, conference paper, railmajra, mar. 2009. 7. j. joshi and k. yadav. “a study on wimax network technology”. international journal of innovative research in computer and communication engineering, vol. 2, no. 8, pp. 5284-5290, aug. 2014. 8. h. o. tyagi and d. garg. “wi-fi and wimax: wireless technology”. international journal of computer science and information technologies, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 548-551, 2017. 9. s. murty, d. veeraiah and a. s. rao. “performance evaluation of wi-fi comparison with wimax networks”. international journal of distributed and parallel systems, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 321-329, 2012. 10. b. chen. “spectrum regrowth for ofdm-based lte and wimax systems”. msc. thesis, portland state university, jan. 2013. 11. c. thomas. “ns-3 simulation of wimax networks”. msc. thesis, washington university, jan. 2011. 12. d. garg and h. o. tyagi. “wi-fi and wimax: wireless technology”. international journal of computer science and information technologies, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 548-551, 2017. 13. g. rajaraman, k. parthiban and m. ramaswamy. “dual band miniaturized patch antenna for wlan, wimax applications using spiral meta component”. international journal of scientific research in science, engineering and technology, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 229-235, 2016. 14. c. ravichandiran, c. p. raj and v. vaidhyanathan. “analysis, modification, and implementation(ami) of scheduling algorithm for the ieee 802.116e (mobile wimax)”. international journal of computer science and information security, vol. 7, no. 2, 2010. 15. c. valencia. “b.sc. scheduling alternatives for mobile wimax end-to-end simulations and analysis”. msc. thesis, carleton university ottawa, canada, jun. 2009. 16. m. seyedzadegan and m. othman. “ieee 802.16 wimax overview, wimax architecture”. international journal of computer theory and engineering, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 784-787, oct 2013. . 82 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 82-84 research article detection and evaluation of effective of digital communication of drug on human body zakaria k. jalal1*, abdulrazak a. mohammed2, adil h. mohammed2 1english department, astar education institute, vasteras, sweden, 2department of communications and computer engineering, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract nowadays, there is a wide using of mobile and internet from various ages, due to some bad systems which they work to send signals (sound wave frequency) within the music or will be spread to affect the brain of the humankind. therefore, this paper expresses the detection and evaluation of (the signal of sound frequency) which influence the human brain, it has been measured some frequency by programming in the mobile and found a trend to detect such frequencies and a way to produce a human being from it. keywords: digital communication, digital drug, electromagnetic radiation introduction the updated technology of communication (mobile and network) makes our social life more easy for communication and it will be active, but at the same time, it causes our lives many dangerous issues (such as electromagnetic radiation and sound pressure, especially ultrasonic waves) for all ages as well. meanwhile, we need to point to specify the negative side of this new technique equipment and define all the waves with their bad usages. as we know the ear is a sound pressure receptor (or sensor) that influences our behavior (physically or physiology) because these techniques are getting inside houses without any our permission or observations. whereas, the sense of hearing counts on the sensory receptors of the inner ear known as hair cells and the hair cells are extremely vulnerable and can be affected by disease, ageing and over-exposure to loud noise. once destroyed, they do not regenerate. sound properties and characteristics[1] it is the compression wave traveling down material bar. it is a physiological sensation of hearing and it looks like mechanical motion which is considered as longitudinal waves (number of consecutive rarefaction and consecutive compression as shown in figure 1). characteristics of sound amplitude, pitch, frequency (n) =1/t, period (t) =1/f, wavelength (λ). speed (v), quality, tone, and a note. amplitude (a): it is a maximum displacement of particles vibration from their meaning poison and it is two types: (a) louder sound (higher energy) and (b) soft sound. (it counts on wave distribution). wavelength (λ): it is a distance between two consecutions compression and two consecutions rarefaction in the longitudinal frequency (n): it is a number of waves produced by a unit time and its unit is (hertz) n=1/t. pitch: it is an interpretation of the frequency of a sound by the brain. it affects on the wave shape where the high pitch that means high frequency and amplitude and short wavelength (which gives a loud sound [or pitch]). period (t): it is a time duration of the wave (frequency) t=1/n or it is sound propagate on an intervals between two successive consecutions compression and two consecutions rarefaction. quality (timbre) of the sound: it is a character helps us to make a different between two sound different sources but same pitch or loudness. tone, it is a sound wave of single frequency. a note, it is a sound wave of the number of frequencies. speed (v): it is the ratio between distance (wavelength) and the time. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: zakaria k. jalal, english department, astar education institute, vasteras, sweden. e-mail: zkarim53@yahoo.com received: apr 04, 2019 accepted: apr 25, 2019 published: jan 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n1y2020.pp82-84 copyright © 2020 zakaria k. jalal, abdulrazak a. mohammed, adil h. mohammed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ jalal, et al.: detection of digital communication of drug on human body 83 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 82-84 speed of sound v =dis./time = λ/t but n=1/t, then v=n λ wavelength: the distance between two consecutive compressions and two consecutive rarefactions in the long of the wave moving. the speed of the sound depends on type of the medium (material). there are several effectives of the sound (depending on sound pressure level as shown in table 1) on humankind such as physic scaly, physiology, and behaviors. sound effects digital communication affects humankind’s body in many various methods such as drug detection, wireless communications, and various channels including several quantities of e-posts, email newsletters, social, targeted outreach to media, and health-care professionals in a bad way. these messages and communications announcement among people can be changed from new or appear risks related to concurrent conditions (for example, pregnancy or existing liver or kidney disease) or attentions about potential medication errors. moreover, digital communication including issues influencing a great deal of patients, potentially serious or life-threatening injuries events, or medication errors that may result in serious or life-threatening conflicting answers. whereas the digital communication influences directly on the behaviorism, mental and psychology of the person without feeling it because he/she will be detected automatically and this will affect humankind’s mentality and it may lead to commit suicide as well. the arriving narrative forms of communication increase information processing and increase the persuasiveness of messages and people become transported into a situation that can enhance emotions, attitudes, and behaviors. as a result, it will be not easy to get rid of this detection which became part of his/her life everywhere and anywhere. digital drugs[2] more accurately called binaural beats which are sounds that can be capable of changing brain wave patterns and inducing an altered state of consciousness similar to that affected by taking drugs or achieving a deep state of meditation. binaural beats occur when two tones with slightly different frequencies are played together. without headphones, the slight difference in the two frequencies is perceived by the listener as a single tone that wavers slightly. hence, headphones, however, the two tones are isolated and the listener hears each frequency clearly in a different ear. as the brain processes the two tones, it must take into account that the slight difference among the frequencies. as for the listener, this difference is perceived as rhythmic beats inside the head. the brain processes rhythmic stimulus as electrical impulses. the goal of digital drugs is to purposely overcome the electrical impulses and encourage the listener’s brain to synchronize its brain waves with the binaural beats. this synchronization which is achieved by selecting binaural tones within a particular frequency level is called frequency following response and is a part of a concept called entrainment. entrainment, the synchronization of one biological rhythm to another is not a new concept. it forms the basis for many sorts of meditation and medical biofeedback. properties of digital drugs[3,4] frequencies are measured in units called hertz (hz) by listening to two tones in difference falls within a particular hz level, the listener hopes to achieve a particular mood or change in energy. for instance, if the listener wants to be very relaxed, he might choose to listen to a tone with 140 hz in one ear and 145 hz in the other. the listener’s brain would perceive the viciousness between the two frequencies (5 hz) and adjust the listener’s brain waves accordingly. if the listener wants to be energized, however, he might choose to listen to 130 hz in one ear and 150 hz in the other. a difference of 20 hz in frequencies would produce a various state of mind as shown in table 2. sound spectrum measuring[5] using a special sound meter program (within mobile application) which has been measured by some frequency spectrum sound for ultrasonic to supersonic (where the range of humane hear from 20 hz to 20,000 hz), some frequencies are out of the hearing range, as shown in figure 2, starting from 2a for frequency before 20 hz to 2 d after 20,000 hz. table 1: effective of sound level sound pressure level permissible exposure time 115 db 0.468 min (≅30 s) 112 db 0.937 min (≅1 min) 109 db 1.875 min (<2 min) 106 db 3.75 min (<4 min) 103 db 7.8 min 100 db 15 min 97 db 30 min 94 db 1 h 88 db 4 h 82 db 16 h figure 1: characteristics of sound wave jalal, et al.: detection of digital communication of drug on human body 84 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (1): 82-84 that means there are a lot of frequencies affect on human’s body without hearing it. results and discussion[6,7] 1. using mobile has a side effect which is the microwave radiation as well as the effect of ultrasound waves 2. the effective of microwaves is physically, but the effective of ultrasound is physiological, physical, and behavior 3. the output of microwave effective will appear after a long period while the effective of ultrasound will appear during a short period 4. digital well-being considerations. when optimizing digital health, multiple health-relatedcomponents can be taken into consideration.[6] 5. the effective is usually different from person to other because it counts on the followingfactors: a. the time period that the person stay under the frequency of sound wave as shown in table 3 b. the behavior and situation of the person during the effective c. the power and pressure level of the sound. table 1 shows the level and time of affecting (exposure time) d. using headphone or without (because using headphone is effected more). conclusion digital well-being is a term used by health professionals, researchers, and device manufacturers to describe the concept of humans interact with technology. the experience should support mental and/or physical health in a measurable way. the goal of improving digital well-being is to design technology in such a way that it promotes healthy use and proactively assists the user to maintain a healthy lifestyle.[4,6] using a digital communication (mobile, laptop, and ipad) with internet, the user certainly will receive and affect the unwanted sound frequency wave; of course, the user effective counted on the factors that mentioned above. we should observe the kids and children to be sure; they are using the digital instruments on right ways by: a. they should use free beneficial programs of any digital drug b. control and check the children not to join or purchasing materials or playing games witha bad group c. observe the children’s behavior in any serious forward motion (such as dancing, doing something, or chatting) and you should know in which programming he is busy with it. references 1. c. j. mosees and c. a. moyer. “modern physics serway”. saunders college publishing, usa, 1989. 2. ryan singel pokes fun at the media frenzy over i-dosing on wired.com. available from: https://www.whatis.techtarget.com›definition›digital. 3. ron doyle blogs about i-dosing: digital drugs and binaural beats for psychology today. available from: https://www.whatis. techtarget.com›definition›digital. 4. available from: https://www.de.wikipedia.org/wiki/digitaldruck. [last accessed on 2019 mar 25]. 5. visual analyzer; 2011. available from: https://www.reviewjournal. com›life›healthon. [last accessed on 2019 dec 26]. 6. available from: https://www goglecom/search2 q=digta druck&rlz= 1c2rucy_entq797iq797. [last accessed on 2019 dec 26]. 7. h. m. michael and n. t. peter. “acoustical imaging”. kluwer academic publishersm, london, 2000. table 2: state of sound frequency type frequency range (hz) state of mind delta 0.5 hz – 4 deep sleep theta 4 hz – 8 drowsiness (also first stage of sleep) alpha 8 hz – 14 relaxed but alert beta 14 hz – 30 highly alert and focused table 3: noises can cause damage to wear hearing type noise value (db) period a 85 db regular and prolonged exposures to noise at or above 85 db (averaged 8 h/day) b 100 db regular and prolonged unprotected exposures of more than 15 min/day risk permanent hearing loss c 110 db regular and prolonged unprotected exposures of more than 1.5 min/day risk permanent hearing loss figure 2: (a-d) sound frequencies spectrum dc ba . 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 research article evaluation of construction delay of public projects in erbil governorate noori sadeq ali, khalil ismail wali abstract delay is one of the greatest challenges facing the implementation of construction projects. the completion project time is considered one of the measure indicators for assessing the success of any project. delays usually have negative impacts of financial and social to all parties involved in the projects. the aim of the study is to find the most important causes of delay by evaluating the common causes of delays in terms of frequency, severity, and important indices in implementation of public construction projects in erbil governorate related to owners, contractors, consultants, and external factors. the data gathered through conducting a questionnaire for perception various parties involved in implementation of public construction projects. for these purpose, 104 forms of questionnaire were distributed to various parts to identify the delay causes in accordance with their opinions. it was concluded that the most significant factors causing the delay in construction of public project in erbil governorate related to the owner were “variation orders by owner during the construction” which came in the first rank, while the cause of delay related to the consultant that came in the first rank was “unclear and inadequate details in drawings,” whereas the factor related to the contractor which came in the first rank was “selecting incompetent contractor.” keywords: construction projects, delay, erbil governorate, evaluation, public project introduction the construction industry is one of the main sectors that provide important ingredients for the development of an economy. the construction is the tool through which a society achieves its goals of urban and rural development. however, it is becoming more complex due to the sophistication of construction process itself and the large number of parties involved in the construction process, i.e., clients, users, designers, regulators, contractors, suppliers, subcontractors, and consultants. modern construction projects were characterized by new standards, advanced technologies, multiparty participation, and frequent owner-desired changes. coupled with a state, there are inherent uncertainties and complexities in the physical, financial, and economic environment in which most projects are performed. such conditions have made completing projects on schedule and on budget a difficult task to accomplish, often leading to claims on cost compensation and time extensions.[1] construction time often serves as a benchmark for assessing the performance of a project and the efficiency of the project organization. the time required to complete construction of projects is often more than the specified time in contract. these “overruns” or time extensions happen due to many reasons, such as designer changes or errors, economic conditions, resource availability, and performance of projects. usually, majority of project delay occurs during construction phase, where unforeseen factors (environmental concerns and restrictions, ground conditions, etc.) are always involved. construction delays lead to increase in overall project cost, hence for the completing projects on time is beneficial to all parties involved in projects. therefore, it is essential to identify the actual causes of delay to minimize and avoid the delays and their corresponding expenses.[2] project success can be defined as meeting goals and objectives as prescribed in the project plan. a successful project means that the project has accomplished its technical performance, maintained its schedule, and remained within budgetary costs.[3] research objectives the aim of this study is to determine the most effective factors affecting the delay in public construction projects in erbil governorate projects. the main objectives of the study are as follows: corresponding author: noori sadeq ali, department of civil engineering, college of engineering, cihan university, erbil, iraq. phone: +964-750 453 75 45. e-mail: noori.ali@cihanuniversity.edu.iq doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n1y2019.pp18-26 copyright © 2019 noori sadeq ali, khalil ismail wali. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) received: sep 23, 2018 accepted: nov 06, 2018 published: may 13, 2019 department of civil engineering, college of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ali and wali: evaluation of construction delay of public projects 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 1. identifying the main causes of delay in construction projects. 2. evaluating the top 10 significant causes of delay in construction projects. 3. identifying the means of minimizing delay in public construction projects. case study the research focuses on construction industry of kurdistan region in erbil governorate. the surveyed construction projects include public projects of nearly most of public sectors such as local administration, municipality, road works, irrigation works, water supply, sanitary, high education, health, and religion affairs (awqaf). the specified projects comprise schools, residential and non-residential offices, and hospitals. this study will focus on projects where the main client is the government (public construction projects). literature review types of delay delay in construction projects can be classified in various ways related to the parties involved in causing the delay as follows. excusable delay with compensation this type of delay is caused by the clients’ actions or inactions. once contractors encounter this sort of delay, they are entitled to time extension moreover as financial compensation as a result of the delays. an example of this would be the late release of drawings from the clients’ architect.[4] excusable delay without compensation this type is caused by third parties or incidents beyond the control of the client and the contractor. examples typically include acts of god, unusual weather, strikes, fires, and acts of government in its sovereign capacity.[5] in this case, the contractor is normally entitled to a time extension but no compensation for delay damages. non-excusable delay caused solely by the contractor or his suppliers, the contractor is generally not entitled to relief and must either make up the lost time through acceleration or compensate the owner.[4] many studies and researches conducted on the subject of delay in the completion time of construction projects; therefore, this part of literature review classified the studies carried out locally, regionally, and neighbor countries as follows: local studies ewadh et al.[6] studied the most effective causes of delays in execution and delivering of construction projects in specified time in karbala governorate. within 78 probable causes of delay, the most occurrence causes were delay in testing materials, awarding contracts to the lowest cost bidder, contractor’s financial difficulties, sudden rise in prices of materials, and incorrect of estimation of contract duration. muhammad[7] studied the causes of delay from the point of view of owners, engineers, and contractors. there are many causes of delay in construction projects in erbil governorate including inadequate contractor experience, waiting time for approval of tests and inspection, poor estimate of project duration by the contractor, poor technical staff qualification, financial difficulties of contractor, problems with subcontractors, unclear and inadequate details in drawings, slow payment of completed works, poor site management, and poor communication and coordination by the contractor with others. jahager[8] studied the causes of construction delay in baghdad city. he specified the most important causes of delay in construction project through a field survey of a questionnaire contained 58 causes of delay according to group of owners, contractors, and consultants. the study showed that the most important cause of delay is mistakes and discrepancies in design documents, ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor, poor site management and supervision by contractor, poor qualification of the contractor’s technical staff, unclear and inadequate details in drawings, inadequate designteam experience, insufficient data collection and survey before design, difficulties in financing project by contractor, obsolete or unsuitable construction methods, and unqualified workforce. bekr[9] studied the most important causes of delay in public projects in iraq through an intensive literature review and a survey which included a questionnaire used to assess the perceptions of the main participants involved in the construction of the projects. the 65 causes compiled through the literature review and the pilot study were classified into four groups: client related, contractor related, consultant related, and external factors. he concluded that the most effective delay factors affecting the time overrun in the public projects in iraq were security measures, government change of regulations and bureaucracy, official and non-official holidays, low performance of lowest bidder contractors in government tendering system, design and changes by owner, design changes by consultants, delay in progress payments by the owner, problems with local community, owner’s lack of experience in construction, and economic local and global conditions. regional studies several studies in neighbor countries and abroad have been reviewed. in jordan, sweis et al.[10] evaluated the most common causes of delays in projects using a survey distributed to consultant engineers, contractors, and owners, and interviews with senior professionals in the field. most correspondents agreed that financial difficulties faced by the contractor and too many change orders by the owner are the leading causes of construction delay. severe weather conditions and changes in government regulations and laws ranked among the least important causes. samarah and bekr[11] studied the effects of delay on project’s performance. the study was accomplished through an intensive literature review and a field study used to find the perception of major parties participating in the implementation of the construction projects in jordan. the survey which was carried out through a questionnaire covered (146) participants representing clients, contractors, and consultants. the study presented ranking of the significant factors for each group and then the significant factors of the whole survey. top ten factors causing delays for public sector projects in jordan were (1) inadequate management and supervision by the contractor, (2) client’s ali and wali: evaluation of construction delay of public projects 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 changes of the design, (3) inadequate planning and control by the contractor, (4) using lowest bid that lead to low performance, (5) changes in the extent of the project, (6) errors in design and contract documents, (7) progress payments are not made in time by the client, (8) rework due to mistakes during construction, (9) changes in the original design, and (10) low level productivity. a research survey on time performance of different types of construction projects in saudi arabia was conducted to determine the causes of delay and their importance according to each of the project participants, i.e., the owner, consultant, and contractor. 73 causes of delay were identified during this research. 76% of the contractors and 56% of the consultants indicated that average of time overrun is between 10% and 30% of the original duration. the most common cause of delay identified by all the three parties is the “change order.” furthermore, the study concluded that 70% of projects experienced time overrun and found that 45 of 76 (about 60%) projects were delayed.[12] a study of time delays and cost increases associated with construction of private residential projects in the state of kuwait was conducted. a survey response of 450 respondents was selected in 27 districts in metropolitan kuwait showed that time-delays and cost increases are the main causes of delays. the three main causes of time delays included changing orders, owners’ financial constraints, and owners’ lack of experience in the construction industry.[13] causes of delays in construction projects in turkey were studied by kazaz et al.[14] by applying a questionnaire to 71 companies working in turkey. the study showed that, of 34 factors affecting project duration, design and material change was found to be the most important predominant factor, delay of payments, and cash flow problems. abd el-razek et al.[15] studied the causes of delay in building construction projects in egypt. the study revealed that the most important causes were financing by contractor during construction, delays in contractor’s payment by owner, design changes by owner or his agent during construction, partial payments during construction, and non-utilization of professional construction/contractual management. khoshgoftar et al.[16] studied the causes of delay in iranian projects. the study showed that the main causes of delay are financial and payments of completed works, improper planning, site management, contract management, and lack of communication between parties. research methodology the data collection for the purpose of this study was conducted by the preparation of questionnaire including a list of 37 proposed causes of delay in construction projects. a handdelivered questionnaire method was used to obtain the opinion of respondents. a questionnaire was divided into three main parts. the first part was a clarification of the idea and the purpose of the survey as well as the definition of the interested area of the study. in the second part, the profile of the respondent was requested such as graduate year, number of years working in construction industry, number of projects supervised and/or executed, and the role kinds (site engineer, project manager, or any other duties) during working in construction. the third part concerned the delay causes in construction project in the form of clear statement. delay factors are classified into four categories relating to main participants: owner, consultants, contractors, and other externals. for each factor, two measures were used, frequency and severity. for each measure, the respondents have four options in the form of digits ranking from 1 to 4 as shown in table 1. the questionnaires submitted to respondents working in public project in erbil governorate who directly participated in construction of projects consisting of project managers, site engineer, and supervisors. data analysis the author used various factors related to project delay. the data was analyzed by using frequency and severity indices. frequency index the following equation was applied to analyze the causes of delay based on frequency occurrence identified by respondents. frequency index fi xi xi % � � ( )=         × ∑ ∑4 100 (1) where, xi is constant expressing weight (scale) given to ith response: 1, 2, 3, 4 fi is variable expressing frequency of ith response i is response category index of 1, 2, 3, 4. severity index the following equation was used to analyze the severity index in the manner of frequency index:        ∑ ∑ si severity index(%)=  xi 4  xi ×100 where, si is variable expressing severity of ith response. table 1: frequency and severity measurements of delay factors delay causes statements frequency severity delay scale xi 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 scale rarely happens sometimes happens often happens always happens little moderate great extreme factors f1 f2 f3 f4 s1 s2 s3 s4 ali and wali: evaluation of construction delay of public projects 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 important index the important index (i.i) of each cause was calculated using the following equation: research findings and discussions general characteristics of respondents’ profile the respondents include experienced engineers executed and supervised the public projects in governorate institution of most services; local administration, works and housing, municipality, roads, irrigations, water supply, sewage, electricity, religions affairs (awqaf), and health. the respondent’s year of experience ranges from 1 year to >25 years as shown in figure 1. the number of executed and supervised projects by respondents ranging between 1 and >50 projects is illustrated in figure 2. the percentage distribution of types of project ranges from 2% to 20% as shown in figure 3. analyzing the ranks of delay causes table 2 shows the causes of the delay which are related to owner, consultant, contractor, and external in terms of frequencies, severities. frequency occurrence of top 10 delay causes the frequency occurrences of top 10 highest delay causes are listed in table 3, showing that the most causes related to the contractor are “selecting incompetent contractors,” “not selecting competent subcontractors,” “contractor’s financial difficulties,” “ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor,” “the required skilled figure 1: respondent’s year of experience figure 2: number of projects executed and supervised by the respondents ali and wali: evaluation of construction delay of public projects 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 labor is not available,” “differing site conditions,” and “the required equipment and tools are not available.” the highest causes related to the owner are “variation orders by owner during construction,” and “delays in contractor’s payment by owner.” the “weather conditions” also listed within the highest 10 delay causes related to the external conditions. severity occurrence of top 10 delay causes the most severe causes of delay are due to contractor relating to his experience and capacity, subcontractors, and financial difficulties, while the causes related to owner are only variation order and delaying payments. only weather conditions are related to external conditions. the overall causes sorting from high to lower severity are “selecting incompetent contractors,” “variation order(s) by owner during construction,” contractor’s figure 3: types of projects executed by the respondents delay causes statements frequency of occurrence severity of occurrence importance index index rank index rank index rank causes related to the owner variation order (s) by owner during construction 71.53 2 62.85 2 44.95 4 late in revising and approving design documents 53.13 15 52.11 19 27.68 17 delay in approving shop drawing and sample materials 55.56 11 52.78 17 29.32 12 poor communication and coordination 45.14 26 45.71 30 20.63 27 slowness in decision-making process 53.29 14 53.96 13 28.76 15 conflicts between joint-ownership of the project 44.01 27 46.83 27 20.61 28 delays in contractor’s payment by owner 64.2 7 62.67 7 40.26 7 design changes by owner or his agent during construction 51.07 20 53.99 14 27.57 18 partial payment during construction 47.83 23 43.75 31 20.92 26 owner interference 51.39 19 48.26 24 24.80 21 quality assurance – control 55.00 13 52.86 16 29.07 13 bureaucracy 43.01 30 46.07 29 19.82 30 causes related to the consultant change in design by engineer or consultant 52.90 16 51.09 21 27.02 19 conflict between contract documents 39.55 35 39.34 36 15.56 36 inflexibility (rigidity) of consultant 42.25 32 43.08 33 18.20 32 poor communication and coordination by consultant with other parties 39.39 36 42.80 34 16.86 35 inadequate experience of designer 43.38 28 48.41 23 21.04 25 mistakes and discrepancies in design documents 49.15 21 50.00 22 24.58 22 design complexity 40.30 34 43.56 32 17.55 34 unclear and inadequate details in drawings 51.49 18 54.23 12 27.92 16 lack of consultant’s knowledge of available materials and equipment 45.52 25 47.76 25 21.74 24 causes related to the contractor differing site conditions 56.52 9 54.04 15 30.55 11 selecting incompetent contractors 73.57 1 71.74 1 52.78 1 not selecting competent subcontractors 68.28 3 66.67 5 45.52 2 table 2: the important index and ranking of delay causes (contd...) ali and wali: evaluation of construction delay of public projects 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 financial difficulties,” “whether condition,” “not selecting competent subcontractors,” “ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor,” “delays in contractor’s payment by owner,” “poor management of project site,” “the required skilled labors are not available,” and “rework due to errors during construction” as shown in table 4. important index of top 10 delay causes the important indices of top 10 delay causes are listed in table 5. the most causes of delay are related to contractor. the first three high ranked causes included “selecting incompetent contractors” with important index of 52.78% and 45.5% important index for both “not select competent subcontractors” and “contractor’s financial difficulties.” the most managers of projects are suffering from incompetent contractors and subcontractors with problem of financial and technical difficulties. the other causes are related to the owner comprising “variation order(s) by owner during construction” and “delays in contractor’s payment by owner” which are the most common cause in other neighbor countries with important indices of 45% and 40.3%, respectively. the latter cause is the “weather conditions” related to external condition with important indices of 45%. the last remained causes of delay are related to contractors such as the required labor skill, poor management, and the unavailability of equipment and tools. the most of these causes of delay and their important indices are approximately similar to those mentioned by bekr, 2015.[9] and and a study by (assaf and al-hejji, 2006)[12] as mentioned previously in literature review. ranking of delay sources the causes of delay sources as previously mentioned are related owner, contractor, consultant, and external conditions. the ranking of the frequency of occurrence, severity, and importance index is as follows. ranking of delay causes related to the owner the frequency, severity, and importance index of delay related to the owner are listed in table 6. the highest frequency is delay causes statements frequency of occurrence severity of occurrence importance index index rank index rank index rank poor management of project site 55.36 12 59.00 8 32.66 9 poor management of project contract 47.43 24 51.45 20 24.40 23 conflicts in work schedule of the subcontractors 48.91 22 52.61 18 25.73 20 contractor’s financial difficulties 66.79 4 68.12 3 45.49 3 rework due to errors during construction 51.84 17 56.15 10 29.11 14 site accidents 43.18 29 46.43 28 20.05 29 the required skilled labor is not available 58.21 8 57.97 9 33.74 8 the required equipment and tools are not available 56.44 10 54.55 11 30.79 10 ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor 64.45 6 64.02 6 41.26 6 causes related to external conditions new government regulations 42.65 31 42.42 35 18.09 33 strikes 31.25 37 37.86 37 11.83 37 political influence 40.67 33 47.39 26 19.27 31 weather conditions 65.94 5 67.75 4 44.68 5 table 2: (continued) table 3: frequency of top 10 highest delay causes causes of delay frequency (%) rank source selecting incompetents contractors 73.6 1 contractor variation order (s) by owner during construction 71.5 2 owner not selecting competent subcontractors 68.3 3 contractor contractor’s financial difficulties 66.8 4 contractor weather conditions 65.9 5 external conditions ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor 64.5 6 contractor delays in contractor’s payment by owner 64.2 7 owner the required skilled labors are not available 58.2 8 contractor differing site conditions 56.5 9 contractor the required equipment and tools are not available 56.4 10 contactor ali and wali: evaluation of construction delay of public projects 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 due to “variation orders” and “delay in contractor’s payment by owner” at 71.53% and 64.24%, respectively. the following causes are due to “delay in approving shop drawing and sample materials,” “quality assurance – control,” “slowness in decision-making process,” “late in revising and approving design documents,” “owner interference,” and “design changes by owner or his agent during construction” with frequency ranging between 51.07% and 55.56%. the remaining ownerrelated causes of delay included “partial payment during construction,” “poor communication and coordination,” “conflicts between joint-ownership of the project,” and “bureaucracy” ranging between 43.01% and 47.83%. the ranking of importance index of causes of delay is in the order as of their frequency of occurrences. regarding the important indices of delay cause, the highest two causes are “variation order(s)” and “delays in contractor’s payment” with important indices of 44.95% and 40.26%, respectively. the other causes of delay were between 20% and 29.32%. ranking of delay causes related to the consultants the ranking of delay causes related to consultants listed in table 7 shows that the highest ranked delay cause is “unclear and inadequate details in drawings,” “mistakes and discrepancies in design documents,” “lack of consultant’s knowledge of available materials and equipment,” and “inadequate experience of designer” at important indices of 27.92%, 24.58%, 21.74%, and 21.02% respectively. other causes are less effective at important indices <20% which are “inflexibility (rigidity) of consultant,” “design complexity,” “conflict between contract documents,” and “poor communication and coordination by consultant with other parties.” ranking of delay causes related to the contractor the ranking delay causes related to contractor are shown in table 8, indicating that owner, consultant and external conditions ranked high in causing the delay. therefore, selecting incompetent contractors (52.78%) have significant effects on delay of projects. the latter group of causes of delay consisting of subcontractors selecting, financial difficulties, and ineffective planning and scheduling have relatively effects on the delay of project with important indices between 40% and 50%. the other group of causes lowers the effects on delay. the important indices ranged between more than 30% to <34% which deals with labor experience, site conditions, and site management having their effects on the delay of project. the last set of causes of delay was less than 30%. they are reworking due to errors in construction, conflicts between subcontractor’s scheduling, poor management of contract, and site accidents. ranking delay related to external conditions the only four causes of delay related to external conditions rather than participants’ owner, consultant, and contractor are shown in table 9. the effective cause in this group of delay related to external causes is “weather conditions” which is not excusable as per iraqi conditions of contract of civil engineering works (1987) with importance index of 44.68%. conclusion the study focused on identifying and ranking in terms of frequency, severity, and importance of the factors of delay in construction of executed public projects. the study revealed that the top 10 delays from highest to lowest are selecting incompetents contractors, incompetent subcontractors, contractor’s financial difficulties, variation order(s) by owner, weather conditions, ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor, delays in contractor’s payment, the unavailability of skilled labor, poor management, finally, the unavailability of equipment and tools. table 4: severity occurrence of top 10 delay causes causes of delay severity (%) rank source selecting incompetents’ contractors 71.7 1 contractor variation order (s) by owner during construction 68.2 2 owner contractor’s financial difficulties 68.1 3 contractor whether condition 67.8 4 external condition not selecting competent subcontractors 66.7 5 contractor ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor 64.0 6 contractor delays in contractor’s payment by owner 62.7 7 owner poor management of project site 59 8 contractor the required skilled labors are not available 58 9 contractor rework due to errors during construction 56.2 10 contractor table 5: the important index of top 10 delay causes causes of delay important index (%) rank source selecting incompetents contractors 52.78 1 contractor not selecting competent subcontractors 45.5 2 contractor contractor’s financial difficulties 45.5 3 contractor variation order (s) by owner during construction 45 4 owner weather conditions 44.7 5 external conditions ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor 41.3 6 contractors delays in contractor’s payment by owner 40.3 7 owner the required skilled labors are not available 33.7 8 contractor poor management of project site 32.7 9 contactor the required equipment and tools are not available 30.8 10 contractor ali and wali: evaluation of construction delay of public projects 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 table 6: ranking of frequency of delay causes related to the owner causes of delay frequency of occurrence severity of occurrence importance index index rank index rank index rank variation order (s) by owner during construction 71.53 1 62.85 1 44.95 1 delays in contractor’s payment by owner 64.24 2 62.67 2 40.26 2 delay in approving shop drawing and sample materials 55.56 3 52.78 6 29.32 3 quality assurance – control 55 4 52.86 5 29.07 4 slowness in decision-making process 53.29 5 53.96 4 28.76 5 late in revising and approving design documents 53.13 6 52.11 7 27.68 6 owner interference 51.39 7 48.26 8 24.8 8 design changes by owner or his agent during construction. 51.07 8 53.99 3 27.57 7 partial payment during construction 47.83 9 43.75 12 20.92 9 poor communication and coordination 45.14 10 45.71 11 20.63 10 conflicts between joint-ownership of the project 44.01 11 46.83 9 20.61 11 bureaucracy 43.01 12 46.07 10 19.82 12 table 7: ranking of delay related to the consultant causes of delay frequency of occurrence severity of occurrence importance index index rank index rank index rank unclear and inadequate details in drawings 51.49 1 54.23 1 27.92 1 mistakes and discrepancies in design documents 49.15 2 50.00 2 24.58 2 lack of consultant’s knowledge of available materials and equipment 45.52 3 47.76 4 21.74 3 inadequate experience of designer 43.389 4 48.41 3 21.04 4 inflexibility (rigidity) of consultant 42.25 5 43.08 6 18.20 5 design complexity 40.3 6 43.56 5 17.55 6 conflict between contract documents 39.55 7 39.34 8 15.56 8 poor communication and co-ordination by consultant with other parties 39.39 8 42.80 7 16.86 7 table 8: ranking of delay related to the contractor causes of delay frequency of occurrence severity of occurrence importance index index rank index rank index rank selecting incompetents contractors 73.57 1 71.74 1 52.78 1 not selecting competent subcontractors 68.28 2 66.67 3 45.52 2 contractor’s financial difficulties 66.79 3 68.12 2 45.49 3 ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor 64.45 4 64.02 4 41.26 4 the required skilled labors are not available 58.21 5 57.97 6 33.74 5 differing site conditions 56.52 6 54.04 9 30.55 8 the required equipment and tools are not available 56.44 7 54.55 8 30.79 7 poor management of project site 55.36 8 59.00 5 32.66 6 rework due to errors during construction 51.84 9 56.15 7 29.11 9 conflicts in work schedule of the subcontractors 48.91 10 52.61 10 25.73 10 poor management of project contract 47.43 11 51.45 11 24.40 11 site accidents 43.18 12 46.43 12 20.05 12 of these 10 factors, 7 of them are related to contractor. the only two factors “variation order(s) by owner during construction,” and “delays in contractor’s payment by owner.” the weather conditions are related to external conditions. the ranking of delay factors related to owner listed from high importance index to lower (44.95–24.8%) is “variation order(s) by owner during construction,” “delays in contractor’s payment by owner,” “delay in approving shop drawing and ali and wali: evaluation of construction delay of public projects 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (1): 18-26 sample materials,” “quality assurance – control,” “slowness in decision-making process,” “late in revising and approving design documents,” “design changes by owner or his agent during construction,” and “owner interference.” consultant-related factors based on importance index from high importance index to lower (27.92–21.04%) are “unclear and inadequate details in drawings,” “mistakes and discrepancies in design documents,” “lack of consultant’s knowledge of available materials and equipment,” and “inadequate experience of designer.” the contractor related factors of delay causes which are the most effective factors from high to lower importance index (52.78–32.66%) are “selecting incompetents contractors,” “not selecting competent subcontractors,” “contractor’s financial difficulties,” “ineffective planning and scheduling of project by contractor,” “the required labor skill are not available,” “differing site conditions,” “the required equipment and tools are not available,” and “poor management of project site.” the last source of delay related to external conditions was weather conditions 44.68%. for avoiding and minimizing the delays in construction of public projects, it is recommended to impose regulations more strict in selecting contractors and subcontractors, time payments and financial controlling, planning and scheduling and revising them, site management, more accurate initial cost estimate, and frequent progress meetings of various parties involved in construction of public projects. references 1. s. ramya and r. divya. “causes, effects and minimization of delays in construction projects”. in: national conference on research advances in communication, electrical science and structures. ncraccess, 2015. 2. s. al hammadi and m. s. nawab. “study of delay factors in construction projects”. international advanced research journal in science and technology, vol. 3, no. 4, 2016. 3. y. frimpong, j. oluwoye and l. crawford. “causes of delay and cost overruns in constructionof groundwater projects in a developing countries; ghana as a case study”. international journal of project management, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 321-326, 2003. 4. k. a. mohammed and a. d. isah. “causes of delay in nigeria construction industry”. interdisciplinary journal of construction research in business, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 785-794, 2012. 5. t. ghada, m. badawy and o. el-nawawy. “a model for evaluation of delays in construction projects”. international journal of innovative research in science engineering and technology, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 688-693, mar 2016. 6. a. ewadh and k. g. al-hendawi. “causes of delay in iraq construction projects”. journal of babylon university, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 483-494, 2007. 7. a. j. muhammad. “causes of delays in construction projects in erbil governorate”. zanco, journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 3, no. 24, pp. 81-94, 2011. 8. q. k. jahager. “important causes in construction projects in baghdad city”. australian journal of basic and applied sciences, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 14-23, 2013. 9. g. a. bekr. “causes of delay in public construction projects in iraq”. jordan journal of civil engineerin, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 149162, 2015. 10. g. sweis, r. sweis, a. a. hammad and a. shboul. “delays in construction projects: the case of jordan”. international journal of project management, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 665-674, 2008. 11. a. samarah and g. a. bekr. “causes and effects of delay in public construction projects in jordan”. american journal of engineering research, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 87-94, 2016. 12. s. a. assaf and a. hajji. “cause of delay in large construction projects”. international journal of project management, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 349-357, 2006. 13. p. a. koushki, k. al-rashid and n. kartamn. “delays and cost increases in the construction of private residential projects in kuwait”. construction management and economics, vol. 23, no. 3. pp. 285-294, 2005. 14. a. kazaz, s. ulubeyli and n. a. tuncbilekli. “causes of delays in construction projects in turkey”. journal of civil engineering and management, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 426-435, 2012. 15. m. e. abd el-razek, h. a. bassioni and a. m. mobarak. “causes of delay in building construction projects in egypt”. journal of construction engineering and management, vol. 134, no. 11, pp. 831-841, nov 2008. 16. m. khoshgoftar, a. h. a. baker and o. osman. “causes of delays in iranian projects”. the international journal of construction management, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 53-59, 2010. table 9: ranking of delay related to external conditions causes of delay frequency of occurrence severity of occurrence importance index index rank index rank index rank weather conditions 65.94 1 67.75 1 44.68 1 new government regulations 42.65 2 42.42 3 18.09 3 political influence 40.67 3 47.39 2 19.27 2 strikes 31.25 4 37.86 4 11.83 4 tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 20-23 research article hiv, hbs and hcv in dump site workers of erbil governorate muhsin h. ubeid*, tanya s. salih, ameena s. m. juma department of general biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract this research targeted eighty-nine males working in kany qrzhala, dumpsite. age and gender comparable apparently healthy subjects were selected as healthy controls, and both of the groups were obliged to fill the study’s questionnaire. further, venous blood samples were collected from each individual for serum collection. the accumulated sera reserved for the seroprevalence for antibodies tests of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis b surface (hbs) antigen and hepatitis c virus (hcv), (human immunodeficiency [hiv]), (hbs), (hcv), respectively. the automated immunoassay analyzer cobas e411 facilitated the conducting of the mentioned tests. the serum concentration of hiv and hbs antibodies of dumpsite workers revealed a significant increase when compared to the healthy group, while the hcv antibody serum concentration presented no significant alteration when comparing dumpsite workers to the healthy controls. the antibodies present in the sera that belonged to workers is an indicator of exposure to the viruses due to unsanitary health conditions. this may pose a public health risk to the workers themselves, in addition to the people they are in contact with, including their families. keywords: dumpsite workers, hiv, hbs, hcv introduction the increase in the population of any city will result in increasing production of waste materials. in addition, the poor management systems of domestic wastes and lack of modern technology in the management of wastes, all play a major role in increasing the waste materials.[1] studies have shown that dumpsites do not only affect the dumpsite workers but the surrounding areas and the people living there.[2] it has been shown, that cities in many countries face many health issues owing to inadequate municipal management of solid waste.[3] other studies have shown the link between health and environmental effects due to insanitary dumpsites.[4-6] because dumpsite workers handle solid waste directly, this has been shown to be a consequence to various of diseases; infectious and chronic.[5,7] many of the dumpsites are usually located distant on urban areas borders. they represent a major health problem and many diseases, including infectious diseases, i.e., malaria and cholera, have been recorded in these areas and urban cities around them.[8,9] because of the lack of accurate data on the health status of dumpsite workers in erbil city, this research aimed to discover possible exposure of these workers to specific viral diseases. methodology population selection a dumpsite in erbil governorate named as kany qrzhala. eighty-nine males were chosen for the study in hand. age and gender comparable apparently healthy subjects were selected as healthy controls. the entire dumpsite-working group and the healthy group were asked to respond to the study questionnaire and submit the tests explained in the following sections. samples of the blood collection after applying the tourniquet, disinfecting with 70% ethanol anti-cubital fossa, administering with a 23-guage needle corresponding author: muhsin h. ubeid, department of general biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: muhsin.hmeadi@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 6, 2021 accepted: september 15, 2021 published: september 30, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021. pp 20-23 copyright © 2021 muhsin h. ubeid, tanya s. salih, ameena s. m. juma, this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ubeid, et al.: hiv, hbs and hcv in dump site workers 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 20-23 attached to a disposable five ml syringe. a 5 ml venous blood samples were accumulated from all the participants. later, the collected blood was retained in plain tubes and was set aside for 60 min at room temperature to clot. then, to collect the serum, tubes for whole 10 min were centrifuged at 4°c at ×450 g, afterwards, by a pasteur pipette the separated serum was aspirated then dispensing it into previously sterilized five ml glass tubes. finally, cooling and storing them at −20°. antibody detection restoring the glass tubes with sera to room temperature seroprevalence tests can be achieved. hence, the research employed the automated cobas e411 immunoassay analyzer for the deduction of human immunodeficiency (hiv), hepatitis b surface (hbs), and hepatitis c virus (hcv) antibodies. results workers’ statistics table 1, illustrates the study’s investigated dumpsite group data, where eighty-nine male workers with age ranging from 12 to 65 years. second, rural areas were the location of 92.13%, while urban areas were the location of 7.87%. third, the table recorded 58.43% smokers and 41.57% non-smokers. fourth, it demonstrated there were 61.80% married and 38.20% single workers. last of all, it has been reported that 37.08% of the workers were not formally educated, 40.45% acquired the education of primary school, and 17.97% earned secondary school certificate, and 2.25% diploma and 2.25% b.sc. degree holders. anti hiv antibody the serum concentration of hiv antibody of investigated dumpsite workers revealed a significant increase when compared to the healthy group (table 2, figure 1). anti hbs antibody the serum concentration of hbs antibody of dumpsite workers showed a significant rise when compared with the healthy controls (table 3, figure 1). anti hcv antibody the serum concentration of hcv antibody presented no significant difference when comparing study’s dumpsite workers to the healthy group (table 4, figure 1). discussion the unsanitary disposal of wastes creates a flourishing habitat for diseases to be defused via insects and rodents. this concurs with the occurrence of the black death in the 14th century epidemic. where closely half of the europe population perished.[10] procedures followed by developing countries for waste management are correlated to employment safety and health issues. it was recorded that, and in many countries, diseases and infections of respiratory, skin, gastro-intestinal, muscular-skeletal complications, along with cutting injuries table 1: kany qrzhala, erbil governorate dumpsite workers information variable no. (n=89) percent workers live in rural areas 82 92.13 workers live in urban areas 7 7.87 smoker workers 52 58.43 non-smoker workers 37 41.57 single workers 34 38.20 married workers 55 61.80 education/illiterate workers 33 37.08 education/primary school 36 40.45 education/secondary school 16 17.97 education/diploma 2 2.25 education/bachelor 2 2.25 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 hiv (coi) hbs (coi) hcv (coi) se ru m c on ce nt ra tio n of a nt ib od ie s virus dumpsite workers healthy group figure 1: hiv, hsb and hcv antibody concentrations in the sera of the workers in comparison to the healthy controls are commonly health ramifications for those who are working in dumpsites.[11] studies have identified the poor working conditions of the dumpsite workers and inadequate sanitation practices making them susceptible to diseases, in addition to their lack of anti-pollution equipment.[12] these studies have identified that these workers are always exposed to injuries with broken glass, for example, exposing these workers to many infectious agents like the viruses in the current study, hiv, and hepatitis viruses. moreover, other studies have found that the landfill sites workers’ respiratory health was poor because of exposure to bioaerosols containing bacteria and fungi.[13] another previous study in africa has indicated that health care waste is dumped with other wastes, hence exposing the dumpsite workers to hiv, being considered as occupational exposure.[14] it has been shown that because health care wastes are also disposed in the dumpsites. as such, the likelihood, workers have to be infected by hepatitis b, hiv, or any other diseases is high.[15,16] in the current study, the significant increase in the antibody levels of hiv and hbs is just another proof that these workers have been exposed to these antigens. cholera, diarrhea, hepatitis a and b, besides typhoid had been recorded among dumpsite workers. besides, disease particularly hbv, hcv, and hiv are to cause infection to healthy people via dumping blood-contaminated tools with ubeid, et al.: hiv, hbs and hcv in dump site workers 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 20-23 infected blood and/or other biomedical waste, i.e., syringes, dressings, needles, body parts, etc. these workers pose a danger to the public because of their possibility of transmitting communicable diseases.[17-19] using bare hands by the workers enrolled in the current study to handle waste could be a risk for injury. it is known that even a small injury carries the risk of hbv, hiv, brucellosis transfers, and other blood-borne diseases.[20,21] hbv has been found to be prevalent among in scavengers rather than those who work at municipals as waste collectors.[22,23] injury with sharp objects might be a source of such infections. in fact, the study in hand showed that workers used their bare hands to handle the wastes, with an evident lack of personal hygiene and safety precautions while handling wastes. it has been shown that most dumpsite workers face health hazards.[24,25] other studies have also documented the high risk of waste scavengers of acquiring hbv infection.[26,27] in pakistan, the same health issues regarding dumpsite workers were recorded. hepatitis was among the infections to be highly prevalent among these workers. this was attributed to, their occupation, insufficient living conditions, absence of sanitation and safety measures, and illiteracy. therefore, training regarding waste handling is required.[28] brazil, despite following safety and health regulations, has been found to face many health problems in what they call recyclable collectors. they were constantly exposed to biological, physical, and more extreme hazards. this was because these workers were not aware of the hazards they will face if not using proper protective materials, hence certainly they will be injured. such injuries are comprised head, hands, arms legs, and feet burns and cuts, lesions of eyes and skin, and even hand amputations.[29] another study in egypt also indicated the prevalence of hbv among dumpsite workers, emphasizing on the necessity for vaccination as a prophylactic measure.[30] studies are still conducted in nigeria, where workers were exposed to hazardous substances, which might cause a variety of diseases. occupational hazards in these individuals might be due to the absence or the lack of appropriate tools and equipment of protection, along with their illiteracy. in conclusion, the authors recommended as a vital response to raise the workers awareness, besides enlightenment training, to survive the health hazards and its risks.[31,32] a periodic, objective and documented assessment and auditing of the dumpsites and their workers is a necessary concern to minimize the health issues that these workers face. vaccination against hbv is an effective measure to control such an infection. in addition, personal hygiene practices and regular training (more than 75% of the individuals enrolled in the current study are either illiterate or had only primary school education) on occupational safety could be a good measure to control risks of viral infections among dumpsite workers. lastly, providing protective clothing and proper equipment as a vital issue to prevent injuries. acknowledments we would like to thank municipal directorate labors of erbil city for providing the help in samples collection. references 1. j. n. fobil, d. carboo and c. clement. defining options for integrated management of municipal solid waste in large cities of low-income economies-the case of the accra metropolis in ghana. journal resource management and technology, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 106-117, 2002. 2. f. p. sankoh, x. yan and q. tran. environmental and health impact of solid waste disposal in developing cities: a case study of granville brook dumpsite, freetown, sierra leone. journal of environmental protection, vol. 4, no. 7, p. 47076, 2013. 3. n. p. thanh, y. matsui and t. fujiwara. assessment of plastic waste generation and its potential recycling of household solid waste in can tho city, vietnam. environmental monitoring and assessment, vol. 175, no. 1, pp. 23-35, 2011. 4. l. giusti. a review of waste management practices and their table 2: hiv antibody concentration in the sera of the workers when contrasted to the healthy group immunological variable gender dumpsite workers healthy group t-test p value p no. mean±se no. mean±se hiv (coi) m 89 0.251±0.002 40 0.244±0.001 0.000 h.s.** p≥0.05: non significant; *p<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant, coi=cut‑off index, hiv: human immunodeficiency table 3: comparison of hbs antibody concentration in the sera between dumpsite workers and the healthy group immunological variable gender dumpsite workers healthy group t-test p value p no. mean±se no. mean±se hbs (coi) m 89 0.274±0.001 40 0.261±0.001 0.012 s.* *p<0.05: significant; **p < 0.01: highly significant. coi: cut‑off index table 4: comparison of hcv antibody concentration in the sera between dumpsite workers and the healthy group immunological variable gender dumpsite workers healthy group t-test p value p no. mean±se no. mean±se hcv (coi) m 89 0.080±0.001 40 0.080±0.001 0.325 n.s. p≥0.05: non significant; *p<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant. coi: cut‑off index, hcv: hepatitis c virus ubeid, et al.: hiv, hbs and hcv in dump site workers 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 20-23 impact on human health. waste management, vol. 29, no. 8, pp. 2227-2239, 2009. 5. j. a. nwanta, j. onunkwo and e. ezenduka. analysis of nsukka metropolitan abattoir solid waste and its bacterial contents in south eastern nigeria: public health implication. archives of environmental and occupational health, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 21-26, 2010. 6. t. s. salih, s. s. haydar, m. h. ubeid and a. s. m. juma. some immunological and hematological parameters among refugees in kawergosk camp-erbil governorate. cihan university erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 80-84, 2019. 7. s. m. juma, m. h. ubeid and t. s. salih. anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella, and anti-cytomegalovirus antibodies in dumpsite workers of erbil governorate. cihan university erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 85-89, 2019. 8. s. abul. environmental and health impact of solid waste disposal at mangwaneni dumpsite in manzini: swaziland. journal of sustainable development in africa, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 64-78, 2010. 9. m. h. ubeid. prevalence of leukocytes in type 2 diabetic patients in erbil city. medical journal of babylon, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 19, 2020. 10. britannica encyclopaedia. encyclopaedia britannica almanac 2010. united kingdom: encyclopaedia britannica, inc., 2010. 11. d. bleck and w. wettberg. waste collection in developing countries-tackling occupational safety and health hazards at their source. waste management, vol. 32, no. 11, pp. 2009-2017, 2012. 12. o. i. o. gani and o. h. okojie. environmental audit of a refuse dump site in the niger delta region of nigeria. journal of public health and epidemiology, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 59-65, 2013. 13. g. f. akpeimeh, l. a. fletcher and b. e. evans. exposure to bioaerosols at open dumpsites: a case study of bioaerosols exposure from activities at olusosun open dumpsite, lagos nigeria. waste management, vol. 89, pp. 37-47, 2019. 14. j. moses. focusing on environmental aspect of hiv/aids prevalence in abuja-nigeria. african health sciences, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 64, 2006. 15. world bank. waste management in china: issues and recommendations. urban development working papers, east asia infrastructure department, world bank-working paper no. 9. united states: world bank, 2005. 16. c. r. n. corrao, a. d. cimmuto, c. marzuillo, e. paparo and g. la torre. association between waste management and hbv among solid municipal waste workers: a systematic review and metaanalysis of observational studies. the scientific world journal, vol. 2013, p. 692083, 2013. 17. h. c. g. nguyen, chalin, t. m. lam, and v. w. maclaren. health and social needs of waste pickers in vietnam. research paper. africa: canadian international development agency (cida) waste-econ progamme south east asia, 2003. 18. s. cointreau. occupational and environmental health issues of solid waste management: special emphasis on middle-and lowerincome countries, urban papers. united states: sage, 2006. 19. m. p. g. mol, d. b. greco, s. cairncross and l. heller. hepatitis b and c in household and health services solid waste workers. cadernos saude publica, vol. 31, pp. 295-300, 2015. 20. l. rushton. health hazards and waste management. british medical bulletin, vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 183-197, 2003. 21. a. adeyemi, o. a. omolade and r. r. raheem-ademola. immunochromatographic testing method for hepatitis b, c in blood donors. journal of antivirals and antiretrovirals, vol. 3, p. 5, 2013. 22. h. o. sawyerr, r. o. yusuf and a. t. adeolu. risk factors and rates of hepatitis b virus infection among municipal waste management workers and scavengers in ilorin, kwara state, nigeria. journal of health and pollution, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 1-6, 2016. 23. r. o. yusuf, h. o. sawyerr, a. t. adeolu, l. m. habeeb and t. t. abolayo. seroprevalence of hepatitis b virus and compliance to standard safety precautions among scavengers in ilorin metropolis, kwara state, nigeria. journal of health and pollution, vol. 8, no. 19, p. 180914, 2018. 24. f. akinbode. impacts of solid waste on health and the environment. minnesota: walden university, 2011. 25. s. p. kandasamy, a. b. akolkar, a. manoharan and s. paranji. municipal solid waste management at chennai in southern india-an occupational health perspective. international journal of health promotion and education, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 50-61, 2013. 26. n. o. ariyibi. comparative study of the knowledge and attitude towards hepatitis b virus infection and its seroprevalence among waste scavengers 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31. a. adeyi and a. m. adeyemi. potential occupational health effects of municipal solid waste management in nigeria, the case of lagos and ibadan. ife journal of science, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 417-430, 2019. 32. m. h. homady, juma, ameena sm, ubeid, muhsin h, salih, tanya s, al-jubori, mm. age and gender in relation to colorectal cancer in najef province: a histopathological study. acta scientific pharmaceutical sciences, vol. 5, no. 3, p. 0686, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 57-61 research article serum fibroblast growth factors 23, chemerin, and vitamin d levels in patients with psoriasis shatha n. tawfeeq1, moayad m. al anzy2, entedhar r. sarhat3 1department of medical microbiology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of pharmaceutical sciences, tikrit university, tikrit, iraq, 3department of basic science, faculty of medicine, tikrit university, tikrit, iraq abstract the aim of the study was to compare the levels of fibroblast growth factor 23 (fgf23) and chemerin, as well as vitamin d in psoriasis sufferers and healthy controls. from 2021 to 2022, ninety subjects were studied. the study comprised 45 individuals with psoriasis and 45 healthy controls. serum fasting fgf23 and chemerin levels of the study group were examined by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. the results demonstrate that the mean serum fgf23 and chemerin quantities in psoriasis patients were greater than in controls, with a statistically significant. patients with psoriasis, on the other hand, had considerably lower blood vitamin d levels than healthy controls. these findings demonstrate that psoriatic patients have lower vitamin d levels than healthy controls, and they add to the growing body of data linking fgf23, chemerin vitamin d levels, and the course of psoriasis. keywords: serum fibroblast, psoriasis, fibroblast growth factor 23, chemerin, 1,25 (oh)2d introduction psoriasis is now recognized as a chronic immunemediated inflammatory dermatosis with an unknown etiology. it is caused by a variety of external and endogenous causes, related with a range of biochemical and immunological abnormalities,[1] affecting approximately 2% of the global population.[2] despite the fact that it does not affect just one tissue, it is linked to autoimmune reactions all over the body. sharply defined dull red spots with scales, particularly in the scalp and on extensor prominences, are used to categorize psoriasis.[3] dendritic cells and t-cells multiply in the immune system, releasing a range of inflammatory precursors cytokines and chemokines, as well as growth factors, which all have a role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis.[4] in contrast to most other fibroblast growth factors (fgfs), which do not behave as traditional hormones, the fgf23 gene is located on chromosome 12p13 and characterized by endocrine and paracrine effects.[5] it is a phosphaturic proteohormone produced mostly by osteoblasts/osteocytes in the bone that is plays a function in phosphate reabsorption and 1,25 (oh) 2d3 synthesis in the kidney. metabolism of fgf23 included the cleavage of bioactive intact fgf23 (ifgf23, 30 kd) into c-terminal (cfgf23, 12 kd) and n-terminal (18 kd) fragments. fgf23 could be cleared by kidneys through filtration and catabolism,[6,7] ffgf23 a protein with classical endocrine, but also paracrine effects. klotho, a transmembrane protein, is required for fgf23-mediated regulation of the renal phosphate transporter napiiia and cyp27b1, the major enzyme in the production of 1,25(oh)2d3.[8] adipose tissue is a metabolic and endocrine organ that is complicated, critical, and highly active. chemerin is one of the metabolically active peptide hormones, cytokines, chemokines, and adipokines released by this gland.[9-11] chemerin (16 kda), also known as tig2 or rarres2, is a newly discovered adipocyte-secreted factor that has both pro and anti-inflammatory properties. it is made as an inactive prochemerin that is transformed to its active state by serine proteases. not just in wat, it can even be found in the skin, intestines, and airways, chemerin is secreted in enormous levels. chemr23, gpr-1, and ccrl2 are the three kinds of receptors that chemerin interacts to. chemerin inhibits neutrophil transepithelial migratory process and increases apical neutrophil evacuation when chemr23 is activated.[12,13] cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: shatha n. tawfeeq, department of medical microbiology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: shatha.nasih@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 23, 2022 accepted: july 15, 2022 published: august 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp57-61 copyright © 2022 shatha n. tawfeeq, moayad m. al anzy, entedhar r. sarhat. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). tawfeeq, et al.: role of fibroblast growth factors 23, chemerin, and vitamin d in psoriasis 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 57-61 vitamin d is also known as vitamin that excreted in the body after sun exposure. it refers to a group of fat-soluble a fat-soluble biomolecule, connected to bone metabolism and skeletal integrity as well as generated in the skin by the impact of uv irradiation from the sun. it has historically been known as a hormone that maintains calcium-phosphorous balance and protects the musculoskeletal system’s structure. vitamin d modulates immunity by transforming 25(oh)d (vitamin d’s hormonallyactive form) into tissue-specific, locally produced 1,25(oh)2d (vitamin d’s hormonally-active component). macrophages, t-cells, keratinocytes, and dendritic cells involved in psoriasis pathogenesis can produce and respond to 1,25 (oh)2d in a paracrine and autocrine way when 25 (oh)2d is directly accessible for cellular absorption.[14] a 25(oh)d level of <20 ng/mll indicates vitamin d insufficiency.[15] our study’s purpose is to compare the concentrations of serum fgf23, chemerin, and vitamin d in psoriasis patients to those of a healthy population of similar age and gender. materials and methods patients and controls forty-five patients of psoriasis (18 males [40%] and 27 females [60%]) with a mean age of 38.6 ± 11.2 were included in the study. forty-five ageand sex-matched normal healthy controls (16 males [35.5%] and 29 females [64.5%]) with a mean age of 37.3 ± 11.21 year as shown in table 1. patients were collected from the biochemistry department of tikrit teaching hospital in tikrit city during the period from april 18, 2021, to january 17, 2022. pregnancy, diabetes, hypertension, and inflammatory diseases other than psoriasis comprised the criterion of exclusion. the study was authorized by the local ethics committee, and all patients and volunteers in the control group gave their informed permission. measurement of fgf23, and chemerin in serum after an overnight fast, blood was drawn from patients and controls. after clotting, serum was extracted and kept in aliquots at −70°c until needed. the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to assess fgf23 and chemerin (mybiosource, usa). statistical analysis statistical analysis was done using t-test. correlation between continuous variables was estimated by pearson’s correlation coefficients. a value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant for each test. results the study revealed that, in comparison to the healthy control group, psoriatic cases had the highest mean of fgf23 enzyme level (109 93 pg/ml). as demonstrated in figure 1 and table 2, the difference was extremely significant (p = 0.0001). the study showed that psoriatic patients had a greater mean of serum chemerin (328.6 25.2 ng/ml) than the healthy control group, (229.1 ± 15.4 ng/ml according to the research). while s. vitamin d (21.68 ± 1.79 ng/ml) was significantly reduced in psoriatic patients (45.19 ± 4.31 pg/ml) comparing with the control group (29.92 ± 1.55 ng/ml). furthermore, parathyroid hormone (pth) was significantly higher among patients’ group (45.19 ± 4.31 pg/ml) compared to the control group (20.78 ± 1.50 pg/ml).as shown in figures 1-4 and table 2. discussion the kidneys maintain phosphorus homeostasis in healthy humans by proximal tubular active absorption or filtered phosphorus pass-through. 25-dihydroxyvitamin d (1,25 (oh)2d, parathyroid hormone and fibroblast growth factor-231 are hormones and factors that help kidneys regulate phosphorus (fgf-23).[16] the parathyroid gland’s main cells table 1 : demographic characteristics of patients (n=45) and controls (n=45) patients control age 38.6±11.2 37.3±11.21 gender male 18 16 female 27 29 figure 1: serum pgf23 in patients with psoriasis and the controls figure 2: serum chemerin in patients with psoriasis and the controls tawfeeq, et al.: role of fibroblast growth factors 23, chemerin, and vitamin d in psoriasis 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 57-61 manufacture and emit pth. pth is a hormone made up of peptides, released as a 115-amino-acid long pre-pro-pth at first. then, it turns into about 84 amino acids when pre-propth is degraded twice.[17] pth is a critical regulator of bone and mineral metabolic process, and its biosynthesis is influenced by changes in blood calcium levels, which trigger responses in several pathways.[18] pth levels in relation to 25(oh)d levels are often used to determine vitamin d insufficiency levels. vitamin d insufficiency appears to lower serum calcium levels, resulting in elevated pth levels. vitamin d is required for calcium absorption in the intestines in humans. furthermore, the 25(oh)d concentration, which begins to climb or no longer falls as the pth concentration lowers, may indicate vitamin d inadequacy.[19] pth is elevated when calcium levels are low, or phosphate levels are high. high levels of parathyroid hormone damage bones and cause phosphate and calcium levels in the bones to fluctuate.[9] pth-rp is only found typical skin’s basal lamina and acts as a powerful epidermal cell proliferation inhibitor. pth-rp is prevalent in keratinocytes, and 1,25 (oh)2 d3 regulates it.[20] in psoriatic lesions, pth is not present. pth-rp expression was recovered in psoriatic skin when lesions were medicated with 1,25 (oh)2d3. inflammation is one of the main causes that leads to an increase in fgf23 transcription. nuclear factor-kb, a critical component of the inflammatory signaling pathway, affects the expression of target genes, including fgf23, through transcriptional regulation. nfat was first discovered as a nuclear factor that can bind to the interleukin-2 promoter in activated t cells. nfat also has a role in innate immunological and inflammatory responses, according to research.[21-23] fgf23 promotes hepatocytes to secrete inflammatory markers including il6 and tnf, as well as fibrinogen, c-reactive protein, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1.[24] increased fgf23 has the ability to trigger the inflammatory response by suppressing of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin d, a strong inhibitor of inflammatory cytokine release.[25] chemerin was validated to play as an inflammatory intermediary to production of proinflammatory cytokines and encourage the relocation of immature dendritic cells and macrophages.[26] chemerin concentrations in serum samples were observed to be greater in psoriatic patients than in the control group in this investigation. in a similar manner, gisondi et al. and lora et al.[27,28] discovered elevated levels of chemerin in psoriasis patients having high disease activity. xue et al.[29] found that patients with psoriasis had considerably lower amounts of circulating chemerin than healthy controls. it is unclear what mechanism could explain these findings. we hypothesized that the mechanism was linked to chemerin’s angiogenic properties.[30] chemerin is a protein produced mostly by keratinocytes and endothelial cells, as well as white adipose tissue. il1 and tn f-both boost its production. chemerin increases angiogenesis in psoriatic skin through stimulating adipocytes and endothelial cells. in psoriasis patients’ growing skin lesions, chemerin can stimulate chemotaxis of immature myeloid dcs and plasmatoid dendritic cells.[31] chemerin may be implicated in psoriasis pathophysiological processes. chemerin expression was shown to be higher in psoriatic skin biopsies. the enhanced migration of dendritic cells and nk cells to the inflammation may be due to an increase in the concentration of this protein in mast cells, dermal fibroblasts, and endothelial cells throughout early phases of psoriasis. the stimulation of angiogenesis may also play a role in the evolution of psoriatic inflammation. chemerin’s ability to induce the development of new vasculature could indicate a role for this adipokine in psoriasis.[32] physiologically, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin d and vitamin d receptor directly regulates the proliferation and growth of keratinocytes through vitamin d receptors. there are several pathways for the effect of vitamin d deficiency in psoriasis pathogenesis: loss of antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, and antiangiogenic activities.[33-35] table 2: descriptive characteristics of serum fgf23, chemerin, vitamin d, and pth between between studied groups fgf23 (pg/ml) vitamin d (ng/ml) chemerin (ng/ml) pth (pg/ml) patients 106.1±15.2 21.68±1.79 328.6±25.2 45.19±4.31 control 265.7±22.1** 29.92±1.55** 229.1±15.4** 20.78±1.50** *p<0.05 significant, **p<0.0001. pth: parathyroid hormone figure 3: serum pth in patients with psoriasis and the controls figure 4: serum vitamin d in patients with psoriasis and the controls tawfeeq, et al.: role of fibroblast growth factors 23, chemerin, and vitamin d in psoriasis 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 57-61 psoriasis is an autoimmune inflammatory disease involving both innate and acquired immunity. it is defined as an autoimmune inflammatory sickness with th1-th17-th22 components. decreased amounts of 25(oh)d have also been linked to a higher risk of developing autoimmune pathologies mediated by th1.[36] the reason for the lower level of serum 25(oh)d in these patients may be due to inadequate 25(oh) d intake, paucity of sunlight exposure, or usage of medicines (e.g., glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents) that interact with 25(oh)d breakdown on a regular basis.[37] conclusion based on our observations, we have come to the conclusion that psoriasis sufferers’ serum fgf23 and chemerin levels are higher than healthy controls. patients with psoriasis, on the other hand, had considerably lower serum vitamin d levels than healthy controls. therefore, fgf23, chemerin, and vitamin d levels may be a novel diagnostic marker in psoriasis and may predict the occurrence of comorbidities in psoriasis patients. references 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vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 195-205, 2017. 35. a. q. hamdi, e. r. sarhat, n. h. ali and t. r. sarhat. evaluation of lipocalin-2 and visfatin, and vitamin (d, c, and e) in serum of diabetic patients with chronic periodontitis. indian journal of forensic medicine and toxicolog, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 1668-1674, 2021. 36. a. filoni, m. vestita, m. congedo, g. giudice, s. tafuri and d. j. m. bonamonte, association between psoriasis and vitamin d: duration of disease correlates with decreased vitamin d serum levels: an observational case-control study. medicine (baltimore), vol. 97, no. 25, p. e11185, 2018. 37. y. h. lee and g. g. song. association between circulating 25‐ hydroxyvitamin d levels and psoriasis, and correlation with disease severity: a meta-analysis. clin exp dermatol, vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 529-535, 2018. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 57-63 research article an application of logistic regression modeling to predict risk factors for bypass graft diagnosis in erbil azhin m. khudhur, dler h. kadir department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq abstract in the medical world, predictive models for assessing operative risk using patient risk factors have gained appeal as a useful tool for adjusting surgical outcomes. the goal of this study was to see if there was a link between the severity of atherosclerosis as determined by angiography and changes in several key biochemical, hormonal, and hematological variables in patients who had coronary artery bypass graft (cabg) surgery. this study included 100 adult patients who had coronary angiography, as well as a standardized case– control study of acute myocardial infarction that included 60 healthy people. in addition, not all investigations of heart attack disorders were concerned with modeling; rather, they were all concerned with classification. a  family of generalized linear models called binary logistic regression was used. because most phenomena’ outcomes have only two values (alive/dead, exposed/not exposed, presence/absence, etc.), logistic regression analysis is a common method and plays an important role in health science. overall, 62.5% of individuals were grouped into surgical bypass grafts, while 37.5% were healthy people. hemoglobin a1c was wisely significant, and the odds of one unit increase led to roughly 7.488 times higher. age and body mass index had quite high and substantial effect parameters with a 1.2 times higher likelihood than those who have smaller bmi and younger. according to the study, smokers were more likely to be at risk of undergoing bypass surgery by 4.18 times. however, there was no significant link between gender, screening creatinine, cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein levels, lower density level, systolic blood pressure, and diastolic blood pressure with the outcome variable. keywords: bypass graft, glms, risk assessment of coronary artery bypass graft surgery, logistic regression model, explanatory analysis, odds ratio aim of the study the aim of this study is to examine factors affecting undergoing bypass surgery using multiple logistic regression. this can be done by assessing the contribution of factors that are linked to the probability of being in surgeries between patients and healthy people. research questions 1are the factors significantly correlated to bypass graft? 2what is the greatest procedure to investigate the connection between those factors and the probability of receiving surgery due to bypass graft? background to the study coronary heart disease can be defined as a disease that plaque (a waxy substance) constructs inside the coronary arteries. oxygen blood is supplied to the heart by these arteries. bypass grafting surgery is a kind of surgery that enhances the amount of blood flow to the heart. multiple coronary arteries can be bypassed by the surgeon in just one surgery.[1] from several of each specific trial or meta-analysis of various trials identifying whether cabg is better than percutaneous coronary intervention (pci) and larger result for diabetic patients with multivessel coronary artery disease (cad) at 5 years or longest follow-up, incorporating evidence from several studies, in diabetic patients with multivessel cad. the basic notion that cabg revascularization improves survival over pci is instantly supported by bayesian approaches. in diabetic patients with multivessel cad, cabg is recommended that advantage clearly exceed risk in most, if not all, diabetic corresponding author: azhin m. khudhur, department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: azhin.khudhur@su.edu.krd received: march 31, 2022 accepted: may 5, 2022 published: june 10, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp57-63 copyright © 2022 azhin m. khudhur, dler h. kadir. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) khudhur and kadir: logistic regression for predicting bypass graft 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 57-63 patients with multivessel cad. a suggestion of positive results in general survival in freedom declares that cabg appeared to negotiate greater survival than did pci in a single supporter of patients at an individual point in time.[2] marshall et al.[3] as used bayesian logit model for the risks associated with the coronary disease of bypass. he stated that bayesian approach is more popular nowadays among other approaches to predict mortality between patients undergoing bypass surgery. the proposed new model uses data from 12,712 patients undergoing bypass grafting procedures collected between 1987 and 1990. the authors have provided a comparative analysis between bayes theorem, logistic regression, discrimination analysis, and bayesian logit models. their data are divided into a train data set and test data set. the collected data were from various factors measured during bypass surgery and there were missing data in some variables. the data have been obtained from more than 6000 cabg surgery between 1987 and 1992 and they found outstanding risk factors that were significant. researchers gathered data at several sites across the united states depending on the number of cabg cases performed each year and surgeon experience with beatingheart procedures at each location. the study was limited to 3 years, from 1999 to 2001, to avoid any bias resulting from the centers’ early learning experiences. the database comprised patients who had pre-operative or original surgery. the authors compared various groups to determine selection criteria for mortality and morbidity. then, to eliminate selection bias, computer programming was utilized. data on patients who had heart surgery were eventually acquired and the date was then entered into a logical database. the data were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression to predict risk factors affecting mortality in 17401 isolated cabg patients. the data include 7283 (41.9%) offpump coronary arteries and 10118 (58.1%) routine cabg with cardiopulmonary bypass procedures. missing data were also considered as it accounted for more than 10%. to find predictive risk factors for mortality, researchers used the multivariate logistic regression approach. sub-groups that are almost certain to benefit were identified. the parsonnet risk model is a logistic regression model that was frequently used to characterize variation among treatment groups which can affect patient selection and results, with 47 potential risk factors investigated preoperatively to detect risk. this model is used to compare anticipated and observed death rates. with cardiopulmonary bypass as an independent variable, backward elimination techniques were employed to find significant predictors of operation mortality from a collection of 20 preoperative risk factors. a series of alternate regression models were investigated with mortality and extensive morbidity as outcome variables to discover subgroups that may benefit from the beating-heart procedure.[4] risk improvement plays an increasing role in assessing health-care quality. through the evaluation of hospitals, the implementation has become a necessary issue that needs a selection of convenient score systems. the study’s goal was to see if administrative data could be used to predict mortality in patients undergoing cabg in the hospital. between 2000 and 2001, data were gathered from the administrative database of hospital discharge abstracts in the italian region of emilia romagna. the method used for the present study was multiple logistic regression to assess the efficiency with which mortality for patients can be predicted by conforming to each various risk adjustment procedure used.[5] menard[6] as used statistical analysis on bypass graft data to investigate the relation of angiography to hematological and some biochemical variables in coronary artery patients. the study aimed to examine the relation between harshness of coronary artery disease due to angiography and alteration of some necessary biochemical, hormonal, and hematological variables in underwent coronary artery bypass graft (cabg) patients. they selected 80 adults who underwent coronary angiography patients. the present study of menard[7] used statistical modeling procedures including multivariate regression analysis on the demographic status of the patient that is used to examine the corporation of different risk factors influencing individual medical techniques and predict the effect of any risk factor on the outcome. this would commonly imply a logistic regression analysis. in 1985, the parsonnet scoring system was utilized to adjust mortality rates for the 1st time. the parsonnet scoring figure 1: logit and inverse logit functions khudhur and kadir: logistic regression for predicting bypass graft 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 57-63 system identified 16 risk indicators that could affect the risk of a patient undergoing heart surgery. the considered factors were gender and age of the patients. patients with a history of diabetes or blood pressure or both were separated as the independent variables. generalized linear models (glms) to make glms more relevant than general linear models, we must demonstrate some key properties, the most essential of which is that the least square estimate is no longer valid and maximum likelihood estimation is used instead. the most important elements are listed below:[8] 1random element: this element is related to the response variable’s probability distribution and is to be of the exponential family (normal, binomial, poisson, gamma, and negative binomial). each defines the response variable’s level values as well. 2systematic element: this part denotes the model’s independent (covariates) variables, which can be continuous or categorical, as well as interaction terms between predictors and polynomial functions of predictors. 3function of the link: it is generally concerned with the relationship between the random (response variable) and systematic components (predictors). the factors influence the predicted value of y: g x x x xp p i� � � � � ��� �� � � � �0 1 1 2 2 the link function g (x) and the parameters β0, β1 and so on must be approximated. the three most typical link functions are shown below. 1. identity link: it is represented as g (m) = m in mathematics and is utilized in the typical linear models. 2. log link: it is represented as g (m) = log (m) in math, and it is usually utilized in log-linear models for count data (non-negative numbers). 3. logit link: it is written as g m ln m m � � � � � �� � ��1 in math. as well as for binary data (logistic regression). logistic regression model in medicine and health research, one of the most typical applications of glms is to create a responsive model between response variables with only two outcome values (e.g., alive/ dead, presence/absence, etc.) and explanatory factors, which can be any sort of data, continuous, or categorical, as from figure 1, its shape is seen as s-shape and most of the time it is recognized as s-shape. due to the structure of the response variable, there were two scenarios when glm application was required, as indicated in (binary type).[9] the first was to forecast the likelihood of survival (whether it had survived or not), and the second was to predict the likelihood of burrowing. rees and dineschandra[10] also looked at the association between the presence/absence of species in forest shrubs as a response variable versus a series of predictors including distance to nearest woodland, stand age, stand area, and so on. logistic model and parameters the logistic regression model can be expressed as follows: � � � � � � �x e e x pxp x pxp � � � � � ��� � ��� 0 1 1 0 1 11 where π(x)π(x) is the probability that yi=1 (i.e., the event is present) for a collection of specified xi’s and βs are parameters that need to be estimated. to make the parameters easier to comprehend, we can simply convert them to odds and interpret them the same way we did in the 2 × 2 contingency table, which is the likelihood of an event occurring compared to its inverse. odds x x � � � � � � � �1 if the odds are more than one, the chance of yi=1 is greater than the reverse, and vice versa. by putting the coefficient values on an exponential function, we can simply transform logistic regression odds to odds and odd ratio. the natural logarithm can then be applied to the odds formula to make modeling easier.[11] g x ln odds ln x x � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ( ) � �1 then g(x) can be controlled as follows: g x x x xp p� � � � � ���� � � �0 1 1 2 2 it is also worth noting that the maximum likelihood estimation is processed and the values are produced through computing due to their complexity. a test called the likelihood ratio test (lrt) is used to determine whether an overall model is significant, as it compares the likelihood of the null model (i.e., a model with only intercept).[12] the lrt functionality is almost similar to the f-test in linear regression and its formula is as follows: g ln l l lnl lnl0 2 0 02 2� � � ���������� where l represents the entire model’s probability and (l0) represents the null model’s likelihood. the statistic (g0) has a k degree of freedom (df) with an approximate two distribution (k=number of predictors in the entire model). however, we evaluate the complete and saturated model employing deviance (sse in linear regression) using a special type of lrt.[13,14] the deviance is an unexplained measure of variation in the data. d ln l l lnl lnl lnlsat full sat full full� � � � �2 2 2 ����� ����� ( ) ( ) furthermore, when it comes to determining the significance of parameters, the wald test[4] is a method for evaluating the null hypothesis. h j0 0:�� � h j1 0: � � materials and methods dataset this study is a case–control study so 100 adult patients underwent coronary angiography at erbil cardiac center khudhur and kadir: logistic regression for predicting bypass graft 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 57-63 and data were obtained from them. patients were followed up until the end of december 2020. data were also obtained from 60 healthy people who underwent the same coronary angiography. the obtained data were collected from both patients and healthy people. the data include gender, age, smoke, blood sugar, creatinine, weight, length, body mass index (bmi), hemoglobin a1c (hba1c), blood urea nitrogen, cholesterol, lower density level, high-density lipoprotein levels (hdl), triglycerides (tg), systolic blood pressure (sbp), and diastolic blood pressure (dbp) in erbil city. illustrating and reporting logistic regression analysis result it is preferable to construct descriptive statistics for the data and examine how the variables connect to the outcome variable. table 1 indicates that some independent factors and the dependent binary variable may have a relationship with the test value. we first demonstrate the continuous variables in accordance to control and patient groups, it is clear that age has quite an influence to get affected with the bypass graft. the result shows that the mean age for the control group is 44.87-years-old, while the patient people tend to be 59.51 and this tells us more into age, more chance to be suffering, and the p-value of the t-test can confirm that with a value <0.05. moreover, the high value of blood sugar is more likely to put an individual at risk of heart problems, as from the initial output the mean values are far away from each other among the control and patient people with 105.87 and 180.08, respectively. to support this, the driven t-test was found to be statistical significance since its p < 0.05. another interesting result is for bmi measurement, as it is recorded at 24.7 for people who are in the control group whereas a 28.61 mean value is found for the patient group. based on this, t-test reported that the mean values differed from each other statistically significantly. on the other hand, hdl and sbp were highlighted to be non-statistically significant with p-values (0.1030 and 0.6800) greater than 0.05, respectively. likewise, to assess the relationship of the response variable as being in surgery due to bypass graft definition with the categorical variables in the study, results in table 2 are found for gender as well as smoking status. the percentage of males in the patient group is about double toward of females with 64% and 36% constantly according to figure 2, while in the control group, their differences are only 13%. this leads us to confirm that males are in the position to get an operation due to bypass graft concern and the chi-square test shows that there is an association between these two variables. similarly, smoking seemed to have a quite strong influence as shown in figure 3. logistic regression analysis the dataset was subjected to a multiple logistic regression analysis to determine the likelihood of some biographic, health, and other parameters having an impact on being into surgery. rstudio version 1.4.1717 was used to conduct the analysis. we first implemented the simple logistic regression plot for each of the table 2: cross-tabulation table of chi-square for gender and smoking versus outcome variable variables control patient chi-square p-value n % n % gender male 34 56.67 64 64 0.84 0.0357 female 26 43.33 36 36 smoke yes 10 16.67 35 35 6.24 0.013 no 50 83.33 65 65 table 1: descriptive statistical analysis of the associated attributes with the outcome variable variables control patient t. test p-value mean±sd mean±sd age 44.87±14.31 59.51±8.51 −8.12 0.0000 blood sugar 105.87±14.97 180.08±99.57 −5.73 0.0000 hba1c 5.07±0.55 7.21±2.25 −7.23 0.0000 blood urea 28.13±5.44 36.88±15.33 −4.26 0.0000 creatinine 0.7±0.27 0.899±0.32 −4.05 0.0001 cho 142.62±27.19 160.61±40.78 −3.04 0.0028 tg 140.55±65.5 175.4±82.32 −2.79 0.0059 hdl 39.02±8.106 36.51±10.03 1.64 0.1030 ldl 84.38±21.6 100.57±36.38 −3.13 0.0021 weight 69.72±12.56 77.87±15.82 −3.4 0.0009 length 1.67±0.07 1.65±0.1 1.59 0.1134 bmi 24.7±3.09 28.61±5.59 −4.98 0.0000 sbp 127.85±10.61 128.99±19.86 −0.41 0.6800 dbp 74.13±6.09 78.1±12.92 −2.23 0.0271 figure 2: bar-chart demonstration between response and gender variables khudhur and kadir: logistic regression for predicting bypass graft 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 57-63 variables individually with the curve plot as shown in figure 4, to get a clue about the nature association among the response and covariates. it is important to spot some potential points here as seen that age, bmi, creatinine, blood sugar, and hba1c variables showed a relatively interesting link with the dependent variable. considering the descriptive statistics along with figure 4, the final model has been taken into account for further discussion. first, it was preferred to enter only the significant variables according to wald test statistics called the reduced model compared to the full model as shown in table 3. from table 4, the anova test was carried out using chisquare test to see if the model with fewer variables improved the model. consequently, it turned out that the reduced model is much better than the full model referencing aic, and another important feature is that all parameters were statistically significant. table 5’s result is perhaps the most essential in logistic regression output since it shows how the outcome variable and covariates are related. as seen, all the calculated parameters (wald statistics) were found to be statistically significant with p < 0.05. the odds ratio was calculated by exponentiation b’s value to grasp and interpret the parameter value. the most effective attribute was found to be hba1c, as per the output, it shows a significant and positive impact on the response variable holding other variables constant. the result provides us with (7.488) more chances to be selected for bypass graft operation with one unit increase in this variable in contrast to a low unit. referencing participants who smoke, the odds (4.418) indicate that according to the model, smokers have a 4.418 times higher chance of being classified as a patient than non-smokers. this is in fact enables us that people, who smoke have a higher chance to get into bypassing graft monitoring. in addition, age and bmi covariates were also found to be effective with similar strength in raising people to be considered for bypass graft surgery, and the model predicts that one unit increase in age and bmi is resulting in an increase in the odds of being suffering from bypass graft with 1.180 chance. the odds ratio for blood sugar was computed to be 1.050, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.005–0.107. a case has a 1.050 likelihood of having surgery compared to not having surgery for every one-unit rise in blood sugar, a 50% increase in the probabilities of having surgery. blood urea also played an important role to be effective in increasing risks for the response variable as with one unit increase in blood urea measurement this would lead to having odds (1.092) times chance to face bypass graft surgery compared to low blood urea unit. when comparing low blood urea units to high blood urea units, blood urea had a major role in increasing risks for the response variable, as one unit increase in blood urea measurement resulted in an odds (1.092) times likelihood of having bypass graft surgery. table 5: result of estimated parameters and odds ratio in logistic regression b s.e. wald sig. exp (b) 95% c.i.for exp (b) lower upper (intercept) −31.446 6.414 −4.903 0.000 0.000 −51.569 −17.926 age 0.169 0.038 4.399 0.000 1.184 0.087 0.294 bmi 0.167 0.081 2.049 0.040 1.182 −0.030 0.401 blood sugar 0.048 0.020 2.484 0.013 1.050 0.005 0.107 hba1c 2.013 0.691 2.912 0.004 7.488 0.567 4.180 blood urea 0.088 0.039 2.244 0.025 1.092 −0.004 0.205 factor (smoke) 2 1.486 0.714 −2.082 0.037 4.418 −3.525 0.257 table 4: chi-square test of two fitted models s. no. residual dfa. residual deviance df deviance pr(>chi) 1 153 67.871 2 145 53.833 8 14.039 0.08077 table 3: aic of two fitted models model fitted aic model 1: surgery~age+bmi+blood_ sugar+hba1c+blood urea+factor (smoke) 81.871 model 2: surgery~age+bmi+blood_ sugar+hba1c+ blood urea+creatinine+cho+tg+hdl+ldl +sbp+dbp+factor (gender) + factor (smoke) 83.833 figure 3: bar-chart demonstration between response and smoking variables khudhur and kadir: logistic regression for predicting bypass graft 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 57-63 table 6 shows that the full model reduces the loglikelihood value, resulting in a substantial difference between the two models. the goodness of fit test was used to evaluate the fitted model, as shown in table 7. there was no actual evidence for lack of fit because the statistical test of hosmerlemeshow was not significant, as it was for pearson chisquare or g0 2 (deviance). furthermore, the nagelkerke r square suggests a positive impression of the model, which explained 80.8% of the uncertainty in going through bypass graft diagnosis using the factors incorporated in the model. finally, yet importantly, it is worth mentioning how the classification percentage improved after fitting the model with and without the influential factors. the overall percentage of truly predicted cases was 62.5% where there was only a constant in the model, and this had been significantly increased to 93.8%. figure 4: logit model fit of surgery on predictors khudhur and kadir: logistic regression for predicting bypass graft 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 57-63 conclusion and recommendation several essential criteria were discovered to be highly successful in increasing high risk among patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, and they may not be the same in different places. our model would be able to properly forecast the instances with an accuracy of 80.8%, which is substantial, and it is worth noting that we arrived at the final model after eight steps of the model selection approach, which is a decent fit to explain the dataset. hba1c had a significant impact on arising the risk, and increasing one unit at hba1c increased the odds of being into surgical admission by 7.488 times, holding other variables constant. age and bmi had quite high and substantial effect parameters, with individuals who are quite an in age and had relatively high bmi led to be at risk with a 1.2 times higher likelihood than those who have smaller bmi and younger. furthermore, blood sugar and blood urea played a significant role in being effective contributors, with 1.05 and 1.09 odds ratios in favor of increasing the risk. according to the study, smokers were more likely to be at risk of undergoing bypass surgery than non-smokers, with an odds ratio of 4.418. gender, screening creatinine, cho, tg, hdl, ldl, sbp, and dbp, on the other hand, were not found to be statistically significant. it is worth noting that this study had its own limitations, such as the small number of cases. to determine how effective the covariates influenced the outcome variable, create a classification table and calculate sensitivity, specificity, and display the receiver operating characteristic curve. references 1. j. alexander and p. smith. coronary-artery bypass grafting. the new england journal of medicine, vol. 374, no. 20, pp. 1954-1964, 2016. 2. c. d. lang, y. he and j. a. bittl. bayesian inference supports the use of bypass surgery over percutaneous coronary intervention to reduce mortality in diabetic patients with multivessel coronary disease. international journal of statistics in medical research, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 26-34., 2015. 3. g. marshall, a. l. w. shroyer, f. l. grover and k. e. hammermeister. bayesian-logit model for risk assessment in coronary artery bypass grafting. the annals of thoracic surgery, vol. 57, no. 6, pp. 1492-1500, 1994. 4. d. kadir. likelihood approach for bayesian logistic weighted model. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 9-12, 2020. 5. g. q. othman, r. s. saeed, d. h. kadir and h. j. taher. relation of angiography to hematological, hormonal and some biochemical variables in coronary artery bypass graft patients. journal of physics, vol. 1294, no. 6, p. 062110, 2019. 6. s. menard. applied logistic regression analysis. vol. 106. new york: sage. 7. s. menard. coefficients of determination for multiple logistic regression analysis. the american statistician, vol. 54, no. 1, pp. 17-24, 2000. 8. m. j. mack, a. pfister, d. bachand, r. emery, m. j. magee, m. connolly and v. subramanian. comparison of coronary bypass surgery with and without cardiopulmonary bypass in patients with multivessel disease. the journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, vol. 127, no. 1, pp. 167-173, 2004. 9. c. ugolini and l. nobilio. risk adjustment for coronary artery bypass graft surgery: an administrative approach versus euroscore. international journal for quality in health care, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 157-164, 2004. 10. m. rees and j. dineschandra. risk stratification in assessing risk in coronary artery bypass surgery. in: 19th ieee symposium on computer-based medical systems (cbms’06), pp. 303-308, 2006. 11. j. hilbe. generalized additive models softwar. the american statistician, vol. 47, pp. 59-64, 1993. 12. m. beck. size-specific shelter limitation in stone crabs: a test of the demographic bottleneck hypothesis. ecology, vol. 76, pp. 968-980, 1995. 13. g. matlack. plant species migration in a mixed history forest landscape in eastern north america. ecology, vol. 75, pp. 1491-1502, 1994. 14. n. h. mahmood, r. o. yahya and s. j. aziz. apply binary logistic regression model to recognize the risk factors of diabetes through measuring glycated hemoglobin levels. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-7, 2022. table 6: log-likelihood value of the full model and reduced model models chi-square full model log-likelihood 75.798 reduced model (constant only) log-likelihood 143.829 −2 log likelihood 67.871 p-value 0.000 table 7: goodness of fit output for the full model statistic value df p-value hosmer and lemeshow 14.337 8 0.073 nagelkerke r square 0.808 cox and snell r square 0.593 . 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 research article a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices: images as a case study ammar asaad, ali adil yassin alamri* department of computer, education college for pure sciences, university of basrah, 61004 basrah, iraq abstract the continuous development of the information technology and mobile communication world and the potentials available in the smart devices make these devices widely used in daily life. the mobile applications with the internet are distinguished simple, essay to use in any time/anywhere, communication between relatives and friends in different places in the world. the social application networks make these devices received several of the duplicate files daily which lead to many drawbacks such inefficient use of storage, low performance of cpu, ram, and increasing consumption battery. in this paper, we present a good scheme to remove from the duplicate files, and we focus on image files as a common case in social apps. our work overcomes on the above-mentioned issues and focuses to use hash function and huffman code to build unique code for each image. our experiments improve the performance from 1046770, 1995808 ns to 950000, and 1981154 ns in galaxy and huawei, respectively. in the storage side, the proposed scheme saves storage space from 1.9 gb, 1.24 gb to 2 gb, and 1.54 gb, respectively. keywords: duplicating images, hash code, mobile device, performance, storage management introduction one of the key things that can help us to build a scheme to get rid of this issue is the features extracted from images. it is difficult to observe and understand these features by a human{shyu, 1998 #2343}. these features divide into two types global and local.[1] image matching is the method used either global features which describe the whole image and can describe a whole image by only one vector, or local features, which focus on important details in the image and it is more powerful. to apply both methods, we need to deal with the content of the images and extract information from them; this means that both methods consume time to treat with images and need to have hardware that has ability and efficiency to get these features. this leads us to the fact that the features extraction in the mobile device will consume a lot of time, random memory, and cup time thus increasing the consumption of the battery; as a result, effect on daily use for the user.[2] hence, the process of finding the best and most efficient methods of retrieval and matching files is the most important research topics in the era of mobile applied technology.[3] matching is one of the essential tasks that are used to remove duplicated files. mostly, it is selected the appropriate features to reduce the computational time, and it denotes to find the same file/s (image) save(s) in a database that is/are same to an input file. matching is one of the indispensable processes in several applications.[4] in the past decade, mobile technology and internet have become a hotspot in scientific research and daily life.[5] social media consider a common element between internet and mobile devices; it plays the main role to keep in touch with our colleagues/relatives and discovering new persons.[6] in the past few years, social network was not used in mobile devices in widely manner, but with the rapid development in the internet and mobile technologies, the social media become one of the important factors in human life.[7] at present, there are several social networks that work in mobile devices and personal computers such as facebook, whatsapp, twitter, viber, imp, and others called mobile apps.[5] the users of these apps exchange many types of files such as photos, audios, and videos. ultimately, these files are stored in duplicity way led to lose of storage space of the mobile device. in this paper, we focus on the removal of duplicate images issued from social media apps to mobile device based on proposed image matching scheme that suits with mobile environment and deals of the whole image. the main objectives of our purpose scheme are as follows: corresponding author: dr. ali adil yassin alamri, department of computer science, education college for pure science, university of basrah, basra, 6100, iraq. e-mail: en.uobasrah.edu.iq/ali.yassin@uobasrah.edu.iq received: apr 08, 2019 accepted: apr 14, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp5-13 copyright © 2019 ammar asaad, ali adil yassin alamri. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) asaad and alamri: a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 1. our work can eliminate this repetition of images saved in mobile’s storage from different social media apps with high performance 2. our scheme is offered cost of consumption energy of battery and less used for both ram and cpu 3. we use a hash function algorithm (message-digest algorithm 5 [md5]) and huffman code algorithm to build unique code for each image which is used to delete all reputation images 4. our proposed scheme is applied on real-word data using two types of mobile devices (huawei cun-u29, galaxy a5 [2017] sm a520f) and we achieve good results to increase storage space and improve the processing time. organization of the paper, section 2 shows the relevant literature on the topic of image matching. section 3 refers to the primitive tools of the proposed scheme while section 4 explains the proposed scheme. section 4 focuses on experimental results and discussions. the paper is concluded in section 5. related works this section briefly discusses duplication files in a mobile device, refers the several studies of deduplication schemes as follows. attractively, there are many fields to use deduplication such as paging files, image redundancies, and memory sectors.[8,9] this field has been applied primarily on data backup services such as microsoft office and google drive.[10] in addition, some researches in the field of removing duplicate files focus on multiple deduplication schemes.[10] at present, with rapid development in cloud computing and mobile device, there is a platform to support low latency network access and extra storage called mobile cloud computing (mcc).[10] besides, mcc enables to support mobile in extra storage based on payas-you-go within cloud computing principle, but this technique leads to pay cost by the customer,[9,11] in the same time, the duplicate files are stayed in the storage of the cloud. storer et al.[12] suggested a good scheme eliminated redundancies files depending on its type. however, the method of deleting duplicate files is selected manually. it works well with known files and suffers to deal with new files that do not exist in the index file of their work.[10] haustein et al.,[13] the patent is about selecting a deduplication method depending on the file type and deduplication rate, where the redundant deletion is done by the server. they used the ratio of duplication files and then the implemented scheme operates based on this ratio to deduplication files from the server. their works had many drawbacks by working in server-side and they proposed in a theoretical manner without executed in real-world data. widodo et al.[10] presented a scheme to reduce energy consumption and the amount of data by detection duplicate files. this scheme suffers from low of duplicate detection performance and deduplication throughput for a few files in the beginning. although their works focused on using cloud storage to duplicate files, the duplications files are stilled in devices’ storage. there are several researchers focused on detection of duplicate data using hash functions such as md5 and sha-256.[14,15] these schemes cannot face the collisions growing the size of the signature increases as well as the processing time is increased with the size of signatures.[16] in this paper, we present a scheme that has been applied as mobile apps to remove the duplicate files imported to mobile by social media applications such as facebook, whatsapp, viper or mobiles camera. the image files are one of most commonly used in social networks world, therefore, we focus on the image files as a case study in our experimental results relied on two types of mobile devices “samsung and hawawi.” our work focus to use hash function and hffuman code to build unique code for each image and overcomes the drawbacks of collisions grows as the size of the signature increases. however, the scheme generates a good search index file used to insert an image or ignore in the repeating case. moreover, our scheme is offered cost of consumption energy of battery and less used for both ram and cpu of the mobile device. in addition, our work can manage the storage of mobile and cloud storage (based on some of google’s application such as google drive and google photos) by removing duplicate images. primary tools in this section, we demonstrate the main tools used in our work to achieve the vital goals of the research. huffman code huffman coding considers one of the most important algorithms proposed and published by david a. huffman.[17] it is based on the frequency of the amount of a data item. huffman algorithm works using the tree data structure to generate an optimal binary tree called huffman tree to acquire encoding form.[17,18] the technical working of this algorithm uses a lower number of bits to encode the input data that exist more frequently.[19] practically, huffman considers an easy-touse algorithm because of its simpler mathematical computation to obtain the several parameters.[20] huffman coding algorithm consists of two phases: building binary tree and generating code. the result of the first phase is constructed through the occurrence frequency of each item. to achieve the code of the huffman algorithm, each branch has a set (0 or 1) based on its direction left (0) or right (1).[19,21] figure 1 explains the mechanism work of huffman code algorithm. figure 1: explain the huffman code algorithm asaad and alamri: a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 md5 (hash) md5 is one of the most algorithms worked to compress data files such as images, videos, and audios. the output of this algorithm is a fixed value (128-bit) when the algorithm is implemented once or many times on the same data.[22,23] this algorithm was developed by the rivest[24] and considered simple to compute the md5 value. the md5 processes 512-bit blocks and breaks into 32-bit words. it includes 64 rounds. the md5 steps as follows:[8] the first process is to add the bits to the block to equal the value of (448 mod 512), start with 1, followed by 0’s, the second process is adding the length of the message to the value (448 mod 512), the third step set the md5 register values (a, b, c, and d), each one 32 bits (hexadecimal number), and the fourth step is the heart of the algorithm; its four pressure functions each of these pressure functions have logical operations [figure 2]. proposed protocol our proposed work consists of two phases: creating index file and removing daily images. the first phase focuses on detecting and creating an index file (if see table1 explain the notification of symbols) without duplicate images, while the second one is implemented to remove images on a daily basis. our work focuses on a vital part of smartphone when receives daily hundreds of photo files, video clips, audio, and others. there are many of these files repeated in mobile’s storage. the proposed scheme plays the main role in deleting duplicated photos that caused to lose a large space of storage. each a new photo checked inside if (index file ), it removes from storage when it saved in if previously. otherwise, a new photo inserts to the if. as a result, the mobile device works more efficiently and performance as well as reduce energy consumption and disposal of redundancy of photos in the memory. the limited of hardware components of the mobile device makes the proposed scheme dealing with photos in light and high-performance manner. therefore, we used md5 hash function and huffman code to build unique code for each photo. figure 3 explains the main aims of our work. figure 2: algorithm mechanism and steps table 1: notification of symbols symbol description md mobile device such as smartphone and tablet… ms mobile’s storage (external, internal) imgi image that is saved inside md s set of images (imgi) pi imgi’s path p set of img’s path size() function to get size of each img if index file has path of img and its details code1 number created by convert hash to assci code and compute code by multiply assci by position code2 number obtained by huffman coding and convert to decimal number h md5 hash function hi hash code for imgi uci final code resulted by xor code1 and code2 delduplicate() function to delete all duplicate img and save one only search() function to detect duplicate img dfds() function to delete img from device storage deleterowif() function to delete a row from if save() save details in index file (uci, pi, size (pi),) getimg() get imgi based on its pi getimages() get all pi asaad and alamri: a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 creating index file phase in the era of information technology, all smartphones have several folders related to photos which received from different mobile applications such as whatsapp and facebook. therefore, there are many duplicated images saved in mobile storage. these duplicated images have several drawbacks such slow mobile completion, the difficulty of communication, loss of flexibility to handle more than one application and slow the mobile response of the received orders from another device as well as power consumption due to slow performance. however, this phase is used once to create an index file and removing all duplicate images from mobile storage. the main steps of this phase are as follows: a. generate set of all mobile’s images s = {img1, img2,… imgn} and their paths p = {p1,p2,…pn} based on extension of images file such as jpeg, bmp. b. create unique code for each image (imgi ∈ s) based on hash (eq.1 and eq2.) and huffman code functions as follows. hi = h(imgi) (1)    n 1 i i j=1 code = ascii(h (j)) * position h j (2) • apply huffman code function • code2 = huffman(hi), • unique code = code1 xor code2 (3) • figure 4 shows a code generation technique. c. create index file (if) that each record consists of uci, pi, size(imgi). algorithm 1 demonstrates the mechanism of generating if to all mobile device images, [figure 4]. algorithm 1 of creating index file input: {pi} 1 ≤i 1; where n is number of p output: index file compute h1 based on equation (1) compute uc1 based on equation (2,3) save (uc1, p1, size(p1)) for i=2 to n do table 2: some of the rules have been implemented on images entered into md rules details 1 this rule describes receiving a picture through more than one program, and this image is in if. all copies are deleted 2 this rule describes receiving a picture through more than one program, and this image is not found in if. a single copy is saved and the rest of the copies are deleted 3 this rule describes receiving a picture through a single program and this image is not found in if. this version is saved 4 this rule describes receiving a picture through a single program, and this image is found in if. this version is deleted 5 this rule explains the reception of the same image more than once through a single program, and this image does not exist in if. hence, one copy is saved and the rest is deleted 6 this rule explains the reception of the same image more than once through a single program, and this image is in if. all copies are deleted figure 4: demonstrates the process of generating unique code figure 3: (a) receiving daily images, (b) applying our work, and (c) the results of work a b c asaad and alamri: a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 compute hi as in equation (1) compute uci as in equation (2, 3) if (search (uci) =true) dfds (pi) else save (uci, pi, size(pi)) end for end algorithm 1 of creating index file. removing daily images phase all smartphones receive many messages on a daily these messages may be pictures or audio clips or video files or other and thus affect the storage space of the device as well as the performance of the device. our scheme helps us get rid of the repetition for the images and thus let the machine work better. the removing of the repeated images depends on the code of image which has been computed in the first phase [figure 5]. the main steps of this phase are as follows: a. generate set paths p’ = {p’ 1, p ’ 2,…p’ n } of mobile’s image that incoming to device after creating an index file. these images have been imported to the device in daily. b. create set of unique code (uc’ = {uc’ 1, uc’ 2,…uc’ n}) for each a new image based on the same procedure in step 2 of create index file phase. c. check uc’ i ∈ if(uc); if the result is false then extract a new record (p’ i, uc’ i) of img’i added to if; otherwise, remove imgi from mds. tables 2 and 3 and figure 3 denote to the table 3: some scenarios for receiving images and how to process them img whatsapp viper messenger download telegram if add to if non add and removed from mds rule apply √ √ × √ √ √ × √ rule 1 √ √ × √ √ × √ × rule 2 √ × × × × × √ × rule 3 × √ × × × √ × √ rule 4 √ × × × × × √ × rule 5 × √ × × × √ × × rule 6 asaad and alamri: a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 mechanism of processing (adding/removing to if) images which incoming to a mobile device (md). algorithm 2 of adding new images input: {pi} 1≤i≤n; where n is number of p, output: add new images to index file for i=1 to n do compute hi as in equation (1) compute uci as in equation (2, 3) if (search (uci) =true) dfds (pi) else save (uci, pi, size(pi)) end for end algorithm 2 of adding new image experimental results in this part, we evaluate the proposed scheme and use the images of the mobile device to guarantee the reproducibility of practical results. the experiments are implemented using android studio 3.3.1 running on windows 10 64–bit operating system with an intel core i5-2450m cpu at 2.50ghz 250ghz, 8 gb ram, and 2.4 ghz cpu, and mobile huawei cun-u29 ram 956.52 mb internal storage 4.15 gb with external storage 8 gb, battery 2200 mah, android version 5.1 (lollipop_mr1), and another mobile galaxy a5 (2017) sm-a520f, android version 8.0 (oreo), battery 3000 mah, processor arm64-v8a 8 core, and total ram 2815 mb. our results have passed in many steps as follows. processing time calculation of index file creation we used 2600 images to create index file (if) in huawei cun-u29 mobile device. after that, we divided images into n groups (we obtained 13 groups based on the total number of table 5: add and remove received images day huawei cun-u29 galaxy a5 (2017) sm-a520f received add remove received add remove 1 37 7 30 63 13 50 2 27 7 20 18 8 10 3 18 8 10 12 8 4 4 19 15 4 20 12 8 5 12 8 4 50 30 20 figure 5: explaining the main steps of the proposed scheme table 4: processing time of index file creation group huawei cun-u29 galaxy a5 (2017) sm-a520f size of group (kb) time of processing (nanosecond) size of group (kb) time of processing (nanosecond) 1-200 585080 32421400159 281353 10395266647 201-400 191979 11017601159 134797 5059068621 401-600 19271 1432455537 318393 11132803762 601-800 22118 1641043162 178462 6512452069 801-1000 18069 1359571455 132321 4641873378 1001-1200 16480 1335055147 12960 758972849 1201-1400 88118 5374266081 6760 401045846 1401-1600 202894 11694264538 1601-1800 34670 2326661993 1801-2000 5332 578131154 2001-2200 4897 540429308 2201-2400 69854 3991726847 2401-2600 81739 4908648533 asaad and alamri: a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 figure 8: the mobile apps of our proposed scheme images and each group consists of 200 images). in the other side, we implemented our work to another mobile device named galaxy a5 (2017) sm-a520f contained 1310 images to construct index file (if). table 4 and figure show the performance of the calculation of index file creation in both devices. daily phase apply we implemented our proposed scheme in real-word data saved on a mobile device that has properties as refereed in the previous section. figure 6 shows the main operation in this phase. the proposed scheme has been implemented as mobile apps figure 8 in several days to apply the main operations such as detecting and removing redundancy figure 7: processing time of index file creation (a) galaxy a5 (2017) sm-a520f device for 1310 images (b) huawei cun-u29 device for 2600 images aq1 a b figure 6: (a) it shows the process of receiving the image, generating the code, checking if and making the decision, add of image in if, (b) it shows the process of receiving the image from social media apps, generating the code, checking if, and making the decision to delete image a b asaad and alamri: a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 figure 11: it shows the time spent searching for one image in the middle and one at the end. before and after deleting duplicate files. in the two devices aq1 images, adding new images. table 5 and figure 8 describe the central operations for 5 days. furthermore, we test the mobile storage based on our proposed work and notice good results as figure 9 displayed the storage of mobile devices (galaxy a5 [2017] sm-a520f, huawei cun-u29) before and after implementing our proposed scheme. moreover, we calculate the time of retrieved image on devices as in figure 10. figure 10: (a) before and after apply for our work at galaxy a5 (2017) sm-a520f and (b) before and after apply for our work at huawei cun-u29 a b figure 9: add and remove images received (a) huawei cun-u29 device for 5 days received images (b) galaxy a5 (2017) sm-a520f device for 5 days received images a b asaad and alamri: a new scheme for removing duplicate files from smart mobile devices 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 5-13 conclusions one of the most important challenges for smartphone users is to keep the device working as high as possible. low storage space is the most important issue. we solved this issue by the used hash function (md5), huffman code to generating unique code for each image and save this code in image in the index file and use it to rid of a duplicate from device’s storage. removing images have the same code and maintain one copy. the proposed scheme get a good result in remove this duplicate images in fast. we applied it at two devices (galaxy a5 [2017] sm-a520f, huawei cun-u29). as a final result, the performance of device’s cpu is better that makes the device work in the best way. as future work, in relation to the image matching schemes, the user may add something to the image, and as a result, new image obtained, but it still the same image with simple change. in future work, we will try to solve this issue. references 1. c. r. shyu, c. brodley, a. kak, a. kosaka, a. aisen and l. broderick. “local versus global features for content-based image retrieval”. in proceedings. ieee workshop on contentbased access of image and video libraries (cat. no. 98ex173), 1998, pp. 30-34. 2. d. a. lisin, m. a. mattar, m. b. blaschko, e. g. learned-miller and m. c. benfield. “combining local and global image features for object class recognition”. in 2005 ieee computer society conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (cvpr’05)-workshops, 2005, pp. 47-47. 3. m. agarwal, a. singhal and b. lall. “3d local ternary co-occurrence patterns for natural, texture, face and bio medical image retrieval”. neurocomputing, vol. 313, pp. 333-345, 2018. 4. s. s. hwang and s. h. hong. “pre-extraction of features and environment variable-based database filtering for fast image matching on mobile”. mobile and wireless technologies, vol. 2016, pp. 223-230, 2016. 5. j. machajdik and a. hanbury. “affective image classification using features inspired by psychology and art theory”. in proceedings of the 18th acm international conference on multimedia, 2010, pp. 83-92. 6. n. lee, c. kim, w. choi, m. pyeon and y. kim. “development of indoor localization system using a mobile data acquisition platform 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applications, 2008, pp. 139-144. 17. m. sharma. “compression using huffman coding”. ijcsns international journal of computer science and network security, vol. 10, pp. 133-141, 2010. 18. r. li, y. zhao, q. xu and x. qi. “research of subnetting based on huffman coding”. in international conference on cloud computing and security, 2018, pp. 606-616. 19. o. yue-long, l.n. zhang and n. yu. “researching on md5’s characteristics based on software reversing”. the journal of china universities of posts and telecommunications, vol. 17, pp. 127130, 2010. 20. i. c. lin and l. c. yang. “a noise generation scheme based on huffman coding for preserving privacy”. in international conference on security with intelligent computing and big-data services, 2017, pp. 149-160. 21. r. patel, v. kumar, v. tyagi and v. asthana. “a fast and improved image compression technique using huffman coding”. in 2016 international conference on wireless communications, signal processing and networking (wispnet), 2016, pp. 2283-2286. 22. s. h. kim, j. jeong and j. lee. “selective memory deduplication for cost efficiency in mobile smart devices”. ieee transactions on consumer electronics, vol. 60, pp. 276-284, 2014. 23. y. tian, k. zhang, p. wang, y. zhang and j. yang. add “salt” md5 algorithm’s fpga implementation. procedia computer science, vol. 131, pp. 255-260, 2018. 24. d. pamula and a. ziebinski. “hardware implementation of the md5 algorithm”. 9th ifac workshop on programmable devices and embedded systems, roznov pod radhostem, czech republic, feb. 2009. author queries??? aq1:kindly cite figure 7 and 11 in the text part tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 32-37 research article a comparison between new modification of aadaptive nadaraya-watson kernel and classical aadaptive nadaraya-watson kernel methods in nonparametric regression: a simulation study hazhar t. a. blbas1, wasfi t. kahwachi2 1department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2research center, tishk international university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract nonparametric kernel estimators are mostly used in a variety of statistical research fields. nadaraya-watson kernel (nwk) estimator is one of the most important nonparametric kernel estimators that is often used in regression models with a fixed bandwidth. in this article, we consider the four new proposed adaptive nwk regression estimators (interquartile range [iqr], standard deviation [sd], mean absolute devotion, and median absolute deviation) rather than (fixed bandwidth, adaptive geometric, adaptive mean, adaptive range, and adaptive median). the outcomes in both simulation and actual data in leukemia cancer showed that the four new aadaptive nwk estimators (iqr, sd, mean absolute devotion, and median absolute deviation) are more effective than the kernel estimations with fixed bandwidth in previous studies based mean square error criterion. keywords: nonparametric regression, kernel regression, new aadaptive nadaraya-watson estimators, leukemia cancer, acute myeloid leukemia introduction nonparametric regression models aim to precisely determine the relationship between explanatory and response variables in various statistical situations; however, they are substantially less successful than parametric approaches when fitting a normal distribution. on the opposite side, nonparametric models are highly efficient in populations that do not fit normal distribution.[10] they may be used to a wide range of data types such as ordinal, nominal, ratio, and interval data.[17] suppose the regression model for a given data points ( , )( )x y ri i i n � �1 is y f x ii i i� � � � � �� ; , , , ,1 2 3 (1`) where ℇi is an observation error with zero mean variance σ2 and m is unknown regression function. smoothing is a significant aspect in the nonparametric regression process and is a technique for expressing the dependent variable’s pattern.[11] there have been four main factors for doing a nonparametric regression approaches for fitting data depending on.[17] first, to know the relationship between predictor and response variable. second, to enable predictions of future findings without using a fixed parametric model. third, by studying the results of individual locations, it offers a method for detecting spurious findings. finally, working to solve the absent values by replacing or merging neighboring values of the independent variables x.[18] kernel regression assume that x1, x2,…, xn from a random variable describe a sample of size (n) with density f(x).[1] bring the kernel density function of f(x) at point x: ( ) 1 1ˆ = − =     ∑ n i h i x xf x k nh h (2) kernel regression (nadaraya-watson estimator) was established by nadaraya in 1965 and watson in 1964 which is corresponding author: hazhar t. a. blbas,department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: hazharstat@gmail.com received: september 4, 2021 accepted: october 1, 2021 published: october 30, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021.pp32-37 copyright © 2021 hazhar t. a. blbas, wasfi t. kahwachi. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) blbas and kahwachi: new modification of anwk in nonparametric regression 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 32-37 one of the most frequently used technique in nonparametric.[5,6,12] both nadaraya and watson indicated the general estimator of ( )ˆ f x in nonparametric regression related to smoothing bandwidth (h) and kernel (k) in bellow formula. ( ) 1 1 ˆ = = −     = −      ∑ ∑ n i ii n i i x xk y hf x x xk h (3) ( ) 1 ˆ = = ∑ n i i i f x w y (4) u x x h i� �� � � � � � (5) the smoothing or bandwidth parameter h is used to control the smoothness of the approximate graph, and the kernel weights as identified by w x x h k x x h i i n i i n i � �� � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � 1 1 (6) the most important factor to consider in nonparametric regression is choosing bandwidth and kernel function. on the other hand, the selection of bandwidth is much more essential than the choice of kernel function on estimation.[8] the smoothed function can be expressed by scanning each data point with a weighted kernel function and then evaluating the input at each point. the kernel function is penalized based on its range from the centered location, and the degree of this penalty is defined by the bandwidth.[8] a narrow (small) bandwidth of h results in a wiggly curve and a wealth of noise in estimation, whereas a vast (big) bandwidth of h results in a flat curve and over-smoothed curves in estimation. one of the assumptions of kernel density function is a symmetric that is often applied with a standard normal density.[13] the kernel’s functions of k can be used to one of several frequently used functions, namely epanechnikov, triangle, quartic, gaussian, uniform, and tricube (triweight).[3] gaussian is a common and practical kernel density function[2] which is used in this paper as shown below. k u e uu� � � � �� �� ��1 2 2 2 � / ; , (7) ( ) 2 1 2 1 1 1 22ˆ 1 1 22 π π = = − −    = − −     ∑ ∑ n i ii h n i i x xexp y hf x x xexp h (8) if you already have over one predictive variable, lengthy distributions, or multi modal distributions, fixed nadaraya watson (fnw) is not always the best option.[9] in this situation, we can use the variable nadaraya-watson kernel (vnwk) estimator with a variable bandwidth i(xi) as seen below: ( ) 1 1 ( ) ( ) 1 ( ( ) ˆ ) = =  −    =  −     ∑ ∑ n i i i i i vnw n i i i i x x yk h x h x f x x xk h x h x (9) [14] showed a formula to compute h(xi) in 1982, h x h f xi i � � � ( ) (10) while f(xi) is determined by the kernel function estimator which is a probability density function of xi. a new algorithm developed for the abramson design estimator by silverman in 1986, which he called an aadaptive nwk (anwk) function estimator. for a fixed h, the previous kernel function estimator was used as a first stage,[4] which is represented by ( )ˆ if x and he established local h factor θi as: ˆ ( ) α θ −   =      i i g f x g (11) while g represents the geometric mean of ˆ )( if x with g≠0 and a illustrates the sensitivity parameter between 0 and 1 (0≤α≤1).[14] selected the value of α=0.5 because its gives an accurate predictive results. moreover then, silverman provided an adaptive h as seen below: h x hi gi� � � � (12) in 2010,[15] it is introduced a change to the anw approach that they have used arithmetic mean x of ( )ˆ if x instead of using g for figuring out the h factor in nwk estimator. ˆ ( ) α θ −   =      i i x f x x (13) in 2014,[7] it modified the anw approach that they have used range r of ( )ˆ if x instead of using g or x for figuring out the h factor in nwk estimator. ˆ ( ) α θ −   =      i i r f x r (14) in 2019,[16] it proposed another change for the anw approach that he used median instead of using geometric, mean, or range for calculating the h factor in nwk estimator. ( )ˆ α θ −   =      i i me f x me (15) new proposed nwk function estimator in this study, a new changes for the adaptive nadarayawatson approach was proposed, which used four different statistical techniques such as interquartile range (iqr), standard deviation (sd), mean absolute deviation (mad), and median absolute deviation (mead) of ( )ˆ if x instead of using geometric mean, arithmetic mean, range, or median for figuring out the h factor in nwk estimator. blbas and kahwachi: new modification of anwk in nonparametric regression 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 32-37 ˆ ˆ ˆ ˆ ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) α α α α θ − − − −                        =                   i i i i p i f x iqr f x sd f x mad f x mead (16) where iqr is an abbreviation for iqr, sd represents sd, mad is an acronym for mad, and mead stands for median absolute deviation. mean square error (mse) in this paper, mse is used as an estimation criterion to find out the difference between (classical) traditional and newly proposed nwk estimators. as mentioned below, the best estimator will be the one with lowest mse value. 2 1 1 ( )ˆ = = −∑ n i i i mse y y n (17) materials and methods leukemia cancer data are used to undertake the performance of all proposed methods such as anw irq, anw sd, anw mad, and anw mead in real application which collected from january 2015 to december 2020 at nanakali hospital for blood in erbil city of iraq. furthermore, the cd45 outcome as an explanatory variable and platelet (plt) as a response variable in aml type of leukemia cancer from 30 patients in table 1 is used to compare between proposed methods and classical methods. since simple regression cannot be met due to assumptions such as linearity and autocorrelation, nonparametric regression is used for both classical and proposed approaches based on mse. table 2 compares the findings of classical methods to a new proposed modification of the anw kernel estimator for iqr, sd, mad, and mead based on improving the prediction accuracy of the anw kernel estimator. the proposed mead approach has the smallest mse in various bandwidths and sample sizes, followed by mad, sd, and iqr, respectively. we achieved the same results as in the simulation analysis, namely that all new proposed methods have smaller mse than all classical methods. simulation study a simulation analysis was carried out to compare the efficiency between traditional nadaraya-watson and new proposed methods of anw estimators using the r (4.0.2) language software. an explanatory variable and response variable with adding noise to an exponential wave are simulated in this nonlinear regression function to identify that proposed methods outperforms classical models. y x x ni i i i� � � � �exp ~ ( , )3 0 1� (18) where xi was chosen at random from a uniform distribution on the interval [–2, 2] and generated different samples of size (25, 50, 75 and 150) with different fixed h (0.5, 0.75, 1, and 1.5). in this paper, comparison between classical methods such as fnw, vnw geometric, anw mean, anw median, anw range with new proposed methods such as anw irq, anw sd, anw mad, and anw mead kernel estimations were computed by gaussian kernel function with 20000000 repetitions in each estimation. figure 1 represents the results between classical and new proposed methods at h (5, 15, and 30) for real data. on the table 1: aml type of leukemia cancer from 2015 to 2020 cd45 plt cd45 plt cd45 plt cd45 plt cd45 plt 70 17 80 54 62 13 80 89 74 61 70 51 88 31 60 15 90 6 77 16 80 7 58 16 32 62 88 137 80 155 94 79 54 40 42 71 60 2 55 24 40 44 70 95 54 19 35 58.9 70 31 85 68 74 46 86 5 43 33 80 229 table 2: mse values between classical methods and proposed methods of nwk estimators in real data (n=30) h fixed nw variable nw g anw m anw me anw r anw iqr anw sd anw mad anw mead 5 1890.7 1751.1 1768.2 1781 1787.9 1609.8 1609.7 1574.3 1572.4 10 2071 2010.9 2017.1 2015.6 1964.9 1909.1 1827.6 1803.2 1802.8 15 2214.5 2176.2 2179.1 2179.2 2046.3 1983.4 1906 1889.1 1889 20 2297.3 2277.5 2278.5 2279.3 2111.5 2021.5 1945.7 1928.5 1927.2 25 2340.4 2331.2 2331.6 2332.1 2152.3 2029.6 1966.8 1947.9 1945.8 30 2365.4 2360.9 2361.1 2361.4 2174.6 2033.7 1978 1958 1955.5 blbas and kahwachi: new modification of anwk in nonparametric regression 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 32-37 other hand, figures 2 and 3 illustrate the simulation results for both classical and proposed methods in nonparametric regression functions with sample size of 75 and at h (0.5, 07.75, 1, and 1.5), respectively. table 3 compares simulation results between all classical (traditional) methods and new proposed update of adaptive nw kernel such as iqr, sd, mad, and mead aimed at figure 1: left hand classical methods and right hand proposed methods at h=5, 15, and 30 for real data. (a) cd45 versus plt at h=5, (b) cd45 versus plt at h=5, (c) cd45 versus plt at h=15, (d) cd45 versus plt at h=15 (e) cd45 versus plt at h=30 fcd45 versus plt at h=30 improving the prediction accuracy of anwk estimator. according to mse criteria, the new proposed methods outperform classical methods of using various sample sizes and initial bandwidth values. while the new proposed iqr is better than other classical approaches, it is less effective than other proposed methods such as sd, mad, and mead, respectively. on the other hand, dc b f a e blbas and kahwachi: new modification of anwk in nonparametric regression 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 32-37 the proposed method using mead has less mse than mad, in turn mad is less than sd, and sd is less than iqr in different bandwidth and sample size. conclussion 1the new proposed method estimator for median absolute deviation (mead) was more reliable than any of the other classical methods for both simulation and actual data depending on mse criteria because it is able to reduce the effect of outliers on the fitting kernel model. 2new proposed method estimator for mad was more reliable than any of the other classical methods for both simulation and specific data because the absolute mean difference in mad gives lower value of mse. figure 2: left hand classical methods and right hand new proposed methods at h=0.5 and 0.75 with ample size 75, (a)-x versus y at h=0.5 and n = 7, ( b)-x versus y at h=0.5 and n = 75, (c)-x versus y at h=0.75 and n = 75, (d)-x versus y at h=0.75 and n = 75 figure 3: left hand classical methods and right hand new proposed methods at h=1 and 1.5 with sample size 75, (a)-x versus y at h=1 and n = 75 (b)-x versus y at h=1 and n = 75, (c)-x versus y at h=1.5 and n = 75 (d)-x versus y at h=1.5 and n = 75 table 3: mse values between classical methods and new proposed methods of nwk estimators in simulation data h n fixed nw variable nw g anw m anw me anw r anw iqr anw sd anw mad anw mead 0.5 25 1.1997 1.2769 1.3439 1.3116 1.7164 1.0449 1.0124 0.9336 0.9317 50 1.5189 1.5314 1.6769 1.4909 2.2494 1.5075 1.5106 1.4193 1.3552 75 1.3763 1.5314 1.6357 1.4530 2.1951 1.3629 1.4166 1.3108 1.2386 150 1.3899 1.5314 1.6141 1.3753 2.3476 1.1274 1.3872 1.2582 1.1485 0.75 25 1.7391 1.5314 1.8532 1.8887 2.1838 1.2308 1.5290 1.3999 1.3796 50 1.9968 1.5314 2.1020 1.9050 2.5395 1.9694 1.7755 1.6786 1.6309 75 1.9562 1.5314 2.1081 1.9022 2.5044 1.8816 1.6998 1.5897 1.5259 150 1.9938 1.5314 2.1887 1.8970 2.7280 1.6904 1.6997 1.5504 1.4423 1 25 2.1124 1.5314 2.1651 2.1877 2.3063 1.6398 1.6593 1.5147 1.5114 50 2.4127 1.5314 2.4600 2.3296 2.7635 2.2906 1.9823 1.8860 1.8617 75 2.4083 1.5314 2.4799 2.3478 2.7244 2.2515 1.9349 1.8337 1.7994 150 2.5004 1.5314 2.6277 2.4347 2.9452 2.1524 1.9254 1.7770 1.7158 1.5 25 2.4158 1.5314 2.4393 2.4446 2.4028 2.0489 1.8624 1.7373 1.7350 50 3.0111 1.5314 3.0178 2.9693 3.0401 2.5985 2.2131 2.1163 2.1072 75 2.9941 1.5314 3.0051 2.9563 2.9868 2.5805 2.1996 2.1043 2.0916 150 3.1563 1.5314 3.2067 3.1444 3.1738 2.5569 2.1742 2.0404 2.0173 dc ba dc ba blbas and kahwachi: new modification of anwk in nonparametric regression 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 32-37 3new proposed method estimator for sd was more reliable than any of the other classical methods for both simulation and current data using mse criteria. 4new proposed method estimator for iqr was more reliable than any of the other classical methods for both simulation and real data based on mse criteria. 5median absolute deviation (mead) has less mse than mad, in turn mad is less than sd, and sd is less than iqr in different bandwidth and sample size in either simulation or real data. 6in both simulation and real data, both proposed and classical methods are improved by reducing the initial bandwidth values and sample size. reerences 1. m. hollander, d. a. wolfe and e. chicken. nonparametric statistical methods. john wiley & sons, inc., hoboken, new jersey, 2014. 2. w. härdle. applied nonparametric regression. cambridge university press, cambridge, england, new york, 1997. 3. m. memmedli and m. yildiz. comparison study on smoothing parameter and sample size in nonparametric fuzzy local polynomial regression models. in: 2012 iv international conference “problems of cybernetics and informatics” (pci), 2012. 4. w. hardle. applied nonparametric regression. biometrics, vol. 50, no. 2, p. 592, 1994. 5. a. christmann and i. steinwart. consistency and robustness of kernel-based regression in convex risk minimization. bernoulli, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 799-819, 2007. 6. e. a. nadaraya. on estimating regression. theory of probability and its applications, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 141-142, 1964. 7. g. s. watson. smooth regression analysis, sankhya the indian journal of statistics series a, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 359-372, 1964. 8. m. p. wand and m. c. jones, kernel smoothing. springer, boston, ma, 1995. 9. h. takeda, s. farsiu and p. milanfar. kernel regression for image processing and reconstruction. ieee transactions on image processing, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 349-366, 2007. 10. w. l. martínez and a. r. martínez. computational statistics handbook with matlab. chapman & hall, london, 2008. 11. d. conn and g. li. an oracle property of the nadaraya-watson kernel estimator for high–dimensional nonparametric regression. scandinavian journal of statistics, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 735-764, 2018. 12. b. w. silverman. density estimation for statistics and data analysis estimation density. kluwer academic publishers, london, 1986. 13. m. hanif, s. shahzadi, u. shahzad and n. koyuncu. on the adaptive nadaraya-watson kernel estimator for the discontinuity in the presence of jump size. süleyman demirel üniversitesi fen bilimleri enstitüsü dergisi, vol. 22, no. 2, p. 511, 2018. 14. i. s. abramson. on bandwidth variation in kernel estimates-a square root law. the annals of statistics, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 12171223, 1982. 15. d. li and r. li. local composite quantile regression smoothing for harris recurrent markov processes. journal of econometrics, vol. 194, no. 1, pp. 44-56, 2016. 16. s. demir and ö. toktamiş. on the adaptive nadaraya-watson kernel regression estimators. hacettepe journal of mathematics and statistics, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 429-437, 2010. 17. h. a. khulood and i. al turk lutfiah. modification of the adaptive nadaraya-watson kernel regression estimator. scientific research and essays, vol. 9, no. 22, pp. 966-971, 2014. 18. t. h. ali. modification of the adaptive nadaraya-watson kernel method for nonparametric regression (simulation study). in: communications in statistics-simulation and computation. taylor & francis group, united kingdom, pp. 1-13, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 20-25 research article the full factorial design approach to determine the attitude of university lecturers toward e-learning and online teaching due to the covid-19 pandemic nozad h. mahmood1*, dler h. kadir2, hawkar q. birdawod3 1department of business administration, cihan university sulaimanyia, kurdistan region, iraq, 2,3department of statistics, salahaddin university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the purpose of this study was to determine faculty members’ attitudes toward online learning in kurdistan region universities. the study examined the biographic and personal characteristics of the lecturer toward e-learning. the data were collected among faculty members at cihan university-sulaimaniya, and to analyze the data, a full factorial design with five main factors at two levels and no central points was applied for this specific purpose. the study’s findings indicated that there was no significant relationship between gender and lecturer attitude toward e-learning. in comparison to teachers with an msc degree, those with a phd have a more negative attitude toward e-learning. furthermore, full-time faculty members have a greater positive effect on teachers’ attitudes than part-time lecturers. likewise, the results indicate that lecturers who earned their most recent education degrees outside of iraq have a more favorable attitude. similarly, lecturers in the sciences are more favorable to e-learning than those in the arts and social sciences. in addition, the findings demonstrated that the interaction factors (gender) and (education degree) have a negative effect on lecturers’ attitudes when they are combined. besides that, the interaction of factors (country of last education degree) and (faculty member types) improves attitudes toward e-learning. based on the results, it is suggested that academic staff receive e-learning training to deepen their knowledge and understanding of such a modern teaching system. there is also a need to enhance factors related to positive attitudes toward e-learning among university lecturers. the findings of this study are necessarily significant to both teachers and educational organizations in kurdistan region universities. keywords: e-learning, attitudes, covid-19, faculty members, factorial design introduction one of the most influential sectors of human life that were stopped due to the coronavirus in most countries was the university education system. according to reports by unesco, numerous governments around the world have closed their educational institutes for the short term to control the spread of the covid-19 pandemic. approximately 1.725 billion college students globally have been suffering from the closure of colleges due to the coronavirus pandemic. in line with the unesco monitoring report, 192 countries have applied for nationwide closures.[1] staying in quarantine at home and avoiding daily physical interactions with others is one way to control the severity of this virus and prevent its rapid spread. that is why most countries and universities have decided to use online teaching as an alternative educational methodology.[2] in most developed countries, universities offer not only face-to-face instruction but also distance learning options for students who prefer to study at home rather than on campus. based on the effects of the covid-19 disease, a new education system was mandated by the ministry of higher education for the kurdistan region universities, which was a blended education system, or a mixed education system, in which the practical lectures are taught face-to-face on the campus, but the theoretical ones are online.[3,4] when compared to developed countries, developing countries such as iraq and the kurdistan region face several corresponding author: nozad h. mahmood, department of business administration, cihan university sulaimanyia, sulaimanyia, 46001, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: nozad.mahmood@sulicihan.edu.krd received: december 26, 2021 accepted: january 24, 2022 published: february 10, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp20-25 copyright © 2022 nozad h. mahmood, dler h. kadir, hawkar q. birdawod. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mahmood, et al.: using factorial design to determine the attitude of university lecturers towards online teaching 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 20-25 obstacles when applying for online education. it might be due to the lack of having a strong internet connection and insufficient skills in the use of information technology.[5,6] likewise, learning how to use a new modern platform and an advanced application is still a weird thing, even at universities in developing countries.[7,8] the problem statement for this project is students’ dissatisfaction with the online system, as well as teachers’ performance in using it. the main research questions that guided the study are: 1. what are teachers’ attitudes toward e-learning, in general? 2. is there any association between each the factors (education degree, types of faculty members, the country of the last education’s degree, gender, stream of education), and teachers’ attitude toward e-learning? 3. is there any interaction effect between the factors towards e-learning? the objective of the study the essential goals of this research are to examine teachers’ attitudes toward e-learning in kurdistan region universities and find out the factors that influenced their attitudes toward e-learning during the covid-19 pandemic. the significance of the study the importance of this research is to increase the desire of teachers for the use of an online education system that may, in the next few years, replace the current system of on-campus education. the hypothesis of the study the first hypothesis (h1): there are no statistically significant differences in the attitudes of lecturers toward e-learning implementation, whether they are male or female. the second hypothesis (h2): there are no statistical differences in lecturers’ attitudes toward e-learning based on the type of faculty members. the third hypothesis (h3): there are no statistical differences in lecturers’ attitudes towards e-learning based on their education degrees. the fourth hypothesis (h4): there are no statistical differences in lecturers’ attitudes toward e-learning based on the last education degree in a country. the fifth hypothesis (h5): there are no statistically significant differences in the attitudes of lecturers toward e-learning implementation, whether their stream of education is art or science. literature review lecturer attitudes are extremely crucial for successfully establishing and implementing an educational method in the teaching and learning process. on the other hand, teachers are the central figures in all formal education, and their attitudes toward e-learning have a significant impact on their decisions to accept or reject the system. in other words, the success of e-learning in education is highly dependent on the lecturers’ attitudes toward it.[9,10] effectively initiating and implementing instructional innovation in e-learning processing at the university is highly dependent on lecturers’ attitudes. thus, understanding lecturers’ personal characteristics is a prerequisite for implementing an e-learning system.[11] academic staff demographic and personal characteristics, such as educational degrees, gender, educational stream, faculty type, and country of last educational degree, may influence lecturers’ favorable attitudes toward the e-learning system. several previous studies have examined the demographic and personal characteristics of teachers in relation to e-learning. there was a study that investigated the factors of gender in e-learning and discovered that gender has no influence on teachers’ attitudes. in other words, there is no statistically significant difference in attitudes regarding e-learning between men and women.[8,12] in addition, the literature links teachers’ attitudes to their personal characteristics. demographic characteristics, including gender, education level, and age, had no significant effect on their attitudes toward online learning. teachers’ nationality and marital status, on the other hand, have significant attitudes toward e-learning.[13] university teachers in the arts have negative attitudes toward e-learning, whereas lecturers in the sciences have positive attitudes.[14] methodology the general purpose of this study is to examine lecturer support and attitudes toward e-learning in terms of several personal variables and to determine the direction of their attitudes and the level of correlation between these variables. the questionnaire consists of two main sections. the first section contains the demographic profile of the participants, such as gender, education degree, types of faculty members, last education degree country, and stream of education, while the second part includes 15 statements that describe overall attitudes toward e-learning, and a five-point likert scale was used to rate each item from strongly disagree to strongly agree. then, jmp statistical software was used to analyze the data to apply a full factorial design. since there are five main factors, and each factor has two levels with a response variable, we used a 2k factorial design. which included (five main factors) indicates five main effects, and a 5 2 10 � � � � � � � ��two factor�interactions). three-factor interactions and above are very rarely significant effects.[15] description and selection of levels to conduct a 25 full factorial design, all factors must be set to two levels, the low and high levels. the factors used in the experiment and their associated levels are given in the following table 1. the planning matrix and experiment results the planning matrix and experiment results for 25 full factorial design with 32 runs, and without any center point get the following raw data. then, a randomized order was used to execute test runs of the design table 2. mahmood, et al.: using factorial design to determine the attitude of university lecturers towards online teaching 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 20-25 data analysis we need to achieve a model between the response variable (university lecturers’ attitudes toward e-learning) and the five factors to clarify their power of relationships and the effects which influenced the e-learning during the covid-19 pandemic. the results of table 3 show that r-square is 0.967806, meaning that the factors altogether explain a large amount of 96.78% of the variance in response variable (university lecturers towards e-learning), and it is evidence that the model is appropriate. furthermore, root mean square error shows a quite low 0.22727. figure 1 is a half-normal plot of parameter that employed to show the effect of main factors on the y response (university lecturers’ attitudes toward e-learning). all the factors that lie along the blue line (lenth’s pseudo standard error) are negligible. in contrast, the large effects, or significant factors are far from the blue line. the most significant effects based on this analysis show the main effects of d (last education degree’s country), e (stream of education), c (types of faculty table 1: factors and their levels factors low (-1) high (+1) a: gender female male b: education degree msc degree phd degree c: types of faculty members part-time full-time d: last education degree’s country inside (iraq) outside (other countries) e: streams of education art science table 2: planning matrix and experiment results # pattern a b c d e y 1 −−−−− −1 −1 −1 −1 −1 2.44673 2 +−−−− 1 −1 −1 −1 −1 1.98352 3 −+−−− −1 1 −1 −1 −1 1.54322 4 ++−−− 1 1 −1 −1 −1 2.05211 5 −−+−− −1 −1 1 −1 −1 3.10284 6 +−+−− 1 −1 1 −1 −1 2.19841 7 −++−− −1 1 1 −1 −1 2.273441 8 +++−− 1 1 1 −1 −1 2.31429 9 −−−+− −1 −1 −1 1 −1 3.49831 10 +−−+− 1 −1 −1 1 −1 3.40167 11 −+−+− −1 1 −1 1 −1 3.39617 12 ++−+− 1 1 −1 1 −1 3.38519 13 −−++− −1 −1 1 1 −1 3.73804 14 +−++− 1 −1 1 1 −1 3.51055 15 −+++− −1 1 1 1 −1 3.68208 16 ++++− 1 1 1 1 −1 3.44734 17 −−−−+ −1 −1 −1 −1 1 2.95147 18 +−−−+ 1 −1 −1 −1 1 2.22851 19 −+−−+ −1 1 −1 −1 1 2.11037 20 ++−−+ 1 1 −1 −1 1 2.4 21 −−+−+ −1 −1 1 −1 1 3.26823 22 +−+−+ 1 −1 1 −1 1 2.77876 23 −++−+ −1 1 1 −1 1 2.67552 24 +++−+ 1 1 1 −1 1 2.974158 25 −−−++ −1 −1 −1 1 1 4.32626 26 +−−++ 1 −1 −1 1 1 4.59298 27 −+−++ −1 1 −1 1 1 3.84214 28 ++−++ 1 1 −1 1 1 4.62367 29 −−+++ −1 −1 1 1 1 4.26693 30 +−+++ 1 −1 1 1 1 4.60214 31 −++++ −1 1 1 1 1 4.72248 32 +++++ 1 1 1 1 1 4.48045 table 3: summary of fit r-square 0.967806 root mean square error 0.22737 mean of response 3.213062 observations 32 figure 1: half-normal probability plot for the factors and their interactions table 4: parameter estimate mahmood, et al.: using factorial design to determine the attitude of university lecturers towards online teaching 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 20-25 members), and it looks like there are some interactions effects between the factors. the above figures 2 are the visualization of confidence intervals (ci) that can be applied to the f-test by using a leverage plot. the first panel shows the overall test of the model which explains the linearly relationship between actual values and the predicted values of response y. likewise, the other panels are the main factor effects for a, b, c, d, and e, respectively. each panel displays the mean as a horizontal line (blue line), a regression line (red line), and a 95% ci. since, the significance of each effect is indicated by the cis and the mean, when the ci crosses the mean line, indicating a significant effect. as the result, there are some significant effects of the main factors (b), (c), (d), and (e), whereas factor a (gender) is insignificant. y = −0.092898 (b)+ 0.1641668 (c) + 0.7567132 (d)+ 0.3396924 (e) − 0.1163893 (a*b) + 0.1226638 (d*e) (1) according to the results in table 4, the main factors of d, e, c, and b are statistically significant due to their small p-values which are less than. on the other hand, since the p-value of the main factor a (gender) is equal to 0.5082 and it is larger than, indicates that gender is statistically insignificant or shows no effect. furthermore, there is a meaningful interaction between factors d and e which shows a positive effect on the response y. likewise, there is a significant interaction between factors a and b toward a positive direction. consequently, the regression model equation becomes as below: in the linear regression equation (1), factor (b: education degree) has a negative effect on the (university lecturers’ attitudes toward e-learning), indicating that teachers with a phd degree 9.22898% have a more negative attitude towards e-learning than holders of msc degree. as well, factor (c: types of faculty members) has a positive impact on the teachers’ attitudes. in other words, full-time lecturers 16.411668% have more positive towards e-learning than part-time lecturers. furthermore, factor (d: last education degree’s country) has a positive influence on the teachers’ attitudes towards e-learning, and the results illustrated that the lecturers whose last response y a leverage plot factor names y: university lecturers’ attitudes toward e-learning a: gender b: education degree c: types of faculty members d: last education degree’s country e: stream of educationb leverage plot c leverage plot d leverage plot e leverage plot figure 2: leverage plots important factors mahmood, et al.: using factorial design to determine the attitude of university lecturers towards online teaching 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 20-25 table 5: goodness-of-fit test shapiro-wilk w test w prob<w 0.983344 0.8888 ho=the data is from the normal distribution. small p values reject ho education degrees were outside of iraq 75.67132% have a more positive attitude. likewise, for the main factor (e: stream of education), the results show a positive effect on the teachers’ attitudes. to clarify, the lecturers in the scientific field 33.96924% have a more positive attitude towards e-learning than those in the art field. when it comes to interaction cases, the results demonstrate that factors (a: gender) and (b: education degree) together have a negative impact on the lecturers’ attitudes. in other words, male lecturers with a doctoral degree 11.63893% have a more negative attitude. furthermore, the interaction of factors (d: last education degree’s country) and (c: types of faculty members) together have a positive impact. in such a way, full-time faculty members that got their last degree outside the country 12.26638% have a more positive attitude towards e-learning during the covid-19 pandemic. figure 3 depicts a normal quantile plot and a histogram that is used to examine the normality of the residuals, which is one of the linear regression presumptions. since the histogram plot is like a symmetric bell curve and the points on the quantile plot close to the line, the results show a typical normal residual of the data.[16] in order to get an unquestionable normality result, the shapiro-walk test can be used. as the results in table 5, while the (prob <w) = 0.8888, and it is larger than 0.05, indicating that there is no evidence to reject the normality distribution of the data. conclusions the purpose of this study was to identify the most effective factors for increasing positive attitudes toward e-learning among faculty members at cihan university-sulaimaniya. in the full factorial designs finding the effect of main factors of (education degree), (types of faculty members), (last education degree’s country), and (stream of education) are positively significant on the e-learning attitudes. furthermore, the effect of interaction “gender and education degrees” was negatively effective. likewise, the effect of interaction “last education degree’s country and types of faculty members” is positive significant. the findings illustrated that the attitude toward e-learning increased when the faculty members were fulltime rather than part-time lecturers. it indicates that every university has its own online education system, and full-time lecturers should be more familiar with the system compared to part-time ones. similarly, faculty members with non-iraqi education degrees showed a higher level of attitude toward online learning than iraqi education degrees, and this is because most of the non-iraqi education degrees came from developed countries such as the usa, europe, and other advanced countries. next, lecturers in the scientific field have a more positive attitude towards e-learning than lecturers in the art field. the lecturers working in the scientific fields have a higher level of knowledge about computers and information technology than those working in the art and social sciences fields. on the other hand, higher level of education degrees showed a negative effect on the faculty member’s attitude. the reason could be that phd holders are older, and it is obvious that computer and information technology have been hard to obtain in our country for the last two decades. when it comes to the interaction between factors, the results showed that male lecturers with a doctoral degree have a more negative attitude, and the full-time faculty members with non-iraqi education degrees have a more positive attitude toward e-learning. recommendations based on the finding results of this study, making the following recommendations • lecturers must develop their abilities and skills to use technology to the maximum extent possible in their distance education. • conduct similar research to obtain additional information about faculty members attitude toward e-learning. • additional research is recommended to identify some different variables such as (years of experience and scientific titles) that may affect lecturer attitudes toward e-learning. • it would be beneficial to see the results from this research expanded to include lecturers and universities in order to ensure the effectiveness of e-learning. figure 3: normal quantile plot mahmood, et al.: using factorial design to determine the attitude of university lecturers towards online teaching 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 20-25 references 1. v. reddy, c. soudien and l. winnaar. the impact of school closures on education outcomes in south africa. the conversation, 2020. 2. j. collado-valero, g. rodríguez-infante, m. romero-gonzález, s. gamboa-ternero, i. navarro-soria and r. lavigne-cerván. flipped classroom: active methodology for sustainable learning in higher education during social distancing due to covid-19. sustainability, vol. 13, no. 10, p. 5336, 2021. 3. c. j. bonk and c. r. graham. the handbook of blended learning: global perspectives, local designs. new york: john wiley and sons, 2012. 4. m. p. pascual. el blended learning reduce el ahorro de la formación on-line pero gana en calidad. educaweb, vol. 69, pp. 34-49, 2003. 5. t. n. aung and s. s. khaing. challenges of implementing e-learning in developing countries: a review. in: international conference on genetic and evolutionary computing, cham: springer, pp. 405-411, 2015. 6. s. a. obed, p. a. mohammed and d. h. kadir. the estimation of (covid-19) cases in kurdistan region using nelson aalen estimator. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 24-31, 2021. 7. a. andersson and å. grönlund. a conceptual framework for e-learning in developing countries: a critical review of research challenges. the electronic journal of information systems in developing countries, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 1-16, 2009. 8. j. a. lara, s. aljawarneh and s. pamplona. special issue on the current trends in e-learning assessment. journal of computing in higher education, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 1-8, 2020. 9. g. salmon. e-moderating: the key to online teaching and learning. milton park, abingdon-on-thames: routledge, 2012. 10. t. teo, ö. f. ursavaş and e. bahçekapili. an assessment of preservice teachers’ technology acceptance in turkey: a structural equation modeling approach. asia-pacific education researcher, vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 191-202, 2012. 11. t. teo. factors influencing teachers’ intention to use technology: model development and test. computers and education, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 2432-2440, 2011. 12. f. martin, k. budhrani and c. wang. examining faculty perception of their readiness to teach online. online learning, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 97-119, 2019. 13. m. s. alanazy. factors affecting faculty attitude for adopting online learning at aljouf university, saudi arabia. journal of education and learning, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 154-162, 2018. 14. c. mercader and j. gairín. university teachers’ perception of barriers to the use of digital technologies: the importance of the academic discipline. international journal of educational technology in higher education, 17, no. 1, pp. 1-14, 2020. 15. d. c. montgomery. design and analysis of experiments. new york: john wiley and sons, 2017. 16. n. h. mahmood, s. n. fadhil n. f. ahmed. using multiple linear regression model to identify the relationship between leadership styles and job satisfaction in government organizations in sulaimani city-krg. the scientific journal of cihan university slemani, vol. 144, pp. 128, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 47-52 research article distributed denial of service attacks on cloud computing environment: a comprehensive review israa t. aziz1, ihsan h. abdulqadder2, thakwan a. jawad3 1computer center, university of mosul, mosul, iraq, 2department of informatics and software engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of system and control engineering, college of electronic engineering, ninevah university, mosul 41002, iraq abstract the incorporation of numerous technologies into the traditional network makes it difficult to complete new demands such as security. the widespread conception of telecommunication technologies in the last decade has an increased in the number of more attractive security threats. however, the new technology also created many new security concerns, and the threat of distributed denial of service attacks (ddos) attack is one of the major concerns. this paper presents a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art techniques to detect ddos attacks. it aimed to describe various kinds of ddos attacks such as peer-to-peer based, web-based, and internet relay chat-based. in addition, the critical challenges against effective ddos defense mechanisms are also explored. finally, the limitations of several ddos attack detection approaches are highlighted. keywords: distributed denial of service attacks, cloud computing environment, peer-to-peer, internet relay chat introduction cloud computing has developed rapidly over recent years, and it is reshaping the information technology (it) industry. the apparent transparency, large volumes of stored data, and comparable easiness of operability of cloud computing environment (cce) make it vulnerable and easy targets for several kinds of predatory attacks, distributed denial of service (ddos) being major ones like those against cloudflare and spanhaus which are alarmingly and increasingly used for exploiting sample network management protocol (snmp). some of the major ddos attacks are flooding, spoofing, user to root, port scanning, oversized xml, coercive parsing, reflective attacks, and so forth. the ddos attacks have been reported to have significantly high chances of occurrence, first, because the tools of launching ddos are widely available, and second, because of the apparent lack of effective, timely mechanisms to defend against them. due to the frequency of attacks such as ddos, cce’s fullest gains and advantages stand highly compromised and negated. there is the need for in-depth, evidential, and research-validated studies on the topic and its many ramifications over time, ddos has evolved, and remedial actions prompted to address them and offer permanent solutions. the statement of the problem is the exact degree and magnitude of destructive powers of ddos cannot be quickly quantifiable, cce could best address these issues and find solutions are also needed. the ddos attacks on cce hold immense potential to cause significant damages and detriment, especially if uncontrolled and unremedied. in this paper, discussion of various studies carried out concerning cces is presented with more emphasis is given on the studies about ddos is done. authors in kobusińska et al.[1] aimed to determine cloud computing’s concerns and challenges, whereby they discussed grid computing and service-oriented computing, which are two related computing paradigms. they also sought to pinpoint the relationships of these two computing models with cloud computing and identified various challenges therein. on the other hand, tahirkheli et al.[2] pointed out two primary reasons that complicate the assessment of the security impact of cloud computing. according to tahirkheli et al.,[2] the current discourse on cloud computing security issues uses the terms “threat,” “risk,” and “vulnerability,” interchangeably, while they have their respective definitions. moreover, the authors claim that not every issue that’s raised is particular to cloud computing. in order to build a corresponding author: israa t. aziz, computer center, university of mosul, mosul, iraq. e-mail: israa_aziz@uomosul.edu.iq received: november 12, 2021 accepted: january 27, 2022 published: march 30, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp47-52 copyright © 2022 israa t. aziz, ihsan h. abdulqadder, thakwan a. jawad. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) aziz, et al.: ddos attacks on cloud 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 47-52 broader perspective of the threats within the cce, they delved into the meaning of cce. cloud computing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). it can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction, according to the us national institute of standards and technology.[3] within the terms used to define cloud computing and, by extension, cce, it is clear that the environment is set on on-demand self-service, implying that consumers’ resources automatically come into play, which, in itself result in fewer human interactions with the provider of the services.[4] the computing resources, in this case, include cpu time, software use, and network storage, which are engaged on a convenient, self-serve basis. second, the term “broad network access,” as used in the definition, postulates a scenario whereby various clients’ applications can use with diverse platforms access computing resources conveyed over networks.[5] common user platforms include personal digital assistants, laptops, and mobile phones, which translates to increased exposure probability heightened vulnerability. third, cce’s resource pooling aspect translates to the multi-tenancy or virtualization models.[6] these models make it possible for cces to serve multiple consumers, with the computing resources assignment varying now and then. rapid elasticity and measured service are the other terms in the definition of cces. rapid elasticity pertains to the immediate availability of computing resources instead of persistent. the outstanding issues with such a setting are that consumption can increase rapidly during peak requirement times. on the other hand, measured service brings the cces metering individual consumers’ usage even though the computing resources are combined and shared by numerous clients. in mthunzi et al.,[7] the authors analyzed the cloud computing influences each risk factor in a pool of various risks in computing. they also assessed the vulnerability issue while singling out cloud computing from the general computing domain. therefore, they asserted that cloud computing enhances some well-understood vulnerabilities and introduces new ones. akherfi et al.[8] argues that the distinctions between cloud computing, service-oriented computing, and grid computing should be investigated. as a result, they developed research topics to articulate future study problems and cloud computing objectives. more importantly, they sought to establish the benefits of the three paradigms within the context of their coexistence. the authors explain in the definition of cce to point out the risks in cloud computing; they should have depicted the strengths associated with the terms used in the definition. their dwelling on the vulnerability shows their biasness in their assessment. in al-dhuraibi et al.,[9] the authors investigate cloud computing’s advantages, and they offer the future development issues on cces, among them, the opportunity to reduce the vulnerability of cces. however, the inherent nature of the technology used in the cce implementation exposes vulnerabilities, including virtual machine escape, session riding and hijacking, and insecure or outdated cryptography. in addition to the intrinsic technologically based vulnerability, there are cloud-specific vulnerabilities.[10] such vulnerabilities can be associated with the very nature of the cloud computing setting, thus implanted in the definition of cce. according to chahal et al.,[11] the tools for launching ddos are widely available. the author further posits a lack of an effective mechanism that defends ddos attacks in a reasonable amount of time. after analyzing the various techniques available to reduce ddos attacks, they concluded that none of the studied methods met their requirement. their research sets a significant basis on the threat posed by ddos to the cces. their further assertion, based on their literature review, that ddos attacks occur more frequently than reported, is a further ramification of ddos. nevertheless, ddos remain a daunting challenge in cloud computing environments, and it requires complex simulations to cope with it. typically, ddos flood traffic into servers, systems, or networks to overwhelm the victim resources, making it difficult for legitimate users to use them. furthremore, the attacks are directed from multiple attack systems (distributed), thus complicating their detection and defending. in rossow et al.,[12] the authors closely analyzed twelve peer-to-peer (p2p) botnet variants still active. as shown in table 1, each p2p botnet has its communication protocol, message propagation technique, communication direction, command-and-control (c&c) architecture, and purpose. the major goal is written in capital letters. s = spam, t = credential theft, c = click fraud, d = ddos, m = bitcoin mining, n = network services=pay-per-install rossow et al.[12] adapted table 1. unlike p2p and internet relay chat (irc) botnets, hypertext transfer protocol (http) botnets employ a wide range of http services, making it difficult to prevent them. attacking with a trojan allows the attacker to download a zombie agent, or the trojan itself may contain one. the number of trojan attacks has increased, with most of them aimed at web servers. automated tools that exploit flaws in programs that listen for connections from remote hosts are also being used by attackers to access systems. computer security experts and law enforcement agencies can easily take down centralized botnets. as a result, botnet operators have looked for novel ways to fortify their botnets’ infrastructures. some botnet operators have reconfigured their botnets to employ p2p infrastructures to achieve this goal. because they have no single point of failure, many p2p botnets are significantly more resistant to takedown attempts than centralized botnets. p2p botnets, on the other hand, are vulnerable to specific table 1: comparison and overview of p2p botnet family protocol prop. dir. c&c propose kelihos custom gossip pull hybrid c,d,m,n,s miner custom gossip pull hybrid d,m,p nugache custom gossip pull p2p d,t sality custom gossip pull p2p d,n,p storm overnet routing pull hybrid d,s,t waledac custom gossip pull hybrid d,s,t zeroaccess custom gossip pull p2p p zeus custom gossip both hybrid d,p,t aziz, et al.: ddos attacks on cloud 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 47-52 types of assaults, such as node enumeration and poisoning.[13] the important outlines of this paper are providing a review for specific ddos attacks on cce, as well as the kind of detriment could cause. while the chief aims of this paper are to identify the various kinds of ddos attacks, their destructive capabilities, best these issues could be counter-attacked and resolved for the benefit of all stakeholders along the cloud continuum, preferably as permanent solutions. this paper’s structure is as follows: section 2 offered the analysis of specific ddos attacks. section 3 explained the remedies for ddos were offered previously. section 4 concludes this paper. analysis of specific ddos this section offers specific ddos attacks on cce based on published reports and other credible sources. therefore, this paper will use reports on the nature and frequency of occurrence, the extent of detriment, and reports on efforts to deal with ddos. the first step is to analyze the general architecture of ddos, which is shown in figure 1. ddos attacks are known to originate from multiple sources or multiple locations simultaneously, as evidenced by their general architecture. the participants in a ddos attack are also visible.[14] second, the importance of ddos issues can be ascribed to (1) numerous attack machines can create more attack traffic than a single attack machine, (2) several attack machines are more difficult to turn off than a single attack machine, and (3) each attack machine’s behavior can be stealthier, making it difficult to detect and shut down. therefore, the key challenge from ddos is the complexity of having a defense mechanism against them. specific ddos, based on their facilitation mechanism, plus the significance of the detriment they could cause, is as discussed here: botnet-based ddos a botnet is a network of zombie computers that have been designed to accept commands without the owner’s knowledge.[15] the infrastructure and tools currently evident in botnet launching areas are presented. notably, the critical challenges against effective ddos defense mechanisms are twofold: (1) to initiate ddos flooding attacks, a large number of zombies are used, and (2) zombies ip addresses are usually faked under the attacker’s control. thus, the attacker’s possible to add more attack machines dwindles the clients’ ability to purchase more incoming bandwidth, eventually crashing a website completely over time.[16] an attacker (master) controls a group of zombies, forming a botnet. thus, botnets consist of masters, handlers, and agents (bots) whereby the master communicates to the bots through the handlers. three categories of botnets are p2p-based, web-based, and irc-based. p2p-based these are affected through a decentralized group of malwarecompromised machines working in cooperation with an attacker without their owners’ knowledge.[17] they, therefore, lack a c&c server. these botnets avoid detection and make it hard for security researchers to access communication by being decentralized. moreover, investigators cannot take down an entire network when they detect a single bot since the p2p botnets lack a command-and-control server. while bots keep communicating, the botmaster retains commanding them, usually by digital signing. mainly, digital signing is achieved through asymmetrical encryption, which requires two keys (public and private).[18] this ensures that while one key is used to encrypt a message, the message can only be decrypted with the other key. the private key is thus kept private, while the public key is embedded in the bot. the master encrypts commands with the private key, while the bots decrypt them with the public key. bots that can accept incoming connections are called servers, while bots that cannot take incoming connections are called workers. nodes or peers are the terms used to describe the servers. to receive commands, the workers must connect to one or more peers. workers are distributed among several nodes to avoid being taken down, and they can relocate to another node if one is taken down. since this infrastructure entails bootstrapping, which offers some sort of signing; these botnets are able to prevent themselves from being hijacked by security developers. still, the bootstraps are crucial nodes, and if all of the bootstrap servers were taken down simultaneously, it would have no effect on the bots currently in the botnet, but it would prevent new infections from happening to join. while such figure 1: the general architecture of ddos aziz, et al.: ddos attacks on cloud 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 47-52 a safeguard would be tough to implement, it would also be temporary, as the botmaster would temporarily stop infecting new computers while setting up new bootstrap servers. p2p bots include sinit, phabot, spam thru, nugache, and peacomm (storm). web-based these are more recent botnets. in this setup, the commands from the botnets to the bots are communicated through the http communication protocol, making it challenging to track the control structure and the ddos command. such botnets conceal themselves within legitimate http traffic; thus, they are stealthier.[19] using the web requests, each web bots downloads instructions periodically as shown in figure 2. although it might be expected that http botnets would try to blend into regular http traffic (since they use html), a significant number of them use specially registered domain names for their purpose.[20] a proof of this claim can be shown by team-cymru.com, which studied some identified http c&cs. 46% of http botnets used a dedicated domain name, 26% used free hosting such as funpic.de and freehostia.com. based on location, for the 131 unique addresses used, for the one day, 63 of the ip addresses were located in the united states, 11 were in russia, and ten were in china.[21] an example of a web-based ddos botnet is the stacheldraht attack. these ddos tool invaders employ a layered structure and link to handlers through a client program. the client program infiltrates the handler’s systems and sends commands to the zombie agents, allowing the ddos assault. different types of internet packets, such as internet control message protocol (icmp), user datagram protocol (udp), and transmission control protocol (tcp), can be used by stacheldraht. each handler can control up to a thousand agents in some instances. the situation can even be made worse because the client can even consent to the ddos attack to become part of their machine. for example, the group anonymous used stacheldraht called operation payback. some examples of web-based bots include blackenergy, kraken, pushdo, cyber bot, and blacksun rat.[22] irc-based botnets this setup uses an online text-based instant messaging protocol to interact between servers and features a client/server structure. as a result, attackers use irc channels as handlers to deliver commands to bots utilizing legal irc ports. as a result, tracking the irc ddos’s command-and-control system is challenging. furthermore, because irc is a stand-alone software or set of scripts that connect to irc as a client, attackers do not need to keep bots on their site because they may access a list of all available bots by signing on to irc servers.[23] although irc botnets have historical operations such as game manager in games, bartenders, and puppe, these bots have evolved over time to provide special services, including access to databases, maintaining access lists, and managing channels. still, the usual large volume common to irc servers makes it easy for the attacker to hide.[24] defense against these ddos can be affected by the defender capturing their centralized command and control servers. irc botnets include sdbot, agobot, gdbot, and spybot.[25] analyzing online social sites threats reveals that irc botnets pose a significant threat. in fact, according to unpublished sources such as blogs on irc sites, it is evident that irc has continued to improve, which poses even more threat as they are building armies of bots for large-scale attacks. the worm dorkbot, also known as nrgbot, is one of the most common irc botnets, capable of stealing passwords, blocking security updates, downloading more malware, and even conducting ddos assaults using infected devices. “the bot joins a specific irc channel on an irc server and waits there for further command. this allows an attacker to remotely control this bot and use it for fun and profit. the communication between bots and their controllers is somewhat bloated; a more straightforward communication protocol would suffice. but irc offers several advantages: irc servers are freely available and are easy to set up, and many attackers have years of irc communication experience.[26] remedies and discussion in this section, we analyze the remedies for ddos offered in the previous area by looking at the reported deliberations and analyzing their success. this paper seeks to set the way towards successful contemplation on ddos. in general, defense tactics comprise a combination of attack detection, traffic classification, and response tools to block illicit traffic while allowing valid traffic.[27] application-level key completion indicators application-level ddos attacks on cces can be based on an application layer analysis to identify whether incoming traffic packets are desirable or not, allowing elasticity decisions to be activated without the negative economic consequences of figure 2: http ddos trends of prevalent based on country aziz, et al.: ddos attacks on cloud 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 47-52 a ddos attack.[28] upstream filtering with upstream filtering, as the name suggests, the traffic to the victim computer needs to be cleaned by passing it through digital cross-connects, proxies, direct circuits, or proxies. such upstream cleaning ensures that ddos is separated and only the “safe” traffic reaches the server.[29] applying front end hardware using front-end hardware, intelligent hardware can be deployed on the network before traffic reaches the servers. as data packets enter the system, this hardware examines them and classifies them as a priority, regular, or dangerous. ips-based prevention intrusion prevention systems (ips) can be effective if the attack has signatures linked with it. unfortunately, genuine content with malicious intent is a regular ddos trend. furthermore, intrusion-prevention systems designed for content recognition cannot detect ddos attacks based on behavior. a rate-based intrusion prevention system (rbips) is designed to analyze traffic granularly and continuously scan the traffic array for anomalies.[30] the legitimate traffic must be let pass through while the suspicious one is filtered off. switches many switches include rate-limiting and access control list (acl) capabilities. to identify and correct dos assaults, some switches include deep packet inspection, delayed binding (tcp splicing), bogon filtering, automatic traffic shaping, bogus internet protocol (ip) filtering, and system-wide rate restriction via wide area network (wan) link failover and balancing and automatic rate filtering.[31] switch treatments only if ddos attacks can be avoided while they are used. the synchronize (syn) flood attack, for example, can be mitigated by employing tcp splicing or delayed binding. still, bogon filtering can be used for attacks going to dark addresses or coming from dark addresses, while deep packet inspection can be used for content-based ddos. in addition, if both links have dos/ddos prevention mechanism, wan-link failover will work. and more still, setting the rate thresholds correctly can ensure that the automatic filtering works. blackholing and sinkhole all communication to the attacked domain name system (dns) or ip address is routed through a “black hole,” a non-existent server, or a null interface. the internet service provider can manage such a hole to be more efficacious.[32] moreover, a dns sinkhole can route traffic to a valid ip address for analysis, rejecting the bad packets and allowing the good packets through. firewalls with firewalls, a simple rule could be added, such that, based on the protocols, originating ip addresses, or ports, all incoming threat traffic is denied access.[33] however, this approach will not be able to block more complex attacks. for instance, web service; say through port 80, on experiencing an attack, it might not be possible to deny all incoming traffic through such a service port, as that would mean stopping the legitimate server’s traffic.[34] routers routers and switches are similar in that they both include ratelimiting and acl capabilities. they, like the switches, are also configured manually. however, it is essential to note that most routers are vulnerable to ddos attacks. p2p remedies almost all p2p botnets have a vulnerability in the p2p sharing mechanism. as previously stated, the nodes must keep and share a list of other nodes with the workers in order to distribute the workers around the huge number of nodes.[35] providing each node with a list of other nodes would take an excessive amount of time, if not impossible, for the botmaster to do manually.[36] as a result, the nodes do it on their own. if a new node is found to accept connections, the node to which it is linked adds it to its node list, which it then shares with other nodes. this could allow security researchers to inject hostile computers into the network through a loophole. they can introduce employees and other nodes with bogus ip addresses in this situation and share a list of other malicious nodes. if this is done and enough resources are put in place, the new rogue nodes can become a significant botnet component, thereby separating genuine nodes from workers. if the inserted malicious nodes populate the network, the workers will identify with the nodes and will have a much lower likelihood of joining the botnet. conclusion ddos remain a daunting challenge in cloud computing environments, and it requires complex simulations to cope with it. typically, ddos flood traffic into servers, systems, or networks to overwhelm the victim resources, making it difficult for legitimate users to use them. furthermore, the attacks are directed from multiple attack systems (distributed), thus complicating their detection and defending against. irc botnets pose a significant threat as they have continued to improve, which poses even more risk as they build armies of bots for large-scale attacks, the key challenges against effective ddos defense mechanisms are two-fold: (1) a large number of zombies is employed to launch ddos flooding attacks and (2) zombies ip address is typically spoofed under the control of the attacker. thus, the attacker’s possibility to add more attack machines dwindles the clients’ ability to purchase more incoming bandwidth. some remedies for ddos include application-level key completion indicators, upstream filtering, applying front-end hardware, ips-based prevention, using switches and firewalls, and blackholing and sinkholing. since ddos keeps evolving and becoming more sophisticated, this field of their remedies requires more research and development to stay at par with their development, if not to be ahead of them. in the future, this work is planned to be extended with the use of the software-defined network (sdn) and networking function virtualization (nfv) in a cloud environment to come up with new optimization algorithms to solve ddos attacks. aziz, et al.: ddos attacks on cloud 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 47-52 references 1. a. kobusińska, c. leung, c. h. hsu, s. raghavendra and v. chang. emerging trends, issues and challenges in internet of things, big data and cloud computing. future generation computer systems, 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detecting peer-to-peer botnets through network-flow level community behavior analysis. ieee transactions on information forensics and security, vol. 14, pp. 1485-1500, 2018. 18. q. yan, y. zheng, t. jiang, w. lou and y. t. hou. peerclean: unveiling peer-to-peer botnets through dynamic group behavior analysis. in: 2015 ieee conference on computer communications (infocom), pp. 316-324, 2015. 19. q. shafi and a. basit. ddos botnet prevention using blockchain in software defined internet of things. in: 2019 16th international bhurban conference on applied sciences and technology (ibcast), pp. 624-628, 2019. 20. i. t. aziz, h. jin, i. h. abdulqadder, z. a. hussien, z. a. abduljabbar and f. m. flaih. a lightweight scheme to authenticate and secure the communication in smart grids. applied sciences, vol. 8, p. 1508, 2018. 21. team cymru. team cymru services. united states: team cymru, 2018. 22. a. karim, s. a. a. shah and r. salleh. mobile botnet attacks: a thematic taxonomy. in: new 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http traffic. in: 2015 10th international conference on malicious and unwanted software (malware), pp. 128-135, 2015. 28. p. wainwright and h. kettani. an analysis of botnet models. in: proceedings of the 2019 3rd international conference on compute and data analysis, pp. 116-121, 2019. 29. a. zarras, a. papadogiannakis, r. gawlik and t. holz. automated generation of models for fast and precise detection of httpbased malware. in: 2014 twelfth annual international conference on privacy, security and trust, pp. 249-256, 2014. 30. f. haddadi, j. morgan, e. gomes filho and a. n. zincir-heywood. botnet behaviour analysis using ip flows: with http filters using classifiers. in: 2014 28th international conference on advanced information networking and applications workshops, pp. 7-12, 2014. 31. a. welzel, c. rossow and h. bos. on measuring the impact of ddos botnets. in: proceedings of the seventh european workshop on system security, pp. 1-6, 2014. 32. p. amini, r. azmi and m. a. araghizadeh. analysis of network traffic flows for centralized botnet detection. journal of telecommunication, electronic and computer engineering (jtec), vol. 11, pp. 7-17, 2019. 33. a. k. sood, s. zeadally and r. j. enbody. an empirical study of http-based financial botnets. ieee transactions on dependable and secure computing, vol. 13, pp. 236-251, 2014. 34. k. neupane, r. haddad and l. chen. next generation firewall for network security: a survey. in southeastcon 2018, pp. 1-6, 2018. 35. l. böck, s. karuppayah, k. fong, m. mühlhäuser and e. vasilomanolakis. poster: challenges of accurately measuring churn in p2p botnets. in: proceedings of the 2019 acm sigsac conference on computer and communications security, pp. 2661-2663, 2019. 36. m. eslahi, m. rohmad, h. nilsaz, m. v. naseri, n. tahir and h. hashim. periodicity classification of http traffic to detect http botnets. in: 2015 ieee symposium on computer applications and industrial electronics (iscaie), pp. 119-123, 2015. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 17-22 research article design rf frontend unit to avoid intermodulation using arduino uno adil h. mohammed, yazen s. almashhadni, ahmad n. abdulftah department of communication and computer engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract designing a radiofrequency (rf) frontend is vastly realized for determining the level of integration that is required in the signal chain inside the receivers to be idealistic. the receivers are susceptible to harmful intermodulation due to nonlinear rf frontends. in this paper, intermodulation distortion is avoided by a selective prototype hardware design of rf fort end which is connected with the arduino uno for controlling the power levels or automatic level control. the measurements are tested out as a result of injecting a signals within x-band frequencies and chosen different power levels are assumed. these measurements are revealed an accepted results for the intermodulation avoidance. keywords: frontend, intermodulation, automatic level control, x-band receiver, arduino uno introduction an rf frontend is a device or module that incorporates all the circuitries between the antenna and at least one mixing stage of a receiver and possibly the power amplifier of the transmitter. it is used in a wide variety of rf products and applications such as conventional communication systems, radar systems, and electronic warfare systems (ew). rf hardware challenges for the applications of joint communication and radar sensing are studied.[1] the development of designing the frontend module has attracted in the recent years in modern communication and radar systems at x-band frequencies as a targeted this band due to its prospective opportunities for research related to new forthcoming applications, also it is consider a good candidate band for the detection of normal size objects in radar applications.[2-4] there are several approaches to combine a radar systems and communication systems. one can use an existing radar system and add communication functionalities.[5] the receiver chain in such systems is suffered from the intermodulation products which they effect receiver operation, since in a nonlinear circuit, a two mixed signals can cause a product of intermodulation distortion. the intermodulation produced when high power signal passed through an uncontrolled level gain amplifier and mixers and the generated unwanted frequencies which are confused the receiver to get real information about the target and give a false alarm, the avoidance of this undesired phenomenon is essential by proposing an achievable schemes a design of frontend circuits.[7,8] the frontend is collaborated with arduino for controlling and interfacing data as good result can be attained.[9] this paper proves that arduino uno with a digital variable attenuator in x-band can keep the input level signal with the acceptable range that is required before entering down frequency converter unit. to avoid the intermodulation problem, which is vital at high-power signal input to the mixer in rf down convertor, the automatic level control circuit is needed to be keeping the signal on a certain level. therefore, digital variable attenuator (dva) is used and it is controlled by the digital word. the digital word is generated by arduino uno according to the readout of the power level of the signal from the alarm circuit. microwave receivers in this section, the most common traditional radio receiver architectures are presented.[10] figure 1 shows microwave receiver block diagram. the major difference between electronic warfare receiver (ewr) and other conventional receivers is that their input signals are unknown. in addition to the complexity of the signal, ewr deliberately keeps some of corresponding author: yazen s. almashhadni, department of communication and computer engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: yazen.mahmood@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 20, 2022 accepted: july 29, 2022 published: august 10, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp17-22 copyright © 2022 adil h. mohammed, yazen s. almashhadni, ahmad n. abdulftah. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ mohammed, et al.: design rf frontend unit to avoid intermodulation using arduino uno 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 17-22 the input signals in covert mode to inhibit detection, because it is desirable to obtain as much information as possible from the electronic order of battle (eob) in a very short period. the requirements for ewr are becoming more demanding. the receiver must have a wide input bandwidth with fine frequency resolution, high sensitivity, and dynamic range to receive as many signals as possible. the receiver must also have the capacity to process simultaneous signals. furthermore, the receiver should be able to measure the angle of arrival (aoa) of the input signal.[11] the basic function of a radio front end is to take the modulated carrier signal from the antenna, amplify and down converter the signal, select the wanted channel, and finally extract the baseband information. from this point of view, a radio receiver does not appear to be very complicated. however, when considering that the signal could be very weak or very strong depending on how far from the transmitter the receiver is, or even worse when the wanted signal is very weak but another strong interferer (blocker) is present, then the true challenges of radio receiver design are brought into the light. there exist several different ways to build a receiver that takes care of all those issues in one way or the other. intermodulation problem when a receiver provides only the frequency information and does not measure the amplitude information on the input signal, the dynamic range can be determined by its frequency measurement capability. since the frequency measurement is considering to be the primary performance of an ew receiver, the dynamic range is often determined by this capability, even the receiver measures signal amplitude, under this situation, one may quote two dynamic ranges for the same receiver. one is related to its amplitude measurement capability and the other is related to frequency measurement capability. the lower limit of the dynamic range is usually defined as the weakest signal level where the measured frequency error is within a certain predetermined range, the upper limit of the dynamic range is the strongest signal level where the measured frequency error is within a certain predetermined range. if a strong signal is received, there are some components in the receiver become work in the nonlinear region, the additional signal may appear at the output of the receiver, for example, a mixer may be generating strong intermodulation product and an amplifier may produce second harmonics when they are saturated, often, the dynamic range of a receiver is referred to as the single-signal super-free dynamic range. with this dynamic range, if one signal is present at the input of the receiver, the receiver will not generate superior signals. mathematically, the possible harmonics available at the mixer if port are given by the equation: [12] fif = nflo∓ mfrf (m and n are all integers) (1) because the only one desired output frequency (when n = 1 and m = 1), the existence of all other harmonic terms creates significant problems. elimination of these distortion products is a key goal in mixer design. the rf frontend design the frontend unit has a very important function to keep the receivers operating in the linear region of the mixer and signal amplifiers behavior without entering the non-linear regions were to avoid generating unwanted frequencies that generated by intermodulation within the intermediate frequency working range, and to ensure that it operates within its operating frequency band, and to maintain signal levels entered at a specific and controlled level. figure 2 shows the main elements of the frontend unit. protection unit the function of this unit as shown in figure 3 is to protect the receiver from high-power level frequencies emitted from very close radars. the rf switch single-pole single-throw (spst) is used to protect the system from any high-power signal, which is detected by the crystal detector (cd) after the input signal is amplified by low noise amplifier (lna) 40 db and efficiently integrating directional coupler (dc) circuitry with other circuit elements of an rf frontend, then sent to the alarm circuit passing through video amplifier (va). this circuit measures the amplitude and creates an order to open the path when high power signal input. the path can be opened as given order with high priority from the alarm circuit when it senses a high-level signal present. the total insertion loss in the protection units is stated in table 1. by the total gain of the protection, circuit can estimate the high-power signal before coming too close to our station and (switch off) disconnect the signal path to the receiver system. the order of switch-off is coming from the alarm electronic circuit which has a comparator circuit with a reference voltage figure 1: microwave receiver block diagram figure 2: main units of rf frontend block figure 3: protection unit block diagram mohammed, et al.: design rf frontend unit to avoid intermodulation using arduino uno 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 17-22 to produce logic high (1) or low (0) to switch on or off, and this circuit can be set manually to select the value of high power which consider high-power signal and must be stopped to pass to the receiver. therefore, we can consider the input signal with four different levels, as shown in table 2. table 2 shows that the signal level higher than (0 dbm) must be stopped to keep the rf components in the frontend woke in safe and not exceed input signal higher than 1 watt.[13] the alarm circuit has a function when high input power is present, the function of this circuit is to generate a digital word (3 bits), which sends the command to the rf switch (in frontend unit) to stop the running signals in the system. the input level signal will compare with the known reference level, which is representing the maximum level can the system handling with. according to that level, the order will be for a pass then no pass to the signal or the switch on then off order. the digital word has high priority and is independent whatever the mode of the scan or search in processing. so that, the output of this circuit will be connected to (or gate) and other input will be supplied from arduino uno to stop the running signal in the system. the state of the comparator output will feed arduino uno to know why the system is halt and give the order to running again later. figure 4 depicts the main block diagram of the alarm system. frequency range limiter acceding to the design consideration, the frontend work with x-band, the bandpass filter will pass only the frequencies between 8 and 12 ghz and stop or reject all frequencies out of that range, figure 5 shows the characteristic of the filter which attenuates out the band of frequencies within 70 db power range.[14] rf amplifiers the preamplifier is a one type of the amplifiers in frontend block diagram which is used to improve the signal level that it is lost part of power in the rf path due to the insertion loss of the elements and cables. this type of amplifier prefers to be a limiter amplifier. the specifications of this amplifier are shown in table 3.[15] figure 6 shows the characteristic behavior of the amplifier that can cover all the bandwidth with the gain around 30 db and noise figure around 3 db. automatic level control (alc) because the ewr deals with unknown signal and different power signals, near and far sources of the signal. alc circuit has a function, which is adding the rf path, attenuation as requested according to the level required to down frequency convertor. this circuit sends a word to the digital attenuation needed to add, which will do according to table 4. b0, b1, b2, b3, and b4 are the binary bits that must be generated from arduino uno according to the input level measuring. the alc can receive the value that needed for attenuation from the alarm circuit which sends overflow indication to the processor or direct from the processor after measuring the amplitude of the signal. then, it will send an order to control on a certain level. in this way, the close loop of alc is satisfied.[16] table 4 shows the amount of insertion loss in the attenuator according to feeding digital word. insertion gain measurement it can measure the minimum signal level and maximum signal level within the consideration of design which gives trustworthy results at the output. figure 7 demonstrates all the connected elements in the frontend with showing corresponding insertion gains. so that for low-level signal, the dva will be setting on 1.5 db as attenuation which gives the net gain (ng). ng = –0.1 + 40 – 1 – 2 + 35 – 1.5 – 1 = 69.4db (2) for high-level signal ng = –0.1 + 40 – 1 – 2 + 35 – 48 – 1 = 22.9db (3) if it considers the frequency, down converter needs around –10 dbm signal level which gives the minimum signal detection (msd) as in: [17] msd = –10 – 69.4 = –79.49db (4) the results of the estimated input signal levels in table 5 show obviously that the input level has the power greater than –30 dbm is stopped by the alarm circuit. table 1: insertion loss of protection unit element insertion loss or gain (db) 1 spst −0.1 2 lna +40 3 dc −10 4 cd −1 5 va +20 total 58.9 table 2: input levels and measured levels at cd block level no. estimate input level level at cd 1 –70 dbm –41.1 dbm 2 –50 dbm –21.1 dbm 3 –10 dbm –27.1 dbm 4 0 dbm +28.1 dbm figure 4: alarm circuit diagram mohammed, et al.: design rf frontend unit to avoid intermodulation using arduino uno 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 17-22 arduino uno connection and programming as shown in figure 8 the connection of rf frontend to arduino uno for controlling the level of the signal and protect the circuit from a high-level signal as follows: • the connection to spst by three digital pins (2, 3, and 4) as output. • the connection of video signal of alarm circuit by analog pin (a1) as input. • the connection of digital variable attenuator (dva) by four digital pins (13,12,11, and 10) as output.[18] the program was written by c++ programming with help of the arduino simulator, and the following chart of programming is shown in figure 9. the first block represents the initial setting to receive any weak signals so that pins (2, 3, and 4) must be logic high at the output to keep spst in on state, and pins (13,12,11, and 10) must be logic low to set dva as minimum attenuating value (1.5 db). the second block for reading the value of signal level and comparing with the reference level which is considered high signal level, that will be in the third block, the decision from the 4th block, if that level is high so the decision to stop receive the signal by setting pins (2, 3, and 4) high to change spst to off, and waiting for time delay and change pins (2, 3, and 4) again. the setting of pins (13, 12, 11, and 10) according to the reading of analog port a1 and changing in logic level to get accept level at frequency down converter to avoid intermodulation problem. table 3: amplifier specification specification description 1 frequency band 8–12.4 ghz 2 gain 35 db 3 noise figure <4 db 4 max. output +13 dbm 5 impedance 50 ohm 6 power supply +15 volts 300 ma figure 6: characteristics of the small-signal amplifier. figure 5: characteristics of the bandpass filter figure 8: arduino uno connection figure 7: the frontend block diagram mohammed, et al.: design rf frontend unit to avoid intermodulation using arduino uno 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 17-22 table 4: insertion loss amount based on four generated bits b4 b3 b2 b1 b0 il (db) 0 0 0 0 0 1.5 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 4.5 0 0 0 1 1 6 0 0 1 0 0 7.5 0 0 1 0 1 9 0 0 1 1 0 10.5 0 0 1 1 1 12 0 1 0 0 0 13.5 0 1 0 0 1 15 0 1 0 1 0 16.5 0 1 0 1 1 18 0 1 1 0 0 19.5 0 1 1 0 1 21 0 1 1 1 0 22.5 0 1 1 1 1 24 1 0 0 0 0 25.5 1 0 0 0 1 27 1 0 0 1 0 28.5 1 0 0 1 1 30 1 0 1 0 0 31.5 1 0 1 0 1 33 1 0 1 1 0 34.5 1 0 1 1 1 36 1 1 0 0 0 37.5 1 1 0 0 1 39 1 1 0 1 0 40.5 1 1 0 1 1 42 1 1 1 0 0 43.5 1 1 1 0 1 45 1 1 1 1 0 46.5 1 1 1 1 1 48 table 5: the output powers based on the input powers estimate input level ng require level at frequency down converter 1 –70 dbm 60 db –10 dbm 2 –50 dbm 40 db –10 dbm 3 –40 dbm 30 db –10 dbm 4 –30 dbm 22.9 db –8 dbm 5 –27dbm * * figure 11 shows the input result within (–75––32) dbm and the output result within –10.5–17.5 dbm. these results will be accepted to avoid the intermodulation problem. conclusion the measurement was done by injected signals to the frontend unit with different power levels and frequencies lies in x-band (8000 mhz–12,400 mhz). the results showed in figure 11 are illustrated the output signal level appeared with the range (–10 dbm––17.5 dbm) and it indicates a good result to avoid the intermodulation distortion problem. the fluctuation at the output range depended on steps of dva which is 1.5 db per step. furthermore, the time duration of processing gives the inversely proportional with the accuracy. the designed frontend unit can be used as an rf head for radar warning receiver (rwr) with a crystal detector. testing and results the test was done using synthesized sweepers hp 8341 a as simulating the signal was injected to frontend units and out signal was measured by spectrum analyzer hp8566b, as shown in figure 10. figure 10: the frontend laboratory testing figure 11: the injected signal and the output signal level figure 9: flowchart mohammed, et al.: design rf frontend unit to avoid intermodulation using arduino uno 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 17-22 references 1. f. bozorgi, p. sen, a. n. barreto and g. fettweis. rf frontend challenges for joint communication and radar sensing. in: 2021 1st ieee international online symposium on joint communications and sensing (jc&s.). ieee, pp. 1-6, 2021. 2. s. saha. rf front-end design for x band using 0.15 µm gan hemt technology. (doctoral dissertation, université d’ottawa/ university of ottawa, 2016. 3. a. d. stevens. design and implementation of an rf front end for the nextrad radar system. master’s thesis, university of cape town, 2017. 4. t. pongthavornkamol, a. worasutr d. worasawate, l. o. kovaisaruch and k. kaemarungsi. x-band front-end module of fmcw radar for collision avoidance application. engineering journal, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 61-70, 2021. 5. s. dwivedi, a. n. barreto, p. sen and g. fettweis. target detection in joint frequency modulated continuous wave (fmcw) radarcommunication system. in: 2019 16th international symposium on wireless communication systems (iswcs). ieee, pp. 277-282, 2019. 6. a. v. padaki and j. h. reed. impact of intermodulation distortion on spectrum preclusion for dsa: a new figure of merit. in: 2014 ieee international symposium on dynamic spectrum access networks (dyspan). ieee, pp. 358-361, 2014. 7. y. lee, s. chang, j. kim and h. shin. a cmos rf receiver with improved resilience to ofdm-induced second-order intermodulation distortion for medradio biomedical devices and sensors. sensors, vol. 21, no. 16, p. 5303, 2021. 8. a. v. padaki, r. tandon and j. h. reed. on scalability and interference avoidance in nonlinear adjacent channel interference networks. in: 2017 ieee international conference on communications (icc). ieee, pp. 1-6, 2017. 9. i. knight. arduino to front end part ii. in: connecting arduino to the web. apress, berkeley, ca. pp. 163-202, 2018. 10. j. b. tsui and j. p. stephens. digital microwave receiver technology. ieee transactions on microwave theory and techniques, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 699-705, 2002. 11. s. andersson. multiband lna design and rf-sampling front-ends for flexible wireless receivers. doctoral dissertation, linköping university electronic press, 2006. 12. f. marki and c. marki. mixer basics primer. marki microwave, 2010. 13. i. n. abubakar, j. tsado, u. a. dodo, e. g. ufot, j. t. zarmai, m. a. dodo and i. suleiman. development of a microcontrollerbased power transformer overload protection scheme. atbu journal of science, technology and education, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 360-371, 2020. 14. y. lan, y. xu, t. mei, y. wu and r. xu. a 2∼ 18ghz compact microwave band-pass filter suitable for planar and threedimension flexible integration. in: 2016 46th european microwave conference (eumc). ieee, pp. 528-531, 2016. 15. j. karki. understanding operational amplifier specifications. texas instruments white paper sloa011, 1998. 16. a. h. mohammed, a. i. khoshnaw and g. a. qasmarrogy. satellite link budget calculator by using matlab/gui. in: 1st international conference of cihan university-erbil on communication engineering and computer science (cic-cocos’17). cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq. pp. 74-78, 2017. 17. t. pan and y. zhu. getting started with arduino. in: designing embedded systems with arduino. springer, singapore. pp. 3-16, 2018. 18. j. purdum and d. kidder. arduino projects for amateur radio. mcgraw-hill education, new york. 2015. . 92 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 92-101 review article social network privacy models: a systematic literature review and directions for further research abdullah abdulabbas nahi al-rabeeah1*, mohammed mahdi hashim2 1department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, iraq, 2department of computer science, auruk university, baghdad, iraq abstract privacy is a vital research field for social network (sn) sites (sns), such as facebook, twitter, and google+, where both the number of users and the number of sn applications are sharply growing. recently, there has been an exponential increase in user-generated text content, mainly in terms of posts, tweets, reviews, and messages on sn. this increase in textual information introduces many problems related to privacy. privacy is susceptible to personal behavior due to the shared online data structure of sns. therefore, this study will conduct a systematic literature review to identify and discuss the main privacy issues associated with sn, existing privacy models and the limitations and gaps in current research into sn privacy. keywords: component, privacy models, privacy rules, social network, social network privacy introduction social network (sn) has currently become a significant platform for users to share newscasts, thoughts, and post messages. as pointed out by gritzalis et al.,[1] the introduction of web 2.0 contributed to the growing number of users using sn sites (sns). users can now interact with each other, generate, or reorganize information and thoughts, and express themselves in computer-generated communities. such means of communication, along with the mutuality of user-generated content, are referred to as sns. millions of people are using sns such as google+, facebook, twitter, and instagram for daily activities. there is more than one type of sns with numerous affordances in the technological aspects, interests. moreover, their key technological features are coordinated, and the cultures that arise around sns are assorted. most sites help strangers to connect, based on shared interests, political opinions, or activities. some sites are provided to varied users, while other sites are targeted toward interested people, based on common language, or shared cultural, sexual or religious interests, or nationalitybased. sites also vary in the extent to which they incorporate new information and communication tools, such as mobile connectivity, blogging, and photo/video-sharing. in recent years, there has been an exponential increase in user-generated text content, mainly in terms of posts, tweets, reviews, and messages on sn. this increase in textual information introduces many problems related to privacy. thus, due to the need for user privacy protection in sn, many privacy tools are employed.[2] this paper conducts a systematic literature review on the privacy of sns since there are many problems not solved yet related to privacy. sn sn is a site or system of associations and connections.[3] in addition, it has another definition. these include facebook, linkedin, twitter, or content sharing systems, for example, youtube and flickr. in these (and other) sns, the user tries to find similar or perfectly matched individuals with similar interests or encounters. sn includes components of different sorts of data, for example, music, photographs, recordings, websites, connections, and outsider applications. table 1 illustrates the sn definitions from earlier researchers. the well-known sn with their main focus, default relationships, and the direction of the relationships is shown in table 2. review method this study uses a systematic review approach to answer the questions posed above. (alvarez-jimenez and alcazar-corcoles corresponding author: abdullah abdulabbas nahi al-rabeeah, department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, iraq. e-mail: abdullah.nahi92@gmail.com received: apr 18, 2019 accepted: apr 25, 2019 published: aug 20, 2019 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v3n2y2019.pp92-101 copyright © 2019 abdullah abdulabbas nahi al-rabeeah, mohammed mahdi hashim. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ al-rabeeah and hashim: a systematic literature review and directions for further research 93 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 92-101 2014) an effective review can create a firm foundation for advancing knowledge, facilitate theory development and discover areas where the research is needed.[12] a systematic review can be defined as a process of identifying, evaluating, and interpreting all available research relevant to research questions, area of study, or a rising phenomenon of interest.[13] the reasons for conducting a systematic review are to summarize the evidence about technology or treatment, summarize the evidence of the advantages of a specific method, identify any research gaps in the existing research and provide deep understanding for new phenomena.[13] therefore, these reasons fit with the aim of our review. this study follows kitchenham and charters guidelines, where a systematic review task involves three main stages: planning the review, conducting the review, and reporting the review. each stage has certain activities. review protocol review protocol is an essential stage in performing a systematic review and specifies the methods that will be used to undertake a systematic review. figure 1 shows the review protocol stages. the goal of a review protocol is to reduce research bias.[13] the review protocol includes background, research questions, search strategy, study selection process, data extraction, and synthesis of the extracted data.[13] in this review, the research questions and background of sn are stated above. figure 1 illustrates the review protocol used for this study. inclusion and exclusion criteria the purpose of identifying inclusion and exclusion criteria is to make sure that the selected studies are relevant and related to our study. because this review focuses on understanding the sn, the consideration is only on articles from journals, conferences, workshops, book chapters, and symposia in the english language. the duration of the period of publication of the selected studies is from 2006 to 2017. the reasons for choosing this period are two-fold. first, this review is complementary to previous efforts[14] to provide a deep understanding of sn. second, the term sn has been increasingly used in various studies since 2008, and the previous major articles reviewing the state of sn research cover literature until this year, therefore, this year is required to systematically collect, analyze, and synthesize these studies for past 6 years. table 3 shows the criteria for this review. search strategy the search strategy, as depicted in figure 1, consisted of two stages: an automatic stage and manual stage. the automatic stage was to identify the primary studies of sn. based on webster and watson’s recommendations,[12] the researchers did not limit the search process to a specific set of journals; instead, and several online databases were used to cover a broad range of academic publications. the online databases used were sciencedirect, scopus, springer, ieee explorer, and web of science. these databases are considered relevant and provide high impact factor publications. to perform the automatic table 1: sn definitions from earlier researchers no. definitions reference 1. the usage of sn by an organization in communication with outside parties such as clients, sellers, and the community leonardi et al. 2013[4] 2. sns are web-based services that allow individuals to[1] construct a public or semi-public profile within a restricted system,[2] create a list of additional users with whom they share a link, and[5] view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. the nature and terminology of these connections may vary from site to site ellison and boyd 2007[3] 3. user profiles that describe their locations, interests, and education background, and provide useful information differing from links croitoru et al., 2013[6] 4. sns provide users, within their platforms, with powerful ways to interact with other users through different forms and modalities. consequently, each user can search and check the profiles of other sn members (for various reasons), exchange messages with some of them, publish videos, and post comments on shared photos, etc. hajli 2013[7] 5. sns are for finding old friends, meeting new friends, or finding people who have the same interests or problems across political, economic, and geographic borders. by creating personal information profiles that contain information such as photos, video and audio files, sns allow users to connect, post messages, send e-mails, and instant messages to each other abawajy et al., 2016[8] 6. the infrastructure of sns can support a rich variety of data analytics applications such as search, text analysis, image analysis, and sensor applications aggarwal and wang 2011[9] 7. sn technologies have opened new possibilities for sharing personal information with online networks, and millions of people routinely self-disclose personal information on snss bazarova and choi 2014[10] sns: social network sites, sn: social network table 2: well-known sn with their main focus, default relationship, and the relationships direction (gitelman 2006)[11] sn platform focus default relationship (s) relationship direction facebook general use friendship symmetrical flicker photo sharing contact and optionally friend, or family symmetrical google+ general use friends, family, acquaintances symmetrical linkedin professional business symmetrical twitter microblogging followers asymmetrical youtube video sharing subscribe-to asymmetrical sn: social network al-rabeeah and hashim: a systematic literature review and directions for further research 94 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 92-101 search, keywords were identified based on the research question of this review. the main keywords used were: “sn,” “sn privacy,” and “sn privacy issues.” the second stage was a manual search. backward and forward search methods[12,15] were used to trace the citation of the selected studies. we used the google scholar search engine to go forward and find the studies which were cited in the selected primary studies. the manual stage was used to ensure that the systematic search was comprehensive and relatively complete.[12] for managing and sorting all the studies, mendeley, a reference management tool, was used to keep all the search results and easily remove the duplicated studies. study selection process the study selection process was used to identify the studies related to the research questions of this review. using the defined keywords, the result of the initial search identified 185 studies from the automatic search. after removing the duplicated studies using mendeley, 150 remained. we then applied the inclusion/exclusion criteria, on the abstract and conclusion of each study. in this step, 90 studies were eliminated. based on kitchenham and charters’ recommendation,[13] we excluded the studies that were clearly not related to the subject of this review. full-text scanning was used for the remaining studies, with the consideration of the exclusion criteria. we also applied the manual search to the reference list of each study, to trace any missing studies. after applying the manual search, an additional 12 studies were found. thus, the final set of primary studies was 72. finally, we applied quality assessment criteria, and 12 were removed; thus, a total of 60 studies were identified as a final list of primary studies. define abbreviations and acronyms the first time they are used in the text, even after they have been defined in the abstract. abbreviations such as ieee, si, mks, cgs, sc, dc, and rms do not have to be defined. do not use abbreviations in the title or heads unless they are unavoidable. figure 1: research methodology table 3: inclusion and exclusion criteria inclusion criteria exclusion criteria full-text uncompleted studies published within the selected period (2006–2017) non-english published in the above-selected database written in english outside the selected time study manuscript in the domain of social network duplicated studies al-rabeeah and hashim: a systematic literature review and directions for further research 95 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 92-101 quality assessment applying quality assessment is considered critical to assessing the quality of the primary studies.[13] the details of quality assessment are based on quality instruments, which could be a checklist of factors or questions that need to be applied for each study.[16,17] in this review, we developed the following three quality assessment criteria to assess the quality of each study: qa1. is the topic addressed in the paper related to sn privacy? qa2. is the research problem described clearly in the paper? qa3. is the data collection method described in the paper? the three qa criteria presented above were applied to the 72 primary studies to increase our confidence in the credibility of the selected studies. the process of applying quality assessment used three levels of the quality schema (high, medium, and low),[18] in which the quality of each study depends on the loading score. for instance, studies that fulfill the criterion will be given 2; studies that partially fulfill the criterion will be given 1; and studies that do not fulfill the criterion will be given. studies that score 5 or above will be considered high quality, while if they score 4 they will be considered medium, while if they are below 4 they are considered low. after applying the qa, 12 studies were eliminated because they did not fulfill the qa criteria. the results of the qa are displayed in figure 2. research questions results rq1. what are the privacy issues in sn? the two concepts of privacy concerns and privacy attitudes are basically different. privacy concerns could be quite generic and in most cases are not bound to any specific context, while privacy attitudes refer to the assessment of exact privacy behaviors.[19] another stream of study aimed to understand self-disclosing behavior in online sn (osn), especially among young people. barnes[20] uses the term privacy paradox about the privacy behavior of young people in sn. young people tend not to realize that sm provides public space and disclose personal information that could perhaps be misused.[20] carrascal et al.,[21] led an experiment aiming to determine the monetary value of several kinds of personal information. using a web browser plugin, they prompted users to value their personal data at the time and place they were produced. in the first phase of the experiment, the browser plugin collected data about the browsing behavior of each subject. data were used to calibrate the behavior of the plugin in the second phase. in the second stage, the plugin exhibited popups as the participants were browsing the internet. popups contained two kinds of questions: questions about evaluating personal information and questions on participants’ privacy perceptions and knowledge. information valuation questions were framed as auctions.[21] for instance, one question was, “what is the questionnaire on privacy attitudes and preferences and, then, to visit an online store.” during their shopping in the store, they were engaged in a sales dialogue with an anthropomorphic three-dimensional shopping bot. participants answered most of the questions, even if these were highly personal. this indicates that even though internet users claim that privacy is a high priority, they do not behave accordingly. based on a questionnaire survey and an examination of participants’ facebook profiles, hughes-roberts 2013) 23 concluded that a general statement of user concern is not a valid indicator of privacy behavior within the network. however, he questioned the appropriateness of surveys as instruments for studying the privacy paradox.[22] lee[23] confirmed the existence of an attitude versus behavior dichotomy. they conducted a series of semi-structured in-depth interviews and an experiment to assess the influence of expected benefit and expected risk on users’ intention to share personal information. they concluded that users actively share personal information despite their concerns because they do not only consider risk but also the expected benefit of sharing.[24] reynolds et al., in their study, also found that there was little correlation between participants’ broader concern about privacy on facebook and their posting behavior.[25] in contrast to tufekci,[26] they found that the portion of posts that were visible to a large audience appeared to be independent of general privacy attitude. a web survey by taddicken also showed that privacy concerns hardly impact self-disclosure.[27] the relationship between privacy concerns and self-disclosure is moderated by various variables. perceived social relevance and the number of other social web applications used have a strong moderating effect. in this study, social relevance mainly refers to the disclosing behavior of communication partners indicating that disclosure proceeds on a quid pro quo basis, i.e., “you tell me and i tell you.” a study by zafeiropoulou et al.,[28] specifically examined location data, which are a form of personal information increasingly used by mobile applications. their survey also found evidence that supports the existence of the privacy paradox for location data. in their book liquid surveillance, bauman and lyon talk about privacy in relation to online web-based social networking administrations. bauman says: “we present our rights to privacy for butcher of our own will. or, then again maybe we simply agree to the loss of privacy as a sensible cost for the marvels offered in return”. or, then again, the weight to convey our own self-sufficiency to the slaughterhouse is so overpowering, so near the state of the rush of sheep, that exclusive of a couple especially defiant, striking, contentious and unfaltering wills are set up to make a sincere endeavor to withstand it.[29] this is an instance of the unavoidable negativity show in discourse about insurance and an instance of privacy being discussed as a generalizable thing with a lone definition figure 2: review protocol al-rabeeah and hashim: a systematic literature review and directions for further research 96 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 92-101 material to everyone. it has presented the usage of online electronic long range informal communication organizations as the opposite of assurance. bauman and lyon proceed to express their view that there has been an alteration in people’s points of view about what ought to be open and what ought to be private.[29] the authors believe that this change has been made by the coming of widespread use of online web-based sn administrations. both methodologies comprehensively characterize the philosophical utility of privacy. legal privacy, for instance, doubts about the ancient rarities of privacy, for example, the data, while social privacy is concerned with the impacts of association of people in the public eye on privacy. while there might be examples in which the two may cross, making a distinction between the two toward the start of this review is essential as it shows the wide remit of the review. even scholars with a legal background have highlighted the social aspects of privacy.[30] valerie[29] puts forward comparable assumptions, highlighting that privacy can be normally comprehended in the everyday transactions of social standards inside connections. this show how social privacy as an idea is fundamentally concerned with how people communicate with each other. in any case, given the unfathomable sorts of communications that take place between people, social privacy soon turns out to be a very wide concept. diverse ways to deal with understanding social privacy have been looked for organizations such as facebook and twitter. they also conducted a survey that revealed a strong correlation between information privacy concern and all types of responses, except for misrepresentation. contrary to previous research, blank et al.,[32] found that younger people are more likely to take action to protect their privacy than older ones. in addition, studies show a positive correlation between privacy concerns and protection behavior. lutz and strathoff[33] conducted a telephone survey in switzerland employing a questionnaire that covered several privacy-related constructs. this survey confirmed a weak but statistically significant influence of privacy concerns on protection behavior. recent surveys show that privacy concerns trigger protective responses, such as uninstalling mobile applications. a survey of smartphone users by the pew internet project[34] revealed that 54% of the mobile application users surveyed had decided to not install a cell phone application when they discovered how much personal information they would need to share to use it and 30% of the cell phone application users had uninstalled an application that was already on their cell phone because they learned it was collecting personal information that they did not wish to share. on the other hand, only 19% of cell phone owners had turned off the location tracking feature on their cell phone. table 4 shows that the studies reviewed and the methodology they used for collecting the data and how such as.[26,35-38] rq2. what are the privacy models in sn? several studies have built different models explaining mechanisms of user privacy on the internet. many of them cover issues arising when users make decisions about exposing their private information in exchange for service use, such as online shopping, internet banking, or the use of the internet in general. a limited number of studies also address issues of privacy when users communicate with other users in addition to the service users in the context of osn. nov and wattal[39] investigated privacy issues of sn. in this study, they extended earlier research on web privacy to address inquiries regarding precursors of privacy concern in social groups, and in addition, the effect of privacy concern in such groups. in the group and the group’s data sharing standards negatively affected the group members’ particular privacy concerns. they likewise found that group-specific privacy concerns not only led members to embrace more prohibitive data sharing settings but also additionally diminished the amount of data they imparted to the group. additionally, found find that data sharing was affected by system centrality. in another exploration, chai et al.[40] analyzed variables that impact web clients’ private data sharing conduct among groups of preteens and early high schoolers, which are among the most powerless gatherings on the web. this review study provides an examination system that clarifies a web client’s data conduct in ensuring privacy. two noteworthy components were found to influence web clients’ data privacy practices: (1) clients’ apparent significance attached to data privacy and (2) data privacy self-adequacy. the review, additionally, found that clients have confidence in the estimation of online data privacy and that data privacy assurance conduct differs according to gender. shin[41] analyzed privacy, trust, and privacy concern in the context of interpersonal interaction websites among purchasers, utilizing both solid scales and measures. she proposes a sms acknowledgment show table 4: studies on social network privacy study context methodology participants bamas (2011)[35] snss student survey students carrascal (2013)[21] snss survey web users hughes-roberts (2013)[23] snss survey students hau et al. (2013)[24] snss/location data experiments users of snss reynolds et al. (2011)[25] snss survey facebook tufekci (2008)[26] snss survey students taylor et al. (2013)[36] snss survey students blank et al. (2014)[32] snss survey random users boyd et al. (2010)[37] snss survey students christofides et al. (2009)[38] snss survey students lutz and strathoff (2014)[33] internet use/snss survey sample users al-rabeeah and hashim: a systematic literature review and directions for further research 97 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 92-101 by coordinating intellectual and in addition full of feeling mentalities as essential affecting components, which are driven by fundamental convictions, visual privacy, visual privacy, trust, disposition, and aim. this is the outcome of a study of sms clients which confirmed that the proposed hypothetical model clarifies and predicts client acceptance of sms significantly well. the model shows phenomenal estimation properties and builds up visual privacy, and visual privacy of sms as particular develops. the finding additionally uncovered that apparent privacy affects the impact of visual privacy on trust. nov and wattal[39] investigate privacy issues of social processing condition. in this study, they stretch out earlier research on web privacy to address inquiries regarding precursors of privacy concern in social registering groups, and in addition, the effect of privacy concern in such groups. the outcomes demonstrate that clients’ trust in other group individuals and the group’s data sharing standards negatively affect group privacy concerns. they likewise distinguish that group privacy concerns not just lead clients to embrace more prohibitive data sharing settings, additionally diminish the measure of data they impart to the group. in addition, they find that data sharing is affected by system centrality and the residency of the client in the group. shin[41] examined security, trust, and privacy concerns with regard to social networking websites among consumers using reliable scales and measures. the study proposes an sns acceptance model by integrating cognitive as well as affective attitudes as primary influencing factors, which are driven by underlying beliefs, perceived security, perceived privacy, trust, attitude, and intention. results from a survey of sns users validated that the proposed theoretical model explains and predicts user acceptance of sns substantially well. the model shows excellent measurement properties and establishes perceived privacy and perceived the security of sns as distinct constructs. the finding also reveals that perceived security moderates the effect of perceived privacy on trust. in contrast to theory-based approaches, bottom-up approaches of model construction and testing make their contribution to theory building from a selected pool of salient constructs, such as trust,[42,43] weakness,[44] or individual demeanor.[45,46] malhotra et al.[46] focus on three distinct yet closely related issues. first, drawing on social contract theory, the authors offered a theoretical framework on the dimensionality of internet users’ information privacy concerns (iuipc). the authors then attempted to operationalize the multidimensional notion of iuipc using a second-order construct and develop a scale for it. finally, they proposed and tested a causal model on the relationship between iuipc and behavioral intention toward releasing personal information at the request of a marketer. the results of this study indicate that the second-order iuipc factor, which consists of three first-order dimensions, namely, collection, control, and awareness, exhibited desirable to user’s psychometric properties in the context of online privacy. in addition, their causal model centering on iuipc fits the data satisfactorily and explains a significant amount of variance in behavioral intention, suggesting that the proposed model will serve as a useful tool for analyzing online consumers’ reactions to various privacy threats on the internet dinev and hart[44] developed and validated an instrument to measure the privacy concerns of individuals who use the internet and two antecedents, perceived vulnerability and perceived ability to control information. the results of an exploratory factor analyses supported the validity of the measures developed. in addition, the regression analysis results of a model including the three constructs provide strong support for the relationship between perceived vulnerability and privacy concerns, but only moderate support for the relationship between perceived ability to control information and privacy concerns. the authors claim that the relationship among the hypothesized and privacy concerns may be one that is more complex than is captured in the hypothesized model, considering the strong theoretical justification for the role of information control in the extant literature on information privacy. in the realm of osns, several studies have challenged the common assumption that young people do not protect their private information contrary to previous research, lutz and strathoff[33] found that younger people are more likely to act to protect their privacy than older ones. young people use a variety of protection strategies, such as using pseudonyms and giving false information,[47] restricting access to their profiles and adjusting their privacy settings,[48] limiting friendship requests, and deleting tags and photos.[49] in addition, studies show a positive correlation between privacy concerns and protection behavior aeschlimann et al.[50] conducted a telephone survey in switzerland employing a questionnaire that covered several privacy-related constructs. this survey confirmed a weak but statistically significant influence of privacy concerns on protection behavior. casalo et al.[51] investigated the impact of perceived site privacy, ease of use, and notoriety on buyer confidence with regards to web-based keeping money. the study also breaks down the trust-duty relationship, since responsibility is a key variable for building up effective long-term associations with clients. their study presents the result of privacy ease of use and reputation on buyer confidence in a site in the web-based managing an account setting. in addition, it proposes that trust positively affects purchaser responsibility, convenience and reputation have an immediate and huge impact on shopper confidence in a money-related administration site. in addition, purchaser trust is strongly identified with relationship. in addition, it is noted that trust is a key moderating element in the improvement of relationship responsibility in the webbased saving money setting. hence,[52] build-up a hypothetical system portraying the trust-based basic leadership prepares a purchaser uses when making a purchase from a given webpage, and test the proposed display utilizing a structural equation modeling strategy on web buyer purchasing behavior, with information gathered by means of a web survey. the results of the survey indicated that web buyers’ trust and perceived risk affect their purchasing choices. customer intention to trust, reputation, privacy concerns, privacy concerns, the data nature of the website, and the organization’s reputation effectively affect internet buyers’ trust in the website. bandyopadhyay et al.[53] proposed a hypothetical system to explore the elements that impact the privacy concerns of customers who utilize the internet and the results of such privacy concerns. elements al-rabeeah and hashim: a systematic literature review and directions for further research 98 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 92-101 distinguished as precursors to online privacy concerns are seen as a weakness to accumulation and abuse of individual information, perceived capacity to control information gathering and its resulting utilization, the individual’s level of internet proficiency, social awareness, and underlying social variables. the possible outcomes of online privacy concerns are the unwillingness to give individual data on the web, shunning web-based businesses, or even unwillingness to utilize the internet. the model explored depends on a correspondence theory (i.e., communication privacy management [cpm] theories). a genealogical or family tree is the main component to build their trust model. there exist many sites to manage a family tree. however, those are not popular as sns. on the other hand, many popular snss are not focused on creating a family tree. although the notion of the family tree is absent in these sites, often family members coexist in the same network as a friend or follower or fan. hence, they can easily build a family tree even if it does not exist in the architecture of the sms. using the family tree, they propose their novel approach for securing sn by calculating trust. to realize trust quantitatively, they compute two quantities for the trust baseline: a. trust value and (b) trust score: trust value captures the static component of human trust while trust score changes dynamically with human connection in sms. both of those trust indicators are based on generation circle.[54] sn users dissatisfied with the snss request for sn login credentials may also engage in public action as a form of recourse or to seek a remedy. perales et al.[55] identify two such public actions: complain to the company and complain indirectly to a third party. given the nature of interviews, individuals are not likely to complain about the requesting during them. instead, they focus on complaints to companies’ executives. indirectly complaining to a third party may include contacting the media or local politicians to seek redress. ngai et al.[56] point out that sn applications are multi-disciplinary, including such areas as marketing, knowledge sharing, customer relationship management, collaborative activities, organizational communications, education, and training. the design and development of each application system are underpinned by different personal and social behavior theories and models, including personal behavior theories (e.g., personal traits, tam, tra, and theory of planned behavior [tpb]), social behavior theories (e.g., social capital, social cognitive, and social power), and mass communication theories (e.g., psi and uses and gratifications theory), and are encompassed by a wide variety of sn tools and technologies, such as media sharing sites (e.g., youtube and instagram), blogs and microblogs (e.g., twitter and weibo), social bookmarking sites (e.g., delicious and pinterest), virtual and online communities (e.g., lonely planet and yahoo answers), sms (e.g., facebook and linkedin), and virtual worlds (e.g., second life and active world). using this model, they argue that when researchers and system developers design and develop sn applications, they should first understand the theoretical foundations of a system, and based on these foundations, choose the right tools and technologies, and process the design, development, and implementation of the system. private action by kim and ko,[52] information privacy can be undermined when internet clients lose control over how online organizations gather and handle their own data.[46] cases of such loss of control range from getting undesirable emails. the term social computing according to nov and wattal[39] alludes to applications and administrations that encourage aggregate activity and social cooperation on the web, for example, sites, wikis, interpersonal organizations, and dialog discussions. as social computing is turning into an essential part of people’s groups’ and social status, it has been receiving increasing research interest. the achievement of social networking frameworks, whose content is made altogether by client commitment, relies on the ability of the members to share. as indicated by the privacy analytics theories, people’s readiness to provide data is, thus, represented by their privacy concerns. to address this. this issue is by all accounts, especially imperative given that interpersonal organizations, for example, facebook have been confronting increasing criticism over their privacy arrangements. chai et al.[57] propose a connection between apparent significance of data privacy to web users and their conduct in ensuring their privacy on the web. as observed in past research a positive connection was demonstrated between perceived significance in a specific area and behavioral intention to carry out the activities identified with that area, they expect that web clients who put a higher importance on the significance of data privacy will exhibit an even stronger propensity to show online privacy assurance behavior than the users who place lower importance on the significance of data privacy on the web. all the factors that will affect the user privacy such as sex, age, education, etc.[58] as they point out, the iuipc will play a main role in the future. cpm theory asserts that people control their private information based on the use of personal privacy rules. through developing, learning, and negotiating rules depending on culture, gender, motivation, context, and risk/benefit ratio, people coordinate boundary linkages, boundary permeability, and boundary ownership. the theory delineates such causal relationships in a qualitative and interpretive manner, while the tpb outs forward a mechanism for the human decisionmaking process, i.e., a causal link constituting a person’s salient beliefs and evaluations, attitude toward a behavior, and behavioral intentions. table 5 illustrates the theories and research constructs for the sn privacy. rq3. what are the limitation and gaps in current research regarding sn privacy? privacy concerns exist about the potential for the collection, retention, and data mining of personal information by the federal government of the usa with respect to its use of sn for disaster recovery purposes. specifically, the use of status alerts and the creation of personal pages to establish situational awareness may raise privacy concerns.[61] others are concerned about how the information might be used, for example, would the federal government compile records after a terrorist attack to help investigate certain individuals or some concerned about the user behavior itself in the sn al-rabeeah and hashim: a systematic literature review and directions for further research 99 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2019, 3 (2): 92-101 by going through all the previous studies shows the user’s attitude can be affected by many factors that will cause itself privacy.[23] a lot of research focused on the users’ behavior but did not consider all the factors that may affect the user privacy, depending on many important reasons, more importantly, the huge development happening in sn platforms and the number of users that are reaching billions of daily users using at least one sn platform.[62] smith et al.[63] point out that privacy for users is almost not available in the data or information has been posted into sns. the modern smartphones have made the using of sn very easy and accessible everywhere since the proliferation of high-speed mobile networks is enabling a culture of impulsive and carefree posting of user content. for instance, according to facebook statistics, the scale of this phenomenon per month has risen from two billion to over six billion and there were one billion active users on average at the end of 2016 on a daily basis.[64] almost most of the photos posted on sn have no relevance to privacy as from a personal perspective. from previous studies, the current models do not seem to cover all the required needs for sn users and according to marwick and boyd[65] the privacy challenges increasing day by day since the development of sns growing very fast and the number of users is around one billion for each platform. several studies have built causal models explaining mechanisms of user privacy on the internet. many of them cover issues when users make decisions of exposing their private information in exchange for service use, such as online shopping, internet banking, or the use of internet in general. however, a limited number of studies have addressed issues of privacy when users communicate with other users in addition to the service use in the context of osn. conclusion and recommendation this study provides an overview of the privacy concept in sn. to understand sn privacy, we set three research questions related to the nature of sn privacy. a systematic review approach was used to answer these questions; the review included the studies published between 2006 and 2017. after performing multiple selection processes, 60 studies were selected that focus on sn privacy. the remainder of the studies was eliminated from the review as they did not fulfill the inclusion criteria or have not reached the quality level. the study provides a clear view of sn privacy and privacy models by identifying the privacy in sn, and the main issues could be affecting the user privacy. from the data analysis, the majority of the 60 studies belong to user behavior and platforms privacy rules themes, while other areas received little attention, such as government law, business model, and security and privacy issues. in addition, the research methodologies used in these studies were identified and classified. the study found that more studies focused on the privacy of the users in sns by depending on different factors that were used previously, because of the huge number of the users in the sns. references 1. d. gritzalis, m. kandias, v. stavrou and l. mitrou. “history of information: the case of privacy and security in social media”. proceeding of the history of information conference. pp. 283-310, 2014. 2. h. zhu, c. huang, r. lu and h. li. “modelling information dissemination under privacy concerns in social media”. physica a: statistical mechanics and its applications, vol. 449, pp. 53-63, 2016. 3. n. b. ellison and d. m. boyd. “social network sites: definition, history, and 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mosul, mosul, iraq, 2department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract cloud networks are being used in most industries and applications in the current era. software-defined networking (sdn) has come up as an alternative tool and mechanism to follow and implement in a cloud networking environment in place of the traditional networking approaches. this paper includes the security aspects of computer networking concerning the cloud networking environment and sdn. the security risks and vulnerabilities have been listed and described in this work, and the measures that may be adapted to detect, prevent, and control the same. the use of figures, diagrams, and codes has been done as applicable. keywords: software-defined network, network functions virtualization, cloud, cryptography, distributed denial of service attacks 1. introduction cloud computing is a type of internet-based computing in which the devices communicate and are connected over a network which is usually the internet. communications and transactions take place over the network in the case of a cloud environment, leading to the introduction of many security risks and threats. software-defined networking (sdn) is a technique that is followed under computer networking that allows the network masters and administrators to make use of automated tools and applications to dynamically control and manage the networks as per the changing business requirements. orchestration of sdn is the programming of such required automated behaviors to support the business applications and services.[1] network functions virtualization (nfv), on the other hand, is a data center and network that has been specifically built and set up to manage the virtual networks and services over the cloud. nfv orchestration is the mechanism that is required to set up cloud-based applications and services over the cloud. sdn has come up as an alternative tool and mechanism to follow and implement in a cloud networking environment in traditional networking approaches. the architecture that is implemented in sdn is illustrated in figure 1. where, sdn divided into three major planes by open network foundation (onf), the architecture in sdn as follows: data plane: in this plane, forwarding devices such as switches, routers are interconnected. connection in this plane can be established by either wireless connection nor wired connection. this plane is responsible for data forwarding accordance to flow characteristics. control plane: this plane acts as brain of the network since it has the global view of entire network. this plane is responsible to program data plane elements. forwarding devices: these are hardwareor software-based data plane device. major function of these devices is to forward the data packets as per forwarding rules. here, on incoming packets, actions such as forward to specify port, drop, and forward to control plane are taken. southbound interface: this is referred as instruction set of forwarding devices that are defined by southbound application programming interfaces (apis). the interaction between control plane elements and forwarding devices is carried south through southbound interface. northbound interface: this api is offered by network operating system to application developers. this interface acts as common interface for developing new applications. management plane: this plane is often called as application plane in which set of applications that leverage the functions offered by the north interface. corresponding author: israa t. aziz, computer center, university of mosul, mosul, iraq. e-mail: israa_aziz@uomosul.edu.iq received: may 17, 2021 accepted: june 3, 2021 published: june 20, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n1y2021.20-27 copyright © 2021 israa t. aziz, ihsan h. abdulqadder. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) aziz and abdulqadder: sdn/nfv security orchestration in cloud network 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 20-27 good design is the base of every software application and service. therefore, it should be made sure that the software and the networks are constructed with the standard and necessary design patterns and principles. figure 1 displays the various sets of interfaces and isolations present between the different layers of sdn that is either under evaluation or under development. for instance, the service abstraction layer (sal) in the sdn architecture has been placed to isolate the apis southbound from the controller. it would aid in the integration of the same controller with multiple apis or protocols that are southbound. according to the software design aspects of sdn, the controller is the component that should make sure that the design is as per the flow insertion constraints and the entire network invariants are fulfilled before the insertion of a new flow rule in the process. once the assurance is provided, a separate monitoring module shall be queried to retrieve the invariants.[2] figure 2 depicts the characteristics that are associated with sdn. sdn is included with some security threats in data plane as well as in control plane. vulnerable controller in sdn, most of the network functions are realized in control plane by sdn controller. however, control plane is involved with some limitation such as queuing mechanism, security, and so on. sdn controller is responsible for network information collection, network configuration, and routing collection. if sdn controller is compromised or affected by attackers, this will be a massive attack held on sdn and network performance is degraded severely. in controller, well known denial-of-service (dos), and distributed dos (ddos), target point-of-sale attack are frequently launched. risks caused by other interfaces not only controller, in sdn, all other interfaces such as switches and gateways also affected by many attacks. sdn interfaces are programmable and open natured which leads probes attackers toward it. attacks also held on application layer through northbound interfaces. moreover, each layer in the network is affected by different attacks. some attacking points in sdn are listed as follows, • sdn switch – it is a separate device that is operated over openflow (of) protocol. sdn switch is also involved with flow tables which are limited in size • link between sdn switches – this type of attack is launched in sdn data plane in which link between data plane elements are targeted by attackers. in sdn, almost all data packets are transmitted between switches in the form of plaintext. this plaintext transmission in the data plane encourages the link spoofing attacks. link between switches, controller, and switches-controller is also affected by man-in-the middle attack • link between sdn switches and sdn controller – this attack also launched as link spoofing attack in which link between controller and all switches is targeted by attacker. remaining that all flow rules are installed on switches by controller through these links. thus, this type of attack has high impact on the network • link between controllers –to support large number users, sometimes, the network is designed with multiple controllers. however, when multiple controllers are involved then attacking ratio also increased. here, communication links between controllers also affected by attackers figure 1: software-defined networking architecture figure 2: software-defined networking characteristics aziz and abdulqadder: sdn/nfv security orchestration in cloud network 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 20-27 • application software – usually, application software is built with controller on physical device. when this application software is affected by attacker, then it may inject malicious code to controller which destroys the entire network performance. thus, application software is most convenient attack point for attackers. in application layer, unauthorized access also has major impact in the security point-of-view. the primary characteristic that is associated with sdn is the logically centralized control. however, the same shall have the physically distributed controller component. a controller is a component that managed the complete network view of the associated infrastructure and also processed the entries based on the protocols as defined by the services and operations running above the same.[3] another characteristic associated with sdn is the open programmable interfaces that have the major motivation behind them to permit the networking protocols implemented in the controller to execute and evolve independently. furthermore, it makes sure that the forwarding devices are as simplified as possible. switch management protocol, third-party network services, virtualized logical networks, and centralized monitoring units are also significant characteristics associated with the sdns.[4] the rest of this paper is organized as follow, section 2 presents the attack venders including the attacks in different layers. section 3 provides the security threats and vulnerabilities in sdn. section 4 illustrates different types of security measures while section 5 concludes this paper. sdn attack vendors sdn is a networking method in which virtualization is supported by the separation of the control plane from the forwarding plane. there are usually three layers in most of the sdn architectures, which comprise a lower layer in which network devices are placed, followed by the second layer, the middle layer in which controllers are kept. the topmost layer is the higher layer which consists of the applications and services to be configured as per sdn. the sdn is still in its early phases; however, the expansion of the same is quickly increasing, leading to the emergence and development of various security attacks by malicious entities. several security threats and attacks have started to come up in association with sdn and the layers of the same. there are many attack vendors associated with these attacks, and the same has been explained as per the layers present in sdn architecture. attacks at data plane layer there are possibilities in sdn architecture that the attackers attack the network elements with the aid of the network itself. the basic technique that the attackers use in such cases is to gain unauthorized access to the network, which may be physical or virtual, and then give shape to the attacks. these attacks may be availability attacks such as denial of service attacks which have been explained in detail in the next section. in sdn architecture, the controller uses several protocols to communicate and interact with other network elements. some of the examples of such apis and protocols include of, embedded event manager, open management infrastructure, locator/id separation protocol, and various others. these protocols comprise a secure mechanism within themselves to ascertain that the communications that take place over the network are safe and secure. most of these protocols are relatively new, and there are high chances that there are security loopholes that may exist during the same implementation. these security loopholes allow the attackers to take advantage of the same and attempt to incorporate newer forms of flows in the flow table of the devices. there are spoofing attacks that are attempted to ensure that the local traffic is allowed over the network. there are malicious entities put up on the network for sniffing the same and performing unauthorized monitoring to gain relevant information through the act. such attacks are termed as man-in-the-middle attacks in which an attacker sits on the network to gain information in an unauthorized manner. the attackers perform eavesdropping on the network flows to understand the flow of traffic over the networks. data centers are the prime spot of application for most sdns. these data centers make use of several protocols in their functioning and operations, such as stateless transport tunneling, layer 2 multipath, shortest path bridging, and various others. all of these protocols comprise data packets which consist of data and information within them. the level of authentication in these protocols may not adhere to the required level to ensure secure communication. there are also instances wherein required encryption is not implemented in these packets. therefore, these protocols may emerge as the attack vendors as they may provide the attackers with the opportunity to gain access to the network and information flowing over the network. there are several data integrity and availability attacks that may be executed due to these security loopholes. attacks at controller layer after the data plane layer, the controller layer is present, and the middle layer is the target layer for the execution of several security attacks. there are several reasons behind the choice of the target as the controller layer by the attackers. if the attacker succeeds in spoofing the flows from the specific controllers, then the control of the traffic and the flows would come into the hands of the attackers. it would allow them to bypass the policies that may have been designed to enhance the security of the networks. the attacker may execute various attacks to cause damage to the controller, and one such attack is the denial of service attack. there may be unauthorized consumption of resources that may be executed in addition to the deterioration of the frequency of packet transmission across the network. such attacks would impact the network services and the flow of traffic over the network as well. the controllers deployed in sdn architecture may be done in various operating systems such as unix or linux. the vulnerabilities associated with that of the operating system become the controller’s vulnerabilities as well in such cases. there are issues with the deployment of the controllers in a production environment without strong passwords. such vulnerabilities lead to weakening the network’s security and allowing the attackers to execute several security attacks. aziz and abdulqadder: sdn/nfv security orchestration in cloud network 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 20-27 there are also instances in which the attackers create their controllers as per their set of policies and protocols and trick the network elements through the same. the network elements trust the fake controller as the original and various attacks are executed. there are malicious entries made into the flow tables which go undetected and unnoticed by the network engineers due to the nature of the controller. such attacks are the worst forms of attacks as the attackers gain complete control over the network and gain an opportunity to turn the same in whichever direction they like. attacks at sdn layer several attacks may be executed at the highest layer as the attacking vendor for the same. attackers may attempt to impact the northbound protocol and its security. many northbound apis may be used in sdn architecture such as xml, python, and java. if the attacker succeeds in breaking through the security of a northbound api, the attacker would be able to gain control over the entire network with the aid of the controller. there are also chances wherein the attackers may create their own set of policies and launch them in the network to gain control over the entire environment of sdn. there are also scenarios in which the default passwords of the apis are not changed and used. in such cases, it becomes easier for the attackers to break into the network’s security and execute various security attacks. it also allows the attackers to query the configuration associated with the sdn environment and alters the same to install their configuration in the network. security threats and vulnerabilities in sdn information breaches cloud networks deal with huge clusters of information that are passed from one source to the other. the exchange of information may involve a public cloud network, private cloud network, or likewise. the cloud network acts as a major threat agent, leading to the breaching of information by the attackers. these networks and the various access points present in the networks act as the source of entry for the attackers. they succeed in obtaining unauthorized access into the cloud networking environment.[5] the same leads to the violation of the viable properties of the information contained in the network, such as confidentiality, privacy, and the same availability.[6] information leakage and loss sdns also suffer from the loss or leakage of the data and information observed as one of the frequently occurring security attacks. when the information is passed from a source to the destination in the case of sdn, attackers get hold of the information bits and data sets which are then misused to cause damage to one or more parties associated with the same. the major threat agent, in this case, is the network and the networking protocols that are implemented. there are instances in which the information is prevented from reaching its designated destination, leading to significant damage.[7] malware attacks malware attacks are the most common form of security attacks in a computing environment, and the case is the same with sdns. the list of malware that can hurt the sdns is a long one that comprises various types such as viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs, and many more. these malwares are also reproducible in most cases which makes it difficult to get rid of them. therefore, it is required to adapt the measures to prevent malware attacks to ensure the safety of the network and the information contained within the same.[8] denial of service and distributed denial of service attacks sdns introduce some advantages by decoupling the control plane from that of the data plane. however, the relationship between sdn and ddos attacks is contradictory.[9] the capabilities and properties associated with sdn allow the detection of ddos convenient and easy to execute. simultaneously, the sdn architecture in which the control place of separated from the data plane gives rise to the newer forms of ddos attacks. such a property makes sdn a target of the denial of service and distributed denial of service attacks.[10] the following is a basic ddos script that the attackers may use in an sdn environment. print “attacking mode is on! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !” + sys.argv[1] + “! ! ! ! ! ! !” print “injecting the code “ + sys.argv[2]; def attack(): #pid = os.fork() s1 = socket.socket(socket.af_inet, socket.sock_stream) s1.connect((sys.argv[1], 80)) print “<<<<get>>>>” + sys.argv[2] + “ http/1.1” s1.send(“get/” + sys.argv[2] + “ http/1.1\r\n\r\n”) s1.send(“host: “ + sys.argv[1] + “\r\n\r\n\r\n”); s1.close() for i1 in range(1, 100000): attack() security measures ddos detection and prevention the most effective method which may be used to detect the ddos attacks in sdns is the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method. it is a method that has been developed based on fuzzy mathematics. with the aid of this method, the transformation is made from the qualitative method of evaluation to the quantitative method of evaluation. it is applicable for detecting ddos attacks as it can evaluate the uncertainties with much ease and correctness.[11] the decision-making, in this case, is based on the three factors which areas listed below. • factor set f = {f1, f2, f3……. fn} • judgment set j = {j1, j2, j3……jn} • fuzzy relationship matrix r there are also various flow checkers and flow detection mechanisms that may be used to detect ddos attacks in sdns. aziz and abdulqadder: sdn/nfv security orchestration in cloud network 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 20-27 reduction of the attack surface the control and reduction of the attack surface would prevent the security risks and attacks in the sdns. these attack surfaces are the major threat agents that allow malicious entities to enter the network and impact the security and privacy of the information.[12] the network and data masters must ensure that the information exchanges that take place over sdn make use of smaller chunks of the data instead of larger data sets and pieces. furthermore, the adaption of a secure apis in the sdn architecture would lead to the prevention of the attacks in a private networking environment.[13] reduction of the attack window along with the smaller attack surface, the network administrators must also make sure that the attack window is reduced and brought out to the minimum. the reduction in the size of the attack window would significantly reflect the depreciation of the security threats and attacks. for example, there should be the use of rotating credentials in an sdn environment adapted by the network administrators.[14] use of firewalls it is necessary to maintain the initial steps of security in sdns so that the attackers do not succeed in entering the network at all. some of the firewall rules may be used in sdn, as figure 3 described and listed below. • at a particular switch, block the traffic from a specific host such as 11.1.1.1. 00-00-02-00-00-00-00-00 block srcip=11.1.1.1 • at a particular switch, block the traffic that is coming from a specific host such as 11.1.1.2, if the particular packet say x tos has been marked with 23 and it is required to be sent to the destination for 11.1.3.1 00-00-03-00-00-00-00-00 block srcip=11.1.1.2 dstip=11.1.3.1 tos = 23 • at a particular switch, redirect traffic which is destined for 11.1.2.1 and, instead, send it to 11.1.2.2 00-00-01-00-00-00-00-00 redirect dstip=11.1.2.1 to 11.1.2.2 • at a particular switch, mark the tos field present in all the packets which are sent by 11.1.1.1 with a value of 42 00-00-04-00-00-00-00-00 mark srcip=11.1.1.1 tos 42 defense in-depth this is the security measure that shall be used in sdn to prevent security risks and attacks. the interactions that are executed in a network are used in this security measure to prevent security attacks.[15] for example, a certain part or component of the sdn may get hampered by the security attack identified by another network and security part or component present in the architecture. these interactions between various components will ensure that the security of the overall network is maintained at all times.[16] cryptography and encryption cryptography is a technique that comes under the advanced tools and techniques for preventing security attacks and enhancing information security. encryption of the information is necessary in the present times with the introduction of so many security risks and attacks.[17] cryptography is a phenomenon that makes use of public, private, or shared keys for the encryption of the information at the sender’s end, which is then transferred in the same form and is decrypted with the help of the key at the end of the receiver.[18] various encryption algorithms have been developed and may be used in the case of sdn security as well. one such algorithm is the rivest, shamir, and adleman (rsa) encryption algorithm. for instance, the text required to be sent to the destination includes the bits “sdn.” the encrypted form of the text is as specified below. o i q s i wa p h u 0 a 3 v 9 3 x x e u n + u t n 2 h x b 8 w k n l 1 1zzzj0xqaxgqkao63u4qc8dnb2fow0ls3uhrgo1vil0y wcr8mplzlxq94dsro1ek0ym0n0o5lqfumzasj914ghi i s k u k 3 m s / z i + b s 1 z e q f g a j a b + y u p o t h t q figure 3: firewall execution in software-defined networking aziz and abdulqadder: sdn/nfv security orchestration in cloud network 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 20-27 31rqhkr8zqh9pgetblpn09rbvvzppnxmi2g8g2dvug b l w s x 0 a 1 q j o v d z w 8 t 0 0 v 7 9 q h o c / o q q a 3 t r m m 6 m j n 5 w m f i s d u x n g t k s ku 7 x l v m g m s fyeczd6/9l7k2bpr3llnuzxhlnqmrlxtnl8g4qigwm yqbe8i4pmwptqimb1kqakee9dbpxnblenteuwxw== there is a private and public key pair used to encrypt and decrypt the information while the same is exchanged between the source and the destination over the software-defined network. various other encryption algorithms can be used, such as des, triple des, and many others. one of the widely used cryptographic functions is the sha algorithm which stands for the single hash algorithm. sha-256 is one of the forms of sha that generates a unique 256bit hash for a text or data file, which is like a signature for the same.[19] for instance, the sha-256 for the text “software-defined network” is as specified as: f8551cca082c82020b1f30b07a36a68c154272f9af16b 724859ccd1c96f64ae5 access management access to the information and data transferred and exchanged over the software-defined network is often played with by the attackers. the access points are used to gain unauthorized entry to the network. therefore, it must manage access to the sdn using several administrative and technical security controls. [20] the administrative controls shall include enhanced security policies and protocols to control the access. in contrast, the technical controls shall include the use of technically advanced mechanisms such as multistep authentication, single sign-on, and likewise for the control of access.[21] advanced tools the number and frequency of data and network security attacks are on an all-time rise, and the same has led to the development of advanced tools and techniques for the detection and prevention of the same.[22] therefore, it is required for the network administrators and masters to be constantly updated with the technical changes and innovations and adapt the advanced tools available in the market to prevent security risks and attacks. various tools are now available for the management of the apis, the execution of the security controls, and the management of the security attacks associated with the sdn traffic.[23,24] network monitoring monitoring of the network at all times is also extremely important in the case of software-defined networks. such a practice will ensure that there is no illegal activity across the network and the same is identified as soon as it is attempted.[25] the networking team shall carry out administrative practices such as networking audits, reviews, inspections, and nonstop monitoring of the network. furthermore, there shall be automated intrusion detection and prevention tools that shall be implemented to ensure that the intruders do not get entry into the network.[26] network monitoring data recovery and backup strategies electronic vaulting electronic vaulting is the procedure that incorporates the legitimate official of an electronic archive by keeping up the definitive duplicate of the same and the greater part of its associated and critical exchange reports in a protected area. the same is kept at the area until the lifecycle of the report is finished and accomplished. it is done keeping in mind the end goal to ensure that the electronically marked archive remains legitimately enforceable and allowable and accordingly frames an obvious review trail. possession and consistency are resolved with this review trail as it were.[27] electronic vault does not rotate around simply the capacity of the electronic archive additionally deals with the authorized access, support, and last demolition of the record. aside from the legitimate and administrative edge, it likewise gives a protected move down to the available archive and opens electronically.[28] certain components must be available in an electronic vault with a specific end goal to make it fit for its intended purpose. electronic vault must make and give a great degree certain condition to the reports keeping in mind the end goal to guarantee the wellbeing, security, and protection of the information introduced in the archives. exchange of records starting with one area then onto the next or starting with one vault then onto the next might likewise affirm the security highlights. some archives do not permit the nonseparated duplicates of the same to live in some other area separated from the electronic vault. security of such records should be of most extreme confirmation as the loss of a unique copy will prompt losing the complete information related to the report. electronic vaults must have an incredible system to keep up and deal with the duplicates of the electronically marked archives. the duplicates must have a personality or a stamping plan that separates them from the first record. there must likewise be instruments to track the entrance to the first e-archive or the duplicates of the same.[29] point-in-time copies a point-in-time copy of an arrangement of information alludes to the copy of the information as it showed up at a specific period. it is a usable copy of the original information and has coherently happened at a specific timeframe. these copies might be perused just in nature or may give the compose capacities too. various advantages accompany this alternative to move down the information[30] safely. it is frequently observed that while creating the move down on the cloud, the server is under a gigantic load. this regularly prompts a reinforcement window, which is hard to manage to keep the financial plan and timetable constraints in thought. the same is handled through the reinforcement alternative using point-in-time copies. the issue related to the open records additionally develops during the reinforcement. clients continue updating the open documents till the last minute, and the go down of the same is not made. while creating the pointin-time copies, compose capacity of the record framework is not permitted, and consequently, the replication of the original archive or document is made. point-in-time copies do not request specialists to play out the undertaking or recover the past renditions of the record, making it simple and a savvy aziz and abdulqadder: sdn/nfv security orchestration in cloud network 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 20-27 arrangement. it is conceivable with the point-in-time copies to make the backup at constant intervals, generally impractical with the conventional techniques.[31] data deduplication information space available on the cloud is decreased with the assistance of data deduplication alongside giving the ability of information reinforcement. it ensures that the repetition related to the information is totally evacuated, and just a single duplicate or occurrence of the same is put away on the cloud. at whatever point a duplicate of information or repetitive information is discovered, it is indicated the first information. because of its productivity to expel the excess information is also named as keen pressure or single occurrence stockpiling. information deduplication joins the numerical calculations utilized as a part of the conventional pressure systems alongside delta differencing for looking at the old and new information and sparing just the bits of information that have changed. information deduplication makes the route toward reproducing fortification information practical by reducing the exchange speed and cost anticipated that would make and keep up duplicate informational indexes over frameworks. at a fundamental level, deduplication-enabled replication resembles deduplication-engaged information stores. when two photos of a support information store are made, all that is required to keep the generation or target undefined to the source are the infrequent duplicating and development of the new information divides, the general data deduplication methodology is shown in figure 4. backup options • off-site cloud backup – this is the backup option that may be used as a security measure in sdn security attacks to maintain know how of the entire data sets available on the cloud. replication of the same ifs put away on the offsite location would be a wonderful option to ensure that the data can be recovered in the occurrence of an attack or a disaster • local backup options – with the presence of more than 1 storage option for the data and information present and exchanged in an sdn environment, it would be assured that the data are safe and protected at all times. the presence of a local backup option would be an excellent way to achieve the same • scalable and easy to use – scalable backing up of the data is an easy and extremely cost-effective solution to ensure that the backing up of the data is convenient to use and execute as well • dr planning – planning is always considered an effective measure for any of the activities, and the case is the same with disaster recovery. conclusion the term sdn is a technique followed under computer networking that allows the network masters and administrators to use automated tools and applications to dynamically control and manage the networks as per the changing business requirements. orchestration of sdn is the programming of such required automated behaviors to support the business applications and services. there are many security threats and vulnerabilities associated with the cloud networking environment in the case of a softwaredefined network, such as information breaches, data leakages, ddos attacks, malware attacks, and many more. with so many security attacks, various security countermeasures are now available. they shall be implemented to ensure that the security risks and threats do not have any adverse impact and are prevented at all times. the most effective method which may be used to detect the ddos attacks in sdns is the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method. the control and reduction of the attack surface would prevent the security risks and attacks in the sdns. these attack surfaces are the major threat agents that allow malicious entities to enter the network and impact the security and privacy of the information. along with the smaller attack surface, the network administrators must also make sure that the attack window is reduced and brought out to the minimum. cryptography is a technique that comes under the advanced tools and techniques for preventing security attacks and enhancing information security. encryption of the information is a necessity in the present times with the introduction of so many security risks and attacks. the same has proved to be effective in case of security attacks associated with sdns. other security measures that may be implemented include defense-in-depth, access management, firewalls, antimalware, and many more. figure 4: data de-duplication methodology aziz and abdulqadder: sdn/nfv security orchestration in cloud network 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 20-27 references 1. m. gharbaoui, b. martini, d. adami, s. giordano and p. castoldi. cloud and network orchestration in sdn data centers: design principles and performance evaluation. computer networks, vol. 108, pp. 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abdulqadder, s. zhou, d. zou, i. t. aziz and s. m. a. akber. multi-layered intrusion detection and prevention in the sdn/ nfv enabled cloud of 5g networks using ai-based defense mechanisms. computer networks, vol. 2020, p. 107364, 2020. 12. p. k. taksande, p. jha, a. karandikar and p. chaporkar. open5g: a software-defined networking protocol for 5g multi-rat wireless networks. in: 2020 ieee wireless communications and networking conference workshops (wcncw), pp. 1-6, 2020. 13. r. etengu, s. c. tan, l. c. kwang, f. m. abbou and t. c. chuah. ai-assisted framework for green-routing and load balancing in hybrid software-defined networking: proposal, challenges and future perspective. ieee access, vol. 8, pp. 166384-166441, 2020. 14. h. zhang, z. cai, q. liu, q. xiao, y. li and c. f. cheang. a survey on security-aware measurement in sdn. security and communication networks, vol. 2018, p. 2459154, 2018. 15. l. dong, l. chen, b. he and w. wang. the research on designs of multiple flow tables 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in software defined networking based on improved shiryaev roberts detection algorithm. journal of high speed networks, vol. 21, pp. 285-298, 2015. 31. p. mishra, d. puthal, m. tiwary and s. p. mohanty. software defined iot systems: properties, state of the art, and future research. ieee wireless communications, vol. 26, pp. 64-71, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 24-31 research article the estimation of (covid-19) cases in kurdistan region using nelson aalen estimator sami a. obed1*, parzhin a. mohammed1, dler h. kadir1,2 1department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq, 2department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract it is described how the nelson–aalen estimator may be used to control the rate of a nonparametric estimate of the cumulative hazard rate function based on right censored as well as left condensed survival data, furthermore how the nelson–aalen estimator can be utilized to estimate various amounts. this technique is mostly applied to survival data and product quality data similar to the incorporated relative mortality in a multiplicative model with outer rates and the cumulative infection rate in a straightforward epidemic model. it is shown that tallying measures produce a structure that permits to a brought together treatment of all these different conditions, and the main little and massive sample properties of the assessor are summarized. this estimator is a weighted average of the nelson-aalen reliability estimates over 2 time periods. the suggested estimator’s suitability and utility in model selection are reviewed. morover, a real-world dataset is evaluated to demonstrate the proposed estimator’s suitability and utility. this work proposes a simple and nearly unbiased estimator to fill this gap. the information was gathered from the ministry of health’s website between october 1, 2020, and february 28, 2021. the results of the nelson allen estimator demonstrated that the odds of surviving were higher during a short period of time after being exposed to the virus. as time passes, the possibilities become slimmer. the closer the estimate comes to value 1 from 0.5 upward, the greater the chances of surviving the infection. keywords: covied-19, death, estimator, nelson allen estimator, survival analysis introduction nelson-aalen estimation is useful to separate how a assumed population develops through time. this strategy is frequently applied to survival data and product feature information. this makes the virus lethal since it can be encountered by someone who is infected without showing signs. many papers/articles had been written on the novel coronavirus (covid-19) within a relatively short time after its existence.[1] this research will answer questions such as: what are the affected people’s odds of survival? what is the survival probability’s time frame? how can a person survive a viral outbreak, particularly in the impacted areas? the nelson-aalen estimator, or more generally visualizing the hazard function over time, is not a very popular approach to survival analysis. that is because in evaluation to the survival function clarification of the curves is not so simple and intuitive. however, the risk function is of great significance for more advanced methods to survival analysis, for example, the cox regression. that is why it is vital to appreciate the concept. moreover, it will try to provide some insights about it. we can say that the cumulative hazard functions (chfs).[2] the nelson-aalen estimation is a method for estimating a public’s hazard function without considering that the data originates from a specific distribution. the nelson-aalen approach produces the chf from the hazard function, which is then used to obtain the survival function. it is a non-parametric approach of generating results due to the lack of parameters necessary in this model. this research will serve as a foundation for health policy formulation, resulting in fewer untimely deaths and an overall improvement in quality of life.[2] the cumulative hazard is one of the most reliable parameters in the analysis of time-to-event data with corresponding author: sami a. obed, department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq e-mail: muhsin.hmeadi@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: july 7, 2021 accepted: september 6, 2021 published: september 30, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021.pp24-31 copyright © 2021 sami a. obed, parzhin a. mohammed, dler h. kadir, this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) obed, et al.: the estimation of (covid-19) cases in krg 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 24-31 independently right-censored and left-truncated survival times. cumulative transition intensity is another name for it. the well-known nelson–aalen estimator is frequently used to estimate it nonparametric ally. in this context time-simultaneous confidence bands are perhaps the best interpretive tool for accounting for related estimating uncertainty in this situation.[3] methodology this section studied some basic concepts of survival analysis; survival function, hazard function, and some tests and methods used to analyze survival data. coronavirus is a virus whose genome consists of a single strand of ribonucleic acid. this is to distinguish this disease from other coronavirus outbreak in the past or future. this was a result of genetic comparison of the animal and the infected person. numerous review methods and strategies were designed during the course of this study to collect data/ materials relevant to the study in order to gain a thorough understanding of the subject matter.[4] a survival analysis can be used to evaluate not just the likelihood of manufacturing equipment failure based on the number of hours it has been in operation, but also to distinguish between different operating situations. if the chance varies depending on whether the equipment is operated outdoors or indoors, for example.[4] as a result, it is important to remember that the overall quality of the sample frames and methods utilized determines the trustworthiness of the survey estimates. in general, the broader the sample frame, the greater the result’s quality and validity.[5] nelson–aalen estimator the nelson–aalen estimator is a nonparametric estimator which might be used to estimate the cumulative hazard rate function from censored survival information the nelson– aalen estimator might be applied and exemplify its use in one specific case. moreover, it is shown how checking measures give a system, which permits to a bound together treatment of every one of these different circumstances, and summarizes the main properties of the nelson–aalen estimator.[2] the nelson-aalen analysis strategy has a place with the enlightening strategies for survival analysis, for example, life table analysis and kaplan-meier investigation. the nelsonaalen approach can rapidly provide you with a bend of combined peril and gauge the hazard capacities dependent on unpredictable time intervals.[6] an “occasion” can be the failure of a non-repairable component, the death of a human being, or any occurrence for which the experimental unit remains in the “failed” state (e.g., death) from the point at which it changed on.[4] survival function estimator[5] let t1 < t2 <… < tk represent the observed death times in a sample of n subjects from a homogeneous population with survival function s(t). consider s(t) as a discrete function with probability mass at each ti,; i =1;…; k. therefore it can be written that s q q q qti i j j i ( ) � �� � �� �� �� � � �� � ��1 1 1 11 2 1 (1) where qj is the probability of subject death in the interval [tj-1, ti]conditional of being alive at tj-1 that is, qj can be written as q p tj � �( [ t j -1,t t tj j) / ≥ -1) (2) suppose that di deaths occurs at ti and there are ni subjects at risk at ti, kme is obtained from (1) and (2) as ( ) < < − = = −∏ ∏ . ( ) / / (1 i i i i i km t i ii t t i t t n d d s n n ) (3) it is a staircase function of t with a jump at each failure time. the nae is given by h d n r t h d nt j k k j t jk j k kk j ( ) , exp� � � � �� � �� ��� ��1 1 (4) where h(t) is the chf and is also a staircase function of t. it is noted that the above definitions extend the original definitions of the nae to the censored observations.[1] censoring categories for the nelson-aalen analysis[3] there are some types of censoring of survival data: 1. left censoring: we know that an event occurred at t * t when it is reported at time t=t(i) (i) 2. right censoring: when an occasion is reported at time t=t(i), we see that it happened at time t * t(i) if it happened at all 3. interval censoring: we know that an event occurred during [t(i-1); t(i)] when it is recorded at time t=t(i) 4. exact censoring: we know that an incident happened exactly at t=t(i) because it is reported at time t=t(i) (i). independent censoring for the nelson-aalen method the nelson-aalen technique requires that the explanations be unbiased. second, the censoring should be consistent – if two random persons are enrolled in the research at time t-1 and the other is censored at time t while the other lives, each must have the same chance of surviving at time t.[7] independent censorship can be divided into four categories: • simple type i: all individuals are censored at the same time, or individuals are followed for a set period of time • progressive type i: at the same time, everybody is censored (for illustration, when the study terminates). • type ii: the research will attempt until all of the n measures have been validated • random: the period when censoring occurs is unrelated to the time it takes to survive.[8] obed, et al.: the estimation of (covid-19) cases in krg 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 24-31 the nelson-aalen method and the chf the nelson-aalen methodology allows for population comparisons based on their hazard curves. when studying chfs, the nelson-aalen estimator should be used instead of the kaplan-meier estimator. the kaplan-meier estimator should be used when evaluating cumulative survival functions. the chf is a function that calculates the probability of: h(t) = � �t ti (5) d r i i with di being the number of observation dropping at time ti and ri the number of observation at hazard (still in the study) at time ti.[9] results and discussion descriptive statistics table 1 gives the results of nelson allen estimator from the first of october (2020) till 28th of february (2021) applied to a data set of size 61716 cases, and shows that the most of the percentage of disease in this study are on october (2020) (46.1%) and deaths (28.9%). after that on november (2020) the percent estimate to life (33.6%) and (27.9%) was death. on the other hand, the highest estimated time until the death on december (2020) and equal (37.5%). the lowest estimated time for death which is equal to (2.1%) on february (2021). application nelson aalen survival estimate formula/notations e t m t� � � � 0 1 � nelson aalen survival estimate (sna(t) �tt m � � � 0 1 estimate of the chf. m day of observation tm date/time death observed dm number of deaths at tm nm number of people available to die at tm �m m m d n � hazard rate or probability that a life fails at tm. analysis and interpretation of data a value of 0.5 in the nelson aalen survival model suggests an equal chance of life and death. this survival model was chosen to analyze the data since it is a non-parametric technique with a non-informative censoring estimator assumption. from 0.5 to 1, the closer the value is to 1, the better the chance of survival, and vice versa. nelson aalen survival analysis of the data is shown in table 2 calculation of nelson aalen survival analysis. in the kurdistan region, there were 61171 confirmed cases and 2476 deaths, according to table 3. the total reported case number is the total number of people who have been infected, died, or who have been recovered/discharged. out of the 61171 cases reported, 28234 were found to be infected in october. the remaining 28% of cases were those that had a resolution this month. in figure 1, observation/investigation of cases was approved out from october 1 to february 28; 2021. the descriptive statistics is concerned largely with summary calculations and graphical displays of results/data to derive reasonable decisions. the horizontal axis shows the time to event, and the vertical axis shows the number of cases and deaths in this plot, drops in the survival curve occur whenever the covid-19 takes effect in a patient. thus, any point on the survival curve shows the probability that a patient on a given treatment will not have experienced relief by that time. explanation: in figure 2, the survival estimate and the range of time it applies have been clearly stated for better understanding. in the same vein, the value of m which ∑ µt=1 applies has also been shown. that is if there are no lives remaining to be censored among the observed lives when the investigation ended, and the estimation of the last value of the estimate will be zero which means sure death at that time. from the analysis carried out in table 3, at the initial day of the investigation, the estimate shows the value of one (1). from the analysis, it is evident that as time passes by, the estimate figure activates to reduce, meaning that more table 1 : descriptive statistics for qualitative variables months status % october (2020) disease 46.1 deaths 28.9 november (2020) disease 33.6 deaths 27.9 december (2020) disease 11.6 deaths 37.5 january (2021) disease 4.4 deaths 3.4 february (2021) disease 4.6 deaths 2.1 october (2020) november (2020) december (2020) january (2021) deaths 717 691 929 86 cases 28234 20591 6768 2703 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 figure 1: monthly deaths and cases growth rate obed, et al.: the estimation of (covid-19) cases in krg 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 24-31 day of observation cases death hazard rates cumulative hazard rates estimation 1 684 21 0.0307 0.0307 0.97 2 640 21 0.0328 0.06351 0.938 3 494 16 0.0324 0.0959 0.909 4 630 19 0.0302 0.12606 0.882 5 839 31 0.0369 0.16301 0.85 6 793 30 0.0378 0.20084 0.818 7 886 29 0.0327 0.23357 0.792 8 793 31 0.0391 0.27266 0.761 9 838 12 0.0143 0.28698 0.751 10 769 19 0.0247 0.31169 0.732 11 589 24 0.0407 0.35244 0.703 12 720 26 0.0361 0.38855 0.678 13 900 23 0.0256 0.41411 0.661 14 912 20 0.0219 0.43604 0.647 15 974 28 0.0287 0.46478 0.628 16 932 18 0.0193 0.4841 0.616 17 722 23 0.0319 0.51595 0.597 18 797 32 0.0402 0.5561 0.573 19 1032 26 0.0252 0.5813 0.559 20 1010 24 0.0238 0.60506 0.546 21 1078 15 0.0139 0.61897 0.538 22 1308 17 0.013 0.63197 0.532 23 1053 20 0.019 0.65096 0.522 24 860 26 0.0302 0.6812 0.506 25 828 25 0.0302 0.71139 0.491 26 1283 23 0.0179 0.72932 0.482 27 1597 24 0.015 0.74434 0.475 28 1297 27 0.0208 0.76516 0.465 29 1285 18 0.014 0.77917 0.459 30 1002 25 0.025 0.80412 0.447 31 689 24 0.0348 0.83895 0.432 32 1054 28 0.0266 0.86552 0.421 33 1137 26 0.0229 0.88839 0.411 34 1235 23 0.0186 0.90701 0.404 35 962 28 0.0291 0.93612 0.392 36 1195 23 0.0192 0.95536 0.385 37 997 33 0.0331 0.98846 0.372 38 771 21 0.0272 1.0157 0.362 39 787 21 0.0267 1.04238 0.353 40 900 24 0.0267 1.06905 0.343 41 765 27 0.0353 1.10434 0.331 42 772 22 0.0285 1.13284 0.322 43 1170 29 0.0248 1.15763 0.314 44 686 28 0.0408 1.19844 0.302 table 2: results of estimation of covid-19 cases (contd...) obed, et al.: the estimation of (covid-19) cases in krg 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 24-31 day of observation cases death hazard rates cumulative hazard rates estimation 45 573 27 0.0471 1.24556 0.288 46 571 28 0.049 1.2946 0.274 47 659 23 0.0349 1.3295 0.265 48 645 25 0.0388 1.36826 0.255 49 576 22 0.0382 1.40646 0.245 50 530 21 0.0396 1.44608 0.235 51 567 23 0.0406 1.48664 0.226 52 361 20 0.0554 1.54204 0.214 53 495 17 0.0343 1.57639 0.207 54 488 21 0.043 1.61942 0.198 55 500 21 0.042 1.66142 0.19 56 435 25 0.0575 1.71889 0.179 57 379 17 0.0449 1.76375 0.171 58 403 26 0.0645 1.82826 0.161 59 259 14 0.0541 1.88232 0.152 60 304 14 0.0461 1.92837 0.145 61 415 14 0.0337 1.9621 0.141 62 389 23 0.0591 2.02123 0.132 63 331 17 0.0514 2.07259 0.126 64 248 9 0.0363 2.10888 0.121 65 236 8 0.0339 2.14278 0.117 66 298 9 0.0302 2.17298 0.114 67 377 10 0.0265 2.19951 0.111 68 372 12 0.0323 2.23176 0.107 69 356 9 0.0253 2.25704 0.105 70 287 13 0.0453 2.30234 0.1 71 248 11 0.0444 2.3467 0.096 72 197 6 0.0305 2.37715 0.093 73 183 9 0.0492 2.42633 0.088 74 167 9 0.0539 2.48022 0.084 75 201 9 0.0448 2.525 0.08 76 222 3 0.0135 2.53851 0.079 77 238 11 0.0462 2.58473 0.075 78 215 6 0.0279 2.61264 0.073 79 215 8 0.0372 2.64985 0.071 80 156 4 0.0256 2.67549 0.069 81 118 8 0.0678 2.74329 0.064 82 165 3 0.0182 2.76147 0.063 83 278 5 0.018 2.77945 0.062 84 163 8 0.0491 2.82853 0.059 85 150 3 0.02 2.84853 0.058 86 164 3 0.0183 2.86683 0.057 87 128 4 0.0313 2.89808 0.055 88 118 9 0.0763 2.97435 0.051 89 132 2 0.0152 2.9895 0.05 table 2: (continued) (contd...) obed, et al.: the estimation of (covid-19) cases in krg 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 24-31 day of observation cases death hazard rates cumulative hazard rates estimation 90 140 3 0.0214 3.01093 0.049 91 123 3 0.0244 3.03532 0.048 92 153 1 0.0065 3.04185 0.048 93 122 4 0.0328 3.07464 0.046 94 68 2 0.0294 3.10405 0.045 95 97 1 0.0103 3.11436 0.044 96 102 6 0.0588 3.17319 0.042 97 107 6 0.0561 3.22926 0.04 98 104 3 0.0288 3.25811 0.038 99 80 4 0.05 3.30811 0.037 100 140 5 0.0357 3.34382 0.035 101 139 3 0.0216 3.3654 0.035 102 68 6 0.0882 3.45364 0.032 103 126 2 0.0159 3.46951 0.031 104 88 0 0 3.46951 0.031 105 158 1 0.0063 3.47584 0.031 106 69 4 0.058 3.53381 0.029 107 78 3 0.0385 3.57227 0.028 108 43 2 0.0465 3.61878 0.027 109 110 3 0.0273 3.64606 0.026 110 97 2 0.0206 3.66668 0.026 111 100 4 0.04 3.70668 0.025 112 68 3 0.0441 3.75079 0.023 113 77 4 0.0519 3.80274 0.022 114 85 2 0.0235 3.82627 0.022 115 49 1 0.0204 3.84668 0.021 116 58 1 0.0172 3.86392 0.021 117 94 1 0.0106 3.87456 0.021 118 67 2 0.0299 3.90441 0.02 119 70 5 0.0714 3.97584 0.019 120 73 2 0.0274 4.00324 0.018 121 68 1 0.0147 4.01794 0.018 122 48 1 0.0208 4.03877 0.018 123 50 2 0.04 4.07877 0.017 124 107 2 0.0187 4.09747 0.017 125 54 2 0.037 4.1345 0.016 126 48 3 0.0625 4.197 0.015 127 56 3 0.0536 4.25058 0.014 128 51 1 0.0196 4.27018 0.014 129 24 4 0.1667 4.43685 0.012 130 38 2 0.0526 4.48948 0.011 131 70 2 0.0286 4.51805 0.011 132 64 3 0.0469 4.56493 0.01 133 69 0 0 4.56493 0.01 134 59 0 0 4.56493 0.01 table 2: (continued) (contd...) obed, et al.: the estimation of (covid-19) cases in krg 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 24-31 day of observation cases death hazard rates cumulative hazard rates estimation 135 98 3 0.0306 4.59554 0.01 136 53 1 0.0189 4.61441 0.01 137 106 3 0.0283 4.64271 0.01 138 72 4 0.0556 4.69827 0.009 139 138 2 0.0145 4.71276 0.009 140 115 1 0.0087 4.72145 0.009 141 117 2 0.0171 4.73855 0.009 142 131 0 0 4.73855 0.009 143 77 1 0.013 4.75153 0.009 144 150 2 0.0133 4.76487 0.009 145 157 1 0.0064 4.77124 0.008 146 129 2 0.0155 4.78674 0.008 147 176 3 0.017 4.80379 0.008 148 199 6 0.0302 4.83394 0.008 149 202 0 0 4.83394 0.008 150 78 0 0 4.83394 0.008 151 237 0 0 4.83394 0.007 table 2: (continued) table 3: reported cases covid-19 monthly in kurdistan region months cases deaths october (2020) 28234 717 november (2020) 20591 691 december (2020) 6768 929 january (2021) 2703 86 february (2021) 2875 53 deaths are being noted. this indicates that there are balances of surviving the disease at the first period of the infection, provided the infected persons take adequate medical aid. invariably, as shown in table 2, the more the virus stays in the body, the lower the probability of survival or the chance of recovery from the disease. it’s worth noting that the survival rate follows a specific pattern. as the value of m increases, the estimate values drop. this is due to the fact that the number of cases and deaths included in the study follow the same trend. both the number of cases and the number of deaths recorded increased during the study period. in practice, if the results of this study are used to predict a future epidemic of this virus, an average of 2476 infected people out of a 61171infected people are predicted to die, because the survival chance for that duration is 0.97. this projection will be accurate or true if interventions targeted at reducing risk factors and ensuring adequate access to health care are not implemented properly and efficiently. when life’s quality is poor, it will be brief. figure 2: the nelson aalen estimate of s(t) ( ) 1 0 0.97 0 1 0.93 1 2 0.90 2 3 0.882 3 4 0.850 4 5 0.818 5 6 0.792 6 7 0.761 7 8 . . . . . . 0.009 142 143 0.009 143 144 0.009 144 m m m m m m m m m m < ≤ < ≤ < ≤ < ≤ < ≤ < ≤ < ≤ < ≤ < ≤ < ≤ na ts 145 0.008 145 146 0.008 146 147 0.008 147 148 0.008 148 149 0.008 149 150 0.007 150 151 m m m m m m m                        < ≤  < ≤  < ≤ < ≤  < ≤  < ≤  < ≤                           obed, et al.: the estimation of (covid-19) cases in krg 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 24-31 conclusion and recommendation conclusion during conducting the nelson allen estimator from covied-19 cases and according to the results from the practical part the following conclusions have been drawn: 1. the number of novel coronavirus cases reported was unusually high. it was in the thousands. this demonstrates how easily the virus can be spread from one person to another or from an animal to a person 2. if prevention efforts were not made in a timely manner, the number could rise to a million. in this study, it was discovered that some people may be infected with this virus without realizing it because the symptoms of infection are not visible 3. these individuals infect others without even realizing it. according to the findings, those who have recently been exposed to the disease have a better chance of surviving if medical assistance is provided without severe or timeconsuming requirements. recommendation this study suggests that those who are unsure if they have contracted the disease due to a lack of symptoms should consult a doctor right once for tests. every country’s government should establish a free testing center for such validation. making it free and easily available will encourage everyone who is sick to do a confirmatory test. this will help to slow the disease’s spread. since the virus first appeared in wuhan, this study suggests using the wuhan preventive approach to keep the infection from spreading or infecting humans. wuhan prevention concept • wash your hands/body regularly • use nose cover/mask • have your hotness/coldness of your body checked • avoid unnecessary crowd • never touch sensitive parts of your body with unclean hands/materials/equipment. references 1. d. abbas. analysis of breast cancer data using kaplan-meier survival analysis. journal of kufa for mathematics and computer, vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 7-14, 2012. 2. t. d.bluhmki. the wild bootstrap for multivariate nelson-aalen estimators. lifetime data analysis, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 97-127, 2019. 3. r. l. cao. presmoothed kaplan-meier and nelson-aalen estimators. journal of nonparametric statistics, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 31-56, 2005. 4. c. a. el-nouty. the presmoothed nelson-aalen estimator in the competing risk model. communications in statistics-theory and methods, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 135-151, 2005. 5. d. a. luo. bias and mean-square error for the kaplan-meier and nelson-aalen estimators. journal of nonparametric statistics, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 37-51, 1993. 6. r. a. jiang. a bias-corrected nelson-aalen estimator. in: iop conference series: materials science and engineering. vol. 1043. changsha: iop publishing, p. 022013, 2021. 7. a. a. winnett. adjusted nelson-aalen estimates with retrospective matching. journal of the american statistical association, vol. 97, no. 457, pp. 245-256, 2002. 8. a. s. rossa. the nelson-aalen and kaplan-meier estimators under a sequential sampling scheme. communications in statisticstheory and methods, vol. 38, no. 16-17, pp. 3077-3098, 2009. 9. h. a. zhang. on nelson-aalen type estimation in the partial koziol-green model. statistics, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 455-465, 2010. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 38-45 research article simulation of moving target indication radar system based on vissim/comm application husham j. ahmad, ghassan a. qasmarrogy department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract moving target indication (mti) is mainly designed to detect moving targets while unmoving targets are filtered out. it focuses on the technique of the modern stationary target indication, using directly the signal details to determine the reflecting object’s mechanical properties, after that it becomes easier to find moving or non-moving targets. this paper presents the simulation design of the mti radar system. the main purpose of this design is to help students in understanding the radar system subject and help teachers to explain this subject in a simpler approach. both students and teachers need to know how the signals inside the mti radar processor are working and how they are generated and related to each other. this paper introduces a method of simulation of mti radar signals including, a-scope radar display, transmitted and returned radar pulses with constant and multiple pulse repetition frequency, n-delay line cancellers. keywords: moving target indicator radar, pulse doppler radars, signal processing, n-delay line canceller, multiple pulse repetition frequency. introduction radar is an abbreviation of radio detection and ranging[1] when there is no way to detect an object such as video recording for an area such as manet.[2] the main application of the old radar was to measure the distance (or range) from the position of the radar to the place of the target and measure the azimuth angle (direction) of the required target. nowadays, modern radars can do much more than this such as 3d-radar which can measure the height of the target. moreover, moving target indicator (mti) radars can measure the speed of the target as well as the other stated parameters. the principle of operation of mti radar depends on the doppler effect, and this type of radar is considered a very useful device to measure the speed of targets as well as detecting the motion of moving targets. the plan position indicator display of mti radars will not show the nonmoving targets as well as the very slow-moving targets, and this will make the display of the radar more cleaner and this will reduce the processing time which is required which is very important in digital radars. it also removes the return signals of stationary objects (clutters), in addition to detecting moving targets. the delay line canceller (dlc) can be used to accomplish this. figure 1 shows a principle of radar operation. in this paper, a design of the mti radar system will be simulated and analyzed, to give a deep understanding of the radar systems and overall assessment of the teaching process. the importance of this paper is to introduce a different method of simulating the mti radar signals including, using a-scope radar display, transmitted and returned radar pulses with constant and multiple pulse repetition frequency (prf), n-dlc. the organizing of the rest of the paper will be as follows, in section two explanations of some other author’s related work will be written, section three shows briefly explanations of the radar system design and components. in section four, the simulation of mti radar system with vissim/comm 6.0 will be introduced. finally, section five will conclude the paper. related work recent papers were published that focuses on different radar system techniques, in[3] different signal processing approaches were simulated and presented by a software-defined radar (sdr), along with an overview of how sdrs are used to implement baseline radar functionality. all of these techniques corresponding author: ghassan a. qasmarrogy, department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ghassan.qasmarrogy@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 14, 2021 accepted: october 10, 2021 published: october 30, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021.pp38-45 copyright © 2021 husham j. ahmad, ghassan a. qasmarrogy. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ahmad and qasmarrogy: simulation of mti radar 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 38-45 were applied to the mti issue, and examples of several signatures of moving target were displayed. in ridder and narayanan[4], the operational reliability metric is used to assess an mti radar’s ability to detect a moving target in a variety of situations. a ground-based mti radar in the radar scenario examined might detect a small aircraft. the obtained signal is also subjected to mti processing to eliminate the effects of stationary ground clutter. in qasmarrogy[5], the auther by evaluating throughput, retransmission attempt, and delay parameters, a thorough review of fanet will be performed to assess and improve these problems of detection and recording video for an objects with different video formats, mobility models, and ieee 802.11 n standards for best results. the design of radar components[6] in the following section, a full explanation of the radar design components will be explained, with all the required figures, tables and equations. the principle of doppler frequency shift the change in return signal frequency is called doppler shift and this occurs whenever there is a motion of two objects. this might occur between two objects one is moving and the other is stationary, or both of the objects are moving. mti radars exploit this doppler phenomenon. when the mti radar transmits an electromagnetic wave of a specified frequency, the return signal (echo) frequency will be shifted. this frequency shift will depend on whether the target is closing or opening for the radar movement. the echo signal frequency will be higher if the target is closing to the radar and this frequency increment is equal to the doppler frequency shift (fd). on the other hand, the returned signal will be lower for the case of opening (getting away from the radar) targets. differences between mti and pulse doppler (pd) radars the mti and pd radars are in principle dependent on the doppler frequency shift.[1] the main difference between these two radars is the prf and other parameters. mti radars use low prf, while pd radars use high and medium prf. in mti radars, there will be in general unambiguous in range and ambiguity in velocity (doppler shift frequency, fd), while in pd radars, ambiguity in the range may occur and unambiguity in velocity for high prf. in medium prf pulse radar, ambiguity in both range and velocity may occur. other than the prf difference between mti and pd radars is the usual improvement factor (if) need not be improved. on other hand, in pd radars improvement in if is required. magnetron oscillator is usually used in mti radar transmitters, while high power klystron oscillators are used in pd radars. analog dlc is commonly used in mti radars, while pd radars use an analog bank of filters. less clutter echo signals are received in mti radars while more clutter signals are received by pd radars. basic principles of mti radar operation[7] an mti radar system block diagram is presented in figure 2. the main difference between mti radars and other ordinary radars is the application of a reference signal generator. figure 2 shows that there is a highly coherent oscillator (coho) is used as a reference oscillator. this coho oscillator is characterized as a stable oscillator and its frequency is the same as the intermediate frequency (if) used in the receiver. moreover, the output of the coho is also mixed with the local very high-frequency stable oscillator (stalo). the returned echo signal is mixed with the stalo signal so that to produce the if signal exactly such as the superheterodyne receiver principle. it can be seen that these two oscillators serve in the receiver and transmitter modes. incoherent mti radar, the transmitted signal must be in phase (coherent) with the receiver reference signal. this can be performed by generating the transmitted signal from a trace of the coho reference signal as shown in figure 2. the stalo’s job is to provide the appropriate frequency conversion between the if and the transmitted frequency. although the phase of the stalo affects the phase of the transmitted signal, every stalo phase change is canceled at transmission because the stalo that produces the transmitted signal also serves as the receiver’s local oscillator. both the coho comparison signal and the if echo signal are fed into the phase detector, which is a mixer. since the phase detector’s contribution is equal to figure 2: block diagram of moving target indication radarfigure 1: principle of radar operation ahmad and qasmarrogy: simulation of mti radar 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 38-45 the phase difference between the two input signals, it differs from a standard amplitude detector. the n-delay-line canceller[6,8] the output of the phase detector of mti radar is shown in figure 2, and this is sent to a dlc. figure 3 shows an example of a block diagram for a time-domain filter.[6] the application of the delay-line canceller is found in mti radars that use pulse modulation. the typical value (maybe several milliseconds) of the delay line is set to be equal to the pulse repetition time prt, tp (1/prf). the magnitude of these values of delay lines cannot be achieved with electromagnetic wave transmission lines. therefore, one can achieve these values by converting the electromagnetic waves to an acoustic wave. this technique is adopted in analog dlc, and this is mainly because the velocity of acoustic waves is much less than the electromagnetic waves. when the required delay is achieved by the acoustic delay line, the signal is converted back to an electromagnetic signal for further signal processing. the acoustic delay lines were made using delay lines filled using liquid material with either water or mercury and they were large and inconvenient, and they were replaced by another technique that utilizes solid fused-quartz line which uses multiple internal reflections and they get a compact component. with the revolution of digital electronics, these analog delay lines are replaced by storage devices using digital signal processors. the application of digital delay lines requires changing the output of the mti radar receiver phase detector to be quantized first in such a way to get a sequence of digital words. using digital signal processing, delay lines become compact as well as convenient to use in mti radars. moreover, in analog dlc, it was very difficult to get more than two delay cancellers, while using digital techniques; one can obtain more complex dlc that were not possible with analog. other techniques that might be used in some forms of mti radars instead of dlc are by adopting a bank of contiguous doppler filters. frequency response of single sdlc[1,9] the received signal from a target at range ro at the output of the phase detector.[1] v1 = k sin(2πfdt – φo) (1) where fd = doppler frequency shift, φo is a constant phase = 4πro/λ, ro = target range at time equal to zero, λ = wavelength, and k = is the amplitude of the signal. the signal from previous radar transmission is similar, but it is delayed by a time tp = pulse repetition interval and can be written as: v2 = k sin(2πfd(t-tp) – φo)) (2) the delay-line canceler subtracts these two signals, and we v=v1-v2=2k sin(πfdtp) cos(2πfd(t-tp/2) – φo)) (3) the frequency response function of the sdlc is: h(f) = 2 sin (π fd tp) (a) (4) h(f) = 2 sin (π fd/fp) (b) where fp = is the prf. the frequency response magnitude function is sketched in figure 4. figure 3: delay canceller block diagram figure 4: frequency response of single delay line canceller figure 5: moving target indication radar simulated blocks using vissim/comm 6.0 ahmad and qasmarrogy: simulation of mti radar 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 38-45 target blind speeds the output of sdlc will be zero whenever the value of sin (π fd/fp) is zero and this will occur when πfd/fp = 0, ±π,±2π,±3π, (5) therefore fd = 2 � vr λ = n tp � = n fp (6) the blind speed can be found as: vn = nλfp/2 n= 1,2,3 (7) when two or more prfs are used in radar, the blind speeds at one prf generally are different from the blind speeds at the other prfs. thus, targets that are highly attenuated with one prf might be readily seen with another prf. this technique is widely used with air-surveillance radars, especially those for civil air-traffic control. a disadvantage of a multiple-prf waveform is that multiple-time-around clutter echoes (from regions beyond the maximum unambiguous range) are not canceled. simulation of mti radar system with vissim/comm 6.0 vissim/comm software was originally designed for modeling and simulating end-to-end communication networks at the signal or physical level. vissim/comm offers swift and reliable solutions for analog, wireless, and mixed-mode communication device designs with a complete complement of communication blocks and an efficient time-domain simulation engine. in this paper, the vissim/comm 6.0 software is used for simulating mti radar signal processing. the simulated mti radar block diagram is shown in figure 5, while the subblocks of mti radar parameters diagram is shown in figure 6. generation of simulated mti radar signals figure 5 shows the simulation blocks of mti radar using vissim/comm 6.0 software. block (1) shown in figure 5 illustrates how the input data of the simulated mti radar is entered using vissim software. block(1) includes two subblocks: block(1.1) & blok(1.2): the details of these two sub-blocks are illustrated in figure 7. figure 7: details of block diagrams of block (1.1) and block (1.2) figure 6: sub-blocks of figure 5 ahmad and qasmarrogy: simulation of mti radar 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 38-45 in this simulation, all values of frequency shown are scaled up and not actual. moreover, the doppler frequency values are exaggerated, so that the doppler frequency, fd, can be displayed on a frequency spectrum analyzer (usually fr >> fd). simulation of a-scope mti radar display figure 8 shows the simulation result of the a-scope mti radar. it simulates two targets at two different ranges 50 and 100 km and moving with different velocities, represented by two doppler frequencies fd1 and fd2. simulation of various mti radar signals simulation of mti radar signals is presented in figure 5 as blocks. one of the major evaluations of signals is the frequency spectrum. the frequency spectrum at specified blocks is shown in figure 9. simulation of dlc and multiple prf in mti radar referring to the simulated mti block diagram, figure 5, the last blocks are n-dlc and multiple prf. simulation of n-dlc in this paper, three types of dlc are simulated and two targets of different speeds fd1 = 1500 hz and fd2 = 2500 hz. it is also assumed that the radar is transmitting pulses of prf, prf = 1 khz. figure 10 shows the simulation of n-delay canceller, for n = 1, 2, and 3. in simulation of multiple prf mti radar most airport radars use multiple prf so that to avoid blind speeds. simulation for this case is shown in figure 11. it is assumed in this case that we have three prfs values, namely, 1.5 khz, 2.5 khz, and 3.5 khz. figure 8: simulation of a-scope moving target indication radar display b a ahmad and qasmarrogy: simulation of mti radar 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 38-45 figure 9: frequency spectrum (a-h) at points indicated in figure 5 d h c g b f a e ahmad and qasmarrogy: simulation of mti radar 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 38-45 in this case of simulation, it is seen that one of the targets is blinded (target with fd = 1.5 khz), and this obviously because it has the same value of prf1. when the radar switched to other prfs, this target appeared. conclusions in the simulation of a radar signal processing system using vissim/comm, a system model can be formed rapidly, and the design concept can be reflected in each step of the simulation. simulation of radar signals with vissim/comm software is featured by a short modeling time and a high calculation accuracy. the simulated mti radar model is mainly designed for educational purposes to help undergraduate as well as graduate students to a better and fast understanding of the subject. the model and evaluation result can be revised, and the system behavior can be verified at any phase of the design. in this paper, the staggered (multiple prf) methods are simulated to give more insight into the subject of blind figure 10: results of simulation of n-delay line cancellers and the sub-block of n-dlc. figure 11: simulation of multiple pulse repetition frequency of moving target indication radar ahmad and qasmarrogy: simulation of mti radar 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 38-45 speeds in mti radar systems. as a future work, the simulation may include the effect of external (or deliberate) noise on the performance of mti radar system. moreover, simulation of constant false alarm (cfar) could be simulated in mti radars. references 1. m. skolnik. introduction to radar systems. ieee aerospace and electronic systems magazine, vol. 16, no. 10, pp. 19-19, 2001. 2. h. j. alqaysi, and g. a. qasmarrogy. performance analysis of video streaming application over manets routing protocols. international journal of research in computer applications and robotics, vol. 3, pp.22-28, 2015. 3. k. ranney, k. gallagher, d. galanos, a. hedden, r. cutitta, s. freeman, c. dietlein, b. kirk, b and r. narayanan. softwaredefined radar: recent experiments and results. in: radar sensor technology. vol. 10633. united states: international society for optics and photonics, p. 106331e, 2018. 4. t. d. ridder and r. m. narayanan. operational reliability of a moving target indication (mti) radar. in: radar sensor technology. vol. 11408. united states: international society for optics and photonics, p. 114080z, 2020. 5. g. qasmarrogy. evaluation of flying ad hoc network topologies, mobility models, and ieee standards for different video applications. aro-the scientific journal of koya university, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 77-88, 2021. 6. m. i. skolnik. radar handbook. 2nd ed. united states: mcgrawhill education, 1990. 7. d. k. barton. modern radar system analysis. norwood: artech house, 1988. 8. m. skolnik. opportunities in radar-2002. electronics and communication engineering journal, vol. 14, no. 6, pp. 263-272, 2002. 9. a. farina. introduction to radar signal and data processing: the opportunity. italy: selex sistemi integrati rome, 2006. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 46-51 research article automatic classification of coronavirus disease-19 chest x-ray images using local binary pattern and binary particle swarm optimization for feature selection bazhdar n. mohammed1, firas h. al-mukhtar2, raghad z. yousif1, yazen s. almashhadani3 1department of physics, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq, 2department of information technology and computer science, catholic university in erbil, iraq, 3department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract novel coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) is a type of pandemic viruses that causes respiratory tract infection in humans. the clinical imaging of chest x-ray (cxr) by computer-aided diagnosis (cad) plays an essential role in identifying the patients infected by covid-19. the objective of this paper presents a cad method for automatically classifying 110 frontal cxr images of contagious people according to normal and covid-19 infection. the proposed method contains four phases: image enhancement, feature extraction, feature selection, and classification. gaussian filter is performed to de-noise the images and adaptive histogram equalization for image enhancement in the pre-processing step for better decision-making. local binary pattern features set are extracted from the dataset. binary particle swarm optimization is considered to select the clinically relevant features and develop a robust model. the successive features are fed to support vector machine and k-nearest neighbor classifiers. the experimental results show that the system robustness in classification covid-19 from normal images with average accuracy 94.6%, sensitivity 96.2%, and specificity 93%. keywords: computer-aided diagnosis, chest-x-ray, coronavirus disease 2019, local binary pattern, binary particle swarm optimization, classification introduction at the end of december 2019, a new type of worldwide outbreak, coronavirus: the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2), is called novel coronavirus (coronavirus disease 2019 [covid-19]) has been announced in wuhan, china. after that, it was declared a global health emergency by the centre of disease control and prevention (cdc) and the world health organization (who).[1] since the past two decades, other known case of a typical pneumonia sars-cov has been discovered originating from a healthcare worker in guangdong province, china.[2] sars-cov was a relatively rare epidemic disease; the incidence killed approximately 800 persons among 8437 infected cases which belongs to 11% case of fatality rate.[3] furthermore, 9 years after guangdong’s plague, another type of this virus is middle east respiratory syndrome (mers) identified in saudi arabia in 2012, also known as camel flu, because it is believed this kind originated from the camel then transported to humans by contacting.[4] during the tests, many differences and similarities in the symptoms, screening features, and management of corona disease types have been identified. the rapid rate in spreading of covid-19 is considered one of the main diversities of nowadays novel coronavirus.[5] nowadays, many radiological images are captured in medical centers and hospitals. still, defects in diagnostic tools are one of the major problems that all countries face during the initial stages of this pandemic disease. for these reasons, fast, reliable screening of covid-19 is very crucial and impressive. besides therapeutic and clinical guides, imaging provides extra help to the physicians, and it helps to control the disease from cross-infection effectively. the american college of radiology suggests that chest x-ray (cxr) may be advised to reduce the risk of spreading.[6] computed tomography (ct)/cxr tool for imaging is one of the key components besides the corresponding author: bazhdar n. mohammed, department of physics, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq. e-mail: bazhdar.sh.mohammed@su.edu.krd received: may 16, 2021 accepted: october 18, 2021 published: november 10, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021.pp46-51 copyright © 2021 bazhdar n. mohammed, firas h. al-mukhtar, raghad z. yousif1, yazen s. almashhadani. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mohammed, et al.: covid-19 chest x-ray images 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 46-51 clinical assessments that may help early screening suspected pneumonia cases. moreover, cxr is a convenient and low-cost modality for clinical screening and follow-up many pulmonary diseases.[7] the images of various viral pneumonia are similar and they overlap with other infectious during exposure dose that makes a poor contrast. as a result, it may not be easy for radiologists to differentiate covid-19 from normal chest images in some screening cases that may lead to make a wrong decision about the patient’s situation.[8] throughout this pandemic, many groups and researchers have reported different systems of covid-19 pneumonia detection by using computed aided diagnosis (cad). the cad consists of pre-processing, features extraction and selection, classification, and post-processing techniques. the main purpose of this work-study is to develop a cad program for screening and classifying ct/cxr images according to normal and covid-19 on a small data set that will be useful in decreasing the workload of healthcare personnel. the contributions provided to this study is (1) implementation diagnosis system for enhancement the images using gaussian filter, (2) the usage of local binary pattern (lbp) to extract the texture features from the images, and (3) performing the classification technique using k-nearest neighbor (knn) and support vector machine (svm) classifier for obtaining suitable accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and precision. during the spreading of covid-19 as a pandemic disease till now, researchers have tried to use different machine learning techniques to classify the patient’s diagnostic tests based on radiological images that assist the doctors for accurate clinical decision which reduced the number of deaths. abbas et al. suggested a method for classifying covid-19 images in xrd diagnostic images by performing a transfer algorithm. the feature vector of datasets is classified based on convolution neural network (cnn) technique.[9] another intelligence system was proposed by purohit et al.[10] to separate covid-19 infected x-ray and ct scan images of chest based on k-mean clustering as an unsupervised method for feature extraction; then the images are classified by cnn machine learning technique. to identify covid-19 cases from normal images narin et al.[11] proposed a method deep cnn. for this purpose, the dataset was divided into two parts: 80% for the training phase and 20% for the testing phase based on 5-fold cross validation. in elasnaoui et al.[12] the authors presented a deep learning model that allowed to detect covid-19 from healthy people using cxr images using recent deep learning methods. method and materials the proposed methodology for the covid_19 cxr image diagnosis system passes through the fundamental steps in machine learning data acquisition, image pre-processing, feature extraction, feature selection, and classification steps. the proposed method is shown in figure 1. data acquisition data acquisition was retrieved from an open dataset of covid-19 cases with ct/cxr. the database is already publicly available in github and it includes complete mailing addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses. this document represents the stage-two template.[8] this collaborative open data source allows radiologists and researchers to develop a machine learning model for covid-19. for this work, 110 digital radiographic images were used and equally distributed on normal and covid-19 cases. pre-processing in the pre-processing step, the data were prepared to maximize the diversity between the intensity of pixels and improve the accuracy of classification results.[13] here, at first, the images were resized to (576 × 576) to reduce the processing time and a gaussian filter was performed to minimize the noise; then, adaptive histogram equalization was applied to increase the contrast and image qualification improvement. feature extraction feature extraction plays an essential role in any classification task. medical images of different categories usually appeared by three matrices: object, edge, and background, which can be distinguished with their feature characteristics.[14] if the features are precisely selected, the classification result will provide helpful information and pattern to distinguish between the normal and covid-19 images. lbp is an effective set of texture descriptor that thresholds the intensity of neighboring pixels based on the value of the central pixel.[15] having a value equal or greater than the threshold pixel will assign the bit 1 and the remaining others whose values are smaller than the central pixel value will have bit 0. a bit vector is formed by restricting all these binary digits in a clockwise motion. the decimal point of the central pixel can be achieved by converting the binary sequences. mathematically, the lbp for every pixel is represented as: [16] lbr p r f g gp c p p p ( , ) ( )� � � � � 2 0 1 (1) where p denotes the total number of pixels surrounding the central pixel in radius r. furthermore, gp, and gc represent the intensity of central pixel and neighbor pixels, respectively. in the lbp feature vector, each central pixel in (x,y) image is surrounded by eight neighbors if the radius of circulation (r) equals one. at the same time, the central value is equal to the threshold value of any neighbor pixel. feature selection the role of feature selection is to simplify the model by making a vector with relevant features, shorter training time, and reducing the over fitting case because a real dataset contains statistically irrelevant features that may create a problem in classification tasks.[17,18] nowadays, the binary particle swarm optimization (bpso) metaheuristic algorithm is considered as an effective modern technique for feature selection with less running consumption figure 2.[19] it works based on a set of candidate solutions of randomly generated particles. the particles are moving around the search space to find the global best-optimized solution due to mathematical formula over both particle’s position x and velocity v. according to the used objective function, global best (gbest) and local best (lbest) of moving particles will be initiated in regards to the optimization problem. then, after mohammed, et al.: covid-19 chest x-ray images 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 46-51 each iteration, the particles try to update their positions and velocities according to the particle’s last destination and best moving, which the best candidate records until the searching process is completed.[20] the next position and velocity for each particle can be determined by: x x vid t id t id t� �� �1 1 (2) v w v c r p x c r p xid t id t id id t gd id t� � � � � �1 1 1 2 2* * ( ) * ( ) (3) where pid and pgd represent lbest and gbest, respectively, in the dth dimension. c1 and c2 are acceleration constants. r1 and r2 are random change values between 0 and 1. w is inertia weight to set up a balance between previous and current velocity, which refers to exploitation and exploration [table 1]. with defining the construction factor (k), the update of eq. (3) becomes: v k v c r p x c r p xid t id t id id t gd id t� � � � � �1 1 1 2 2* * ( ) * ( ) (4) where k � � � � 2 2 42� � and ϕ=c1+c2, c1+c2< 4 (5) under the equation’s balance, mathematically equation w from eq. (3) is equal. once the relevant features were selected, passed features were labeled and split into training and testing sets based on a 10-fold cross-validation strategy. class 0 refers to the normal images and class 1 determines the presence of covid-19 disease. classification image classification is an important step for observing whether the model can classify infected images from normal images or not. two classification methods svm and knn were performed figure 1: flow chart of proposed methodology mohammed, et al.: covid-19 chest x-ray images 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 46-51 table 1: binary particle swarm optimization algorithmic parameters for searching the best solution by swarms algorithm parameter name value bpso up (upper band) 10 bpso lb (lower band) −10 bpso cognitive component (c1) 2 bpso social component (c2) 2 bpso maximum inertia (wmax) 0.9 bpso minimum inertia (wmin) 0.4 bpso population size 10 bpso iteration 100 on training and testing datasets. svm classifier determines the best hyperplane to distinguish positive and negative training samples.[21] it can project the low dimensional input data in a higher dimensional feature by choosing the proper kernel function that separates cases of class labels linearly in multidimensional space.[22] knn captures the idea of similarity with some mathematics, we might have learned in calculating the distance between the points on the graph. the selection of a suitable value of distance (k) makes the model’s performance better.[23] the confusion matrix was used to better describe the gained classification models and understand which data classes are most often misplaced when it makes a prediction. each column of the matrix corresponds to a predicted classes and the row represents the actual classes. the number of incorrect and correct predictions is summarized with count values. the system scores perfectly when all the classified rates locate at the diagonal position of the matrix. if any data is misclassified, the values have deviated from diagonal cells.[24,25] finally, the performance of the model was calculated using following performance measurement equations: accuracy= (tp+tn)/(tp+tn+fp+fn) (6) sensitivity= tp/(tp+fn) (7) specificity= tn/(tn+fp) (8) precision= tp/(tp+fp) (9) results and discussion all the analysis was done in matlab 2016 software with intel core i5, 2.4 ghz, and 6 gb ram. the analysis of image preprocessing outcomes is shown in figures 3 and 4. eight neighbor points (p = 8) with central radius (r=1) are applied with uniform patterns; hence, the feature vector length reduces from 256 gray scale to 59 binary patterns. among 59 lbp extracted features, only 20 features were remained by bpso feature selection which is statistically significant in medical imaging and other irrelevant features were canceled from the feature vector. the best solution achieved by the objective function in bpso is 0.87 [figure 5]. in table 2, the performance measurements comparison is represented applying different functions (linear, polynomial, gaussian) for svm and (fine, cubic, weighted) knn. for passed features dataset, the svm (gaussian) classifier achieves the best accuracy 94.6%, sensitivity 96.2%, specificity 93%, and precision 92.7%. the performance measurements are calculated by applying eq. (6) to eq. (9). the confusion matrix of the proposed method is tabulated in table 3. in figure 6, the performance measurements comparison is represented applying different functions (linear, polynomial, and gaussian) for svm and (fine, cubic, weighted) knn. the passed features dataset, the svm (gaussian) classifier achieves the best accuracy 94.6%, sensitivity 96.2%, specificity 93%, and precision 92.7%. the performance measurements are calculated by applying eq. (6) to eq. (9). the confusion matrix of the proposed method is tabulated in table 2 below. figure 6 represents the bar graph to depict the comparison between the performance parameters of average specificity, table 2: confusion matrix representation gaussian support vector machine classification after ten-fold cross-validation actual case predicted case 51 4 55 2 53 55 53 47 110 figure 2: local binary pattern process over gray scale pixels with radius (r=1) and 8 neighbor pixels (a) observed pixel of gray scale image (b) binary encode between the center pixel and its neighbors (c) lbp string value and converted from binary to decimal a b c figure 3: results of affecting pre-processing filters on covid-19 cxr images (a) original resized image (b) image denoising using gaussian filter (c) image enhancement using adaptive histogram equalization b ca mohammed, et al.: covid-19 chest x-ray images 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 46-51 table 3: summarizes of classification results after calculation average accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and precision from the confusion matrices classifiers type accuracy (%) sensitivity (%) specificity (%) precision (%) knn fine 90.9 86.9 95.9 96.4 cubic 84.5 83.9 93.2 94.5 weighted 93.6 92.9 94.4 94.5 svm linear 91.8 77.9 82.4 76.4 polynomial 92.7 94.3 82.4 94.5 gaussian 94.6 96.2 93 92.7 sensitivity, and precision values achieved by weighted knn and gaussian svm. for sake of a fair comparison between proposed work and the work presented in baity[26] this research did not use any feature selection algorithm whereas in the proposed work an intelligent feature selection strategy has been used which is based on a practical swarm optimization (bio-inspired technique), which is served as effective tool to filter out all irrelevant features before classification stage. in addition, two this work proposed two types of classifiers (svm and k-nn), whereas in baity[26] only one classifier (k-nn) had been suggested. eventually, the maximum accuracy attained is 94.6%for covid -19 virus detection which outperform the system best recognition accuracy attained in baity[26] which was only 93.9%. conclusion since a few days after spreading this outbreak, many cad methods for diagnosing covid-19 have been proposed. there is no doubt that early detection by imaging machines can survive the current rate of contagious patients. till now, many attempts are under progress to improve the performance measurements in data imaging for helping the doctors to diagnose that disease precisely. in this study for automatically classify 110 frontal cxr images according to normal, and covid-19 stages, lbp was used to extract the texture features from the images after pre-processing step. the clinically significant features are selected by bpso. finally, the proposed method is evaluated by performing knn and svm classifiers. the results show that the system robustness in covid-19 detection. our experimental results show that the proposed method can be used as a second purpose to help the radiologists for classifying the frontal cxr images either positive or negative covid-19. references 1. m. y. ng, e. y. p. lee, j. yang, f. yang, x. li, h. wang, m. m. s. lui, c. s. y. lo, b. leung, p. l. khong, c. k. m. hui, k. y. yuen, and m. d. kuo. imaging profile of the covid-19 infection: radiologic findings and literature review. radiology: cardiothoracic imaging, vol. 2, no. 1, p. e200034, 2020. 2. m. thomas, g. ksiazek, d, erdman, c. s. goldsmith, s. r. zaki, t. peret, s. emery, s. tong, and c. urbani. respiratory and enteric virus branch. united states: national center for immunization and respiratory diseases, 2003. 3. m. chan-yeung, and r. xu. sars: epidemiology. respirology, vol. 8, pp. s9-s14, 2003. 4. a. zumla, d. s. hui, and s. perlman. middle east respiratory syndrome. the lancet, vol. 386, no. 9997, pp. 995-1007, 2015. 5. a. j. rodriguez-morales, j. a. cardona-ospina, e. gutiérrezocampo, r. villamizar-peña, y. holguin-rivera, j. p. escaleraantezana, l. e. alvarado-arnez, d. k. bonilla-aldana, c. franco-paredes, a. f. henao-martinez, a. paniz-mondolfi, g. j. lagos-grisales, e. ramírez-vallejo, j. a. suárez, l. i. zambrano, w. e. villamil-gómez, g. j. balbin-ramon, a. a. rabaan, h. harapan, k. dhama, h. nishiura, h. kataoka, t. ahmad, and r. sah. clinical, laboratory and imaging features of covid19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. travel medicine and infectious disease, vol. 34, p. 101623, 2020. 6. h. y. f. wong, h. y. s. lam, a. h. t. fong, s. t. leung, t. w. y. chin, c. s. y. lo, m. m. s. lui, j. c. y. lee, k. w. h. chiu, t. w. h. chung, figure 6: average accuracy taken by used classifiers figure 5: best score achieved by objective function versus iteration for binary particle swarm optimization figure 4: results of affecting pre-processing filters on normal cxr images (a) original resized image (b) image denoising using gaussian filter (c) image enhancement using adaptive histogram equalization b ca mohammed, et al.: covid-19 chest x-ray images 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 46-51 e. y. p. lee, e. y. f. wan, i. f. n. hung, t. p. w. lam, m. d. kuo, and m. y. ng. frequency and distribution of chest radiographic findings in covid-19 positive patients. radiology, vol. 296, no. 2, pp. 72-78, 2020. 7. l. fan, d. li, h. xue, l. zhang, z. liu, b. zhang, l. zhang, w. yang, b. xie, x. duan, x. hu, k. cheng, l. peng, n. yu, l. song, h. chen, x. sui, n. zheng, s. liu, and z. jin. progress and prospect on imaging diagnosis of covid-19. chinese journal of academic radiology, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 4-13, 2020. 8. m. e. h. chowdhury, t. rahman, a. khandakar, r. mazhar, m. a. kadir, z. b. mahbub, k. r. islam, m. s. khan, a. iqbal, n. al-emadi, m. b. i. reaz, and t. i. islam. can ai help in screening viral and covid-19 pneumonia? arxiv, vol. 8, pp. 132665–132676, 2020. 9. a. abbas, m. m. abdelsamea, and m. m. gaber. classification of covid-19 in chest x-ray images using detrac deep convolutional neural network. applied intelligence, vol. 51, no. 2, pp. 854-864, 2021. 10. k. purohit, a. kesarwani, d. r. kisku, and m. dalui. covid-19 detection on chest x-ray and ct scan images using multi-image augmented deep learning model. biorxiv. vol. 1, p. 205567, 2020. 11. a. narin, c. kaya, and z. pamuk. automatic detection of coronavirus disease (covid-19) using x-ray images and deep convolutional neural networks. pattern analysis and applications, vol. 24, pp. 1207-1220, 2021. 12. k. el asnaoui, and y. chawki. using x-ray images and deep learning for automated detection of coronavirus disease. journal of biomolecular structure and dynamics, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 36153626, 2020. 13. s. h. wady, r. z. yousif, and h. r. hasan. a novel intelligent system for brain tumor diagnosis based on a composite neutrosophic-slantlet transform domain for statistical texture feature extraction. biomed research international, vol. 2020, p. 8125392, 2020. 14. b. n. s. mohammed, and r. z. yousif. intelligent system for screening diabetic retinopathy by using neutrosophic and statistical fundus image features. zanco journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 30-39, 2019. 15. a. malhotra, a. sankaran, a. mittal, m. vatsa, and r. singh. fingerphoto authentication using smartphone camera captured under varying environmental conditions. in: human recognition in unconstrained environments: using computer vision, pattern recognition and machine learning methods for biometrics. netherlands: elsevier, pp. 119-144, 2017. 16. y. cai, g. xu, a. li, and x. wang. a novel improved local binary pattern and its application to the fault diagnosis of diesel engine. shock and vibration, vol. 2020, p. 9830162, 2020. 17. m. l. bermingham, r. pong-wong, a. spiliopoulou, c. hayward, i. rudan, h. campbell, a. f. wright, j. f. wilson, f. agakov, p. navarro, and c. s. haley. application of high-dimensional feature selection: evaluation for genomic prediction in man. scientific reports, vol. 5, p. 151, 2015. 18. s. w. lin, k. c. ying, s. c. chen, and z. j. lee. particle swarm optimization for parameter determination and feature selection of support vector machines. expert systems with applications, vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 1817-1824, 2008. 19. j. too, a. r. abdullah, and n. m. saad. a new co-evolution binary particle swarm optimization with multiple inertia weight strategy for feature selection. informatics, vol. 6, no. 2, p. 21, 2019. 20. v. kothari, j. anuradha, s. shah, and p. mittal. a survey on particle swarm optimization in feature selection. in communications in computer and information science, vol. 270, pp. 192-201, 2012. 21. l. r. fleah and s. a. al-aubi. a face recognition system based on principal component analysis-wavelet and support vector machines. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 14-20, 2019. 22. r. nisbet, g. miner, and k. yale. handbook of statistical analysis and data mining applications. cambridge, massachusetts: academic press, 2017. 23. s. jang, y. e. jang, y. j. kim, and h. yu. input initialization for inversion of neural networks using k-nearest neighbor approach. information science, vol. 519, pp. 229-242, 2020. 24. e. el-din hemdan, m. a. shouman and m. e. karar. covidx-net: a framework of deep learning classifiers to diagnose covid-19 in x-ray images. arxiv, vol. 2003, p. 11055, 2020. 25. d. r. j. ramteke, and k. y. monali. automatic medical image classification and abnormality detection using k-nearest neighbour. international journal of advanced computer research, vol. 2, no 4, p. 6, 2012. 26. s. baity. covid-19 detection for chest x-ray images using local binary pattern. international journal of emerging trends in engineering research, vol. 8, pp. 78-81, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 36-41 research article antibiotic susceptibility pattern, molecular characterization of virulence genes among pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from burn patients mustafa d. younis1*, omar f. bahjat1, sirwan a. rashid2 1department of general biology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of biomedical sciences, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. abstract in this research, a total of 150 samples were obtained from burn and wound patients admitted to the west erbil emergence hospital during period from september 2020 to january 2021. through cultural, morphological features, biochemical testing, and vitek 2 compact systems, 40 isolates of p. aeruginosa have been identified. p. aeruginosa produced various pigments, including blue/green and yellow/green. the isolates of p. aeruginosa were subjected to 14 different antibiotics. imipenem was the most effective antimicrobial agents against all p. aeruginosa isolates, and most of isolates showed high resistance degree to ampicillin 100%, chloramphenicol 100%, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid 100%, cefotaxime 100%, and penicillin 100% while for aztreonam 32.5%, meropenem 42.5%, tobramycin 45%, gentamycin 45%, amikacin 45%, ciprofloxacin 62.5%, ceftazidime 67.5%, and tetracycline 80%. all pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were screened using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (pcr) to check for the presence of pvda, lasb, protease, exoa, exot, exou, and plch on its genomic dna. the findings have shown that pvda was 55%, lasb 75%, protease 65%, exoa 60%, exot 75%, exou 60%, and plch 55% of isolates harbored these genes as a virulence genes. keywords: pseudomonas aeruginosa, burn patients, antibiotic resistance, virulence genes, and multiplex pcr introduction pseudomonas aeruginosa is a gram-negative aerobic non-spore rod with remarkable capacity to survive and persist under many environmental circumstances.[1] in both hospitals and communities, p. aeruginosa is a common, opportunistic human pathogen.[2] burning and wound infections are a challenge because they slow down the healing process, promote cicatrix, and can lead to bacteremia, sepsis (or organ failure) syndrome, however, organ from several systems cannot regulate homeostasis on its own and need immediate treatment.[3] the most severe pathogenic burn injuries are bacteria and fungi. multiple species biofilms are formed on burning injuries in 48–72 h of the wound injury.[4] organisms are acquired by the patient’s own skin, digestive, and respiratory flora, as well as association with contaminated environments and health-care providers.[5] the human skin is considered the principal protective layer of the body’s tissues and may contribute to damage and destruction of bacteria transmitted to the internal blood tissue, which is rich in proteins.[6] isolation and laboratory diagnosis is used to diagnose p. aeruginosa infection. this aerobic bacterium is needed and thrives in the majority of laboratory culture media. on pseudomonas agar (selective media) and cetrimide agar, bacteria can be isolated, warmth, no spores, flagella morphology, positive, exercise catalase, lactose intolerance (positive oxidase reaction), fruit odor (grape flavor), and ability to grow at 42°c are used to detect bacteria.[7] p. aeruginosa is a ubiquitous microorganism that can quickly develop resistance to various antibiotics of broad spectrum.[2] moreover, in recent years, resistance to a broad range of antibiotics by these microorganisms has made it difficult to treat infections caused and leads to higher death rates.[8] the development of soluble pyocyanin pigment, a water-soluble blue-green compound formed in large amounts, is one of p. aeruginosa characteristics. pyocyanin acts as an antibiotic against a variety of bacteria and fungi.[9] p. aeruginosa has a variety of virulence factors in corresponding author: mustafa d. younis, department of general biology, college of science, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mustafa.thanoon@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 5, 2021 accepted: june 15, 2021 published: june 30, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n1y2021.pp36-41 copyright © 2021 mustafa d. y. ali, omar f. bahjat, sirwan a. rashid. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) younis, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility, molecular characterization of virulence genes among p. aeruginosa 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 36-41 host defenses and infection. these factors include hemolysin production, pyocyanin production, gelatinase, and biofilm formation, which act by enhancing the damage of tissue and helping bacteria to avoid the action of antibiotics.[10] another virulence factor such as exotoxin a, exoenzyme s, elastase, and sialidase, which are powerfully controlled by cell-to-cell signals. exotoxin1a (eta) plays1a major role in the pathogenesis1of infections caused by1this organism as the primary virulence factor provided by most p. aeruginosa isolates. such exotoxins may contribute to leukopenia, acidosis, and blood circulation, necrosis of the liver, pulmonary edema, bleeding, and kidney tubular necrosis[11] so that the aim of this study is screening of antimicrobial sensitivity profile of p. aeruginosa and detection of certain virulence genes through pcr technique. materials and methods patients and samples collection one hundred and fifty samples were collected 1from patients admitted to west erbil emergency hospital, during the period from september 2020 to january 2021. following collection, each sample was cultured on different culture media and p. aeruginosa was identified by cultural characters, biochemical methods, and vitek 2 compact system. antibiotic sensitivity pattern the isolates were examined for antibiotic sensitivity in accordance with the national committee for clinica1 laboratory guidelines 1and the antimicrobial susceptibility testing protocols by disc diffusion method on muellerhinton agar.[12] adjustment of the bacterial inoculates to the clinical and laboratory standards institute of 0.5 mcfarland standards.[12] a sterile cotton swab was used to disperse the sample inoculum to mueller-hinton agar. the antimicrobial products tested, including: imipenem (ipm), ceftazidime (caz), ampicillin (am), aztreonam (atm), chloramphenicol (c), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (amc), amikacin (ak), cefotaxime (ctx), gentamycin (cn), ciprofloxacin (cip), tetracycline (te), penicillin (p), meropenem (mem), and tobramycin (tob) were placed aseptically and incubated overnight. the zones of inhibition were interpreted and measured.[12] color production by p. aeruginosa isolates all isolates had been inoculated on cetrimide agar, incubated for 18–24 h by streaking method at 37°c, and then, the pigment production was examined.[13] dna extraction protocol two hundred microliters of overnight growth were centrifuged for 30 s at 13,000 rpm, after that 1.5 ml was separated from supernatant in 2 ml microcentrifugal tube. the pellet has been dissolved in 200 μl tl buffer, then removed and fully mixed with 20 ul proteinase k solutions to achieve a uniform suspension. the sample has been incubated in the water bath at 56°c for 10 min until the cells have been completely lysed. two hundred microliters of gb buffer applied to the specimens, then by vortexing mixed thickly for approximately 15 s up to a uniform mixture and then incubated for 10 min at 56°c. then, 200 μl of absolute ethanol is added and pipetted or vortexes. the lysate transferred carefully without wetting the rim into the spin column reservoir for 1 min at 10,000 rpm, and the column 1centrifuged the collection tube then discharged containing the flow-through solution a new 2 ml tube has been placed with the genet bio genomic dna purification column. five hundred microliters of gw1 buffer were added0 then centrifuged for 1 min at 10,000 rpm, the flow-through discarded and the purification column placed back into the collection tube, 500 μl of gw2 was added to the genet bio genomic dna purification column, centrifuged for 1 min at 10,000 rpm. then after centrifuging the tube, remove the flow-through and reassemble the spin column with its collection tube, again, centrifuge at 12,000 rpm for 12 min to extract ethanol completely and check that the droplet is not attached at the bottom of the tube. then, 1.5 ml of the spin column moved to a new tube to do the elution. two hundred microliters of the elution buffer were added to the center of the genet bio genomic dna purification kit column membrane. the genomic dna elution kept a side at room temperature for 1 min and centrifuged for 1 min at 10,0000 rpm. then, the purified dna was immediately removed and stored at −20°c for further applications (primeprep genomic dna extraction kit, genet bio, korea) protocol of pcr technique pcr conducted for all genes was performed in a 25 μl of reaction volume. master mix tube contains l2.5 μl, forward and reverse primers with 1 μl for each primer, dna template 1 μl, and finally sterile (d. w) deionized water 9.5 μl.[14] detection of pvda, lasb, protease, exoa, exot, exou, and plch virulence genes in p. aeruginosa multiplex pcr also was used for the detection of pvda, lasb, protease, exoa, exot, exou and plch genes in pseudomonas aeruginosa genome as shown in table 1: protocol of agarose gel electrophoresis to perform gel electrophoresis, a method of judelson[15] was followed with minor modifications. adding 1.2 g agarose to 100 ml 1x tbe buffer was used as an agarose gel, the mixture melted for 1–2 min in the microwave oven or until it was apparent and fully dissolved. left to cool at 50°c, 10 μl of primary safe dye was carefully added to the agarose solution then thoroughly mixed with a gentle stirring. the tray borders are sealed with the tape and inserted into the tray the right comb. then, the agarose gradually poured in the tray and any bubbles were removed with a disposable tip, then kept away to the side at room temperature, the agarose solidified (15–30 min). the tape was removed from the tray and then the tray was placed in the electrophoresis tank. the tank was filled with more tbe buffers so that the ge1 is completely under buffer. the pcr product loaded into the wells (15 μl) with loading buffer. depending on the size of the pcr sample, the first well (5 ul) (1 kb or 100 bp) was used. the gel runs for 50 min at 100 v. finally, the uv transilluminator and gel photographed. younis, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility, molecular characterization of virulence genes among p. aeruginosa 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 36-41 table l: primers sequences, target genes, amplicon sizes and cycling conditions for conventional and multiplex pcr[14] target gene primer sequences amplified segment (bp) initial denaturation denaturation annealing extension final extension pvda f-gactcaggcaac tgcaac l28l 96°c 5 min 96°c 1 min 55°c 1 min 72°c 2 min 72°c 10 min r-ttcaggtgctgg tacagg lasb f-ggaatgaacgaagcg ttctc 300 96°c 5 min 96°c 1 min 55°c 1 min 72°c 2 min 72°c 10 min r-ggtccagtagtagcg gttgg protease fatttcgccgactcc ctgta 752 96°c 5 min 96°c 1 min 55°c 1 min 72°c 2 min 72°c 10 min r-gaatagacgccgctg aaatc exoa f-aaccagctcagccac atgtc 207 96°c 5 min 96°c 1 min 55°c 1 min 72°c 2 min 72°c 10 min rgctggcccattcgctccagcgct exot f-aatcgccgtccaactgca tgcg l52 96°c 5 min 96°c 1 min 55°c 1 min 72°c 2 min 72°c 10 minr-tgttcgccgaggtac tgctc exou f-ccgttgtggtgccgt tgaag l34 96°c 5 min 96°c 1 min 55°c 1 min 72°c 2 min 72°c 10 min r-ccagatgttcaccga ctcgc plch f-gaagccatgggctac ttcaa 307 96°c 5 min 96°c 1 min 55°c 1 min 72°c 2 min 72°c 10 min r-agagtgacgaggagc ggtag results and discussion collection of p. aeruginosa isolates a series of confirming tests were conducted to verify that out of 150 bacterial isolates only 40 belong to species of p. aeruginosa. these smear preparations of bacterial cells were gram-negative rods, non-spore forming, arranged in single or short chains. the colonies were thin, rough, or smooth on solid media with flat edges and high appearance, but some were mucoid in aspect. these isolates were found non-lactose ferment creating negative pale yellow colonies on macconkey agar and on blood agar shows β-hemolytic colonies. because of the production of the soluble pyocyanin and pyoverdin which are water soluble, the colonies were surrounded by bluish color on nutrient agar. the colonies pigments in selective media (cetrimide agar) are more apparent yellow-green pigment. biochemical tests confirmed p. aeruginosa burn contamination confines, biochemical testing was negative for indole, tsi, positive for oxidase and catalase, positive for citrate, positive for urease (slowly hydrolysis the urea), all p. aeruginosa 40 isolates had been also confirmed using vitek 2’s compact system bacterium id method. antimicrobial sensitivity screening test for p. aeruginosa forty p. aeruginosa isolates were screened for their resistance to (14) widely used antibiotics including amikacin, amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ampicillin, cefotaxime, penicillin, ciprofloxacin, chloramphenicol, gentamycin, imipenem, meropenem, tetracycline, ceftazidime, aztreonam, and tobramycin. the results of antibiotic resistance pattern for the bacteria1 isolates understudy are shown in table 2. olayinka[16] reported that 20% of p. aeruginosa isolated from clinical samples obtained from the surgical units of ahmadu bello university teaching hospital in nigeria were sensitive for imipenem which disagreed with our results, imipenem and meronem are ßlactam antibiotics that they have broad-spectrum activity against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.[17] all bacterial isolates displayed a low resistance and the majority of enterobacteriaceae isolates younis, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility, molecular characterization of virulence genes among p. aeruginosa 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 36-41 showed no resistance. it might be because they are reserve medicines and they are used as the last option in our hospital environment for multidrug-resistant bacteria which agreed with our result. ebrahimpour[18] reported that all p. aeruginosa isolated from burn patients were sensitive to imp. this may be attributed to the inability of p. aeruginosa to produce enzymes that degrade or inactivate the antibiotic. therefore, imp is the most effective drug for the treatment of infections caused by p. aeruginosa. in the case of fattma,[19] 98% of p. aeruginosa isolates resist amikacin, 96% for cefotaxime, 80% for rifampicin, 70% for ampicillin, 70% for augment, and 60% for doxycycline, which is near with our performance. resistance by p. aeruginosa can both be due to inducible of beta-lactamases, which can make cephalosporin of broad-spectrum inactive and to beta-lactamases mediated by plasmid, which can lead to several penicillin’s and ancient cephalosporin becoming resistant.[20] mechanisms of aminoglycoside resistance in clinical isolates are usually controlled by enzymatic antibiotic inactivation since nine different enzymes that are capable of catalyzing phosphorylation, acetylation, and aminoglycosides coradenylylation in bacteria had been described.[21] the development of p. aeruginosa multiresistant and its antibiotics mechanisms involves decreased cell permeability, efflux pumps, and changes in target enzymes and antibiotics inactivation.[22] detection of pvda, lasb, protease, exoa, exot, exou, and plch virulence genes by multiplex pcr in p. aeruginosa multiplex polymerase chain reaction (pcr) is a variant of pcr in which two or more loci are simultaneously amplified in the same reaction. since its first description in l988,[23] this method has been successfully applied in many areas of dna testing, including analyses of deletions,[24] mutations[25] and polymorphisms,[26] or quantitative assays[27] and reverse transcription pcr.[28] the role of various reagents in pcr has been discussed,[29] and protocols for multiplex pcr have been described by a number of groups. however, few studies[30] have presented an extensive discussion of some of the factors (e.g. primer concentration and cycling profile) that can influence the results of multiplex analysis. in the present study, 40 isolates of p. aeruginosa were tested for the detection of some virulence genes using polymerase chain reaction (multiplex). in our study, detection of virulence genes results showed that pvda was 55%, lasb 75%, protease 65%, exoa 60%, exot 75%, exou 60%, and plch 55% among tested strains, as shown in figures 1 and 2. other findings also showed that in 100 strains of p. aeruginosa, all the virulence genes studied were detected. therefore, the virulence genes studied might carry strains isolated from bovine meat, fresh fish, and smoked fish. the analysis revealed that the lasb genes are most frequently detected (89.0%) and exos genes (84.0%) which could be explained by the fact that p. aeruginosa, secrets elastase (lasb).[31] the previous studies showed a high lasb prevalence in p. aeruginosa despite its isolated origin.[32] another studies obtained by holban[33] also agreed with our results, who reported that lasb 55%, protease 75%, exot 95%, and plch 55%, these virulence genes were detected using multiplex pcr, in p. aeruginosa which isolated from wound secretions. mitov[34] also agrees with our results, who found that 100% for lasb and 71% for plch, the protease and lasb both genes encode for proteases activity, and they are found in the majority of tested strains, lending support to the phenotypic data demonstrating that isolates obtained from burned patients can undergo hemolysis. exos, exot, and exoa related exotoxins were distributed differently amongst the genes codified for the type iii secretion system (t3ss). the most positive for t3ss exotoxins which encode genes in isolates from burn patients were also followed by tracheobronchial isolates. exou, codified for a major enzyme involved in pyoverdine synthesis, codifies for a highly cytotoxic exoenzyme exou and pvda gene.[34] p. aeruginosa has been estimated to be involved in between 10% and 22.5% of hai both in adults and in children,[13] leading to increased costs for health care and prolonged hospital admission, respectively.[35] the clinical results of an infection with a combination of bacteria-related factors (intrinsic and table 2: percentage of resistance bacterial isolates to different antibiotics antibiotics symbo1 total no. of isolates no. of resistant isolates % of resistant amikacin ak 40 18 45 ampicillin am 40 40 100 amoxicillin-clavulanic acid amc 40 40 100 aztreonam atm 40 13 32.5 chloramphenicol c 40 40 100 ceftazidime caz 40 27 67.5 ciprofloxacin cip 40 25 62.5 gentamycin cn 40 18 45 cefotaxime ctx 40 40 100 imipenem imp 40 0 0 meropenem mem 40 17 42.5 penicillin p 40 40 100 tetracycline te 40 32 80 tobramycin tob 40 18 45 younis, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility, molecular characterization of virulence genes among p. aeruginosa 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 36-41 antimicrobial resistance, prevalence and persistence in the hospital environment, and cocktail expression of a virulence) and individual differences in host susceptibility. in favorable environmental conditions, bacterial virulence is reduced and greatly increased if stressful conditions arise.[36] conclusion p. aeruginosa showed resistance to most antibiotics, and imipenem was the most effective antibiotic against p. aeruginosa isolated from burn patients. seven virulence genes were detected through the amplification of pvda, lasb, protease, exoa, exot, exou, and plch by multiplex pcr. references 1. s. santajit and n. j. b. indrawattana. mechanisms of antimicrobial 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medicinal chemistry, vol. 6, p. pmc. s14459, 2014. 9. h. a. mohammed, h. s. yossef and f. i. mohammad. the cytotoxicity effect of pyocyanin on human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (hepg2). iraqi journal of science, vol. 55, no. 2b, pp. 668-674, 2014. 10. n. cevahir, m. demir, i. kaleli, m. gurbuz and s. tikvesli. evaluation of biofilm production, gelatinase activity, and mannose-resistant hemagglutination in acinetobacter baumannii strains. journal of microbiology, immunology and infection, vol. 41, no. 6, pp. 513-518, 2008. 11. f. g. tafesse, c. p. guimaraes, t. maruyama, j. e. carette, s. lory, t. r. brummelkamp and h. l. ploegh. gpr107, a g-protein-coupled receptor essential for intoxication by pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin a, localizes to the golgi and is cleaved by furin. journal of biological chemistry, vol. 289, no. 35, pp. 24005-24018, 2014. 12. clinical and laboratory standards institute. performance standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing. wayne, pa: clinical and laboratory standards institute, 2011. 13. h. loveday, j. wilson, k. kerr, r. pitchers, j. t. walker and j. browne. association between healthcare water systems and pseudomonas aeruginosa infections: a rapid systematic review. journal of hospital infection, vol. 86, no. 1, pp. 7-15, 2014. 14. a. simonetti, e. ottaiano, m. diana, c. onza and m. triassi. epidemiology of hospital-acquired infections in an adult intensive care unit: results of a prospective cohort study. annali di igiene, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 281-289, 2013. 15. h. judelson. gel electrophoresis. protocol: agarose gel electrophoresis using bio-rad, 2001. 16. a. olayinka, b. olayinka and b. a. onile. antibiotic susceptibility and plasmid pattern of pseudomonas aeruginosa from the surgical unit of a university teaching hospital in north central nigeria. international journal of medicine and medical sciences, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 79-83, 2009. figure 2: pcr amplification of plch, pvda, and protease virulence genes of p. aeruginosa through multiplex pcr, lanes 6 negative control, lanes 7, 8, 9, and 10 represent amplified genes with product size amplicon size (307 bp, 1281 bp, and 752 bp) of p. aeruginosa isolates, m representing the ladder 100 bp figure 1: pcr amplification of exot, exou, exoa, plch, pvda, lasb, and protease virulence genes of p. aeruginosa through multiplex pcr, lanes (l, 2, 3, 4, and 5) represent amplified genes with product size amplicon size (152 bp, 134 bp, 207 bp, 307 bp, 1281 bp, 300 bp, and 752 bp) of p. aeruginosa isolates, m representing the ladder 100 bp younis, et al.: antibiotic susceptibility, molecular characterization of virulence genes among p. aeruginosa 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 36-41 17. m. l. joly-guillou, m. kempf, j. d. cavallo, m. chomarat, l. dubreuil, j. maugein, c. m. serieys and m. roussel-delvallez. comparative in vitro activity of meropenem, imipenem and piperacillin/tazobactam against 1071 clinical isolates using 2 different methods: a french multicentre study. bmc infectious diseases, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1-9, 2010. 18. m. ebrahimpour, i. nikokar, y. ghasemi, h. s. ebrahim-saraie, a. araghian, m. farahbakhsh and f. ghassabi. antibiotic resistance and frequency of class 1 integrons among pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates obtained from wastewaters of a burn center in northern iran. annali di igiene, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 112-119, 2018. 19. a. fattma, m. ali, z. a. s. asaad and m. shkofa. isolation and identification of multi drug resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa causing wound infection in erbil city. international journal of research studies in science, engineering and technology, no. 4, 2017, pp. 30-36. 20. j. g. collee, t. j. mackie and j. e. mccartney. mackie and mccartney practical medical microbiology. united states: harcourt health sciences, 1996. 21. i. aibinu, t. nwanneka and t. odugbemi. occurrence of esbl and mbl in clinical isolates of pseudomonas aeruginosa from lagos, nigeria. journal of american science, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 81-85, 2007. 22. p. a. lambert. mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in pseudomonas aeruginosa. journal of the royal society of medicine, vol. 95, no. suppl 41, p. 22, 2002. 23. s. verheij, j. harteveld and t. sijen. a protocol for direct and rapid multiplex pcr amplification on forensically relevant samples. forensic science international: genetics, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 167-175, 2012. 24. c. s. carlson, r. o. emerson, a. m. sherwood, c. desmarais, m. w. chung, j. m. parsons, m. s. steen, m. a. lamadridherrmannsfeldt, d. w. williamson, r. j. livingston, d. wu, b. l. wood, m. j. rieder and h. robins. using synthetic templates to design an unbiased multiplex pcr assay. nature communications, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1-9, 2013. 25. y. achermann, m. vogt, m. leunig, j. wust and a. trampuz. improved diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection by multiplex pcr of sonication fluid from removed implants. journal of clinical microbiology, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 1208-1214, 2010. 26. b. richards, j. skoletsky, a. p. shuber, r. balfour, r. c. stern, h. l. dorkin, r. b. parad, d. witt and k. w. klinger. multiplex pcr amplification from the cftr gene using dna prepared from buccal brushes/swabs. human molecular genetics, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 159-163, 1993. 27. h. j. monstein, å. östholm-balkhed, m. nilsson, m. nilsson, k. dornbusch and l. j. a. nilsson. multiplex pcr amplification assay for the detection of blashv, blatem and blactx-m genes in enterobacteriaceae. apmis, vol. 115, no. 12, pp. 1400-1408, 2007. 28. p. qin, w. qu, j. xu, d. qiao, l. yao, f. xue and w. chen. a sensitive multiplex pcr protocol for simultaneous detection of chicken, duck, and pork in beef samples. journal of food science and technology, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 1266-1274, 2019. 29. l. poirel, t. r. walsh, v. cuvillier and p. nordmann. multiplex pcr for detection of acquired carbapenemase genes. diagnostic microbiology and infectious disease, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 119-123, 2011. 30. w. j. mason, j. s. blevins, k. beenken, n. wibowo, n. ojha and m. s. smeltzer. multiplex pcr protocol for the diagnosis of staphylococcal infection. journal of clinical microbiology, vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 3332-3338, 2001. 31. m. khattab, m. nour and n. m. elsheshtawy. genetic identification of pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence genes among different isolates. journal of microbial and biochemical technology, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 274-277, 2015. 32. k. streeter and m. katouli. pseudomonas aeruginosa: a review of their pathogenesis and prevalence in clinical settings and the environment. iem, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 25-32, 2016. 33. a. m. holban, m. chifiriuc, a. i. cotar and c. bleotu. virulence markers in pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from hospital acquired infections occurred in patients with underlying cardiovascular disease. vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 8843-8854, 2013. 34. i. mitov, t. strateva and b. markova. prevalence of virulence genes among bulgarian nosocomial and cystic fibrosis isolates of pseudomonas aeruginosa. the brazilian journal of microbiology, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 588-595, 2010. 35. d. jr. hayes, s. e. west, m. j. rock, z. li, m. l. splaingard and p. farrell. pseudomonas aeruginosa in children with cystic fibrosis diagnosed through newborn screening: assessment of clinic exposures and microbial genotypes. pediatric pulmonology, vol. 45, no. 7, pp. 708-716, 2010. 36. m. ledizet, t. s. murray, s. puttagunta, m. d. slade, v. j. quagliarello and b. kazmierczak. the ability of virulence factor expression by pseudomonas aeruginosa to predict clinical disease in hospitalized patients. plos one, vol. 7, no. 11, p. e49578, 2012. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 9-16 research article proteinase inhibitors of pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736: characterization and bioefficacy against helicoverpa armigera(hübner) faiyaz k. shaikh1,2, sarwan w. bradosty3, prafull p. gadge2, manohar v. padul4, bhimrao v. jaiwal5, ajit b. patil5 1centre for biotechnology, pravara institutes of medical sciences (du), loni, maharashtra, india, 2department of biochemistry, dr. babasaheb ambedkar marathwada university, aurangabad, maharashtra, india, 3department of community health, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of biochemistry, institute of science, mumbai, maharashtra, india, 5department of biochemistry, ghulam nabi azad art, commerce and science college barshitakli, akola, maharashtra, india abstract pigeonpea is an agriculturally important leguminous crop with high vulnerability to insect pest attack specifically, helicoverpa armigera. the proteinase inhibitors (pis) mediated host plant resistance against insect pests is a promising sustainable agricultural research practice. the current study was carried out to perceive biochemical characterization of proteinase inhibitors named ppti in the pigeonpea (cv. bsmr 736). the purification of ppti from crude protein seed extract was achieved by acetone precipitation, n-lp-ief, and trypsin affinity chromatography. it was found to inhibit bovine trypsin and hagps in vitro. the optimal conditions for inhibition were ph 8 and temperature 40ºc. the ppti showed four isoinhibitors bands on native, non-reducing and reducing sds-page in the range of 26.7–19.3 kda. on resolution on two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-de), ppti produced nine pi variant spots having isoelectric point (pi) 6.6, 6.6, 6.3, 6.1, 5.9, 5.8, 5.7, 5.6, and 5.6. an artificial diet containing ppti reduced the h. armigera larval weight about 69%, with 25% mortality. for eco-friendly sustainable agricultural practices, natural compounds like ppti could be expressed in transgenic crops to prevent the invasion of h. armigera in pigeonpea. keywords: proteinase inhibitors, pigeonpea, ppti, helicoverpa armigera, hagps introduction proteinase inhibitors (pis) are plant proteins regulating endogenous proteinases and acting as defense molecules against biotic stresses.[1,2] they occur in tubers, seeds, leaves, and flowers.[3] with constitutive occurrence, enhanced expression was observed upon insect and pathogen attacks.[4] they are effective in the treatment of cancer, blood clotting, hemorrhage, and inflammation.[5] they are also useful as markers in studies of evolution and systematics.[6,7] pigeonpea (cajanus cajan l.) is a leguminous crop cultivated by farmers of subtropical and tropical regions. it is a major crop of proteinrich diet among others for the vegetarian population of the world. the range of biotic factors constrains the productivity of this crop. it is host to around 200 species of insects, among them helicoverpa armigera is vivacious.[8] helicoverpa armigera belongs to lepidoptera species in the family noctuidae. it is also named as cotton bollworm or corn earworm or scarce bordered straw.[9] the larvae of h. armigera feed on a wide range of plants, including significant no. of cultivated crops. the pest account about us$ 317 million loss in semiarid tropics in pigeonpea crop whereas above us$ 2 billion in other crops.[10] farmers resort to the use of environmentally aggressive and ineffective pesticides to overcome these losses.[11] hence, the probing and improving crop cultivars displaying resistance to h. armigera has huge potential in pest management.[12] host plant resistance could be attained through the use of pis and is promising sustainable agricultural research practices.[13,14] earlier insect in vivo feeding assays using artificial diet incorporated pis and transgenic plants with corresponding author: faiyaz k. shaikh, centre for biotechnology, pravara institutes of medical sciences (du), loni 413 736, maharashtra, india. e-mail: faizbiochem@gmail.com received: june 20, 2022 accepted: july 7, 2022 published: august 01, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp9-16 copyright © 2022 faiyaz k. shaikh, sarwan w. bradosty, prafull p. gadge, manohar v. padul, bhimrao v. jaiwal, ajit b. patil. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) shaikh, et al.: proteinase inhibitors of pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 9-16 pis expressions have shown promising results.[15] the pis are known to interfere with the digestive process of insects by inhibiting gut proteolytic enzymes. the arresting proteolytic activity causes limitation in the amino acids indispensable for the stages of development of insects.[16] several pis have been identified from seed extracts of pigeonpea.[17] pigeonpea encompasses predominantly pis of the bowman-birk pis (bbis) family.[18] bbis were found to be ineffectual against hagps.[19] the probable cause of feebleness lies in the dynamic gut protease expression system of h. armigera. the gut is found to express proteases that are pis insensitive or degrading pis.[20,21] alongside bbis, kunitz pis are also reported from pigeonpea.[22] henceforth, the design of suitable pis based defense strategies against h. armigera requires a broad understanding of various classes of pis in pigeonpea as well as their effectiveness against h. armigera. the current study was commenced to perceive biochemical nature of pis in the pigeonpea (cv. bsmr 736). materials and methods chemicals and accessories immobilized trypsin agarose and porcine skin gelatin from porcine were procured from sigma-aldrich, usa. protein ladders were procured from genei laboratories pvt. ltd, banglore, india. gelatin coated x-ray films were purchased from fuji film, usa, and selvas photographic ltd., silvassa. ipg strips (11 cm, ph gradients 3-11), reagents and buffers required for 2d electrophoresis were obtained from ge healthcare bio-sciences corp., usa. the chemicals required for solution assays and 1d electrophoresis were procured from sisco research laboratories pvt. ltd. (srl), india. all chemicals and accessories utilized in this research were of the utmost purity available. pigeonpea seeds sample the pigeonpea seeds (cv. bsmr 736) were acquired from the agricultural research station, badnapur (ms) india. procurement of insects the larvae (2nd and 4th instar) of h. armigera were obtained from chickpea and pigeonpea meadows at maliwada, aurangabad maharashtra, india. in vivo insect feeding bioassays were performed with a chickpea flour-based synthetic diet.[23] extraction of ppti from pigeonpea the seeds of pigeonpea were finely powdered in a mixer grinder. the solvents acetone and hexane were used for depigmentation and defatting respectively. the resulting dry defatted (fat removed) powder was adjourned in 1:6 (w/v) 100 mm tris-hcl buffer with ph 7.8 comprising 1% polyvinylpyrrolidone with stirring conditions for 120 min. the resulting homogenate was further spin at 6,000 revolutions per minute (rpm) for 20 min at 4°c. the clear solution obtained by centrifugation was used for solvent precipitation of crude proteins by cold acetone. acetone precipitated crude proteins were dialyzed against distilled water. the resulting precipitate was freeze-dried. helicoverpa armigera gut proteinases (hagps) extraction the h. armigera larvae were dissected at a lower temperature and stowed at –20°c. the gut is ruptured in alkaline buffer (100 mm glycine-naoh buffer, ph 9.6) at 10°c. the resulting lysate was centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 20 min at 4°c. the clear solution obtained was used as crude hagps.[3] native liquid-phase isoelectric focusing (n-lp-ief) of ppti the crude proteins extract was loaded on n-lp-ief by mini rotofortm cells (bio-rad laboratories india pvt. ltd.). about 18 ml crude proteins extracts (0.4 g of proteins) were mixed along with 0.5% triton x-100 and 20% glycerol. the 2% amphoteric molecules (40% ampholytes, biolyte®, bio-rad) were selected/2000 µg of protein. partitioning of crude proteins was carried out using ph 3–10 gradients at a continuous voltage of 12 w. the fractions obtained were further assessed for the presence of pis using reveres zymography and solution assays. the fraction enriched with pis activity was concentrated in 1m nacl through an ultrafiltration membrane (amicon ultracell®10k, millipore). the resulting concentrated fraction (ppti) was subjected to affinity chromatography. affinity chromatography of ppti the concentrated protein fraction (no. 13) acquired by n-lp-ief was subjected to affinity chromatography using immobilized trypsin agarose column (1.5 ml). the suspension contain (16) units/ml trypsin packed gel. the column was equilibrated with 100 mm tris-hcl buffer with ph 7.8. repeated elution of fractions of ppti was eluted in 0.1n hcl with ph 3.0. the obtained fractions condensed and dialyzed using an ultrafiltration membrane. detection of ppti by gxcp technique and reverse zymography pigeonpea crude pis and affinity chromatography purified ppti were qualitatively analyzed by gel-x ray-film contact print (gxcp) technique[24] plus reverse zymography. pis were applied on 1-dimensional native page (polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis).[25] the pis were electrophoresed at a constant current (20 ma) until the tracing bpb (bromophenol blue) dye touched the end of the gel. for the gxcp technique, the gel was submerged in 100 mm tris-hcl buffer, ph 7.8, and then immersed in 100 µg/ml trypsin for 10 min. after removing excess trypsin, the gel overlapped on the x-ray film for 10 min at 37°c. after incubation, hydrolyzed gelatin from x-ray film was removed by washing with distilled water. the pis bands were seen as unhydrolyzed gelatin. the x-ray film was then photographed. the resulting gel, after washing with water stained for protein bands using coomassie brilliant blue r 250 (cbb r 250) dye. the identical protocol was employed for detecting pis of hagps using 100 mm glycine-naoh, 0.3 m cacl2 buffer, ph 9.6. the experimentation was repeated thrice with 3 repeats. to analyze pis by reverse zymography, the native page gel was immersed in 100 mm tris–hcl buffer, ph 7.8 for 10 min and further incubated in 1% casein (made in 100 mm tris–hcl buffer with ph 7.8) for 20 min. subsequently, shaikh, et al.: proteinase inhibitors of pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 9-16 the gel was immersed in trypsin (0.1%) solution for 10 min at 37°c. afterward, the gel was washed with distilled water and stained with cbb r 250 dye. the polypeptide content of ppti was explored by 12% reducing sodium dodecyl sulfate– polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (sds-page).[26] ppti visualization by 2-de (2-dimensional electrophoresis) pigeonpea crude pis and affinity chromatography purified ppti were further analyzed by 2-de and 2-d reverse zymography using 7 cm ipg strip with 3–10 ph gradients (bio-rad, usa). rehydration of ipg strips was carried out using buffer comprising 2% chaps (w/v), 0.2% (v/v) ipg buffer, 2m thiourea, 7m urea, pigeonpea pis, and trace of bpb dye. the ief (isoelectric focusing) was carried out at 20ºc on the protean® ief system (bio-rad, usa) according to manufactures protocol (catalog # 163-2099). after ief, strip was equilibrize for 30 minutes in equilibration buffer (2% sds, 30% glycerol), and 50 mm tris–hcl buffer with ph 8.8 at 37°c. the ipg-strip was further exposed to 12% sds page and the gel subsequently was subjected to reverse zymography by the following methodology mentioned above. the resulting protein spots were visualized by cbb r-250 and silver stain. using 2d-sds page standards, isoelectric points (pis) of ppti were determined. solution assay of pis pis activity was assessed using method reported earlier by kakade et al.[27] the reaction mixture comprising pis and trypsin in hcl and 100 mm tris–hcl buffer, ph 7.8, 300 mm cacl2 were incubated for 10 min. to this 300 µl, bapna (1 mm in dimethyl sulfoxide) was added. the reaction mixture was adjusted to 1.2 ml by the buffer. after end of reaction time, that is, 30 min, 300 µl 30% acetic acid was added to terminate the reaction. the blank and enzyme control tubes were prepared concurrently. the optical density was computed at 410 nm. the pis activity against hagps was calculated by mixing the pis with hagps for 20 min at 37°c in 100 mm glycine-naoh buffer with ph 9.6 containing 300 mm cacl2. one unit enzyme activity is defined as the release of 1.0 µm of p-nitroaniline per minute under standard conditions whereas one pis unit could be inhibition of one enzyme unit. effects of ph on ppti the buffer systems, that is, 100 mm glycine-hcl (ph 2), 100 mm sodium citrate (ph 4 and 6), 100 mm tris-hcl (ph 8), and 100 mm glycine-naoh (ph 10, 12) were used to study effect of h+ ion concentrations on ppti activity using standard assay parameters. effects of temperatures on ppti temperatures range 20°c–80°c (at 10°c intervals) in dry water bath was used to study effect of temperature on ppti activity using standard assay parameters. insect bioassay of ppti the larvae of h. armigera (2nd instar) were nurtured on a synthetic chemical diet comprising altered dosages of ppti maintaining 28 ± 2°c and 16:8 light/dark day length conditions. the experiment was performed in three replicates using a 100 ml synthetic chemical diet.[23] the pis was integrated into the synthetic chemical diet at 3 altered dosages, that is, 5, 10, and 15 µg/g of food, w/w). the diet deprived of pi fraction was considered as the control diet. all the experimental food was solidify at 4°c for 24 h before offered to the h. armigera. all larvae were distributed in individual vials for feeding experiment and nourished daily. the food in vials were changed daily and not permitted to dry or be fully consumed. the weights of h. armigera were noted at identical time daily. protein determination the total protein was quantified using method devised by lowry et al. using bovine serum albumin (bsa) as the standard protein.[28] statistical analysis the experimental data reported in the present research were performed in triplicate. the statistical analysis, mean ± s.d, and anova (one-way analysis of variance) were performed in microsoft excel 2010. the statistical significance examined with p ≤ 0.001. results and discussion pis act as the plant’s endogenous arsenals to counterbalance insect pest activities. overexpression of pis in the most vulnerable target tissues and/or raising transgenic plants expressing pis is the current strategy against insect pests.[29,30] the exploration of pis based h. armigera resistance in pigeonpea may prove a vital component in ipm (integrated pest management). the current investigation was aimed at exploring the biochemical nature and characteristics of ppti from pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736. pigeonpea pis extraction and detection as per the literature review, most of the pigeonpea cultivars including bsmr 736 exhibits monomorphic pis proteins pattern on the electrophoretic gel.[19] here in accordance, we are also reporting monomorphic pis bands from the crude proteins extract of pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736 by gxcp technique against bovine trypsin [figure 1]. the gxcp facilitates simple and rapid analysis of the proteinases and their inhibitors from seeds and other samples. prefractionation of pis by n-lp-ief several research groups employed various strategies for the prefractionation of proteins before electrophoretic characterization and preparative isolation of desired protein and n-lp-ief was found to be convenient.[31,32] the n-lp-ief allows the separation of protein even if it is present in low abundance in the sample based on their isoelectric point (pi). conventional fractionation strategies such as (nh4)2so4 precipitation, subsists traces of salts in the sample which creates trouble in further purification and identification of molecules. hence, to overcome these issues, we applied acetone precipitated protein onto n-lp-ief. about 20 fractions shaikh, et al.: proteinase inhibitors of pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 9-16 were collected after n-lp-ief ranging in ph from 3 to 10. the prefractionation by n-lp-ief revealed that pis was restricted to acidic to neutral fractions with maximum at pis 6.6, 6.6, 6.3, 6.1, 5.9, 5.8, 5.7, 5.6, and 5.6. (fraction no.13). earlier pis showing activity in the acidic to neutral pis were reported in the pigeonpea cv. abhaya and icp 7118.[18,33] this prefractionation also showed the presence of more number of pi bands in fraction 13 on x-ray films suggesting active fractionation of low abundant pis. figure 2 displays the sds-page stained gel map of the total fractionated pis (20 fractions) collected from the n-lpief with equal volume loaded on the gel. it indicates the distribution of pis in different fractions, and the relative numbers of pis of each fraction are also different. however, it was observed that most of the pis had diffused into several neighboring fractions. this may be due to the diffusion of pis in the solution since it is not isoelectrically focused as it would be in a gel.[34] fraction 13, showed more activity, and numbers of pis was used for further purification purpose. trypsin-agarose affinity chromatography the n-lp-ief fraction was further applied to the trypsinagarose affinity column. a trypsin-agarose resin is selectively purifying an inhibitor of trypsin. the pis bound to the matrix were eluted in 0.1n hcl with ph 3.0. these pis were collected, condensed and dialyzed using membrane ultrafiltration. the unbound fraction did not show any ti activity. the concentrated fraction was eluted from the trypsin-agarose column showing ti activity at 280 nm was named as ppti and used in further characterization study. one dimensional electrophoretic characterization of ppti on affinity purification, the ppti displayed separation of 4 pis bands, namely, pi1, pi2, pi3, and pi4 on native as well as nonreducing sds-page as compared to pi pool present in the crude seed extract. this might be due to the self-association tendency of pis during purification stages. earlier such a phenomenon of self-association was observed in bbi like pis.[35] such pis were also reported from two cultivars of pigeonpea.[20,21] the ppti showed inhibitory activity against bovine pancreatic trypsin and hagps checked by native reverse zymography [figure 3]. treatment of ppti with β-mercaptoethanol slightly alters the migration of the pi4 band on the gel indicating its reduction [figure 4]. the four pis on non-reducing and reducing sdspage with β-mercaptoethanol exhibit molecular weights in the range of 26.7–19.3 kda. this finding is in agreement with earlier studies that reported high molecular weights of pis from various legume seed extracts.[36] the self-association of pi molecules might result in the overestimation of molecular mass as reported for several legumes.[37,38] furthermore, the occurrence of ppti in a group of four isoinhibitors may be attributed to the particularly individual narrow range masses and high molecular weights of these pis may also be associated with the different degrees of glycosylation.[39] other possibilities like oxidation of cysteine residues have been reported earlier.[40] similar findings of purification of ti with a group of three isoinhibitors were reported from acacia victoriae bentham seeds.[41] the functional role of occurrence of many isoinhibitors is not clear; it seems to be a part of approaches adopted by the host plant to ensure its existence. inhibition assay of ppti the trypsin and hagps activities were reduced in the presence of crude pis as well as an affinity-purified ppti in vitro [figure 5]. previously, moderate to low inhibition potential against hagps was reported from several pigeonpea cultivars by in vitro and in vivo bioassays.[19,23] in agreement with the above studies, our finding advocates that pigeonpea (cv. bsmr 736) could be a potent source of pis. optimum ph of ppti in general, legumes pis are identified to be stable under extremes of ph. the ppti was found to be active at a varied range of phs 3–12 with optimum inhibition at ph 8 [figure 6]. this finding is in agreement with earlier studies where optimum pis activity was retained between ph 4 and 10.[16,36,37] the optimum activity of pi from other legumes such as mungbean (v. radiate l. wilczek) seeds was also observed at ph 8.0.[41] the gut content of h. armigera is highly alkaline figure 2: isoelectric point (pi) based fractionation of acetone precipitated protein n-lp-ief was carried out between ph 3-10. an equal volume of each fraction was loaded and visualized by sds-page gxcp. arrow (↓) indicates fraction (13) used for subsequent analysis figure 1: detection of tis of pigeonpea by gxcp technique. the sample (100 µg) was loaded in each lane (i-iv) on 10% native page, pis activity bands were detected by immersing the gel in bovine trypsin and overlapping gel on the x-ray film shaikh, et al.: proteinase inhibitors of pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 9-16 figure 3: electrophoretic analysis (10% native page reverse zymography) of ppti. lanes i-iv crude protein extract (100 µg), the active fraction (fraction-13) from n-lp-ief (50 µg), affinity column pooled fraction (15 µg), and membrane filtration fraction (10 µg; 10 kda cut-off), respectively with maximum hagps activity at ph 10.0–11.0.[42] this result with ppti indicated that it is suitable against hagps, which work in the alkaline gut of h. armigera. optimum temperature of ppti the optimum temperature of ppti was found to be 40°c and showed considerable activity even at 80°c [figure 7], suggesting that ppti is cysteine-rich which imparts high stability and conformational rigidity at high temperatures.[43] this study is in agreement with earlier finding where pis with stability up to a temperature of 80°c was reported from pigeonpea.[16,37] analysis of pi variant isoforms of ppti the isoinhibitors complexity of affinity-purified ppti was further resolved by 2-de. figure 8 illustrates 2-de analyses figure 4: 12% sds-polyacrylamide electrophoresis of ppti. lane m, molecular weight standards; lane i crude extract, lane ii n-lp-ief fraction no. 13, lane iii ppti with βmercaptoethanol; proteins were detected by dye cbb r-250 figure 6: effect of ph on ppti activity. an assay was executed in altered buffer solutions, as revealed in the methodology section. the results are mentioned as mean ± sd, n = 3 figure 7: effect of temperature on ppti. an assay was executed at altered temperatures for 10 min as mentioned in the methodology section. the results were presented as mean ± sd, n = 3 figure 5: trypsin and hagps inhibition assays by (a) crude seed protein, (b) acetone ppt. protein, (c) n-lp-ief fraction, and (d) ppti. the enzyme activity was assayed using bapna. the results were reported as mean ± sd, n = 3 a b dc shaikh, et al.: proteinase inhibitors of pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 9-16 of pigeonpea seed proteins. the pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736 is a rich source of proteins hence several proteins with varied mw and pi were seen on the gel [figure 8a] when stained with cbb r-250. subsequently, staining of the gel with silver stain increased the quantity of proteins bands on the gel corroborating the sensitivity of strain [figure 8b]. when the gel was digested with trypsin in reverse zymography, most of the proteins disappeared due to the hydrolytic action of trypsin [figure 8c]. several trypsin inhibitors or trypsinresistant proteins could be detected on the lower and upper panels of the gel. the lower panel of the gel is shown by the circle corresponding to the affinity purified ppti. the 2-de analysis showed 9 pi variant isoforms of ppti with pi range 5.6–6.6, matching their isoinhibitors migration on the gel [figure 9]. for instance, they were collected from alkaline regions earlier only very slight pi dependent variations were observed among them with molecular weights nearly in same the range as observed in 1-d sds page with β-mercaptoethanol [figure 9a]. the ppti remained active after exposure to several detergents and urea used in 2-d gels assessed by reverse zymography [figure 9b]. the pi variant isoforms showing identity toward bbi like pis were reported from the seeds of pigeonpea cv. abhaya and cv. icp 7118.[16,19] the advent of different pis classes in the same plants with the potential to inhibit the same enzyme is due to convergent evolution.[44] bioefficacy of ppti the kunitz, bbi, cysteine, knottin pis, and lectins are the most studied pis showing future potential to use them in insect resistance strategies.[45,46] the faith of the pi strategy can largely depend on the nature of the insect response to the ingested pis. hence, the effectiveness of affinitypurified ppti against hagps was assessed by integrating 3 altered dosages (i.e., 5, 10 and 15 µg/gm w/w of diet). here artificial diet containing ppti reduced the h. armigera larval weight by 69%, with 25% mortality. the average larval weight was reduced in the control from 689 ± 17.45 mg to 214 ± 12.45 mg when fed a 15 µg/gm diet, at the end of the feeding assay period (10 days), indicating a substantial decline in the growth and development of h. armigera with p ≤ 0.001 [figure 10]. conclusions in a nutshell, the above results indicate that the ppti is responsible for the reduction in the growth of h. armigera with low mortality. further research in understanding the proteomic nature of isoinhibitors variant isoforms of ppti is required. comprehensive knowledge of the occurrence of isoinhibitors of ppti in host plants like pigeonpea might provide insect resistance modules with resistance against h. armigera invasion. acknowledgment dr. faiyaz khudaboddin shaikh is thankful to university grant commission (ugc) and ministry of minority affairs, government of india, new delhi for maulana azad national fellowship (manf). references 1. p. r. shewry. tuber storage proteins. annals of botany, vol. 91, pp. 755-769, 2003. figure 10: effect of ppti on the development of h. armigera larvae. the larvae were permitted to feed on a synthetic chemical diet with ppti and without ppti. larval weight was noted every 24 h. each mean signifies three replicates ± sd, and a difference among analyses of p ≤ 0.001 was considered significant figure 9: two-dimensional electrophoretic analyses of ppti isoforms. (a) ppti protein spots (b) reverse zymogram. un-digested proteins signify pis. black arrow specify the location of pis. lane i, protein ladder in kda; lane ii, purified pis (ppti) from affinity column. the phs range is shown on the gel a b figure 8: two-dimensional electrophoretic analyses of pigeonpea (bsmr 736) seed proteins. (a) cbb r-250, (b) silver staining, and (c) pis activity visualization by reverse zymography b ca shaikh, et al.: proteinase inhibitors of pigeonpea cv. bsmr 736 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 9-16 2. m. clemente, m. g. corigliano, s. a. pariani, e. f. sánchez-lópez, v. a. sander and v. a. ramos-duarte. plant serine protease inhibitors: biotechnology application in agriculture and molecular farming. international journal of molecular sciences, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 1345, 2019. 3. m. v. padul, r. d. tak and m. s. kachole. protease inhibitor (pi) mediated defense in leaves and flowers of pigeonpea (protease inhibitor mediated defense in pigeonpea). plant physiology and biochemistry, vol. 52, pp. 77-82, 2012. 4. f. d. leo and plant-pis: a database for plant protease inhibitors and their genes. nucleic acids research, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 347-348, 2002. 5. g. c. mello, i. a. desouza, s. marangoni, j. c. novello, e. antunes and m. l. macedo. 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ling, h. y. qi and c. w. chi. protein, cdna, and genomic dna sequences of the towel gourd trypsin inhibitor. a squash family inhibitor. journal of biological chemistry, vol. 268, no. 2, pp. 810-814, 1993. 44. b. prakash and m. r. murthy. source and target enzyme signature in serine protease inhibitor active site sequences. journal of biosciences, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 555-565, 1997. 45. f. k. shaikh, s. w. hamad, s. w. hamad and a. a. shinde. in vitro screening of seed extracts of medicinal plants for protease inhibitory activity. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 61-65, 2019. 46. a. a. shinde, f. k. shaikh and m. s. kachole. exploration of amylases producing competency of helicoverpa armigera gut bacterial strain, bacillus subtilis rtsba6 6.00. cihan universityerbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 75-79, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 13-18 research article educational data mining to improve the academic performance in higher education alyaa a. mahdi* department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq abstract globalization and innovation are unlimited interest for the public sector and private business in the world, especially in the higher education institutions. educational data mining (edm) is mainly one of the business processes nowadays that attempt to bring the global innovation through improving and enhancing their processes and procedures to fulfill all the requirements and needs of the students as well as the institutions. the edm considered mostly concern with any research concerning the applications of the dm and developing innovative techniques for dm in the educational sector. this study mainly combined the use of the powerful online e-learning management system (moodle) with dm tools to improve the performance and effectiveness of the learning and teaching manners using the innovative daily data that collected from the educational institutions. learning analytical enhance rubric (lae-r) is the main tool that can retrieve the data from the activities of the students on the moodle. the use of the lae-r can lead for many benefits for both of the educators and students, for example, support the struggling students, a better way for students’ advising, enhance the administration processes and enhance the performance of the students to learn from each other. keywords: data mining, educational data mining, moodle, learning analytical enhance rubric introduction data mining (dm) playing a paramount role in many sectors such as industry, agriculture, retail, banks, health care, and education. due to the globalization and the innovation in the past few decades, the educational institutions faced great challenges and to improve the administrational processes as well as to enhance and develop the academic activities. the international educational dm society defined the educational dm (edm): “an emerging discipline, concerned with developing methods for exploring the unique types of data that come from the educational settings. as well as using those methods to better understand students, and the settings which they learn in.” edm is principally concerned with analyzing the data that mainly generated from the process educational setup using different systems. therefore, edm’s aim is to develop models that enhance and improve the teaching and learning process as well as the effectiveness of the institutions.[1] dm is playing an important role in higher education, which is mainly, improves the level of academicals processes. in every society, higher education institutions are mainly considered the center of knowledge and innovations; it is very important to use the huge data that available in these institutions to improve the level of their operations to prepare the new generations of students that equipped with the new skills to run in different sectors of the society. hence, it is necessary to develop the systems of dm that able to use the available educational data in the higher education institutions that will lead to offer high-quality educational processes to students as well as to enhance the management and research processes that will lead to the innovations and discoveries.[2] collaborative learning (edm and lae) is usually used to deal with the issues that are related to providing instructional strategies that support the collaboration of the students that are working together by groups. the main key indicator was the interaction to measure the effectiveness of the collaboration of the users’ activity logs from their learning platform, which was used as the main key tool for the activities of the learners inferring to fit the demanded behaviors.[3] edm is considered as an emerging field in the area of dm. however, the educational setting is mainly used dm tools to corresponding author: alyaa a. mahdi, department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: alyaa.asaad@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: aug 24, 2020 accepted: sep 12, 2020 published: dec 20, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n2y2020.pp13-18 copyright © 2020 alyaa a. mahdi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mahdi: educational data mining to improve the academic performance 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 13-18 discover and analyze students’ performance, to predict their results, and to avoid dropout also emphasis on the good and poor academic performers then provide feedback for the instructors and faculties as well as visualization of data is to improve the assessment process. the modern educational institutions mainly need dm techniques to set strategies and plans for the future. mainly, the top-level educational authorities of the institutions may apply the outcomes of the edm results to realize the main key trends and behaviors of the students’ performance, which may lead to design the innovative pedagogical strategies.[4] backround edm mainly the edm is considered as a developed research field to collect big amounts of students’ data then analyze their activities to understand their behavior, which is the base of creating intelligent edm. the analysis of learning and knowledge of the students’ performance is the platform used in a learning environment to measure, scrutinize, as well as report the patterns of learning behavior to improve teaching and learning processes.[5] edm is concerning developing unique methods as well as discovering the educational environment for a better understanding of the students’ behavior. in another word, edm uses a large repository of students’ data from the system such as the moodle with a view to give information regarding how a student is learning process. as well as, the internet and client/service interface utilization that provides a very big repository of the information about students learning process and of learning materials availability and teaching methods.[6] recently, edm garnered the significance for improving and personalizing students’ learning process. many researchers focused on predicting the performance of the learners mainly such a task is not simple to achieve, especially during the course delivery time.[7] learning analytics and edm have been efficient and effective really within a short time. however, the estimates of (student-at-risk) systems are mainly employed at the scale of higher education as well as the adaption of new learning techniques and systems that are used widely in higher education. as well as there is a steady stream of models and discoveries in a very wide range of once challenging areas to the study: the collaborative learning classroom participation, as well as online connections, students’ engagement, and motivation, the meta-cognition as well as self-regulated learning, and many other areas.[8] edm provides appropriate opportunities to evaluate and assess students in an enhanced technological learning system that is considered an easy and efficient platform if we compare it to the traditional systems. to evaluate the students, many factors have to be taken into consideration like their login and logout on the learning system, the time that they spent on each page, participation in the classwork, and the discussion form.[9] edm tools are embedded as a plugin tool in the moodle and the use of these tools is easy even for the non-experts.[10] edm adoption requires a structure and steps for an efficient design that can be upgradable to the system. the methodological structure of this study is mainly based on using data called the cross-industry standard process for data mining (crisp-dm). figure 1 shows the steps and the processes of implementing crisp-dm. crisp-dm technique is mainly recorded as one of the successful guidelines or ways of implementing a dm system. according to sahay and mehta,[11] the foundation of the crisp-dm method was by the european community research fund then the statistical companies such as spss and ncr developed it. the following guidelines discussed briefly the implementation of the dm in the educational sector:[2] 1. understanding the business: the main aim is to understand the objectives and structure of the educational institutions to fulfill the requirements. 2. understanding the data: the main aim is how to deal with and represent the collected data. 3. data preparation: to transfer and clean the collected data to finalize the data of moodle. 4. modeling: the main aim is to apply the technique to represent the crisp algorithm. 5. evaluation: to measure if the model fulfills the requirements of the educational institutions. 6. deployment: implementing and starting the work in the project. educational data mining has significant importance in the higher educational sector. various studies showed that the application of edm can enhance the teaching and learning processes in the universities they studied. for example, at ajman university, different colleges of science and technology in the united arab emirates significantly after applying the edm mentioned that the performance of the students is not very dependent on the academic efforts, but some other factors that may have equal to greater influences. edm motivating and helping the universities to perform edm on the data of their students’ to find out important results figure 1: steps of data mining mahdi: educational data mining to improve the academic performance 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 13-18 that can help both the university, educators, and students in several ways.[12] as well as another edm application, the case was in from vbs purvanchal university, jaunpur (uttar pradesh), the department of computer applications courses, master of computer applications to predict their students’ performance by the end of each semester. significantly, the use of edm supports of both the educators and students to enhance the division their student to identify those students that mainly needed special attention to reducing the ration of fail as well as to take suitable action for the examination of the next semester.[13] higher education institutes in iraq the iraqis have a wide intel lectual history from the ancient of the mesopotamian civilizations the remarkable accomplishments period throughout the arab-islamic in the 9th century. the higher education in iraq dates back to the last century in the year 1908 that law college in baghdad was established, then academies college was established in the 1950s. a number of the other colleges as well as the academies later all these colleges combined as baghdad university in the 1960s. the flourishing of the higher education sectors was between the 1960s and the 1970s. the iraqi college of sciences was the nexus for the research and the literature. medicine and science colleges attracted students from many countries to baghdad university. the iraqi universities according to surveys of the unesco in the year 2004 were about 200 colleges also about 800 departments and 28 specialized institutes, in addition to the american style private universities in the sulaimaniya and koya. however, only missan and muthanna governorates were without universities. then, in 2006, the public universities included in iraq sulaimaniya, dahuk, koya, tikrit, kirkuk, mosul, anbar, baghdad, irbil, islamic studies, al-nah rain, al-mustansiriyya, diyala, technology, qadisiyya, karbala, wasit, kufa, thi qar, babil, and basra. in addition, the number of private universities was (7) in baghdad and (2) in kurdistan region.[14] according to the unesco survey in the year 2003, the number of students in the non-profit colleges was about 400,000 students, as shown in details of figure 2: • the ratios of the students were 58% of male students and 42% of female students. • approximately 50% of the students attended baghdad universities (baghdad, al-nahrain, al-mustansiriyya, technology, and islamic studies). • near to 32% of the students studied the education, 28% were in engineering and sciences colleges, 15% in the law and social sciences colleges, 13% in the medical college, and 12% were in humanities college. the total number of the academic staff was 19,000 member, 36% from them had doctorate, 58% of them had master degree, and also only 6% of them had bachelor degree. most of the iraqi universities did not have the system of data collection, but mainly in the last years, some of the universities, especially private universities, were started to utilize student information management systems with a view to collect and manage information of the students. some universities mainly used systems like moodle for the academic purposes. however, these systems have produced data and information regarding the students in the universities. the generated data were used to produce some reports to improve the operations of learning, teaching, and research at these universities. data collection system in this study, the data collection was mainly suggested to be used by the iraqi universities and the kurdistan region. this system will mainly contain the modules for uploading and downloading lectures and assignments with the sign-in from figure 2: the main actions in the moodle learning system mahdi: educational data mining to improve the academic performance 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 13-18 the students and the lecturers. in addition, it includes the modules for scheduling academic activities. mainly that will provide the use time and resources efficiently and effectively for the university. moodle is a good example of such a system. this system if it’s deployed by the university then used by the lecturers and students will mainly provide an efficient tool to enhance the academic environment. moodle as an academic tool moodle is basically a free online learning management system that provides for administrators, educators, and students by a robust and dynamic platform for all the academic processes. moodle system aims are to help the instructors to present the knowledge better and to support in acquiring skills, knowledge, and experiences.[15] this online system supports the academic staff to enhance their performance and for better assessment methods for their students. furthermore, this system can be used by many other business processes such as the schools, the university, and the firms. the moodle is a free download system, configure, and also an open-source system that can serve various business aspects.[16] moodle system is robust with some training that can be modified and they are available to the user for any higher education institute. the most important activities in moodle are shown in figure 2. dm tool based on moodle learning analytical enhance rubric (lae-r) is considered as one of the main tools that can retrieve the data intelligently from the activities of the students on the moodle to predict the behaviors of the learners to produce clear patterns or trends. mainly this tool works on collecting data from the online activities of the students such as their login and logout from the system, their participation in the discussions, and many other activities for a better understanding of their behaviors that will lead to a better assessment for the students. rubric is an assessment tool developed installed and imbedded as a plug-in on computers of the users that can extracts the interaction students within the moodle system. figure 3 shows the mentioned learning system environment. analysis and visualization an efficient visualization tool called gismo that shows the end result of the lae-r for the educators using graphs of any other descriptive tool. for instance, figure 4 shows the students’ representation login activities in moodle; using this analysis, the teachers can easily assess their dormant students. the analysis includes the pedagogical coherent system assessment aspects, which analyze how the students are accessing the lectures for example as a pdf and/or word formats on the moodle, also studying time per each page of the lecture. the excel pivot tables’ provide the statistics of learning to show the data on spreadsheets report. from a big volume of data available on the moodle using, the mentioned tools will provide the ability for the educators to extract the valuable information.[17] furthermore, this tool helps the students to access their assessment and to get a comparative analysis and efficient recommendation. the platforms of online technological aim to facilitate scalable peer-to-peer training and instructor instructors’ learning dominant channels.[18] combining moodle (online learning management system) with the powerful dm tools like lae-r provides an efficient and effective system for exploring a huge amount of educational data that available to the educational institute also this will provide many improvements to the educational process. figure 3: framework of learning analytical rubric mahdi: educational data mining to improve the academic performance 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 13-18 conclusion and future work the study illustrates how the combination of combining between the online learning management system with the dm applications provides an effective and efficient tool for the higher education institutions using the tools that have been mentioned in this study that enhances the evaluation for the students’ performance from their online activities on the moodle system. from the educator’s perspective, the professor, or educators are able to support the struggling students, especially by providing a better way to advise students. also, it is profitable for the marketing of the universities and supports and enhance the administration processes. for that reason, it will provide the capability to improve and enhance efficiency in the educational process. on the other hand, from the student’s perspective, it encourage and help them to enhance their performance and to learn from each other, leading them to be creative. acknowledgment gratitude and appreciations to my family for giving me the support from various aspects and encouraging me to develop and complete my work. special thanks for ministry of higher education and scientific research in north iraq that provides me by the adequate information. references 1. a. dutt, m. a. ismail and t. herawan. a systematic review on educational data mining. united states: ieee acess, 2017. 2. m. chalaris, s. gritzalis, m. maragoudakis, c. sgouropoulou and a. tsolakidis. improving quality of educational processes providing new knowledge using data mining techniques. procedia-social and behavioral sciences, vol. 147, pp. 390-397, 2014. 3. h. aldowah, h. al-samarraie and w. m. fauzy. educational data mining and learning analytics for 21st century higher education: a review and synthesis. telematics and informatics, vol. 37, pp. 13-49, 2019. 4. s. hussain, r. najoua and n. a. dahan. educational data mining and analysis of students’ academic performance using weka. berlin, germany: researchgate, 2018. 5. z. papamitsiou, a. economides and i. n. sneddon. learning analytics with excel pivot tables. berlin, germany: moodle research conference beuth university of applied sciences, pp. 115-121, 2012. 6. c. romrto, s. ventura, and e. garcıa. data mining in course management systems: moodle case study and tutorial. computers and education, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 368-384, 2008. 7. m. n. injadat, a. moubayed, a. b. nassif and a. shami. systematic ensemble model selection approach for educational data mining. netherlands: elesiver, 2020. 8. r. s. baker, challenges for the future of educational data mining: the baker learning analytics prizes. journal of educational data mining, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1-17, 2019. 9. m. petropoulou, k. kasimatis, i. dimopoulos and s. retalis. lae-r: a new learning analytics tool in moodle for assessing students’ performance. bulletin of the technical committee on learning technology, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 2-5, 2014. 10. j. hung, k. rice, and a. saba. an educational data mining model for online teaching and learning. journal of educational technology development and exchange, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 77-94, 2012. 11. a. sahay, and k. mehta. assisting higher education in assessing, predicting, and managing issues related to student success: a web-based software using data mining and quality function deployment. las vegas: academic and business research institute conference, 2010. 12. a. saa. educational data mining and students’ performance prediction. international journal of advanced computer science and applications, vol. 7, no. 5, p. 070531, 2016. 13. b. k. baradwaj and s. pal. mining educational data to analyze students performance. international journal of advanced computer science and applications, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 63-69, 2011. 14. i. harb. higher education and the future of iraq. united states: institute of peace, 2008. 15. h. f. hasan, m. nat and v. z. vanduhe. gamified collaborative environment in moodle. united states: ieee access, 2019. 16. b. ngom, i. niang, and h. guillermet. enhancing moodle for offline learning in a degraded connectivity environment. figure 4: information about students login in full semester mahdi: educational data mining to improve the academic performance 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 13-18 tangier, morocco: ieee, 2012. 17. h. dierenfeld, and a. merceron. learning analytics with excel pivot tables. berlin, germany: moodle research conference, beuth university of applied sciences, pp. 115-121, 2012. 18. v. z. vanduhe, m. nat and h. f. hasan. continuance intentions to use gamification for training in higher education: integrating the technology acceptance model (tam), social motivation, and task technology fit (ttf). united states: ieee, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 1-6 research article a statistical study of the influence of covid-19 on the agricultural supply chain (vegetative) production in halabja governorate shahen m. faraj1, hazhar t. a. blbas2*, aymen i. ahmed3 1department of international business, college of law and administrative, university of halabja, iraq, 2department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3independent researcher abstract it is clear that the covid-19 virus has affected human life and activities all over the world. agricultural sector is not excluded from the affection of course. importance of this issue encouraged us to carry out this statistical study aiming to show the impact of covid-19 on the agricultural supply chain (vegetative) production in halabja. three forms of self-administered questionnaire were used to collect data from three targets; farmers, wholesalers, and retailers using non-probability sampling method. descriptive analysis was used to show frequencies, percentages, and mean scores, while independent sample t-test was used to find the relationship between variables using spss software v.26. results show that there is no statistically significant relationship between the characteristic of production and residence. lockdown had a major impact on the plant production and its supplying chain in the following sequence: fewer products were delivered to the wholesaling markets by farmers, retailers bought less so consumers got less products. keywords: agricultural supply chain, farmers, wholesalers, retailers, independent sample t-test, halabja governorate, covid-19 introduction the first case of covid-19 virus attacked human was detected in china at the end of 2019,[1] the first case of the virus attacked human was detected in iraq on february 24, 2020, and in the kurdistan region on the 1st of march 2020.[2] lockdown began almost by the early cases of covid-19 attacks in iraq, so in the kurdistan region, until it reached a complete lockdown in all governorates and also the borders with neighboring countries at the end of march 2020.[3] food availability and agricultural production and how to provide food proportionate to the increasing population are one of the major issues globally.[4] especially after the occurrence of the covid-19 pandemic, and how the situation has become after the lockdown between countries and cities.[5] the effect of this, especially in non-developing countries such as iraq, in which agricultural production declined due to the wars in the eighties and early nineties of the last century, which led to the exhaustion of the state and manpower,[6] as well as a sharp declination in government support of the agricultural sector, this declination became more severe after the 2003 occupation. this sector has retarded more and more with the governments that ruled iraq until nowadays.[7] iraq has been changed from a food exporting country before the 1980s to a heavy food importer. it depends 70–80% approximately on imported agricultural products from abroad.[8] because of the lack of production or the absence of government support for the agricultural sector, the agricultural supply chain is usually short because iraqi agricultural products are often fresh from the farm to the table not from seed to table, without going through any manufacturing or storage processes.[9] this is in contrast to what was the circumstance before the 1980s, where the agriculture supply chains were longer,[10] as it started from the government side, such as distributing the necessary supplies for agricultural production, such as seeds, and fertilizer as well as the delivering of water, the distribution of lands, the purchase of some products from farmers and their introduction into many of the food industries,[11] but corresponding author: hazhar t. a. blbas, department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: hazhar.abubaker@su.edu.krd received: november 12, 2021 accepted: december 5, 2021 published: january 30, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp1-6 copyright © 2022 shahen m. faraj, hazhar t. a. blbas, aymen i. ahmed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) faraj, et al.: influence of covid-19 on the agricultural production 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 1-6 after these period hundreds of manufacturing and food processing laboratories were gradually closed due to wars, mismanagement, and corruption. therefore, it was necessary to execute a statistical study of how the agricultural supply chain (vegetative) production worked before the occurrence of the pandemic and in the period of pandemic to know its impact on both consumers and stakeholders who involved in the supply chain, including merchants, farmers, laborer, owners of wholesale and retail stores …etc., in halabja governorate, which is an agricultural governorate in kurdistan region – iraq and has abundance of surface and underground water, as well as it has fertile plains and mountainous areas that provide the possibility to cultivate different types of agricultural crops. the main hypotheses in this study are to determine whether or not there is a relationship between production characteristics and residency. materials and methods in 2014 halabja has become a province by the kurdistan region government, it is located to the east of sulaymaniyah province and nearly 90 km far from sulaymaniyah, north of iraq,[12] and it is an agricultural governorate, due to its availability of mountainous areas, as well as fertile plains and abundance of water. this is motivating to investigate this research to know how the covid-19 affect the agricultural supply chain (vegetative) production in the halabja governorate. data was collected via three forms of questionnaire including farmers, wholesalers, and retailers of halabja governorate between 1st of october, 2020 and 15th of february, 2021. non-probability sampling method used to collect the data which is snowball sampling for farmers and judgment sampling for wholesalers and retailers. the questionnaire of this study included three parts, first part was the demographic questions such as gender, age, residency location, number of experience years in the business earned by studying, and working for all of our targets (farmers, wholesalers, and retailers). the second part included some questions about production like (area of his property in donums1, yield of a product per donum in tons, and the total quantity produced) for the farmers, there were questions for retailers and some other ones for the wholesalers. the third part was a likert scale (strongly disagree = 1, disagree = 2, neutral = 3, agree = 4, strongly agree = 5) for all of our targets (farmers, wholesalers and retailers). data were analyzed using spss v.26 and descriptive analysis used to show frequency, percentage, and mean scores.[13] independent sample t-test to compare the mean between two variables,[14] it was used to find the statistically significant relationship between some characteristics of production and residency (live location) using significant level α = 0.05. the researchers selected 15 forms randomly to conducted a pilot study for all three different types of questionnaire farmers, wholesalers, and retailers before beginning the main investigation to confirm the validity of the questionnaires using cronbach’s alpha to assess the consistency of the data in which the values of cronbach’s alpha were (0.78, 0.82, 0.88) for farmers, wholesalers, and retailers respectively.[14,15] 1 1 donum=2500m2 results and discussion this research includes 74 participants which are farmers (n = 30), wholesalers (n = 10), and retailers (n = 34), all of our participants are male (100.0%), table 1 shows the table 1: descriptive statistics for demographic questions (farmers, retailers, and wholesalers) demographic questions f percent (%) age farmers 21–30 1 3.3 31–40 10 33.3 41–50 8 26.7 50+ 11 36.7 retailers 21–30 7 20.6 31–40 14 41.2 41–50 4 11.8 50+ 9 26.5 wholesalers 21–30 2 20 31–40 2 20 41–50 5 50 50+ 1 10 live location farmers inside 10 33.3 outside 20 66.7 retailers inside 13 38.2 outside 21 62.8 wholesalers inside 10 100 outside 0 0 years of working farmers 5-jan 3 10 10-jun 4 13.3 15-nov 5 16.7 16-20 6 20 21+ 12 40 retailers 5-jan 0 0 10-jun 13 38.2 15-nov 7 20.6 16-20 6 17.6 21+ 8 23.5 wholesalers 5-jan 3 30 10-jun 0 0 15-nov 2 20 16-20 4 40 21+ 1 10 faraj, et al.: influence of covid-19 on the agricultural production 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 1-6 73.3% 35.3% 30.0% 3.3% 20.6% 0.0% 3.3% 2.9% 0.0% 20.0% 41.2% 70.0% 0.0% 10.0% 20.0% 30.0% 40.0% 50.0% 60.0% 70.0% 80.0% farmers retailers wholesalers father brother friends own self figure 1: from whom did learn the profession mean and standard deviation in table 2 shows that selling less products than before the covid-19 pandemic is the first characteristic (factor) that farmers pointed because of covid19 pandemic and lockdown with mean and standard deviation (4.70, 0.837), followed by selling products cheaper than they did before to the agricultural wholesalers, people demand had less for products because of lockdown, due to covid-19, products and needs were not been able to be transported to the wholesalers markets, agricultural offices were all closed to demand their needs during lockdown, products have been left ungathered and unsold in the farmlands due to covid19, farmers haven’t been able to visit their farmlands enough during lockdown, products have been gathered but unsold in the farmlands due to covid-19, farmers haven’t been able to afford workers for their farmlands due to lockdown, products have been given more time than before the covid19 pandemic and agriculturalists weren’t been able to visit farmlands enough due to covid-19. table 3 shows the results of independent sample t-test which there is no statistically significant relationship between residence and some characteristics of production such as (area of their property in donums, yield of a product per donum in tons, tons of agricultural production sold, quantity production sold and the total quantity produced) with a p-value (0.482, 0.832, 0.849, 0.476 and 0.157) which are greater than our choosing significant level 0.05, respectively. it means, there was no difference between the mean score of inside and outside for each of the characteristics of production. figure 2 demonstrates that 100.0% of our respondents (retailers) closed their markets during lockdown so that they faced a decline during lockdown (97.1%), 5.9% of retailers said that they had delivery services to houses before lockdown while 8.8% of them said that they had delivery services to percentage of the demographic questions regarding three types of participants, about the farmers their range of age was 25–75 with an average of 48 years, about retailers the range of their age was 23–70 with an average of 42 years and the range of the wholesalers age was 24–55 with 40 years as average. furthermore, %33.3 of the farmers live inside of halabja city, %38.2 of retailers live inside halabja city, while %100 of wholesalers live inside halabja city. on the other hand, the range of the years that farmers worked was 3–50 years with an average of 22 years of working, the range of years that retailers worked was 2–35 years with an average of 33 years of working and the years that wholesalers worked was 2–23 years with an average of 14 years of working. according to figure 1, 73.3% of the farmers learned farming from their fathers, 3.3% of them learned from their brothers and friends, and 20.0% of them learned from own self. about the retailers, 35.3% of them learned the business from their fathers, 20.6% of them from their brothers, 2.9% from friends, and 41.2% from own self. furthermore, we see that exactly 30.0% of the wholesales learned the business from their fathers and 70.0% of them from own self. 100.0% 97.1% 5.9% 8.8% 14.7% 5.9% 11.8% 11.8% 0.0% 2.9% 94.1% 91.2% 85.3% 94.1% 88.2% 88.2% 0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0% 100.0% 120.0% y es n o c lo si ng m ar ke ts du rin g lo ck do w n y es n o fa ce a d ec lin e du rin g lo ck do w n y es n o d el iv er y se rv ic es to ho us es b ef or e lo ck do w n y es n o d el iv er y se rv ic es to re st au ra nt s be fo re lo ck do w n y es n o d el iv er y se rv ic es to ho us es d ur in g lo ck do w n y es n o d el iv er y se rv ic es to re st au ra nt s du rin g lo ck do w n y es n o ag ric ul tu re fo od tra ck s an d ca rts ta ke n pr od uc ts be fo re lo ck do w n y es n o ag ric ul tu re fo od tra ck s an d ca rts ta ke n pr od uc ts du rin g lo ck do w n figure2: what happened in the markets before and during the time of the pandemic? faraj, et al.: influence of covid-19 on the agricultural production 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 1-6 restaurants before lockdown, sourly that means people could reach their necessaries and did not need delivery services. however, 14.7% of them said that they had delivery services to houses during lockdown and 5.9% said that they had delivery services to restaurants during lockdown, as we see delivery services were decreased during the lockdown and this belongs to the truth that people did not believe of healthy of the foods at restaurants, on the other hand, 11.8% of the retailers said that agriculture food trucks and carts taken products from them before and during lockdown. table 4 shows that with a higher percentage our respondents (retailers) said that less products are brought into markets during lockdown with mean (4.82), followed by people demand have decreased due to covid-19, products are not brought into the markets daily due to covid-19 pandemic, both of product prices have lowered due to covid19 pandemic and products were bought more expensively form wholesale markets during lockdown with the same percentage, transportation services couldn’t have been provided for the products due to covid-19, products have been sold in a wider table 3: independent sample t-test between residence (where do you live) and some characteristics of production characteristic of production n mean std. deviation t p-values how many donums of land have you farmed inside 10 13.3 4.739 -0.713 0.482 outside 20 30.53 75.673 how many tons of agricultural products have you had during the covid-19 pandemic inside 10 98.9 107.103 -0.215 0.832 outside 20 129.55 441.645 how many tons of agricultural production you sold during the covid-19 pandemic inside 10 96.9 108.625 -0.192 0.849 outside 20 124.45 442.76 from the quantity production sold how many were had as revenue inside 10 10.3 15.896 -0.723 0.476 outside 20 46 154.488 how many tons of your products have been outdated because of the covid-19 pandemic inside 10 22.5 45.822 1.455 0.157 outside 20 6.95 11.283 table 2: descriptive statistic for farmers survey questions questions strongly disagree disagree natural agree strongly agree mean std. deviation we sell our products cheaper than we did before to the agricultural wholesalers 0.00% 6.70% 0.00% 16.70% 76.70% 4.63 0.809 products have been left un gathered and unsold in the farmlands due to covid-19. 3.30% 6.70% 13.30% 33.30% 43.30% 4.07 1.081 products have been gathered but unsold in the farmlands due to covid-19. 10.00% 20.00% 13.30% 23.30% 33.30% 3.5 1.408 we sell less products than before the covid-19 pandemic. 0.00% 6.70% 3.30% 3.30% 86.70% 4.7 0.837 products have been given more time than before the covid-19 pandemic. 0.00% 30.00% 23.30% 16.70% 30.00% 3.47 1.224 people demand had less for products because of lockdown. 3.30% 3.30% 6.70% 3.30% 83.30% 4.6 1.003 we haven’t been able to afford workers for our farmlands due to lockdown. 10.00% 20.00% 13.30% 26.70% 30.00% 3.47 1.383 we haven’t been able to visit our farmlands enough during lockdown. 6.70% 13.30% 3.30% 33.30% 43.30% 3.93 1.285 due to covid-19, products and needs were not been able to be transported. 0.00% 6.70% 6.70% 23.30% 63.30% 4.43 0.898 agricultural offices were all closed to demand our needs during lockdown. 3.30% 13.30% 3.30% 26.70% 53.30% 4.13 1.196 agriculturalists were not been able to visit farmlands enough due to covid-19. 10.00% 20.00% 30.00% 13.30% 26.70% 3.27 1.337 faraj, et al.: influence of covid-19 on the agricultural production 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 1-6 table 4: descriptive statistic for retailers survey questions questions strongly disagree disagree natural agree strongly agree mean std. deviation product prices have lowered due to covid-19 pandemic. 5.90% 8.80% 5.90% 14.70% 64.70% 4.24 1.257 people demand have decreased due to covid-19. 0.00% 2.90% 0.00% 11.80% 85.30% 4.79 0.592 products have been sold in a wider range during lockdown, so that customers could have saved them later on. 32.40% 23.50% 2.90% 11.80% 29.40% 2.82 1.696 products were bought more expensively form wholesale markets during lockdown. 5.90% 8.80% 8.80% 8.80% 67.60% 4.24 1.281 less products are brought into markets during lockdown. 0.00% 2.90% 0.00% 8.80% 88.20% 4.82 0.576 products are not brought into the markets daily due to covid-19 pandemic. 5.90% 2.90% 0.00% 5.90% 85.30% 4.62 1.074 workers couldn’t have been provided during lockdown for the purpose of transportation. 38.20% 20.60% 11.80% 8.80% 20.60% 2.53 1.581 transportation services couldn’t have been provided for the products due to covid-19. 14.70% 20.60% 11.80% 14.70% 38.20% 3.41 1.54 table 5: descriptive statistic for wholesale markets survey questions questions strongly disagree disagree natural agree strongly agree mean std. deviation we have had less products in the agricultural wholesale during the covid-19 pandemic. 30.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 70.00% 3.8 1.932 we have bought products from farmers with less amount of money during the covid-19 pandemic. 40.00% 40.00% 10.00% 0.00% 10.00% 2 1.247 we have sold products cheaper than before because of the covid-19 pandemic. 20.00% 40.00% 30.00% 0.00% 10.00% 2.4 1.174 because of covid-19, products have been left unsold in the agricultural wholesale. 20.00% 40.00% 10.00% 10.00% 20.00% 2.7 1.494 we haven’t been able to afford workers for transportation during lockdown. 10.00% 30.00% 0.00% 0.00% 60.00% 3.7 1.703 transportation services couldn’t have been provided for the products due to covid-19. 60.00% 10.00% 0.00% 20.00% 10.00% 2.1 1.595 transportation problems have increased to the middle and south of iraq than before the covid-19 pandemic. 10.00% 40.00% 10.00% 20.00% 20.00% 3 1.414 during lockdown, neighbor country products such as iran, have been transported much more to the agricultural wholesale than before. 10.00% 30.00% 0.00% 0.00% 60.00% 3.7 1.703 range during lockdown, so that customers could have saved them later on and workers couldn’t have been provided during lockdown for the purpose of transportation with mean (4.79, 4.62, 4.24, 3.41, 2.82 and 2.53). as we see in figure 3, 50.0% of the wholesalers said that corona virus affected the products purchase of the people, 100.0% of them said that agriculture food trucks and carts taken food them and delivered to houses before and during covid-19 pandemic and 90.0% 0f them said that it is increased during covid-19, finally 100.0% of wholesale markets said that they have send their products to the middle or south of iraq during lockdown. table 5 shows that most of the wholesalers said that less products in the agricultural wholesale during the covid-19 pandemic have the most disadvantage to wholesale (with higher mean 3.800), followed by (they haven’t been able to afford workers for transportation during lockdown and neighbor country products such as iran, have been transported much more to the agricultural wholesale than before) with the same mean 3.700. on the other hand, transportation problems have increased to the middle and south of iraq than before the covid-19 pandemic with mean 3.000, because of covid-19, products have been left unsold in the agricultural wholesale with mean 2.700, selling products cheaper than before because of the pandemic with mean 2.400, transportation services couldn’t have been provided for the products due to covid-19 with mean 2.100 and wholesale markets have bought products from farmers with less amount of money during the covid-19 pandemic with mean 2.000. faraj, et al.: influence of covid-19 on the agricultural production 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 1-6 conclusion after studying and analyzing to know the impact of the covid-19 virus on the agriculture supply chain (vegetative) statistically, according to the responders (n = 74) we reached the following results: 1most of the farmers and retailers are aged between 31 and 40 years while most of the wholesale markets are aged between 41 and 50 years. 2majority of farmers and retailers are living outside the city while all of the wholesale are living inside the halabja city. 3most of the farmers have more than 20 years’ experience of farming, while most of the retailers have 6–10 years’ experience of marketing. on the other hand, most of the wholesale markets have 16–20 years of working. 4the highest percentage of the farmers have learned farming from of their fathers, while most of the retailers and wholesale markets learned business by themselves. 5it is clear that, selling less products by farmers (mean = 4.70), brought less products into markets (mean = 4.82) and less products in the agricultural wholesale (mean = 3.800) during the covid-19 pandemic and lockdown has the most impact on the agriculture supply chain production in halabja governorate. 6market owner reported that 100.0% of them closed their markets and 97.1% of them faced a decline during lockdown. 7with a percentage 50.0%, wholesale markets said that covid-19 effected products purchase of people, 100.0% of them said that agriculture food trucks and carts taken food of them and delivered to houses before and during lockdown and with a percentage 90.0% it is increased during covid-19. 8wholesale markets reported that with a percentage of 100.0%, they could not send products to middle and south of iraq during lockdown. 9there was no difference between the mean score of inside and outside living for each of the characteristics of production including donum of farmer’s land, having tons of agricultural products during covid-19, having tons of sold agricultural production during covid-19, revenue quantity production and outdated tons’ production because of covid-19. references 1. world health organization. novel coronavirus (2019-ncov) situation reports. geneva: world health organization, 2020. available from: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novelcoronavirus-2019/situation-reports [last accessed on 2021 sep 01]. 2. iraq: who coronavirus disease (covid-19) dashboard. n.d. available from: https://covid19.who.int/region/emro/country/ iq [last accessed on 2021 oct 05]. 3. m. k. al-malkey and m. a. al-sammak. incidence of the covid19 in iraq implications for travellers. travel medicine and infectious disease, vol. 38, p. 101739. 4. k. k. lima, a. pasqualetto, t. calil, and s. d. de castro. management of the goiás supply center (ceasa-go): its numbers and proposals for improvements. qualitas revista eletronica, vol. 18, no. 3, p. 1. 5. d. de paulo farias and f. f. f. de araújo. will covid-19 affect food supply in distribution centers of brazilian regions affected by the pandemic? trends in food science and technology, vol. 103, pp. 361-366, 2020. 6. international food policy research institute. yield gaps and potential agricultural growth in west and central africa. washington, d.c., usa: international food policy research institute, 2011. 7. faostat. available from: http://faostat.fao.org [last accessed on 2021 oct 11]. 8. r. d. schnepf and library of congress. congressional research service, iraq agriculture and food supply: background and issues. washington, dc: congressional research service library of congress, 2003. 9. s. aday and m. s. aday. impacts of covid-19 on food supply chain. food quality and safety, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 167-180, 2020. 10. a. al-haboby, c. breisinger, d. debowicz, a. h. el-hakim, j. ferguson, r. telleria and van rheenen. the role of agriculture for economic development and gender in iraq: a computable general equilibrium model approach. the journal of developing areas, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 431-451, 2016. 11. g. r. gibson, j. b. campbell and r. h. wynne. three decades of war and food insecurity in iraq. photogrammetric engineering and remote sensing, vol. 78, no. 8, pp. 885-895, 2012. 12. a. h. abudlqadir, b. e. hama and s. m. faraj. the effects of financial crisis on birth rates in halabja province from 2014 to 2018. economics, management and sustainability, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 132-137, 2020. 13. k. aroian, n. uddin and h. blbas. longitudinal study of stress, social support, and depression in married arab immigrant women. health care for women international, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 100-117, 2016. 14. h. t. a. blbas, k. f. aziz, s. h. nejad and a. a. barzinjy. phenomenon of depression and anxiety related to precautions for prevention among population during the outbreak of covid19 in kurdistan region of iraq: based on questionnaire survey. journal of public health, vol. 42, pp. 1-5, 2020. 15. h. blbas. statistical analysis for the most influential reasons for divorce between men and women in erbil-iraq. international journal of innovation, creativity and change, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 207-216, 2019. 50.0% 100.0% 100.0% 90.0% 0.0% 50.0% 0.0% 0.0% 10.0% 100.0% 0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0% 100.0% 120.0% ye s no c o vi d -1 9 ef fe ct ed p ro du ct s pu rc ha se of p eo pl e ye s no a gr ic ul tu re fo od tr uc ks , c ar ts ta ke n fo od an d de liv er ed to h ou se s be fo re c o vi d -1 9 ye s no a gr ic ul tu re fo od tr uc ks , c ar ts ta ke n fo od an d de liv er ed to h ou se s du rin g c o vi d -1 9 y es n o if ye s, it ha s in cr ea se d du rin g c o vi d -1 9 y es n o se nd in g pr od uc ts to m id dl e an d so ut h of ir aq d ur in g lo ck do w n figure 3: how the pandemic affects wholesale markets before and after its occurs? tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 1-8 research article using factor analysis to determine the most important factors affecting student absenteeism at cihan university-erbil hawkar q. birdawod department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the review of the relevant literature reveals that the issue of absenteeism among students was not new. the researcher intended to explore the factors affecting absenteeism and to find a solution to solve this issue. for this purpose, a mixed methods research was designed. to analyze this problem, both quantitative and qualitative research methods were adopted in this study. in quantitative approach, a closeended questionnaire was developed to collect data. the sample comprised 470 students out of total population of 4892. a descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. the outcome of the study shows that common factors such as curriculum and organizational climate, transportation and recreation, administrative procedures, and psychological and economic issues all had an impact on students’ absences. likewise, the results revealed that administrative and motivational factors, including personal organization and adaptations with performance to health and second housing, are the critical factors in the student’s absences. furthermore, gender of the student plays a major role in the student’s absenteeism, and the results show that there is a significant difference between male and female students toward the absence of the students. keywords: absenteeism factors, factor analysis, component method, principle component method, cihan university-erbil introduction factor analysis is an important tool of statistical methods associated with multi-dimensional variables, that is related to a set of phenomena or attributes that help a number of variables such as people. it is a statistical method, because it depends on the first argument at the expense of correlation coefficients between these phenomena. one tries to use the factor analysis to return the causes of a group of characteristics (we call it random variables) to a smaller number of factors which can be measured entirely and can be described in a simplified and accurate manner.[1] factor analysis can also be defined as a multivariate analysis based on a set of hypotheses using the (correlation matrix) or (covariance matrix) to determine the (hypothetical factors) underlying the nature of interrelated relationships. internal relationships are among a set of variables taken for a specific phenomenon. these factors are represented by new variables but with fewer original variables. the aim of the analysis is to describe and interpret the phenomena or characteristics of the variables on the basis of few factors as possible.[1,2] one of the main important factors for the development of society and the country is the reform and improvement of the education system in universities. many studies have been conducted for this purpose. as a result, a study has been conducted to assess and understand the factors that influence a student’s academic performance.[3] another study focused on student feedback on the teaching methods used by university teachers.[4] a common topic that has been investigated to improve the education system in this region is the online education system, which has been discussed since the outbreak of the coronavirus and has become a supportive and alternative education in the universities of the kurdistan region.[5] another interesting study is to determine the factors that cause university students to hate reading books.[6] the study of absenteeism is very important for every institution and every teacher to improve the results. the reducing the rate of absenteeism is useful for making the students disciplined, punctual, and consistent.[7,8] this study aims to find different factors of absenteeism at cihan university-erbil and find a solution to reduce it. corresponding author: hawkar q. birdawod, department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: hawkar.birdawod@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 20, 2022 accepted: june 18, 2022 published: july 10, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp1-8 copyright © 2022 hawkar q. birdawod. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) birdawod: using factor analysis to determine student absenteeism 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 1-8 the researcher’s effort was to sort out varied significant factors involved in the student’s absenteeism at the university level. it has always been a burning issue and especially nowadays since the government is concerned with improving and bringing positive changes to the educational sector. prominent level of absenteeism reported as missing 10% or more of the academic year has been a key indicator of student’s failure.[9,10] student absenteeism been given much attention today, but still it is uncontrollable issue. one thing is clear that this matter is not ignorable rather it needs greater attention and time to look into. since new college students experience many challenges physically, socially, and mentally.[10,11] research questions keeping in view the main objective of the study, the following research questions were made in light of the relevant literature. (1) what are the factors that cause absenteeism among university students? (2) do the factors of absenteeism affect boys and girls students equally? (3) are subject matter and the medium of instruction cause student’s absenteeism? (4) is there any significant difference in the perspective of students in the factors of absenteeism? students with low attendance attribute their absenteeism to the poor relationship with teachers, university administration, and class fellows. the researcher made a standard about the low attendance by fixed a cut off line which will make decision making easy about the low attendance and the accurate attendance. objectives of the study the main objectives of the study are as follows: 1. to investigate the effects of absenteeism among students of cihan university-erbil 2. to present the basic literature review regarding absenteeism among students 3. to recommend a possible solution for absenteeism after the analysis of the data. research hypothesis based on the objective and the conceptual framework of this study, null hypothesis is developed as follows: h01: there is no significant difference between male and female students toward student’s absenteeism. h02: there is no relationship between subject interest and student’s absenteeism. h03: there is no relationship between lecturer’s skills and student’s absenteeism. h04: there is no relationship between student’s attitude and student’s absenteeism. h05: there is no relationship between health problems and student’s absenteeism. the objectives of using the factor analysis the main objectives of factor analysis can be summarized in the following points: 1. interdependency and pattern delineation: the method of factor analysis explanation reveals the (patterns) separate of the relations between the variables and return the causes of those variables to the lowest number of factors, in which the strength of the relationship of each variable is determined by these patterns 2. parsimony or data reduction: if we have a large number of private observations of a large set of variables, these data can be concentrated in the form of a few factors that represent the variables in describing the phenomenon and clarify relationship between them 3. hypothesis testing: the factor analysis can be used to test the validity of the determinants of the type of factors affecting a set of variables, depending on the factor matrix 4. data transformation: the global analysis helps to transform data into another image in which certain conditions can be applied to some statistical methods on it 5. scaling: the method of factor analysis is useful in exploring new areas. factor analysis reduces complex relationships between a set of variables to a simple linear image 6. multicollineartiy: a factor analysis method contributes to addressing the problem of linear multiplicity, to convert variables associated with unrelated factors.[2,12-14] literature review factor model the model of the factor analysis of p (p dimensional) of the sample his size is n that it is based on a linear function of p the mean variables and m of the common factors, in which (m <p) and to (p) of the unique factors for each variable, the factor model will be as follows:[12,13] x f upx px pxm mx px1 1 1 1� � �� � (1) where: x: represents the random vector of observed variables. µ: represents the vector of variables. a: the loading factors matrix represents the changes. f: is the random vector of the common factors selected from pvariables. u: represents the random vector of the only variables of the variables. basic assumption of factor analysis the basic hypothesis of factor analysis is based on the existence of correlations between a set of variables unstudied and that these correlations are the result of the existence of interrelated factors, in which the factor analysis seeks to explain these linkages with the least number of independent factors among them, this hypothesis assumes the standard value (standard value) of the variables, which may be distributed in natural distribution with a mean of zero well as for the elimination of variables.[15,16] based on this hypothesis, the vector of the media and the variance of the variables will be zero vectors, var x i( ) = and e x o( ) � �� birdawod: using factor analysis to determine student absenteeism 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 1-8 in this case, the factor model takes the following form: z f up p m m p* * * *1 1 1� �� (2) for the covariance matrix for each of the common factor drivers (f) and the only factors (u) assuming that, they are independent: � � � � � � �f u f u ff fu uf uu m m m� � � � � � � �� � � �� � �� � �� � �� � � � � � � � � � � �nn n m n m� �� � � � � � � whereas: φ: represents the heterogeneity matrix of the common factors f� � . ψ: the country matrix represents single factor variance. as for the matrix of variance of the variables x� � and (σ) denoted by: e x x p p( ') *�� so (σ) that it is a symmetric positive definite and full rank matrix. moreover, since the goal in factor analysis is to estimate the parameters of the model, it was necessary to express the model (2) in a more appropriate form, since: � � � � � �� e x x e af u af u( ) ( )( ) � � � � � � � � � �ae ff a ae fu e uf a e uu( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) the structural matrix (ω), which represents the covariance between observed variables and factors, they are: � � ��p m x f� � � �( ) these hypotheses divide the total variation into three variations. common variance represents a part of the total variance that is associated with the rest of the variables and is calculated from the coefficients of the general factors and symbolized by the symbol hj 2� � .[13,17] h a a aj j j jm 2 1 2 2 2 2� � � �... (3) specific variance it represents a part of the total variance that is not associated with the other variables, but is associated with the same variable, which is part of the only factor variation that equals u b ej j j 2 2 2� � (4) where: u j 2 : is the only factor variation. bj 2 : variance of the variable j . ej 2 : error variance. error variance which is not explained by the common factors that can be described as residual or error, is the variation resulting from errors in the sample drag or measurement or any changes that lead to data instability and symbolizes ej 2� � .[13,16] e h bj j j 2 2 21� � �( ) (5) it is worth mentioning that factor analysis cannot be used if the sample size is less than 50 observations, and it is preferably when the sample size contains 100 observations or more. the commonalities the standard value is the sum of the squares of the saturations of the factors of that variable, and it represents the common variance that is explained by the common factors extracted from the correlation matrix analysis, that is, it represents the extent of interference between the variables and the common factors: [13,17] h a a aj j j jm 2 1 2 2 2 2� � � �... where j=1,2,3,………, p i=1,2,3,……, m or h aj ij i m 2 2 1 � � � many of the factor analysis methods are needed when applying the factor analysis to an initial estimate of the quantities of communion hj 2� � and placing them in the diagonal elements of the correlation matrix (r) instead of the units. these methods are the method of analysis of the main factor used in our research, which needed to estimate these values and place them in the main diameter of the correlation matrix.[17-19] many of the factor analysis methods, including the main factor analysis method, need when used to a preliminary estimate of the quantities of commonness and put them in the diagonal elements of the correlation matrix instead of the units; then, it is called the reduced correlation matrix, and one of the characteristics of the common values is that they are always positive values, its value lies between zero and one (because it is part of the total variance, which is equal to one), that is, it: [14,16,19] 0 12≤ ≤hj factor analysis methods there are several ways to estimate the matrix of factor loading for the first solution, the following is the most common: 1. principal components method 2. factor method principal 3. method maximum – likelihood 4. image method 5. unweighted least squares 6. generalized least squares 7. alpha method birdawod: using factor analysis to determine student absenteeism 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 1-8 8. the centered method 9. rao method. we will explain the main vehicle method, for adoption in the applied side, because it is more accurate in estimation.[15,20,21] principle component method the basic idea of this method is to find the main universes, the number of which is equal to the number of studied variables (xj) where (j=1,2,3,……,p) that follow the multivariate normal distribution with the aver mean of the population ( )µ and the covariance and covariance matrix (σ), meaning that ( , )� � � x and then choose the first component of the main components, which is modified to find the following model:[16,19,22,23] x l f l f l f u x l f l f m m p p p 1 11 1 12 2 1 1 1 1 2 2 � � � � � � � � ............... .................� � � � � � �l f upm m p (6) where: f1…fm: represent the unrelated general factors that were extracted from (p) the variables. lji: represents the factor loading (i) of the variable (j). u1…up: are the only factors methodology the results of this study will be based on the literature review and the responses collected from students through questionnaires. the response rate was appropriate to analyze the data. data were analyzed in percentage response of respondents and using factor analysis. the sample size is 470 students out of total population of 4892. the sample was calculated based on (5%) margin of error. the respondent was divided into 240 female students a 51.06% and 230 of the respondents were male 48.94%. the study was conducted on the basis of a sample of 470 students selected randomly. the data were collected by survey questionnaire as a mean tool. after classifying the data from the forms of the sample, each statement was calculated as a variable given symbols, using the statistical package (spss25). the data include a set of variables to explain the reasons for absence students. results and discussion the purpose of this study is to determine the factors influencing students’ absences, to show the most important variables and their sequence in terms of their effect on the studied phenomenon for the method of factor analysis, the principal components were used to analyze the correlation matrix of the studied variables, and based on the matrix of the coefficients of the circulating factors in a manner (varimax) and show the importance of each variable based on the relationship of this variable with other variables. the number of moral factors was selected according to (kaiser scale) based on the characteristic values (the factor variation), keeping any factor with eigen value greater than one. the significance of the loadings for each factor was determined on the basis of the comparison between factor loadings, where the largest load value was selected in each factor, and then, it is compared with other factor loads for same variables. the (varimax) matrix was applied on all students and it was taken into consideration for the purpose of knowledge and distinguishing the reasons for absenteeism. the principal components (p.c): the first stage for all students in table 1, we present the results obtained in this way for 470 students and that represent the size of the sample (males and females). it is noted from the table that the total number of factor variances is equal to 24, which represents the total variance of all the variables studied (the standard values). the shaded parts indicate the presence of the nine main significant factors effect on the reasons for absence of both genders together, table 1: analysis using the main compounds method for all students (male and female) factor factor variance (distinguished value) variance ratio factor cumulative percentage of variance 1 4.295 17.897 17.897 2 2.321 9.67 27.568 3 1.887 7.861 35.428 4 1.556 6.481 41.91 5 1.379 5.745 47.655 6 1.266 5.276 52.931 7 1.197 4.987 57.918 8 1.139 4.748 62.666 9 1.064 4.433 67.099 10 0.865 3.605 70.704 11 0.85 3.543 74.247 12 0.821 3.419 77.666 13 0.703 2.931 80.597 14 0.652 2.716 83.313 15 0.571 2.38 85.693 16 0.55 2.294 87.986 17 0.496 2.067 90.053 18 0.455 1.896 91.949 19 0.41 1.707 93.656 20 0.382 1.59 95.246 21 0.344 1.434 96.681 22 0.328 1.365 98.046 23 0.267 1.113 99.158 24 0.202 0.842 100 total 24 100 birdawod: using factor analysis to determine student absenteeism 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 1-8 which represent the number of factors whose value exceeds one. these nine factors explain a percentage (67.099%) of the total variance of variables explained by these nine factors. although they explain different percentages of variation, but they important in determining the variables affecting the absence of students and these nine factors are explained, respectively, 17.897%, 9.670%, 7.861%, 6.481%, 5.745%, 5.276%, 4.987%, 4.748%, and 4.443% of the total variance. first factor this factor is important in influencing the causes of absence, where it explains (17.897%) of the total variance. this factor is saturated with significant saturation for the following variables and according in sequence: depending on the book only to explaining the academic subjects x21 and by amount of 0.696 and the value of communality is 0.573, difficulty of a number of subjects x22 by amount of 0.674 and the value of communality is 0.625, incompatibility between students x17 by amount of 0.614 and the value of communality is 0.539, the non-encouraging way of teachers in presenting the course material x2 by amount of 0.570 and the value of communality is 0.706, the weakness of the humanitarian relations between teachers and students x1 by amount of 0.551 and the value of communality is 0.714, student unwillingness to education x7 by amount of 0.511, and the value of communality 0.612. the weakness of academic subjects to motivate student x20 by amount of 0.485 and the value of communality is 0.644 within the saturation of this factor and in both genders and the quantities shown in the shaded parts of the table. this factor can be called (scientific) factor which is an important indicator to determine the reasons for absence of students in both genders. this factor can be called the curriculum factor and the social and organizational climate. it can be said that the depending on the book in the commentary may be difficult to understand the student and that the lack of the introduction of examples and evidence may lead the student to a state of helplessness and lack of desire to lecture and then evade attending lectures on this side, and on the other hand, it can be said that the lack of an adequate social climate in the college reflects the negative effects on harmony which leads the student to search for other groups with them and, thus, was always absent. on the other hand, there is a lack of interest in the humanitarian aspect in dealing with students and weakness in consideration about their feelings, desire, and circumstances. in addition, the limited number of teachers makes it difficult to deal with both academic as well as the human side of the student. therefore, understanding the students’ circumstances can be a helpful tool to decrease absenteeism. in particular, the modern literature in the field of education and psychology refers to the importance of using psychological methods to link the subject to the needs of students and their interests and tendencies, all this leads to the departure of students from the study schedule and then their absence from lectures. second factor this factor is very important and comes in second place in terms of importance, which it interprets (9.670%) of the total variance and this factor satisfies a significant saturation of the following variables and in sequence, unhealthy conditions in the accommodation x24 by amount of 0.845 and the value of communality is 0.775, failure to provide appropriate classroom environment x8 by amount of 0.845% and the value of communality 0.755, and also poor living conditions of university students x6 by amount of 0.626 and the value of communality is 0.612. the weakness of the moral imprints of this factor in both genders are called the second administrative and scientific factor. this factor can be called accommodation factor and economy first. the problem of student stability is a fundamental factor affecting the extent of his commitment to the continuation, especially in the beginning of the academic course. lack of good health conditions in the accommodation of the heating and furniture and other conditions can be leading to infection diseases. hence, it can be counted among the reasons for the absence of students from this permanence on the one hand, and on the other hand, a number of students from outside the center of the province maybe delay in obtaining accommodation due to the frequent procedures and complexities of routine as well as the concern of providing accommodation that burdens the students. this will result in the inability of students to connect to the school, and on the other hand, the nature of the economic conditions experienced by the student, which reflected the impact especially on the students’ ability to maintain their commitment due to the high wages of travel compared to the potential of students, especially those who suffer from poor living conditions, constant absences. third factor this factor comes in third place in terms of importance, it explains 7.861% of the total variance and saturated this factor by amount of 0.639, 0.795 and the value of communality is 0.745, 0.676 of the variables lack of transportation facilities x5, and lack of comfort in university campuses x16. this factor can be called (transportation and recreational) factor. the lack of means of transport and the inability of the student to pay the transportation fees may result in a lack of commitment. on the other hand, the absence of students may sometimes refer to psychological reasons related to the student’s need for resting, so the lack of comfort causes the student to feel a sense of distress and tension and resort to other places away from the college, which leads the student to the absence of permanence. fourth factor this factor comes in fourth place in terms of importance, it explains 6.481% of the total variance and saturated this factor by amount of 0.691, 0.805 and the value of communality is 0.599, 0.744 of the variables unclear vision of future career for college graduates x12 and management delay announcement of results x10. this factor can be called (future and administrative) factor. as we say, this factor can be referred to the acceptance controls, as well as the lack of the future, which affects in some way the motivation of the students negatively and their desire for continuous work, so he suffers from a birdawod: using factor analysis to determine student absenteeism 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 1-8 table 2 : (loading matrix) moral factors and common quantities of all the factors produced by the main compound method after rotation for all students (male and female) variable first factor second factor third factor forth factor fifth factor sixth factor seventh factor eighth factor ninth factor dispersion x1 0.551 −0.09 0.113 −0.06 0.538 −0.15 −0.2 −0.171 0.08 0.714 x2 0.57 −0.252 −0.06 0.04 0.119 0.281 −0.14 −0.137 0.424 0.706 x3 0.102 0.204 0.122 0.193 0.005 0.045 0.759 0.051 −0.07 0.69 x4 0.081 0.413 0.057 0.067 0.583 0.168 0.145 0.232 −0.11 0.639 x5 0.045 0.131 0.759 −0.17 0.183 0.138 0.03 0.243 0.085 0.745 x6 −0.018 0.626 0.375 0.113 0.181 −0.06 0.135 −0.117 0.049 0.616 x7 0.511 0.42 0.359 0.254 0.415 0.139 −0.079 0.057 −0.14 0.612 x8 0.099 0.845 −0.02 −0.09 −0.03 0.108 −0.015 0.015 0.105 0.755 x9 −0.101 0.221 0.143 −0.02 0.023 0.015 −0.023 0.038 0.811 0.74 x10 0.074 −0.034 −0.12 0.691 0.153 −0.04 0.215 −0.049 −0.17 0.599 x11 0.422 0.225 0.265 0.188 −0.01 0.154 −0.433 0.145 −0.3 0.657 x12 0.07 0.001 0.164 0.805 −0 −0.16 −0.073 0.14 0.121 0.744 x13 0.113 0.269 0.328 0.027 −0.05 0.721 0.034 −0.149 −0.07 0.745 x14 0.387 −0.043 0.333 −0.35 0.346 −0 0.461 0.053 −0.03 0.724 x15 −0.103 0.055 0.085 0.072 0.713 0.055 0.039 0.017 0.064 0.543 x16 0.241 0.003 0.639 0.364 0.067 −0.05 0.201 −0.065 0.155 0.676 x17 0.614 0.179 0.117 0.152 0.042 0.026 0.257 −0.082 −0.01 0.539 x18 −0.036 −0.04 0.002 −0.24 0.056 0.713 −0.078 −0.105 0.033 0.589 x19 −0.049 −0.107 −0.32 0.052 0.288 0.556 0.219 0.263 0.108 0.641 x20 0.485 0.132 −0.05 0.196 −0.18 −0.06 0.183 0.439 0.299 0.644 x21 0.696 0.137 0.21 −0.1 −0.07 −0.07 −0.028 0.054 −0.06 0.573 x22 0.674 0.048 −0.16 0.169 0.002 0.049 0.088 0.234 −0.22 0.625 x23 −0.052 0.109 −0.13 −0.03 −0.11 0.119 0.016 −0.867 0.024 0.812 x24 0.099 0.859 −0 −0.03 0.083 −0.04 0.09 −0.053 0.081 0.775 %variance ratio factor 17.9 9.67 7.861 6.481 5.745 5.276 4.987 4.748 4.433 psychological condition that is directly make him/her unstable in his time and presence. fifth factor this factor comes in fifth place in terms of importance, it explains (5.745%) of the total variance and saturated this factor by amount of 0.713, 0.583 and the value of communality is 0.639, 0.543 of the variables various personal and family problems x15 and students work during or after university x4. this factor can be called (social) factor. many personal and family problems add to the sense of increasing the burden of work, which enables them to maintain their commitment to sustainability. on the other hand, the poor economic situation of the student reflected its effects, especially to the potential of the students and the extent of their commitment to full time, some of them to work despite being a student to improve economic level. sixth factor this factor comes in sixth place in terms of importance, it explains 5.745% of the total variance. this factor is saturated with a significant saturation of the following variables and in sequence: a number of students were preoccupied with relationships with others x13 by amount of 0.721 and the value of communality is 0.745. there are also two variables poor follow-up by the administration to students’ absences x18 and strong friendship bonds among students x19 by amount of 0.713, 0.756 and the value of communality is 0.589, 0641. respectively and sequentially, this factor may be referred to the (first administrative) or the motivational. the weak follow-up of the administration of the students’ absences affects the motivation of the students negatively and their desire for continue as well as the existence of a range of psychological and social needs are not saturated students, birdawod: using factor analysis to determine student absenteeism 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 1-8 some of them are personal needs and their interests and need any affiliation to others, so their motivation is an important issue in terms of students to stay away from the study, because they do not agree and their needs and tendencies which leads to their departure from permanence. seventh factor this factor comes in seventh place in terms of importance, it explains %4.987 of the total variance and this factor is saturated with a significant saturation of the following variables and in sequence: poor organization of the study schedule x3 by amount of 0.759 and the value of communality is 0.690, explanation of the subject by the teacher in a language far from the language of the student x14 and frequent daily examinations by a number of teachers x11 by amounts of 0.461, 0.433 and the value of communality is 0.657, 0.724. the weakness of the moral imprints of this factor in both genders are called the second administrative and scientific factor. these three variables are called the second administrative and scientific factor. eighth factor this factor comes in seventh place in terms of importance, it explains 4.748% of the total variance and this factor is saturated with a significant saturation of the following variables and in sequence: the health situation of the students x23 by amount of 0.867 and the value of communality is 0.812. only within the moral parameters of this factor can be called (health) factor. since the absence of a number of students is always attributed to the suffering of health, as the infection of some diseases, especially cold diseases and the associated drugs, due to the siege leads to the student’s immaturity to physical and psychological rest and avoid it from work so can be counted among the reasons for the student’s absence. ninth factor this factor is ranked ninth and most important in terms of importance. it explains 4.433% of the total variance, and this factor satisfies a significant saturation of the variant of long distance from the university x9 by amount of 0.811, and the value of communality is 0.740. the ninth factor can be called (accommodation) conclusions after addressing the applicable aspects of the study, and obtaining the results of the implementation of the principal of components method, the researcher came with the following conclusions: 1. during the work on the factor analysis for all students, the researcher found that there are nine main moral factors that allow us to determine the main effective reasons (variables) that lead to student’s absence for both genders and each of them individually 2. the study revealed that the explained ratio of total variance is the nine factors in cases (all students, only females, only males) equal (67.009%, 74.014%, and 72.585%), respectively, this means that the explained ratio of total variance analysis that been done separately for each gender has increased comparing to the explained ratio in the analysis of both genders, and that assures our assumptions of importance of doing analysis of each gender individually, to get a better result 3. the study shows that the most important variables that have moral effects on students’ absence are curriculum and organizational climate, transportation and recreation, administrative procedures, and psychological and economic issues. administrative and motivational factors including: personal organization and adaptations with performance to health and second housing. for females, living and economy, personal adaptation to the course and curriculum, admission and graduation regulations, psychological, health and administrative, transport and recreation, acceptance procedures, organizational and physiological climate, motivation, for males, curriculum climate and human relations, housing, economics, administrative management, admission controls and administrative procedures, motivation, recreation, personal adjustments, and permanence and health 4. differential results of the factor analysis among both genders means that the order or sequence of the important variables that effect the female absence are different from the order or sequence of male’s absence variable. thus, that assure our assumptions of doing the analysis of each gender individually, the purpose is to determine the reasons that lead to absence of gender individually 5. not giving the real reasons of absence by students may prevent the desired results from being obtained. recommendations the following recommendations can be made in light of the study conclusion: 1. the study assists the determination of main factors that affect students’ absence (and for each gender individually); hence, the study recommends the importance of doing researches and studies on the same topic, and take other variables (reasons) in consideration, and for greater number of students to come up with a valid recommendations and that’s for spotting the important reasons to reduce the phenomenon of absence at the university 2. the importance of taking the principles of humanitarian relationships into account for interrelationship between teachers with students 3. use interesting and affective teaching methods, in a way that enriches class environment with fruitful communications among teachers, and students on the other hand. furthermore, encouraging students to study and find other academic resources to overcome the difficulties related to certain subjects 4. accommodate students for their necessities, especially providing transportation, provide suitable job opportunities for students, particularly those in need, weather inside the university or in coordination with organizations, as well as providing financial support to facilitate their affairs 5. the need to apply instructions and guidelines, especially in regard to students’ absence by assigning part of the passing grade according to attendance 6. minimize the routine procedures regarding registration of birdawod: using factor analysis to determine student absenteeism 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 1-8 students in the university and taking in consideration the importance of students desires to do that 7. care for the cleanliness of student’s accommodation and the provision of health condition to avoid the possibility students to be infected by diseases. references 1. i. ajzen. attitudinal vs. normative messages: an investigation of the differential effects of persuasive communications on behavior. sociometry, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 263-280, 1971. 2. k. v. mardia, j. t. kent and j. m. bibby. multivariate analysis. london, england: academic press, 1979. 3. n. h. mahmood, s. h. murad and k. k. kakamad. ordinal logistic regression for students academic performance in kurdistan region of iraq. information management and business review, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 17-22, 2018. 4. d. h. kadir and a. w. omer. implementing analysis of ordinal regression model on student’s feedback response. cihan university-erbil journal of humanities and social sciences, vol. 5, no. 1. pp. 45-49, 2021. 5. n. h. mahmood, d. h. kadir and h. q. birdawod. the full factorial design approach to determine the attitude of university lecturers towards e-learning and online teaching due to the covid-19 pandemic. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 1. pp. 20-25, 2022. 6. h. blbas and d. h. kadir. an application of factor analysis to identify the most effective reasons that university students hate to read books. international journal of innovation, creativity and change, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 251-265, 2019. 7. t. w. anderson. an introduction to multivariate statistical analysis. 2nd ed. new york: ‎john wiley and sons, 1984. 8. w. r. dillon and m. goldstein. multivariate analysis methods and application. new york: john wiley and sons, 1984. 9. r. balfanz and v. byrnes. the importance of being in school: a report on absenteeism in the nation’s public schools. the education digest, vol. 78, no. 2, p. 4, 2012. 10. p. kousalya, v. ravindranath and k. vizayakumar. student absenteeism in engineering colleges: evaluation of alternatives using ahp. advances in decision sciences, vol. 2006, p. 058232, 2006. 11. s. m. abdelrahman and a. m. abdelkader. the influencing factors of absenteeism among nursing students. journal of nursing education and practice, vol.7, no. 10, p. 64, 2017. 12. c. chatfield and a. j. collins. introduction to multivariate analysis. london: chapman and hall, 1982. 13. t. h. kayyali. a study of the application of cluster analysis models with a comparison with the factor analysis method, a master’s thesis submitted to the statistics department-college of administration and economics. iraq: al-mustansiriya university, 1989. 14. m. a. al-nuaimi. econometric theory. iraq: al-mustansiriya university, 1991. 15. k. m. al-rawi. introduction to regression analysis. 1st ed. iraq: mosul university, directorate of dar al-kutub for printing and publishing, 1987. 16. l. e. kirk. the use of multiple analysis in diagnosing gallbladder diseases and the factors affecting it, a master’s thesis submitted to the department of statistics college of administration and economics. erbil: salah al-din university, 2002. 17. h. q. yalda. using factor analysis to study the factors affecting some diseases of the nervous system, a master’s thesis submitted to the department of statistics college of administration and economics. erbil: salah al-din university, 2000. 18. n. nkansah, s. ninson, b. f. owusu and o. l. prempeh. the impact of absenteeism on the academic performance of pupils of ebom-bomfa jhs. unpublished dissertation. university of cape coast, 2017. 19. j. a. al-mahdawi. an analytical statistical study on the factors affecting juvenile delinquency, a master’s thesis submitted to the department of statistics, college of administration and economics. iraq: university of baghdad, 1987. 20. n. wadesango and s. machingambi. causes and structural effects of student absenteeism: a case study of three south african universities. journal of social sciences, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 89-97, 2011. 21. a. al-sabawi. organizational knowledge and its impact on determining the entrances to the formulation of strategy: a field study of the opinions of senior management in a sample of joint stock companies in the city of mosul. rafidain development journal, college of administration and economics university of mosul, 1999. 22. g. pehlivan. the school absenteeism among high school students: contributing factors. educational sciences: theory and practice, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 5-17, 2016. 23. h. q. pirdawd. transformed and solving multi-objective linear programming problems to single-objective by using correlation technique. cihan international journal of social science, vol. 1, pp. 30-36, 2017. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 147 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 147-152 research article relationship between sera vitamin d, calcium, and magnesium levels in pregnant women with and without postpartum depression hataw a. mohammed1, hero h. muhammed saed1, bushra m. jarallah2 1department of chemistry, college of education, garmian university, kalar, iraq, 2department of medicine, college of medicine, garmian university, kalar, iraq abstract postpartum depression (ppd) is a significant mental health case after childbirth, distinguished by behavioral changes and emotional disturbance. ppd is a significant public issue estimated to affect 10–15% of women worldwide. the study’s objective was to investigate whether low sera concentrations of vitamin d, calcium, and magnesium during the third trimester of pregnancy were associated with ppd. the study population included 80 pregnant women between the ages of 25 and 35 years. in this study, we followed up the pregnant women until birth. after childbirth, those women were divided into two groups: group 1 (40 healthy women as a control group) and group 2 (40 unhealthy women with ppd disorder). when the blood samples were taken, vitamin d level was determined using an elisa device. while, calcium and magnesium were measured using the spectrophotometric method. a health questionnaire structure was used for screening depression after birth. after measuring pregnancy serum concentrations of vitamin d of both two groups, we found that there was no significant relationship between vitamin d concentrations in pregnant women and ppd (p = 0.6497). a significant difference in sera calcium (p = 0.0003) and magnesium levels (p = 0.0005) between the control group and depressed group was observed. our study detected that vitamin d concentrations in the serum of women during their last trimester of pregnancy had no statistical link with their risk of ppd. whereas direct association in calcium and magnesium deficiency in the third trimester of pregnancy and happening of ppd were reported in this study. keywords: calcium, magnesium, postpartum depression, third trimester of pregnancy, vitamin d introduction postpartum depression (ppd) is one of the most common and public health problems of childbirth.[1] approximately one-fifth of women present depression during pregnancy and after birth,[2] yearly affecting about 10–15% of postnatal women.[3] it sets within a few months to a year after birth. however, some evidence indicated postpartum depression 4 years after birth.[4] it is characterized by low appetite, fatigue, the feeling of guilt, and sleep problems.[5] untreated maternal illness is potentially associated with adverse consequences for the mother, her infant, and her family.[6] the etiology remains unclear and complex.[7] most commonly risk factors such as having a history of anxiety and depression during pregnancy, stressful life events, biological factors, and low social support are involved in the progression of postpartum depression.[8] furthermore, there are many researches about the contribution of nutritional status of minerals and vitamins, which are associated with several body’s metabolic regulations for depression patients.[9] for instance, vitamin d is one of the nutritional factors linked with cognitive decline in mental health. it has been hypothesized that a low concentration of vitamin d may take part in depression.[10] research supports the connect between depression and vitamin d in three ways. first menon et al.[11], vitamin d plays as a neuroactive hormone. sundry sources have demonstrated that receptors of vitamin d are largely distributed throughout the brain of the human and play a key role in mood regulation.[12] second, vitamin d has a role in regulating the immune system and reducing the release of inflammatory substances.[13] finally, vitamin d as well has a defensive influence versus a low concentration of specific hormones such as serotonin and dopamine.[14] cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: hataw a. mohammed, department of chemistry, college of education, garmian university, kalar, iraq. e-mail: hataw.adil@garmian.edu.krd received: june 16, 2022 accepted: october 23, 2022 published: december 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp147-152 copyright © 2022 hataw a. mohammed, hero h.m. saed, bushra m. jarallah. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). mohammed, et al.: vitamin d and minerals with postpartum depression 148 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 147-152 concerning macromolecules, calcium (ca) and magnesium (mg) are the most predominant intracellular cation. certain studies have found elevation of ca and mg among depressed pregnant women. in contrast, others show a decrease in levels of ca and mg.[15] calcium has several vital functions in the human’s body.[16] more than 99% of total ca is present in the skeleton, supporting their framework. while, the residual 1% is set in the blood, muscle, and the fluid between cells which is necessary for contraction of muscle, expansion and contraction of blood vessel, hormones and enzymes excretion, and posting messages through the nervous system.[17] in human’s body, magnesium is one of the fundamental minerals and a cofactor of over 300 enzymatic reactions.[18] deficiency of mg has been reported in depression. it is a natural calcium channel blocker, and it is needed for nerve function and appropriate relaxation. ca enhances the nerves and mg calms them down. all these systems have been associated with the depression’s pathophysiology. mg as well dampens the calcium ion-protein kinase c-linked neurotransmission and catalyzes the na-katpase.[19] when mg is declining, it is possible to notice an increase in the activity of the n-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (nmda receptor), as well as substance p, which may cause increased pain and elevated hormones related to stress.[20] according to our investigation, this study was the first trial held to measure vitamin d, ca, and mg levels together in the serum of pregnant women in their last trimester of pregnancy and studying their relation with postpartum depression. the primary goal of this study was to illustrate if low levels of vitamin d, ca, and mg in the sera of pregnant women in their third (last trimester) of pregnancy were linked with their affecting by postpartum depression or not in the iraqi population/garmian/kalar. methods and clinical measurements clinical measurements the population of this study was conducted on the sera of 80 healthy pregnant women aged 25–35 years. we measured sera vitamin d, calcium, and magnesium for those pregnant women in their third trimester of their pregnancy. afterbirth, we followed their cases. if they did not suffer from postpartum depression, we considered them as group 1; healthy women or control group (40 women). on the other hand, the women who suffered from postpartum depression, we regarded them as group 2; unhealthy women or depressed women (40 women). the pregnant donors did not have any severe diseases in the third trimester of pregnancy. for example, they didn’t suffer from hypertension, liver disorders, congenital heart diseases, renal dysfunction, cancers, kidney disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, blood diseases, lung disease, and diabetes or any other diseases. we excluded those pregnancies that took vitamins, minerals, and any other drugs. in addition, group 2 (depressed women) and group 1 (healthy women) provided their written, informed approval to take part in our study. the blood samples of pregnant women were collected from shahed sheray naqeb hospital in kalar which is the center of garmian region from september (2020) to february (2021). approximately 5 ml of blood samples were gained from pregnant donors, then centrifuged at 1500 rpm for about 10 min to obtain the serum, after that divided into tiny fractions, and kept frozen at −30°c for analysis. estimation of vitamin d enzyme immunoassay was applied for the fixing of 25(oh)vitamin concentration in sera of the third trimester of pregnant women using of monobind kit,[21] using an elisa device. estimation of calcium serum calcium level was estimated using a colorimetric method using bilbao diagnostic kit.[22] estimation of magnesium serum magnesium ion was determined spectrophotometrically using bilbao diagnostic kit.[23] statistical analysis statistical analysis was achieved by graphpad prism. the outcomes were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. the p-value was considered significant if it was < 0.05. results the comparison of the quantitative variables between group 1 and group 2 is described in table 1. the ages of both groups were between 25 and 35 years. bmi for group 1 was 28.55 ± 4.419 kg/m2, while for group 2 was between 27.96 ± 4.014 kg/m2. the table 1 illustrates that there was a significant statistical association between age and group 2 (26.97 ± 5.623), as well as with healthy group 1 (30.09 ± 5.933) and p = 0.0274. box plots of age between two subjects are shown in figure 1a. for bmi, there was non-significant interaction with both two groups (p = 0.5987), that shown in figure 1b. the normal ranges of sera kits which used in this study were ca; 8–10 mg/dl and mg; 1.7–2.2 mg/dl, whereas vitamin d was found in the normal sera ranges (v. d; 30–50 ng/ml). as described in the table, there was also a slight decrease in sera vitamin d concentrations in group 2 compared with group 1 (34.10 ± 4.254 and 34.88 ± 6.495), respectively. however, there was no significant connection between them (p = 0.6497). box plot of vitamin d is shown in figure 1c. besides, group 2 or unhealthy women with ppd had lower sera levels of ca and mg than group 1 or healthy women (8.673 ± 0.5503, 1.568 ± 0.3292) and (9.136 ± 0.4401, 1.876 ± 0.2454), sequentially, with a significant statically link between them (p = 0.0003 and 0.0005), respectively, as shown in figure 1d and e, sequentially. discussion postpartum depression is known as an episode of major depression that is temporally linked with childbirth.[24] ppd is a severe threat to the child, mother, and other members of the family.[19] the findings of our study provide that there was a statistically different in ages between both groups were p = 0.0274, as shown in table 1. furthermore, there was no mohammed, et al.: vitamin d and minerals with postpartum depression 149 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 147-152 statistical link among the bmi (the patients set and the healthy subjects) in which p = 0.5987 was considered, as shown in table 1. many factors are placed a woman at danger of developing ppd, such as age, type of insurance, marital status, whether or not the pregnancy was planned, race/ethnicity, type of feeding, and level of educational.[25-29] in addition, studies have shown the beneficial impact of dietary factors during pregnancy on depressive symptoms. one of those dietary factors is vitamin d which has been proposed to usefully influence gloom in adults. it has been supposed that vitamin d may work as a neuroactive hormone.[12] a lot of studies confirm the role of vitamin d in conception, placentation, improvement of pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes inclusive the offspring’s health. altogether, vitamin d supports placental outgrowth and task by regulating placental calcium transport, and by exerting immunomodulatory effects, critical for pregnancy maintenance.[30] many researchers have found that receptors of vitamin d are primarily doled out throughout the brain of human, and its lack mutates neurotransmitters which are familiar to be included in of depression’s symptoms.[12] although the results of our study indicated a slight decrease in vitamin d concentrations among the pregnant women who afterbirth affected by ppd; we found that the sera vitamin d levels had no significant link between women with ppd and those with non-ppd (p = 0.6497), as shown in table 1. this decrease in vitamin d levels agrees with those gotten by abedi et al., aghajafari et al., murphy et al., accortt et al., ribamar et al., and lin et al.,[5,12,31-34] they also found sera vitamin d concentrations were significantly lower in depressed women than in the healthy subject. similarly, the study wang et al.[35] did not record a considerable connect between depressive symptoms and low concentrations of vitamin d through pregnancy. in addition, robinson et al.[36] showed that at 18 weeks gestation, a significantly low level of vitamin d in sera was linked with a major danger of the symptoms of ppd. furthermore, in the study of fu et al.,[37] the researchers reported that sera vitamin d concentrations after delivery were significantly lower in women with ppd than those without ppd. moreover, research of fallah et al.[14] at 18 weeks gestation measured concentration of vitamin d sera, table 1: comparisons of numerical variables for group 1 and group 2 parameters group 1 (healthy) means±sd group 2 (depression) means±sd p number 40 40 age (years) 30.09±5.933 26.97±5.623 0.0274 s bmi (kg/m2) 28.55±4.419 27.96±4.014 0.5987 ns vitamin d (ng/ml) 34.88±6.495 34.10±4.254 0.6497 ns ca (mg/dl) 9.136±0.4401 8.673±0.5503 0.0003 s mg (mg/dl) 1.876±0.2454 1.568±0.3292 0.0005 s data are shown as the mean ± standard deviation (means±sd). sd: standard deviation, bmi: body mass index, kg/m2: kilogram per meter square, ng/ml: nanogram per milliliter, mg/dl: milligram per deciliter, p value is the probability, significant p < 0.05, s: significant, ns: not significant, student’s t-test figure 1: box plot of the results, (a) age was significantly lower in group 2 in compared with the group 1, (b) body mass index was not significant in both group 1 and group 2, (c) vitamin d was not significant among both groups, (d) ca was significantly lower in group 2 in compared to group 1 (e). mg was significantly lower in the second group in compared to the first group. group 1: 40 healthy women without postpartum depression (ppd) as a control group. group 2: 40 unhealthy women with ppd disorder as depressed women d cba e mohammed, et al.: vitamin d and minerals with postpartum depression 150 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 147-152 where they detected a significant association between quality of the sleep through pregnancy and ppd with deficiency of vitamin d. on the other hand, our finding did not agree with the study of nielsen et al.[1]; where their outcomes did not find a connection between danger of ppd and low vitamin d levels through pregnancy. in contrast, an increased danger of postpartum depression was detected among women with the highest levels of vitamin d. similarly, tan et al.[38] found contrast data to our results. they reported that high blood sera of vitamin d concentrations have a preventive impact on maternal depression. notably, when blood concentration of vitamin d was raised, the maternal depression risk was the lowest. in addition, in a study gould et al.,[39] concentrations of vitamin d were measured at delivery, and they did not reveal a consistent link between vitamin d concentrations and ppd. finally, a study of williams et al.[40] found that levels of vitamin d were not linked with diagnoses of generalized anxiety trouble or major depressive turmoil. further, vitamin d has been increasingly attached to mental health cognitive decline, and it has been hypothesized that hypovitaminosis d may give a share to depression.[10] electrolyte dysfunction has been reported with depressive disorders for the past six decades. the most predominant intracellular cation is calcium.[15] dysregulation of ca is profound in disorders of the nervous system such as depression and dementia.[9] in the biosynthetic pathway, ca activates tryptophan hydroxylase, leading to the synthesis of serotonin. furthermore, the calcium/calmodulin-dependent system may promote the synthesis of dopamine in the brain. in the immune system cells, ca acts as a signal as well. in the extracellular, changes in ca level may impact the neuromuscular tissues excitability contributed in regulation of emotional.[41] despite that, findings from this study suggested that sera ca levels were considerably lower in group 2 (women with ppd) in comparing to group 1 (healthy women without ppd) (p = 0.0003). this finding was in agreement with the study done by paoletti et al.[42]; when their donors’ group was randomized to calcium/vitamin d treatment, they reported a decrease in the degree of depression among healthy puerperal women. however, our study did not agree with a study that was done by sharma et al.[15] which reported that there was no correlation in the depressive symptoms severity with sera levels of ca. further, a previous study done by li et al.[41]; detected no important link between dietary ca consumption and depression risk. mg also plays a role in the entry of ca into the neuron. magnesium is probable to keep the neuron versus the cell’s death by regularizing this entrance and may be linked with the depression danger through preserving the nervous system. consumption of magnesium dietary may be connected with depression by safeguarding the nervous system.[41] mg extends antidepressive action over a set of mechanisms that in the end, encourages a drooping of the glutamatergic pathway, and a raise of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (bdnf) and serotonin.[42] regarding the trace element mg, similarly to ca results, our data showed that levels sera of mg were statically lower in group 2 (depressed subject) than group 1 (undepressed donors) (p = 0.0005). this finding was in agreement with studies done by nechifor and nechifor;[43,44] where they record a reduction of erythrocyte mg in adult patients with medium, major, and severe depression. furthermore, concerning mg supplementation[41,45] recorded an opposite connection among community-dwelling adults between mg consumption and symptoms of depressive. on the other hand, these grades do not agree with those gotten by wojcik et al.[46]. their results did not elucidate a relevance between decreased sera mg concentration and severity of depressive symptoms in a specific affective disorder, postpartum depression. furthermore, this study fard et al.[47] concluded that mg did not minimize depressive symptoms and postpartum anxiety. in addition, the study of ram et al.[15] indicated no correlation in sera concentrations of mg and severity of depressive symptoms in patients with a major disorder of depressive. similarly widmer et al.[48] have reported raised mg in erythrocytes and plasma of moderate and severely depressed patients. deficiency of mg could lead to numerous psychiatric symptoms involving tremors, headaches, behavior disturbances, irritability and psychotic behavior, generalized tonic–clonic, focal seizures, vertigo, and depression.[19] it has also been suggested that the transmit of huge quantities of this mineral from the blood of mother to the fetus with another nutrient may give a share in the appearance of ppd.[18] finally, it can be said that vitamin favorably modifies functions of the brain, antagonizing the evolution of ppd.[42] conclusion so far, low vitamin d, ca, and mg concentrations may be a neglected danger factor for ppd. however, to our knowledge, this is the first trial that has been carried out to clarify the impact of vitamin d, ca, and mg insufficiencies together on the occurrence of ppd. we have recorded that lower concentrations of vitamin d, ca, and mg in the third trimester of pregnancy are connected to a danger for announcing symptoms of postnatal depressive in the 1st days following delivery. therefore, ensuring appropriate consumption of vitamin d, ca, and mg through pregnancy may be one way of conserving versus postpartum mood disturbance in mothers. finally, health policymakers must pay awareness to the reality that measuring vitamin d, ca, and mg concentrations must be considered one of the elementary tests for pregnant women to be treated accordingly. references 1. n. o. nielsen, m. strøm, h. a. boyd, e. w. andersen, j. wohlfarht, m. lundqvist, a. cohen, d. m. hougaard, and m. melbye. vitamin d status during pregnancy and the risk of subsequent postpartum depression: a case-control study. plos one, vol. 8, no. 11, p. e80686, 2013. 2. g. r. benute, r. m. nomura, j. s. reis, r. fraguas junior, m. c. lucia, and m. zugaib. depression during pregnancy in women with a medical disorder: risk factors and perinatal 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prenatal vitamin d status and postpartum depressive symptomatology in african american women: preliminary evidence for moderation by inflammatory cytokines. archives of women’s mental health, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 373-383, 2016. 33. a. ribamar, b. almeida, a. soares, b. peniche, p. c. jesus, s. cruz, and a. ramalho. relationship between vitamin d deficiency and both gestational and postpartum depression. nutrición hospitalaria, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 1238-1245, 2020. 34. d. lin, j. zhang, y. bian, m. pan, and x. liu. association between circulating concentrations of vitamin d and risk of antenatal, postnatal depression: a meta-analysis. archives of clinical psychiatry, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 186-190, 2021. 35. j. wang, n. liu, w. sun, d. chen, j. zhao, and w. zhang. association between vitamin d deficiency and antepartum and postpartum depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. archives of gynecology and obstetrics, vol. 298, no. 6, pp. 1045-1059, 2018. 36. m. robinson, a. j. whitehouse, j. p. newnham, s. gorman, p. jacoby, b. j. holt, m. serralha, j. e. tearne, p. g. holt, p. h. hart, and m. m. kusel. low maternal serum vitamin d during pregnancy and the risk for postpartum depression symptoms. archives of women’s mental health, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 213-219, 2014. 37. c. w. fu, j. t. liu, w. j. tu, j. q. yang, and y. cao. association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d levels measured 24 hours after delivery and postpartum depression. an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, vol. 122, no. 12, pp. 1688-1694, 2015. 38. q. tan, s. liu, and d. chen. poor vitamin d status and the risk of maternal depression: a dose-response meta-analysis of observational studies. public health nutrition, vol. 24, no. 8, mohammed, et al.: vitamin d and minerals with postpartum depression 152 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 147-152 pp. 2161-2170, 2021. 39. j. f. gould, a. j. anderson, l. n. yelland, l. g. smithers, c. m. skeaff, r. a. gibson, and m. makrides. association of cord blood vitamin d at delivery with postpartum depression in australian women. australian and new zealand journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, vol. 55, no. 5, pp. 446-452, 2015. 40. j. a. williams, v. c. romero, c. m. clinton, d. m. vazquez, s. m. marcus, j. l. chilimigras, s. e. hamilton, l. j. allbaugh, a. m. vahratian, r. m. schrader, and e. l. mozurkewich. vitamin d levels and perinatal depressive symptoms in women at risk: a secondary analysis of the mothers, omega-3, and mental health study. bmc pregnancy and childbirth, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 203, 2016. 41. b. li, j. lv, w. wang, and d. zhang. dietary magnesium and calcium intake and risk of depression in the general population: a meta-analysis. australian and new zealand journal of psychiatry, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 219-229, 2017. 42. a. m. paoletti, m. m. orru, m. f. marotto, m. pilloni, p. zedda, m. f. fais, b. piras, c. piano, s. pala, s. lello, f. coghe, r. sorge, and g. b. melis. observational study on the efficacy of the supplementation with a preparation with several minerals and vitamins in improving mood and behaviour of healthy puerperal women. gynecological endocrinology, vol. 29, no. 8, pp. 779-783, 2013. 43. m. nechifor. interactions between magnesium and psychotropic drugs. magnesium research, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 97-100, 2008. 44. m. nechifor. magnesium in major depression. magnesium research, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 163-166, 2009. 45. f. n. jacka, s. overland, r. stewart, g. s. tell, i. bjelland, and a. mykletun. association between magnesium intake and depression and anxiety in community-dwelling adults: the hordaland health study. australian and new zealand journal of psychiatry, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 45-52, 2009. 46. j. wojcik, d. dudek, m. schlegel-zawadzka, m. grabowska, a. marcinek, e. florek, w. piekoszewski, r. j. nowak, w. opoka, and g. nowak. antepartum/postpartum depressive symptoms and serum zinc and magnesium levels. pharmacological reports, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 571-576, 2006. 47. f. e. fard, m. mirghafourvand, s. mohammad-alizadeh charandabi, a. farshbaf-khalili, y. javadzadeh, and h. asgharian. effects of zinc and magnesium supplements on postpartum depression and anxiety: a randomized controlled clinical trial, women and health, vol. 57, no. 9, pp. 1115-1128, 2017. 48. j. widmer, j. g. henrotte, y. raffin, p. bovier, h. hilleret, and j. m. gaillard. relationship between erythrocyte magnesium, plasma electrolytes and cortisol, and intensity of symptoms in major depressed patients. journal of affective disorders, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 201-209, 1995. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 19-24 research article study the prevalence, characteristics of mothers, and associated risk factors of pica eating among pregnant women: a cross-sectional study yaseen m. galali1,2* 1food technology department, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, krg-iraq, 2department of nutrition and dietetics, cihan university-erbil, erbil, krg-iraq abstract eating disorder is a common phenomenon accompanying pregnancy including ingestion non-nutritive substances. causes of pica are uncertain. the purpose of this study, therefore, is to assess prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors of pica among kurdish pregnant women. a cross-sectional study was conducted in iraqi kurdistan and the information regarding sociodemographic information, prevalence, and characteristics, and risk factors were collected. four hundred women were registered and interviewed for this study. data showed that the prevalence of pica was 60.5% (242), and the most frequent forms of pica eaten were pagophagia, geophagia, and amylophagia by 29.7% (119), 25.3% (101), and 12.5% (50), respectively. data showed that pica is related to mother education (p = 0.011), mother occupation (p = 0.002), living place (p = 0.011), health complication during pregnancy (p = 0.018), and affects breastfeeding (p = 0.040). baby gender, mother age, iron supplementation, history of child abortion, and economic satisfaction were not significantly associated to pica eating (pe). the results also showed that psychological factors for pe was reduce nausea, ameliorate stress, and anxiety and very fewer pregnant used to control hunger. mother should check for any health complication before pregnancy and receive enough and regular check-up as well as educate themselves regarding consequences of pica. furthermore, psychological consultation is important throughout pregnancy period. keywords: eating disorder, pagophagia, pica eating, pregnancy, risk factors introduction normal eating disturbance is very common during pregnancy and majority mothers experience it. pica eating (pe) is a common eating disorder during pregnancy characterized by consistently ingesting non-nutritive substances.[1] common types of pe include consumption of clay or mud (geophagy), eating ice or ice frost (pagophagy), and consumption of uncooked starch-like row rice (amylophagy).[2] on the other hand, some people practice polypica which known as eating different non-nutritive substances.[3] data from studies have shown that the prevalence of pe is dissimilar among populations. according to the data available, the prevalence of pe in pregnant women ranges between 0.02% in denmark and 74% in kenya.[4] even in some population like malawi, pregnancy is recognized through practicing pica. etiology of pe has been ascertainly known, however, it has been attributed to several factors including health problem such as nutrients deficiency (i.e., iron), exposure to toxins (i.e., lead), and pathogens, gastrointestinal disorder,[5] suppress nausea and vomiting, as well as cultural backgrounds.[6] this complication may cause not only merely discomfort to pregnant women but can also interfere with appetite, adequate dietary intake, reduce intake nutritious foods, and essential nutrients. furthermore, non-food substance might contain an amount of nutrients which is not tolerated, cause malabsorption, and/or containing toxic substances. consequently, it can lead to serious health complications.[7] it can also influence breastfeeding and affect fetus and child health.[8] there is luck of investigation of pe in pregnant women in iraqi kurdistan in terms of prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors and comparing to other populations. therefore, the aims of the study are to study the prevalence of pe, type, and risk factors among kurdish pregnant women its relation to sociodemographic information. also, the investigation of the characteristics of the mothers and their associated risk factors of pe. corresponding author: yaseen m. galali, food technology department, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, krg-iraq. e-mail: yaseen.galali@su.edu.krd received: oct 20, 2020 accepted: dec 20, 2020 published: dec 30, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n2y2020.19-24 copyright © 2020 yaseen m. galali. this is an open access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) galali: pica eating among pregnant women 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 19-24 methodology study design the study was carried in the period between july and august 2020 through interviewing mothers vising maternal care unit at erbil maternity hospital clinics in erbil city, capital of kurdistan region of iraq. electronic form was developed for those who were not able to interview face to face from other districts such as duhok, sulaimani, and halabja due to covid-19 pandemic movement restriction. the inclusion criteria included mothers with no previous history of lifelong health complications such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, endocrine diseases, and agree to participate. the study was divided into four sections; the first section was on sociodemographic information (age, qualification, residency, occupation, and level of income satisfaction). the second section included obstetric-related information; pregnancy complication (preeclampsia, anemia, hypertension, gestational diabetes, vomiting or nausea, bleeding, and premature contractions), child delivery type, and parity. the third section included assessment of iron taking before and during pregnancy and child feeding type (breastfeeding, formula feeding, and mixture of breastfeeding and formula feeding). the fourth section assessed pe practice questionnaire during pregnancy including non-food items such as ice, flower or tree leaves, clay, soil, hair, cigarette ashes, row rice, coffee grounds or tea, tobacco, charcoal, and/or any other non-food items ingested during pregnancy period. the reasons for pe were also studied including suppress hunger, ameliorate stress and anxiety, and attenuate nausea and vomiting. sample size sample size was calculated using the yemane’s formulation with 50% prevalence at the range for finite targeted population.[9] n=n/(1+ne2)= 400 where, n=corrected size of the targeted sample, e=margin of error 0.05 based on the research condition. n=population size which is estimate to be around 100,000 without any health complication data collection analysis the research was registered at the department of nutrition, university of cihan, erbil. permission from hospitals and clinics administration offices was taken to interview the participants. the collected data were organized double-checked for appropriateness before submitting for analysis. the data were then transported to excel spreadsheet and statistical packages for analysis. the data were then statistically analyzed for significant differences using statistical tests including logistic regression and chi-square from version 22 of spss statistical package for life sciences (spss inc., chicago, il, usa). results data from sociodemographic information of participants showed that pregnant women aged between 20 and 29 were 193 (48.1%) and age between 30 and 39 were 118 (29.4%); birth gender showed male 210 (52%) and female (47.5%). the majority of the mothers had education; high school 135 (33.8%), university 181 (45.1%), but 43 (10.6%) were not education. more than half of the participants (61.3%) were housewife and 126 (31.5%) were employed. regarding the economic level, only 63 (15.7%) were satisfied with low level. the rest moderately 218 (54.4%) and highly 119 (29.9%) satisfied. the majority of the participants were from cities 273 (68.3%). it is interesting that the delivery types like normal vaginal delivery were 185 (46.3%) and cesarean delivery was 215 (53.7%) [table 1]. the prevalence of the pe among studied population was 60.5% (242) and it seems that overtime is reducing. this means that in the first trimester scored the highest with 72.4% and it was reduced to 26.8% and 0.8% in the second and third trimesters, respectively. regarding taking iron supplementation, the data showed that 43.7% of the participants taking iron supplement in a month before pregnancy and 39.6% never taken [figure 1]. on the other hand, taking iron supplement during pregnancy is table 1: sociodemographic characteristics of participants variables count percent birth gender male 210 52.5 female 190 47.5 mother age <19 31 7.6 20–29 193 48.1 30–39 118 29.4 >40 59 14.8 education level of mother elementary 42 10.4 high school 135 33.8 university 181 45.1 non-educated 43 10.6 mother occupational status housewife 245 61.3 employed 126 31.5 student 29 7.2 levels of income satisfaction high 119 29.9 moderate 218 54.4 low 63 15.7 residency city 273 68.3 town 50 12.5 village 77 19.2 delivery type nvd* 185 46.3 cesarean 215 53.7 *normal vaginal delivery galali: pica eating among pregnant women 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 19-24 more prevalent than before pregnancy. in the 1st month, 21.3% take it, after 4th month taking iron seemed to be 16.6% and gradually decreasing to 2.7% in the last month of pregnancy. the most common pica type seemed to be pagophagia (i.e., ice) by 29.7% followed by geophagia (clay), amylophagia (raw starch and rice), coffee phagia (coffee and tea ground), and trichophagia by 25.3%, 12.5%, 8.4%, and 7.9%, respectively [table 2]. the data also showed that there was association between pe with studied variables [table 3]. it seemed that pica is most common in mother give males (33.6%) comparing to females (113%) although not significantly difference (p = 0.351). pica also most common among women aged 20–29 by 30.1%, whereas the least practiced pica is among women over 40 (9.7%) but not significantly different (p = 0.264). mothers educational level had significant influence on pica. it was found that pe is prevalent significantly (p = 0.011) among university and high school educated (22.3% and 21.4%, respectively) comparing to elementary (6.4%) and non-educated women (7.1%). furthermore, pica practice is significantly practiced in housewife (41.7%) comparing to students (4.4%). the results also discovered that pe is significantly associated with residency (p = 0.011), health complication during pregnancy (p = 0.018), and types of infant feeding (p = 0.04) [table 3]. the regression modeling was applied at significant level p < 0.05 for forwarded variables for predicting pica. the factors included table 2: non-food items which used as pica eating by interviewed mothers non-food items n % pagophagia (ice) 119 29.7 geophagia (clay) 101 25.3 amylophagia (raw rice) 50 12.5 coffee phagia (tea or coffee ground) 33 8.4 trichophagia (hair) 32 7.9 cigarette ash 29 7.3 charcoal 25 6.4 flower or leaves 11 2.6 variables pica eating p-value*** yes no n (%) n (%) baby gender 0.351 male 134 (33.6) 76 (19) female 113 (28.2) 77 (19.2) mother age 0.264 <19 22 (5.6) 8 (2.1) 20–29 120 (30.1) 72 (18.1) 30–39 66 (16.4) 52 (13) >40 39 (9.7) 20 (5.1) mother educational level 0.011 elementary 28 (6.4) 14 (3.2) high school 93 (21.4) 43 (9.9) university 96 (22.3) 84 (19.5) no education 31 (7.1) 12 (2.8) mother occupational status 0.002 housewife 167 (41.7) 79 (19.7) employed 63 (15.7) 63 (15.7) student 18 (4.4) 11 (2.8) levels of economic satisfaction 0.137 high 74 (18.5) 45 (11.3) moderate 128 (31.9) 90 (22.5) low 45 (11.3) 18 (4.4) pregnancy occurrence 0.232 wanted 116 (28.9) 131 (20.1) unwanted 81 (32.9) 72 (18.1) parity 0.314 first 71 (17.8) 48 (12) second 79 (19.7) 56 (13.9) three and more 97 (24.3) 49 (12.3) residency urban 156 (39.1) 117 (29.2) 0.011 town 33 (8.3) 17 (4.2) rural 57 (14.4) 19 (4.9) history of abortion or stillbirth 0.239 yes 96 (24.1) 51 (12.7) no 151 (37.7) 102 (25.5) iron supplementation before pregnancy 0.567 yes 77 (19.2) 44 (10.9) no 170 (42.6) 109 (27.3) table 3: association between pregnant women characteristics and pica eating (n=400) (contd...) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 no iron before 43.7 2.7 3.7 3.9 2.0 2.6 0.9 0.5 0.3 39.6 during 21.3 7.5 10.5 16.6 9.7 7.5 5.1 3.6 2.7 15.5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 pa rt ic ip an ts % months figure 1: iron supplement before and during pregnancy time galali: pica eating among pregnant women 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 19-24 in the regression analysis included mothers education, occupation, health complication during pregnancy, residency, and breastfeeding. only living place (residency) was found significant p = 0.012 [table 4]. regarding factors for practicing pica, 21.3% of participants declared that the main factor is for ameliorating nausea; relieve stress and controlling hunger respectively. tea or coffee ground was frequently used to ameliorate nausea, relieve stress, anxiety, and control hunger by 21.2%, 9.4%, and 10.6%, respectively. discussion this study aimed discovering the prevalence of pica and its association with factors among kurdish pregnant women. the results showed that the prevalence of pica was 60.5%. this number seemed to be higher comparing to other countries. the previous studies have reported that the prevalence of pica is different among countries, for instance, danish women 0.02%, iranian women 8.33%,[1] argentinian women 23.2%,[10] and sudanese women 404%[11] to as high as 63.7% in tanzanian women.[7] pe kurdish women are only lower than tanzania. the factors might push them to practice pica, particularly ameliorating nausea and suppress stress and anxiety. the study found that the first trimester is the highest practiced period of pica. lopez et al. (2012) found similar result noticed in argentinian pregnant women. the most common form of pe was pagophagia, geophagia among pregnant women. kariuki et al. (2016) have found that these two types of pica were the most practiced. however, they should no continue since they might affect blood and minerals availability in diet despite having some inconclusive in vitro studies that support that geophagia releases minerals of the soil but not significant.[12] the study also found that pica practice related to higher mother educational level and mother occupation, urban residency, and health complication [table 2]. the previous study by konlan et al. (2020) found similar result that pica is more prevalent in urban and educated individuals but not significantly different. this may be related to higher level of stress and anxiety that they face during pregnancy and work. therefore, they practice to reduce stress. the previous study stated that pica is more practiced in depressed pregnant women comparing to non-depressed.[13] it is interesting that cesarean delivery is increasing and pica is more common in the women undergo cesarean delivery. this can be kind of mimicry and fear of pain of normal vaginal delivery. ezzeddin et al. (2015) also discovered that cesarean delivery is increasing in iranian pregnant women and it is connect to pica practice. it is also noticed that pe is associated with feeding baby [table 3]. pe was significantly higher in women who they feed breastfeed and formula comparing to women who only breastfeed. this could be associated to the unhealthy pica practice and health complication faced during pregnant and unable to feed the baby properly. torgersen et al. (2010) found that eating disorder interferes with mother’s breastfeeding practice. despite possessing protective role of iron supplementation toward pica, but no significant (p > 0.05) association was found. previous research concluded same result.[4] data in literature have confirmed that pe is mainly due to compensate low level of iron or ameliorate stress and anxiety.[14] in our study, pica seems to have more connection to relieve psychological stress and nausea. the study also noticed that there is no signification correlation between pica and mother age, residency, baby gender, mother age, history of abortion or stillbirth, birth delivery, and pregnancy occurrence, despite having dissimilarities in each variable. the previous studies[15] found that there is no significant relationship between pica and parity and level of income.[16] regarding the factors of pica, there were significant differences between the factors and pe. the data showed that variables pica eating p-value*** yes no n (%) n (%) iron supplementation during pregnancy 0.199 yes 180 (44.9) 119 (29.9) no 68 (16.9) 33 (8.3) health complication during pregnancy 0.018 yes 194 (49) 105 (26) no 53 (13) 48 (12) delivery 0.131 nvd* 107 (27) 78 (19) cesarean 140 (35) 75 (19) infant feeding 0.04 breastfeeding 51 (14.1) 52 (13) formula feeding 86 (20.1) 44 (11.1) mixture feeding** 110 (27.5) 56 (14.1) *nvd: normal vaginal delivery. **mixture feeding (breastfeeding and formula feeding). ***p value level<0.05 considered significantly different using chi-square or fisher’s exact test table 3: (continued) table 4: logistic regression model with pica as the dependent variable p-value or 95% ci lower upper mother educational level 0.158 1.202 1.552 0.931 mother occupational status 0.121 1.293 1.788 0.935 residency 0.012* 0.704 0.927 0.534 health complication during pregnancy 0.055 1.556 2.445 0.99 infant feeding 0.156 0.748 1.118 0.5 *significant level at p<0.05. results of binary logistic regression. or: odds ratio ci: confidence interval galali: pica eating among pregnant women 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 19-24 majority of the participants practiced pica to reduce nausea and ameliorate stress and anxiety as discussed earlier, especially tea and coffee ground and rose and leaves (figure 2). the data also confirmed the fact that these items are non-food and not usually used to suppress hunger but rather reduce stress and nausea that are common in all pregnant women.[14] conclusion the present study conducted to assess pica prevalence, types, and factors of pe. pe seems to be associated with mother education and occupation, health complication, residency, and then influences infant feeding. the most common types of pe found to be pagophagia, geophagia and common risk factors were nausea, stress, and anxiety. therefore, it is important to educate women about consequences of pica before pregnancy and more attention is required to control their health complications. psychological aspects of pregnant women should be taken into consideration as well as they should be educated to control anxiety and stress beside their physiological aspects as pica can be mainly consequence of physiological and/or psychological problems. references 1. n. ezzeddin, r. zavoshy, m. noroozi, h. jahanihashemi and s. h. riseh. prevalence and risk factors for pica during pregnancy in tehran, iran. eating and weight disorders, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 457-463, 2015. 2. k. d. konlan, j. a. abdulai, k. d. konlan, r. m. amoah and a. doat. practices of pica among pregnant women in a tertiary healthcare facility in ghana. nursing open, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 783792, 2020. 3. d. f. moore and d. a. sears. pica, iron deficiency and the medical history. the american journal of medicine, vol. 97, no. 4, pp. 390393, 1994. 4. a. boatin, b. wylie, m. p. singh, n. singh, k. yeboah-antwi and d. hamer. prevalence of and risk factors for pica among pregnant women in chhattisgarh, india. american journal of obstetrics and gynecology, vol. 206, no. 1, p. s299, 2012. 5. s. l. young, m. j. wilson, d. miller and s. hillier. toward a comprehensive approach to the collection and analysis of pica substances, with emphasis on geophagic materials. plos one, vol. 3, no. 9, p. e3147, 2008. 6. s. l. young, s. s. khalfan, t. h. farag, j. a. kavle, s. m. ali, h. hajji, k. m. rasmussen, g. h. pelto, j. m. tielsch and r. j. stoltzfus. association of pica with anemia and gastrointestinal distress among pregnant women in zanzibar, tanzania. the american journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, vol. 83, no. 1, pp. 144-151, 2010. 7. c. n. nyaruhucha. food cravings, aversions and pica among pregnant women in dar es salaam, tanzania. tanzania journal of health research. vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 29-34, 2009. 8. l. torgersen, e. ystrom, m. haugen, h. m. meltzer, a. von holle, c. k. berg, t. reichborn-kjennerud andc. m. bulik. breastfeeding practice in mothers with eating disorders. maternal and child nutrition, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 243-252, 2010. 9. t. yamane. statistics, an introductory analysis. 2nd ed. new york: harper and row, 1967. 10. l. b. lópez, m. marigual, n. martín, m. mallorga, e. villagrán, m. e. zadorozne, m. l. p. de portela and c. r. o. soler. characteristics of pica practice during pregnancy in a sample of argentine women. journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, vol. 32, no. 2. pp. 150-153, 2012. 11. s. ahmed, h. abdullahi and i. adam. practice of pica among pregnant women in khartoum, sudan. international journal of gynecology and obstetrics, vol. 118, no. 1, pp. 71-72, 2012. 12. p. w. abrahams, t. c. davies, a. o. solomon, a. j. trow and j. wragg. human geophagia, calabash chalk and undongo: mineral element nutritional implications. plos one, vol. 8, no. 1, p. e53304, 2013. 13. n. ezzeddin, r. zavoshy, m. noroozi, m. e. sarichloo, h. jahanihashemi and m. notroozi. the association between postpartum depression and pica during pregnancy. global journal 0 5 10 15 20 25 ice clay raw rice tea or coffee ground hair cigarette ash charcoal rose or leaves ice clay raw rice tea or coffee ground hair cigarette ash charcoal rose or leaves ameliorate nausea 3.5 3.5 1.8 21.2 2.4 5.3 0.6 10.6 relieve stress and anxiety 5.9 5.9 1.2 9.4 1.2 2.9 0.6 4.1 control hunger 1.8 1.8 0.6 10.6 1.2 1.2 0.6 2.4 figure 2: association between pica items and factors of pica eating galali: pica eating among pregnant women 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 19-24 of health science, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 120-126, 2016. 14. a. c. b. da cunha, s. f. patricio, l. p. f. akerman, p. s. maynarde and c. saunders. pica in the pregnancy and related psychological aspects. temas em psicologia, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 631-646, 2017. 15. a. m. santos, g. r. g. benute, r. m. y. nomura, n. o. santos, m. c. s. de lucia and r. p. v. francisco. pica and eating attitudes: a study of high-risk pregnancies. maternal and child health journal, vol. 20, no. 3, pp. 577-582, 2016. 16. l. kariuki, c. lambert, r. purwestri and h. k. biesalski. trends and consequences of consumption of food and non-food items (pica) by pregnant women in western kenya. nfs journal, vol. 5, pp. 1-4, 2016. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 54-59 research article converting a dji tello quadcopter into a face-follower machine using the haar cascade with pid controller shalaw m. abdallah department of software engineering, koya university, kurdistan region, iraq abstract drones have been frequently used for photography in recent years at significantly cheaper rates. however, the most modern drones are exceedingly error-prone and require precise manual control to take high-quality photos or films. we suggest using the ai method of haar cascades with a pid controller to give drones vision, enabling them to do autonomous tracking and detection. this project aims to improve photography fields. the proposed system tries to detect the face and track the person’s movements. this system will help photographers and journalists upgrade their work, even if it is used in surveillance and the military. the algorithm’s results show that the dji tello tiny drone’s camera is capable of detecting and tracking faces. the micro drone was picked since it is lightweight and compact, making its use safe and enabling testing to take place inside. in addition, the dji tello may be easily programmed using python. the position of the drone is contrasted with the set point in the center of the image to identify errors, allowing control signals for calculating forward/backward, right/left, and yaw movements. the proposed system results show that the drone can detect and track the face very well, and the pid values are stable. keywords: backward/forward, dji tello, haar cascade, pid controller, right/left, tello drone introduction today’s drones are packed with cameras and have a lot of possible uses for a range of industrial applications, among them photography, surveillance, etc. drones must be packed with novel computer vision to be widely utilized and to further cut down on their costs. to capture important elements in a picture while using photography or surveillance, object identification, and tracking are crucial. in computer vision, object detection and tracking are common issues.[1] the employment of drones in considerably more commercial fields, including photography, cinematography, surveillance, and even delivery systems, has been made possible as a result. thus, becoming proficient in programming drones to carry out various duties is a skill that is in high demand. drones come in a variety of sizes and shapes. a popular term you might have heard for a drone is quadcopter. this points out a drone with four propellers or motors. likewise, a hexacopter has six propellers, and an octocopter has eight propellers. a drone’s frame, motors, propellers, global positioning system (gps), power distribution board, flight controller, battery, bluetooth receiver, camera, video transmitter, and a few sensors will make up its basic components; everything is held together by the body. the system that generates lift and enables the drone to fly can be thought of as having motors as its engine.[2,3] a drone uses two different types of motors. there are two different kinds of motors used in drones, both brushed and non-brushed. brushless motors are more expensive but have a superior cost-to-power ratio than brushed motors, which are straightforward and inexpensive. the lift force is produced by the propellers as soon as the motors begin to rotate. any given drone will have two different sorts of propellers, one that rotates in the clockwise direction and the other in the anticlockwise direction. this is due to the fact that the drone will begin to rotate if all of the propellers are spinning in the same direction. the drone does not rotate; however, because they can cancel each other out because we have half of them rotating in one direction and the other half rotating in the opposite direction. multiple blade pairs are possible for propellers. the thrust produced by having more blades increases, but their efficiency decreases.[4] the speed of the motors is managed by the electric motor controller. they transform the battery’s direct current signal corresponding author: shalaw m. abdallah, department of software engineering, koya university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: shalaw.mshir@gmail.com received: october 02, 2023 accepted: november 12, 2023 published: december 20, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp54-59 copyright © 2023 shalaw m. abdallah. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ abdallah: dji tello quad: face-following system with haar cascade and pid control 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 54-59 into an alternating current signal for the motor. a drone has several sensors attached to it. for instance, the pressure sensor calculates the drone’s altitude or its distance from the ground. the drones are using the global positioning system (gps) and an inertial measurement unit (imu). the imu is an electrical instrument that can be used to detect acceleration and angular motion. it integrates the sensors from gyroscopes, magnetometers, and accelerometers into a single sensor. with the aid of a time derivative, the accelerometer can also be utilized to calculate metrics like velocity and distance. signals are received using a gps module. radio receivers in the gps module receive signals from a global network of orbiting satellites. the module can calculate its position, velocity, and time thanks to these messages. access to more signals and systems improves location accuracy, which benefits all of the drone’s gps-related operations.[5,6] in spite of the fact that a drone contains four or more motors to accomplish all movements, moving one is actually pretty easy and intuitive. the drone can spin in one direction and translate in three other directions thanks to its 4° of freedom of motion. a quadcopter has four propellers, four of which revolve clockwise and two of which rotate counterclockwise, as was previously described. by creating a zero angular momentum as a result, the drone can remain still rather than rotating in one direction.[7] lets have a look at the translation movements. first, the system will run all the motors at the same speed. that will generate the lift greater than the weight of the drone. the drone will rise as a result of this. the initial translational movement is this: if the proposed system wants to descend, it will slow down each motor so that the lift is less than the drone’s weight. the proposed system will adjust the motor’s speed if it wants to hover in the air so that the lift is equivalent to the drone’s weight. the drone will be able to hover over the ground as a result. moving on to the second translation, the system will slow down the left motors and speed up the right motors if it wishes to move to the left. the system shall raise the speed of the left motors while decreasing the speed of the right motors to move to the right. similar translations are possible in the third direction, which is forward and backward motion. the drone will advance by reducing the front motors’ speed and increasing the back motors’ speed. the system can change the speed of the front motors while reducing the speed of the back motors to move backward. the system can utilize this knowledge to rotate our drone because two motors rotate clockwise and the other two rotate anticlockwise. the system will make the motors moving anticlockwise faster and the motors moving clockwise slower to rotate the drone clockwise. the clockwise motors’ speed will increase, and the anticlockwise motors’ speed will decrease if the system wants to rotate in the other direction.[8] in addition, this research proposal will help photographers and journalists prepare their works in a good way. the system will let the drone follow the face of the person to record or take images. we chose the face because the face is the most important part of the body. by focusing on the face, photographers and journalists can capture the emotions and expressions that convey powerful storytelling elements. this innovative feature will enable them to create visually compelling content that resonates with their audience on a deeper level. furthermore, by automating the tracking process, the system will provide photographers and journalists with more freedom to concentrate on framing their shots and capturing the perfect moment. related work the issue of facial recognition, detection, and tracking from a drone has been addressed more recently, as advancements in technology have made it possible for drones to incorporate facial recognition software. many studies have been published in this field and try to solve this problem in fields such as photography or surveillance. these studies aim to improve the accuracy and efficiency of facial recognition algorithms when applied to drone technology. in addition, researchers are exploring the ethical implications and privacy concerns associated with the use of facial recognition on drones, further complicating the development and implementation of this technology. the study[9] proposes a face recognition-based drone for tracking illicit and missing individuals using haar cascade and local binary pattern histogram algorithms. the drone achieved 98 percent accuracy in identifying individuals, making it a valuable tool for security, self-confirmation, and disaster relief in rural regions. the paper[10] presents a haar-cascade-based classifier for face detection and recognition on a 34.7 µg unmanned aerial vehicle (uav), using opencv python. the face detection process is realtime, using an indoor fpv camera. the experiment reveals that the angle of the face is crucial, especially for non-open faces, and the optimal angle is determined by the camera’s slope. this paper[11] proposes a solution using a face recognitionbased uav for identifying criminals, missing people, and civilians. the system uses a camera linked to face recognition software and a wireless remote control. the drone’s accuracy is 98.6% when the camera angle is 37°, aiding police investigations in search and rescue. this paper[12] proposes a facial recognition system using a local binary patterns histogram face recognizer mounted on drone technology for identifying criminals in crowded areas. the system can be used as a surveillance drone, covering more areas than a stationary system. it tags the person and transmits the image and location coordinates to authorities using a mounted gps, achieving an accuracy of approximately 89.1%. dji tello drone the drone we will be utilizing for this research is the tello, which can be seen in figure 1. although this drone is recommended for use with this course, the same concepts can be applied to other drones. in truth, only 20% of this training is particular to the tello drone, while 80% of this research is applicable to any other drones. a small drone called the tello is fitted with a camera that can record 720p video at 30 frames per second. it is abdallah: dji tello quad: face-following system with haar cascade and pid control 56 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 54-59 manufactured by rise and has dji and internal flight control technology, as well as internal lighting and sensors. because it has various safety features, it is very simple and safe to use indoors[13]. the nicest feature about this drone for learning drone programming is that it is programmable, which means it is open source and we can use computer vision technologies on it. the tello may be operated using a mobile application that connects to a wi-fi network and is compatible with both apple and android devices. it contains a lot of features and is quite user-friendly. matrials and methods the additional functions found on the mini tello drone are its main benefits such as the vps and an onboard camera, which are the key advantages of the mini tello drone. this small quadcopter hovers in a quiet posture thanks to these capabilities and an advanced control system. this small drone’s inbuilt camera is capable of taking 5-megapixel images and streaming 720p video in real-time. with a maximum distance of around 100 m, 13 min is the longest flight possible. this drone features a failsafe protection mechanism; it implies that the drone will safely land even if the connection is lost. the drone’s other safety feature is that the engine will stop rotating if it collides with an item hard enough.[14] this drone can programmability with python and swift. using the djitellopy library, we can have access to the sensor data on the dji tello and execute instructions. the materials used in the research are shown in table 1. a dji tello drone with a laptop attached can communicate over a wi-fi network. using a computer vision technique that is described in the methodology section, the dji tello camera takes a picture that is then delivered to a laptop for processing. table 2 shows the detailed specifications of the computer utilized in this research. there are a lot of amazing projects that can be done with djitellopy library that made the behavior like an ai machine for instance (face tracking, object detection, hand gesture, etc), for this project we will focus on face detection and tracking. for face detection, there are a lot of amazing methods could be used with great results, but need large figure 1: mini quadcopter dji tello table 2: materials materials name cpu intel i7-7200u (2c 4t, max 3.10 ghz) ram ddr4 12gb (8gb+4gb) connectivity wifi 2.4ghz webcam 760p os ubuntu 20.04.4 lts table 1: materials materials name version dji drone mini tello mini pl python 3.6 v library djitellopy 2.4 v ide pycharm 21 computation. therefore, the choice of the haar cascade method was influenced by the computing system’s limitations. the collection of haar features is the initial stage in the haar cascade method. a computation known as a “haar feature” is made on the neighboring square area at a certain spot in a detection window. to calculate the difference between the summed findings, the pixel intensities in each segment must first be added together. edge features, line features, and four-rectangle features are a few examples of haar features. because there are fewer operations required, an integral image process is required because this feature will have issues when used with huge images. integral images are designed to accelerate the computation of haar features. overall, an integral image is one in which the values of the top-left and left-most pixels are added together to determine the value of each individual pixel. it should be observed that practically every feature employed performs poorly when trying to recognize things. therefore, to detect an object, we need some features that match it. the best haar feature to utilize in this situation can be chosen by using adaboost. by combining a number of small (weak) classifiers, the adaboost algorithm creates powerful classifiers. by repositioning the window over the input image and computing the haar feature for each subsection, weak classification results are produced. this variation is contrasted with the researched threshold that distinguishes objects from non-objects. numerous haar features are needed to create a strong classifier because this is a “weak classifier” in terms of accuracy. the haar cascade method combines cascades of classifiers to increase detection speed by focusing on likely areas in an image. the algorithm consists of three levels, each producing a sub-image believed to be unrelated to the object being detected, making it easier to distinguish between them. figure 2 simplifies the haar algorithm process.[14-16] the ideal method for tracking the front face is to use the djitellopy package, which was built in python by damià fuentes. let’s start with the basics: when we want to move the drone and follow our face, we need two things: forward and backward motion, as well as rotational motion. the concept of forward and backward is like that: abdallah: dji tello quad: face-following system with haar cascade and pid control 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 54-59 1. if the face looking small, so it is mean we need to move forward. 2. if the face looking quit big, it is mean we need to backward. let us take a look on figure 3, in figure 2, the area (a) is too far and the area (c) is too close, the red area which is (b) is the area that the drone will never move to it, the person must be in this red area, otherwise the drone cannot detect the face. use if the person moves to zone a (backward), the drone will begin moving and counting the movements; the drone will then compensate and move forward until it reaches the red zone; if the person moves forward, the drone will begin moving backward and counting the movements; the drone will then compensate and move forward until it reaches the red zone; if the person moves forward, the drone will begin moving backward and counting the movements; the drone will then stop until it reaches the red zone. then consider the concept of rotation: if the person begins to rotate, the goal is for the person to always be in the center of the image, as shown in figure 4, the person begins to rotate, therefore, the idea is that the drone will begin to rotate to the left until the person reaches the center. the drone will start rotating to the left as shown in the figure 5 until the person is located in the middle. however, there is a problem here, for example, if the drone rotates at 20 cm/s to reach the destination, the problem is that the drone cannot stop right away, the momentum will cause move a little bit to forward, picture a fan, if you turn off the fan, it will keep rotating and eventually stop, the same thing will happen with the tello, this is called overshoot. we can address this problem by reducing the speed when tello reaches the goal; once we get close to the destination, the tello’s speed will drop to 10cm/s, then 5cm/s, and finally 0cm/s; the person will be in the center, and all will be well. pid is the name for this approach. pid was utilized to reduce overshooting in this case.[17,18] the following (1) defines proportional-integral-derivative: ( ) = + + = + +∫ 1 0 ( ) * * de t u t p i d kp err ki err dt kd dt (1) 1. the disparity among the set point and the process variable determines the proportional component. enhancing the proportion will often quicken the response time of the control system. the process component will start to oscillate if the proportionate is too high. further increasing the proportionate will result in bigger oscillations, an unstable system, and possibly even uncontrollable oscillations. 2. the quantity and duration of the error values are represented by the integral error, which takes the integral figure 2: steps of haar cascade algorithm figure 3: drone zones figure 4: yaw angle of the errors that the control loop records. the integral can determine both the current error value and previous error values since it takes time into account, while the proportional term cannot. a higher integration factor reduces steady-state error, or the output value’s ringing around the target value. as a result, the system can stabilize more rapidly and accomplish its objective. higher integral coefficients, however, may cause more overshoot when first reaching the target. 3. increasing the derivative time parameter will speed up the overall responsiveness of the control system and make the control system respond to changes in the error term more quickly. due to the relatively high sensitivity of the derivative response to noise in the process variable signal, the majority of practical control systems employ very small derivative. the derivative response can lead to control system instability if the sensor feedback abdallah: dji tello quad: face-following system with haar cascade and pid control 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 54-59 figure 5: rotating the drone signal is noisy or if the control loop rate is excessively slow.[19,20] moreover, here the error is the difference between the face of the person and the bound box of the haar algorithm. the pid algorithm tries to reduce the distance between these two points by founding a stable point that makes the done be stable enough to make it move to roll, pitch, and yaw to follow the face correctly. implementation and results figure 6 depicts the flowchart used during the investigation. in general, it is an iterative method of face tracking and signal calculation for controlling speed movements. the ai drone is capable of moving in any direction with the right pid parameters, when a human stop moving, the ai drone can precisely track their face and stop in front of them.[21] you can view the experimental result throw below link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cou7tcpg2qs in this video, a quadcopter follows a face as it rotates and goes in different directions, starting off to the right and then to the left. then, the human moves forward and the quadcopter moves backwards; at that point, you can clearly see the yaw rotation. then, the face moves in close proximity to the drone, and the drone follows the face before stopping. the method used in this study involves fixing a point in the middle of the image with a bounding box of a particular size. the quadcopter’s position error rate against the object’s face is calculated by comparing the center bounding box to the findings of object identification bounding boxes. the result of calculating pid parameters is shown in table 3. the proposed system has three movements: left/ right (roll), forward/backward (pitch), and yaw. at these points, there was stability for the drone movements. the pid controller was managed manually by betaflight. betaflight is a flight controller application executed to fly multirotor craft and fixed-wing craft. it is open-source software that is highly customizable and widely used in the drone racing community. betaflight offers advanced features such as pid tuning, making it a popular choice among drone enthusiasts for its performance and flexibility.[22] figure 7 shows the step response function of the pid, and we can clearly see that the drone movements are stable figure 6: face tracking flowchart figure 7: the pid values graph for the drone roll, pitch, and yaw movements abdallah: dji tello quad: face-following system with haar cascade and pid control 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 54-59 at the given points. note that these points can be changed; the system can find more stable points, but for this research, these points will be essential. conclusion we described the tracking and detecting of the face in this article, which seeks to keep a face within a certain distance of the drone and roughly in the middle of the camera stream. to do this, three types of movements are used: yaw rotation, left/ right, and forward/backward. in addition, we covered how to use the haar cascade and how to control the drone movements with the pid controller. we can add more movements in the future, such as up and down, and work more on the stable points. references 1. s. han, w. shen and z. liu. deep drone: object detection and tracking for smart drones on embedded system, 2016. available from: https://web.stanford.edu/class/cs231a/prev_ 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christensen, d. clifton, m. keller, r. coeffic and s. windoffe. betaflight. available from: https://github.com/ betaflight/betaflight [last accessed on 2022 dec 20]. table 3: the output of pid for the drone movements movement p i d roll 58 124 31 pitch 63 131 33 yaw 58 124 0 tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 11-16 research article the opinion and awareness of citizens on the commitment of bakers, butchers, and food sellers to health instructions and their application during covid-19 outbreak kareem f. aziz1, hazhar t.a. blbas2, yaseen galali3,4, ahmed aj. jabbar5 1department of nursing, college of nursing, hawler medical university, 44001, erbil, iraq, 2department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq, 3department of food technology, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of nutrition and dietetics, college of health technology, cihan university, erbil, iraq, 5department of medical laboratory technology, erbil technical health and medical college, erbil polytechnic university, erbil, 44001, iraq abstract many countries follow the recommendation of the world health organization by practicing physical gathering avoidance as one health measure to decrease covid-19 the spread. the current study identifies the opinions and awareness of citizens about the commitments of workers (bakers, butchers, and food sellers) to health instructions and prevention. this descriptive cross-sectional study was done in different premises in kurdistan region-iraq from september 20 2021 to april 20 2022 using online platforms and printed forms. the study included socio-demographic characteristics, citizens’ opinions, and commitment-related questions. a thousand copies were collected and analyzed. the results showed that the majority of citizens have positive opinions and awareness and agreed that workers (bakers, butchers, and food sellers) are committed to covid-19 regulations. there was a significant correlation between the variables of opinions and awareness of the commitments of workers to the prevention of covid-19. all professional workers have a good obligation to prevention from covid-19 so that the population in erbil city has accepted those workers to deal with food and meat and with complete prevention from covid-19. these perfect commitments of workers to prevention may help to break down the chain of covid-19 infection which consequently reduces mortality and morbidity rate. keywords: bakers, covid-19, food sellers butchers, preventive measurement commitment introduction china announced a number of unknown cases in december 2019 of what is later known as covid19. later, the origin area of the virus causing covid19, sars-cov-2 was allegedly belonged to the wuhan city of china. covid-19 has been deemed as a novel zoonotic disease that is transmitted to humans from animals.[1] no other previous communicable disease including, the spanish flu, had influenced the market as powerfully as this outbreak. the intake of meals rich in nutrients and purposeful meals can improve the immune system to combat viral diseases.[2,3] besides, supple-mentation vitamins d and e can improve the body’s immune against covid-19.[4] an evaluation of the 2019 historical proof concerning sars influenza and h1n1 prevention inside the excessive-danger populace suggests that chinese natural formulation ought to offer a suitable method for the reduction of covid-19 spread.[5] the recommendations and the natural formulation used for the supportive care of sufferers with covid-19 were revised by cai et al.[6] herbal academic researchers and meal zone specialists will encounter many tremendous obstacles, for example, making sure that meals are safe.[7] tremendous studies have shown that food and nutrients can heavenly impact the immune system and the way that the body reacts toward foreign bodies.[8-12] food quality and shelf life; a crowded situation for employees in meat and rooster processing centers ought to bring about the excessive danger of sars-cov-2 spread.[13] cases of corresponding author: yaseen galali, department of food technology, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, e-mail: yaseen.galali@su.edu.krd received: february 02, 2023 accepted: june 23, 2023 published: july 30, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp11-16 copyright © 2023 yaseen galali, kareem f. aziz, hazhar t.a. blbas, ahmed aj. jabbar. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) galali, et al.: covid-19 and food retailer’s commitments 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 11-16 covid-19 were located in different congregate settings, such as acute care hospitals, long-time period care centers, shelters for the homeless and correctional centers.[14] as a part of the countrywide covid-19 response, the diagnosed danger to meet and rooster operational facility calls for a spark-off motion to lower dangers to workers, keep the facility function, and hold the meals supply. the world health organization (who) formally called the disease “covid-19”.[13,15] the world faced an unimaginable threat due to covid-19. numerous countries follow who recommendations regarding introducing physical distance measures to reduce the diseases transmission. maintaining all food production and supply chain workers in the safe and healthy environment is crucial to survive during the pandemic. keeping the food chain is an important role in which all stakeholders along with the food chain need to involve. it is also necessary to sustain and consumer confidence and trust in food safety and availability.[16] the new covid-19 is an easily communicable and transmissible disease among the community through sneeze, cough, and respiratory droplets. the signs and symptoms of covid-19 are noticed after a few from the infection which include flu (e.g., coughing and headache) and others such as muscle aches and sore throat[17] and loss of taste as well as smell. covid-19 has close clinical characteristics and symptoms to two other familiar lower respiratory tract diseases; severe acute respiratory syndrome: “sars-cov” “mers”.[18] the outbreak of covid-19, in relation to the onset of suddenness, the disease communicability, and its straight pressure on the market and infrastructure of health, is the main community health issue.[19] slaughterhouses as well as meatpacking factories are the main risk factors for covid19 transmission during the pandemic. they influence the entire population, have far-reaching implications, and need significant interventions by public.[20] among the initial symptoms that are known about coronavirus by countries in the west were quick stockpile of different consumer stuff: masks, sanitizer, and microbial wipes went first. canadian fruit and vegetable markets were significantly impacted by the spread of the novel coronavirus sars-cov-2 (and covid-19 disease), beginning in march 2020.[21] indonesia has been more impacted the outbreak of the virus, with the mortality rate case being 8.9% by the end of march 2020.[22] the closure of the restaurants, cafes, and others imposed further pressure on food supply and retailing and made people work at home. it is believed that just more than 30% of canada’s expenditures of food typically occur in restaurants.[23] this makes necessary to create novel policy to improve education and train supervisors and employees in relation to health and safety information.[24] the food sector and stakeholders are also at the target since food is crucial for the survival of the community and impossible to avoid. health authorities have to take quick actions and pinpoint the most dangerous threats to the food chain during viral outbreaks to proceed preventive measures.[7] in the kurdistan region of iraq, bakers, butchers, and food sellers must commit to health instructions and precautionary prevention in time of covid-19. the pandemic curve in iraq and kurdistan region increased on 1st june, and the mortality and morbidity rates increased. the current study aims to identify citizens’ perception and awareness about the baker, butchers, and food sellers’ commitments to health instructions and prevention from covid-19, and to identify associations between sociodemographic information of citizens and their opinions of commitments during covid-19. materials and methods study design the descriptive cross-sectional research was conducted in different cities in erbil city/iraq via an online application form, beginning from september 20 2021 to april 20 2022. the sample size included 1000 participants in different settings through an online and interview form. the inclusion criteria were anyone who can use computers and the internet and can fill out the online survey and work in the food supply chain. tools and data collection methods data were collected based on the probability sampling techniques, and the questionnaire format through the online application. the tool has three main parts. part one was about the socio-demographic characteristic of the volunteers including (age, gender, family status, education level, family number, address, and occupation). the second part consisted of items related to citizens’ opinions and perceptions regarding commitments to health guidelines for prevention from covid19 depending on the scoring system (1 for agree, 2 for neutral, and 3 for disagree). part three included items related to citizens’ awareness and commitments about preventive measures (for agree was 1, neutral was 2, and disagree was 3). a panel of experts before commencement assessed the validation of questions. ethical approval the research was ethically by the college of nursing-ethical and the scientific committee. data analysis row data were analyzed statistically utilizing the spss package program version 23. (statistical package for social science), descriptive analysis, frequency, and chi-square tests were employed. the problems of this study included opinions and awareness of citizens about the commitments of workers to health guidelines for of (covid-19) prevention. results the characteristics of the socio-demographic of the sample are shown in table 1. the data revealed that the majority of them were females representing 51% whose most of them were above 55 years old. 40%, of the participants, were graduated from secondary school representing 39.8%, and married representing 65.4%. the majority of them were galali, et al.: covid-19 and food retailer’s commitments 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 11-16 sellers about covid-19 preventive measures, represented 40.5% and 32.5% of them, have neutral opinions about that, while 27% of citizens were not happy about commitments of butchers, bakers, and food sellers for covid-19 preventive instructions [table 2]. data outcomes indicated an association between citizens’ perceptions of the commitments of butchers, bakers, and food sellers about covid-19 preventive measures. the results indicated the presence statistically significant (p = 0.001). the correlation between participants’ socio-demographic characteristics to the perceptions of the covid-19 preventive measure commitment of butchers, bakers, and food sellers is presented in table 3. the results also indicated that the majority of the citizen’s awareness agreed with the commitments of butchers, bakers, and food sellers about covid-19 prevention, which represented 47.7%, and 25.6 % of them have neutral awareness of that, while 26.7% of citizens have not agreed with awareness about commitments of butchers, bakers, and food sellers for covid19 prevention [table 4]. the data analysis showed a significant association between citizens’ awareness for commitments of butchers, bakers, and food sellers about covid-19 and their nuclear families with 65.4%, most of them from the urban area 69%, while most of them were employed by 41.3% [table 1]. the current study shows that the majority of participants agreed with the commitments of butchers, bakers, and food table 1: socio-demographic characteristics of the participants variables frequency percent sex male 490 49.0 female 510 51.0 total 1000 100.0 age group 18–27 201 20.1 28–38 216 21.6 39–49 180 18.0 55 and above 403 40.3 total 1000 100.0 educational level secondary 398 39.8 institute 290 29.0 college 235 23.5 msc 51 5.1 phd 21 2.1 total 1000 100.0 family status marriage 654 65.4 single 307 30.7 divorce 21 2.1 widow 18 1.8 total 1000 100.0 type of family nuclear 654 65.4 extended 346 34.6 total 300 100.0 residency urban 690 69.0 suburban 295 29.5 rural 12 1.2 refugee 3 0.3 total 1000 100.0 occupation employee 413 41.3 private 277 27.7 retired 40 4.0 student 270 27.0 total 1000 100.0 table 2: participants (butchers, bakers, and food sellers) opinion in relation to commitments to covid-19 preventive measures items frequency percentage agree 405 40.5 neutral 325 32.5 disagree 270 27.0 total 1000 100.0 table 4: levels of participants’ awareness with covid-19 prevention measures item frequency percentage agree 477 47.7 neutral 256 25.6 disagree 267 26.7 total 1000 100.0 table 3: the association between participants (butchers, bakers, and food sellers) commitments about covid-19 and their variables variable value df p-value sex 715.579a 2 0.001 age 1559.088a 8 0.001 education level 660.797a 8 0.001 family status 581.426a 6 0.001 type of family 742.679a 2 0.001 address 837.792a 6 0.001 occupation 1905.360a 6 0.001 galali, et al.: covid-19 and food retailer’s commitments 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 11-16 table 6: the percentage of opinion and commitment response to health guidelines preventive measures covid-2019 no. criteria satisfy neutral no satisfied opinion 1 i feel that bakers were committed to health authority guidelines and precautionary guidance 40.5% 40.6% 18.9% opinion 2 in my opinion bakers have good knowledge about health instruction 47.1% 31.1% 21.8% opinion 3 i agree that bakers depending on personal sanitary guidelines to protect themselves and others 41.7% 39.4% 18.9% opinion 4 i am satisfied with butchers’ behaviors to deal with complete personal and environmental sanitation 51.0% 30.4% 18.6% opinion 5 when i go to buy meat, i am satisfied with clean and personal sanitation of them 44.9% 28.8% 26.3% opinion 6 i am sure butchers are dealing with animals properly with complete prevention 52.8% 27.4% 19.8% opinion 7 in my opinion food sellers in mall are committed with the local guideline for prevention 44.5% 32.0% 23.5% opinion 8 i am satisfied with food sellers in my location and have clean behaviors 49.2% 28.7% 22.1% opinion 9 food sellers have good information of covid-19 so that they do their best 44.9% 32.5% 22.6% opinion 10 i am satisfied with the cleanness of the food sellers in my location 52.5% 28.0% 19.5% table 5: the association of participants’ awareness with covid-19 commitments variable value df p-value sex 884.970a 2 0.001 age 1300.208a 8 0.001 education level 292.358a 8 0.001 family status 567.969a 6 0.001 type of family 618.272a 2 0.001 address 617.024a 6 0.001 occupation 1244.119a 6 0.001 values with the same superscript with the same column refer to statistically non-significant at p<0.001. to discontinue the covid-19 infection chain and hence positively affect mortality and morbidity among the community in the kurdistan region of iraq. the current results are in agreement with the previous study stating that prevention is not just a concern about the screening, but it will also consider monitoring the prevention.[18] previous studies indicated that most of the kurdish population has a good awareness of the commitments of butchers, bakers, and food sellers during the pandemic of covid-19, which was very decisive for preventing and encouraging those workers to apply precautionary measures properly including online shopping. these findings were similar to studies done in canada, so most people in this country also applied online shopping to decrease the outbreak of covid19.[21] the study’s other findings indicated a significant association between the citizen’s variables and their opinion and awareness of these workers (bakers, butchers, and food sellers). this was that all of these workers have to apply all health instructions and guidelines of the profession during their daily work to limit the outbreak of covid-19 among the kurdish population in the kurdistan region of iraq. the local government in this region has an active role in educating citizens about precautionary prevention, so we have seen the outcome of that, so the number of death is less than in other countries near iraq as iran, jordan, and turkey. these findings agreed with a study done in indonesia that recommended the prevention of covid-19 and early detection.[22] it is necessary for all workers dealing with food and meat, they have to apply personal and public prevention by social distancing and wearing personal protective equipment (ppe) as mentioned in the study by jonathan et al.[24] workers in markets must have sufficient knowledge about prevention from covid-19 in the workplace to break the chain of infection as mentioned by usman et al.[25] accordingly, several studies have shown that long-term infrastructure commitments of population to the covid-19 regulations are considered as one of the variables. these commitments were significant for the prevention and breakdown of the chain of infection for covid-19 [table 5]. the present data analyzed that the percentage of satisfaction from workers committed among participants was higher than that of non-satisfied groups [table 6]. the current study found that the percentage of satisfaction from workers’ awareness among participants was higher than that of non-satisfied groups [table 7]. discussion the outcome of the work unrevealed that the majority of citizens’ opinions agreed with the commitments of butchers, bakers, and food sellers about covid-19 prevention, representing 40.5%, and 32.5% of them have neutral opinions. while nearly 27% of participants have not agreed with opinions about the commitments of butchers, bakers, and food sellers for covid-19 prevention. their commitments to covid-19 prevention were significant galali, et al.: covid-19 and food retailer’s commitments 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 11-16 table 7: percentage of awareness and commitment response to health guidelines preventive measures covid 2019. no. criteria satisfy neutral not satisfy awareness 1 butchers usually apply personal protective equipment during working 49.6% 31.5% 18.9% awareness 2 i see butchers’ commitments about precautionary guidance in their shop 52.2% 25.7% 22.1% awareness 3 when i buy meat from butchers i satisfy with personal and environmental sanitation 50.4% 31.0% 18.6% awareness 4 i see always bakers wearing protective uniform to prevent themselves and others from covid-19 48.6% 32.1% 19.3% awareness 5 always bakers use clean technic in preparing bread every day 51.9% 27.6% 20.5% awareness 6 always bakers order clients to be a distance between two people more than 2 meters for prevention 47.7% 31.2% 21.1% awareness 7 i satisfy with food sellers in mall or shops at my location so they deal properly with prevention measures 54.6% 31.3% 14.1% awareness 8 usually, food sellers clean items and surfaces in the mall 47.7% 35.5% 16.8% awareness 9 i satisfy with food sellers because they bring excellent items to their mall or shops 53.1% 29.5% 17.4% awareness 10 as general i satisfy with bakers, butchers, and food sellers in my location because they are commitments with all health recommendation and other precautionary measures 50.4% 31.6% 18.0% valuable on-going and maintained actions to back up the resilience of physicians and healthcare against the ongoing pandemic.[25-28] conclusion the opinions and awareness of citizens were satisfied and agreed with workers’ commitments as (butchers, bakers, and food sellers) about covid-19 prevention. there was a significant correlation between their variables, opinions, and awareness about workers’ commitments to prevention from covid-19. the proper commitment of workers to prevention may help to break down the chain of covid-19 infection which consequently reduces mortality and morbidity rate. the limitation of this study includes moving limitations due to the confinement. therefore, the authors suggest future studies in that regard including more participants from different countries around the globe and direct interviews. acknowledgments the authors would like to thank all participants for their contribution. authors’ contributions all the authors contributed to data analysis, explanation, writing original draft, and final 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schulz and j. crespi. the impact of covid-19 on iowa’ s corn, soybean, ethanol, pork, and beef sectors. centre for agriculture and rural development, new delhi, 2020. 20. j. middleton, r. reintjes and h. lopes. meat plants-a new front line in the covid-19 pandemic. bmj, vol. 370, p. m2716, 2020. 21. t. j. richards and b. rickard. covid-19 impact on fruit and vegetable markets: one year later. canadian journal of agricultural economics/revue canadienne d’agroeconomie, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 189-194, 2020. 22. s. setiati and m. k. azwar. covid-19 and indonesia. acta medica indonesiana, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 84-89, 2020. 23. j. e. hobbs. food supply chains during the covid-19 pandemic. canadian journal of agricultural economics, vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 171-176, 2020. 24. j. w. dyal, m. p. grant, k. broadwater, a. bjork, m. a. waltenburg, j. d. gibbins, c. hale, m. silver, m. fischer, j. steinberg, c. a. basler, j. r. jacobs, e. d. kennedy, s. tomasi, d. trout, j. hornsbymyers, n. l. oussayef, l. j. delaney, k. patel, v. shetty, k. e. kline, b. schroeder, r. k. herlihy, j. house, r. jervis, j. l. clayton, d. ortbahn, c. austin, e. berl, z. moore, b. f. buss, d. stover, r. westergaard, i. pray, m. debolt, a. person, j. gabel, t. s. kittle, p. hendren, c. rhea, c. holsinger, j. dunn, g. turabelidze, f. s. ahmed, s. defijter, c. s. pedati, k. rattay, e. e. smith, c. lunapinto, l. a. cooley, s. saydah, n. d. preacely, r. a. maddox, e. lundeen, b. goodwin, s. e. karpathy, s. griffing, m. m. jenkins, g. lowry, r. d. schwarz, j. yoder, g. peacock, h. t. walke, d. a. rose and m. a. honein. covid-19 among workers in meat and poultry processing facilities-19 states, april 2020. mmwr. morbidity and mortality weekly report, vol. 69, no. 18, p. 557-561, 2020. 25. i. m. usman, f. ssempijja, r. ssebuufu, a. m. lemuel, v. b. archibong, e. t. ayikobua, j. o. aruwa, s. kembabazi, e. s. kegoye, j. t. ayuba, o. s. okeniran, i. echoru, a. adeoye, r. mujinya, v. nankya and k. i. kasozi. community drivers affecting adherence to who guidelines against covid-19 amongst rural ugandan market vendors. frontiers in public health, vol. 8, p. 380, 2020. 26. c. meyer, f. becot, r. burke and b. weichelt. rural telehealth use during the covid-19 pandemic: how long-term infrastructure commitment may support rural health care systems resilience. journal of agromedicine, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 362-366, 2020. 27. a. a. mohammed, a. ferraris and c. troise. csr practices and creativity during covid-19 pandemic in the emerging market: investigating the mediating effect of affective commitment. management decision, vol. 60, p. 2669-2693, 2021. 28. v. filimonau, b. derqui, and j. matute. the covid-19 pandemic and organisational commitment of senior hotel managers. international journal of hospitality management, vol. 91, p. 102659, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 52-55 review article enhancing wireless sensor networks routing protocols based on cross layer interaction reem j. ismail1*, khalid f. jasim1, samar j. ismael2, soma a. m. solaimanzadeh1 1department of computer science, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of electromechanical engineering, university of technology, baghdad, iraq abstract wireless sensor networks (wsn) aim to develop a smart city based on sensing environment. the routing protocols of wsn are important to transfer the data in smart cities since sensor nodes have limited power and transmission range. the aim of this research is to enhance wsn routing protocols based on proposed cross-layer interaction between physical layer and network layer also a proposed routing table information of wireless sensor nodes is developed to consider the transmission power of neighbor’s nodes to determine the next hop. cross-layer interaction provides a useful information and effective adaptation for wsn routing protocols. as a result, the proposed routing protocol shows an improvement in network performance when number of intermediate nodes is minimized. keywords: transmission power, wireless sensor node, routing protocol, cross-layer interaction introduction wireless sensor networks (wsns) are under growth and revolution technology in wireless communication since it is the most widely used in smart cities to monitor or to sense the environment.[1,2] there are two types of wireless sensor nodes: fixed wireless sensor nodes and mobile wireless sensor nodes. in fixed wireless sensor nodes, the nodes are placed in strategic and suitable positions while, in mobile wireless sensor nodes, the nodes are moving and sensing for data collection.[3,4] wireless sensor nodes have different applications that are used on land, underground or under water or even in human body and each one of them face different problems and challenges.[5,6] wsns can be classified into homogeneous (identical mobile sensor nodes) and heterogeneous (different abilities in node property).[7,8] the traditional layered approach concerning osi layered model is not suitable to be used in the mobile wireless sensor nodes design due to the unstable conditions of mobile nodes and wireless links reliability changing. the dynamic environment performance can be improved by considering cross interaction between the layers. these cross-layer interactions provide an exchange information to control the dynamic environment and will allow improvement of network performance.[9] in this research, an interaction of the physical layer with the network layer is used with different parameters that result in a new physical-network cross-layer design, the new physicalnetwork cross-layer design is elaborated to implement the proposed wsns routing protocol that will effect and improve network performance. the main contributions of this research are as follows: 1. design an efficient routing protocol for wsns with reliable intermediate nodes that participate in the routing process. 2. the development of a new structure for wireless sensor nodes routing table to consider cross-layer interaction parameters. 3. minimize the flooding problem when sending information from source to destination. the remainder of this research will be as follows. we present some of the work related to wsns concepts; we present the wsn routing protocols based on cross-layer interaction; we evaluate the proposed routing protocol in an urban scenario; and finally, we conclude this work. literature review in the literature, wsns use routing protocols with cross-layer interaction to exchange information over wireless sensor nodes to find the path from source to destination. corresponding author: reem j. ismail, department of computer science, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: reem.jafar@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 26, 2021 accepted: november 12, 2021 published: november 30, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021.pp 52-55 copyright © 2021 reem j. ismail, khalid f. jasim, samar j. ismael, soma a. m. solaimanzadeh. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ismail, et al.: enhancing wsn routing protocols based on cross layer interaction 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 52-55 urmila et al.[9] proposed a cross-layer design with fewer intermediate sensor nodes and keep others in the sleep mode to maximize the lifetime of sensor nodes and to manage sensor node energy efficiently. azlan et al.[10] proposed a cross layer design of medium access control mac and routing, to deliver sensing data from wireless sensor nodes to the sink. when wireless sensor node has data to transmit, it broadcasts the packets to all its neighbors, and this will affect the efficiency of the routing algorithm when flooding problem will happen. nabil et al.[11] used cross-layer design parameters and exchanged between different layers to ensure efficient use of energy. the stored energy system is used to take decisions for the wireless sensor node state and then in the routing protocol. mobile wireless sensor node architecture in general, wireless sensor node architecture includes processing unit, sensing unit, power unit, and transceiver unit while mobile wireless sensor nodes have additional unit relate to positioning, mobility, and power generation, as shown in figure 1.[12,13] in jung et al.,[14] they developed a sensor node hardware that has processor of 8 mhz, ram of 8 kb, and storage of 116 kb, the nodes are limited in its specification due to their small size. understanding transmit power of wireless sensor node in wsns, use the radio frequency (rf) signals for transceiver unit in wireless sensor nodes. wireless sensor nodes transceiver operates at the high frequencies and high sampling rates to have specific rf signal processing.[15,16] the distance that a rf signal can be transmitted depends on several hardware factors of wireless sensor nodes, includes: 1. transmitter power: the power of the signal is measured in dbm (decibels) or mw (mill watts).[17] 2. cable losses between the transmitter and its antenna and cable losses between the receiver and its antenna.[18,19] 3. antenna gain of the transmitter and receiving antenna gain.[18,20] 4. localization of the two antennas: the distance between sender and receiver is important and a better data transfer will be gain when there are no obstacles between both antennas and when both antennas are in line of sight. free space path loss problem refers to power lost, it happened when energy of rf disperses into the air.[21] 5. receiver sensitivity: receiver sensitivity is the minimum signal power level that is necessary for the receiver to accurately decode a given signal it is measured in dbm or mw.[18] proposed wsn routing protocols based on cross layer interaction flooding in network is the process of broadcasting packets form one node to all other nodes. in wsn routing protocols, the wireless sensor node broadcasts the receiving packet to discover the route to all neighbors, in which each intermediate wireless sensor node will rebroadcast the packet again that will cause a broadcasting storm and a flooding problem.[22] based on these analyzes, we propose a new protocol which interacts between the different layers: physical layer and network layer, at the aim of: improving the routing protocol and minimizing the broadcasting storm problem for intermediate nodes. the transmit power range of the sensor node is a parameter that will be considered from the physical layer to be crossed to network layer. this parameter will affect the performance of the network layer and the proposed routing protocol, as shown in figure 2. a new routing algorithm is proposed and implemented to send information from source to destination with minimum number of intermediate nodes. communication link in wireless sensor node will has unreliable wireless link, unreliable links need to prevent from the use.[19,23] the wireless sensor node will detect all the neighbor nodes to find next hop to send the information, as shown in figure 3, where s0 coverage area and its neighbors s1, s2, and s3 are detected (s4 is outside its range). the routing table will be updated whenever the wireless sensor node is moving from point to point or every t-time and the next hop will be chosen according to the maximum transmit power range and transmission direction to reach to the destination. the proposed routing table structure needs to be developed to consider the physical layer parameter (transmit power range of wireless sensor node), as shown in table 1: network layer physical layer the proposed routing protocol for wireless sensor networks considering physical layer parameter for selective flooding the power range of the wireless sensor nodes figure 2: the proposed physical-network cross-layer parametersfigure 1: architecture of the mobile wireless sensor node ismail, et al.: enhancing wsn routing protocols based on cross layer interaction 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 52-55 according to the proposed routing table for wireless sensor node s0 that is shown in table 1, the next hop to be selected will be the wireless sensor nodes: s1 or s3 since they have high power range relate to s0. algorithm 1: proposed wsn routing protocols input: source wireless sensor node (s), destination wireless sensor node (d), and transmit power range of (t) wireless sensor nodes (n) output: path from (s) node to (d) node and updated routing table begin for each wireless sensor node in the region n discover neighbor wireless sensor nodes get transmit power range for each neighbor wireless sensor node by exchanges information every 3 s if d = neighbor wireless sensor nodes send data from s to d else find next hop with the higher transmit power range t from the neighbor wireless sensor nodes to send data update the routing table with next hop and new transmit power range from the neighbor wireless sensor nodes end implementation and results in this section, we present the implementation of the proposed wsn routing protocols using matlab r2016a (9.0.0.341360). we proposed a heterogeneous mobile wireless sensor node, where the sensor nodes are mobile and have a different hardware specification that relates to transmit power and energy management. the evaluation of the results is shown as line plots using pyplot module of matplotlib library in python programming language. for this purpose, python 3.8 was used. figure 4 shows neighbors’ discovery of sensor nodes. we observed that proposed selective flooding based on crosslayer interaction shows better performance compared to broadcasting to all neighbors since fewer number of neighbors for sensor nodes will deliver packets over routing protocols because only high power transmit wireless sensor node will be considered in routing protocols. table 1: proposed routing table for wireless sensor node s0 wireless sensor node (wsn) transmit power range of wireless sensor node next hop s1 high s1 s2 medium s3 high s3 s4 low s3 s0 s1 s2 s4 coverage areas of s0 figure 3: coverage area of wireless sensor node s0 and neighbor nodes. wireless sensor node, wireless link figure 4: compares neighbors’ discovery of sensor nodes of broadcasting flooding with proposed selective flooding based on cross-layer interaction s0 ismail, et al.: enhancing wsn routing protocols based on cross layer interaction 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 52-55 conclusion in this research, we propose a new routing table is updated with physical layer parameter relate to power range of wireless sensor nodes that aimed to enhance the reliability of wsn routing protocol. the proposed cross-layer interaction of wsn routing protocols will minimize the number of sensor nodes that will deliver the packets in routing protocol when selective forwarding neighbors with the high power range will participate in routing compared to broadcasting flooding of packets to all neighbors. furthermore, reliable transmission in routing protocol will improve the performance of wsns when weak power range of wireless sensor nodes will not be considered to be as an intermediate node in routing. references 1. k. z. ghafoor, m. guizani, l. kong, h. s. maghdid, and k. f. jasim. enabling efficient coexistence of dsrc and c-v2x in vehicular networks. ieee wireless communications, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 134-140, 2020. 2. m. k. faaeq, n. k. n. mat, a. k. faieq, m. m. rasheed, and q. h. al-salami. towards of smart cities based on the sustainability of digital services. international journal of engineering and technology, vol. 7, no. 4, p. 28, 2018. 3. m. carlos-mancilla, e. lópez-mellado, and m. siller. wireless sensor networks formation: approaches and techniques. journal of sensors, vol. 2016, p. 2081902, 2016. 4. h. f. hasan, a. a. mahdi, and v. zira. cost and energy efficient hybrid wireless optical networks: fiwi access network. massachusetts: lap lambert academic publishing, p. 978, 2019. 5. l. chelouah, f. semchedine, and l. bouallouche-medjkoune. localization protocols for mobile wireless sensor networks: a survey. computers and electrical engineering, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1-19, 2017. 6. a. n. abdulfattah, c. c. tsimenidis, and a. yakovlev. ultralow power m-sequence code generator for body sensor node applications integration. vlsi journal, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 89-93, 2019. 7. c. h. wu, and y. c. chung. heterogeneous wireless sensor network deployment and topology control based on irregular sensor model. in: c. cérin, and k. c. li, (eds.), second international conference on grid and pervasive computing. gpc 2007. lecture notes in computer science. paris, france: springer berlin, heidelberg, pp. 78-88, 2007. 8. s. sankar, h. ranganathan, and s. venkatasubramanian. a study on next generations heterogeneous sensor networks. in: 2009 5th ieee gcc conference and exhibition; 17-19 march 2009. kuwait: ieee, pp. 1-4, 2009. 9. u. patil, a. v. kulkarni, r. menon, and m. venkatesan. a novel aeb-aodv based aadithya cross layer design hibernation algorithm for energy optimization in wsn. wireless personal communication, vol. 117, pp. 1419-1439, 2020. 10. a. awang, x. lagrange, and d. r. sanchez. a cross-layer medium access control and routing protocol for wireless sensor networks. journées doctorales en informatique et réseaux, vol. 4, p. 02161417, 2009. 11. n. a. alrajeh, s. khan, j. lloret, and j. loo. secure routing protocol using cross-layer design and energy harvesting in wireless sensor networks. international journal of distributed sensor networks, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 374796, 2013. 12. v. ramasamy. mobile wireless sensor networks: an overview. india: intechopen, 2017. 13. n. sabor, s. sasaki, m. abo-zahhad, and s. m. ahmed. a comprehensive survey on hierarchical-based routing protocols for mobile wireless sensor networks: review, taxonomy, and future directions. wireless communications and mobile computing, vol. 2017, p. 2818542, 2017. 14. w. jung, s. hong, m. ha, y. j. kim, and d. kim. ssl-based lightweight security of ip-based wireless sensor networks. in: international conference on advanced information networking and applications workshops, toronto, canada: leonard barolli laboratory, 2009. 15. á. lédeczi, and m. maróti. wireless sensor node localization. philosophical transactions of the royal society a, vol. 370, pp. 85-99, 2012. 16. l. r. flaih, and s. a. b. al-deen. machine to machine measurement (m3) framework for web of things. journal of xi’an university of architecture and technology, vol. 11, no. 11, pp. 118-125, 2019. 17. g. a. qasmarrogy. improving voip transmission for ieee 802.11 n 5ghz manet. zanco journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 157-162, 2021. 18. rf power values. united states: cisco systems inc., 2008. available form: http://www.cisco.com/en/us/tech/tk722/ tk809/technologies_tech_note09186a00800e90fe.shtml. [last accessed on 2021 jun 01]. 19. d. son1, b. krishnamachari, and j. heidemann. experimental study of the effects of transmission power control and blacklisting in wireless sensor networks. in: 1st annual ieee communications society conference on sensor and ad hoc communications and networks. united states: ieee, 2004. 20. g. a. qasmarrogy. optimizing video transmission performance in 5ghz manet, journal of duhok university, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 402-411, 2020. 21. a. h. m. al-dalawie, and f. m. zeki. design and implementation a non-uniform helical antenna in frequency range of 450-850 mhz for ultra-high-frequency television application. cihan universityerbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 75-79, 2019. 22. s. yamazaki, y. abiko, and h. mizuno. a simple and energyefficient flooding scheme for wireless routing. wireless communications and mobile computing, vol. 2020, p. 8832602, 2020. 23. g. a. qasmarrogy, and y. s. mahmood. capacity analysis of multiple-input-multiple-output system over rayleigh and rician fading channel. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 70-74, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 29-34 research article inhibition of rac 1 protect against platelet-induced liver and kidney injury in diabetes mellitus rundk a. hwaiz1, helen j. sabri2 1department of clinical biochemistry, hawler medical university, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of medical biochemical analysis, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract diabetes mellitus (dm) both (type  1 and type  2) are one of the common causes for activation of platelet. inflammation-induced abnormal platelet function contributes to chronic complications, which are the leading causes of death and morbidity among diabetics. rac1 has been shown to regulate a variety of platelet functions; predicted rac1could regulate platelet release of cxcl4, which leads to kidney injury in dm. dm’ effect on rac1 activation, a 21kd g-protein implicated in platelet activation, was investigated and platelet induced inflammation and kidney injury. swiss albino male mice were pretreated with 5 mg/kg of a specific rac1 inhibitor nsc23766 and injected with (45 mg/kg body wt.) streptozotocin, twice for 5 days. moreover, the concentration of serum chemokines cxcl4 was assayed using elisa and histology score for kidney was examined. our results showed that dm was induced in mice by streptozotocin. in addition, platelet chemokines (cxcl4) were markedly higher in diabetic mice when compared to the sham (control) group. moreover, pre-treatment with nsc23766 decreased liver and kidney injury assessed by histology score, p < 0.05. our study reveals that rac1 has a critical role in platelet chemokines secretion due to diabetes-induced inflammation in the liver and kidneys, targeting rac1 could be a target for innovative treatment to control inflammation in diabetic individual. targeting platelets involved in inflammatory pathways could be part of a strategy to control and manage diabetes and its consequences. keywords: rac1, platelet, cxcl4, diabetes mellitus, liver and kidney injury introduction diabetes mellitus (dm) is a state in which set to be failure of the langerhans islet of the pancreas to produce sufficient insulin, or for the insulin to be resistant.[1] the figures of people with diabetes are expected to soar by 550 million by the end of the year 2035.[2] diabetes has detrimental consequences that are mainly because of it is micro and macroangiopathy which include several debilitating neurological complications and nephropathies in which serious glomerular complications develop leading to dropping the level of glomerular filtration rate (gfr) and eventually renal failure.[3,4] determining factors for the increased levels of gfr in early dm have been observed utilizing different physiological experiments commencing factors and pathophysiology routes are particularly ambiguous to determine as the relation between form and function tense to be complicated microangiopathy complications in diabetes were found as renal lesions in type 2 diabetes where hyperfiltration did not sound to occur while.[5,6] liver is a crucial organ in the regulation of lipid, glucose, and protein metabolism and is one of the numerous organs affected by this metabolic illness diabetes. the most specific markers of hepatic injury are alanine aminotransferase (alt), and aspartate aminotransferase (ast), which are found in the hepatocellular mitochondria and cytosol. diabetes is frequently accompanied by elevated serum levels of (alt), (ast), and gamma glutamyltransferase.[7] excess free fatty acids are directly toxic to liver cells in the insulin-resistant state, t2dm is thought to be a contributing factor in the development of liver diseases such as cirrhosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, hepatocellular carcinoma will eventually develop.[8] pre-diabetic individuals or impaired glucose tolerance subjects have demonstrated lower levels of mean platelet corresponding author: rundk a. hwaiz, department of clinical biochemistry, hawler medical university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: rundk.hwaiz@hmu.edu.krd received: june 14, 2022 accepted: january 27, 2023 published: march 01, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp29-34 copyright © 2023 rundk a. hwaiz, helen j. sabri. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) hwaiz and sabri: role of rac1 in diabetes mellitus 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 29-34 volume (mpv) than diabetic people in several studies.[9] higher platelet activity is frequently found to be more in diabetic patients, platelet glycation proteins promotion are directly link to platelet reactivity.[10] diabetic patients are doomed to develop higher platelet reactivity, as both insulin resistance and deficiency levels up platelet reactivity.[11] chronic diabetic patients in general are not an exclusion of the vicious circle in which hyperglycemia leads to high platelet activation: the latter is thought to be contributing in the producing the reactive oxygen species (ros) in endothelium since this have been showed in several studies. other than this ros production in endothelium happens directly due to glucose metabolism and autooxidation indirect ros production may also occur through the development of pro-inflammatory cytokine receptors for advanced glycation end products (rage).[12] cytosol of platelets embed pro-inflammatory derivatives like cxcl4 which is sent to be important mainly produced from rna and the fate is to be spilled on platelet activations. this pro-inflammatory derivative is released upon platelet activation during cecal ligation and puncture mice which in its turn leads to expression of cxcl4 and this may cause aggregation of other immune cells and exaggerate inflammation during abdominal sepsis.[13,14] rac1a small guanine nucleotidebinding proteins (g protein) is a key signaling molecule that coordinates intracellular transduction pathways that lead to nadph oxidase activation.[15] similar to other small gtpases, rac1 must be isoprenylated to move from cytosol to the plasma membrane, where its presence facilitates the assembly of some nadph oxidase subunits.[16,17] this assemblage is a very important step for the enzymatic activation of the rosproducing nadph oxidase system. as a result, rac1 activation may be a key mechanism in hyperglycemia-induced vascular oxidative stress. rac1 a small gtpase protein playing a crucial role in dm as a signaling molecule.[18] furthermore, platelet secretion of cxcl4 in sepsis is also controlled by rac1.[13,14,19] numerous theses have emphasized the principal contribution of rac1 in sepsis, lamellipodia formation, as well as the activation of phospholipase, granule secretion, and clot retraction in platelets. so far, the molecular and cellular mechanisms contribute to the inflammation and complication effects of diabetes are only partially recognized; hence, the aim of the present study was to investigate the rac1 role in releasing cxcl4 from platelets in dm and the inhibition of rac1 to protect against liver and kidney damage due to dm. materials and methods animals swiss albino male mice were used in all experiments 8–9 weeks of age (weight: 20–25 g) the department of pharmacy hawler medical university, iraq, is in accordance with animal welfare standards legislation, and the regional animal experimentation ethical committee has given its approval. the animals were housed in a pathogen-free environment with a 12–12-h light–dark cycle. water and food were provided twice daily clean and fresh drinking water provided specific nipple used to access ad libitum. the trials were conducted after a 7-day acclimatization period. animals were sub-grouped in to three groups sham (injected with saline only), vehicle (injected with streptozotocin), and treatment group which pretreated with nsc23366 and streptozotocin (nsc+stz), each group contains five mice. with environment enrichment, the mice were maintained in cages with no more than five mice per cage in each group. materials streptozotocin (stz; glentham life science. ltd., u.k.) is the chemical that uses for induction of dm.[20] naoh the buffer that uses for preparation of streptozotocin was made by dissolving (10.7 g) of sodium citrate in (200 ml) of distilled water and (9.6 g) of citric acid added and the volume completed to l000 ml with distilled water. by adding (naoh) to the solvent, the ph of the solution was adjusted to (4.5). nsc23766 (n6‐[2‐[[4‐(diethylamino) ‐1‐methylbutyl] amino] ‐6-methyl‐ 4‐pyrimidinyl] ‐2 methyl‐‐4, 6‐quinolinediamine trihydrochloride, chem cruz, santa cruz biotechnology, california). the accu-chek active blood glucose meter was used to monitor the blood glucose level in the study. animal experiments (5 mg/kg) of rac1 inhibitor (nsc23766) was administered intraperitoneally to the animals based on past research, this dose of nsc23766 was chosen.[19,21,22] after 30 min, the animals were treated using multiple (i.p.) stz (45 mg/kg body weight) was injected intraperitoneally into the experimental mice to produce dm. stz was dissolved in a buffer of 0.01 m sodium citrate (ph = 4.5) and given to mice for 5 days in a row. this dose of stz is selected on the base on the previous study.[23] to minimize hypoglycemia produced by stz, after the injection, the animals were given a glucose solution (5% w/v) to drink overnight. sham mice were given an equivalent dose of vehicle (citrate buffer) only. for 5 days, stz and nsc+stz treated mice were housed in normal settings after dosing was completed. in fact, after these time period mice developed diabetes by measuring fasting blood glucose levels were approximately 11.1 mmol/l. blood samples from the tail vein of nsc+stz and stztreated mice were taken after a 12-h fast to assess blood glucose levels. diabetes was defined as fasting blood glucose levels higher than 11.1 mmol/l in diabetic mice.[23] moreover, hence, they were selected for further studies. intravenously, sedation was achieved by administering 75 mg ketamine hydrochloride (hoffmanla roche, basel, switzerland) and 25 mg xylazine (janssen pharmaceutica, beerse, belgium) kg-1 body weight. the animals were harvested and blood took from vena cava. the serum was allowed to coagulate at room temperature for 10–20 min. before being centrifuged for 20 min at 2000–3000 rpm. the serum was extracted from the supernatant and kept at 80°c for use in an elisa test later. for histopathology, the kidney was preserved in formaldehyde. biochemical determination before the start of the procedure, all experimental animals’ blood glucose levels were monitored. fasting blood glucose levels were checked on a regular basis until diabetes was confirmed. mice with a fasting blood glucose level of 11.11 mmol/l or above were classified as diabetic. blood was collected from the tail veins of all experimental animals (2–3 µl). an accu-chek active blood glucose meter was used to monitor the blood glucose levels. hwaiz and sabri: role of rac1 in diabetes mellitus 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 29-34 elisa serum cxcl4 level measured successfully in all groups of mice and samples assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) using the (mouse platelet factor 4 elisa kit, bt lab cat. no e0686mo). following the manufacturer’s directions, at 450 nm absorbance was measured, a standard curve had been set on each microplate by diluting a known concentration standard. using a logistic curve-fitting technique, the mean absorbance for the wells was used to calculate the chemokine concentration for each sample. the linear section of the standard curve contained all of the absorbance values. the data were represented as ng/ml. histopathology kidney tissue was fixed overnight in a 10% formaldehyde phosphate buffer before being dried and paraffin embedded. hematoxylin and eosin were used to stain four micrometer sections. a modified scoring system was used to quantify kidney injury in a blinded manner.[24] including mixed inflammatory cells, necrosis (reversible injury), apoptosis, fibrosis, vascular congestion and edema, and degeneration (reversible injury) infiltration is evaluated on a scale of 0–4, zero represents (absence) and four represents (extensive). the mean value was calculated after assessing five random locations in each tissue sample. the sum of all six criteria determines the histopathology score. statistics the data were provided as mean values with standard error (se). nonparametric tests were used to do statistical analyses (mann–whitney). n is the total number of mice in each group, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. statistical analysis was performed by use of spss (ibm corp., armonk, n.y., usa). results streptozotocin-iinduced dm in mice injection of (45 mg/kg body wt.) of stz to mice significantly increased the fasting blood sugar of mice compared to sham group, p < 0.05. however, the group that treated with rac1 inhibitor markedly reduced the high blood sugar induced by streptozotocin. pre-treatment of mice with 5 mg/kg of the rac1 inhibitor (nsc23766), reduced the fasting blood sugar from 556.20 ± 26.65 to 375.20 ± 20.7 with p < 0.05 [figure 1]. hence, attenuating rac1 activation by nsc23766 prevents high blood glucose which might induce platelet activation. rac1 regulates platelet secretion of cxcl4 in dm dm increased plasma levels of cxcl4 from 6.40 ± 0.4 ng/ml in sham mice up to 13.60 ± 1.32 ng/ml, corresponding to a 2.12-fold increase [figure 2]. the results showed induction of dm by injecting (45 mg/kg body wt.) szt in plasma [figure 2] suggesting that dm induces the platelet chemokine secretion cxcl4 in diabetic mice. notably, (nsc23766) a rac1 inhibitor, significantly reduced dm-induced platelet aggregation and figure 1: blood glucose concentration. fasting blood glucose levels were measured on day of harvest after the mice were induced with stz (vehicle) for 5 days and pretreated with rac1 inhibitor (nsc23766). data represent mean ± se (sham = 5, vehicle = 5). *p < 0.05 versus sham figure 2: activated platelets secrete chemokines in diabetic mice. elisa was use d to quantify the levels of cxcl 4 in the diabetic mice plasma. data represent mean ± se (sham = 5, vehicle = 5). *p < 0.05 versus sham chemokines secretion in platelets [figure 2], showing that nsc23766 which is an effective inhibitor of rac1 activation, also inhibit the increased level of platelet chemokines. pretreatment with nsc23766 attenuate serum levels of cxcl4 in diabetic mice from 13.60 ± 1.32 ng/ml to 7.20 ± 0.8 ng/ml, equating to a drop of more than 80% [figure 2]. histopathology alterations of kidney in diabetic mice histopathological change of kidney regarding normal control showed normal kidney histology architecture, while treated group (induced diabetes) showed mild vacuolar degenerations, scattered chronic inflammatory cells infiltration. while after giving treatment, there will be reduction in the inflammatory cells and reduction in degeneration [figure 3b]. the induction of dm by injection of streptozotocin, significantly induced hwaiz and sabri: role of rac1 in diabetes mellitus 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 29-34 kidney injury in diabetic mice compared to the sham group (1.13 ± 0.08) with p < 0.05 [figure 3a]. however, administration of nsc23766 to the mice reduced the histological score to 0.26 ± 0.21 with p < 0.05 [figure 3a]. histopathology alterations of liver in diabetic mice histopathological change of liver normal control showed normal liver histology architecture, while treated group (induced diabetes) showed vascular congestion, degenerative hepatocyte (reversible injury), and scattered chronic inflammatory cell infiltration (lymphocyte). while in the pre-treated group with nsc23766, there was only mild vascular congestion [figure 4b]. our findings revealed significant liver damage in the diabetes induced animals. streptozotocin injections used to induce diabetes in mice dramatically increased liver damage compared to the control group 1.4 ± 0.08 with p < 0.05 [figure 4]. nsc23766, on the other hand, reduced the histological score in mice to 0.73 ± 0.06, with p < 0.05 [figure 4a]. discussion the current findings suggest that rac1-mediated platelet activation and cxcl4 secretion from platelets play an important role in dm. these data imply that platelets play a critical role in diabetes, and that reducing rac1 signaling and/or cxcl4 function could be effective dm therapy options and its complication associated with platelet activation. platelets are important for wound healing and thrombosis, but they also contribute to the host’s response to bacterial invasion by performing a variety of pro-inflammatory actions.[25] platelets, for example, govern a variety of features of responses of leukocytes to severe infections, according to research.[13,14,19] platelets have been demonstrated to play an important role in the development of dm in the previous investigations; however, in this study, we found that the injection of mice with streptozotocin (45 mg/kg body wt.) significantly induce the dm compare to sham group p value <0.05. similar to our study, the previous studies showed the elevation of glucose after induction of streptozotocin.[23,26-28] however, the role of rac1in regulation of platelet chemokines in the dm not figure 4: rac1 regulates liver damage in dm. (a) rac1 regulates liver damage in dm. histology score in the liver. (b) rac1 regulates liver damage in dm. representative (h&e ×100) sections of the liver are shown. (a) normal histology of the liver of normal control group. (b) vascular congestion, and degenerative hepatocyte as shown in the (arrow on the vehicle), and scattered chronic inflammatory cell infiltration. (c) treatment group showed only mild vascular congestion a b figure 3: rac1 regulates kidney damage in dm. (a) histopathology score in the kidney. (b) rac1 regulates kidney damage in dm. representative (h&e ×100) sections of the kidney are shown. (a) normal histology of the kidney of normal control group. (b) scattered chronic inflammatory cells as shown in (arrow 1), and vacuolar degeneration (arrow 2). (c) treatment group showed reduction in inflammatory cells and vacuolar degeneration ba hwaiz and sabri: role of rac1 in diabetes mellitus 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 29-34 been studied earlier. induction of streptozotocin-induced dm, significantly increased platelet chemokine secretion. however, the induction of dm by streptozotocin was abolished by the pretreatment with rac1 inhibitor (5 mg/kg), by more than 80% reduction [figure 2]. this emphasizes the role of platelets and rac1 in the dm molecular process. moreover, histological study showed the kidney destruction in diabetic mice which induced by injection of streptozotocin. pre-treatment with rac1 inhibitor (5 mg/kg) significantly reduced the kidney damage induced by dm. the role of platelets in renal damage was demonstrated in the previous studies.[29-32] talat et al. showed that platelet count significantly increased in the diabetic patients.[33] the glomerulus and tubules basement membrane thickens and this leads to recruitment of inflammatory cells. gene expression and protein production of extracellular matrix components such as collagen iv, laminin, and fibronectin increase when extracellular matrix components accumulate. the weight of the kidneys was reported to increase as a result of these changes.[34] our result showed pathological changes in the liver produced in diabetic mice induced by (45 mg/kg body wt.) streptozotocin. a recent study has shown liver injury induced by stz.[35] furthermore, another study revealed that the occurrence and progression of diabetic liver injury are influenced by oxidative stress.[36] in this study, we documented a significant reduction of mixed inflammatory cells and apoptosis of pre-treatment hepatocytes with rac1 inhibitor in mice. the rac1 inhibitor (5 mg/kg) administration significantly reduced necrosis, fibrosis, vascular congestion and edema, an extreme change shown between diabetic mice and pre-treated rac1 inhibition. furthermore, the latest study showed that nsc23766 treatment significantly alleviated the hepatic ri in mice as well as reducing ros production and oxidative stress.[37] pro-inflammatory cytokines were observed to be acutely induced in the liver and kidneys of rats exposed to gnps in several studies.[38-40] in platelets, cxcl4 is one of the most prevalent chemokines.[13,14] numerious studies have found that patients with metabolic syndrome had higher levels of (il-6), (tnf), cxcl16, and (crp) than healthy people. furthermore, metabolic syndrome has been linked to an increase in the number of immune cells such as leukocytes, monocytes, and platelets.[41-43] interestingly, the level of cxcl4 in diabetic mice’s serum was higher than in sham animals, according to this study findings [figure 2]. rac1 has been implicated in the regulation of platelet chemokine production in the previous investigations.[13,14,19] furthermore, it is well known that high blood glucose levels assist in the development of ros on the endothelium lining of arteries.[44,45] ros, a signaling molecule produced by nadph, is vital in the advancement of inflammation and vascular damage in diabetes.[46] rac1, a small g protein, is a key signaling molecule that connects intracellular signaling pathways to nadph oxidase activity.[47] conclusion in the present study, we showed that rac1 has a function in platelet activation and that the chemokine cxcl4 is overexpressed in diabetic mice. in addition, morphological change associated with dm in mice as a consequences of platelet activation. rac1 inhibition may thus be a therapeutic drug to regulate dm through attenuation of chemokine, which is a signaling molecule in aggravating inflammation, as well as chemokine production liver and kidney damage by activated platelets in dm. aknowledgment i would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my college, hawler medical university, and salahadin university research center, for providing me with the opportunity to work on this wonderful project and learn so much from them. references 1. d. l. eizirik, l. pasquali and m. cnop. pancreatic β-cells in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus: different pathways to failure. nature reviews endocrinology, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 349-362, 2020. 2. d. atlas. idf diabetes atlas. 7th ed. international diabetes federation, brussels, belgium, 2015. 3. v. chaurasia, s. pal and b. tiwari. chronic kidney disease: a predictive model using decision tree. international journal of engineering research and technology, vol. 11, pp. 1781-1794, 2018. 4. a. misra, n. tandon, s. ebrahim, n. sattar, d. alam, u. shrivastava, k. m. v. narayan and t. h. jafar. diabetes, cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease in south asia: current status and future directions. bmj, vol. 357, p. j1420, 2017. 5. b. m. brenner, t. h. hostetter, j. l. olson, h. g. rennke and m. a. venkatachalam. the role of glomerular hyperfiltration in the initiation and progression of diabetic 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khalifa, l. m. kamel, e. m. mohammed and h. shehata. the role of mean platelet volume in pediatric chronic kidney disease. the egyptian journal of hospital medicine, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 678-682, 2020. 34. f. n. ziyadeh, b.b. hoffman, d.c. han, m.c. iglesias-de la cruz, s.c. hong, m. isono, s. chen, t.a. mcgowan and k. sharma. long-term prevention of renal insufficiency, excess matrix gene expression and glomerular mesangial matrix expansion by treatment with monoclonal antitransforming growth factor-β antibody in db/db diabetic mice. proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america, vol. 97, no. 14, pp. 8015-8020, 2000. 35. y. zhang, x. tan, y. cao, x. an, j. chen and l. yang. punicalagin protects against diabetic liver injury by upregulating mitophagy and antioxidant enzyme activities. nutrients, vol. 14, no. 14, p. 2782, 2022. 36. g. tell, c. vascotto and c. tiribelli. alterations in the redox state and liver damage: hints from the easl basic school of 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kaneto, n. katakami, m. matsuhisa and t. matsuoka. role of reactive oxygen species in the progression of type 2 diabetes and atherosclerosis. mediators of inflammation, vol. 2010, p. 453892, 2010. 45. c. m. o. volpe, p. h. villar-delfino, p. m. f. dos anjos and j. a. nogueira-machado. cellular death, reactive oxygen species (ros) and diabetic complications. cell death and disease, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 1-9, 2018. 46. c. henríquez-olguin, j. r. knudsen, s. h. raun, z. li, e. dalbram, j. t. treebak, l. sylow, r. holmdahl, e. a. richter, e. jaimovich and t. e. jensen. cytosolic ros production by nadph oxidase 2 regulates muscle glucose uptake during exercise. nature communications, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1-11, 2019. 47. p. l. hordijk. regulation of nadph oxidases: the role of rac proteins. circulation research, vol. 98, no. 4, pp. 453-462, 2006. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 28-35 review article a proposed model for building a secure restful api to connect between server-side and mobile applications using laravel framework with flutter toolkits osama m. a. al-atraqchi department of computer science, college of science, chian university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract these days, any business needs a mobile application that connects to a central database, such as those used for e-commerce, e-learning, and restaurant applications building a professional application that connects to the backend requires a restful application programming interface (api); as a result, picking the best languages, tools, and frameworks to build a mobile application on the client side, as well as a database, api, and dashboard on the back end, is essential and result in a problem. this paper proposes a paradigm for building crossplatform mobile apps using the flutter framework. it includes packages such as http for connecting to apis, flutter secure storage for storing tokens, getx for state management, and using mvc architectural style. the result is building a full-stack application (frontend and backend) called (my services), a kind of ecommerce application for services only. in addition, the laravel framework and mysql database are used for backends such as dashboard and api., and spatie package is used with laravel to make a system for rules and permissions, as well as uses sanctum package for authentication and authorization system. keywords: flutter, laravel, web development, mobile development, backend-frontend. introduction these days, mobile applications are essential and widely used, and they also provide the best environment for using sensors for internet of things (iot) systems, which are also widely used.[1] however, since we cannot create any application without a central data source to enable user sharing of data and resources, the computability between systems, especially client and server environments, becomes a problem.[2] using application programming interface (api) is the best solution to communicate between data sources on the server side and the applications on the client side.[3] building a secure api for mobile applications is not an easy issue, especially with the presence of many languages, tools, and frameworks. the api should create in the server environment, which means it is difficult for mobile application developers or frontend developers, in general, to work with the backend environment.[4] using the laravel framework to create an api is a great deal, because of its ease of use and provides a lot of packages to handle many issues for building an api, as well as provide a solution for security issues, authentication, and authorization.[5] flutter is a cross-platform mobile application framework used to build an application that works on the android, ios, web, and desktop platforms. flutter provides packages to work with api professionally and quickly[6] therefore, it is a perfect framework to work with laravel as a robust solution for building a client application connected with the server. restful api rest or representational state transfer is an architectural pattern for providing a standard between incompatible intercommunication for web applications; rest is a type of rpc (remote procedure call) protocol built to simplify the process of exchanging data between the different systems on the web; rest builds on http protocol to apply rpc[5] instead of soap (simple object access protocol) which was used for this purpose. still, with soap, data were exchanged in the xml format. corresponding author: osama m. a. al-atraqchi, department of computer science, college of science, chian university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: osama.ahmed@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: february 4, 2022 accepted: july 19, 2022 published: august 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp28-35 copyright © 2022 osama m.a. al-atraqchi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) al-atraqchi: building a secure restful api using laravel and flutter 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 28-35 restful is not a protocol; it is just a set of technical specifications and guidelines to create a web service using http protocol to exchange web resources in the json (javascript object notation) format.[7] restful api is used to exchange web resources such as data in the database, images, and files. independent of the format of these resources send it to the client in a json format by the url. client requests for resources through a suitable method like (get) request if the client wants to get a resource, and post request to send resources to the server-side, or a delete request to delete a specific resource.[8] figure 1 below shows restful api. jwt json web token is an authentication system based on token; jwt encodes data with json format into a base64 code [9]; jwt consists of three parts, header, payload (data), and signature (hong et al., 2017); header section includes the type of the token such as sha256 or rsa. the algorithm for jwt signature and the payload section contains the information about the user such as email, id stored in jwt. signature section contains an encoded header, payload with the secret key (any key), and sign them all together; the final result is a jwt consisting of three parts separated by a dot-like as shown in figure 2 below:[10] with jwt, the user can insert a username and password to get the token from the server and then will obtain this token with any request to the server to get specific resources without the need username and password again but with a limited time. figure 3 below shows jwt authentication.[11] laravel framework laravel is a php-based web application framework that enables developers to create various web applications with the least amount of code and work possible because it provides the framework for any web application. (laravel the php framework for web artisans. (n.d.). retrieved january 27, 2022, from https://laravel.com/docs/8.x#meet-laravel). laravel uses the mvc (model, view, and controller) architectural style as shown in figure 4, which includes three layers, a model for interacting with the database or any data source, a view for building a user interface, and a controller for business logic and connecting between model and view.[12] flutter flutter is a collection of tools for building applications working on the mobile web and desktop.[13] flutter’s objective is to speed up and increase the productivity of the development process. it offers numerous capabilities, including hot-reload in the development stage to assist developers in implementing changes to the application more rapidly and use pre-defined widgets, as well as enabling the community to produce and release hundreds of plugins to be used by developers anywhere (mainkar and giordano, n.d.). flutter provides the rendering engine, which is responsible for drawing the widgets; as a result, it employs its own widgets, not platform-specific widgets, with all rendering processes taking place on the application side rather than the platform. figure 1: restful api [9] figure 2: jwt. source: json[10] figure 3: jwt authentication[12] figure 4: mvc in laravel[11] figure 5: rendering process with flutter[15] al-atraqchi: building a secure restful api using laravel and flutter 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 28-35 with mysql database and firebase is a perfect way to send announcements to the student with real-time notifications. andry[22] presents a restful api integrated with a mobile application for health records; this study used a web-based mobile application, not a native app on the frontend side, and in the backend used a spring platform with a java programming language to build a restful api. the result of this paper was creating a mobile application connected with restful api in just weeks. this work compared with similar works in our proposed model, we have created a (my services) application that allows users to provide services and easily use a service in web browsers and mobile applications. since it is easy to deploy to shared hosting, less expensive than cloud hosting, contains various packages for various purposes, and takes security concerns into account. we used laravel on the backend side and for the restful api to construct this model, despite the developer’s lack of proficiency with web and api security. in the front end, we choose flutter to create a native cross-platform application that can compile to android, ios, web as well, as desktop with one code base, and one architectural style has been used in both the front end and backend, which is mvc (model, view, and controller). the proposed model this paper introduces a simple and effective way to create a mobile application that works on both android and ios platforms and is connected with backend through restful api created by the laravel framework. database mysql database has been used in this model; figure 6 illustrates the entity-relationship diagram for tables. dashboard the dashboard has been created using the laravel framework with a package called (spatie) to make a perfect permissions and roles system easily and quickly. figures 7-9 shows some screens from the dashboard system. flutter connects directly with the platform canvas to display those widgets on the platform screen, as well as communicate directly with the platform-specific services.[14] figure 5 illustrates the rendering process with flutter. related works many types of research have been conducted to connect a front end like mobile applications with a backend using restful api[16] built a mobile application called (job marketplace), the front end created using react native with javascript language. the restful api has been built using the express.js framework. this application is easy to use and successfully meets the goal of supporting the 2024 indonesian government goals to develop human resources. sukarsa et al.[17] create an android application for booking seminar tickets that employs the mvp (model, view, presenter) architecture. it integrates a restful api, both of which are built on the laravel framework and use laravel passport for user authentication. the application uses qr codes on the tickets and emails the tickets to the participants. suzanti[18] created a mobile application for monitoring campus activities at the university of trungyo madura, a mobile application built using kotlin programming language for the android platform, and restful api created using php programming language with mysql database. thu[19] proposed a system consisting of a mobile application integrated with restful api to access the electronic books from the university library by mobile application. java is used to construct the mobile application for android; the restful api is developed using a java servlet. hail,[20] proposed a new model to create an api for iot devices called named data networking (ndn), this model help to build an api that provides services for different types of devices for the internet of things. jasim[21] has built a mobile application that works as a university announcement board, the frontend is created by java for android, and the backend side has been created using php and mysql with firebase to send notifications, this paper results find that using an android application connected figure 6: erd for the system al-atraqchi: building a secure restful api using laravel and flutter 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 28-35 restful api laravel provides an easy way to build a secure restful api with an authentication system. this model (the sanctum) package has been used to implement an authentication system with jwt. routes for api figure 10, shows the source code for the api routing system. as seen in the above figure 11, a token will be created with the user information and secret key in both register and login and after the user adds his information. restful api to get data as shown in figure 12 below getting orders database using api protected by sanctum. moreover, we can see the result from the database using the api with postman figure 13. here is the post request to make a register by api; as we can see in figure 14, a token has been created after registering the user: moreover, when jwt protects api with sanctum, we should add token with the header of request like in figure 15: frontend side in this model, the flutter framework has been used to work with api, and a blade template with the laravel framework has been used to create the dashboard. flutter provides a package to working with restful api, which is the (http) package[23] figure 16. moreover, to store the token securely on the mobile, the (flutter_secure_storage) package has been used,[24] [figure 17]. the application user interface as in figure 18, in screen (1), you can see the login screen; after the user enters his username and password, a token will be created in the backend and sent to the application. on-screen (2), services and categories will display on the home screen; the service details screen will appear after the user selects any services. the authenticated user can create an order with all the necessary details, such as uploading a file to describe what precisely he needs, or diagrams for a database, application, or information for a resume, etc., as well as the anticipated time to deliver the service, as shown in screen 4. finally, the user can view and delete his orders list, as shown on screen 5.[5] after the user makes the order, this order will send to the owner of the ordered services, and he can see all details in the figure 7: login page for dashboard figure 9: user management figure 8: dashboard al-atraqchi: building a secure restful api using laravel and flutter 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 28-35 dashboard, as well as send an email notification to the owner email figure 19: proposed model diagram figure 20 shows how our model operates in the backend and frontend contexts. on the backend, we used the laravel framework to develop the restful api and the dashboard using php and the mysql database management system, and we utilized the sanctum package to provide api authentication using jwt. from the frontend side, flutter has been used with some valuable packages to work with api and jwt and create a mobile application; we have used getx architectural style for state management and organizing the application files since laravel used mvc style, getx as well used the same architectural style. figure 10: api routes figure 12: get orders database using api protected by sanctum figure 11: register and login with jwt creation figure 13: get services by api al-atraqchi: building a secure restful api using laravel and flutter 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 28-35 figure 15: add token to the header of the request for protected api figure 14: post api to register, a new user figure 16: using http package to handle api in flutter figure 17: using a flutter secure storage package to store the jwt token al-atraqchi: building a secure restful api using laravel and flutter 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 28-35 as shown in figure 20, the frontend side consists of two parts: the first for mobile applications and the second for dashboard, which is created using html, css, and js with a blade template in laravel to work in the browsers without need for api. conclusion the laravel framework and flutter toolkit are perfect tools to work together to create a robust, secure, and simple-to-develop figure 18: the ui for the flutter application figure 19: email notification for order figure 20: proposed model diagram al-atraqchi: building a secure restful api using laravel and flutter 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 28-35 mobile application for ios and android that integrates with restful api. we make my service application in about a month, consisting of a mobile application, a web application with restful api, an authentication system with jwt, and a dashboard with users, permissions, and roles management system, so we can configure users, permissions, and roles. references 1. m. h. shukur, l. r. fliah and a. mohammed. challenges smartphone’s big data in health care systems. cihan universityerbil scientific journal, vol. 2017, no. 1, pp. 120-125, 2017. 2. y. a. jasim, a. j. awqati, r. a. hassan and n. i. lubis. on designing an information system applied for the commercial companies. accumulated journal, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 87-93, 2020. 3. t. espinha, a. zaidman and h. g. gross. web api fragility: how robust is your mobile application? in: 2015 2nd acm international conference on mobile software engineering and systems, pp. 12-21, 2015. 4. c. li, r. zhang, j. huai and h. sun. a novel approach for api recommendation in mashup development. in: proceedings 2014 ieee international conference on web services, icws 2014, 2014, pp. 289-296. 5. x. chen, z. ji, y. fan and y. zhan. restful api architecture based on laravel framework. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 910, p. 012016, 2017. 6. s. riyadi and t. cahyono. information system for providing food services based on mobile application using flutter framework. in: 4th international conference on sustainable innovation 2020– technology, engineering and agriculture (icositea 2020), 2021. 7. a. arcuri. restful api automated test case generation. in: 2017 ieee international conference on software quality, reliability and security (qrs), july 2017, pp. 9-20, 2017. 8. x. j. hong, h. s. yang and y. h. kim. performance analysis of restful api and rabbitmq for microservice web application. in: 2018 international conference on information and communication technology convergence (ictc), october 2018, pp. 257-259, 2018. 9. n. hong, m. kim, m. s. jun and j. kang. a study on a jwt-based user authentication and api assessment scheme using imei in a smart home environment. sustainability, vol. 9, no. 7, p. 1099, 2017. 10. json. available from: https://jwt.io/introduction [last accessed on 2022 jan 26]. 11. x. he and x. yang. authentication and authorization of end user in microservice architecture. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 910, no. 1, p. 012060, 2017. 12. e. a. wicaksono and m. a. i. pakereng. implementation of laravel framework in the development of library information system (study case: smk pgri 2 salatiga). jurnal pilar nusa mandiri, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 261-270, 2020. 13. beautiful native apps in record time flutter. available from: https://flutter.dev/?gclid=cjwkcaiavrimbhaueiwa8cs5lenqlp hejf5am44bnr4rmhtaophvs-tznpgagxahiatisslqcsjm7xocp peqavd_bwe&gclsrc=aw.ds [last accessed on 2021 nov 12]. 14. s. faust. using google’s flutter framework for the development of a large-scale reference application. thesis, 2020. 15. p. mainkar and s. giordano. google flutter mobile development quick start guide: get up and running with ios and android mobile app development. packt publishing, birmingham, united kingdom, 2019. 16. e. t. wahyudi, a. erwin and c. lim. development of api middleware and mobile application for a job marketplace by using restful api and mobile development framework. journal of applied information, communication and technology, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 99-105, 2021. 17. i. m. sukarsa, i. n. piarsa and i. g b. premana putra. application of mvp architecture in developing android-based seminar ticket booking applications. jurnal resti (rekayasa sistem dan teknologi informasi), vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 513-520, 2020. 18. i. o. suzanti, n. fitriani, a. jauhari and a. khozaimi. rest api implementation on android based monitoring application. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 1569, no. 2, p. 022088, 2020. 19. e. e. thu and t. n. aung. developing mobile application framework by using restful web service with json parser. advances in intelligent systems and computing, vol. 388, pp. 177184, 2016. 20. m. a. hail and s. fischer. flexible api for iot services with named data networking. in: 2016 ieee international conference on emerging technologies and innovative business practices for the transformation of societies (emergitech), pp. 176-181, 2016. 21. y. a. jasim, m. o. alsaaigh, t. m. flaih and m. g. saeed. on announcement for university whiteboard using mobile application. csrid journal, vol. 12, pp. 64-79, 2020. 22. f. andry, l. wan and d. nicholson. a mobile application accessing patients’ health records through a rest api-how reststyle architecture can help speed up the development of mobile health care applications. in: proceedings of the international conference on health informatics, pp. 27-32, 2011. 23. dart package. available from: https://pub.dev/packages/http [last accessed 2022 jan 30]. 24. flutter secure storage flutter package. available from: https:// pub.dev/packages/flutter_secure_storage [last accessed on 2022 jan 30]. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 41-45 research article modification of adomian decomposition method to solve two dimensions volterra integral equation second kind talhat i. hassan1, chiman i. hussein2 1department of automative technology engineering, erbil technology college, erbil polytechnic university, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of general sciences, college of basic education, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract in this work, the adomian decomposition method is proposed for the first time to solve problems in two-dimensional volterra integral equations of the second kind. in addition, modification of this method is introduced to address this problem. several new theorems are introduced and proven regarding contractive mapping and uniform convergence to support the method. numerical problems are solved using the software matlab to obtain results and demonstrate the efficiency and simplicity of the technique. the modified adomian decomposition method performs faster than the adomian decomposition method for obtaining results. keywords: adomian decomposition method (adm), two-dimensional volterra integral equations numerical solution, least square error, uniformly convergence introduction integral equations are a branch of mathematics that plays a significant role in various fields. over recent decades, many problems involving integral equations have been formulated from different scenarios in applied sciences such as mathematical physics, engineering, and electromagnetic waves [1], [3], [7]. varies problems have evolved in two – dimensional (2d) integral equations, with one type being the 2d volterra equation of the second kind (tdvie-2nd). the tdvie-2nd arises in various phenomena, physics, and engineering areas as the electric field integral equation, and partial differentiation equations defined in closed regions can be transformed into this type [5], [6], [9]. usually, finding an analytic solution for tdvie-2 is very difficult. therefore, to address these problems, we must find the numerical solution for it. in scientific research of applied sciences, the numerical method is an important tool for treating integral equations [10], [12], [13], 14]. another example is the use of numerical techniques for analyzing the radiation of dipole antenna. evaluating radiation patterns for td segments in three-dimensional (3d) patterns [2], [13]. the numerical method was used to estimate electromagnetically features for element-loaded media such as electromagnetic waves and sea ice. an example in physics is the solid angle beam of an antenna, which is described in equation (1) showing the integral for normalizing power patterns on a sphere (4π, s, r). the mathematical representation of it is given by equations [8], [16]: ( ) 2 0 0 a p ø, )sin(ø)død π π ω = θ θ∫∫ and 4 a p(ø, )d s r π ω = θ ω∬ (1) polar coordinates increments are displayed. solid angle da = r2dω over the surface of a sphere of radius r, where dω was the solid angle that was subtended by area. definitions and theorems introducing some definitions and theorems. definition 1. the following equation ( ) ( ) ( )( ) h e a c u e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z)u y,z dydz. = + τ∫∫ (2) corresponding author: talhat i. hassan, department of automative technology engineering, erbil technology college, erbil polytechnic university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: talhat.hassan@epu.edu.iq received: february 02, 2024 accepted: april 03, 2024 published: june 10, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp41-45 copyright © 2024 talhat i. hassan, chiman i. hussein. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ hassan and hussein: modification of adomian decomposition method to solve two dimensions 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 41-45 is named tdvie-2nd, such that w(e,h) and g(e,h,y,z) ≠ 0 were given continuous functions on region 1 {(e,h) : 0 h c , a e b}= ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤s , and 1{(e,h, y,z) : a y e b,0 z h c } = ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤p respectively, τ is a scalar while u(x,t) is the unknown functions.[4,14] solving tdvie-2nd by adm. here, reformulating and applying adm to solve tdvie-2nd, let u e h u i n i , ,� � � � � � � 0 e h (3) be the numerical treatment for equation (2), then substituting it in equation (1) we get ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) t x 0 0a c e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z y,z dydz. n n i i i i u u = = = + τ∑ ∑∫∫ (4) after those powers for ui (e,h) equaling, we get u0 (e,h) = w(e,h) is initial solution. now u1 (x,t) formulate as ( ) ( ) ( )( ) h e 1 0 a c e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z) y,z dydz. u uτ= + ∫∫ integrating it for variables. then u2 (e,h) formulate as ( ) ( ) ( )( ) h e 2 1 a c e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z) y,z dydz. u u= + τ∫∫ then the second formula of iterative. we find u3 (e,h) by using the form, as ( ) ( ) ( )( ) h e 3 2 a c e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z) y,z dydz. u u= + τ∫∫ and the general formula of the iterative method is ( ) ( ) ( )( ) h e 1 a c e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z) y,z dydz. n nu u −= + τ∫∫ (5) after computing these components, we get the numerical solution for tdvie-2nd as u u i n i e h e h, ,� � � � � � � 0 note that, we chose y0 = u0 (e,h) = w(e,h), and the iteration y t yn n� � ( ) 1 (6) where y un n� � �e h, and ( )( ) h e 1 a c ( ) g e,h, y,z) y,z dydz. n nt y u −= τ∫∫ theorem 1: let the smooth function u (e,h) and un(e,h) is nth numerical solution for z (x,t) then ( ) ( )u e,h e,h (2 ) n n eu π λ − ≤ , where e > 0 independence on n and bounded by partial derivatives of u(e,h) where π = 3.14287 [14]. theorem 2: assume u (e,h) is the actual solution for tdvie-2nd, such that w(e,h) defined on regions 1{(e,h) : a h b, c e c }= ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤s and g (e,h,y,z) on ( ){ }1e,h, y,z : a h e b,c z h c = ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤p are bounded functions, � then l m n: → is contractive mapping. proof: the nth numerical solution defined in equation (5) as, ( ) ( )( ) h e 1 a c e,h g e,h, y,z) y,z dydz. n nu u −= τ∫∫ now ( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( )( ) h e a c h e 1 a c l(u e,h) ( e,h) g e,h, y,z)u y,z dydz g e,h, y,z) y,z dydz n n l u u − − = τ −τ ∫∫ ∫∫ � � � � � �� ��� �� a h c e g e h y z u y z y z dydz�, , , )( , ,un 1 � � � � � �� ��� �� a h c e g e h y z u y z y z dydz�, , , ) , ,un 1 since g(e, h, y, z) bounded function then g(e, h, y, z ≤ d) � � � � � �� � � � � � � �� ��� ��� �� � a h c e a h c e d u y z y z dydz d u y z y z, , , ,u un n1 1 ddydz by using theorem (1), getting ( ) ( )1 1u e,h e,h (2 ) n n eu π − − τ − ≤ h e h e 1 1 a c a c d dydz d dydz (2 ) (2 )n n e e π π− −  τ τ ≤ λ = λ   ∫∫ ∫∫ ( ) ( ) h e 1 a c l(u e,h) ( e,h) d dydz (2 ) n n el u π − τ − ≤ τ ∫∫ then for �n �� , we get h e 1 a c d dydz 0 (2 )n e π − λ τ →∫∫ , therefore l(u(e,h)) – l u e h e h( , ) ( , ) .� � � � � �l un 0 note: er is the error and a,t,n,e,k1 are constants. algorithm steps of the technique. input: a,t,n,e,er,k1 1. let u u i n i e h e h, ,� � � � � � � 0 be the approximate solution for tdvie-2nd. hassan and hussein: modification of adomian decomposition method to solve two dimensions 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 41-45 2. put u0 e h w e h, ( , )� � � for i =1 to n 3. in equation (5) calculate ui (e,h). 4. absolute error calculating by r u e h u e hn i i n � � � � ( , ) ( , ) 0 . if rn ≤ er go to output end if end for 5. continues in this way, till obtaining the numerical solution for tdvie-2nd. output: numerical results and rn. theorem 3: the tdvie-2nd satisfies these conditions [13]. 1. g(e, h, y, z) is real and continuous function, and |g(e, h,y,z)| ≤ m in 1{(e,h, y,z) : a y e b,c z h c } = ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤p where g(e, h, y,z) ≠ 0 2. w(e,h) is real and continuous in the region 1{(e,h) : a h b, c e c }= ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤s , |w(e,h)| ≤ m in s and w (e,h) ≠ 0. then it has one and only one continuous solution u (e,h) in .s theorem 4: let u (x,t) be a function defined over {(e,h) : a h , a e t}b= ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤s , g (e, h, y, z) be a continuous function over the region 1{(e,h, y,z) : a y e t,c z h c } = ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤ ≤p where |g(e, h, y, z) ≤ m|, m is positive constant, w(e,h) is a continuous function on s where|w(e,h) ≤ m|, then {un (e,h)} given as ( ) ( ) h e n n 1 a c u (e,h) g e,h, y,z u y,z dydz, −= τ∫∫ with u0 (e,h) = w(e,h) is uniformly convergent to u(x,t) proof: since u0 (e,h) = w (e,h), then |u0 (e,h)| = |w(e,h)|≤ m, and ( ) ( ) ( ) h e 1 0 a c u e,h g e,h, y,z u y,z dydz = τ∫∫ ( )mm h a)(e c ≤ λ − − also, ( ) ( ) h e 2 1 a c u (e,h) g e,h, y,z u y,z dydz = τ∫∫ ( ) h e a c g e,h, y,z mm(y a)(z c)dydz ≤ τ − −∫∫ � � �� � � � � �� 2 2 2 21 2 2 m * e cm h a( ) ( ) and ( ) ( ) ( ) h e 3 2 a c h e 2 2 a c u (e,h) g e,h, y,z u y,z dydz 1g e,h, y,z ( ) (z c) )dydz 2*2 y a = τ  ≤ τ − −    ∫∫ ∫∫ 3 3 3 3 2 2 1m ( ) (e a) 2 3 m h a ≤ τ − −    carrying in a similar manner, we get n n n n n 2 2 2 2 mu (e,h) m (h a) (e c) ] 2 3 4 n ≤ τ − − … as n �� we have ( ) ( )k k kk 1 22 2 2 2k mu (x, t) lim m c a c c 2 3 4 k∞ ∞→ ≤ τ − − … by using the ratio test. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) n 1 k n k 1 k 1 k 1k 1 1 22 2 2 2 2 k k k kk 1 22 2 2 2 rlim r 1 m c a c c . 2 3 4 k (k 1)lim 1 m c a c c . 2 3 4 k ∞ ∞ + → + + ++ → τ − − … += τ − − … ( )1 2 2k m (c a)(c c ) lim 0. (k 1)∞→ λ − − = = + then, it is convergence ∀ of τ, m, m, (c1 – a) and (c2 – c) hence, it is absolutely and uniformly convergent � �( , )e h s . some examples in integral equation problems, we often make approximations of the unknown function to facilitate numerical computations and obtain solutions. this approach also helps in writing programs for implementing these techniques on a computer. discussing the use of adm for solving tdvie-2nd through numerical examples. example 1. find the approximate solution of tdvie-2nd. u e h eh e yz u y z dydz h e , ) , .� � � � � � �� ���h e h 5 4 0 0 2 9 where the exact solutions u(e,h) = eh. solution: using adm, put u eh h e0 5 4 9 e h w e h, ,� � � � � � � hence, the first and second approximations can be obtained u h e h e1 5 4 3 4 42 378 e h, ( )� � � � � hassan and hussein: modification of adomian decomposition method to solve two dimensions 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 41-45 u h e h e2 8 8 4 3 100 3762 e h, ( )� � � � � note that after two iterations the absolute error is zero. e h, ( . , . )� � � 0 1 0 2 example 2. find the approximate solution of tdvie-2nd. u e h, ( ) ( )� � � � � � � �e h he h e h he e2 2 2 2 2 3 3 12 ( )( ) h e 0 0 e )(y z)u y,z dydz. h+ + +∫∫ with the exact solution u(e,h) = e2 +h2. solution: using adm, put u e h he h e h he e0 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 12 e h w e h, , ( ) ( )� � � � � � � � � � � hence, the first and second approximations obtained, u he t e h e h e h e1 2 5 4 2 3 3 270 290 277 15120 e h, ( ) ( )� � � � � � � � � � � �290 3780 270 1260 3780 15120 2 4 2 5 2h e h he he e ) u h e h e h e h e h e h e2 2 2 7 6 2 5 3 4 4 3240 7760 9853 9527 5443 e h, ( )( )� � � � � � � � 2200 � � � � �( )97200 9853 104400 7760 99720 5443200 4 3 5 3 2 6 3 2h h e h e h e t x modification for adm to solve tdvie-2nd in the modification, adm assumes that w(e,h) written as w e h w e h w e h, , ,� � � � � � � �1 2 (7) for minimizing the steps for computations, therefore fasting the convergence process. put u0 (e,h) = w1(e,h) and ( ) ( ) ( ) h 1 0 2 0 e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z (y,z)dydz, u u= + τ∫∫ ω ( ) ( ) ( )τ+ = + ∫∫ ω h 1 2 0     e,h w e,h   g e,h, y,z (y,z)dydz, k ku u (8) if the opposite terms accurse between the functions u0 ( , )e h and u1( , )e h , deleting these terms between these two functions, then remain terms in u e h 0 ( , ) probably given the actual solution for the problem. example 3: solve example 1 by modifying adm. solution: using modified adm. since w e h eh,� � � � h e5 4 9 , then table 4: results of example (2) for different iterations first iteration third iteration fifth iteration seventh iteration adm lse 2.56×10–7 3.43×10–10 6.67×10–11 3.68×10–14 rt 0:1.6532 0:19564 0:27754 0:3.2243 table 2: a comparison of numerical and exact solutions for the adm in the point (e, h) = (0.1, 0.2) with the exact solution 0.05000000 iteration approximate solution by adm absolute error for adm 0 0.0798933333 2.9893×10–2 1 0.0499999999 2.0471×10–9 2 0.0499999999 3.6320×10–12 3 0.0500000000 0.0000000000 table 3: results of example (1) for different iterations first iteration third iteration fifth iteration seventh iteration adm lse 4.77×10–5 3.43×10–8 2.65×10–12 6.16×10–15 rt 0:12675 0:17832 0:2.4473 0:3.0542 table 1: comparison of numerical and exact solutions for the adm in the point (e, h) = (0.1, 0.2) with the exact solution 0.02000000. iterations approximate solution by adm absolute error for adm 0 0.0199999644 3.5664×10–8 1 0.0199999983 1.6732×10–9 2 0.0200000000 1.4000×10–11 3 0.0200000000 0.0000000000 ( ) ( ) ( )1 2w e,h w e,h w e,h= + put w e h 1 ,� � � eh and w e h 2 5 4 9 ,� � � � h e , then u eh0 1 e h w e h, ,� � � � � � , then first approximation getting by ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( )( ) h e 1 2 0 0 0 h e4 5 4 2 0 0 0 h e 2 0 0 e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z u y,z dydz e yz)u y,z dydz 9 9 e yz) yz dydz 0 u he h eh h = + = − + λ = − + = ∫∫ ∫∫ ∫∫ then, by computing these two components, we get the exact solution for the problem. hassan and hussein: modification of adomian decomposition method to solve two dimensions 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 41-45 example 4: solve example 2 by modifying adm. solution: using modified adm. since w e h, ( ) ( )� � � � � � � �e h he h e h he e2 2 2 2 2 3 3 12 then w e h w e h w e h, , ,� � � � � � � �1 2 put w e h 1 2 2 ,� � � �e h and w e h 2 2 2 2 3 3 12 , ( ) ( )� � � � � � �he h e h he e ( ) ( )0 2 2 1e,h w e,h , u e h= = + then first approximation getting by ( ) ( ) ( ) h e 1 2 0 0 0 e,h w e,h g e,h, y,z u (y,z)dydz u = + ∫∫ ( )( ) 2 2 2 h e 2 2 0 0 ( ) (3 3 ) 12 e )(y z) dydz 0 he h e h he e h y z + − − = − + + + + =∫∫ then by computing these two components, we get the exact solution for the problem. conclusions this study proposes numerical solutions for tdvie2nd utilizing the adm method, suggesting suitable algorithms, and presenting results through a matlab software program. the numerical results were compared based on lse and rt to facilitate a discussion. finally, we may infer that: 1. the adm demonstrated their effectiveness for numerically solving tdvie-2nd and producing precise answers. 2. from tables (3) and (4) the lse decreases when the number of iterations increases. 3. modified adm needs only one iteration for getting the exact solution for the problem. references 1. m. a. abdou and s. ahmed. the stability of the solution of nonlinear integral equation in two dimensional problems. the international journal of engineering and science, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 1-12, 2020. 2. m. a. abdou and g. m. abdul-kader. mixed fredholm-volterra integral equation. journal le matematiche, vol. lxfasc. i, pp. 41-58, 2005. 3. k. e. atkinson. the numerical solution of integral equations of the second kind. cambridge university press, cambridge, 1997. 4. e. babolian and n. dastani. he’s homotopy perturbation method: an effective tool for solving a nonlinear system of twodimensional volterrafredholm integral equations. journal of mathematical and computer modelling, vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 12331244, 2012. 5. f. d. bazrafshan, a. h. mahbobi, a. sousaraie and m. ebrahim. solving twodimensional integral equations. journal of king saud university (science) vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 111-114, 2011. 6. a. h. borzabadi and m. heidari. a successive numerical scheme for some classes of volterra-fredholm integral equations. iranian journal of mathematical sciences and informatics, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 1-10, 2015. 7. h. bronner and j. p. kauthen. numerical solutions of two dimensional volterra integral equations of the second kind by collection and iterated collection. ima journal of numerical analysis, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 49-59, 1989. 8. c. h. chin. broadband patch antenna with a folded plate pair as a differential feeding scheme. ieee transactions antennas propagation, vol. 55, no. 9, pp. 57-69, 2007. 9. t. i. hassan, n. a. sulaiman and s. saleh. aitken method on iterative kernel method for solving system of volterrafredholm integral equations of the second kind. journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 28(6), pp. 79-88, 2016. 10. t. i. hassan. an approximate solutions of two dimension linear mixed volterra-fredholm integral equation of the second kind via iterative kernel method. journal of raparin university, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 101-110, 2019. 11. h. ibrahim, f. attah and t. gyegwe. on the solution of volterra fredholm and mixed volterra-fredholm integral equations using the new iterative method. journal of applied mathematics, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-5, 2016. 12. h. m. mehdi and r. k. saeed. numerical solution of system of two-dimensional linear fredholm integral equations of the second kind by adomian decomposition method. journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 30-34, 2011. 13. t. i. hassan. iterative kernel technique to solve system fredholm integral equation first kind for degenerate kernel. journal of erbil polytechnics university, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 150-158, 2023. 14. z. qian and w. chew. fast full-wave surface integral equation solver for multi-scale structure modeling. ieee transactions antennas propagation, vol. 57, no. 11, pp. 3594-3602, 2009. 15. h. i. talaat i. h. chiman. proposing adomian decomposition method to treat two dimensional inhomogeneous mixed volterrafredholm integral equation. ieee, new jersey, pp. 49-53, 2022. 16. h. i. talaat. studying the stability for two dimension volterra fredholm integral equations of the second kind. in: aip conference proceedings, 2023. 17. j. zhao and w. c. chew. integral equation solution of maxwell’s equations from zero frequency to microwave frequencies. ieee transactions antennas propagation, vol. 48, no. 10, pp. 16351646, 2000. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 81 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 81-88 research article study of shear transfer in modified push-off members using finite elements method: a comparative study sabih h. muhodir department of architectural engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract this paper aims to investigate numerically the behavior of modified push-off specimens under the action of direct shear stress. based on the tow-dimensional finite element model developed in this research, the contribution of the aggregate interlock to resist the shear stress along the shear plane, the effect of existing of the compressive stress acting across the shear plane, the effect of the parallel reinforcement in resisting shear stress, the effect of the shear reinforcement parameter, the strains in the concrete and steel, and the actual distribution of the shear stress along the shear plane were studied. to verify the accuracy and applicability of the suggested finite element model, a comparison between the results obtained in this study and those obtained experimentally by other authors was carried out. comparison showed that the finite element results were in good agreement with the experimental results. it has been found that, for modified push-off specimens of groups without shear reinforcement across the shear plane the diagonal tension crack within the shear plane occurred at the load level which is closely to the ultimate shear strength respectively, while for specimens with both shear and parallel reinforcement, the first crack formed at about (33.7–53.0%) of the ultimate strength, also the investigation showed that the presenting of the shear reinforcement normal to the shear plane are significantly increased the shear transfer stress for all levels of loading. keywords: shear, aggregate interlock, finite element method, interface, modified push-off introduction shear transfer may be of high importance in many types of reinforced concrete members including ordinary and deep beams, slabs, corbels and brackets, shear walls and shear diaphragms and containment vessels of various types. shear transfer is generally considered as a major mechanism of load transfer along a concrete-to-concrete interface under the action of shear or under the combination effect of shear and normal force.[1-3] although the mechanism of the shear transfer, the aci-318-19 provisions[4] depends mainly on the relation between the shear transfer and the reinforcement crossing the shear plane (clamping force), as well as on the resistance generated from the friction between two sliding faces along the shear plane which is depending contact surface condition and on the coefficient of friction of the concrete used. to calculate the shear strength provided by the sear reinforcement perpendicular to the shear plane, the stress is assumed to have reached to its yield stress fy. this leads to the fact that the concrete contribution to resist the shear calculated using the aci code equations increases compared to that provided by the shear reinforcement which is expressed as vn=μav fy, where vn = nominal shear strength, av is the area of reinforcement crossing the assumed shear plane to resist shear, and μ is the coefficient of friction.[5,6] depending on the previously published test results hsu[7-10] developed a formula to predict the shear transfer strength of reinforced concrete members: vu = 0.822(fc /)0.406(ρfy)c (1) where: vu= unit shear strength (mpa) c = 0.159(fcc /)0.33 (2) fcc /= concrete compressive strength of 150 mm cube and taken as fc / .0 85 to this end the present study is concerned with an attempt to verify the validity of the aci shear friction provision and to investigate the influence of the direct shear stress acting parallel and transverse to the shear plane on the shear transfer strength using the finite element method (fem) and to investigate their corresponding author: sabih h. muhodir, department of architectural engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: sabih.alzuhairy @cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 05, 2022 accepted: august 03, 2022 published: august 27, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp81-88 copyright © 2022 sabih h. muhodir. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) muhodir: study of shear transfer in modified push-off members using finite elements method 82 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 81-88 role in the influencing the strength and deformation using the typical and modified push-off specimens. the main objectives of this study are the following: 1. study the contribution of the aggregate interlock to resist the shear stress along the shear plane 2. study the effect of existing of the compressive stress acting across the shear plane 3. study the effect of the parallel reinforcement in resisting shear stress 4. study the effect of the shear reinforcement parameter 5. investigating the strains in the concrete and steel and the actual distribution of the shear stress along the shear plane. failure criteria for formulation the failure criteria for concrete under combined states of stresses, one must agree on a proper definition of failure. such criteria as yielding, initiation of cracking, load carrying capacity, and extent of deformation have been used to define failure.[11,12] in this study, failure is defined as first crack loading and load carrying capacity of the reinforced concrete element. in general, concrete failure can be divided into tensile and compressive types. with respect to the present definition of failure, tensile failure defined by the formation of major cracks and the loss of tensile strength in concrete normal to the crack direction, while in compressive failure many small cracks develop and the concrete element loses most of its strength. the mohr-coulomb criterion in the present study was used as a load carrying capacity criteria, this is dating from 1900 and states that the failure is governed by the relation.[13] |τ| = f(σ) (3) where the limiting shearing stress τ is depending only on the normal stress (σ) in the same plane and at the same point, and where the equation (1) is the failure envelope for the corresponding mohr-circle.[9] the simplest form of equation (1) can be written as:[13] |τ|=c-σn.tan∅ (4) where: τ: the shearing stress σn: the normal stress (tensile stress is positive) c: cohesion ∅: the angle of internal friction (tan ∅ used in this study is equal to 1.4 –normal weight concrete).[14] in the principal –stress coordinate, the failure criterion (sliding criterion) given by equation (2) takes the form: [14] 1 2 1 1 2 1 01 3σ σ+( ) − −( ) − =sin sin c cos∅ ∅ ∅. (5) for σ1 ≥ σ2 ≥ σ3 [10] σ σ1 3 1 f ft c / / = = (6) in general, the mohr-coulomb criterion is a two-parameter model[13] where any combination of parameters, such as (∅, c), (fc /, ft /), experimentally observed will be adequate to characterized completely the material behavior, so it is sometimes convenient to use the parameters fc /and m, where m sin sin f f c t = + − = 1 1 ∅ ∅ / / (7) the coefficient m for concrete is considered to be 4.1,[13] then equation (3) can be written as[14,15] m. σ1–σ3 = 2.c.√m=fc / (8) where: m cos sin sin sin = − = + − [ ] ∅ ∅ ∅1 1 1 2 (9) and; f c cos sin ���������c / . . = − 2 1 ∅ ∅ (10) therefore, the value of (c) used in equation (2) can be obtained using equation (10) in terms of fc /and angle of internal friction (∅). the failure criteria given by equation (4) holds for member with shear reinforcement by adding the contribution of the shear reinforcement which can be given by the reinforcement parameter (ρ.fy) to the normal stress (σn), therefore, |τ| = c – (σn – ρfy) tan∅ (11) material and specimens characterization the dimension and reinforcement of the reinforced concrete members (modified push-of-specimens) were selected to be similar to those specimens, whose behavior being investigated experimentally by al-sharae.[15] the overall dimensions of the modified push-off-specimens that were used in this study are of length (l = 650 mm) × width (b = 400 mm) × depth (d = 150 mm). the length of the shear figure 1: typical push-off-specimen muhodir: study of shear transfer in modified push-off members using finite elements method 83 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 81-88 plane remain constant for all specimens (i.e., the cross sectional area of the shear plane 150 mm × 300 mm) and the height of the slot is constant and equal to 25 mm as shown in [figure 1]. in all specimens the shear reinforcement cross the shear plane at right angle. additional reinforcement parallel to the shear plane is provided to prevent any failure other than along the specific shear plane. the specimens are loaded by concentrated (p), without moment. when the (p) applied concentrically in the modified push-off-specimen, the shear force along the shear plane will be (p. cos ѳ) and a compressive normal force (p. sin ѳ) across the shear plane. five different values of (ѳ) was used to maintain different values of shear stress and transverse compressive stress (ѳ is the inclination of the upper point shear plane relative to the lower point). the details of specimens are summarized in [table 1]. therefore, the program of the shear transfer analysis is thus divided into the following three groups: • group sc group with plain concrete specimens. • group sp group reinforced with parallel to the shear plane reinforcement only as shown in [table 1]. • group sr (sr1, sr2, and sr3) group with shear reinforcement placed at right angle to the shear plane as well as a parallel reinforcement is provided in the critical zone, [table 1]. to study the effect of steel parameter (ρ.fy), different steel ratios were used by changing the diameter of the shear reinforcement crossing the shear plane. the detailing of all groups is summarized in [table 1]. the properties of concrete and reinforcement used in this study are tabulated in [tables 2 and 3] respectively. finite element description in the finite element formulation, the choice of a proper element is very important and effects on the accuracy of the final results of the analysis. in the current study a nine nodded table 1: details of specimens[15] spec. identity ѳo k-factor parallel rein. transvers rein. sc00 0 0 none none sc10 10 0.174 none none sc20 20 0.34 none none sc30 30 0.5 none none sc45 45 0.707 none none sp00 0 0 4φ12 none sp10 10 0.174 4φ12 none sp20 20 0.34 4φ12 none sp30 30 0.5 4φ12 none sp45 45 0.707 4φ12 none sr100 0 0 4φ12 6φ8 sr110 10 0.174 4φ12 6φ8 sr120 20 0.34 4φ12 6φ8 sr130 30 0.5 4φ12 6φ8 sr145 45 0.707 4φ12 6φ8 sr200 0 0 4φ12 6φ10 sr210 10 0.174 4φ12 6φ10 sr220 20 0.34 4φ12 6φ10 sr230 30 0.5 4φ12 6φ10 sr245 45 0.707 4φ12 6φ10 sr300 0 0 4φ12 6φ12 sr310 10 0.174 4φ12 6φ12 sr320 20 0.34 4φ12 6φ12 sr330 30 0.5 4φ12 6φ12 sr345 45 0.707 4φ12 6φ12 table 3: concrete properties[15] spec. identity cylinder compressive strength (mpa) modulus of rupture (mpa) sc00 22.9 1.78 sc10 22.9 1.78 sc20 22.1 1.73 sc30 22.1 1.73 sc45 23.2 1.82 sp00 23.4 1.85 sp10 24.6 1.83 sp20 22.5 1.89 sp30 21.8 1.89 sp45 21.8 1.89 sr100 23.4 1.74 sr110 23.4 1.61 sr120 24.2 1.61 sr130 21.8 1.84 sr145 21.8 1.84 sr200 23.4 1.87 sr210 23.4 1.61 sr220 24.2 1.61 sr230 21.8 1.84 sr245 23.4 1.87 sr300 21.8 1.61 sr310 21.8 1.61 sr320 23.4 1.84 sr330 23.4 1.84 sr345 24.2 1.87 table 2: properties of bars used[15] bar diameter φ (mm) area (mm2) fy (mpa) strain εy 8 50.27 410 0.002 10 78.54 412 0.002 12 108.54 410 0.002 muhodir: study of shear transfer in modified push-off members using finite elements method 84 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 81-88 two-dimensional isoparametric quadrilateral elements with two degrees of freedom per node, as shown in [figure 2], were used for all constituent materials (concrete and steel) in the modified push-off specimens’ analysis. in generating the finite element, mesh certain assumptions were made to simplify the complex geometry and to reduce the size of the mesh, such as, the interface between the concrete and steel was assumed. results and discussion cracking and ultimate strength three groups of specimens (sc, sp, and sr) were analyzed using finite element model suggested in this paper to study the shear transfer strength in the modified push-off specimens. in this study, the modulus of rupture (fcr) and the mohr-coulomb criterion were used as a first cracking and ultimate strength criteria, respectively. using the finite element model, it was found that, the group (sp) behaved to same manner to the specimens of group (sc). results of the finite element analysis are shown in [table 4]. for specimens with both shear and parallel reinforcement (groups sr), the first crack formed at about (33.7–53.0%) of the ultimate strength. depending on the first crack criterion, these cracks occurred first almost at mid-length of the shear plane approximately. as lad increased, more cracks began appear throughout the shear plane with rapid propagation away from the mid-length of the shear plane approximately. furthermore, it can be seen that the ultimate strength is increased as the external compressive stress (σnx) and reinforcement parameter (ρfy) are increased. in general, characterized failure for specimens with shear and parallel reinforcement is ductile failure. al-sharae,[15] in his experimental study found that, for modified push-off specimens with (ф = 10 mm) as a main shear reinforcement, the diagonal tension crack within the shear plane occurred at about (51–55%) of the ultimate shear strength. comparison of the results obtained in this study using fem with those obtained experimentally by al-sharae[15] shows a good agreement as shown in [table 4]. for specimens of groups (sc) and (sp), the first crack formed at about (87–95.02%) and (82.4–90.5%) of the ultimate strength, respectively, as shown in [table 5]. increasing in stiffness of group (sp) as compared with that of group (sc) can be attributed of the presenting of the parallel reinforcement within the critical zone. al-sharae,[15] in his experimental study found that, for modified push-off specimens of groups (sp and sc), the diagonal tension crack within the shear plane occurred table 4: f.e.m results of the modified push-off-specimen specimen’s identity f.c.l* (kn) f.l** (kn) f.c.l/ f/l (%) sc00 143.18 154.0 93 sc10 162.1 170.4 95.36 sc20 185.13 193.0 95.28 sc30 210 227.32 93.2 sc45 267.6 307.76 87 sp00 147.58 163.05 90.5 sp10 165.32 187.6 88.12 sp20 196.3 218.0 90 sp30 219.74 250.2 87.83 sp45 273.43 331.45 82.4 sr100 122.34 256.3 47.78 sr110 145.70 318.63 45.72 sr120 183 368.0 49.73 sr130 210.8 412.02 44 sr145 254.37 480.49 53 sr200 128.5 312.84 41 sr210 160 400.0 40 sr220 225.63 469.3 48.1 sr230 247.2 538.8 46 sr245 322.35 656.81 49 sr300 136.55 406 33.7 sr310 184.84 533.0 34.6 sr320 248.9 631.7 39.4 sr330 309.3 741.63 41.71 sr345 395.34 869.7 45.5 f.c.l: first crack loading, **f.l: failure loading figure 3: load – normal compressive stress curvegroup (sc) figure 2: typical two-dimensional isoparametric element muhodir: study of shear transfer in modified push-off members using finite elements method 85 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 81-88 table 5: first crack loading and failure loading using f.e.m. and the experimental results by al-sharea[15] specimen’s identity f.l (kn) exp.[15] (1) f.l (kn) f.e.m (2) 1 2       f.c.l. (kn) exp.[15] (3 f.c.l (kn) f.e.m (4) 3 4       sc00 154.0 166.77 0.92 143.18 156.96 0.91 sc10 170.4 181.84 0.94 162.1 169.71 0.95 sc20 193.0 201.12 0.91 185.13 180.5 1.03 sc30 227.32 220.72 1.03 210 194.5 1.08 sc45 307.76 249.30 1.06 267.6 255.06 1.05 sp00 163.05 183.44 0.88 147.58 179.52 o.82 sp10 187.6 220.72 0.85 165.32 215.82 0.76 sp20 218.0 245.25 0.88 196.3 235.44 0.83 sp30 250.2 274.68 0.91 219.74 259.96 0.84 sp45 331.45 333.54 0.99 273.43 311.95 0.87 sr200 312.84 284.49 1.10 128.5 147.15 0.87 sr210 400.0 372.78 1.08 160 196.2 0.81 sr220 469.3 451.26 1.04 225.63 245.25 0.91 sr230 538.8 549.36 0.98 247.2 294.3 0.84 sr245 656.81 608.22 1.09 322.35 333.45 0.96 σn-1=0.0849 σn-1=0.095 at about (76.0–95.0 %) and (93.0–98.0%) of the ultimate shear strength respectively, and this can be attributed to the absence of the shear reinforcement across the shear plane. [table 5] shows the comparison of the results obtained by this study and those obtained experimentally by al-sharae.[15] in general, the agreement between the results is very good for some specimens and unstable for other specimens of groups (sp and sc). in general with help [tables 4 and 5], it can be conclude that, the failure load increases with increase of the normal compressive stress (σnx) and reinforcement parameter (ρfy) regardless of the specimen’s group. furthermore, it can be concluded that, the reinforcement parallel to the shear plane has a little effect on the shear transfer strength. [figures 3-7] show that the cracking loads versus normal compressive stress for groups (sc, sp, sr1, sr2, and sr3), respectively. from these figures, it can be noted that the reserve in strength after the formation of cracks is increased with increasing the external compressive stress (σnx). furthermore, a large reserve in strength is obtained in the specimens reinforced with parallel and shear reinforcement, and is reduced a great deal when only plain concrete is present in the shear plane. the same behavior is obtained experimentally by mattock and hawkins[11] and al-sharae.[15] comparisons of [figures 3 and 4] show that the strength of specimens with the parallel reinforcement is higher than those of specimens made with the plain concrete only, but the reserve in strength is small, and in both groups failure occurred almost at a load closer to the first cracking load. furthermore, it can be observed from [figures 5-7] that the increase in strength with increase in (σnx) tends to stable for specimens in groups (sr). figure 4: load – normal compressive stress curvegroup (sp) figure 5: load-normal compressive stress curve group (sr1) muhodir: study of shear transfer in modified push-off members using finite elements method 86 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 81-88 in general, it can be concluded that the external compressive force will add clamping force, which resist the shear force; therefore, the shear transfer strength will increased with increasing this force. effect of the reinforcement parameter (ρ.fy) the reinforcement parameter (ρ.fy) can be changed by varying either the reinforcement ratio (ρ), the reinforcement yield strength (fy) or both. if the area of the shear plane constant (as in this study), the reinforcement ratio (ρ) can be changed by changing the bar size and/or spacing between the bars crossing the shear plane. mattock and hawkins[9] stated that the way in which steel ratio chanced does not affect the relationship between shear stress and the reinforcement parameter (ρ.fy). to study the effect of reinforcement parameter (ρ.fy), three ratios of steel reinforcement have been used (2.75, 4.92, and 6.18) using three different bar diameters. (∅8 mm, ∅10 mm, and ∅12 mm). [table 6 and figure 8] presented the results of analysis using f.e.m of specimens of groups (sr1, sr2, and sr3). these results are studied and compared to determine the effect of this parameter. it was found that, for given values of (k = sinѳ), the specimens with higher reinforcement parameter had figure 6: load-normal compressive stress curve group (sr2) figure 7: load-normal compressive stress curve-group (sr3) figure 8: effect of the reinforcement parameter (ρ.fy) on the shear transfer stress (vu) figure 9: max. shear stress-total normal compressive stress relationship (k=0) figure 11: max. shear stress-total normal compressive stress relationship (k=0.34) figure 10: max. shear stress-total normal compressive stress relationship (k=0.174) muhodir: study of shear transfer in modified push-off members using finite elements method 87 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 81-88 table 6: results of (vu) using finite element method specimen’s identity fc / (mpa) ρ.fy (mpa) σn (mpa) σn+ρ.fy (mpa) vu (mpa) sc00 22.9 none zero zero 3.10 sc10 22.9 none 0.592 0.592 3.41 sc20 22.1 none 1.31 1.31 3.83 sc30 22.1 none 2.25 2.25 4.49 sc45 23.2 none 4.32 4.32 6.10 sp00 23.4 none zero zero 3.85 sp10 24.6 none 0.82 0.82 4.69 sp20 22.5 none 1.86 1.86 5.43 sp30 21.8 none 3.20 3.20 6.39 sp45 21.8 none 5.41 5.41 7.65 sr100 23.4 2.75 zero 2.75 4.53 sr110 23.4 2.75 1.02 3.77 5.88 sr120 24.2 2.75 2.25 5.00 6.58 sr130 21.8 2.75 3.75 6.50 7.50 sr145 21.8 2.75 6.30 9.05 8.90 sr200 23.4 4.29 zero 4.29 5.40 sr210 23.4 4.29 1.24 5.53 7.10 sr220 24.2 4.29 2.77 7.06 8.09 sr230 21.8 4.29 4.58 8.87 9.16 sr245 23.4 4.29 7.97 12.26 11.27 sr300 21.8 6.18 zero 6.18 6.80 sr310 21.8 6.18 1.55 7.73 8.95 sr320 23.4 6.18 3.61 7.79 10.55 sr330 23.4 6.18 6.19 12.37 12.37 sr345 24.2 6.18 10.3 16.48 14.57 higher shear strength than specimens without or with lower reinforcement parameter. results presented by [figure 8 and table 6] show that the presenting of the shear reinforcement normal to the shear plane are significantly increased the shear transfer stress by (46.2%, 74.02%, and 119.4%) when groups (sr1, sr2, and sr3) are compared to the unreinforced specimens of group (sc) for k=0 (i.e., σnx =0). this increasing in the shear strength can be attributed to the clamping force which is developed in the reinforcing bars within the yield range when diagonal cracks appear. effect of total normal compressive stress (σnx+ρfy) [figures 9-13] and [table 6] show the effect of total normal compressive stress (σnx+ρfy) on the shear transfer strength. figure 13: max. shear stress -total normal compressive stress relationship, (k=0.7070) figure 12: max. shear stress-total normal compressive stress relationship (k=0.5) muhodir: study of shear transfer in modified push-off members using finite elements method 88 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 81-88 with reference to this figure, it can be noted that the presence of external normal compressive stress (σnx) and shear reinforcement within the shear plane enhanced dramatically the shear transfer strength of the specimens used when compared with the those without shear reinforcement or those include parallel reinforcement only. furthermore, it can be concluded that the external normal compressive stress is additive to the reinforcement parameter (ρfy) finally it can be concluded that, if a certain shear stress is to be resisted, the area of shear reinforcement can be reduced by an amount equal to the external compressive force (σnx) divided by (fy). efficiency of the fem to verify the accuracy of the finite element model suggested in this study to the shear transfer analysis, the obtained results are compared with those obtained experimentally by al-sharae.[15] the experimental results obtained by al-sharae,[15] (vu, test) and that obtained by the finite element, (vu, cal.) are summarized in [table 7]. the standard deviation value (σ_ (n-1)) for (v_ (u, test)/v_ (f.e.m)) is 0.102, this indicates that the predicted shear strength using fem is very effective and gave a clear picture about the behavior of the push-off specimens. conclusions based on the results presented in this study, the following conclusions can be stated. 1. the two dimensional isoparametric element used in the mesh of the fem is quite efficient in idealizing the field of displacement and the state of stresses in the modified push-off specimens with and without shear reinforcement. 2. specimens with shear reinforcement (i.e., group sr) ad a ductile failure, while the specimens without shear reinforcement (i.e., groups sc and sp) had a brittle failure. 3. the parallel reinforcement has a little or ignored effect on the shear transfer strength. 4. an externally applied compressive normal strength which acting transversely to the shear plane is additive to the reinforcement parameter (ρ.fy) in the calculation of the shear strength. 5. shear strength is increased with increasing the total compressive stress. (σn + ρ.fy). 6. fem results showed a good agreement with those obtained experimentally by other authors. references 1. l. ahmed and a. ansell. direct shear strength of high strength fiber concrete. magazine of concrete research, vol. 62, no. 5, pp. 379-390, 2010. 2. p. m. d. santoa and e. n. b. julio. a state-of-the-art review on shear friction. engineering structures, vol. 45, no. 1, pp. 435-448, 2012. 3. k. h. yang, j. i. sim, j. h. kang and a. f. ashour. shear capacity of monolithic concrete joints without transverse reinforcement. magazine of concrete research, vol. 64, no. 9, pp. 767-779, 2012. 4. k. a. harries, g. zeno and b. shahrooz. toward an improved understanding of shear-friction behavior. aci structural journal, vol. 109, no. 6, pp. 835-844, 2012. 5. k. n. rahal. simplified design and capacity calculation of shear strength in reinforced concrete membrane elements. engineering structures, vol. 30, no. 10, pp. 2782-2791, 2008. 6. american concrete institute. aci committee 318, building code requirements for structural concrete (aci 318-19) and commentary. american concrete institute, farmington hills, mi, usa, 2019. 7. t. t. c. hsu. unified approach to shear analysis and design. cement and concrete composites, vol. 20, no. 89, pp. 419-435, 1998. 8. b. j. al-sulayvani and j. r. al-feel. effect of direct compressive stress on the shear transfer strength of fibrous concrete. al rafidain engineering, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 65-75, 2009. 9. s. mahmoodreza and b. e. ross. database evaluation of interface shear transfer in reinforced concrete members. aci structural journal, vol. 114 no. 2, pp. 383-394, 2017. 10. m. soltani, b. e. ross and a. khademi. a statistical approach to refine design codes for interface shear transfer in reinforced concrete members. aci structural journal, vol. 115, no. 5, pp. 1341, 2018. 11. a. h. mattock and n. m. hawkins. shear transfer in reinforced concrete-recent research. pci journal, vol.17, no. 2, pp. 55-75, 1972. 12. r. n. khaldoun. shear-transfer strength of reinforced concrete. aci structural journal, vol. 107, no. 4, p. 346, 2010. 13. w. f. chen. plasticity in reinforced concrete. mcgraw hill, new york, 1982. 14. e. hinton and d. r. j. owen. finite element programming. vol. 90. academic press, inc., cambridge, p. 345, 1977. 15. a. j. al-sharae. experimental and analytical study of shear transfer in reinforced concrete members made with abu-ghar limestone as a coarse aggregate. m.sc. thesis, university of basrah, iraq, 1999. table 7: comparison of vu using f.e.m and vu experiment specimen’s identity vu, f.e.m. (mp) (1) vu, experim[15] (mpa) (2) 2 1       sc00 3.10 3.69 1.19 sc10 3.41 3.98 1.17 sc20 3.83 4.46 1.16 sc30 4.49 4.87 1.09 sc45 6.10 6.54 1.08 sp00 3.85 4.06 1.05 sp10 4.69 4.84 1.03 sp20 5.43 5.45 1.01 sp30 6.39 6.04 0.94 sp45 7.65 7.34 0.96 sr200 5.40 6.26 1.16 sr210 7.10 7.91 1.12 sr220 8.09 9.76 1.22 sr230 9.16 11.92 1.30 sr245 11.27 13.52 1.21 σn-1=0.102 tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 35-38 research article assessment of minor disorders among pregnant women attending malafandi primary health-care center/erbil-city ayad a. rashid1, samir m. othman2, dara a. al-banna3, aram m. bra1 1department of community health, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of community medicine, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq, 3department of nursing, faculty of nursing, tishk international university. erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract minor disorders are the discomforts associated with the pregnancy such as nausea, vomiting, backache, heart burn constipation, varicose vein, hemorrhoids, frequency of urination, fatigue, and leg cramps. many women experience some minor disorders during pregnancy; these discomforts should be adequate as they may occur due to hormonal changes and postural changes. the aim of this study was to assess minor disorder among pregnant women. a descriptive study was conducted in malafandi primary health-care center, from december 2020 to january 2021, 100 pregnant women were taken, and the data were collected by direct interview. the highest percentage of them with 25–34 years old graduated from high school with middle economic status. all of them had minor disorders nausea and vomiting, backache, heartburn, leg cramps, varicose veins, and hemorrhoids: fatigue, frequency of urination, constipation, and loss of appetite. there is a statistically significant association between age group with nausea and vomiting, and hemorrhoids (p ≤ 0.001 and 0.002, respectively). the findings of this study indicated that the most common minor disorder in pregnancy came from fatigue, while the lowest came from constipation. keywords: hormonal change, minor discomforts, minor disorders, pregnancy, primary health-care center introduction minor disorders are the discomforts associated with the pregnancy such as nausea, vomiting, backache, heart burn, constipation, varicose vein, hemorrhoids, frequency of urination, fatigue, and leg cramps. many women experience some minor disorder during pregnancy these discomforts should be adequate as they may occur due to hormonal changes and postural changes.[1] nausea and vomiting during pregnancy known as “morning sickness” affects approximately 80% of pregnant women, nausea, and vomiting a common minor disorder in 1st trimester of pregnancy that the cause is unknown but sometimes due to an increase of human chorionic gonadotrophin and estrogens. backache is cause by the relaxation of the pelvic joint and faulty posture. constipation causes of growing uterus create pressure vertebrectomy. veins are causes of action of progesterone on the blood vessels causing relaxation, making them more circular with sluggish blood flow. fatigue is cause by the increase release of hormones and adds of the fetus. heartburn caused by the regurgitation of acid gastric content into esophagus. frequency of urination causing extra weight and pressure of baby pressing on the bladder and pelvic floor also causes incontinence. hemorrhoids cause of pressure the gravid uterus, and a tendency to constipation.[2] understanding the common disorder of pregnancy to advise the women on strategies that help to cope with the condition and minimize the effects she experiences. the severity and occurrence of minor discomfort differ from mother to mother and other factors, including maternal age and parity.[3] the national institute for care and health excellence report in 2008 shows that minor discomforts are very common and are reported by 50–80% of pregnant women. nausea occurs in 80–85% of all pregnancies during the first-trimester. a clinical gastroenterology report in 2007 shows that heartburn occurs from 30% to 50% of pregnancies, with prevalence approaching 80% in some populations.[4] this study is a benefit to benefit for pregnant women for their health protection and awareness of that disorder which has more effect on women and babies and it is important to find out the most common minor discomfort among pregnant women in erbil city. the aim of the study corresponding author: dara a. al-banna, department of nursing, faculty of nursing, tishk international university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: dara.albanna@hmu.edu.krd received: july 31, 2021 accepted: february 22, 2023 published: may 1, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp35-38 copyright © 2023 ayad a. rashid, samir m. othman, dara a. al-banna, aram m. bra. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (ccby-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) rashid, et al.: assessment of minor disorders among pregnant women 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 35-38 was to assess minor disorders among pregnant women in malafandi primary health-care center/erbil-city. materials and methods a cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in malafandi primary health-care center in erbil city from december 2020 to january 2021 among 100 pregnant women who recurred by non-probability (purposive) method and were attending for antenatal care unit or medical check-up during pregnancy in malafandi primary health-care center. data were collected using questionnaire by interview technique with pregnant women in the antenatal care unit. pregnant women were excluded from this study that has a specific chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, psychiatric disease and having gestational diabetes mellitus, urinary tract infection, hypertension induce pregnancy, placenta previa, sever anemia, oligohydramnios, and polyhydramnios. before starting the interview, permission was taken from pregnant women and clarifying the purpose of this study. the data were analyzed by spss version 23 using descriptive statistical analysis of frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, and inferential statistical analysis using chi-square and fisher’s exact tests.[14] results table 1 shows that the majority within each age group among pregnant women were 25–34 years old which represented 41%, while the lowest age group was 35–44 years old which represented 19%. the highest percentages of educational level were graduated from high school, which represented 29%, while the lowest percentages of educational level were table 2: reproductive variable data of the 100 pregnant women age (years) of married f % age (years) of married 1–7 65 65 8–15 23 23 16–23 12 12 gravid of group 1 40 40 2–4 39 39 ≥5 21 21 para of group nullipara 46 46 primiparous 20 20 multiparous 28 28 grand multipara 6 6 abortion of group none 75 85 1–2 17 15 >2 8 8 weight group 43–62 31 31 63–82 48 48 >83 21 21 trimester first trimester 32 32 second trimester 45 45 third trimester 23 23 type of pregnancy planned 34 34 unplanned 66 66 chronic disease none chronic disease 92 92 hypertension 6 6 diabetes mellitus 2 2 total 100 100 graduated from an institute which represented 9%. the most percentage among occupational was housewife which given 82%, while the lowest percentage among occupational were public-employee which given 7%. then, the majority of economic statuses were middle which represented 86%. table 2 indicated that the majority of the highest percentage within age groups of married 1–7 which represented 65%, while the lowest age of married were 16–23 which represented 12%. the majority of gravid women were 1 which represented 40%, while the lowest number of gravid women gravid was ≥5 which represented 21%. the majority of para were nullipara (a woman [or female animal] that has never given birth) which represented 46%, while the lowest table 1: sociodemographic characteristics of 100 the pregnant women sociodemographical data f % age group 15–24 40 40 25–34 41 41 35–44 19 19 education illiterate 22 22 primary school 24 24 high school 29 29 institute 9 9 university 16 16 occupation housewife 82 82 self-employee 11 11 public-employee 7 7 economical status high 9 9 middle 86 86 low 5 5 total 100 100 rashid, et al.: assessment of minor disorders among pregnant women 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 35-38 table 4: association between age group and some of minor disorder minor pregnancy discomforts age group/years of pregnant woman p-value 15–24 25–34 35–44 f % f % f % nausea and vomiting yes 28 58.3 18 37.5 2 4.2 <0.001 vhsno 12 23.1 23 44.2 17 32.7 backache yes 33 39.8 36 43.4 14 16.9 0.397 nsno 7 41.2 5 29.4 5 29.4 heart burn yes 9 27.3 15 45.5 9 27.3 0.135 nsno 31 46.3 26 38.8 10 14.9 leg cramps yes 17 34 23 46 10 20 0.458 nsno 23 46 18 36 9 18 varicose vein yes 7 25 12 42.9 9 32.1 0.056 nsno 33 45.8 29 40.3 10 13.9 hemorrhoids yes 4 14.8 13 48.1 10 37 0.002 hsno 36 49.3 28 38.4 9 12.3 fatigue yes 38 39.6 39 40.6 19 19.8 0.613 nsno 2 50 2 50 0 0 frequency of urination yes 37 39.8 38 40.9 18 19.4 0.947 nsno 3 42.9 3 42.9 1 14.3 constipation yes 6 27.3 11 50 5 22.7 0.386 nsno 34 43.6 30 38.5 14 17.9 anemia yes 8 28.6 16 57.1 4 14.3 0.123 nsno 32 44.4 25 34.7 15 20.8 loss of appetite yes 16 36.4 22 50 6 13.6 0.223 nsno 24 42.9 19 33.9 13 23.2 of para were grand multiparous (a patient who has had ≥5 births (live or stillborn) at ≥20 weeks of gestation) which represented 6%. the majority of abortions were (none) which represented 75%, while the lowest of abortions were >2 which represented 8%. the majority of women’s weights were 63–82 which represented 48%, while the lowest of women weight <83 which represented 21%. about 45% of the women were second trimester, while 23% of the women were the third trimester. the majority type of pregnancies was unplanned which represented 66%, while 34% of the women were planned. about 92% of the women have non-chronic disease, while 2% of the women have diabetes mellitus. table 3 demonstrate that all of the study sample had minor disorders as nausea and vomiting, backache, heart burn, leg cramps, varicose vein, hemorrhoid’s, fatigue, frequency of urination, constipation, and loss of appetite. the highest percentage (96%) had fatigue and the lowest percentage (22%) had constipation. table 4 shows that was significant statistical association between age group and nausea and vomiting (p ≤ 0.001). there is a statistically significant association between age group hemorrhoids (p = 0.002). discussion the highest age groups of women were between 25 and 34 years old, this finding agrees with a descriptive study done by nazik and eryilmaz.[5] agree with the of the development of a scale for pregnancy‐related discomforts done by shinkawa et al., in 2012.[6] agree with study of associations between nausea, vomiting, fatigue and health-related quality of life of women in theearly pregnancy: the generation r study bai et al., 2016.[7] and agree with a study entitled: associations table 3: assessment of the minor disorder during pregnancy minor disorders items yes no f % f % 1. do you have nausea and vomiting? 48 48 52 52 2. do you have backache? 83 83 17 17 3. do you have heart burn? 33 33 67 67 4. do you have leg cramps? 50 50 50 50 5. do you have varicose veins? 28 28 72 72 6. do you have hemorrhoids? 27 27 73 73 7. do you have fatigue? 96 96 4 4 8. do you have a frequency of urination? 93 93 7 7 9. do you have constipation? 22 22 78 78 10. do you have anemia? 28 28 72 72 11. do you have loss of appetite? 44 44 56 56 12. are you take any medication? 49 49 51 51 13. have you ever smoked during pregnancy? 7 7 93 93 14. have you had previous experiences about minor disorder of pregnancy? 60 60 40 40 total 100 100 100 100 between nausea, vomiting, fatigue and health-related quality of life of women in early pregnancy: the generation r study done by bai et al. 2016 and along with other study done by haider et al. under the title of risk factors of urinary tract infection in pregnancy[8,9] and also agree with the study done by yikar and nazik running with the title of the “effects of prenatal education on complaints during pregnancy and on quality of life” in 2019.[10] concerning educational level the heights percentages of educational level graduated from high school, while the lowest percentages of educational level were rashid, et al.: assessment of minor disorders among pregnant women 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 35-38 graduated from institute disagree with research associations between nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and health-related quality of life of women in the early pregnancy: the generation r study bai et al., 2016 who showed the most representative was graduated from the institute and college[7] and in agreement with study done by tshiama et al.[12] the majority of the most percentage among occupational was housewife, while the lowest percentage among occupational were public-employee. then, the majority of economical statuses were middle which disagree with the research, which were associations between nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and health-related quality of life of women in the early pregnancy: the generation r study bai et al., 2015[7] and agrees with the study of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and health-related quality of life of women in early pregnancy the generation r study done by bai et al., 2015. [8] the highest percentage within age groups of married were 1–7, while the lowest age of married were 16–23 this agree with study incidence of pregnancy-related discomforts and management approaches to relieve them among pregnant women, done by nazik and eryilmaz.[5] the majority of gravid was 1, while the lowest of gravid were ≥5, the majority of para were (nullipara), while the lowest para were (grand multiparaous). the majority of abortions were (none), while the lowest of abortions were >2. the majority of women’s weight was 63–82, while the lowest of women weight >83 these findings agree with the study incidence of pregnancyrelated discomforts and management approaches to relieve them among pregnant women, done by nazik and eryilmaz. [5] the present study showed that less than half of the women were the second trimester, while others of the third trimester. the majority type of pregnancy was unplanned this agree with the study incidence of pregnancy-related discomforts and management approaches to relieve them among pregnant women, done by nazik and eryilmaz. the majority of the women do not have the chronic diseases.[5] the highest percentage had fatigue and the lowest percentage had constipation. this finding agrees with descriptive study done by nazik and eryilmaz[5] and agrees with the study of nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and health-related quality of life of women in early pregnancy: the generation r study done by bai et al., 2015 and agree with the study of development of a scale for pregnancy-related discomforts done by shinkawa et al., 2012.[6] the findings of the current study agreed with the study under the title “associations between nausea, vomiting, fatigue and health-related quality of life of women in early pregnancy: the generation r study” done by bai et al. 2016[7] it is supported by the study done in 2020 entitled “pregnant mother of trimester ii and iii pregnant to change physiological”[11] and a randomized clinical trial study done by poskus et al, in 2022 under the title of “preventing hemorrhoids during pregnancy: a multicenter, randomized clinical trial”[13] the finding of the study showed no significant association between the age group and (fatigue, frequency of urination, constipation, anemia, loss of appetite, backache, heartburn, leg cramps, and varicose veins). the present study showed a significant association between age group and nausea, vomiting, and hemorrhoid’s.[8] conclusion this study concluded that the majority of the study sample indicated that the most common minor disorder in pregnancy came from fatigue while the lowest came from constipation and there is an association between age group and nausea and vomiting. there is a statistically significant association between age groups with nausea and vomiting and hemorrhoids pain. recommendation this study recommended to encouraging the pregnant women to follow-up during pregnancy to prevent any complications any complication due to minor disorders to educate them about the minor disorders of pregnancy and their home selfmanagement to help pregnant mothers to manage their minor disorders at home itself. references 1. p. delma. minor disorder among pregnant women. indian journal of scientific research, vol. 5, no. 9, p. 1551, 2014. 2. p. ian. nursing practice: knowledge and care. john wiley and sons inc., uk. malden, pp. 259-261, 2014. available from: https:// www.books.google.iq/books?isban=8180613623 [last accessed on 2016 dec 01]. 3. p. nitanjali. assessment minor disorder of pregnancy and home remedies. indian journal of scientific research, vol. 4, no, 1, pp. 674, 2005. 4. s. h. maqsood. self-management of pregnant women regarding minor discomforts primary health care centers. hawler medical university/college of nursing, erbil, p. 2, 2015. 5. e. nazik and g. eryilmaz. incidence of pregnancy‐related discomforts and management approaches to relieve them among pregnant women. journal of clinical nursing, vol. 23, no. 11-12, p. 1736-1750, 2014. 6. h. shinkawa, m. shimada, k. hirokane, m. hayase and t. inui. development of a scale for pregnancy-related discomforts. journal of obstetrics and gynecology research, vol. 38, no. 1, p. 316-323, 2012. 7. g. bai, i. korfage, e. hafkamp-de groen, v. w. v. jaddoe, e. mautner and h. raat. associations between nausea, vomiting, fatigue and health-related quality of life of women in early pregnancy: the generation r study. plos one, vol. 11, no. 11, p. e0166133, 2016. 8. g. bai, e. h. groen, h. a. moll, v. w. jaddoe, i. korfage and h. raat. nausea, vomiting, fatigue and health-related quality of life of women in early pregnancy: the generation r study. quality of life research, vol. 24, p. 21, 2016. 9. g. haider, n. zehra, a. munir and a. haider. risk factors of urinary tract infection in pregnancy. the journal of the pakistan medical association, vol. 60, no. 3, p. 213, 2010. 10. s. k. yikar and e. nazik. effects of prenatal education on complaints during pregnancy and on quality of life. patient education and counseling, vol. 102, no. 1, p. 119-125, 2019. 11. e. mail. pregnant mother of trimester ii and iii pregnant to change physiological. journal kebidanan, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 83-88, 2020. 12. c. tshiama, g. bongo, o. nsutier and m. b. babintu. the lay knowledge regarding the prevention of complications related to childbirth: perceptions of congolese pregnant women. qualitative research in medicine and healthcare, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 8740, 2022. 13. t. poskus, z. sabonyte-balsaitiene, l. jakubauskiene, m. jakubauskas, i. stundiene i, g. barkauskaite, m. smigelskaite, e. jasiunas, d. ramasauskaite, k. strupas and g. drasutiene. preventing hemorrhoids during pregnancy: a multicenter, randomized clinical trial. bmc pregnancy and childbirth, vol. 23, no. 11-12, p. 374, 2022. 14. o. polit and b. hunger. nursing research, principle and methods. 6th ed. lippincott, philadelphia, pa, pp. 354-698, 1999. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 26-31 research article determination of elements in indigenous vegetables using icp-ms bashdar a. sadee1,2 1department of food technology, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq, 2department of nutrition and dietetics, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract determination of elements in indigenous vegetables is important as source of dietary that are essential for human consumption. heavy metal concentrations were determined in indigenous vegetables collected in erbil city-kurdistan region of iraq. icp-ms was applied to determine total concentrations of al, co, fe, mn, ni, se and zn in malva parviflora, gundelia tournefortii, arum spp, spinacia oleracea, mentha longifolia, beta vulgaris subsp, apium graveolens, lepidium sativum l, allium kurrat. schweinf and allium fistulosum after acid digestion of the samples with the aid of microwave using nitric acid/hydrogen peroxide. the contents of heavy metals in vegetable samples varied between 40 and 451 for al, 0.04 and 0.96 for co, 53 and 247 for fe, 3.37 and 11.58 for mn, 0.26 and 5.53 for ni, 0.09 and 0.98 for se and 1.58 and 4.41 for zn on the basis of dry weight. the methodology was validated by certified reference material gbw10015-spinach and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry analysis. the levels of al, mn, and ni in some investigated vegetables are higher than the permissible limits for human consumption. keywords: heavy metals, icp-ms, indigenous vegetables, microwave acid digestion, validation introduction recently, more attention has been paid to cumulating of heavy metals and metalloids in vegetables. vegetables can be exposed to environmental pollution more than other food systems because of loading vegetables into the air. the accumulation and taken up of heavy metals by vegetables in eatable and non-eatable fractions at a certain quantity may lead to health concerns to both living organisms and humans.[1] food safety concerns may occur because of phytotoxicity and absorption of high levels of heavy metal by vegetation resulted from transferring high levels of these heavy metals from agriculture soils.[2,3] bioaccumulation high quantity of toxic heavy metals in vegetables can cause the deficiency of nutrients of dietary to human beings or may cause health issues for both human beings and ecosystem.[4-7] heavy metals can be categorized into vital metals (fe, mn, cu, se, zn and etc.), possibly essential (ni, v, and co) and conceivably toxic (as, cd, pb, hg, etc.). essential metals play a major role for living organisms if they exist at low or high quantity, while exposures to toxic metals may harm even at low level for long-term exposure. exposure to toxic metals can cause various serious health issues with changing degree of harshness and circumstances such as issues of kidney, neurobehavioral and developmental disarrange, hypertension, and probably cancer.[8-13] furthermore, numerous of nervous, cardiovascular, renal, neurological deterioration in addition bone illness and many other health issues may occur because of high content exposure of metals beyond maximum permissible level (mpl).[1,14] humans consume vegetables in both cooked and raw forms because they are considered as an essential part of their diet. vegetables function as acid generation throughout digestion and some available metals in vegetables are even vital biochemically and psychologically from health prospective.[15] although al is relatively low bioavailable, it has been suggested that there is a connection between aluminum and alzheimer’s disease.[16] human metabolism can be regulated via metals including, co, fe, mn, se, and zn. mn is one of the important components of many enzymes exist in human and considered an essential element functions as an activator. although co and ni are vital for human beings, higher levels than the recommended values lead to metabolic abnormal.[1] this study was conducted to evaluate the contents of heavy metals found in various edible indigenous vegetables. corresponding author: bashdar a. sadee, department of nutrition and dietetics, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: bashdar.sadee@su.edu.krd received: december 26, 2021 accepted: february 16, 2022 published: march 6, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp26-31 copyright © 2022 bashdar a. sadee. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) sadee: determination of elements in indigenous vegetables using icp-ms 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 26-31 experimental chemicals and reagents all chemical compounds utilized in this work were of high purity reagent and milli-q water (18mωcm) was used to prepare all solutions. a standards stock solution of concentration 100 µg ml−1 in 5% nitric acid (hno3) for al, co, fe, mn, ni, se, and zn was obtained from cpi international, usa. hno3 70% reagent was ordered from merck (germany) and used to digest vegetable samples to obtain extracts of al, co, fe, mn, ni, se, and zn. hydrogen peroxide (h2o2) 37% was purchased from fischer scientific, united kingdom. a certified reference material (spinach gbw10015) was supplied by the institute of geophysical and geochemical exploration, langfang, china. all glasswares used in this work then rinsed with milli-q water followed by soaking it in hno3 acid before use. instrumentation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (icp-ms, perkin-elmer sciex elan 6100 drc ii) was applied to identify the total elements (al, co, fe, mn, ni, se, and zn) in the analyzed vegetable samples. the instrument was supplied with a sturman-masters spray chamber and a v-groove quartz concentric nebulizer for sample induction. in concise, the optimum parameters of the instrument were a radio frequency power of 1250 w with ar flow rates of 13, 0.8 and 0.95 l min-1 for cool, auxiliary, and sample gas, respectively. for the experimental results, the intensity of the following isotopes was measured: 55mn, 59co, 27al, 56fe, 60ni, 66zn, and 78se. possible interferences were eliminated using collision cell technology and also 7 % h2 in he gaseous with average flow rates of 3.4 ml. min−1 was used. internal standards such as indium (in) and iridium (ir) were used for all vegetable samples at 10 µg l−1 (final concentration). sampling and sample preparation a vegetable samples were purchased from the local markets located in erbil, kurdistan region of iraq in 2021. the common and scientific names of analyzed vegetables are presented in table 1. all samples were rinsed with milli-q water and placed in a sealed plastic box. a freeze drier was used to dry all vegetable samples for 48 h at −40°c. a fine powder of vegetable samples with 180 µm size obtained by sieving of grounded samples using agate pestle and mortar. determination of total metals in vegetable samples 0.2g of freeze-dried vegetable samples was weighted in teflon vessels with teflon covers, 5 ml hno3 (70%) and 2 ml h2o2 (30%) were added. the vegetable samples were acid digested using mars x-press (cem, usa) microwave using a previous method by sadee et al.[17] the applied digestion program was as follows: vegetable samples were digested using the microwave for 43 min at 1600 w. initially, the temperature was raised up to 160°c in 15 min and stayed at this temperature for 5 min. then, the temperature ramped from 160 to 200°c over 8 min and stayed at this temperature for 15 min. the teflon vessels were left to cool at room temperature. after digestion, vegetable samples were transferred into a volumetric flask (25 ml capacity), fortified with internal standards of in and ir with an ultimate contents of 10 µg l−1 and made up to final volume (25 ml) with 2% (v/v) hno3 using milli-q water. total metals in selected vegetables were determined utilizing icp-ms. gbw10015-spinach certified reference (crm) material was applied validation of the method. results and discussion figures of merit the slop of the applied calibration curve was used to calculate the detection limit (dl) of the icp-ms instrument (μg g−1) and 3 times standard deviation of 10 measurements of blank value. the results of dl quantities of the icp-ms are presented in table 2. validation of analytical method in order to check the quality control of used procedures, total al, co, fe, mn, ni, se, and zn were quantified in gbw10015spinach. the results for, total al, co, fe, mn, ni, se, and zn contents in the crm are tabulated in table 3. the elemental contents resulted from the experiment were in well agreement with the certified quantities (the recovery of examined elements ranged from 94% to 105%). table 1: vegetables english common name and scientific name of collected samples common english name scientific name mallow malva parviflora sunflower gundelia tournefortii arum arum spp spinach spinacia oleracea wild mint mentha longifolia chard beta vulgaris subsp celery apium graveolens garden cress lepidium sativum l leek allium kurrat schweinf spring onion allium fistulosum table 2: limit of detection for al, co, fe, mn, ni, and se (μg g−1 dry weight) measured as the mean+3 sd of the signal of method blank metals concentration μg g−1 al 0.03 co 0.03 fe 0.02 mn 0.02 ni 0.03 se 0.05 zn 0.02 sadee: determination of elements in indigenous vegetables using icp-ms 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 26-31 total metal determinations in vegetables the averaged results of heavy metal concentrations in selected varieties of indigenous vegetables based on dry weight are shown in table 4 and the literature reported values from various origin of the world from corresponding vegetables are listed in table 5. aluminium the concentration of al in this study ranged from 40 to 451 µg g−1 [table 4]. the lowest concentration of al in analyzed vegetables was found in malva parviflora with 40 µg g−1, while the maximum level of al was detected in spinacia oleracea with value of 451 µg g−1. it was noticed that the al contents in the vegetable samples collected were in increasing order of m. parviflora > lepidium sativum l > mentha longifolia > apium graveolens > allium kurrat schweinf > beta vulgaris subsp > gundelia tournefortii > arum spp > allium fistulosum > s. oleracea. the observed al concentration in vegetable samples is compared to the literature reported values ranged 0.160–131.640 µg g−1 [table 5]. the values of al content of each investigated vegetable of the current study higher than that reported for the corresponding vegetables by other researchers. the concentration of al in vegetables of this study except m. parviflora is higher than the maximum permissible dose limit recommended for al, 60 mg/day.[18,19] cobalt the concentrations of co in examined vegetables of this study ranged between 0.040 and 0.143 µg g−1 [table 4]. although the concentration of co in vegetables of m. parviflora, g. tournefortii and l. sativum l. were below the limit of detection of the method, the highest co content was found in a. fistulosum which was 0.143 µg g−1. the co levels in the vegetable samples collected were in increasing order of m. parviflora ≈ g. tournefortii ≈ l. sativum l > a. kurrat schweinf > a. graveolens > arum spp > b. vulgaris subsp > s. oleracea > m. longifolia > a. fistulosum. the observed literature values of co were in the range of 0.01 3.00 µg g−1 [table 5]. the values obtained for co vegetables in the current study are lower than that reported in the literature for the same vegetable species except m. longifolia, a. graveolens and a. fistulosum. the concentration of co in the vegetables of this study is well within mpl of co for adults, 50 µg/day.[8,19] iron the quantities of fe varied according to the types of vegetables concentred with quantities between 53 and 247 µg g−1 [table 4]. the minimum and maximum fe contents of the samples were found to be 53 µg g−1 in b. vulgaris subsp and 247 µg g−1 in s. oleracea, respectively. the fe concentrations in the vegetable samples collected were in increasing order table 3: total metal concentration of crm gbw10015-spinach; all experimental values are calculated in μg g−1, mean±standard deviation (n=3) metals certified value experimental value obtained extraction efficiency % al 610±60 602±40 99 co 0.220±0.03 0.229±0.016 104 fe 540±20 546±42 101 mn 41±3 42±0.59 102 ni 0.920±0.012 0.966±0.020 105 se 0.092±0.024 0.087±0.004 95 zn 35.300±1.5 33.450±0.449 95 table 4: results of analysis for total metal in the selected vegetables dry weight (mean±standard deviation) (n=3) vegetable al μg g−1 ± sd co μg g−1 ± sd fe μg g−1 ± sd mn μg g−1 ± sd ni μg g−1 ± sd se μg g−1 ± sd zn μg g−1 ± sd malva parviflora 40±0.352 <0.03 58±0.584 4.930±0.044 0.260±0.002 <0.05 4.412±0.030 gundelia tournefortii 151±1.985 <0.03 100±0.805 3.370±0.003 0.532±0.004 <0.05 3.483±0.028 arum spp 298±1.640 0.050±0.006 139±0.791 5.330±0.066 1.142±0.007 <0.05 3.092±0.021 spinacia oleracea 451±5.361 0.960±0.001 247±2.275 9.382±0.099 1.351±0.015 0.090±0.014 4.080±0.035 mentha longifolia 103±1.102 0.120±0.013 198±3.823 6.731±0.159 1.533±0.019 <0.05 3.691±0.054 beta vulgaris subsp 140±0.932 0.070±0.002 53±0.341 11.580±0.076 0.564±0.006 0.980±0.031 4.295±0.039 apium graveolens 124±1.525 0.040±0.001 81±1.020 9.622±0.115 0.812±0.008 <0.05 3.234±0.035 lepidium sativum l 65±2.191 <0.03 131±0.415 4.183±0.017 0.722±0.004 0.494±0.004 3.195±0.023 allium kurrat schweinf 132±0.633 0.040±0.001 75±0.820 10.891±0.161 0.473±0.005 <0.05 1.588±0.026 allium fistulosum 334±3.416 0.140±0.003 138±0.305 5.142±0.035 5.533±0.081 0.242±0.015 2.420±0.024 sadee: determination of elements in indigenous vegetables using icp-ms 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 26-31 of b. vulgaris subsp > m. parviflora > a. kurrat schweinf > a. graveolens > g. tournefortii > l. sativum l > a. fistulosum > arum spp > m. longifolia > s. oleracea. in the literature fe concentration has been documented in the range of 28-1952 µg g−1 [table 5]. the values of fe varied according to the vegetable species, the concentrations of fe in this study are lower than the same vegetables reported in the literature except of s. oleracea. the results of the present work with the exception of s. oleracea are well within the provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (pmtdi) of fe is 0.8 mg/kg bw.[20] manganese the levels of mn in investigated vegetables of this study ranged between 3.374 and 11.580 µg g−1 [table 4]. the lowest concentration was seen in g. tournefortii (3.374 µg g−1) sample while the highest level was 11.580 µg g−1 for b. vulgaris subsp. the fe concentrations in the vegetable samples collected were in increasing order of g. tournefortii > l. sativum l > m. parviflora > a. fistulosum > arum spp > m. longifolia > s. oleracea > a. graveolens > a. kurrat schweinf > b. vulgaris subsp. the reported literature concentrations of mn varied from 8.4 to 178.53 µg g−1 [table 5], which are higher than the values obtained for the same vegetables of this investigation. the concentration of mn in the investigated samples except m. parviflora, g. tournefortii, and l. sativum l is above the recommended intake range of mn for an adult, 2-5 mg/day.[8] nickel the calculated concentration of ni in this study was recognized in the range of 0.264–5.532 µg g−1 [table 4]. the lowest level of ni in this study was found in m. parviflora which was 0.264 µg g−1, whereas the highest content of ni was 5.532 µg g−1 for a. fistulosum. the ni contents in the vegetable samples collected were in increasing order of m. parviflora > a. kurrat schweinf > g. tournefortii > b. vulgaris subsp > l. sativum l > a. graveolens > arum spp > s. oleracea > m. longifolia > a. fistulosum. the reported literature values of ni range from 0.1 to 21.1 µg g−1 [table 5]. the contents of ni in vegetables under study were higher than those corresponding vegetables documented in the literature except g. tournefortii, s. oleracea, b. vulgaris subsp, and l. sativum l. the concentration of ni in vegetables of present work is well above the permissible limit of daily intake of ni (0.1 mg/day), which is alarming.[18,19] selenium se was lower than the dl (0.030 µg g−1) in the examined vegetable samples of the current study with the exception for s. oleracea, a. fistulosum, l. sativum l. and b. vulgaris subsp were 0.094, 0.241, 0.490 and 0.980 µg g−1, respectively [table 4]. the literature values of observed concentrations of se are varying from 0.020 to 762 µg g−1 [table 5]. except a. fistulosum, the results for this study for se in vegetables under investigation including s. oleracea, a. graveolens, and a. kurrat schweinf were lower than the literature values reported table 5: heavy metal concentration in various vegetables in different countries (literature values) vegetable concentration μg g−1 location sampling period reference al co fe mn ni se zn malva parviflora na na 296 na 0.000 na 59 ethiopia 2012 [21] gundelia tournefortii na na na na na 1.080 1952 na 408.370 na 8.400 178.530 8.400 na na na na na 820 na 20.050 iran turkey turkey not mentioned 2001 not mentioned [22] [23] [24] arum spp na 131.640 na 1.4100 na na 166.400 na na 9.900 na na 17.140 na na na na 762 9.60 na na saudi arabia iran turkey 2003 not mentioned not mentioned [25] [26] [27] spinacia oleracea na 570 0.01 na 374.700 na 131.900 na 0.000 na na 0.177 202.40 na iran india 2007 2004 [28] [29] mentha longifolia na 3 146.300 30.730 21.100 na 28.100 saudi arabia 2003 [25] beta vulgaris subsp na 70 0.010 na 257.300 na 91.770 na 0.000 na na 0.020 188.000 na iran finland 2007 2003 [28] [30] apium graveolens na 0.330 1678 164.300 3.260 na 100 iran 2007 [28] lepidium sativum l na 0.160* na 1.700 na na 118.2 na na 13.840 na na 0.100 na na na na 2.550 17.400 na na saudi arabia sweden turkey 2003 1992 2014 [25] [31] [32] allium kurrat schweinf 50 0.040 28 14 0.280 0.110 16 finland 2003 [30] *wet weight; na: not analysed sadee: determination of elements in indigenous vegetables using icp-ms 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 26-31 for the same corresponding vegetables. the content of se in s. oleracea, b. vulgaris subsp, l. sativum l, and a. fistulosum is higher than the tolerable daily intake of se which is 55 µg/day.[8] zinc the concentrations of zn in vegetables under investigation ranged between 1.588 and 4.295 µg g−1 [table 4]. the minimum level of zn in the analyzed vegetables of the current study was detected in a. kurrat schweinf which was 1.588 µg g−1, meanwhile the maximum content of zn in vegetables understudy was detected in b. vulgaris subsp (4.295 µg g−1). the zn concentrations in the vegetable samples collected were in increasing order of a. kurrat schweinf > a. fistulosum > arum spp > l. sativum l > a. graveolens > g. tournefortii > m. longifolia > s. oleracea > m. parviflora > b. vulgaris subsp. the reported literature concentrations for zn are in the range of 9.600–820 µg g−1 [table 5]. this is comparable to the obtained values of this study. the concentration of zn in investigated samples is well below the pmtdi of zn, 0.3–1.0 mg/kg bw.[8] conclusion the present study has generated data on some of heavy metal profile in common indigenous vegetables consumed in erbil city located in the kurdistan region of iraq. the contents were observed and compared with the literature values that have been reported around the world for the same vegetables. al, co, fe, mn, ni, se, and zn were measured in vegetables using hno3/h2o2 microwave-assisted acid digestion followed by icp-ms. gbw10015-spinach was used to validate the method. vegetables of this study showed similar ability to accumulate investigated heavy metals as follows: high quantity for both al and fe; medium quantity for zn and mn and small quantity for both co and se. in addition, al was found to be at high levels in the majority of vegetables of this study, while se was below the limit of detection in the majority of investigated vegetables. more studies should be taken in order to investigate the high al contents in analyzed vegetables such measuring “plant available” for absorption or “bioavailable” of total al in soils that used to cultivate these vegetables. references 1. y. n. jolly, a. islam and s. akbar. transfer of metals from soil to vegetables and possible health risk assessment. springerplus, vol. 2, pp. 385, 2013. 2. a. 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toxic elements and its antioxidant behaviour. journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis, vol. 41, pp. 825-832, 2006. 30. p. ekholm, h. reinivuo, p. mattila, h. pakkala, j. koponen, a. happonen, j. hellström and m. l. ovaskainen. changes in the mineral and trace element contents of cereals, fruits and vegetables in finland. journal of food composition and analysis, vol. 20, pp. 487-495, 2007. 31. l. jorhem and g. haegglund. aluminium in foodstuffs and diets in sweden. zeitschrift für lebensmittel-untersuchung undforschung, vol. 194, pp. 38-42, 1992. 32. i. koca and b. tasci. mineral composition of leek. in: vii international symposium on edible alliaceae, no. 1143, pp. 147152, 2015. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 141 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 141-146 research article influence of the covid-19 lockdown on the lifestyles and eating behavior of cihan university students salih m.s. zebari1,2, yaseen galali1,3, kazhin younis1, zainab rizgar1, nareen sidiq1, brwa taha1 1department of nutrition and dietetics, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of animal resources, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin, university-erbil, iraq, 3department of food technology, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, krg, iraq abstract recent studies found that a city confinement as a result to covid-19 outbreak resulted on eating and lifestyle behavior changes. this study investigated the influence of lockdown on eating and lifestyle changes. a  cross-sectional study was done from december 18, 2021, to february 20, 2022. the research composed of three parts. part i (six questions) contained sociodemographic statues; section two (11 questions) studied dietary behavior through that included a mediterranean diet (md) adherence using 14-scaled items with an md screener tool ranging from 0 to 13; and section three (12 questions) studying lifestyle habit changes such as physical activity, sleeping habits, and smoking habits. the results showed that 17% (63) of individuals that believed their lifestyle had improved, while 38.6% (143) stated that it had worsened. specifically, during lockdown, the physical activity frequency seems reduced from 50% (185) to 33% (127), and sleeping hours for those sleeping more than 9 h were dramatically raised from 17% to 31.4%. in terms of eating habits, 36.8% of participants stated appetite improvement, whereas 22.7% reported a decrease. the appetite change during confinement was not connected with body mass index, although it was significantly associated with weight change (p = 0.0001). similarly, 47% of participants said that they had gained weight. the data also showed that 67% (248) medium adhered to md diet. thus, the covid-19 lockdown has negatively affected both lifestyle and eating behavior of the students. keywords: covid-19, eating behavior, eating pattern, lifestyle, mediterranean diet introduction the covid-19 is a crucial respiratory disease due to the sars coronavirus 2. the virus was discovered in transit from animals to people at the market of seafood hunanchina in december 2019 and very quickly spread globally. the covid-19’s global expansion is a quickly changing condition. the emergency committee of world health organization’s summoned a worldwide health emergency on january 2020, due to increased case reporting rates.[1] the sars-cov-2 virus’s emergence and spread created a global pandemic that led to serious pandemic and a large deaths number. governments around the world responded to the pandemic by establishing a variety of measures to prevent the virus spread including home quarantine and travel restrictions.[2] in kurdistan region of iraq, the confirmed infection with covid-19 was 392,791 from march 1, 2020, to january 18, 2022. therefore, at the beginning to stop the separation of pandemics, the ministry of health introduced a lockdown in march and april of 2020, and a limiting the community activity, parties, gatherings, meetings, and schools.[3] the city lockdown results in rapid and extreme changes in the habits and lives of the people and students, as well as a noticeable reduction in social activities. physical confinement and isolation had an enormous impact on community’s lifestyles, especially their eating patterns and daily activities. home staying works (which includes online schooling, working at home, and limiting outdoor and recreational activity) and saving food (due to shopping restrictions) are the two key impacts. in addition, the changing daily routine work resulted from the lockdown can cause boredom that can be associated with increased food consumption.[4] a person can feel stressed from reading or hearing about the covid-19 in the media on a daily basis, which can contribute corresponding author: yaseen galali, department of nutrition and dietetics, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: yaseen.galali@su.edu.krd received: august 8, 2022 accepted: october 18, 2022 published: november 30, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp141-146 copyright © 2022 salih m.s. zebari, yaseen galali, kazhin younis, zainab rizgar, nareen sidiq, brwa taha. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) zebari, et al.: eating behavior and life style during covid-19 142 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 141-146 to overeating, particularly “food desiring” comfort foods high in sugar.[5] dietary behavior and changes are possible due to of the covid-19 confinement. on the other hand, a healthy lifestyle and diet are supportive to the body well-being. for that purpose, a number of health organizations including the efad and who and proposed a number of nutritional and lifestyle guidelines to be practiced during confinement.[6] especially, mediterranean diet was recommended as a healthy and immune booster diet style.[7] the main aim of the study included investigating and understanding and the changes of eating behavior including eating pattern, shopping behavior, and lifestyle behavior during the covid-19 lockdown among the cihan university students. materials and methods study design the research used a cross-sectional design to study lifestyle changes and eating behavior in covid19 lockdown (lcebcovid-19) snowball survey sampling among cihan universityerbil students. the study was conducted from december 18, 2021, to february 20, 2022. the study was started by intervening students randomly from different department and sociodemographic backgrounds. there was no inclusion expert for being cihan-university-erbil. sample size a total of 370 undergraduate student of cihan universityerbil (n = 5000) was randomly selected from genders (applied and humanitarian fields). the size of the sample was finalized following the yamane’s formulation considering 50% prevalence at the finite targeted population. n = n/(1 + ne2) = approximately 370 where, n = size of the targeted sample, e = error of margin of 0.05, and n = size of the population that is approximately accounted to 5000. study questionnaire and instruments lceb-covid-19 questionnaire was first created by the previous studies (di renzo et al., 2020) (galali). a total of 43 questions were structured that divided into three parts. • part i: sociodemographic data (five questions) such as age, gender, place of living and weight, and height. • part ii: dietary behavior part (11 questions: including two parts: (a) mediterranean diet (md) adherence utilizing 13-scaled questions and using md screener tool ranging from 0 to13 and (b) set of questions food intake structured style: intake of unhealthy foods; pastry products and packaged sweet, salted snacks, fizzy drinks, and sauces used for dressing on a daily basis. • part iii: lifestyle changes (12 questions): sleeping behavior, smoking habit, physical activity, and shopping. ethical consent ethical approval was not required by the university; however, consent of participating from the participants was taken. statistical analysis statistical analysis was done to analyze data utilizing spss (statistical package for the social sciences v. 21.0, ibm). chisquare test was done to compare variables of different categories. statistically significant level was set at a level of p < 0.05. results demography and lifestyle this questionnaire was launched in 18 des 2021, and data collected were commenced after the confinement was attenuated after 2 months passed. the answer of the participants was analyzed statistically. the total number of participants was 370 as designed after validation of the data, and any missing data were excluded. the number of participants was (78.9%) 292 from erbil city, (8.9%) 33 from sulaimani city, (5.7%) 21 from duhok city, (4.6%) 17 from soran city, and (1.9%) 7 from halabja city [table 1]. data of gender showed that (51.4%) 190 were male and (48.6%) 180 were female according. in relation to participants, body mass index (bmi); normal bmi 54% (198), underweight 8.4% (31), overweight 28% (99), and obese type i was 7% (26), obese type ii was 3.2% (12), and obese type iii was 1% (4). participants aged from 18 to 25 years old represent the majority of the participant with 68.4% (253), following by participants who aged from 26 to 30 years old with 21.4% (79), following by participants who 31–35 years old with 5.9% (22), then participants who more than 35 years old with 4.3% (16). regarding residency, 65.1% (241) stated that they live in cities and 34.9% (129) were from countryside areas. regarding the lifestyle changes, the data showed that the greater number of the students stated that their lifestyle had effected in some way. for instance, 17% (63) of participants reported that their lifestyle was getting better; on the other hand, 38.6% (143) stated that their lifestyle quality had deteriorated [table 2]. the results also showed that the frequency of physical activity seems to be lowering and the students are less active. the percentage of students did not practice exercise before and during the outbreak was 50% and 67%, respectively. furthermore, the weekly sessions of exercise training number were also significantly reduced [table 4]. smoking cigarettes were slightly changing but not significantly different (p > 0.05). only people who smoked 5–10 cigarettes seem to be increasing and people who smoked more than 10 cigarettes decreased. regarding sleeping hours, there are differences before and during covid-19 pandemic lockdown. the percentage of people reporting sleeping <7 h reduced from 36.5% to 30.5%. the percentage of students stated sleeping between 7 and 9 h per night reduced from 46.5% to 38.1% and those reporting more than 9 h sleep increased from 17% to 31.4% [table 6]. the data also revealed the before the covid-19, the most practiced exercise was running (11%), gym (25%), football (9%), basketball (3.5%), swimming (1%), volleyball (0.1%), and tennis (0.8%), respectively. on the other hand, functional training (25%), treadmill running (4.3%), weight lifting (2.5%), and using training tools (2.5%), respectively, were among the most practiced exercise during the pandemic [table 3]. zebari, et al.: eating behavior and life style during covid-19 143 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 141-146 the data also showed that smoking behavior seems to slightly changing (p > 0.05). only people who smoked 5–10 cigarettes seem to be increasing and people who smoked more than 10 cigarettes decreased [table 5]. regarding sleeping hours, there are differences in relation to covid-19 confinement. the students’ percentage reporting sleeping <7 h reduced from 36.5% to 30.5%. furthermore, the students’ percentage confirmed sleeping hours between 7 and 9 h reduced from 46.5% to 38.1% and those exceeding 9 h sleep raised from 17% to 31.4% [table 6]. eating habits eating habits also seems to be effected by the confinement, the students percentage stated an appetite change during covid-19 confinement revealed that 37% (136) of the table 2: perception of participants about lifestyle changes during covid-19 perception frequency % no changes 164 44.3 yes, for worse 143 38.6 yes, for better 63 17.0 total 370 100.0 table 4: physical activity and exercise frequency before and during lockdown frequency before during number % number % nothing 185 50 243 65.6 1–2 times 87 24 90 24.3 3–5 times 52 14 22 5.9 more than 5 46 12 15 4 table 3: exercise types practiced during and before covid-19 confinement types of exercise before types of exercise after no. % no. % no exercise 185 50 no exercise 243 67 running 40 11 functional training 93 25 gym 91 25 treadmill 16 4.3 food boll 33 9 weight lifting 9 2.5 swimming 4 1 using training tools 9 2.5 volley ball 1 0.1 tennis 3 0.8 basketball 13 3.5 table 5: smoking frequency before and after lockdown smoking frequency before during frequency % frequency % no 248 67 248 67.0 <5 cigarettes 40 10.8 38 10.3 5–10 cigarettes 26 7.0 29 7.8 >10 cigarettes 56 15.1 55 14.9 total 370 100 370 100.0 table 1: participants sociodemographic data characteristics total residency erbil sulaimani duhok halabja soran no. (percentage) no. (percentage) no. (percentage) no. (percentage) no. (percentage) no. (percentage) gender male 190 (51.4%) 144 (39%) 20 (5.4%) 13 (3.5%) 4 (1%) 9 (2.5%) female 180 (48.6%) 148 (40%) 13 (3.5%) 8 (2.1%) 3 (0.8%) 8 (2.1%) age 18–25 253 (68.4%) 205 (55.5%) 18 (4.9%) 14 (3.8%) 7 (1.9%) 9 (2.5%) 26–30 79 (21.4%) 62 (16.8%) 9 (2.5%) 6 (1.7%) 0 2 (0.5%) 31–35 22 (5.9%) 15 (4.1%) 3 (0.8%) 1 (0.1%) 0 3 (0.8%) older than 35 16 (4.3%) 10 (2.7%) 3 (0.8%) 0 0 3 (0.8%) bmi underweight 31 (8.4%) 27 (7.3%) 1 (0.1%) 2 (0.5%) 1 (0.1%) 0 normal weight 198 (54%) 153 (41.4%) 23 (6.2%) 10 (2.7%) 2 (1%) 10 (2.7%) overweight 99 (28%) 82 (24%) 5 (1.4%) 8 (2.1%) 1 (0.1%) 3 (0.8%) obesity 1 26 (7%) 17 (5%) 4 (1%) 1 (0.1%) 1 (0.1%) 3 (0.8%) obesity 2 12 (3.2%) 10 (2.7%) 0 0 2 (0.5%) 0 obesity 3 4 (1%) 3 (0.8%) 0 0 0 1 (0.1%) bmi: body mass index zebari, et al.: eating behavior and life style during covid-19 144 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 141-146 students thought appetite improved, however, 23% (84) reported opposite and 40% (150) stated no change appetite [table 7]. according the data [table 8], it can be seen that the percentage of students who put on weight is 36% (133) or gained a lot of weight was 17% (17) whereas 19% (70) of the students thought that they lost weight and 40% (150) was felt no change in weight. the results also showed that the percentage of the students feeling hunger before the main meals was 47.8 % (177), between main meals was 26% (97), and hunger post dinner was 27% (100). food consumption behavior was also researched before and during the pandemic. the data showed that delivered pizza, vegetables, fruit, cereals, homemade pizza, and wine increased. whereas, consumption of hot beverage, delivered pizza, wine and beer, processed meat, snack, and homemade pizza decreased. the data of place of purchase revealed that percentage of students buy food products in supermarkets by 75% (276), grocery 10.2% (38), and local products 12% (44). despite significant decrease in food supply chain of organic and local products in kurdistan, but still 3.2% of participants purchase organic foods from locals, this might be attributed to safety and health reasons [figure 1]. data analysis of the participants showed that here is no relationship between bmi and appetite change (p < 0.05). bmi was also associated with meal number change. for instance, 25.8% of underweight, 19.7% of normal, 12.1% over, and 23.8% of obese participants seem to have more meals during the pandemic. furthermore, the data analysis also showed that there is a significant association between weight change and appetite change (p < 0.0001), but age had no relationship with weight change (p > 0.05). furthermore, 47% of the participants who thought their weight increased it seem that their appetite was also increased. the data analysis also showed that weight change is significantly different among gender groups (p < 0.05). furthermore, 41% of the males and 29% of the females think that their weight has increased [table 8]. md adherence screener tool the md adherence screener tool was used to determine the adherence level to md. according to their adherence level, the participants were categorized into three groups: high, low, and medium adherence. furthermore, it can be seen that the greater number of the participants is medium adhered to 248 (67%) [table 9]. consumption of the foods that have the highest level of adherence included delivery pizza, vegetables, fruit, nuts, cereals, home pizza, wine, dairy products, vegetable juice, and eggs, respectively. according to data, the students seem medium adhered to md fruits and vegetables are particularly highly consumed [figure 1]. discussion this study has been done after the covid-19 lockdown in the cihan university, erbil, iraq, alongside the studies[3] in kurdistan region, iraq, and spain (rodríguez-pérez et al., 2020). the insight of weight increase might be connected with the fact that individuals are less physically active are more sedentary and consume extra frequent meals and/or snacks.[8] many governments implemented safety precautions to flatten positive cases during the early emergency stages of the covid-19 outbreak, including as quarantine and isolation. despite the fact that these protective measures reduced the percentage of cases, along with media coverage of incidence and mortality, as well as employment losses and restrictions on persons’ freedom had a negative impact on psychology, eating behavior, and lifestyle of people and the public. this might be of particular interest when health professionals advise maintaining a positive mental attitude and eating a well-balanced diet to boost the immune system and lower the chance of viral infection, such as covid-19.[9] this is extremely critical when no approved protective or therapeutic drug is registered, and the community should advise caution and maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. the results revealed that percentage of students who exercised during covid-19 was declining. similarly, due to confinement, the total hours of sleeping are increased. these might address that outbreaks made the students less active particularly and more sedentary outdoors activities. however, there are still students who can create chances to practice exercise at home, especially functional such as treadmill and training. whereas, the percentage who students who smoked between 5 and 10 seem to be increased by 1%. this could explain raising stress and quarantine upset. the data also discovered that almost more than half of students had weight gain perception. this might be linked to an increase in hunger and the introduction of a meal or a snack during confinement, since roughly identical percentages of individuals stated that their appetite and snacks or meals table 6: the sleeping hours before and during lockdown frequency before during frequency percent frequency percent <7 h 135 36.5 113 30.5 7–9 h 172 46.5 141 38.1 more than 9 h 63 17.0 116 31.4 total 370 100.0 370 100.0 table 8: perception of weight changes among the participants during covid-19 lockdown weight changes no. percentage no change 70 19 reduced 84 22.7 increased 133 36 significantly increased 1 17 table 7: perception of appetite changes among the participants during covid-19 lockdown perception appetite changes no. percentage not changed 150 40.5 reduced 84 22.7 increased 136 36.8 zebari, et al.: eating behavior and life style during covid-19 145 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 141-146 number increased during lockdown. a recent study discovered that the impression of weight increase is linked to changes in hunger and the addition of additional meals.[10] people who are more sedentary and less physically active, as well as those who consume more often meals and/or snacks, may perceive weight increase.[8] increasing weight, or the thought of gaining weight, may have a negative impact on an individual’s physiology, psychological well-being, and immune system. obese people are more likely to get covid-19 virus infections, according to recent research and stress and anxiety.[11] as a result, it is worth noting that, in addition to remaining healthful, the psychological dimension of this epidemic is equally vital and useful in better managing it. home-cooked food and only-delivered-pizza consumption appear to be increasing, and individuals are spending more time cooking their own meals, according to the data. furthermore, some people’s unhealthy eating and junk food intake increased significantly after being quarantined. it was to be expected, considering how limited access to fruits and vegetables is under lockdown. kurdistan, in particular, is an area where the vast majority of vegetables and fruits are imported from outside, and the restriction of borders with surrounding countries has made it impossible to obtain. this could have a negative impact on the intake of immune boosting nutrients and general health. however, the mediterranean diet was modestly adhered upon by the majority of the participants as healthy and suggested diet for covid-19. because we have better access to these things before the quarantine, this number may be substantially higher. getting adequate healthy foods improves your health condition and helps you fight infections from table 9: the consumption of md components and adherence to md md components recommended servings (day or week) number percentage vegetables two or more s/day 198 53.5 fruits three or more/day 270 73.0 olive oil main dressing 75 20.3 olive oil four or more s/day 75 20.3 read meat less than 1 s/day 281 75.9 butter less than 1 s/day 83 22.4 legumes three or more/week 212 57.3 fish and seafood three or more s/week 135 36.5 sweet beverage less than 1/day 238 64.3 sweets less than/week 267 72.2 nuts three or more/week 258 69.7 white meat over red weekly 311 84.1 pasta, vegetable, or rice dishes flavored with garlic, tomato, leek, or onion 214 57.8 adherence to md* number percentage high 76 21 medium 248 67 low 46 12 *adherence to md high; of more than 9 components consumed, medium if 5–9 components is consumed, and low if<5 components consumed 67 .2 75 .1 67 41 .3 40 42 42 .4 31 31 .3 28 .1 40 .2 50 18 .1 18 28 .1 18 40 42 18 .1 40 96 19 45 51 715 21 .3 15 .4 12 4 40 .8 12 12 .1 22 22 .4 41 .6 11 14 22 22 39 .1 27 41 12 22 .1 41 88 .1 23 58 14 13 fr ui t v eg et ab le n ut s h ot b ev er ag es h om em ad e sw ee ts e gg s d ai ry p ro du ct s w hi te m ea t r ed m ea ts s na ck s m ilk a nd y og ur t h om e pi zz a le gu m es fr es sh fi sh e ne rg y dr in ks d re ss ig n so uc es s w ee ts v eg et ab le ju ic e c an ne d fis h p ro ce ss ed m ea t d el iv er t p iz za fr oz en fi sh w in e an d be er c er ea ls n on e increased dcereased figure 1: food consumption behavior during covid-19 zebari, et al.: eating behavior and life style during covid-19 146 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 141-146 viruses (silverio et al., 2020). as a result, the enough amount and diet types, such as the md, can give enough immuneboosting micronutrients, such as minerals and vitamins, to reduce the virus pathogenicity. conclusion the aim of this research was to see how covid-19 lockdown affects cihan university students’ food habits and lifestyle modifications. the findings revealed that 38.6% of participants stated that the lockout had a negative influence on their lifestyle. covid-19 has the potential to make the students less active than it was before to the confinement. covid-19’s eating habits appear to have deteriorated as well. extra meals or snacks and appetite were given. as a result, many of the individuals believe that they have gained weight. on the other hand, the participants appear to be moderately committed to the mediterranean diet, with a high consumption of vegetables and fruits. as a result, a wellbalanced diet combined with a more active lifestyle can help to maintain the immune system during pandemics such as covid-19. acknowledgments the authors acknowledge the help and support of the both cihan university-erbil and department of nutrition and dietetics support. conflicts of interest the authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. references 1. t. p. velavan and c. g. meyer. the covid-19 epidemic. tropical medicine and international health, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 278-280, 2020. 2. i. imaz-aramburu, a. fraile-bermúdez, b. s. martín-gamboa, s. cepeda-miguel, b. doncel-garcía, a. fernandez-atutxa and a. irazusta. influence of the covid-19 pandemic on the lifestyles of health sciences university students in spain: a longitudinal study. nutrients, vol. 13, no. 6, p. 1958, 2021. 3. y. galali. the impact of covid-19 confinement on the eating habits and lifestyle changes: a cross sectional study. journal of food science and nutrition, vol. 9, pp. 2105-2113, 2021. 4. a. b. moynihan, w. a. p. van tilburg, e. r. igou, a. wisman, a. e. donnelly, and j. b. mulcaire. eaten up by boredom: consuming food to escape awareness of the bored self. frontiers in psychology, vol. 6, p. 369, 2015. 5. c. rodríguez-pérez, e. molina-montes, v. verardo, r. artacho, b. garcía-villanova, e. j. guerra-hernández and m. d. ruíz-lópez. changes in dietary behaviours during the covid-19 outbreak confinement in the spanish covidiet study. nutrients, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 1-19, 2020. 6. c. rodríguez-pérez, e. molina-montes, v. verardo, r. artacho, b. garcía-villanova, e. j. guerra-hernández and m. d. ruíz-lópez. changes in dietary behaviours during the covid-19 outbreak confinement in the spanish covidiet study. nutrients, vol. 12, no. 6, p. 1730, 2020. 7. g. muscogiuri, l. barrea, s. savastano and a. colao. nutritional recommendations for covid-19 quarantine. european journal of clinical nutrition, vol. 74, no. 6, pp. 850-851, 2020. 8. k. a. patte, r. e. laxer, w. qian and s. t. leatherdale. an analysis of weight perception and physical activity and dietary behaviours among youth in the compass study. ssm population health, vol. 2, pp. 841-849, 2016. 9. l. zhang and y. liu. potential interventions for novel coronavirus in china: a systematic review. journal of medical virology, vol. 92, no. 5, pp. 479-490, 2020. 10. l. di renzo, p. gualtieri, g. cinelli, g. bigioni, l. soldati, a. attinà, f. f. bianco, g. caparello, v. camodeca, e. carrano, s. ferraro, s. giannattasio, c. leggeri, t. rampello, l. lo presti, m. g. tarsitano and a. de lorenzo. psychological aspects and eating habits during covid-19 home confinement: results of ehlc-covid-19 italian online survey. nutrients, vol. 12, no. 7, pp. 1-14, 2020. 11. s. k. karim, p. h. taha, n. m. m. amin, h. s. ahmed, m. k. yousif and a. m. hallumy. covid-19-related anxiety disorder in iraq during the pandemic: an online cross-sectional study. middle east current psychiatry, vol. 27, no. 1, p. 55, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 99 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 99-102 research article a comparison of chemical compounds between anti-diabetic drug and some medicinal plants ali j. muhialdin1, zhala b. taha2, rahman k. faraj3, ali m. hussein4, rayan s. salahalddin4, hawri a. majeed4 1department of animal production, college of agricultural engineering sciences, university of garmian, kalar, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of forestry, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university, erbil, kurdistan, iraq, 3department of chemistry, college of science, university of garmian, kalar, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract type 2 diabetes (t2d) is a kind of diabetes marked by high blood sugar, insulin, and insulin insufficiency. adult-onset diabetes is another name for it. increased thirst, frequent urination, and unexplained weight loss are common indications and symptoms. metformin side effects include metallic taste, weakness, diarrhea, stomach upset, lactic acidosis, and vomiting. two other side effects are asthenia and a vitamin b12 deficiency. many recent studies and most health experts recommend basil seed as a better metformin substitute. the research investigates why patients who consume basil seeds have a similar response to those who take metformin. the methodology of the study consisted of two main steps, first step is to analyze basil and use hplc to determine its chemical components. the second step is to compare the broken-down components to metformin-composed materials, which is done by diluting with methanol/water (50:50 v/v) and removing the fat layer using 20 ml hexane. the findings showed that basil seed and metformin had the most similar component structure, thus the foundlings concluded that patients had the same responses without the metformin side effects, implying that basil seed stabilizes blood sugar levels. keywords: ocimum basilicum, trigonella foenum-graecum, metformin, chemical composition, type 2 diabetes introduction one of the most common metabolic disorders is diabetes mellitus. it is characterized by hyperglycemia caused by absolute or relative insulin deficiency, and it is related to long-period issues with the heart, nerves, kidneys, and eyes.[1] insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (iddm, type 1) and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (nidm, type 2) are the two types of diabetes mellitus. the localized inflammatory reaction in the pancreas and its surrounding areas marked type 1 diabetes which is an autoimmune disease.[2] characteristics of type 2 diabetes are peripheral insulin resistance and insulin efficiency. insulin-independent sugar diabetes is substantially more common than insulin-dependent sugar diabetes among the two kinds of diabetes. in noninsulin-dependent diabetic mellitus, sulphonylureas and a few biguanides are efficient therapies for hyperglycemia, but they are unable to reestablish glucose homeostasis and normalize glucose levels.[3] the pharmacokinetic features, subsequent failure rates, and side effects of these medicines limit their use. even insulin therapy does not guarantee a long-term return to normal glucose homeostasis, and it is linked to a higher risk of cancer.[4] the advantage of medicinal plants is that they have no or few adverse effects. some of them have been utilized in traditional medical systems for 100s of years in a variety of places around the world. metformin, a drug produced from the medicinal plant galego officinalis was once used in medieval europe to treat diabetes and is still the only medical treatment that is moral for niddm patients. there is a variety of anti-diabetic plants that could be useful in the creation of medications for the treatment of sugar diabetes. an excellent source of protein in the diet for both humans and animals is fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graecum l.). fenugreek seeds corresponding author: ali m. hussein, department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ali.m.hussein@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 23, 2022 accepted: august 26, 2022 published: september 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp99-102 copyright © 2022 ali j. muhialdin, zhala b. taha, rahman k. faraj, ali m. hussein, rayan s. salahalddin, hawri a. majeed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) muhialdin, et al.: a comparison of chemical compounds 100 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 99-102 and leaves are used to manufacture medicinal extracts and powders.[5] according to reports, it has an anti-diabetic, antiparasitic, anti-microbial, anti-infertility, anti-cancer, and hypocholesterolemic agent. it also has a lot of minerals and vitamins in it.[6] basil (ocimum basilicum l.), commonly referred to as sweet or garden basil, is widely grown in the mediterranean region.[7] diuretic, antipyretic, antispasmodic, and stomachic properties are all found in basil seeds.[8] according to various research, including medicinal and aromatic plants (map) in broiler diets resulted in, an increase in body weight, the efficiency of feed conversion, and feed cost.[9] the project’s goal is to demonstrate the chemical composition of basil and fenugreek seeds and compare it to metformin components to clarify the rationale for utilizing the seeds as a metformin substitute, which will be accomplished by completing the following objectives. materials and methods chemicals and reagents metformin hcl (mh) powder, fenugreek seeds powder, basil seeds powder, 0.1% phosphoric acid, acetonitrile, methanol/ water, hexane were used as reagents for the whole procedure. devices and instrumentation the separation was carried out using a shimadzu 10av-lc liquid chromatography system with the use of binary delivery pump model lc-10a shimadzu, and the eluted peaks were kept track of using a uv–vis 10 a– spd spectrophotometer [figure 2]. “chromatography is a physical separation method in which the components to be separated are split into two phases, one of which is stationary and the other of which moves in a specified direction.” the stationary phase is a solid, porous, and surface active substance in small particle form or a liquid deposited onto microparticulate beads on an inert solid substrate in hplc (usually silica). the mobile phase in the column is a liquid that moves across a packed bed of solid surface under pressure.[10] chromatographic conditions metformin was isolated on an flc (fast liquid chromatography) column under optimal circumstances. particle size 3 m, phenomenex c-18 column (50 2.0 mm i.d). stage of mobility: in solvent b, use 30, 70 v/v acetonitrile; in solvent a, use 0.1% phosphoric acid. uv 232 nm detection at 1.0 ml/min flow rate.[11] preparation of stock solution standard solution preparation; from the stock solution, samples of different concentration of metformin reference were produced, which was created by precisely weighing about 10 mg metformin and transferring it to a 100 ml volumetric flask, then adding methanol/water (50:50 v/v) as a diluent, shaking the sample well in an ultrasonic bath and adding diluents to bring the volume up to the desired level. this was then filtered using a membrane filter with a 0.45-mm pore size.[12] extraction of ocimum basilicum and trigonella foenum-graecum 0.5 g of sample powder was dissolved in 20 ml hexane to remove the lipid bilayer, then the aqueous layer was melted in 100 ml of 80:20 solutions (methanol: water). the distillate was supersonic at 60% duty cycles for (duty revolution for) 20 min at 25°c, followed by centrifugation at 7500 rpm for 15 min (branson conifer, usa). before evaporation under vacuum, each sample’s clear supernatant was treated with charcoal to eliminate colors (buchi rotavapor re type).[13] chemical evaluation for samples dried samples were resuspended in 1.0 ml hplc grade methanol by overtaxing. the mixture was poured through a 2.5 um disposable filter and stored for subsequent analysis at 4°c. according to optimum conditions, 20 ul of the sample was injected into the hplc system. results and discussion the figure 1 shows the standard composition of metformin analysis by hplc, the retention time for finding the chemical was 3.688 with an area 297141v and the concentration was 65.8425%. the round was stopped at 6.443. a previous study showed a similar retention time, which explains over the concentration range of 0.312–5 g/ml, the technique was linear (r2 = 0.9995). metformin had a detection limit of 0.1 g/ml and a quantitation limit of 0.3 g/ml. in the case of pharmaceutical formulations, the acquired findings revealed a good agreement with the claimed ingredients.[14] the figure 2 shows the standard composition of basil seed analysis by hplc, at the first peak, the retention time for figure 1: metformin standard composition muhialdin, et al.: a comparison of chemical compounds 101 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 99-102 figure 2: the composition of basil seeds figure 3: retention time of used extracts figure 4: peak area of used extracts finding the chemical was 1.153 with an area 59352v and the concentration was 7.868%. at the second peak, the retention time for finding the chemical was 1.642 with an area 59693v and the concentration was 7.9861%. at the third peak, the retention time for finding the chemical was 2.565 with area 48340v and the concentration was 6.4024%. however, at the fourth peak, at the time 3.81 with an area 36880v 4.874% was the most similar chemical with metformin composition. prior research found that oap-1a was a neutral heteropolysaccharide consisting of mannose (35.7%), glucose (33.32%), galactose (19.6%), and rhamnose (11.38%) which is similar with the same chemical composition of basil seeds result.[15] the figure 3 shows the standard composition of fenugreeks analysis by hplc, the retention time for finding the chemical was 1.948 with an area 218757v and the concentration 15.8732%. at the second peak, the retention time for finding the chemical was 3.15 with area 636125v and the concentration was 46.158%. at the third peak, the retention time for finding the chemical was 3.983 with area 354686v and the concentration was 25.7364%. the study provides an alternative natural strategy to treat diabetes, and we began formulating and testing these claims based on earlier studies and claims that referred to basil seeds as a drug and other studies that referred to fenugreek seeds as a medication. our data and analysis reveal that eating basil seeds as a drug will help reduce or lower blood sugar levels by a retention time of 3.81/min, indicating that it is more compatible with metformin hydrochloride, according to the study. as shown in figure 4, our findings confirmed the previous studies and researches that basil seeds are effective in treating diabetes; our study confirms those findings and adds to the evidence that basil seeds are a great alternative to metformin with few to no side effects. however, our findings suggest that fenugreek seeds are not as effective as other researchers suggest, which may call into question theories and studies that have been conducted. however, we acknowledge our limits and welcome discussion because we do not feel that our research is the ultimate and final solution, and that more and more studies in this sector, that is, comparing chemically manufactured medications to natural resources, are required. conclusion depending on the previous data and figures, each ocimum basilicum, trigonella foenum-graecum which are known as medicinally used seeds have the same chemical as metformin pills with is the official treatment used for optimizing the sugar amount in the blood, the future study will be a clinical trial which is procedure approved by fda for finding new treatment or drugs. acknowledgment this project would not have been possible without the support of cihan university-erbil by providing laboratories and equipment for researchers, all efforts and support are appreciated. muhialdin, et al.: a comparison of chemical compounds 102 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 99-102 references 1. w. h. gispen and g. j. biessels. cognition and synaptic plasticity in diabetes mellitus. trends in neurosciences, vol. 23, no. 11, pp. 542-549, 2000. 2. a. k. foulis. the pathogenesis of beta cell destruction in type i (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus. the journal of pathology, vol. 152, no. 3, pp. 141-148, 1987. 3. w. gepts and p. m. lecompte. the pathology of type i (juvenile) diabetes. in: the diabetic pancreas. springer us, boston, ma, pp. 337-365, 1985. 4. e. basch, c. ulbricht, g. kuo, p. szapary and m. smith. therapeutic applications of fenugreek. alternative medicine review, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 20-27, 2003. 5. a. ahmad, s. s. alghamdi, k. mahmood and m. afzal. fenugreek a multipurpose crop: potentialities and improvements. saudi journal of biological sciences, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 300-310, 2016. 6. m. duru, z. erdogan, a. a. duru, a. küçükgül, v. düzgüner, d. a. kaya and a. şahin. effect of seed powder of a herbal legume fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graceum l.) on growth performance, body components, digestive parts, and blood parameters of broiler chicks. pakistan journal of zoology, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 1007-1014, 2013. 7. a. ganasoundari, s. m. zare and p. u. devi. modification of bone marrow radiosensensitivity by medicinal plant extracts. the british journal of radiology, vol. 70, no. 834, pp. 599-602, 1997. 8. r. ullah, a. s. alqahtani, o. m. a. noman, a. m. alqahtani, s. ibenmoussa and m. bourhia. a review on ethno-medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in the kingdom of saudi arabia. saudi journal of biological sciences, vol. 27, no. 10, pp. 2706-2718, 2020. 9. e. toson and m. abd ellatif. effect of using fenugreek seeds powder as a feed additive in broiler chicks’ diet on growth performance and some metabolic responses. egyptian poultry science journal, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 31-43, 2021. 10. r. sauce, c. a. s. de oliveira pinto, c. ayala-jara, z. a. prieto, m. v. r. velasco and a. r. baby. preliminary protocol development of a hplc-tbars-evsc (ex vivo stratum corneum) assay for skin research: application in a sunscreen system. scientia pharmaceutica, vol. 89, no. 2, p. 17, 2021. 11. c. a. gulhane, w. a. panchale, j. v. manwar and r. l. bakal. liquid chromatographic method for simultaneous estimation of thiocolchicoside and etoricoxib from tablet formulation. the asian journal of pharmaceutical analysis, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 118122, 2021. 12. e. patyra and k. kwiatek. comparison of hplc-dad and lc-ms techniques for the determination of tetracyclines in medicated feeds using one extraction protocol. chromatographia, vol. 84, no. 8, pp. 741-749, 2021. 13. s. bafadam, m. mahmoudabady, s. niazmand, s. a. rezaee and m. soukhtanloo. cardioprotective effects of fenugreek (trigonella foenum-graceum) seed extract in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. journal of cardiovascular and thoracic research, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 28-36, 2021. 14. k. arab, b. ghanbarzadeh, a. ayaseh and k. jahanbin. extraction, purification, physicochemical properties and antioxidant activity of a new polysaccharide from ocimum album l. seed. international journal of biological macromolecules, vol. 180, pp. 643-653, 2021. 15. h. hui, h. jin, x. li, x. yang, h. cui, a. xin, r. zhao and b. qin. purification, characterization and antioxidant activities of a polysaccharide from the roots of lilium davidii var. unicolor cotton. international journal of biological macromolecules, vol. 135, pp. 1208-1216, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 6-12 research article the prevalence of microorganisms and antibiotics activity tests of natural and industrial products in surgical site infections in referral hospitals in erbil city, kurdistan region – iraq raid d. thanoon1*, yara m. mohammed2 1department of medical biochemical analysis, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of general biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract background and objectives: to study the prevalence of microorganisms and antibiotics activity tests of natural and industrial products, surgical site infection was found in referral hospitals in erbil, iraq’s kurdistan province. methods: pus samples were collected from 29 surgical patients using sterile swabs and primed for culture collection. disk diffusion method was used to determine the bacterial activity of three types of plants (cinnamon, ginger, and radish) against three bacterial species including staphylococcus aureus, proteus spp., and staphylococcus epidermidis. results: overall, 29 pus samples were processed for culture testing. one gram-negative bacterium (7.14%) and 13 gram-positive cocci (92.85%) were isolated from the 14 bacteria genera. s. aureus, proteus spp., and s. epidermidis most potent isolates were found to be resistant to the variable of tested antibiotics, while they showed any sensitivity to the tested plant extracts. cinnamon, ginger, and radish extracts were discovered to be among the few variable effective plant extracts against the tested pathogenic bacteria isolates. conclusion: the data collected from this research showed a better way of explanation of the microorganism’s etiology of ssis in hospitals where they might have epidemiological and healing insinuations. keywords: surgical site infections, bacteria isolated from wounds, antimicrobial resistance, pus, plant extract introduction surgical site infection occurs when surgical wounds get infected with germs from a previously diseased location. according to the report, it can result in illnesses, hospitalizations, and even death.[1] the third most often observed nosocomial infection is surgical site infections.[2] the most prevalent causes of these contagions are exogenous and endogenous germs that reach the operating wounds during surgery.[2] the occurrence of infected operational injuries might be affected by such factors as pre-operative therapy, theater, post-operative care, and surgery.[2] staphylococcusaureus is a naturally occurring bacterium that colonizes about 30% of the human population’s nares and a new study indicates that very diverse nasal microbiosis is required if colonizations of s. aureus are to be encouraged or prevented. it spreads easily from person to person, onto health care workers’ hands and clothing, as well as onto surfaces and into the air.[2,3] staphylococcus epidermidis,once considered a comparatively harmless pathogen, is the biggest and best investigated member of the cons group.[4,5] it is considered as an unsafe commensal of the human skin and is becoming known for its useful role in skin immunity and microbiota.[4] the active metabolites of cinnamon bark (cinnamomum verum) belonging to the lauraceae family were cinnamon aldehyde and trans-cinnamic acid. the nutritional content, phenolic profile, and antioxidant activities of cinnamon were studied. according to a compositional study, this species is a great source of protein and minerals. the nutritional content, phenolic profile, and antioxidant activities of cinnamon were studied. according to a compositional study, this species is a great source of protein and minerals.[6] radish (raphanus sativus l.), belonging to the brassicaceae family, is an annual or biennial root crop globally of economic importance. there are many resources of radish germplasm in china, and for conservation and use of the radish resources, cultivars and genetic diversity studies are very important.[7] since antiquity, ginger (zingiber officinale) belonging to the zingiberaceae corresponding author: raid d. thanoon, department of medical biochemical analysis, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: raid.duraid@ cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 30, 2021 accepted: july 18, 2021 published: august 10, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021. pp 6-12 copyright © 2021 raid d. thanoon, yara m. mohammed. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) thanoon and mohammed: antibiotics activity tests of natural and industrial products in surgical site infections 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 6-12 family for more than 200 years, traditional chinese medicine has been utilized as a spice and medication. ginger is a major herb with numerous nutritional and therapeutic properties that are utilized in traditional asian and chinese medicine.[8] ginger and its general components, such as fe, ca, vitamin c, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, paradols, and so on, are used for a wide variety of symptoms, including vomiting, pain, and other herbal medications.[8] objectives 1. isolation of microorganisms from surgical wounds 2. natural and industrial products were tested for antibiotic activity. materials and procedures population research the research was carried out at cihan university-erbil’s biology department. specimens were collected from four hospitals between november 2019 and march 2020. specimen collection and transport under aseptic conditions, two sterile swabs were used to extract pus samples from each patient. swabs were taken to the department of biology, cihan university-erbil. the specimens can be stored in the sample tube at 4°c for 72 h. types of antimicrobials identification the bacterial growth of the incubated plates was identified on the basis of cultural, morphological, and biochemical characteristics (table 1).[9] production of specimens inoculated specimens of pus have been immediately inoculated on macconkey, chocolate, and mannitol salt agar dishes. they were incubated aerobically at 37°c for 24–48 h with a co2 concentration of 7–10%. after this, the specimens was inoculated on the plates using four flame methods.[10,11] procedure of catalase testing fill a slide with a small amount of bacterial growth. drops of h2o2 were added to the smear and blended with a toothpick.[12] gram staining overflow slide with mineral violet – 60 s by gram – 180 s, iodine floods. prudently decolor with 95% ethanol until the thinnest part of the smear is colorless. flood with safranin (pink color) (10% fuchsine) – 60 s (wash on the water). air dehydrated or spot by permeable paper.[13] slide coagulase test identify where the test strain (t) and the control (c) are placed by marking the slide. set up positive and negative control organisms on the same slide for simultaneous testing. emulsified test strain to obtain a homogeneous thick suspension. observed self-agglutination. within 10 s, there will be a visible cluster. negative result: no visible clustering within 10 s.[14] testing for antimicrobial sensitivity drugs have been chosen on the basis of their impact on a specific organism, as well as hospital antibiotic policies.[20] the diameter of the inhibitor was measured on a scale of 24 h after 18–24 h of incubation. each antimicrobial disk’s area size was used to determine if it was susceptible, intermediate, or immune (clsi, 2006). mueller-hinton agar and antibiotic disks were used.[15] ginger extraction ginger was bought from local marketplaces in erbil city, using ginger for this investigation. in boiling water bath for 30 min, 10 g of ginger powder combined with 40 ml soy oil was heated. before disk diffusion testing, extracts were kept at 4°c to retain their antibacterial activities. the plates were dried in the air flow chamber of the laminar for 15 min. extracts of ginger (20 μl) have been applied individually for 18–24 h on each disk.[16] radish extraction a local supermarket provided raphanus sativus (white radish variety). radish was lyophilized and crushed into a fine powder before ethanol extraction. powder root was extracted for 24 h with 300 ml of ethanol at room temperature and 150 rpm.a filter paper disk diffusion test was used to assess the extract’s antibacterial function.[17] the research bacteria inoculums were prepared according to mcfarland standard 0.5. uniform bacterial lawns were developed, using 100l of inoculum on a mueller-hinton agar plate. the plates were incubated at 37°c for 24 h.[18] cinnamon extraction after cleaning the spices, they were dried in sunlight for 2 days. the dried material was pulverized by a grinder into a table 1: antimicrobials and their concentrations no. name dose manufactures 1 amikacin 10 mcg amikin 2 amoxicillin 25 mcg trimox 3 ampicillin/cloxacillin 25/5 mcg ampoxin 4 ceftazidime 30 mcg ceptaz 5 ceftriaxone 10 mcg rocephin 6 chloramphenicol 10 mcg fenicol 7 ciprofloxacin 10 mcg ciloxan 8 gentamicin 10 mcg gentasol 9 imipenem 10 mcg primaxin 10 netilmicin 30 mcg netmicin 11 oxacillin 10 mcg bactocill 12 rifampin 5 mcg rifadin 13 tetracycline 10 mcg declomycin figure 1: the prevalence rate of surgical site wound infections figure 2: number of isolated bacteria according to gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria figure 4: staphylococcus aureus organism control thanoon and mohammed: antibiotics activity tests of natural and industrial products in surgical site infections 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 6-12 fine powdered substance. twenty grams of cinnamon powder (weighted by electric balance) were transferred to 100 ml of conical flask where 40 ml of ethanol was added. the ethanol crude was filtered using whatman no. 1 filter paper. cinnamon bark extract was made using dimethyl sulfoxide as a solvent at concentrations of 2.5%, 5%, and 10%. with a sterile cotton bud, the bacterial solution was spread on the whole surface of mueller-hinton agar. at 37°c, the petri dish was incubated overnight.[19] results specimens of surgical wound infection a total of 29 pus specimens were processed for culture testing. the present study being conducted between november (2019) and march (2020). the overall percentage of infection was (48.27%) while the remaining (51.72%) was negative [figure 1]. two patients from the maternity hospital were cultivated with macconkey agar and the mannitol salt agar had a negative result and a positive result of s. aureus bacteria and specimens were taken from females. ten patients from the cardiac center were sampled, two males and eight females, and nine of the 10 were negative on macconkey agar, with proteus spp. bacteria being the only positive result. eight patients from sardam hospital, two specimens from females and six specimens from males, five of whom were cultivated with mannitol salt agar, and all of whom had a positive result were s. aureus bacteria and three of them cultivated with chocolate agar, had a positive result, two of whom were s. aureus bacteria, and one of them was s. epidermidis bacteria. nine patients from jamhuri hospital, specimens taken from males, cultivated mannitol salt agar, five of whom were negative, and four of whom were positive, were s. aureus and s. epidermidis bacteria [table 2]. out of the 14 isolated bacteria, 1 was gram-negative bacteria (7.14%) and 13 were gram-positive cocci (92.85%). s. aureus was the most common bacteria 10 isolates (71.42%). other isolated bacteria were proteus sp. (7.14%) and s. epidermidis (21.42%) [figure 2]. antimicrobial activity of plant extracts andantibacterial susceptible of s. aureus sensitivity pattern for s. aureus to the following antibiotics; rf (20 mm), te (16 mm), net (27 mm), and the other antibiotics resistance for s. aureus such as c, ox, cro, ipm, caz, apx, and cro [figure 3a and b]. the result presented in figure 4 was s. aureus control bacteria. each extract was tested against s. aureus isolated. the results showed cinnamon resistance to antibacterial activity against s. aureus [figure 5]. antimicrobial activity of plant extracts and antibacterial susceptible of s. epidermidis antibacterial resistant and susceptible of s. epidermidis isolated from patients. the results show that s. epidermidis isolated from patients were susceptible to net (34 mm) and apx (28 mm), and other antibiotic resistant for s. epidermidis such as te, c, and cro [figure 6]. the result presented in figure 7 exhibited s. epidermidis control bacteria. the results given in figure 8 show that ginger, cinnamon, and radish root extracts are not effective against s. epidermidis. figure 3: (a and b) antibacterial inhibition zoneagainst staphylococcus aureus ba figure 5: inhibition zone of plants against staphylococcus aureus figure 6: antibacterial inhibition zone against staphylococcus epidermidis figure 7: staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria control thanoon and mohammed: antibiotics activity tests of natural and industrial products in surgical site infections 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 6-12 antimicrobial activity of plant extracts and antimicrobial susceptible of proteus spp. the results show that proteus spp. isolated patients were susceptible to net (17 mm), rf (19 mm), ak (25 mm), te (26 mm), and cn (20 mm). moreover, other antimicrobial is resistant to proteus spp. ox, apx, caz, and ax [figure 9a-c]. results given in figure 10 showed that ginger and radish root extract are not effective against proteus species. the results showed that cinnamon had very little (5 mm) effect on proteus species [figure 10]. discussion surgical site infection is a prevalent kind of disease related to health-care research conducted by the way.[20-22] ssis table 2: the patients number, gender, isolated bacteria, media cultured from the surgical site of infection, and the name of the hospitals serial no. of patient media isolated bacteria hospitals sex 1 macconkey agar negative (–) cardiac center ♀ female 2 macconkey agar negative (–) cardiac center ♀ female 4 macconkey agar negative (–) cardiac center ♂ male 5 macconkey agar positive (+) proteus sp. cardiac center ♀ female 6 macconkey agar negative (–) maternity hospital ♀ female 7 macconkey agar negative (–) cardiac center ♀ female 8 macconkey agar negative (–) cardiac center ♀ female 9 macconkey agar negative (–) cardiac center ♀ female 10 macconkey agar negative (–) cardiac center ♀ male 11 macconkey agar negative (–) cardiac center ♀ female 12 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. aureus maternity hospital ♀ female 13 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. aureus sardam hospital ♀ female 14 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. aureus sardam hospital ♂ male 15 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. aureus sardam hospital ♂ male 16 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. aureus sardam hospital ♂ male 17 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. aureus sardam hospital ♂ male 18 chocolate agar positive (+) s. aureus sardam hospital ♂ male 19 chocolate agar positive (+) s. aureus sardam hospital ♀ female 20 chocolate agar positive (+) s. epidermidis sardam hospital ♂ male 21 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. aureus jamhuri hospital ♂ male 22 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. epidermidis jamhuri hospital ♂ male 23 mannitol salt agar negative (–) jamhuri hospital ♂ male 24 mannitol salt agar negative (–) jamhuri hospital ♂ male 25 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. aureus jamhuri hospital ♂ male 26 mannitol salt agar positive (+) s. epidermidis jamhuri hospital ♂ male 27 mannitol salt agar negative (–) jamhuri hospital ♂ male 28 mannitol salt agar negative (–) jamhuri hospital ♂ male 29 mannitol salt agar negative (–) jamhuri hospital ♂ male s. aureus: staphylococcus aureus, s. epidermidis: staphylococcus epidermidis figure 10: antimicrobial disk diffusion test against proteus spp. figure 8: antimicrobial disk diffusion test against staphylococcus epidermidis thanoon and mohammed: antibiotics activity tests of natural and industrial products in surgical site infections 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 6-12 (infections at surgical site) were found to be 48.27 percent prevalent in the present specimens, with s. aureus and s. epidermidis being the most common etiological agents among gram-positive bacteria. gram-positive bacteria while the gram-negative bacteria were proteus spp. respectively.[23] these findings support that previous research s. aureus was the most common bacteria found in post-operative wound infections.[24,25] s. aureus was found in 71.42% of surgical site infections. the most common gram-positive s. aureus isolate (71.42%) followed by s. epidermidis (21.42%) and proteus spp. (7.14 percent of the total). in the current study, a shorter postoperative stay was seen in patients with acquired infection, who had a roughly triple longer patient without operational site infection. in hospitals, neonatal infections, operative care for the elderly and malnutrition, and individuals with diabetes and other chronic diseases, s. aureus is an important source of infection.[26] the minimal number of s. aureus sensitivity found in the results of this investigation against te and c was compatible with studies published in eritrea by certain nigerian employees.[27,28] sensitivity to rf, te, net, and the other antibiotics resistance for s. aureus such as c, ox, cro, ipm, caz, apx, and cro did not match the findings of chowdhury et al.,[29] however, resistance to other antibiotics did. caz and cip were consistent with the report published by the commission.[29] moreover, s. aureus was sensitive to te and resistance to cro and c, which is not in agreement with the report published by the commission.[29] pattern of antibiotic resistance of s. epidermidis isolated from hospital infectious specimens s. epidermidis resistance against: c, cro, and te were consistent with reports published by chabi and momtaz,[30] wijesooriya et al.,[31] and s. epidermidis sensitive to apx and net.[32] results show that proteus spp. isolated from patients were susceptible to net, rf, ak, te, and cn and resistant to proteus spp.;ox, apx, caz, and ax.[33] current results showed that cinnamon, radish, and ginger were resistant to s. aureus. when opposed to the previous findings,[18,34] the present findings show a higher level of activity. raphanus extract had the best activity against a multiresistant strain of p. aeruginosa, while p. mirabilis was the most resistant to the extract’s influence.[35] piper nigrum and zingiber officinale are active in s. aureus and k. pneumoniae. cinnamon essential oil shows maximum activity against e. coli and s. aureus.[36] the results show that ginger extract and root radish extract are not effective against s. epidermidis.[37] the current results showed that cinnamon and ginger extract are not effective against proteus species. the different concentrations of radish root extract had no effect on proteus spp.[18] the antibacterial action of cinnamon was ascribed to the existence or longterm storage of specific active components which have been declined by melting and exposure to air.[38] the negative result of cultured pus specimens may not have been effective due to the transfer of the swabs, and the bacteria may have been dead. it could be the species of bacteria that may not grow in these media. they need special media or anaerobic bacteria could not grow aerobically in the 37°c incubator. conclusion the findings of this research will aid in our understanding of the microbiological etiology of ssis in our hospitals, which could have epidemiological and therapeutic implications. s. aureus was the most common surgical site infection we found (71.42%). this study demonstrates that rf, te, and net are sensitive to s. aureus, and net and apx are sensitive to s. epidermidis and net, rf, te, ak, and cn are affective against proteus spp. and c, ox, cip, ipm, caz, apx, and cro figure 9: (a-c) antimicrobial inhibition zone on proteus spp. c ba thanoon and mohammed: antibiotics activity tests of natural and industrial products in surgical site infections 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 6-12 are resistant to s. aureus. te, c, and cro are resistant to s. epidermidis. ox, apx, caz, and ax are resistant against proteus spp. plant extracts have no antimicrobial activity against s. aureus, s. epidermidis, or proteus ssp., which typically cause surgical wound infections, according to the findings of this report. the findings showed that cinnamon, radish root, and ginger are ineffective at inhibiting the growth of wound pathogenic bacteria. recommendation the findings of this study can be used to launch an effort to strengthen hospital antimicrobial policy and antimicrobial prescribing guidelines. it is difficult to choose the best drug for any condition, particularly in infectious diseases. since it is performed in vitro, the susceptibility pattern cannot be used as the sole criterion because it ignores the patient’s immunological status and clinical condition. this research may be useful in determining which plant extracts to use for further isolation of constituents responsible for the studied species’ behavior. acknowledgments i’d want to offer my heartfelt gratitude to dr. raid duriad thanoon, the research supervisor, for assisting me through each step of my research paper it would have been impossible to write such a significant and fascinating work without his help. and a special thanks to ahmed majeed mohammed, who inspired us to achieve many goals during this research. many thanks to biolaboratory for their help and guidance. finally, many thanks to all the other people and teachers for their help and advice. references 1. t. anggrahita, a. wardhana and g. sudjatmiko. chlorhexidinealcohol versus povidone-iodine as preoperative skin preparation to prevent surgical site infection:a meta-analysis. medical journal of indonesia, vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 54-61, 2017. 2. k. s. bhaskarrao, r. vaishali and v. j. katkar. study of bacteriological profile of post-operative wound infections in obstetrics and gynaecological surgeries in a tertiary care hospital. national journal of integrated research in medicine, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 77-83, 2018. 3. b. krismer, c. weidenmaier, a. zipperer and a. peschel. the commensal lifestyle of staphylococcus aureus and its interactions with the nasal microbiota. nature reviews 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y. liu, b. guan, j. tang and s. lu. distribution and antibiotic resistance patterns of pathogenic bacteria in patients with chronic cutaneous wounds in china. frontiers in medicine, vol. 8, p. 609584, 2021. 24. p. neopane, h. p. nepal, r. shrestha, o. uehara and y. abiko. in vitro biofilm formation by staphylococcus aureus isolated from wounds of hospital-admitted patients and their association with antimicrobial resistance. international journal of general medicine, vol. 11, pp. 25-32, 2018. 25. x. zhu, x. sun, y. zeng, w. feng, j. li, j. zeng and y. zeng. can nasal staphylococcus aureus screening and decolonization prior to elective total joint arthroplasty reduce surgical site and prosthesis-related infections? a systematic review and metaanalysis. journal of orthopaedic surgery and research, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 60, 2020. 26. b. c. g. slingerland, m. c. vos, w. bras, r. f. kornelisse, d. de coninck, a. van belkum, i. k. m. reiss, w. h. f. goessens, c. h. w. klaassen and n. j. verkaik. whole-genome sequencing to explore nosocomial transmission and virulence in neonatal methicillin-susceptible staphylococcus aureus bacteremia. antimicrobial resistance and infection control, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 39, 2020. 27. l. ying, x. zhe, y. zhou, s. juan and m. lin. characterization of community-associated staphylococcus aureus from skin and softtissue infections:a multicenter study in china. emerging microbes and infections, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 1-11, 2016. 28. l. radlinski, s. e. rowe, l. b. kartchner, r. maile, b. a. cairns, n. p. vitko, c. j. gode, a. m. lachiewicz, m. c. wolfgang and b. p. conlon.pseudomonas aeruginosa exoproducts determine antibiotic efficacy against staphylococcus aureus. plos biology, vol. 15, no. 11, p. e2003981, 2017. 29. m. h. chowdhury, t. debnath, s. bhowmik and t. islam. presence of multidrug-resistant bacteria on mobile phones of healthcare workers accelerates the spread of nosocomial infection and regarded as a threat to public health in bangladesh. journal of microscopy and ultrastructure, vol. 6, no. 3, p. 165, 2018. 30. r. chabi and h. momtaz. virulence factors and antibiotic resistance properties of the staphylococcus epidermidis strains isolated from hospital infections in ahvaz, iran. tropical medicine and health, vol. 47, no. 1, p. 47, 2019. 31. w. r. p. wijesooriya, d. n. kotsanas, t. m. korman and m. graham. teicoplanin non-susceptible coagulase-negative staphylococci in a large australian healthcare network: implications for treatment with vancomycin. sri lankan journal of infectious diseases, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 10, 2017. 32. m. a. mohammed, a. m. j. abd al-abbas and a. m. alsamak. distribution of oata alleles detected by a new designed primer in bacteria isolated from eye infections in basrah governorate/iraq. annals of the romanian society for cell biology, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 8258-8277, 2021. 33. d. girlich, r. a. bonnin, l. dortet and t. naas. genetics of acquired antibiotic resistance genes in proteus spp. frontiers in microbiology, vol. 11, p. 256, 2020. 34. s. haq, s. dildar, m. b. ali, a. mezni and a. hedfi. antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of biosynthesized of nio nanoparticles using raphanus sativus (r. sativus) extract. materials research express, vol. 8, no. 5, p. 055006, 2021. 35. ç. güceyü, g. goncagül, e. günaydin and p. akpinar. zencefil’in antibakteriyal etkisi (antibacterial effect of zingiber officinale (ginger)). etlik veteriner mikrobiyoloji dergisi, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 44-50, 2019. 36. y. zhang, x. liu, y. wang, p. jiang and s. quek. antibacterial activity and mechanism of cinnamon essential oil against escherichia coli and staphylococcus aureus. food control, vol. 59, pp. 282-289, 2016. 37. e. julianti, k. k. rajah and i. fidrianny. antibacterial activity of ethanolic extract of cinnamon bark, honey, and their combination effects against acne-causing bacteria. scientia pharmaceutica, vol. 85, no. 2, p. 19, 2017. 38. k. i. al-zubaidy. cinnamon’s antibacterial activity on the bacterial isolates from urinary tract infections. world journal of pharmaceutical research, vol. 6, no. 17, pp. 81-91, 2017. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 7-11 research article apply binary logistic regression model to recognize the risk factors of diabetes through measuring glycated hemoglobin levels nozad h. mahmood1, rebaz o. yahya2, saya j. aziz1 1department of business administration, cihan university sulaimaniya, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract this study aimed to identify the diabetes risk factors in the kurdistan region of iraq and explain why diabetes is rapidly spreading there, which examined some sociodemographic characteristics factors that might affect type  2 diabetes such as age, gender, alcohol consumption, and smoking, diabetes family history, and body weight. the data were collected from the hospital of diabetes named the center of diabetes in sulaymaniyah city of iraq, in which 218 diabetic cases were used for that purpose. according to the findings, some factors influence type 2 diabetes, such as gender, smoking, and body weight. for gender, females are more likely to have diabetes than males. furthermore, someone that smokes is more likely to have diabetes than those who do not smoke. furthermore, with increasing each kilogram of body weight, the diabetes degree increases as well. on the other hand, regarding the results, some factors such as age, consumption of alcoholic, and diabetes family history do not affect type 2 diabetes. depending on the findings, it is recommended that people engage in regular physical activity and consume nutritious foods to minimize weight gain, which is one of the primary causes of diabetes as well as they should quit smoking. keywords: binary logistic regression, diabetes, glycated hemoglobin, hba1c, risk factors of diabetes introduction diabetes disease is one of the most widespread infections worldwide, affecting millions of people. besides that, disease rates are increasing quickly, and it is a genuine global health emergency, imposing crucial trouble on many countries.[1] according to the who reports, it predicts that the global diabetes epidemic will nearly double by 2030. one american is killed by diabetes every 3 min, making it the leading cause of blindness, kidney disease, and even death in the united states today. regarding the international diabetes federation reports, there will be 700 million diabetics worldwide by 2045.[2] there has been an epidemic of diabetes mellitus in both developed and developing countries.[3] there are two primary varieties of diabetes. with having type 1, our body will stop making any insulin, a hormone that allows the body to utilize glucose from food sources. type 2 diabetes is a severe disease where the body cannot properly utilize food as an energy source. our bodies use glucose, or sugar, to make energy from most of the food we consume. the pancreas produces a hormone that helps glucose enter cells which is insulin. there is a lack of insulin production and an inability to utilize insulin properly in type 2 diabetes. thus, insulin sensitivity resistance and pancreatic cell failure are two characteristics of type 2 diabetes, leading to many health issues and death.[4] in general, type 2 diabetes accounts for about 95% of all diabetic cases. there has been a rise in this kind of diabetes incidence among younger people due to obesity and a family history of diabetes.[5] increased morbidity and mortality might be expected in persons with diabetes mellitus who do not control their blood sugar.[6] according to recent estimates, 50% of type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm) requires insulin in the first 6 years following diagnosis. insulin therapy is often necessary for many people with t2dm to achieve their desired blood sugar levels.[7] as a result of insulin’s ability to keep blood sugar levels in a healthy corresponding author: nozad h. mahmood, department of business administration, cihan university sulaimaniya, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: nozad.mahmood@sulicihan.edu.krd received: november 29, 2021 accepted: december 25, 2021 published: january 30, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp7-11 copyright © 2022. nozad h. mahmood, rebaz o. yahya, saya j. aziz. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mahmood, et al.: regression model to recognize diabetes risk factors 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 7-11 range, it prevents a wide range of health issues that might arise from hyperglycemia. the problem statement of conducting this study was that many people in iraq’s kurdistan region were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at various ages, and the main research questions that led this study are as follows: 1. why is diabetes rapidly increasing in the kurdistan region of iraq? 2. is there any relationship between type 2 diabetes and the factors of gender, age, consumption of alcoholic, smoking, diabetes family history, and body weight? the objectives of the study the essential goals of this research are to determine the factors that affect diabetes disease in the kurdistan region of iraq and explain the reasons for its rapidly increasing prevalence in that region. the significance of the study the significance of this research is for identifying all the factors that lead to diabetes in kurdistan so that people can be aware of the causes of the disease and better control diabetes in kurdistan. the hypothesis of the study 1there is no statistically significant difference between type 2 diabetes and gender (male or female). 2there is no statistically significant difference between type 2 diabetes and the aging of people. 3there is no statistically significant difference in type 2 diabetes based on the consumption of alcohol. 4there is no statistically significant difference between type 2 diabetes and smoking. 5there is no statistically significant difference in type 2 diabetes and diabetes family history. 6there is no statistically significant difference in type 2 diabetes and body weight. literature review glycemic control was more likely to be compromised in patients with younger age, female gender, longer disease duration, high glycated hemoglobin (hba1c) levels, obesity, and lack hypertension.[8] another study showed hba1c levels affected by sociodemographic factors in such a way that the younger and less educated participants recorded higher hba1c levels than their older and more informed counterparts.[9] the previous study revealed a significant association between smoking habits and diabetes mellitus.[10,11] the available evidence shows that the smoking habit increases insulin resistance, and it has further been associated with the risk of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.[12] body mass index and waist circumference were the other variables that showed significant associations in the multivariable analysis. overweight people were 4.1 times more likely to have diabetes than ordinary people. this finding is consistent with research from india.[13] similarly, participants with a high waist circumference were more likely to be diabetic than their counterparts, with a prevalence of 11.2% diabetes. it has been proposed that increased abdominal fat stores interfere with insulin action by releasing free fatty acids. furthermore, fat cells secrete signaling factors such as interleukin and tumor necrosis factor, both of which influence the development of diabetes.[14] furthermore, most countries’ life expectancy has increased, with the global life expectancy at birth increasing from 65.6 years of age in 1990 to 73 years in 2017.[15] when these global aging trends are combined with the global diabetes epidemic and recent advances in diabetes patient survival, it is no surprise that older age is now recognized as an increasingly crucial diabetes risk factor.[15-18] aging raises the risk of diabetes by impairing insulin secretion and increasing insulin resistance through obesity and sarcopenia. moreover, older adults have higher rates of insufficient physical activity, increasing sedentary time, and decreasing physical activity.[19] at present, older adults (65 years and older) have the highest t2dm prevalence of any age group. diabetes cases in this age group globally are expected to increase from 122.8 million in 2017 to 253.4 million by 2045.[16] t2dm family history has been recognized as an essential non-modifiable diabetic risk factor, providing a conveniently assessed marker of the fundamental diabetic genetic component.[7] diabetic family history is a predictor of type 2 diabetes in both males and females.[20,21] notably, some research found a high correlation between diabetic family background and t2dm risk. in addition, studies from a large swedish cohort of 60-year-old men and women demonstrate that a family history of diabetes in combination with being overweight appears to be highly risky in men, raising the chance of acquiring t2dm synergistically.[21] methodology the data were collected from 218 patients that recorded their information in the hospital of diabetes in sulaymaniyah city of iraq, which included sociodemographic variables such as age, gender, weight, and clinical characteristics such as diabetes family histories. similarly, some information obtains on the patients’ smoking status and alcohol consumption. the logistic regression model was used to identify risk variables that affect type 2 diabetes. besides, testing the odds ratios, likelihood ratio, and 95% confidence intervals estimate for each factor using jmp pro, a statistical tool, version 16, was used to analyze the data. hba1c diabetes mellitus is a major epidemic affecting both developing and developed countries. the american diabetes association suggests using hba1c instead of fasting blood glucose to diagnose diabetes. hba1c is a long-term glycemic management measure that can reflect 2–3 months of glycemic history. for healthy people, hba1c levels should be <6.5%, and studies recognized that diabetic problems are controllable if the hba1c level is below 6.5%, and above 6.5% will be out of control.[22] mahmood, et al.: regression model to recognize diabetes risk factors 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 7-11 the relationship between plasma glucose and hba1c can be shown by the following formula to make sure whether the diabetes case is under control or not. then assign value 1 to diabetic cases that are controllable (hba1c < 6.5%) and value 0 to diabetic cases that are uncontrollable (hba1c ≥ 6.5%). in other words, the dependent variable (hba1c) has 1 and 0 values, that is, why a binary logistic regression model is used. +46.7 cos hba1c= 28.7 plasmaglu (1) thus, the variables of the model represent as below: results and data analysis the report of table 2 provides the results of each iteration and criteria used to determine whether or not the model has converged. throughout this case, the model is a convergent gradient that was iterated 5 times. table 3 illustrates to choose the best model. according to the results shown in the table, since p < 0.001, the model is significant of the chi-squared test. in other words, the full model is better than the reduced one (model with only intercept parameter) and indicates that at least one of the parameters affects the response variable. on the other hand, a minimum akaike’s information criterion (aic) is used to select between two models in that way, the model for which aic is smallest represents the “best” with this formula. + = − + +  − +  1 2log 2 2 1 k aic likelihood k k n k (2) where k is equal to the number of parameters in the model and n is a sample size thus, aic=238.7672 for full model aic=256.5974 for null model therefore, the full model is the best one. furthermore, table 3 shows the r-square, which is the ratio of the negative log-likelihood values for the difference and reduced models. its ranges from 0 for no improvement to 1 for a perfect fit. a nominal model rarely has a high r-square, and it has an r-square of 1 only when all the probabilities of the events that occur are 1. in our case, r-square is 11.92%. it is now time to determine which factors affect type 2 diabetes and which do not. according to the findings in table 4, age, alcohol, and family are statistically insignificant. in other words, these three variables have no significant impact on diabetes. then, we can try rerunning the regression model without any of those variables to see how that affects prediction accuracy. the regression equation is as follows: log (odds of a control case)=−4.3217463 +1.163 (gender) + 1.053 (smoking) + 0.066 (weight) as with any regression, the positive coefficients indicate a positive relationship with the dependent variable. 1.163 is the increment to log odds of a worse outcome for females; the odds ratio e1.163=3.20 indicates that females are 3.20 times more likely to achieve a high level of diabetes (out of control) than males. for the smoking case, the odds ratio e1.053=2.87 indicates that a person with smoking is 2.886 times more likely to achieve a high level of diabetes (out of control) than one with no smoking. furthermore, with increasing 1 kg of weight body, the diabetes degree increases by e0.066=1.068. table 5 shows 95% confidence intervals for parameters (beta) and odd ratios, and we can note that confidence intervals of age, alcohol consumption, and diabetes family history have 0 between the lower and upper levels. it indicates that the coefficient of these variables might become 0, which is why age, alcohol, and family are not significant, as we explained before. when it comes to odds ratio, it is clear that log (odds ratio)=beta, and odds ratio=exp(beta) thus, regarding results in table 5, the 95% confidence interval of the odds ratio of gender, smoking, and weight (1.582827, 6.622663), (1.370512, 6.347617), and (1.030501, table 1: the variables of the model variables types of variables codes hba1c outcome (response) hba1c≥6.5%=0, hba1c<6.5%=1 gender independent male=0, female=1 age independent continuous alcohol consumption independent alcoholic=1, no alcoholic=0 smoking status independent smoker=1, no smoker=0 diabetes family histories independent yes=1, no=0 body weight independent continuous table 2: iterations of convergent gradient the model iteration objective relative gradient norm gradient 0 151.10608536 8.2627136759 4632.4497299 1 113.96878959 1.8226836288 638.86115249 2 112.15745738 0.2820389174 84.319608151 3 112.11696969 0.0077978033 2.2874541839 4 112.11693927 6.1496927e-6 0.0017917235 5 112.11693927 3.859414e-12 1.1109202e-9 table 3: whole the model model log-likelihood df chi square prob.> chi-sq. difference 15.17251 6 30.34501 <.0001* full 112.11694 reduced 127.28945 r-square (u) 0.1192 aic 238.767 observations 218 mahmood, et al.: regression model to recognize diabetes risk factors 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 7-11 1.109795), respectively, indicates that these parameters are significant because their ci does not contain 1, but the others (age, alcohol, and family) are not significant because their ci contains 1 and log (1)=0 table 6 is about wald test results, which is the same as the likelihood ratio test of table 4. here, we can note that the p-values of the variables (gender, smoking, and weight) are <0.05, and it tells us that these variables are significant, while the other variables are not significant because their p-values are more than 0.05. variance is a measure to show how much the data are spreading around the mean point, and it is equal to the square of the standard deviation. table 7 shows variance and covariance matrix for estimates of parameters, and the outcomes in the table explain that the off-diagonal elements contain the covariances of each pair of variables, and the diagonal ones of the covariance matrix represent the variances of each variable. according to the results, the covariance between each pair of (gender and alcohol), (gender and smoking), and (gender, body weight) is approximately 0.0539, 0.0312, and 0.0011, respectively, which indicates that the relationships are positive between these pairs of variables. in contrast, the covariance between gender and age is −0.0008 and between gender and family is −0.0071. the negative values indicate that there is some negative relationship between these variables. likewise, the relationships between pair variables of (age, family) and (age, body weight) are positive. on the other hand, the covariance estimates of the parameters (age, alcohol), (age, smoking), (alcohol, smoking), (alcohol, family), (alcohol, body weight), (smoking, family), (smoking and body weight), and (family, body weight) show some negative relationships between these pair of variables. conclusions the objective in this study is to illustrate the factors that affecting on the type 2 diabetes in sulaymaniyah city of iraq, according of the results, the factors of gender, smoking status, and weight body have high effecting on diabetes, in which table 4: parameter estimates term estimate (beta) std. error chi-square prob.>chi-sq. exp (beta) intercept −4.3217463 1.5420851 7.85 0.0051* −11.7478 gender 1.16270774 0.3636579 10.22 0.0014* 3.1601 age −0.0076878 0.0131161 0.34 0.5578 −.0021 alcohol 0.37083796 0.7383133 0.25 0.6155 1.0080 smoking 1.05325849 0.38882 7.34 0.0068* 2.8631 family −0.1939148 0.3332303 0.34 0.5606 −0.5271 weight 0.06587092 0.0188393 12.23 0.0005* 0.1791 table 5: 95% confidence intervals for parameters and odds ratios 95% confidence intervals parameters for parameters (beta’s) for odds ratios lower 95% upper 95% odds ratio lower 95% upper 95% gender 0.45921259 1.89049762 3.198583 1.582827 6.622663 age −0.0336268 0.01805573 0.992342 0.966932 1.01822 alcohol −0.9918519 1.98504948 1.448948 0.370889 7.279408 smoking 0.31518408 1.84807951 2.866978 1.370512 6.347617 family −0.8550631 0.45598815 0.823728 0.425256 1.577732 weight 0.030045 0.1041753 1.068089 1.030501 1.109795 table 6: effect of wald test source no. of parameters df wald chi-square prob.>chi-sq. gender 1 1 10.2224534 0.0014* age 1 1 0.34355643 0.5578 alcohol 1 1 0.25228239 0.6155 smoking 1 1 7.33791774 0.0068* family 1 1 0.33863607 0.5606 weight 1 1 12.2253152 0.0005* table 7: covariance of estimates of parameters parameters gender age alcohol smoking family weight gender 0.1322 −0.0008 0.0539 0.0312 −0.0071 0.0011 age −0.0008 0.0002 −0.0010 −0.0004 0.0003 0.0000 alcohol 0.0540 −0.0010 0.5451 −0.0619 −0.0219 −0.0001 smoking 0.0312 −0.0004 −0.0619 0.1512 −0.0075 −0.0001 family −0.0071 0.0003 −0.0219 −0.0075 0.1110 −0.0004 weight 0.0011 0.0001 −0.0009 −0.0001 −0.0004 0.0002 mahmood, et al.: regression model to recognize diabetes risk factors 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 7-11 for gender, the females have more likely to have high level of diabetes than the males. this may be due to the fact that in our society, women are more likely to do housework, but men are more likely to work outside the home, so men are more active compared to women. furthermore, for smoking case, the person with smoking is almost 3 times more likely to have diabetes than those with no smoking. furthermore, with each kilogram of body weight gained, the risk of developing diabetes increases. on the other hand, the variables of age, alcohol consumption, and diabetes family history do not have any effect on diabetes. recommendation 1it is necessary to perform additional type 2 diabetes research in all other cities in the kurdistan region of iraq to identify the fundamental risk factors that significantly influence the development of type 2 diabetes in that area. 2it is suggested that more encouragement be given to people to engage in some regular physical activities and be warned about consuming unhealthy foods that might lead to weight gain and eventually diabetes. 3men in the kurdish community have always been expected to fulfill greater responsibilities outside the home, while women have traditionally been supposed to stay home more. as a result, to avoid developing diabetes, women must engage in more physical activity and exercise. references 1. s. j. ghabban, b. althobaiti, i. m. farouk, m. al hablany, a. ghabban, r. alghbban, s. harbi and a. e. sr. albalawi. diabetic complications and factors affecting glycemic control among patients with type ii diabetes mellitus attending the chronic illness clinics at tabuk, saudi arabia. cureus, vol. 12, no. 11, p. e11683, 2020. 2. international diabetes federation. idf diabetes atlas. 9th ed. brussels, belgium: international diabetes federation, 2019. available from: https://diabetesatlas.org/en [last accessed on 2021 august 20]. 3. p. zimmet, k. g. alberti, d. j. magliano and p. h. bennett ph. diabetes mellitus statistics on prevalence and mortality: facts and fallacies. nature reviews endocrinology, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 616-622, 2016. 4. american diabetes association. diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus. diabetes care, vol. 37, no. suppl 1, pp. s81s90, 2014. 5. d. m. yigazu and t. a. desse. glycemic control and associated factors among type 2 diabetic patients at shanan gibe hospital, southwest ethiopia. bmc research notes, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 597, 2017. 6. h. king, r. e. aubert and w. h. herman. global burden of diabetes, 1995-2025: prevalence, numerical estimates, and projections. diabetes care, vol. 21, pp. 1414-1431, 1998. 7. y. zheng, s. h. ley and f. b. hu. global aetiology and epidemiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its complications. nature reviews endocrinology, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 88-98, 2018. 8. a. ali mansour, n. t. y. alibrahim, h. a. alidrisi, a. h. alhamza, a. m. almomin, i. a. zaboon, m. b. kadhim, r. n. hussein, h. a. nwayyir, a. g. mohammed, d. k. j. al-waeli, i. h. hussein and fdemc study group. prevalence and correlation of glycemic control achievement in patients with type 2 diabetes in iraq: a retrospective analysis of a tertiary care database over a 9-year period. diabetes and metabolic syndrome: clinical research and reviews, 14, no. 3, pp. 265-272, 2020. 9. s. safarini, h. hilali, s. elsheikh and a. omer. analytical study of 594 type 2 diabetic patients attending a private diabetes and endocrine center at dallah hospital in riyadh, ksa. journal of diabetes and metabolism, vol. 3, p. 234, 2012. 10. d. kapoor, a. k. bhardwaj, d. kumar and s. k. raina. prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its risk factors among permanently settled tribal individuals in tribal and urban areas in northern state of sub-himalayan region of india. international journal of chronic diseases, vol. 2014, p. 380597, 2014. 11. s. a. chang. smoking and type 2 diabetes mellitus. diabetes and metabolism journal, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 399-403, 2012. 12. s. b. aynalem and a. j. zeleke. prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its risk factors among individuals aged 15 years and above in mizan-aman town, southwest ethiopia, 2016: a cross sectional study. international journal of endocrinology, vol. 2018, p. 9317987, 2018. 13. j. ahmad, m. a. masoodi, m. ashraf, r. rashid, r. ahmad, a. ahmad and s. dawood. prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its associated risk factors in age group of 20 years and above in kashmir, india. al ameen journal of medical sciences, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 38-44, 2011. 14. c. e. ekpenyong, u. akpan, j. o. ibu and d. e. nyebuk. gender and age specific prevalence and associated risk factors of type 2 diabetes mellitus in uyo metropolis, south eastern nigeria. diabetologia croatica, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 17-28, 2012. 15. gbd 2017 dalys and hale collaborators. global, regional, and national disability-adjusted life-years (dalys) for 359 diseases and injuries and healthy life expectancy (hale) for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2017. lancet, vol. 392, no. 10159, pp. 1859-1922, 2018. 16. ncd risk factor collaboration. worldwide trends in diabetes since 1980: a pooled analysis of 751 population-based studies with 4 4 million participants. lancet, vol. 387, pp. 1513-1530, 2016. 17. n. h. cho, j. e. shaw, s. karuranga, y. huang, j. d. da rocha fernandes, a. w. ohlrogge and b. malanda. idf diabetes atlas: global estimates of diabetes prevalence for 2017 and projections for 2045. diabetes research and clinical practice, vol. 138, pp. 271-281, 2018. 18. international diabetes federation. idf diabetes atlas. 8th ed. brussels, belgium: international diabetes federation, 2017. available from http://www.diabetesatlas.org [last accessed on 2021 august 20]. 19. s. r. colberg, r. j. sigal, j. e. yardley, m. c. riddell, d. w. dunstan, p. c. dempsey, e. s. horton, k. castorino and d. f. tate. physical activity/exercise and diabetes: a position statement of the american diabetes association. diabetes care, vol. 39, no. 11, pp. 2065-2079, 2016. 20. f. ning, z. pang, t. laatikainen, w. gao, s. wang, l. zhang, j. tuomilehto, q. qiao and qingdao 2006 diabetes survey and finrisk 2002 study. joint effect of family history of diabetes with obesity on prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus among chinese and finnish men and women. the canadian journal of diabetes, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 65-71, 2013. 21. c. wikner, b. gigante, m. l. hellénius, u. de faire and k. leander. the risk of type 2 diabetes in men is synergistically affected by parental history of diabetes and overweight. plos one, vol. 8, no. 4, p. e61763, 2013. 22. s. i. sherwani, h. a. khan, a. ekhzaimy, a. masood and m. k. sakharkar. significance of hba1c test in diagnosis and prognosis of diabetic patients. biomarker insights, vol. 11, pp. 95-104, 2016. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 12-19 research article us dollar/iq dinar currency exchange rates time series forecasting using arima model parzhin a. mohammed1, sami a. obed1, israa m. ali1, dler h. kadir1,2 1department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq., 2department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, iraq abstract the use of currency exchange estimation as a tool for economic planning is being researched as a technique for gaining economic stability. the main purpose of this study is to use the autoregressive integrated moving average (arima) model to forecast monthly us dollar against iq dinar exchange rates. the information was gathered from january 2010 to december 2020. we got the information from the website (sa.investing.com). the minimum value of root means square error and the mean absolute error are used to select the optimal model. arima (2, 1, 0) was found to be the best model for the us dollar/iq dinar series. this is the forecasted meaning for the future of this exchange rate time series, which indicates a perpetual increase continuously in the next two years. statgraphics version 15 was the statistical software package utilized to complete this project. keywords: exchange rate forecasting, us dollar/iq dinar, time-series analysis, autoregressive integrated moving average model introduction time series analysis is used in a wide variety of fields. in economics, time series are used to represent the economy’s recorded history. the consumer price index, gross national product, and unemployment, as well as the population, products, and output, are all measured in the same time series. the statistical theory of time series has sparked a lot of interest in recent years. it is generally believed that the degree of financial transactions in and out of a country depends on several factors prevailing in that country. since the advent of money, the world has always experienced the movement of money from one country to another due to economic, cultural, social, political, and other reasons. the central bank in every country usually keeps a record of such money transactions through various financial intermediaries. every country has its own money, which can only be accepted for use within its territory. hence, the establishment of foreign money became necessary. foreign money is the money of other countries of the world which serves as money in the foreign exchange market. the researcher’s study time-series data to attempt to establish a strong statistical way for forecasting a future rate of exchange of the us dollar over the iraqi dinar basis on previous data here on the exchange rate of the us dollar and the iraq dinar. using the historic date of the exchange rate of the local currency against the foreign currency, this statistical tool can be used to forecast the rate of exchange of any foreign currency. the most common technique in time series is box-jenkins modeling. the other name of it is autoregressive integrated moving average (arima) modeling. recent work on arima forecasting has revealed an apparent accuracy for forecasting. arima models have been applied for us dollar/iq dinar currency exchange rates time series forecasting. in this work, the original dataset has 132 observations. arima modeling was used to forecast two years ahead of data. the rest of the paper is structured as the following: section 2 describes the methodology of box jenkins and provides a brief introduction to the theory of arima model building. section 3 introduces the data used in this study and follows the arima procedure for building an adequate model for the forecasting exercise and discusses the results. finally, section 4 is devoted to conclusions.[1-5] corresponding author: parzhin a. mohammed, department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq,. e-mail: parzhin.mohammrd@su.edu.krd received: november 29, 2021 accepted: january 02, 2022 published: february 10, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp12-19 copyright © 2022 parzhin a. mohammed, sami a. obed, israa m. ali, dler h. kadir. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mohammed, et al.: time series forecasting using arima model 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 12-19 methodology this section introduces some basic definitions and concepts. time series a time series is a collection of correlated observations made in a specific order across time. a discrete-time series is one in which the set t0 of times at which observations are taken is discrete, such as when they are conducted at fixed intervals. when observations are recorded continuously across a time interval, such as when t0 = [0, 1], a continuous-time series is obtained. if we want to emphasize that observations are recorded continuously, we’ll use the notation (t) rather than x.[6,7] stationary time series the first and second moments of a stochastic process xt are deemed stationary although they are time-invariant. to put it another way, if the first criterion is met, xt is stationary, meaning that all members of a stationary stochastic process have the same constant mean. for example, a time series generated by a stationary stochastic process must vary around a constant mean and not show a trend. the variances are often time-invariant due to the second requirement. the variance σ µ2 2 x t xe x= −[ ( ) ]=0 is independent of t when k = 0. furthermore, the covariance e [(xt−μx) (xt−k−μx)] = γk depends only on the distance in time k between the two members of the process, not on t.[8,9] time series models a time series model for observed data xt is a description of the joint distributions (or, in some cases, just the means, and covariance) of a set of random variables xt, where xt is supposed to represent a realization.[10] autoregressive (ar) model a process {xt} is said to be an ar model of an order p, abbreviated ar (p), is of the form. xt=∅1 xt−1+ ∅2 xt−2+….+ ∅p xt−p+ϵt (1) where it xt is stationary, ∅1, ∅2,…., ∅p, are constants (∅p≠0).[11] moving average (ma) model a process {xt} is called to be the ma model of order q, or ma (q) model, is identified to be xt = ϵt−θ1 ϵt−1−θ2 ϵt−2−…− θq ϵt−q (2) where there are q lags in the ma and θ1, θ2,….θp (θp≠0) are parameters.[11] arma model the process {xt, t = 0, ± 1, ± 2.,}is said to be an arma(p, q) process if {xt} is stationary and if for all the t, xt−∅1 xt−1− −∅p xt−p= εt+ θ1 εt−1+ +θq εt−q (3) where {ϵt} ~ n (0,σ2). we say that {xt} is an arma (p, q) process with mean μ. if xt−μ} is an arma (p, q) process.[7] arima model if the dth difference zt = ∇dxt is a stationary arma process, a time series {xt} is said to follow an integrated arma model. we state that {xt} is an arima (p, d, q) process if {zt} follows an arma (p, q) model. fortunately, we can typically take d=1 or 0 greater than for practical purposes.[9] consider an arima (p, 1, q) process. with zt = xt−xt−1, we have zt= ∅1 zt−1+ ∅2 zt−2+…+ ∅p zt−p+ϵt−θ1 ϵt−1–θ2 ϵt−2… −θq ϵt−q (4) stages of time -series model building the process of a three-step adaptive approach is used to build an arima model. first, previous data analysis helps to identify a probable model of a time series model class. second, the model’s unknown parameters are approximated. finally, diagnostics checks are carried out through residue left models to analyze the model’s appropriateness or to predict possible developments. then, we will go through each of these processes in any further context.[12] identification to make the data stable, it may have to be pre-processed. some of the other four stages below must be followed to achieve stationarity: 1start by looking at it. 2rescale it using a logarithmic or exponential transform, for example. 3take out the deterministic elements. 4and that is the distinction. to put it another way, take ∇(b)d x until you reach a stop. in most cases, d = 1,2 will enough. the autocorrelations decline to zero exponentially fast, indicating that the system is stationary. we can try to fit an arma (p, q) model when the series is stationary. the correlogram � 0  ˆ  /kkr γ γ= and partial autocorrelations ˆ kk∅ are considered. the following observations have previously been made. both the sample acf and pacf, as previously mentioned, have a standard deviation of around 1/n, where n is the length of the series. a good rule of thumb is that acf and pacf values between ±2/√n are inconsequential. for k > max (p, q), the kth order sample acf and pacf decay geometrically in an arma (p, q) process, as shown in table 1.[13,14] estimations of parameters various methods, such as the moment method, least squares, maximum likelihood, and yule-walker estimate, can also table 1: theoretical acf and pacf properties for stationary processes process acf pacf ar (p) tails off as exponential decay or damped sine wave cuts off after lag p ma (q) cuts off after lag q tails off as exponential decay or damped sine wave arma (p, q) tails off after lag (q-p) tail off after lag (q-p) mohammed, et al.: time series forecasting using arima model 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 12-19 be used to predict the values as in the tentatively defined model.[12] verification of the model the box-jenkins methodology’s confirmation procedure is rather extensive. the predicted model’s compliance with the examined data must be confirmed using various diagnostic tests.[15] forecasting[12] once a suitable time series model has been fitted, it may be used to create forecasts of observations in the future. if the current time will be is denoted by t, the forecast for xt +τ is named the τ -period-ahead forecast, then denoted by ( )  ˆ ttx τ+ . the mean squared error, which is the averaged value of the squares prediction error, is the conventional criterion to use in getting the best forecast, ( ) 2     2ˆe[( t ) ] e [  ( ) ]t ttx ex τ τ τ+ +− = is minimized. it can be seen that the best forecast in the mean square sense is the conditional expectation of xt +τ given current and previous observations, that is, xt, xt−1,…. x x x xt t t t� |) ( , ,...)�� + + −=τ τ(t e 1 (5) consider, for example, an arima (p, d, q) process at time t+τ (i.e., τ a period in the future): x xt i p d i t i t i q i t+ = + + − + = += + −+ ∅∑ ∑τ τ τ τδ θ 1 1   (6) and box jenkins described the flow chart shown in figure 1.[16] the dependable statistical standards to test forecasting model mean absolute error (mae) ( ) ( ) n 1t 1 1 | |e 1      n ˆ |  |ˆ n t t n t t t t t y y nmae y y n n == = − = = = − ∑∑ ∑ (7) where t = time period, n = total number of observations, and et = (observed value forecasted value) at time t.[17] root mean square error (rmse)[1] this is simply the square root of mse: 2 1 )    ˆ( n t t t y y rmse mse n = − = = ∑ (8) application on realdata data description the dataset used in this analysis is monthly us dollar/iq dinar currency exchange rates time series forecasting using the arima model. all the data were collected from the website (sa.investing.com).data were collected for the period january 2010 to december 2020. there were overall 132 observations. the statistical analysis was computationally implemented in the stat graphics 15 software, as shown in table 2. time series plots the monthly exchange rate between the us dollar/iq dinar is depicted in the data set’s time series plot. because the variation in the size of the fluctuations with time is referred to as nonstationary in the variance, the plot reveals that the data is clear of being non-stationary in the mean and variance, seasonal, and trend patterns with an increasing variety of variance, as shown in figure 2. randomness test first of all, the randomness test of the one series should be made using the box-pierce test. the null hypotheses are the time series are random, versus the alternative hypotheses of non-randomness, to know that the data has a certain behavior than having a random behavior. as explained in table 3 for the series; as p < 0.05 to every series, therefore null hypotheses were rejected, meaning that the one-time series are not random series. the hypothesis was as follows for the exchange rate us dollar/iq dinar the series. figure 1: depicts the box-jenkins model-building methodology figure 2: time series plot of the original monthly exchange rate usd/iqd data from 1 january 2010 to 31 december 2020 mohammed, et al.: time series forecasting using arima model 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 12-19 table 2: monthly average us dollar/iq dinar currency exchange rates data for the period 1 january 2010–31 december 2020 years 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 january 1169.00 1166 1163.5 1163.25 1163.8 1164 1175.9 1181 1184.05 1186.43 1189.4 february 1165.9 1175 1163 1163 1163 1165 1196.44 1175 1184.05 1186.43 1189 march 1170 1175 1160.9 1160 1163.55 1163 1170 1166 1184 1189 1187.62 april 1170.1 1165 1160.9 1157 1162 1164 1165.7 1166 1185.24 1186.43 1187.62 may 1168 1166 1162.25 1145 1162.5 1165 1169.4 1167 1186.43 1186.43 1189 june 1168 1166 1162 1160.5 1162.9 1162 1167.2 1166 1190 1186.4 1187.62 july 1170.03 1166.05 1162.05 1162.5 1164.2 1156 1168 1167 1186.43 1186.43 1187.62 august 1171 1166 1162 1164 1161.3 1145 1162.7 1177.73 1186.43 1186.2 1187.62 september 1169.2 1166 1162 1163.8 1163.05 1131 1162.7 1166.1 1186.43 1186.43 1187.62 october 1169.05 1167 1162 1164 1162 1122 1164 1166 1186.43 1189 1189 november 1169.47 1167 1162 1160.8 1160 1108 1160.3 1182.8 1186.43 1187.62 1187.62 december 1166.5 1166.3 1163 1163.8 1142 1095 1181 1184 1186.43 1187.62 1459 figure 3: exchange rate usd/iqd series plot after non-seasonal differencing of orders one h0: the series is random h1: the series is not random data transformation after proving the non-randomness of the exchange rate us dollar/iq dinar time series, it can be concluded that all the data series have a certain behavior, so to overcome this behavior we will try to transform the data series, each according to its behavior. then, the data were transformed, for instance, a non-seasonal difference of order one for the variable. then, the series was tested again to test the existence of randomness. the hypotheses were accepted when p > 0.05 as shown in table 4. the hypothesis for the exchange rate usd/iqd series was as follows. h0: the series is random h1: the series is not random. it can be noticed that all the data series were accepted to be random after the transformations made on the series. stationary the series under consideration must satisfy the condition of being stationary; that is, the mean and variance are independent of time throughout the series. the original series needs to be differentiated to make the series stationary around meaning and to get stationary around variance for the series, we make transformations the rest original series exchange rate us dollar/iq dinar is needed non-seasonal differencing of order one transform to achieve stationary, figure 3 show the differenced series. to identify the entire order of the models for the series, we investigate the autocorrelation function (acf) and partial acf (pacf) for the original data. the acf and pacf plots are displayed in the figure 4 series. the estimated autocorrelations and pacf between corrected data values at various lags are shown in this table. the auto-correlation coefficient lag k determines between table 3: hypothesis of randomness test and p-value for data series box-pierce test p-value decision exchange rate usd/iqd 0.000 (snr) table 4: hypothesis of randomness test and p-value for transformed data series box-pierce test p-value decision exchange rate usd/iqd 1 (sr) the residuals at time t-k and time t is related and the partial autocorrelation coefficient measures the correlation between the residuals at time t and time t+k having accounted for the correlations at all lower lags 95.0% probability bounds around 0 are also indicated. there is a statistically significant association at the 95.0% confidence level if the probability bounds for a certain lag do not contain the calculated coefficient. the 95.0% probability bounds around 0 are also indicated. there is a statistically significant association at the 95.0% confidence level if the probability bounds for a certain lag do not contain the calculated coefficient. at the 95.0% confidence level, none of the 24 partial autocorrelation coefficients are statistically significant. the same procedure was conducted for the series; table 5 through table 6 contain that. mohammed, et al.: time series forecasting using arima model 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 12-19 table 5: estimated autocorrelations for adjusted exchange rate usd/iqd lag autocorrelation standard error. lower 95.0%probability. limit upper 95.0%probability. limit 1 0.260945 0.087038 -0.170593 0.170593 2 0.211871 0.092776 -0.181839 0.181839 3 0.189218 0.096372 -0.188886 0.188886 4 0.174333 0.099146 -0.194324 0.194324 5 0.16255 0.101442 -0.198824 0.198824 6 0.160989 0.103397 -0.202654 0.202654 7 0.16544 0.105279 -0.206343 0.206343 8 0.16592 0.10723 -0.210168 0.210168 9 0.167997 0.109158 -0.213946 0.213946 10 0.178883 0.111099 -0.217751 0.217751 11 0.187412 0.11326 -0.221986 0.221986 12 0.170011 0.115586 -0.226544 0.226544 13 0.140489 0.117465 -0.230227 0.230227 14 0.1297 0.118731 -0.232709 0.232709 15 0.127231 0.119799 -0.234803 0.234803 16 0.128438 0.120819 -0.236801 0.236801 17 0.127931 0.121849 -0.23882 0.23882 18 0.132377 0.122862 -0.240806 0.240806 19 0.131391 0.123938 -0.242914 0.242914 20 0.119234 0.124989 -0.244974 0.244974 21 0.126591 0.125847 -0.246657 0.246657 22 0.120522 0.126808 -0.24854 0.24854 23 0.10901 0.127673 -0.250235 0.250235 24 0.0940275 0.128376 -0.251614 0.251614 figure 4: the original monthly acf and pacf for the us dollar/iq dinar exchange rate data after we take the differenced series for the exchange rate, which is transformed into a stationary series of the mean and the variance, the acf and pacf plots of the differenced series show that all the lags are within the confidence limits as shown in the mentioned figure 5. choosing appropriate model after checking for stationary of the time series’ mean and variance, the model identification process is used to determine the adequate model given the acf and pacf. the appropriate model for the series is shown in table 7. at least the rmse and mae are used to determine the best models. model identification after getting on the stationary for the time series study, the acf and pacf are shown in the table accordingly for stationary data. we will examine the data in acf and pacf. the arima model for the exchange rate variable is obtained (2,1,0)12. estimation it was found that the best model describing the exchange rate us dollar/iq dinar series mentioned above, the parameters were estimated, as shown in table 8. mohammed, et al.: time series forecasting using arima model 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 12-19 model diagnostic checking the residuals for the fitted model should be just white noise for forecasting a good model; in other words, the chosen model has exhausted the whole behavior of the series. as a result, we compute and plot the acf and pacf of the residuals; we want to find no significant acf or pacf. furthermore, the fitted model should accurately predict the future. autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation of residual test the residual acf and pacf of the models that we develop will be checked. also, the model needs to pass the test for randomness of the residuals to prove that the model chosen has exhausted the data and that there are no significant remaining to be explained in the data. after the model diagnostics figure 5: acf and pacf of exchange rate time series after non-seasonal differencing of order one table 6: estimated partial autocorrelations for adjusted exchange rate usd/iqd lag partial autocorrelation standard. error lower 95.0%probability. limit upper 95.0%probability. limit 1 0.260945 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 2 0.154285 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 3 0.112343 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 4 0.0880657 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 5 0.0712356 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 6 0.0682761 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 7 0.0702673 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 8 0.0654201 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 9 0.0633015 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 10 0.0712627 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 11 0.073625 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 12 0.0458525 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 13 0.0129112 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 14 0.00989309 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 15 0.0141497 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 16 0.0192469 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 17 0.0192278 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 18 0.0242387 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 19 0.0214791 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 20 0.00718463 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 21 0.0199373 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 22 0.0126535 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 23 0.00311673 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 24 -0.00737107 0.0870388 -0.170593 0.170593 table 7: evaluation of arima models no. model rmse mae 1 arima (1,1,0) (2,1,2)12 27.219 7.557 2 arima (1,1,1) (1,0,1)12 25.798 5.959 3 arima (1,1,2) ( 2,0,1)12 25.717 6.122 4 arima (1,1,2) (1,0,1)12 25.615 6.121 5 arima (2,1,2) (2,0,1)12 25.845 6.020 6 arima (0,1,1) (1,0,1)12 25.698 5.965 7 arima (0,1,1)12 25.549 5.733 8 arima (1,1,1)12 25.648 5.736 9 arima (2,1,0)12 25.494 5.664 10 arima (1,1,0)12 25.549 5.729 mohammed, et al.: time series forecasting using arima model 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 12-19 process, we can do further forecasts. plots are displayed in the figure 6 series. goodness of fit test it is possible to know the adequate model arima (2,1,0) for the exchange rate usd/iqd time series repeatedly using the box and pierce test. the null hypothesis is not rejected because the p-value is more than 0.05 and the model above is acceptable, implying that the residuals are also random and that the forecast will be adequate and dependable, as shown in table 9. forecasting after diagnosing the fitted model and selected as the best one, the final step comes forward forecasting. it is time to use the specified model for forecasting future values starting from january 2021 until december 2022, as shown in table 10 and figure 7. table 8: function model, parameter estimate for series model series model function model parameter estimate θ1 � θ2 � ∅1 � ∅2 � θ1 � θ2 � φ1 � φ2 � exchange rate arima (2,1,0)12 − −∆ = ∅ ∆ + ∅ ∆ +1 1 2 1t t t tz z z e -0.28 -0.01 table 9: hypothesis and p-value for the residual series model series model hypothesis p-value exchange rate arima (2,1,0)12 null hypothesis (h0): adequate model alternative hypothesis( h1): not adequate model 0.241 table 10: forecasting monthly average exchange rate usd/iqd series for the 24 months using arima (2,1,0) 12 model years months forecast lcl ucl 2021 january 1456.25 1405.81 1506.69 february 1379.31 1308.39 1450.24 march 1380.98 1301.65 1460.32 april 1402.79 1315.71 1489.86 may 1402.06 1306.26 1497.86 june 1395.88 1292.15 1499.62 july 1396.16 1285.46 1506.87 august 1397.91 1280.63 1515.19 september 1397.81 1274.21 1521.41 october 1397.32 1267.71 1526.93 november 1397.35 1262.02 1532.68 december 1397.49 1256.67 1538.31 2022 january 1397.48 1251.38 1543.58 february 1397.44 1246.23 1548.65 march 1397.44 1241.3 1553.58 april 1397.45 1236.53 1558.38 may 1397.45 1231.88 1563.02 june 1397.45 1227.36 1567.54 july 1397.45 1222.96 1571.94 august 1397.45 1218.67 1576.24 september 1397.45 1214.48 1580.43 october 1397.45 1210.38 1584.53 november 1397.45 1206.37 1588.54 december 1397.45 1202.44 1592.46 mohammed, et al.: time series forecasting using arima model 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 12-19 conclusion the results of the analysis show that the time series data was not stationary around the mean and the variance. this means that almost all data of this kind should be different to remove any sort of trend influence on the data. because such series deal with metrology, fluctuations in the data for monthly us dollar/iq dinar currency exchange rates are to be expected. the rmse and mae are being used to select the best model. the arima model was found to be the better model for the series data arima (2,1,0)12. this is the forecasted means for the future of this us dollar against iq dinar time series which indicates a perpetual increase in the exchange rate. references 1. j. e. buet, g. m. barber and d. l. rigby. elementary statistics for geographers. 3rd ed. new york: the guilford press, 2009. 2. w. a. fuller. introduction to statistical time series. 2nd ed. canada: john wiley and sons, inc., 1996. 3. a. k. farhan and m. r. fakhir. forecasting the exchange rates of the iraqi dinar against the us dollar using the time series model (arima). international journal of engineering and management research, vol. 9, pp. 2394-6962, 2019. 4. e. p. clement. time series approach to forecasting rate analysis between nigeria naira and the u.s dollar. international journal of statistics and applications statistics, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 76-84, 2014. 5. d. h. kadir. time series modeling to forecast on consuming electricity: a case study analysis of electrical consumption in erbil city from 2014 to 2018. journal of al rafidain university college, vol. 46, pp. 473-485, 2020. 6. g. e. p. box and g. m. jenkins. time series analysis forecasting and control. 4th ed. usa: library of congress catalog card number. 76-8713, 1976. 7. p. j. brockwell and r. a. davis. time series: theory and methods. 2nd ed. usa, new york: springer science and business media, llc, 233 spring street, 2006. 8. h. lutkepohul and m. kratzig. applied time series econometrics. new york: the united states of america by cambridge university press; 2004. 9. j. cryer and k. chan. time series analysis with applications. 2nd ed. usa, new york: springer science and business media, llc, 233 spring street, 10013, 2008. 10. p. j. brockwell and r. a. davis. introduction to time series and forecasting. 2nd ed. new york: springer-verlag, inc.; 2002. 11. r. s. shumway and d. s. stoffer. time series analysis and its applications with r example. 3rd ed. usa, new york: springer science and business media, llc, 233 spring street, 2011. 12. d. c. montgomery, c. l. jennings and m. kulahci. introduction to time series analysis and forecasting. 2nd ed. canada, hoboken, new jersey: john wiley and sons. inc., 2016. 13. w. wei. time series analysis: univariate and multivariate methods. 2nd ed. usa: greg tobin, 2006. 14. a. omer, h. blbas and d. kadir d. a comparison between brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing for forecasting applied generation electrical energies in kurdistan region. cihan university erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 56-63, 2021. 15. t. cipra. time series in economics and finance. nature, switzerland, ag, 2020. 16. g. e. p. box, g. m. jenkins and g. c. reincel. time series analysis forecasting and control. 3rd ed. hoboken, new jersey: prenticehall, inc., 1994. 17. r. a. yaffee and m. mcgee. introduction to time series analysis and forecasting with applications of sas and spss. tokyo, toronto: academic press, inc.; 1996. figure 6: acf and pacf of residuals model figure 7: original usd/iqd series, forecasted values, and confidence limits using arima (2,1,0)12 model for the period january 2021–december 2022, forecast (24 months) tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 36-40 research article the essential pheromonal elements of preputial glands of castrated and testosterone-treated mice merza h. homady1, ali a. majeed2, maysoon t. al-haideri3, mustafa t. younis4 1department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq, 2department of pathological analyses, faculty of sciences, kufa university, kufa, iraq, 3department of physiotherapy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of general biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the present study investigated the effects of both castration and treatment of castrated subjects with 0.1 ml of 50 µg/kg/day of testosterone at 3 weeks of age for 6 weeks on the pheromonal and histological structure of male mice preputial gland. the preputial gland results from the control intact group showed that six essential pheromonal compounds are present, whereas the glandular structure revealed well-developed acini with basement membrane and connective tissue around most of them. these findings also showed that castration has deleterious effects on the essential pheromonal compounds which are reduced to two compounds only (the α.-farnesene and 1- tetradecanol) as well as the histological sections from such subject appeared many atrophied vacuolated acini. on the other hand, the treatment of castrated animals with such dose of testosterone did not show any marked effects on the essential pheromonal compounds, but it was able to restore the activities of acinar development as showed by many hypertrophied alveoli. keywords: testosterone, pheromones, histology, preputial, castration introduction chemical communications are important in the social lives of many species of mammals; several of these chemicals are referred to as pheromones.[1,2] the term pheromone was created and described based on findings in insects, but whether the original definition can be applied to mammals which is still discussed.[3] when mice are stressed, they emit a specific odor into the air; because this stressrelated odor causes anxiety in the other mice, it is likely that some anxiogenic molecules are present in this odor.[2,4] pheromones have been characterized to generate either signaling activity that results in a rapid change in motor activity by the recipient, which on detection rapidly initiate behavior such as aggression or fear[5] or priming pheromones that trigger rather slower neuroendocrine or endocrine changes in the recipient.[6,7] pheromones are mainly found in the preputial glands and urine of male mice, according to numerous studies.[8] it is very well known that many of the volatile plant compounds normally found in insect natural habitats alter the perception from their own pheromone when introduced separately as a background to pheromone. olfactory communication is key for insects and rodents since it aids in the identification and location of critical resources including a food source, a mate, and threat.[9-11] chemical information exchanges are therefore not only crucial to insects or rodents but also to the functioning of the species network that makes up a community. once released into the atmosphere, these ecologically relevant signals and cues are carried by airflows, diluted, and mixed with other volatile organic compounds to form a complex and changing olfactory landscape.[12,13] the preputial glands are androgen-dependent organ; testosterone is the most well-known androgen, which is derived from dihydrotestosterone. furthermore, the activity of the preputial glands is reliant on the melanocortin 5-receptor (mc5r), that is, one of the melanocortin receptors (mcrs) are a fami1y of five g protein-coupled receptors (gpcrs; mc1r–mc5r) expressed in varied tissues, each of which serves a distinct physiological function.[14,15] because the preputial gland is a vital gland that plays an important role in the development of behavior-modifying “pheromones” in cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: merza h. homady, department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq. e-mail: merza.homady@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 20, 2022 accepted: july 18, 2022 published: august 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp36-40 copyright © 2022 merza h. homady, ali a. majeed, maysoon t. al-haideri, mustafa t. younis. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). homady, et al.: pheromonal elements of mice preputial glands in relation to endocrine factors 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 36-40 mice, it is significantly influenced by a variety of hormones and medicinal herbs. up to our knowledge, there was no work that has done on gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (gc-ms) analysis the histological structure and major pheromonal molecules of this pheromone producing glands. the present research is aimed to investigate the effects of both castration and treatment of the castrated subjects with testosterone on the histological structure and pheromonal compounds of the preputial gland. methodology chemical (hormone) preparation all preparations administration by injection was given as “oily solution.” the oil vehicle used for these injections was a combination of one part of ethyl oleate (bhd, poole, dorset) to four parts of arachis oil (hopkin and williams, essex). almond oil was contrasted with this preparation as there are suggestions that arachis oil have estrogen action.[16] hormones were obtained in crystalline form as free alcohols from sigma ltd. (london). preparation of a compound for injection consisted of weighing the required amount of steroid, dissolving it in ethanol (analar grade from bdh, poole, dorset) and making the resultant solution up to a volume of 100 ml with oil vehicle. as 0.1 ml was generally injected, calculations were based on the quantity of material in this volume. preparation of testosterone solution: one tablet of testosterone (50 mg) (testosterone-austrian) was taken and followed by the same procedure mentioned above, to get a concentration of 50 µg/ml testosterone. injections were performed using all – tuberculin, lure filling syringe (rocket, london) all syringes and other glass were cleaned before use in decon 90. the needle was 23 × 1 gauge (arnold r. horwell ltd. london). hormonal solutions were usually injected daily for 42 days into the thigh muscle (alternating legs on consecutive days). experimental design tuck ordinary (to) strain albino mice have been bred and kept in the animal house unit of kufa university’s faculty of sciences under controlled circumstances of 12 h light: 12 h darkness. the subjects were retained in plastic cages. sawdust bedding was used, as well as food and water were provided on an ad libitum basis. animals housed in groups of comparable age (3 weeks) were assigned to the categories listed below: a. intact male mice received tap-water as a positive control, (n = 7) b. castrated animals were given tap water as experimental control, (n = 7) c. castrated subjects delivered daily with 0.1 ml of 50 µg/kg/day of testosterone from 3 weeks of age for 6 weeks. castration experimental mice were anesthesia before surgery with (500 mg ketamine + 20 mg 4/1 xylazine) for 15 min. the basic operation in these experiments was bilateral castration. after inducing general anesthesia with ketamine and xylazine and disinfecting the scrotum with 75% a1cohol, a small midline incision was made, the spermatic vessels were tied with 4.0 silk sutures, and the testes were removed. the incision was then closed with 4.0 silk sutures. mice were transformed on recovery to clean cages. assessment of pheromones before extraction, the glands are thawed at room temperature and the yellowish secretion is gathered into a clear vial by squishing, then the secretion is collected and added 1.5 ml of dichloromethane into the vial, and after 24 h, the supernatant is removed and the remaining solution stored at 0°c until gc-ms analysis within 1 week.[17] conjunction of both gc-ms was used. histological analysis mice were killed by the end of the experiment by over dose of ketamine and xylazine, and the preputial glands were used for histological investigation under light microscope. the histological methods used have been processed according to bancroft.[18] results biochemical analysis the results of table 1 showing the essential pheromonal compounds present in the preputial gland of intact control mice were six compounds, whereas these compounds are reduced in castrated animals to two only (α.-farnesene and l-tetradecanol). the treatment of castrated subjects with 0.1 ml of 50 µg/kg/day of testosterone appeared two essential compounds only (1-tetradecanol acetate and 1-hexadecanol). histology of the preputial glands the intact control group’s preputial gland was observed under the microscope and revealed normal structure [figures 1 and 2]. the gland is covered with thick connective tissue capsule, from which trabeculae protrude into the interior, partitioning the parenchymatous tissues into lobes and lobules at varied stages of growth. many acini have hypertrophied with healthy ovalshaped nuclei and numerous normal cytoplasmic organelles. the acini are bordered with basal cells that are more evident. the gland has a wide excretory duct which drains into the preputial cavity and has a broad lumen lined by stratified squamous epithelium. sections of preputial glands from castrated group [figures 3 and 4] showed atrophied acini and most of them are vacuolated with increased connective tissue capsule. in addition, the basal cells are fewer in number as compared to the control normal group. testosterone treatment of castrated animals has dramatic effects on the gland structure. such dose of testosterone was able to increase the extent of acinar development which is resulted in glandular hypertrophy with many acini at various stages of development. the parenchymatous acini were compact and many fused to form irregular masses [figures 5 and 6]. discussion the use of olfactory communication is wide-spread throughout the animal kingdom, as genetic, hormonal variations, social homady, et al.: pheromonal elements of mice preputial glands in relation to endocrine factors 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 36-40 imprinting, overall health, environmental factors, dietary changes, and other factors all appear to have a significant impact on how chemo signals are discharged and perceived in the sense of competition for reproductive potential.[19] at present, a different researcher uses the term “pheromone” in the sense of mammals with much less apprehension. this can be attributed, at least in part, to (i) recent groundbreaking research identifying the ubiquity of receptor proteins found in olfactory neurons, (ii) a better understanding of the “chemically selective” vomeronasal organ, and (iii) the evidence that distinct behavioral and hormonal responses in mammals can also be caused by a single chemical substance or a relatively simple synthetic mixture.[20,21] it is much easier to understand pheromone – protein interactions with a various of smaller soluble binding proteins. a number of these proteins may be involved in what are known as perireceptor events.[22] the main source of pheromones in the mice are preputial glands that are rich in wax esters, triglycerides, and table 1: the essential pheromonal compounds present in the preputial glands of: intact control mice, castrated, and castrated treated with testosterone number of essential pheromones control (intact subjects) castrated subjects castrated treated with testosterone 1 -farnesene β 2 (e)α.-farnesene and α.-farnesene α.-farnesene 3 1tetradecanol 1tetradecanol 1-tetradecanol acetate 4 1-hexadecanol 1-hexadecanol 5 1-hexadecanol, acetate 6 tetradecanol, acetate figure 1: h&e-stained cross histological section of intact mouse’s preputial glands, exposing the stroma, trabecular system, and capsule (×100) figure 2: the acini and basal cells are visible in a cross histological section of intact mice’s preputial glands stained with h&e (×400) figure 3: a cross histological section of castrated mice’s preputial glands stained with h&e displays acini depletion and that most of them are vacuolated (arrow) (×100) figure 4: transverse histological section of castrated mice’s preputial glands stained with h&e exhibits atrophied acini (arrow) and fewer basal cells (×400) homady, et al.: pheromonal elements of mice preputial glands in relation to endocrine factors 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 36-40 alkyl-2,3-diacylglycerols and are believed to play a role in behavioral interactions through the release of pheromones.[20] the mc5r gene is expressed in the central nervous system and in a variety of peripheral tissues, especially in the skin. the encoded protein is involved in different physiological processes, including lipid metabolism, exocrine function, and pro-inflammatory activity.[23] mc5r belongs to a group of mcrs in the melanocortin system, and each one plays a major role in the body’s physiological activities. when the mc5r gene was disrupted in transgenic mice, it disrupted their exocrine glands, resulting in a decrease in sebum production.[24,25] according to morgan and cone,[26,27] the preputial gland of rodents expresses the mc5r and secretes pheromones that encourage aggressiveness. a pheromone signal that suppresses aggression is disinhibited by mc5r deficiency. gpcrs are essential for bringing various external signals into cells and controlling a number of physiological processes. mc5r deficiency produces a preputial defect that abolishes trophic responsiveness to melanocortins.[28] it was noted that castration markedly reduced preputial gland size and sebum content. indeed, the preputial and other sex accessory organs of adult rodents seem largely dependent on continued androgenic stimulation for their differentiation and the preservation of their normal structure and function.[29] in addition, castration in the present study has a depressed effect on the essential pheromone compounds which resulted two compounds only the (α.-farnesenes and 1tetradecanol) as compared with the normal control subjects. these findings are in agreement with zhang et al.[30] of the identification of essential pheromonal compounds. the histological sections from such subject appeared atrophied preputial acini with most of them which are vacuolated. these results explanted the findings of homady[31] when he demonstrated that castration has harmful effects on the preputial glands of male mice. reducing androgens by castration, hypophysectomy, or application of antiandrogenic compounds (such as oestrogen and flutamide) results in structural involution of mice, rat ҆s sex – accessory organs, indicated by cellular atrophy, depressed size and organization of cellular organelles, disorganization and loss of granular endoplasmic reticulum, decreased numbers of free ribosomes and secretory granules, nuclear shrinkage, depleted mitochondria, loss of acid, and alkaline phosphatase activity and abolition of metabolic and functional activities.[19,32] the histochemical analysis of preputial glands from castrated mice treated with testosterone appeared two types of the essential pheromonal compounds (1-hexadecanol and 1-tetradecanol acetate). these findings suggested that such dose of testosterone did not restore the essential compounds which can be attributed to dose effect. these findings are agreed with the findings of[19,33] who demonstrated that castrated male mice treated with testosterone maintained the activity of this gland as well as sexual behavior of castrated mice. in the present findings, testosterone treatment was able to restore the preputial histology structure to limit extent which appears that it is a dose dependent. actually, testosterone appears to be a precursor to a number of other steroids and many only exert its physiological and behavioral actions after metabolic conversions. these transformations may increases the variety of candidates for behavioral control with particular pathway having differing importance in different species enabling organisms with the ability to influence two or more targets relatively independently.[34,35] up to our knowledge, there was no works were conducted using gc-ms on preputial glands of castrated or castrated treated subjects with testosterone and this study was intended to fill this gap. conclusion in the current research, six combination of essential pheromones were identified in the normal intact subjects. therefore, it seems that castration has a deleterious effect on both gland activity and essential pheromonal compounds, whereas treatment with testosterone has significant effects to restore preputial activities but did not able to restore the major essential compounds that may be contributed to the lowest dose of testosterone used. figure 6: section from castrated mice treated with testosterone having their preputial glands stained with h&e, showing a welldeveloped stroma with some hypertrophied acini (arrow) in the central part (×400) figure 5: cross-section of the preputial glands of castrated treated mice with testosterone, stained with h&e, demonstrating the restructuring of some gland regions (×100) homady, et al.: pheromonal elements of mice preputial glands in relation to endocrine factors 40 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salih, m. m. al-jubori and m. d. younus. immunohistochemical and molecular studies of p53 and kras protein and their relations to colorectal carcinoma. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 28-33, 2021. 35. s. achiraman, d. s. ganesh, s. kannan, s. kamalakkannan, n. nirmala and g. archunan. response of male mice to odours of female mice in different stages of oestrous cycle: self-grooming behaviour and the effect of castration. indian journal of experimental biology, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 30-35, 2014. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 62-67 research article microbiological survey of ear infections in inhabitants of erbil city ameena s. m. juma, treska dh. kamil, muhsin h. ubeid department of medical microbiology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract this study was carried out to indicate the number of infected individuals with ear infection from different genders and ages determine the antibiotic sociability for the ear swab bacterial isolates. a total of 82 ear swabs were obtained in erbil city from various hospitals and laboratories. males made up 48 (59%) of the 81 samples, while females made up 33 (41%). 0–10 years had the most bacteria isolated from ear swabs, followed by 11–20 years and then 21–40 years. pseudomonas spp. was the most prevalent bacteria found in all of the swabs (43%). pathogenic bacteria were found in 70% of the samples, while no growth was seen in 30% of the swabs. many bacterial isolates were found to be sensitive to the antibiotic amikacin, which was determined to have the best effect on 35 of them. clotrimazole was shown to be the least effective antibiotic on numerous bacterial strains, with 19 being resistant. keywords: ear infection, antibiotic sensitivity test, pseudomonas, amikacin introduction infections of the ear can affect either the inner or outer ear. ear infections are divided into three different forms, according to the centers for disease control and prevention. acute otitis media (aom), otitis media with effusion (ome), and otitis externa, sometimes known as swimmer’s ear, are the three forms. children are the ones that get ear infections the most. according to the national institutes of health (nih), three out of every four children will have at least one ear infection by the age of three (nih).[1] a bacterial or viral infection of the middle ear is known as an ear infection. inflammation and fluid accumulation in the ear’s interior canals are caused by this illness. the middle ear is a space behind the eardrum which is exposed to air. it has vibrating bones that translate sound from outside the ear into impulses that the brain can understand. ear infections are unpleasant, because he inflammation causes the eardrum to swell.[2] the most common respiratory infection in children is middle ear infection, also recognized as otitis media. middle ear infection is caused mainly by streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcus). pneumococcal conjugate vaccines are being used to protect young children from severe pneumococcal infections such as meningitis and pneumonia.[3] ear infections can occur as a result of poor needle technique, excessive needle retention, or the patient’s inability to properly care for his or her ear just after treatment. because the ear has a lower blood circulation than the rest of the body, once an infection occurs or involves the cartilage, it will be extremely difficult to treat. infections that are severe enough can cause the ear to swell and the cartilage to deteriorate.[4] in general, there are three types of ear infections: aom (inflammation of the middle ear). the term “ear infection” is commonly used to refer to aom. if there is fluid in the middle ear, indications or symptoms of infection, and the onset of symptoms was relatively rapid, the doctor will most likely make this diagnosis. medial otitis with effusion, where the clinician finds evidence of fluid in the middle ear if the diagnosis is ome, but no signs or symptoms have appeared. chronic otitis media with suppuration is when a doctor confirms chronic suppurative otitis media (csom), he or she discovers that a persistent ear infection caused the eardrum to tear or perforate. antibiotics are not always effective to control ear infections. what is best for the patient is determined by several of factors, including the patient’s age and the severity of his or her symptoms.[5] corresponding author: treska dh. kamil, department of medical microbiology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: treska.kamil@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 20, 2022 accepted: july 11, 2022 published: august 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp62-67 copyright © 2022 ameena s. m. juma, treska dh. kamil, muhsin h. ubeid. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) juma, et al.: microbiological survey of ear infections in inhabitants of erbil city 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 62-67 infections of the ears are still a problem in the community. hearing loss affects 360 million individuals globally, 32 million of them are children.[6] during a year, 653,025 instances of middle ear infection were recorded in iraq, 1,737,214 cases in iran, 144,405 cases in jordan, 58,098 cases in kuwait and 463,669 cases in syria, and many other nations in the area (right diagnosis from health grades inc., 2015). otitis media was reported to affect 36.7% of the population in erbil city.[7] ear infections are a huge issue all across the world, as the below data demonstrate. in recent years, there has been some new information about this virus in the area. as a result, the following objectives were set for this research: record the number of ear infection cases in erbil city in relation to age and gender and to investigate the antibiotic sensitivity and resistance of the isolated bacteria to a variety of antibiotics. materials and methods study design this was a 4-month prospective research that was conducted from december 2017 to march 2018. in erbil city, the patients have been treated for ear infections at several hospitals and private laboratories. the samples of the study were collected from 82 patients, 48 men and 33 women. sample collection the presence of purulent material in all of the ear infections led the expert healthcare workers to conclude that they were infected. only one swab (sterilin, u.k.) was taken from each patient. each ear’s exudate was meticulously collected according to departmental regulations. to avoid the swabs drying out, the samples were delivered to the microbiology laboratory within 1 h of being collected. isolation and identification of bacteria swabs were inoculated on macconkey agar, chocolate agar, and blood agar (oxoid, u.k.) right away and incubated aerobically for 24–48 h at 37°c. due of logistical issues, anaerobic cultures were not performed. bacterial colonies on agar plates were identified using gram staining. bacterial isolates were identified and classified using biochemical techniques. standard microbiological procedures were used to characterize bacterial isolates.[8] gram stain, morphological and cultural features on agar, spore stain, motility and carbohydrate fermentation tests, nitrate reduction, catalase, hydrogen sulfide production, and indole production were among the tests that were performed. citrate utilization, gelatin liquefaction, the methyl red-voges proskaeur test, coagulase, hemolysis on blood agar, morphological and cultural characteristics on mannitol salt, and eosin-methylene blue agar are along with the other tests performed. antibiotic sensitivity test the kirby–bauer disk diffusion method was used to test antibiotic susceptibility, and the results were interpreted using the national committee for clinical laboratory standards’ recommendations. antibiotics that were applied included in the study: table 1 shows the antibiotics used in the susceptibility test on bacteria isolated from ear swabs. results swabs the total number of swabs collected in the current study was 81 ear swabs from different hospitals and private laboratories in erbil city. gender of patients from the 81 samples, 48 (59%) were male and 33 (41%) were female [figure 1]. table 1:list of antibiotics used to record the sensitivity and resistance of the isolated bacteria. abbreviation (mic*) antibiotic a (10 µg) actinomycin ak (10 µg) amikacin am (10 µg) ampicillin amc (25 µg) amoxicillin-clavulanic acid amk (30 µg) amikacin amp (10 µg) ampicillin at (10 µg) aztreonam auc (25 µg) amoxicillin-clavulanic acid az (30 µg) azlocillin c (30 µg) chloramphenicol caz (30 µg) ceftazidime cd (30 µg) cefdinir cec (30 µg) cefaclor cef (30 µg) cefazoline cep (30 µg) ceftriaxone cip (5 µg) ciprofloxacin cit (30 µg) citalopram clt (25 µg) clotrimazole cpo (5 µg) ciprofloxacin cro (30 µg) ceftriaxone cta (25 µg) closthioamide ctr (30 µg) ceftriaxone ctx (30 µg) cefaotaxime e (15 µg) erythromycin g (10 µg) penicillin gen (10 µg) gentamicin imp (30 µg) imipenem ip (30 µg) imipenem ipm (30 µg) imipenem mt (25 µg) metronidazole na (30 µg) nalidixic acid net (30 µg) netilmicin p (10 µg) penicillin pi (100 µg) piperacillin tcc (25 µg) ticarcillin-clavulanic acid ti (30 µg) ticarcillin tob (10 µg) tobramycin va (30 µg) vancomycin juma, et al.: microbiological survey of ear infections in inhabitants of erbil city 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 62-67 35 24 6 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 p se ud om on as s pp . n o gr ow th e sc he ric hi a co li s ta ph yl oc co cu s au re us k le bs ie lla p ne um on ia e c an di da s pp . a ci ne to ba ct er s pp . n es se ria g on or rh oe ae p ro te us s pp . p ro vi de nc ia s tu ar tii s er ra tia s pp . s ta ph yl oc oc cu s ch ro m og en es o ch ro ba ct ru m a nt hr op i figure 3: types and numbers of bacterial species cultured from ear infections 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 71-80 figure 4: ages of patients included in ear infections study bacterial isolates pseudomonas spp. was found to be the predominant bacteria isolated from ear infection, 35 (43%). no growth of bacteria represented 24 (30%) of the samples, while the other bacterial species showed a lower percentage [figures 2 and 3]. age of patients ear infections was found to be common in children, but they were found in all ages. the results showed that the children age group of (0–10) years had the highest number of cases for ear infections, compared to the other age groups [figure 4]. antibiotic sensitivity and resistance the antibiotic amikacin were found to have the best effect on many bacterial isolates, where 35 isolates were sensitive [figure 5a and b]. the antibiotic clotrimazole was found to be the least effective on many bacterial isolates, where 19 isolates were resistant [figure 6a and b]. discussion the most common cause of ear infections is a bacterial or viral infection of the middle ear, which is the air-filled space behind the eardrum that contains the tiny vibrating bones of the ear.[8] in many parts of the world, it is a public health issue.[9] another ear infection that affects the middle ear is otitis media, which is a common and major healthcare concern due to the significant economic burden it spots on the health-care system. eskimos, american indians, and australian aboriginal children, as well as dark-skin south africans, have been found to have a high prevalence. another major factor is poor living conditions and congestion. the widespread occurrence of csom in impoverished nations has been linked to poor hygiene and diet.[7] males were more affected (59%) than females, according to the findings of the present study (41%). according to other research, men are more likely than women to acquire ear infections.[10] the reason for sex dependence is still unknown.[11] ear infections are more common in children than in adults. due to the inflammation and fluid buildup in the middle ear, ear infections are typically severe. many studies in other regions, such as australia, found that indigenous children were more likely than non-indigenous children to get ear infections faster and much more severe.[12] similar results were obtained in our current study, where the highest number of cases was among the age group (0–10) followed by (11–20) years. aboriginal status was one of the most significant risk factors for otitis media in a population-based birth cohort research in canada.[13] the national longitudinal survey of children and youth in 1994/1995, on the other hand, found that 53% of newborn to three-year-old children, excluding those living on first nations reserves, had ear infections.[13] figure 1: males and females included in ear infections study 35 24 6 4 2 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 p se ud om on as s pp . n o gr ow th e sc he ric hi a co li s ta ph yl oc co cu s au re us k le bs ie lla p ne um on ia e c an di da s pp . a ci ne to ba ct er s pp . n es se ria g on or rh oe ae p ro te us s pp . p ro vi de nc ia s tu ar tii s er ra tia s pp . s ta ph yl oc oc cu s ch ro m og en es o ch ro ba ct ru m a nt hr op i figure 2: percentage of bacterial species cultured from ear infections of patients included in the study juma, et al.: microbiological survey of ear infections in inhabitants of erbil city 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 62-67 according to some sources, approximately 80% of children will be reported to have at least one episode of aom and between 80% and 90% will suffer at least one episode of ome before reaching school age. during an acute viral upper respiratory tract infection, aom is a complication of eustachian tube dysfunction. in 50% to 90% of instances of aom and ome, bacteria can be identified from middle ear fluid cultures.[14] furthermore, many studies have shown that breastfeeding protects against the development of otitis media.[10] this could be related to breast milk’s immunological features, which include antibodies to respiratory infections. furthermore, exposure to cigarette smoke has been linked to the development of ear infections in children, according to another study.[15] pseudomonas spp. was discovered to be the most common bacterial species (43%). pseudomonas infections are caused by gram-negative bacteria of the genus pseudomonas, particularly pseudomonas aeruginosa. they can be found in soil and water all around the planet. these bacteria can be found in wet environments such as sinks, toilets, poorly chlorinated swimming pools and hot tubs, and antiseptic treatments that are old or inactive. these bacteria are occasionally found in the armpits and genital tract area of healthy humans.[16] a high majority of cases (30%) showed no bacterial growth on the culture media used in the study. this could be due to bacteria that require media or incubation conditions to develop, or the bacteria could be anaerobic, or the cause could be fungal or viral. the antibiotic amikacin was shown to have the best effect on numerous bacterial isolates in this research, with 35 isolates being sensitive, while clotrimazole was found to be the least effective, with 19 isolates being resistant. antibiotic resistance is a regular phenomenon in most infections, with ear infections being among the most known.[17,18] in general, variations between the current study and other studies could be attributable to changes in inclusion criteria, sample sizes, microbiological approach, climate, and geographical areas, among other things.[19] conclusion a total of 81 ear swabs were collected in the present study from various hospitals and commercial laboratories in erbil city. of the 81 samples, 48 (59%) were male and 33 (41%) were female. the age group that had the highest number of bacteria isolated from ear swabs was 0–10 years followed by 11–20 years. the most common bacterial species isolated from all swabs were pseudomonas spp. (43%). most of the samples collected demonstrated the presence of pathogenic bacteria (70%), whereas 30% of the swabs demonstrated no growth. the antibiotic amikacin was found to have the best effect on many bacterial isolates, where 35 isolates were sensitive. the antibiotic clotrimazole was found to be the least effective on many bacterial isolates, where 19 isolates were resistant. figure 5 (a and b): antibiotic resistance of bacterial isolates from ear infection 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 c ip a k c n a to b g en n e t c r o c lt a m a t c e c tc c ti p i a m c m .t im p c tr c e f 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 c lt e c d p v a a m p c e p c tx c p o a a z a m k c ta ip m g a u c ip c a z b a juma, et al.: microbiological survey of ear infections in inhabitants of erbil city 66 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[last accessed on 2022 may 20]. 2. s. p. jacups, d. newman, d. dean, a. richards and k. m. mcconnon. an innovative approach to improve ear, nose and throat surgical access for remote living cape york indigenous children. journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology, vol. 100, pp. 225-231, 2017. 3. c. fortanier, r. p. venekamp, c. w. boonacker, e. hak, g. schilder, e. a. sanders and r. a. damoiseaux. pneumococcal conjugate vaccines for preventing acute otitis media in children. cochrane database of systematic reviews, vol. 2019, no. 5, pp. cd001480, 2019. 4. l. m. yin, g. h. jiang, y. wang, y. wang, y. y. liu, w. r. jin, y. d. xu, q. h. zhang and y. q. ang. use of serial analysis of gene expression to reveal the specific regulation of gene expression profile in asthmatic rats treated by acupuncture. journal of biomedical science, vol. 1606, pp. 16-46, 2009. 5. m. l. carlson. the history of otorhinolaryngology at mayo clinic. mayo clinic proceesdings, vol. 92, no. 2, pp. e25-e45, 2017. 6. b. impouma, b. n. archer, o. c. lukoya, e. l. hamblion and i. s. fall. world health organization regional office for africa weekly bulletin on outbreaks and other emergencies. emergencies, vol. 24, pp. 1392-12395, 2018. 7. f. j. khayat and l. s. dabbagh. incidence of otitis media with effusion in children with adenoid hypertrophy. zanco journal of medical sciences, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 57-63, 2011. 8. r. d. bradford, y. g. yoo, m. golemac, e. p. pugel, s. jonjic and w. j. britt. murine cmv-induced hearing loss is associated with inner ear inflammation and loss of spiral ganglia neurons. pols pathogens, vol. 11, no. 4, p. e1004774, 2015. 9. j. j. bardy, l. sanchez and a. s. carney. otitis media in indigenous australian children: review of epidemiology and risk factors. the journal of laryngology and otology, vol. 128, no. 1, pp. s16-s27, 2013. 10. k. kong and h. l. c. coates. natural history, definitions, risk factors and burden of otitis media. the medical journal of australia, vol. 191, no. s9, pp. s34-s43, 2009. 11. r. baraibar. incidence and risk factors of acute otitis media in children. clinical microbiology and infection, vol. 3, pp. 3s13-3s22, 1997. 12. v. yiengprugsawan and a. hogan. ear infection and its associated risk factors, comorbidity, and health service use in australian children. international journal of pediatrics, vol. 2013, pp. 963132, 2013. 13. e. a. macintyre, c. j. karr, m. koehoorn, p. demers, l. tamburic, c. lencar and m. brauer. otitis media incidence and risk factors in a. paediatrics and child health, vol. 15, no. 7, pp. 437-442, 2010. 14. a. qureishi, y. lee, k. belfield, j. p. birchall and m. daniel. update on otitis media-prevention and treatment. infection and drug resistance, vol. 10, no. 7, pp. 15-24, 2014. 15. e. m. thomas. recent trends in upper respiratory infections, ear figure 6 (a and b): antibiotic sensitivity of bacterial isolates from ear infection 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 c ip a k c n a to b g en n e t c r o c lt a m a t c 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stabilizer agents for soils. in the current investigation, textiled-poly bags (tpb) have been recycled and fabricated to be economy and environmentally-friendly fibers. the impact of utilizing different proportions and lengths of these fibers on the mechanical features of clayey soil has been evaluated. the investigation depended on four different fiber-proportions (1, 2, 3, and 4%) of soil weight in two different lengths (1 and 2) cm. geotechnical experimental test consequences demonstrated that the recycled fiber pieces minimize the optimum dry density and the corresponding optimum water content of the treated soil samples. in addition, there was a notable increment in the uniaxial compression test results of the treated soil samples. moreover, the consequences of california bearing ratio tests showed that the utilization of recycled tpb fibers in clayey soil samples enhances the resistance and deformation performance of the soils specially when utilizing 4% of recycled tpb fibers for both lengths (1 and 2) cm. this recycled fiber improves the strength features and dynamic behaviors of clayey soils. therefore, the recycled tpb fibers could be successfully utilized as reinforcement materials for the modification of clayey soils. keywords: environmentally friendly techniques, textiled-poly bags, recycled fibers, geotechnical experimental tests introduction the elimination of waste substances has become prevalent trouble in most of the world’s countries. accumulating this waste in huge amounts causes ecological and monetary troubles.[1] in iraq, the reports revealed that polypropene waste is the second largest solid waste after food waste.[2,3] because most plastic waste is non-biodegradable and can remain for several years, several states have planned to reduce or prevent the impact of such waste by recycling or reutilizing it in efficiently techniques in several fields.[4-7] several civil engineers have performed several investigations to discover successful techniques to minimize the contamination of these substances inclusive of reutilizing and recycling these substances in construction and geotechnical implementations as solutions to preserving the environment from the contamination of polypropene waste substances.[8-16] literature review the utilization of polypropene waste substances as stabilizer agents for soils is one of successful techniques. many studies reported that conventional soil stabilizers such as cement and several pozzolanic substances are vastly utilized for enhancing the geotechnical features of weak bearing soils sherwood,[17] yadav and tiwari,[18] and yadav et al.[19] the efficiency of these stabilizers in enhancing soil’s features has been proved by several geotechnical engineers bell,[20] little,[21] rout et al.,[22] rasul et al.,[23] rasul et al.,[24] rasul et al.,[25] yadav and tiwari.[26] nevertheless, the utilization of these stabilizers in high proportions makes them cost-ineffective, as a result, authors such as obo and ytom) attempted to discover alternate cost-effective stabilizer agents such as polypropene, tires rubber chips, and rice hull.[27] shelema (2020) reported that the utilization of polypropene waste strips as stabilizer substances could enhance the foundation layers of pavements.[28] consequently, this technique could solve the trouble of waste’s cumulative by minimizing its corresponding author: heba a. ahmed, department of surveying, darbandikhan technical institute, sulaimani polytechnic university, sulaimani, iraq. e-mail: hiba.adnan@spu.edu.iq received: november 11, 2022 accepted: june 26, 2023 published: july 10, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp1-6 copyright © 2023 heba a. ahmed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ahmed: impact of textiled-poly bags on mechanical features of soil 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 1-6 amounts and recycling it for improving the characteristics of soils. one technique of utilizing polypropene for soil stabilization was to utilize the polypropene in the shape of separated fibers since when polypropene substances have been merged with soil’s particles, they conducted identical behavior of fiber-reinforced soils temel and salbas.[29] many geotechnical investigations have been implemented by stacy et al.[30] and (temel and salbas[29] to evaluate the efficiency polypropene waste substances in the shape of separated fibers on soil’s features. they reported that utilizing polypropene waste substances for soil stabilization could enhance the features of weak bearing soil like an enhancement in uniaxial compressive resistance, california bearing ratio, and reduction in soil’s plasticity. singh and hussain (2020) utilized different percentages of waste coir fiber with polypropylene fiber for soil stabilization, they discovered that 75% of the fiber content could be the best ratio to improve the features of the soil.[31] twinkle et al. (2011)[32] have investigated the impact of polypropylene fiber, lime admixture, and period of curing on the geotechnical features of clayey soil. they noted that the increase in fiber content caused an increment in resistance features and shrinkage potential and caused a decrement in the swelling potential. furthermore, the period of curing significantly improved the uniaxial compressive resistance and shear resistance parameters of the treated soil. jadho and nagarnik (2008)[33] have investigated the impact of polypropylene fibers in the geotechnical features of soil treated with fly-ash by utilizing various fiber lengths (6, 12, and 24 mm) with the range of (0–1.5% by dry wt. of the soil). they noted that the optimum improvement in the resistance features could be achieved at a fiber length of (12 mm), and the optimum proportion of fiber content was (1%). according to the literature, the tensile resistance values of strengthened stabilized soil with polypropylene fibers have improved to a great extent. the highest resistance values have been collected with approximately (0.5–1.0%) fiber content for the (12 mm) length. the value of shrinkage limits improved with increasing fiber content and length of the fiber, whereas volume changes and cracks have been minimized.[34-39] however, there are no investigations implemented in stabilizing clayey soil with fabricated textiled-poly bags (tpb) to evaluate the geotechnical features of such stabilized soil. this work is a sustainable and environmentally friendly experimental study focuses on the impact of utilizing different proportions (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4%) and different lengths (1 and 2 cm) of fabricated tpb on the mechanical features of clayey soil. materials and methods soil soil samples which utilized in the current investigation have been collected from raparin area, in the sulaymaniyah governorate of the kurdistan region of iraq, from a depth one meter below the ground level. the collected samples have been immediately preserved in anti-evaporation plastic bags and then transported to the engineering laboratory. the essential characteristics of the collected soils and the corresponding standards which were depended in evaluations are demonstrated in table 1. the collected soils have been categorized as clayey soils based on uscs (astm-d2487-17)[40] and the volume distribution curve was assessed and plotted according to astm-d422-63[41] [figure 1]. the compaction tests curve has been evaluated and plotted according to astmd698-12r2021[42] [figure 2] which gave an optimum water content (owc) value of about 23% with an optimum dry density (odd) of about 1545 kg per cubic meter. recycled fiber the fiber has been obtained from recycling waste tpb. the tpb waste has been cut into strips of two different lengths (1 cm and 2 cm) with widths ranged between 2.5 and 3 mm. these fabricated tpb fibers have a tensile resistance about 125 mpa, with 3000 mpa young’s modulus, and 73% ultimate linear strain. table 1: essential characteristics of the collected soil characteristics values standards gs 2.7 astm-d854-14[43] odd (kg/m3) 1545 astm-d698-12r2021[42] owc (%) 23 astm-d698-12r2021[42] atterberg limits ll (%) 55.8 astm-d4318-17e01[44] pl (%) 29.1 astm-d4318-17e01[44] pi (%) 26.7 astm-d4318-17e01[44] odd: optimum dry density, owc: optimum water content figure 2: compaction curve of collected soil figure 1: volume distribution curve of collected soil ahmed: impact of textiled-poly bags on mechanical features of soil 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 1-6 test methods in current investigation, to evaluate the resistance and geotechnical features of both natural untreated clayey soil and treated soil, several experimental tests have been performed inclusive the evaluation of index characteristics of untreated soil, proctor compaction, uniaxial compressive resistance, and california bearing ratio for both untreated and treated soil. these experimental tests have been performed depending on astm standards. first, the recycled tpb fibers have been gradually added to the air-dried soil and mixed by hand. significant care has been taken to get best homogeneous between soil particles and fiber strips. after that, the desired water has been added to get soil samples ready to test. depending on astm-d698-12r2021,[42] compaction tests have been implemented for evaluating the impact of tpb fibers on owc and odd of treated soil, which have been adopted later for uniaxial compressive resistance test and california bearing ratio test. the astm-d2166-06[45] standard has been depended to implemented the uniaxial compressive resistance test to evaluate the impact of tpb fibers of uniaxial compressive resistance of treated soils. furthermore, astm-d1883-21[46] standard has been depended to evaluate load per cylindrical test sample (150 mm diameter, 175 mm height) demand to penetrate a soil mass with uniform rate of 1 mm/min. this test was depended to evaluate california bearing ratio by dividing the test load by standard load. results and discussion impact of tpb fibers on the parameters of compaction test the results of proctor compaction tests have demonstrated that the utilizing of tpb fibers at different percentages (0, 1,2, 3 and 4%) and different lengths (1 cm and 2 cm) gives dissimilar behavior in terms of omc and odd [figures 3 and 4]. when utilizing tpb fiber at 1-cm length, odd minimized by 2.31% and 1.61% for fiber content 1% and 2%, consecutively, and increased by 1.16% and 1.55% when fiber content was increased to 3% and 4%, consecutively. moreover, when utilizing tpb fiber at a 2-cm length, odd minimized by 0.97%, 0.58%, 0.71%, and 1.23% for fiber content 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%, consecutively. the relation between odd and length of tpb fiber is demonstrated in figure 5, which could summarize the impact of fiber length and its content on the values of odd. when utilizing tpb fiber at 1-cm length, owc increased with increasing fiber content about 3.18%, 0.45%, and 2.72% for fiber content 2%, 3%, and 4%, consecutively, however at 1% fiber content, the owc minimized by 5.45%. moreover, when utilizing tpb fiber at a 2-cm length, omc minimized by 1.36%, 2.72%, 3.63%, and 1.36% for fiber content 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%, consecutively. the relation between owc and length of tpb fiber is demonstrated in figure 6, which could summarize the impact of fiber length and its content on the values of omc. impact of tpb fibers on the behavior of uniaxial compressive resistance the results of uniaxial compressive resistance tests [tables 2 and 3] have demonstrated that the utilizing of tpb fibers at different percentages (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4%) and different lengths (1 cm and 2 cm) gives almost similar behavior in terms of improving the resistance. figure 3: compaction curve for tpb fiber at 1-cm length figure 4: compaction curve for tpb fiber at 2-cm length figure 6: the relation between omc and length of tpb fiber figure 5: the relation between odd and length of tpb fiber ahmed: impact of textiled-poly bags on mechanical features of soil 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 1-6 when utilizing tpb fiber at 1-cm length, uniaxial compressive resistance increased by 57.04%, 50.33%, 48.99%, and 48.32% for fiber content 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%, consecutively. moreover, when utilizing tpb fiber at 2-cm length, the increment in uniaxial compressive resistance reached about 75.16%, 61.74%, 63.75%, and 65.77%, for fiber content 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%, consecutively. the comparative between tpb fiber at 1-cm length and tpb fiber at 2-cm length in terms of the behavior of uniaxial compressive resistance is demonstrated in figure 7. it could be seen that the utilizing of tpb fiber at 2-cm length gives the highest improvement. impact of tpb fibers on the behavior of california bearing ratio the results of california bearing ratio tests [tables 4 and 5] have demonstrated that the utilizing of tpb fibers at different percentages (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4%) and different lengths (1 cm and 2 cm) gives significant improvement in the values of california bearing ratio. when utilizing tpb fiber at 1-cm length, california bearing ratio increased by 10%, 36.66%, 50%, and 63.33% for fiber content 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%, consecutively. moreover, when table 2: impact of tpb fibers at 1 (cm) length on the behavior of uniaxial compressive resistance percentage of tpb fiber uniaxial compressive resistance (kpa) increment (%) 0 150 / 1 235 57.04 2 225 50.33 3 223 48.99 4 222 48.32 table 3: impact of tpb fibers at 2 (cm) length on the behavior of uniaxial compressive resistance percentage of tpb fiber uniaxial compressive resistance (kpa) increment (%) 0 150 / 1 262 75.16 2 242 61.74 3 245 63.75 4 248 65.77 table 4: impact of tpb fibers at 1 (cm) length on the behavior of california bearing ratio percentage of tpb fiber california bearing ratio increment (%) 0 4 / 1 4.3 10 2 5.1 36.66 3 5.5 50 4 5.9 63.33 table 5: impact of tpb fibers at 2 (cm) length on the behavior of california bearing ratio percentage of tpb fiber california bearing ratio increment % 0 4 / 1 4.9 30 2 5.2 40 3 5.8 60 4 6.2 73.33 table 6: conclusion of the mechanical behavior percentage of tpb fiber (%) length of tpb fiber (cm) mechanical behavior uniaxial compressive resistance (kpa) california bearing ratio 0 1 150 4 1 235 4.3 2 225 5.1 3 223 5.5 4 222 5.9 1 2 262 4.9 2 242 5.2 3 245 5.8 4 248 6.2 figure 8: comparative in california bearing ratio results figure 7: comparative in uniaxial compressive resistance results ahmed: impact of textiled-poly bags on mechanical features of soil 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 1-6 utilizing tpb fiber at 2-cm length, the increment in california bearing ratio reached about 30%, 40%, 60%, and 73.33%, for fiber content 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%, consecutively. the comparative between tpb fiber at 1-cm length and tpb fiber at 2-cm length in terms of the behavior of california bearing ratio is demonstrated in figure 8. it could be seen that the utilizing of tpb fiber at 2-cm length gives the highest improvement. conclusion the investigation was implemented to fabricate environmentally friendly fiber by recycled tpb and evaluate its impact on several geotechnical features of clayey soil. the behavior of utilizing this fiber in several content and several lengths has been evaluated and the results could be concluded in the following points: • the utilizing of 3% and 4% of tpb fiber at 1-cm length helps to improve the parameters of compaction test • the utilization of 2-cm tpb fiber instead of 1-cm tpb fiber reduces the parameters of compaction test • tpb fiber improves the uniaxial compressive resistance; this has been noted for all fiber content (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) • tpb fiber of 2-cm length gives highest improvement in terms of uniaxial compressive resistance; this has been noted when compared it with tpb fiber of 1-cm length • california bearing ratio values improve when utilizing tpb fiber of 1and 2-cm lengths and this has been noted for all fiber content (1%, 2%, 3%, and 4%) • tpb fiber of 2-cm length gives highest improvement in terms of california bearing ratio; this has been noted when compared it with tpb fiber of 1-cm length. the overall mechanical behavior which gated from the current work could be concluded in table 6 below. references 1. c. g. godswill and c. g. awuchi. impacts of plastic pollution on the sustainability of seafood value chain and human health. international journal of advanced academic research, vol. 5, no. 11, pp. 46-138, 2019. 2. a. f. al-jaf and j. i. al-ameen. modelling of municipal solid waste landfill gas generation. a case study, kirkuk, iraq. journal of materials and environmental sciences, vol. 10, no. 10, pp. 987994, 2019. 3. t. h. hanna and i. h. mosa. effect of using waste polyethelene production on mechanical properties of concrete. pure and 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ghazavi. soil reinforcement and slope stabilisation using recycled waste plastic sheets. geomechanics and geoengineering, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 497-508, 2021. 40. astm. d2487-17 standard practice for classification of soils for engineering purposes (unified soil classification system). american society for testing of materials, pennsylvania pa, usa, 2015. 41. astm. d422-63 standard test methods for hydrometer analysis of soils. american society for testing of materials, pennsylvania pa, usa, 2015. 42. astm. d698-12r2021 standard test methods for laboratory compaction characteristics of soil using standard effort (12,400 ft-lbf/ft3 (600 kn-m/m3)). american society for testing of materials, pennsylvania pa, usa, 2015. 43. astm. d854-14 standard test methods for specific gravity of soil solids by water pycnometer. american society for testing of materials, pennsylvania pa, usa, 2015. 44. astm. d4318-17e01 standard test methods for liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index of soils. american society for testing of materials pennsylvania pa, usa, 2015. 45. astm, d2166-06 standard test method for unconfined compressive strength of cohesive soil. american society for testing of materials, pennsylvania pa, usa, 2015. 46. astm. d1883-21 standard test method for california bearing ratio (cbr) of laboratory-compacted soils. american society for testing of materials, pennsylvania pa, usa, 2015. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 64-68 research article solution of multi-order fractional differential equation based on conformable derivative by shifted legendre polynomial salim s. mahmood1, kamaran j. hamad1, milad a. kareem1, asrin f. shekh2 1department of mathematic, faculty of science, soran university, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department information technology, erbil polytechnic university, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the aim of this article is the way for finding approximation solution of multi-order fractional differential equation with conformable sense with use approximated function by shifted legendre polynomial, the method is easy and powerful for get our results of linear and non-linear equation, the background idea behind this method is finding system of algebra after achieve messing variable is that mean obtains approximate solution, a few example are illustrate for presented how much our method is capable. keywords: conformable derivative, fractional derivative, shifted legendre polynomial, fractional deferential equation, python program introduction there are numerous phenomena in various disciplines of research can work quite well represented by models using fractional calculus mathematic techniques. in many circumstances, there are no analytic or precise solutions to fractional differential equations. as a result, novel approaches for deriving analytical and approximation fractional differential equation solutions have been devised.[1,2] little number techniques and methods have gotten a lot of attention in recent years and have proven to be a useful tool for fractional calculus. according to the studies, the caputo fractional derivative is commonly incorporated in fractional calculus computed using spectral methods. to compute fractional differential equations with caputo derivatives, legendre polynomial has been employed.[3] in addition, chebyshev wavelet is used for solving nonlinear fractional differential equation,[4,5] operation matrix is used for solving fractional multi-order differential equation,[3] and spectral collocation method is used for compute this kind of differential equation by laguerre polynomial (lp).[6] the aim of this article is finding a solution to our fractional equations both kinds linear and non-linear using shifted lp. in this case, if number of n is large means our approximate, you can’t use hand writing for find solution, so we prefer write a program for such case by python. hence, in our method, try to find approximating solution of multi-order fractional differential equation based on conformable derivative using shifted legendre polynomial with program of python. preliminaries definition 1: given function h: [0, ∞)→r then the conformable fractional derivative of h of order α is determined by d h x h x x h x x� � �( ) lim ( ) ( ) , , ( , )� � � � � � � �   0 1 0 0 1 some time, write ha (x) for da h (x) to indicate the conformable derivative of h of order α definition 2: in this paper, we need to use legendre polynomials in distance x=[0,1] so using change variable x=2x−1, these polynomials can be obtained as follows e x n k n k k xn n k n k( ) ( ) ( )� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �1 0 (2) where e0(x)=1, e0(x)= 2x−1 on the interval [0,1], the shifted lp is defined as e x n k x n k k nn n k k n k ( ) ( ) ( )! ( )!( !) , , , ,...� � � � �� � � 1 0 1 2 0 2 (3) corresponding author: salim s. mahmood, department of mathematic, faculty of science, soran university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: salimsaeedmahmood@gmail.com received: august 25, 2021 accepted: november 11, 2021 published: december 20, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021.pp64-68 copyright © 2021 salim s. mahmood, kamaran j. hamad, milad a. kareem. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mahmood, et al.: multi-order fde based on cd by shifted lp 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 64-68 and explicit way for finding shifted legendre polynomial is “rodrigues formula” e x n d dx x xn n n n( ) ! ( )� � 1 2 (4) each continuous function h (x) in the interval [0,1] can be written using the transferred legendre polynomials as follows: h x e xai i n i( ) ( )� � � 0 (5) where, ai is obtained using the following relation: a hi x e x dxi i� � �( ) ( ) ( )2 1 0 1 (6) definition 3: the orthogonal property of these polynomials is as follows e x e x dx i i j i j i j 0 1 2 2 1 0 � � � � � � � � �� ( ) ( ) (7) the orthogonal property of the expansion of any function makes it possible in terms of legendre polynomials. theorem 1: let hn (x) function can be approximate by shifted lp like that h ax e xn i i n i( ) ( )� � � 0 (8) after that, for any derivative we use[7] d ah x w xn i k i i n i k k� �� � �( ( )) ,� �� ��� (9) where, α is define as least integer greater than or equal to α and w x i k i k k k ni k k i k , ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) � �� � � � � � � � � � � 1 1 1 1 1 � � � � (10) proof: according to the property of the conformable derivative and using the estimated function definition hn (x), we get the following results: d ah x d e xn i i n i � �( ( )) ( ( ))� � � 0 (11) d e x i k i k k k n xi i k k i k� � �( ( )) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) � � � � � � � � � � � �� 1 1 1 1 1 � � � � (12) by substitution, we get d h x i k i k k k n an i k i i n i k � �� ( ( )) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( � � � � � � � � � �� � �� 1 1 1 1 1 � � � � )) xk�� (13) numerical scheme in here presented how solve the multi-order fraction differential equation by python program for get analytic and numerical results. assume the initial condition for this equation which is a multiorder fractional differential equation[8] d h x x h x b x h x f x xbk k r r �( ( )) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ), [ , ]� � � � � � � 1 1 0 1 (14) h q ii i( ) , , ,...,0 0 1 1� � �� (15) where, n−1<α≤n, bk (x), k=1,2,….r and f (x) are functions that are well-known to be continuous on [0,1] and q ii , , ,...,� �0 1 1� , constants are provided. assume the fractional differential equation (14) has an answer that may be represented as 0 ( ) ( ) n n i i i h ax e x = = ∑ (16) by the initial equation, we have α equation and is depend on our approximate about n so all equation number is n+1, except α equation other equation get by the finding root of shifted legendre polynomial e x n � �1 � ( ) and put on equation (14). so solving this system of equation is our approximation solution for multi-order fractional differential equation (14). example 1: (bagley-torvik equation). the inhomogeneous bagley-torvik initial value problem is d h x d h x h x x x2 3 2 1 0 1( ( )) ( ( )) ( ) , [ , ]� � � � � (17) with initial assumption h(0)=1, h’(0)=1 and n=2 solution: h a h a a e e e h x e x e x a x a x x n i i n i i i i ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( � � � �� � � � � 0 2 0 2 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 )) � � � � � �a a x a a x a x a0 1 1 2 2 2 22 6 6 so use initial condition for finding the α equation and for any derivative, we use d ah x w xn i k i i n i k k� �� � �( ( )) ,� �� ��� h d a a a h a a 2 0 1 2 1 2 1 2 0 1 1 0 2 6 1 2 ( ) ( ) (( ( )) ( ) � � � � � � � � � for finding n+1 equation, we need use the root of the polynomial e x e x x x n � � � � � � � � 1 1 2 1 0 0 5 � ( ) ( ) . so put the root in the equation (17) after, we calculate all structure instead each x variable. mahmood, et al.: multi-order fde based on cd by shifted lp 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 64-68 d d h h a h a a a 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 0 2 0 5 12 0 5 12 0 5 0 5 1 2 ( ( . )) ( ( . )) . ( . ) � � � � substitute each one of d h d h2 2 3 2 20 5 0 5( ( . )), ( ( . )) and h2 (0.5) in the equation (17) and instead of each x put root of shifted legendre polynomial 12 12 0 5 1 2 1 1 2 23 2 6 2 3 2 3 2 2 0 2 0 2 a a a a a a � � � � � � � � � � . ( ) ( ) so we have a linear system after solve by matrix operation, we get 1 1 1 0 2 6 1 0 23 2 6 2 1 1 3 2 0 1 2 � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � a a a �� � � � � � � � � � � � a h a a x x 0 1 2 2 3 2 1 2 0 1 , , ( ) therefore, the obtained solution is the exact solution of this problem, code of python for this example is given.[9] example 2: suppose the following fractional linear differential equation with variable coefficients d h x d h x xd h x x h x x x x x x 3 2 1 2 2 3 2 3 1 2 4 7 0 ( ( )) ( ( )) ( ( )) ( ) ( ) , ( � � � � � � � � � ,, ]1 with the primary conditions h(0)=0, h’(0)=0 and n=2 solution: h a h e e e h x e x a x a x a x x a a x n i i n i( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) � � � � � � � � � 0 2 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 0 12 aa a x a x a1 2 2 2 26 6� � � for finding n+1 equation, we need use the root of the polynomial e x e x x x n � � � � � � � � 1 1 2 1 0 0 5 � ( ) ( ) . so we put the root in the equation (18) after, we calculate all structure instead each x variable d h a h a h a d d 3 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 0 5 12 1 2 0 5 2 0 5 2 0 5 ( ( . )) ( ) ( ( . )) ( ( . )) . � � � �66 5 12 0 5 0 5 1 2 2 2 2 0 2 a o a a ah . . ( . ) � � � we substitute each one of d h d h d h 3 2 2 1 2 1 2 20 5 0 5 0 5( ( . )), ( ( . )), ( ( . )) and h2 (0.5) in the equation (18) and instead of each x we put root (0.5) 1 2 7 8 2352813742238570 5 03921356237095 10 1 2a a a� � � �. . ( ) h a a a d h a a 2 0 1 2 1 2 1 2 0 0 2 0 2 6 0 3 ( ) ( ) (( ( )) ( ) � � � � � � � � � so we have a linear system, we solved by matrix operation 1 2 7 8 2352813742238570 1 1 1 0 2 6 0 1 2 . � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � a a a �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � 5 03921356237095 0 0 . a a a h x x 0 1 2 2 2 1 3 1 2 1 6 = = = = , , ( ) therefore, the obtained solution is the precise solution to this problem. example 3: consider the following problem with an initial value. d h x d h x h x x x4 7 2 3 9 0 1( ( )) ( ( )) ( ) , ( , ]� � � � (18) with initial condition h(0)=0, h’(0)= h”(0)=0 and h”’(0)=6, n=4 h x a e a e x a e x a e x a e x a e x h n i i n i( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( � � � � � � � � 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 4 xx a x a a x a a a x a a a ) � � �� � � � �� � � � � � 70 20 140 6 30 90 2 6 12 2 4 4 3 4 3 2 3 4 2 1 2 3 00 4 0 1 2 3 4a x a a a a a� � � � � � � for finding n+1 equation we need use the root of the polynomial e x e x x x n � � � � � � � � 1 1 2 1 0 0 5 � ( ) ( ) . so we put the root in the equation (19) after, we calculate all structure instead each x variable so our equation is a a a a0 2 4 3 42 3 8 1680 840 2 1 512 0 1� �� � � � � � � �� � � � � ( ) so by initial condition, we have α equation h a a a a a h a a a ad 4 0 1 2 3 4 1 4 1 2 3 4 0 0 2 0 2 6 12 20 0 3 ( ) ( ) ( ( )) ( � � � � � � � � � � � � � )) ( ( )) ( ) ( ( )) d d h a a a h a a 2 4 2 3 4 3 4 3 4 0 12 60 180 0 4 0 120 840 6 0 � � � � � � � � � �� ( )5 now use newton iteration method for finding the messing variable and our result will be a a a a and a0 1 2 3 4 1 4 9 20 1 4 1 20 0= = = = =, , , mahmood, et al.: multi-order fde based on cd by shifted lp 67 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 64-68 if we put those number in our h4 (x) our result will be h4 (x)=x3 which is the precise solution to this issue. conclusion in this paper, using the method and technique for get approximate solution of fractional differential equations with initial conditions and conformable sense are used to characterize the fractional derivatives, the solution can be easily analyzed for any number of different values of x since it is written as a truncated legendre series. furthermore, the suggested strategy’s validity and applicability are proved by numerical findings. the numerical results show that as the number of n terms is raised, the method converges. with tiny n, we get the precise answer for several examples, all examples are achieved by the use of python programming to create quick algorithms. the method presented here can be used to solve the high order of n for conformable fractional differential equations as well as conformable fractional partial differential equations. references 1. h. khalil, r. h. ali khan, m. a al-smadi, a. freihat and n. shawagfeh. new operational matrix for shifted legendre polynomials. punjab university journal of mathematics, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 1-23, 2020. 2. r. a. khalil. a new definition of fractional derivative. journal of computational and applied mathematics, vol. 264, pp. 65-70, 2014. 3. a. b. kisabo, u. c. uchenna, and f. a. adebimpe. newton’s method for solving non-linear system of algebraic equations (nlsaes) with matlab/simulink® and maple®. american journal of mathematical and computer modelling, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 117-131, 2017. 4. s. s. ezz-eldien, j. a. machado, y. wang and a. a. aldraiweesh. an algorithm for the approximate solution of the fractional riccati differential equation. international journal of nonlinear sciences and numerical simulation, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 661-674, 2019. 5. l. yuanlu. solving a nonlinear fractional differential equation using chebyshev wavelets. communications in nonlinear science and numerical simulation, vol. 15, no. 9, pp. 2284-2292, 2010. 6. e. hesameddini and e. asadollahifar. numerical solution of multi-order fractional differential equation. ijnao, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 37-48, 2015. 7. m. abul-ez, m. zayed, a. youssef and m. de la sen. on conformable fractional legendre polynomials and their convergence properties with applications. alexandria engineering journal, vol. 59, no. 6, pp. 5231-5245, 2020. 8. h. çerdik yaslan and f. mutlu. numerical solution of the conformable differential equations via shifted legendre polynomials. international journal of computer mathematics, vol. 97, no.5, pp. 1016-1028, 2020. 9. m. m. khader, t. s. el danaf and a. s. hendy. efficient spectral collocation method for solving multi-term fractional differential equations based on the generalized laguerre polynomials. j. fractional calc. appl, vol. 3, pp. 1-14, 2012. appendix result of python code for example 1 mahmood, et al.: multi-order fde based on cd by shifted lp 68 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 64-68 result of python code for example 2 result of python code for example 3 tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 23-27 research article empower e-wallet payment system using secured hybrid approach of online and offline services mohammed h. shukur, reem j. ismail, laith r. flaih department of computer science, college of science, chian university-erbil,kurdistan region, iraq abstract as e-commerce expands, payment mechanisms are migrated to mobile devices, creating e-wallets. current e-wallet payment solutions are based on smartphones with internet access. e-wallets are becoming increasingly popular among individuals worldwide. despite this, a survey conducted to determine the primary factors influencing iraqis’ adoption of electronic wallets reveals a slower growth rate in iraq than in other regions. this paper proposes a design for a mobile e-wallet application that offers online-to-offline (o2o) payments to replace traditional e-wallets, credit cards, debit cards, and cash using offline connectivity and near-field communication (nfc) with sms-based payment mechanisms that do not require an internet connection. keywords: e-wallet, offline services, sms-based system, online and offline services, hybrid approach introduction the “digital revolution,” or the transition from analog to digital technology, has altered our lives and created new opportunities in a wide range of societal activities. one of these activities is an electronic commerce and money digitalization. this digitalization necessitates the development of e-wallets as the next phase of the digital revolution, as part of the transition from a physical wallet or plastic card payment system to an entirely electronic payment system.[1] e-wallet is a term that refers to a type of digital system that is used to facilitate online transactions using a smartphone. it functions similarly to a credit or debit card. an e-wallet must be linked to the user’s account through the internet to make payments.[2] an e-wallet is made up of two main parts: software and data. the information is stored in a database that includes cash, the owner’s name, contact information, shipping, or billing information, such as the customer’s address and other information used at the time of checkout on e-commerce sites, and one identification document. furthermore, users can send money using various methods, including direct sending phone numbers, quick response (qr) codes, or direct purchases.[3] in 2022, several e-wallets in iraq, including zain cash, asiahawala, fastpay, firstiraqi bank, nasspay, and zazapay, provided essentially comparable services. what differentiates them are the benefits of utilizing a certain e-wallet. zaincash is one of the most popular e-wallet payment methods in iraq at the moment. the payment system integrated with switch master card allows users to pay either through the e-wallet or mastercard to pay for services offered by the zaincash app or transfer money to a specific account using their number. zaincash is exclusively available to owners of zain phone numbers. fastpay is the most widely used e-wallet in kurdistan. fastpay enables users to send and receive money and move funds across accounts without the need to have a phone number associated with a particular network. while e-wallets are becoming more and more common among people around the world. however, due to the need for internet to complete transactions, it develops in iraq more slowly than in other places. this project focuses on study the local e-wallet and improves their cashless transaction and services by adding new features in the existing e-wallets. research problem it is anticipated that cashless and e-wallet services would account for 80% of total transaction volume between 2020 and 2025[4] but e-wallets grow slower in iraq than in other cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: mohammed h. shukur, department of computer science, college of science, chian university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: m.kurd@hotmail.com received: june 20, 2022 accepted: july 18, 2022 published: august 05, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp23-27 copyright © 2022 mohammed h. shukur, reem j. ismail, laith r. flaih. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) shukur, et al.: a secure hybrid approach for e-wallet payment system 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 23-27 parts of the world. users are using e-wallets to prepaid mobile reloading, online card purchases, get some services and money transfer. iraq may transition from cash to cashless payments following an increase in cashless payments. e-payment is regarded as critical for the productivity and efficiency.[5] our research identifies the current e-wallet features, convenience, perceived trust, and customer satisfaction factors influencing consumers’ proclivity to use e-wallets through survey and application reviews. in addition, developing new features and add new function to current e-wallets will raise usability, functionality, convenience, and perceive trust. methodology this method employed the extreme programming methodology to create this project. extreme programming is an agile methodology. the main goal is to enable project changes in response to changing circumstances or customer requirements, even late in the project’s life cycle. feedback and communication are viewed as critical components of improving software development. we can connect with users by testing the application and soliciting comments on improving or adding to the software (if any). these criteria assist developers in adapting to new requirements and technologies. the extreme programming process is divided into three stages, and the following sections detail each stage in detail: fact finding: survey the survey aims to put hand on the current issue to design a new perspectives and features to local e-wallets. we conducted a survey of erbil residents. residents of various ethnicities and ages are represented, including students, employed, jobless, self-employed, and retired. the online survey, which was conducted across many platforms, attracted a total of 250 respondents. its shows 145 users have no e-wallet application, while only 105 has e-wallet application. high percentage are using their cash as they do not need cashless payment in their daily activities [figure 1]. figure 2 shows that 69% of e-wallet users use the fastpay application, according to which e-wallet is used. in response to whether, they keep money in their e-wallet to determine if they have daily transactions. about 51% of users say that they do not keep money in their e-wallet and only reload their accounts when e-payments are needed. they do not have daily transactions [figure 3]. to determine e-wallet capabilities, they respond to the type of transactions they use. table 1 shows that six out of 11 online services were used, while five transactions were not covered in e-wallet services. in response to the question of whether they had access to the internet at the time of purchase. about 59% of users report that they were not connected to the internet at the time of purchase; the highest rates of internet usage occurred at home or work. wallet owner internet location percentage home 100 work 85 malls and market 41 the survey reveals that current e-wallet issues have been identified and listed below: • large number of users who do not have access to the internet at the time of purchase figure 1: e-wallet usage figure 3: maintain money in e-wallet figure 2: e-wallet application share shukur, et al.: a secure hybrid approach for e-wallet payment system 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 23-27 • e-wallets do not support offline transaction • e-wallets do not offer touch and go payments planning we looked for related scenarios and cases that may help clarify and validate the problem assertions. to acquire information, surveys and informal interview sessions were undertaken. finally, the objectives and scopes are drawn to gain a picture of the system’s required functions. design in general, the design of the app allpay is created during this period based on the most popular e-wallet functions and adding needed screens and buttons keep the interface userfriendly and simple to learn and operate. users will feel at ease when utilizing the application because of the user experience. due to the enormous demand for offline usage of an e-wallet, sensitive user information is commonly saved on mobile devices. we suggest that this project includes optional offline device-based biometric authentication and that the most recent balance be retrieved through encrypted time-based one-time password (topt) short message service (sms), and to provide online-to-offline (o2o) services.[6] figure 4 illustrates offline login, the application uses local mobile biometric authentication employs biometrics to identify and authenticate the user seeking to access a mobile app. screen 1 shows login screen with biometrics. it may be done through fingerprint readers, facial recognition, speech recognition, and other methods. after user successful user authentication, the applications check if the devise whether connected to server or not, in case of no internet connection, the application sends an sms to the server requesting the current balance; the server will then produce rsa encrypted totp sms codes with account phone number that are refreshed every 30 s, making them more challenging to use if stolen, prevent fraud, and keeping the application. the following is a description of the login model’s execution: 1. user use biometric authentication to access the application 2. application check whether it is connected to server or not, one of below options online 1. application inquiry the balance 2. server send updated balance offline 1. application generated rsa encrypted sms contains token, using the homomorphic properties of the rsa encryption. 2. server confirm the token by decrypting it using the device’s last online token along with phone number. execute of one of the below options: a. successful authenticated, server send encrypted updated balance in totp sms b. failed authenticated, server send warning sms, and lock the account for 30 min. while logging in through offline mobile verification, the e-wallet automatically detects totp. rceive_sms in android table 1: type of transactions in e-wallets transaction type percentage online cards 33 mobile\internet prepaid cards 35 online services 10 online shopping 15 shopping 1 services 0 patrol station 0 taxi 5 tuition fees 0 bills 0 malls 0 figure 4: offline login with totp is used by app to read the encrypted totp, decrypt it with last obtained online token, and update the balance in the main screen. typically, totp detection requires the user to grant sms permissions. screen 2 illustrates that the 30 s needed to receive and update the balance. the usage of nfc in e-wallet applications is introduced in this design, allowing for more flexible and secure management, customization, and simplify the payment process.[7,8] at pressing go button on the main screen which it represents the touch and go payment. go are contactless payments that employ near-field communication (nfc) technology to securely communicate between an e-wallet and a point of sale’s (pos) terminal at time of pressing the button. this technology powers e-wallet payments shown in screen 3. the following is a description of the nfc model’s execution: 1. to make a payment, the customer must press the “go” button on their phone to enable nfc on the pos terminal. 2. the e-wallet reads the transaction information from the pos. 3. the application checks whether the user has enough credit or not using the current balance stored in the application. 4. if the user has sufficient credit, e-wallet apps send collected information to the server through online or offline (sms) communication to authorize the transaction. shukur, et al.: a secure hybrid approach for e-wallet payment system 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 23-27 5. server either authorizes the transaction or rejects the user’s request. if the user’s request was authorized, the purchase amount will be withdrawn from his account; otherwise, the user’s account will remain with the same balance. at the time of each transaction, the application checks if the amount required is within the balance; if it is not, the user will receive notification “insufficient funds to complete the payment.” in the event that the amount is equal to or less than the balance. the application will determine whether it is connected to the server online or not. in case of offline, the application sends encrypted sms to server with token and user transaction information, amount, receiver id, and other related info about the order [figure 5]. server will send back totp to user to validate the transaction. discussion the proposed e-wallet payment system, which combines online and offline services, satisfies the following standards defined: • secure authentication. additional components ensure that only authorized users may conduct online and offline transactions. biometric authentication is the first step in the login process, followed by two-factor authentication. • secured payments. in offline transactions, data are encrypted using the rsa cryptosystem’s homomorphic features; as a result, the user and any sniffer learn nothing about the data. in touch and go payment, nfc enabled at the point when the user touch go button, adding extra security to enable the payment transaction. we are not concentrating on registration at the moment, and we assume that all users have previously registered, been validated in the payment system, and have access to the internet at some point. the following procedures should be followed while modifying the online authentication method with the offline services scheme: screen 1: login, red button for biometric login screen 2: reading totp and updating user balance screen 3: touch and go payment using nfc. figure 5: online/offline transaction shukur, et al.: a secure hybrid approach for e-wallet payment system 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 23-27 1. the user chooses the biometric feature they want to employ (e.g., fingerprint and facial recognition) during the authentication procedure. 2. within the e-wallet application, a hash value is utilized with the user’s identification and approval of the user’s identity. 3. two tokens to confirm rsa encryption and decryption (server token and user token), server-generated random numbers and save it in the server database, and e-wallet at any online activity. 4. only the server accepts sms from registered and validated phone numbers then compares user tokens. 5. once linked to the internet, the e-wallet produces new tokens and verifies previously saved transactions. 6. account will be locked for 30 min if any verification fails. conclusion the solution presented in this paper includes three additional components: local biometric authentication, offline payment transactions, and touch and go nfc payment. the suggested solution applies to online and offline transactions in the banking and payment sectors. as a result, it is appropriate for countries with limited internet connections. finally, the intended contributions were successful, resulting in favorable outcomes and distinctive contributions. references 1. m. olsen, j. hedman and r. vatrapu. hci issues in mobile wallet design, in the tenth annual pre-icis workshop on hci research. china: shanghai, 2011. 2. definition of “e-wallets”. times syndication service. available from: https://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/ewallets [last accessed on 2022 mar 14]. 3. a. madan and m. i. rosca. current trends in digital marketing communication. journal of marketing research and case studies, vol. 2022, pp. 1-13, 2022. 4. v. vinatier. investment managers. available from: https://www. axa-im.com/insights/future-trends/digital-economy/why-scalematters-evolving-landscape-cashless-payments [last accessed on 2022 mar 14]. 5. g. oprescu and d. eleodor. the impact of the digital economy’s development on competition. bucharest: international conference of the institute for business administration, 2014. 6. a. dhir. v. scuotto. p. kaur and shalini talwar. barriers and paradoxical recommendation behaviour in online to offline (o2o) services. a convergent mixed-method study. journal of business research, vol. 131, pp. 25-39, 2021. 7. n. sabli, n. e. pforditen, k. supian, f. n. azmi and n. a. solihin. the acceptance of e-wallet in malaysia. selangor business review, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 1-14, 2021. 8. p. pourghomi and g. ghinea. managing nfc payments applications through cloud computing. in: 7th international conference for internet technology and secured transactions (icitst), ieee, 2012. ole_link1 _goback tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 research article improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system mohammed h. shukur* department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, erbil, iraq abstract this paper proposes coronavirus disease tracing system acts as a portal for the health center to update and track their patients’ contacts and collect data for further analysis. all of the contents are handpicked, filtered, and selected to the best of our ability by assigned individuals (mostly medical staff) to ensure that sources are credible and free of hoaxes for the public’s benefit. this application likewise means to assemble information for the top to the bottom investigation (for example, time arrangement to screen the development, in-house patients) and synchronization with a contact following application, for instance, mysejahtera app that was created and set up by the malaysian government and utilized from one side of the country to the other it assumes that all patients have internet access and smartphone, to handle such delinquent, sms driven application with ability to update status through using patient credentials through system website, and to add simplicity for clients’ understanding using graphic visualizations and dashboards are incorporated. keywords: coronavirus disease, e-government, e-health, tracking system introduction coronavirus disease (covid-19) is a newfound virus causing severe, intense respiratory disorder (coronavirus sickness covid-19)[1] rose in wuhan, hubei province, china, and quickly spread to different nations worldwide. at present, the malaysian government and health center are trying their best to learn and stop the spread. this virus is perceived to spread through human-to-human contact, particularly those with close contact and respiratory droplets from an infected person sneezing or coughing. with the number of cases expanding each day, government departments are looking to cooperate with health centers to track down patients effectively. the health center needs a system to store patient’s details, trace the patient visited places, and send the report to government agencies whenever required. hence, this covid-19 tracing system (cts) was intended to assist clinical experts and medical care communities in keeping track of their covid patients and updating the government agency regularly. this system allows the health cares to store patients’ details, their last visited locations, and linked cases if there are any. these patients’ profiles are then updated to the government. the problem statement for this project is that the medical center cannot store, track, and update case details with government agencies as the number of cases grow every day. moreover, it a challenging to trace the linkage infections between two or more cases. furthermore, public locations attended by the infected person are unknown. the system’s scope is separated into two parts: employee scope and system scope. the employee scope enables the employee to login to the system using their employee id and password. the system also enables the employee to add new case details and link them to any existing past cases. the employee can put in a location to see if there were any reported cases. at the same time, the system scope shows the latest case updates of the covid-19 cases. moreover, it can store the new case details and link to any existing past cases. it also shows the background of the infected person, details such as last 14 days visited places, how to contact the virus, and sent the reports to government agencies through email. this project aims to help health centers store, trace, and update the government agencies on covid-19 case details. a webbased application to store the cloud data will be easy to integrate with many government applications such as mysejahtera. it is expected to reduce the work on government agencies to trace the contacts linked to the cases. simultaneously, the project works with an internet connection and location enabled through the web browser, yet it collects patients information through sms or through qr code scan by nearest smartphone. it is *corresponding author: mohammed h. shukur, department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, erbil, iraq mohammed.shukur@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: march 22, 2021 accepted: april 30 2021 published: may 20, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n1y2021.pp11-19 copyright © 2021. mohammed h. shukur. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) shukur: improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 anticipated that the government will approve it and integrate it with government-linked applications to allow for seamless data transfer. the default email services for health care will be used. literature review health centre app acts as a portal for the health center staff to update and track their patients’ contacts and collect data for further analysis. all of the content are handpicked, filtered, and selected by assigned medical staff to ensure that sources are credible and free of hoaxes for the public’s benefit. this app also aims to collect information for the in-depth analysis, such as time series to monitor in-house patients and monitor the growth and synchronization with a government’s contact tracing. it is conveyed using graphic visualizations and dashboards to make it easier for users to learn. review of foreign countries tracing applications new york h1n1 surveillance system on april 23, 2009, a medical attendant from a secondary school in new york city (nyc) called the department of health and mental hygiene (dohmh) to report a flare-up of respiratory disease[2]. the reason for the episode was quickly affirmed to be flu a pandemic (h1n1) 2009 infection. only a few days after initial reports of mild illness caused by pandemic (h1n1) 2009 infection in california and texas[3,4], this episode was identified as a flare-up of a significant respiratory condition linked to pandemic (h1n1) 2009 infection in mexico[5]. the clinical severity and transmission characteristics of this new flu infection were kept a secret. dohmh launched a wideranging public health response in response to initial media reports about the mexican flare-up and concerns that nyc could also be hit by unending severe infection. before the spring of 2009, dohmh routine observation frameworks for flu included (1) syndromic reconnaissance for medicine deals, school non-attendance, and crisis office visits for flu-like ailment (ili)[5,6]; (2) electronic research facility announcing of affirmed cases from business and emergency clinic laboratories; (3) dynamic observation of all nyc virology laboratories to decide the week after week number of examples submitted for flu testing and the level of those positive; (4) composing tests of flu disconnects acquired from patients in nyc emergency clinics at the dohmh public health laboratory; (5) upgraded latent observation for pediatric flu passing; (6) checking patterns in flu and pneumonia-related mortality through the dohmh vital registry; and (7) observing outpatient ili through the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc; atlanta, ga, usa) influenza-like illness surveillance network [6], a sentinel arrange through which suppliers revealed week after week on the extent of ili in their works on during flu season. the dohmh had also arranged a nearby reaction to a potential flu pandemic, remembering upgraded observation to control general well-being authorities to decide how to organize the utilization of antiviral specialists and antibodies[7]. reconnaissance information could likewise advise network control measures, for example, school terminations. proposed observation methodologies in this arrangement concentrated on systems for checking patterns in hospitalizations and passing, yet not attempting to tally each severe case. techniques were additionally proposed for acquiring more definite clinical and epidemiologic information for an example of cases. the dohmh also has an incident command system (ics), which is different from the standard dohmh structure in that it is an office wide structure for dealing with and responding to crises. the ics is divided into 10 sectors and is led by an episode officer who reports directly to the commissioner of health[1]. dohmh workers are allocated to an area inside the ics and can be approached to help their endless supply of the framework. in a general well-being crisis, the surveillance and epidemiology section builds up and directs observation to evaluate the sickness and passing related to the occasion and leads any required epidemiologic examinations to manage the general well-being reaction. ics actuation gives flood limit by expanding the workforce accessible to lead observation or epidemiologic exercises past the staff individuals who are regularly liable for the particular infection or general medical problems associated with the crisis. healthmap – h1n1 surveillance system. h1n1 swine flu pandemic: 2009–2010. the 2009 swine flu pandemic was caused by a new h1n1 strain that started in mexico in the spring of 2009 and quickly spread worldwide. the virus infected up to 1.4 billion people worldwide in a year, killing between 151,700 and 575,400 people. according to the cdc, the 2009 flu pandemic primarily affected children and young adults, with 80% of deaths occurring in people under 65. considering that most flu virus strains, including those that cause seasonal flu, kill people aged 65 and up, this was important. in the case of the swine flu, however, older individuals seemed to have built up enough immunity to the virus family that h1n1 belongs to, so they were less affected. the annual flu vaccine also includes vaccination for the h1n1 virus that caused swine flu. healthmap is an example of a new initiative in public health surveillance that is open and global. the healthmap system integrates automated, around-theclock data collection and processing with expert review, and analysis to aggregate reports by type of illness and geographic location. through a freely accessible web site, healthmap sifts through vast amounts of event information acquired from various online sources in multiple languages to provide a detailed view of ongoing global disease activity. healthmap collaborated with the journal to develop the h1n1 interactive map (as part of the journal’s h1n1 influenza center) to improve situational awareness of public health practitioners, clinicians, and the general public regarding the worldwide spread of 2009 h1n1 influenza infection. the healthmap shukur: improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 infrastructure was used to provide information about outbreaks on this interactive map. it used informal sources (e.g., the news media, mailing lists, and contributions from individual users) and formal announcements to compile the data. (mainly from the world health organization [who], the cdc, and the canadian public health agency) visitors to the site might sort reports by alleged or confirmed cases or deaths and view reports over time to see how the disease spread. during the two most giant waves of the h1n1 pandemic, healthmap gathered over 87,000 reports from both informal and official sources (43,738 reported during the first wave of infection, from april 1 to august 29, 2009, and 43,366 reported during the second wave, from september 1 to december 31, 2009) (between august 30 and december 31, 2009, during the second wave of infection). all reports submitted into the healthmap system had their geographic location documented, allowing for easy monitoring of h1n1 influenza’s regional and global spread. according to the who regions and pandemic stages, healthmap also detected a growing number of countries with informal reports of suspected or confirmed cases overtime. there had already been reports of suspected or confirmed cases in 32 countries by the end of the who pandemic phase 4 (april 28). the spread of the virus to new countries was most rapid in europe and the americas during the pandemic’s early stages. because of the implementation of containment measures and the early involvement of countries with a high amount of air travel, this spreading steadily slowed to about one country per day by the end of phase 5 (june 10). it further decreased to one country per 2 days in phase 6, potentially due to the implementation of containment measures and countries’ early involvement with a high volume of air travel. although air travel may have aided the virus’s intercontinental spread, other migration patterns are likely to have shaped the virus’s spread within continents. regions that are foreign travel hubs (e.g., france and the united kingdom) in europe, for example, identified infections earlier than areas with fewer commercial flights (e.g., eastern european nations). public health capability and ability to report cases influenced this trajectory as well. johns hopkins university csse dashboard when a disease can spread so quickly, data must move at a much faster pace; thus, map-based dashboards become extremely useful. seven coronavirus dashboards are among the top 10 cited applications from esri arcgis online assistance at the time of this writing in mid-february 2020, with more than 160 million views. in light of the rising pandemic, this was first issued on january 22, 2020[4]. the johns hopkins university’s center for systems science and engineering (jhu csse) dashboard stands out in late january 2020, gathering 140 million viewpoints. lauren gardner (a disease transmission specialist) and her team from the jhu csse came up with the idea. the dashboard was shared widely on the internet, along with numerous news stories and offers. this enthusiastic reaction to the jhu csse and other dashboards reveals the public’s interest in health risks. anyone with internet access will learn a massive amount of information about the covid-19 infection in a few short clicks from these resources. the intuitive guide on the jhu csse dashboard detects and counts confirmed contaminations, deaths, and recoveries. the diagrams show the progression of the infection overtime. the day and season of the most recent information update and the information sources are visible to viewers. the who, the us centers for disease control and prevention, the national health commission of the people’s republic of china, the european center for disease prevention and control, and the chinese online clinical asset dxy.cn are among the dashboard’s five valid information sources. the dashboard provides links to these and other sources. this work is subtly described in a blog entry. the related data are stored in github as google sheets. web administrations enable gis customers to use and display various information contributions without the need for centralized facilitating or handling, facilitating information sharing, and speeding data collection. the hopkins group physically refreshed information twice a day from january 22 to january 31, 2020, as part of the dashboard focusing. shukur: improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 esri arcgis living atlas team helped them adopt a semicomputerized living information stream approach to refresh the dashboard in february 2020. it is primarily reliant on the dxy.cn information asset, which updates case reports at the standard and national levels every 15 min. nonetheless, lauren gardner’s blog points out that other information assets were faster to refresh than dxy.cn for countries outside of china, so those case checks are physically renewed for the day. the arcgis living atlas currently has no restrictions on element layers. who dashboard the who coordinates and organizes global health, combating infectious diseases through surveillance, preparation, response, and incorporating gis technology into its work. on january 26, 2020, the who released its arcgis operations dashboard for covid-19, which also tracks and records coronavirus cases as well as the total number of cases in each country and chinese territory, as well as educational boards about the guide and its data assets. the who and jhu csse dashboards made them curious comparisons before february 18, 2020. as shown in figures 1 and 2, each had an endlessly particular all-out case (both taken on february 16, 2020). the who dashboard only included laboratory-confirmed cases, while the jhu csse included cases that were examined using a side effect exhibit and chest imaging (representing exactly 18,000 extra reports). in any case, beginning february 19, 2020, the two dashboards are in sync, displaying comparative all-out case tallies. the who dashboard includes a pandemic forecast, which shows cases by date of disclosure. placing the epi bend perception over the combined cases chart provides helpful information about episode movement. it may reduce anxiety, as the absolute number of new cases has consistently decreased every day since february 4, 2020. (except for a spike on february 13, 2020, more than 15 k cases were added after china started to include “clinically analyzed” cases in its figures rather than just laboratory affirmed cases). a “hamburger” icon in the upper right corner of the who dashboard leads to additional covid-19 data and an intuitive web map that places covid-19 in context with other who identified health crises. dengue fever, rift valley fever, and west nile fever are just a few examples. as a result, the who is updating its covid-19 dashboard using arcgis geoevent server to push updates to a single location. every day, component management takes place on several occasions. review of malaysian systems: my trace mytrace is a mobile application that aids in the management of covid-19 outbreaks by the health authority. when an app identifies another nearby device with mytrace installed, it uses a community-driven approach to exchange proximity information. the app allows people who have been near an infected person to be identified. shukur: improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 review of malaysian systems: mysejahtera sejahtera is a mobile application designed by the malaysian government to aid in managing covid-19 outbreaks in the country[3]. it helps people to self-assess their health and that of their family members. during the covid-19 epidemic, people can also track their health progress. sejahtera also allows the malaysian ministry of health to keep track of users’ health and respond quickly with the necessary treatments, yet it assumes that all patients are using smartphone with wifi connection. comparison of coronavirus disease tracing system with malaysian products feature/product mytrace mysejahtera coronavirus disease tracing system login security    store patient/user details    trace locations    health-care use    send data to the government    needs for internet to communicate    collect information when no smartphone under use    methodology to develop this project, we have used the extreme programming methodology. extreme programming is one of the agile methods. the main reason is allowing changes to the project according to the current situation or customer requirement even late in the life cycle. feedback and communication are taken as essential aspects to improve better software development. we can communicate with users by giving them a chance to test using the software and gain feedback to change or add to the software (if any). these criteria help developers to change requirements and technology. extreme programming methodology involves five phases and below has been explained the progress thoroughly in each stage: planning the problems for cts were identified and listed down. a research study was conducted to gather related information on covid-19 tracings apps in malaysia, a reliable application for health centers to store and trace their patients’ details. i have searched for associated scenarios and cases that explain and support well the problem statements. informal interview sessions were held to gather information from the health center employees. finally, the objectives and scopes are drawn to get a picture of the system’s functionality. designing in this phase, generally, the website’s design is created. first of all, i have used a prototyping tool to design the interface. next, i develop a finalized user-friendly interface that can make it easy to learn and use. user experience is ensured for the employees to feel at ease when using the website. at this phase, the functionality is not added yet. in figure 1, it illustrates entity relationship, and figure 2 shows the relation table. coding in this phase, the entire step involves coding to develop each objective is set into a practical and working application. each shukur: improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 button will be added with functionality. certain functionalities were integrated with a government-linked application such as mysejahtera to load the places the patient has visited. adding the ability to generate a distinguished code with unique credentials to be printed out as qr code, define the mechanism to read sms from patient identify their status, and written location, that will after done, the program is compiled and build. testing each class of code is tested to detect any bugs and errors. those detected bugs and errors should be fixed to produce an error/bug-free application. besides, system testing and user acceptance testing were done, and the data were documented. managing management is vital throughout the development process. it is crucial to managing time in developing the software within the figure 1: entity relationship diagram figure 2: rational table figure 3: login screen figure 4: dashboard shukur: improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 personas. employees from the health-care center can update patient information such as patient id, ic, name, address, visited locations, gender, and age. employees would have qualities such as their name, employee id, and password. furthermore, when entering the patients’ locations, a new entity called zone will be created, which includes attributes such as location id and address. the most basic requirement is that employees must associate a patient with a room with qualities such as room id and room type. with the help of erdplus, the relational table was generated, with minor tweaks to maintain the precision of data explained between the erd diagram and relational table. we then developed the sql from erdplus, did minor tweaks, and ran through a phpmyadmin web-based tool. we used an apache server to run the code and get the output. attached below are the erd diagram, relational table, and sql code samples used. below are the erd diagram and relational table. results and analysis cts is developed as a web-based system. the front end is built using an angular framework with bootstrap styling. whereas the database is created using sql. before the development, a simple design brainstorming is done to ensure all the scenarios are catered to address the health-care need while storing the patients’ details and send the updates to the government every often. the employee can log in using their employee id [figure 3]. an employee can also use their id name generated figure 5: patients list figure 6: patients details given time. the works should be documented and presented clearly on the fixed dates. when carrying out research methods such as surveys or asking for feedback, good ethics and proper communication should respect the user. it is vital to keep the application up to date and obtain input from the supervisor or user who may assist in its development. er diagram and sql codes to make the erd diagram drawing precise and efficient, the team has used the erdplus web tool. we started defining the shukur: improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 figure 7: location list figure 8: locations details uniquely for them by the administrator, which will detect the employee id in the backend. the home shows the country’s entire cases [figure 4], the whole point within the health center (currently assumed it is a hospital), with daily case breakdowns, filter able to see new only, recovered only, and death only. patients in treatment at the hospital and overall growth of several cases also shown. (for illustration purpose, dummy data shown) [figure 5]. this screen will reveal the high-level details of patients on clicking the patient id and patient name. it will take you to the patient’s information screen. the button update new government queries will submit the attachment of further patient information through email. for now, the email of government authority is embedded within the system. figure 6 shows that all the details will be stored; here, the past visited locations will also be synced through mysejahtera. the dashboard will be helpful for the government agencies in the contact tracing work. (for illustration purpose. dummy data shown) figure 7 shows the list of places visited by patients that are admitted or diagnosed within the health center. on clicking the location id, it will show the patients who visited the location and their time as its shown in figure. 8. conclusions at the point when disease numbers begin to ascend in a state, general well-being authorities and inhabitants stress over whether there are sufficient medical clinic beds for genuinely sick patients. a zone’s medical clinic limit is a gauge, took care of by the information that special emergency clinics report. general well-being authorities depend on the assessments to see whether emergency clinics are in danger of being overpowered. clinics should report day by day to the government what number of beds they have, the number involved, and the accessibility of escalated care beds. under the new framework, the department of health and human services totals the data at a state level and offers a simple spreadsheet of the data accounted for – holes whatnot. to aid the health center in keeping track of their covid19 patients, cts featured to store the patients details, with added vital functionality such as communicate with patients through sms when wifi is down or non-smartphone being used, qr code scan in case of phone switched off, or out of charges, or even no wifi connection, to link cases based on visited place and time and locations visited, it helps the government agency track and traces the contacted people based on comparing patients location and distance. shukur: improving coronavirus disease tracking in malaysian health system 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 11-19 this website can be enhanced with built-in bluetooth functionality where multiple phones can be keyed in the future (auto-communication). the system security can also be enhanced using blockchain technology[7]. references 1 m. cattalini, s. d. paolera, f. zunica, c. bracaglia, m. giangreco, l. verdoni, a. meini, r. sottile, r. caorsi, g. zuccotti, m. fabi, d. montin, a. meneghel, a. consolaro, r. m. dellepiane, m. c. maggio, f. la torre, a. marchesi, g. simonini, a. villani, r. cimaz, a. ravelli, a. taddio and rheumatology study group of the italian pediatric society. defining kawasaki disease and pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome-temporally associated to sars-cov-2 infection during sars-cov-2 epidemic in italy: results from anational, multicenter survey. pediatric rheumatology, vol. 19, no. 1, 2021. 2 h. awang, e. l. yaacob, s. n. s. aluawi, m. f. mahmood, f. h. hamzah, a. wahab, n. abdul rashid, r. razali, g. s. ning, k. embong and n. a. yunus. a case control study of determinants for covid-19 infection based on contact tracing in dungun district, terengganu state of malaysia. infectious diseases, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 222-225, 2020. 3 s. pillai, n. siddika, e. hoque apu and r. kabir. covid-19: situation of european countries. archives of medical research, vol. 51, no. 7, pp. 723-725, 2020. 4 contact tracing in the context of covid-19, 2021. available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/contact-tracing-inthe-context-of-covid-19. [last accessed on 2002 dec 01]. 5 contact transmission of covid-19 in south korea: novel investigation techniques for tracing contacts. osong public health and research perspectives, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 60-63, 2020. 6 j. abeler, m. bäcker, u. buermeyer and h. zillessen. covid19 contact tracing and data protection can go together. jmir mhealth and uhealth, vol. 8, no. 4, p. e19359, 2020. 7 m. turki, f. laith, n. abdullah. secure electronic healthcare system based on block chain technology with wireless body area network. technology reports of kansai university, vol. 62, no. 8, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 41-48 research article route discovery development for multiple destination using artificial ant colony: google map case study reem j. ismail1, mohammed h. shukur1, samar j. ismael2 1department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of electromechanical engineering, university of technology, baghdad, iraq abstract smart cities need smart application for the citizen not just digital devices. the smart applications will provide a decision-making to users using artificial intelligence. many real-world services for online shopping and delivery systems were used and attract customers, especially after covid-19 pandemics, where people prefer to keep social distance and minimize social places visiting. these services need to discover a shortest path for the delivery driver to visit multiple destination and serve the customers. the aim of this research is to develop the route discovery for multiple-destination using ant colony optimization (aco) algorithm for multiple destination route planning. aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning develops the google map application to optimize the route when it is used for multiple destination and when the route is updated with a new destination. the results show improvement in the multiple destination route discovery when the shortest path and the sequence order of cities are found. as a conclusion, the aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning simulation results could be used with google map application and provide an artificial decision for the citizen in erbil city. finally, we discuss our vision for future development. keywords: multiple destination route discovery, google map application, the shortest path, ant colony optimization algorithm introduction smart cities use intelligent systems for decision-making and optimization to provide city management and citizens services. there are many applications for smart city such as: transportation, healthcare, environment, and public safety.[1] to have a city with “smart” infrastructure, it needs to develop three layers of “smartness” as follows: [2,3] • the application layer for end users that interact directly with the user and consists of the deployment of smart applications • the service-oriented middleware layer that processes big data and real-time analysis that support smart city applications • data acquisition layer base on sensors connected in networks to gather data. figure 1 shows three layers for smart city.[2] route planning methods for multiple destination have been applied to real-world applications and needed in smart cities services such as: delivery service around the city for restaurants, online shopping needs multiple shipping destinations, route planning for companies and delivery agents, and generating navigation map to help the tourist to visit multiple destination.[4,5] route planning can be classified mainly into: single destination route planning and multiple destinations route planning. single destination route planning is based on finding a single destination path from the source, and usually, finding the shortest path is the main target. dijkstra’s algorithm is the most algorithm for finding the shortest path from the source node to the destination node, where the algorithm creates a tree using the weighted graph to all other nodes also the depth first search and the k-shortest path algorithms are used for optimizing shortest path in networks.[6-9] in multiple destination route planning, traveling salesman problem (tsp) is a one of the scheduling and planning methods that visit the multiple destinations, where a set of destinations corresponding author: reem j. ismail, department of computer science, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: reem.jafar@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 20, 2022 accepted: august 03, 2022 published: august 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp41-48 copyright © 2022 reem j. ismail, mohammed h. shukur, samar j. ismael. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) figure 1: layers of smartness figure 2: an example of multiple destination delivery problem: (a) visit the plaza first and (b) visit the office first. ismail, et al.: artificial multiple destination discovery: google map case study 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 41-48 are represented as nodes in a graph. the aim of tsp is to visit each node exactly once with the shortest path.[10] figure 2 is an example of multiple destinations which are office and plaza to deliver several packages. here, there are two different routes: route (a), which goes to the plaza first and route (b), which goes to the office first, the best path is considered when satisfy the user requirements such as reduce travel cost and fuel consumption.[11] first, ant colony optimization (aco) is used to solve optimization problems; then, it is developed to be used for artificial intelligence applications. aco is based on behavior of ants for finding food. during the ant walk, it deposits pheromone to find their route and the density of pheromone deposition increases when the ant returns back to the source point with food. many ants will travel on different paths and the optimal path will be found when it has the maximum pheromone deposition.[12] the main contribution of this work is as follows: • develop a smart service for erbil city citizen to find shortest path with multiple destination • enhance google map application as a navigation application to have decision-making. the remainder of this paper is organized as follows: the most recent related works are presented in section (ii); then, multiple destination for route discovery challenges is explained in section (ii). furthermore, in section (iv), we describe an important application and service relate to multiple destination route discovery planning which is google map. section (v), (vi), and (vii) explain and implement an artificial algorithm to develop route discovery in erbil city when the shortest path is found. finally, work conclusion and future work are discussed in section (viii). literature reveiw single destination route planning algorithms have more research publications relate to multiple destination route planning algorithms. in the literature, the most recent multiple destination route planning algorithms are explained. huang et al.,[11] proposed an algorithm by implementing the dynamic graph miner for multi-destination route to plan the route and measure its cost and time according to user requirements and deadlines with efficient optimizing. zhuang et al.,[13] proposed an algorithm for the mobile robot when visiting multiple destinations using a simulated grid map for the environment with the obstacle values. q-learning algorithm is implemented to find the optimal path of multiple destinations for mobile robots with minimum obstacles. the results of the algorithm shown a reduce in path length when using global planning compared to others. asaduzzaman et al.,[14] modified dijkstra algorithm with the minimal weight for multiple destinations in indoor applications, where dijkstra algorithm is modified to implement multiple destinations instead of single destination. the implementation starts from the source node to visit the first nearest destination that becomes the new source node again to the next nearest destination, and so on until all destination nodes are visited. abeer et al.,[15] proposed an algorithm to serve multiple destination requests to plan the route considering real-time traffic conditions and the free parking places in the city to find the minimum time for the driver to travel. the results of the algorithms shown the best performance compared to others. eric et al.,[16] proposed a strategy named cluster-based approximation strategy, to cluster the destinations into several destination clusters, to determine the fastest visiting order from specified multiple destinations. inside the destination ba figure 3: an example of 3*3 grid for route figure 4: google map for erbil city ismail, et al.: artificial multiple destination discovery: google map case study 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 41-48 cluster, the proposed algorithm will choose the destination with the minimum travel time then calculate the local optimal path for all destination nodes in the same cluster. table 1 presents an overview for multiple destination route discovery protocols. analyzing multiple destination route discovery protocols the most two important challenges for multiple destination route discovery protocols are as follows: mapping model and route planning. the mapping model is used to represent the source node and multiple destination nodes such as graph, while route planning is needed to serve the customer’s order within optimal path. mapping model one of the challenges that face multiple destination route discovery protocol is how to represent a model for the protocol. in[11] they use graph model as a grid for each route, as shown in figure 3, where the route is represented as 3*3 grids. accordingly, this route is divided into five segments which are {p1, p2}, {p3, p4, p5, p6}, {p7, p8}, {p9, p10}, and {p11, p12, p13, p14}. the aim of grid design is to calculate travel speed, traffic flow, and travel time for each road segment. route planning for multiple destination another challenge that faces multiple destination route discovery protocols is how to find the route plan to multi-destination. in[11] they use a dynamic graph generator, where the path is generated from multi-weight dynamic directed graph. the method is implemented using directed graph with map information; then, the travel costs of different time slots are calculated by going through all the edges and vertices. google map application for multiple destination route planning in this section, we explain the most application that is used for route planning, which is google map application. many citizens use google map application as a navigation application around the city. google maps are a free online graphic map service that google provides it in 2005.[17] this service provides several information such as: roadmaps, a distance between two or more locations, traffic conditions, and route for traveling by foot, car, and bike.[18] we choose google map for erbil city as case study. erbil is the capital city of kurdistan region – iraq. erbil city has five main roads which are as follows: kasnazan road, masif road, bahirka road, kirkuk road, and mosul road, as shown in figure 4.[19] google map application is used to find the route form source location to one destination or multiple destination. we identified a problem in google map application when it is used for multiple destination, which is that the route plan is not optimized with the shortest path, the user needs to select manually the multiple destination in an order from the near location to far location from the source to give the shortest path. table 1: overview of related works for multiple destination route discovery authors multiple destination route discovery protocol huang et al.,[11] 2021 satisfy user multiple requirements relate to cost and time with deadlines zhuang et al.,[13] 2021 consider obstacles in the environment when the mobile robot finds the optimal path of multiple destinations asaduzzaman et al.,[14] 2021 consider indoor environment to find the shortest path for multiple destination like in warehouses or libraries when a customer needs multiple items to search abeer et al.,[15] 2019 consider real-time traffic conditions in the city and free parking places for drivers eric et al.,[16] 2011 use cluster strategy to cluster the destinations into several destination clusters proposed artificial ant colony for multiple destination route discovery protocol consider artificial ant colony and real-time route discovery for multiple destination when a new destination will be available with the shortest path figure 5: path 1 route from google map figure 7: path 3 route from google map figure 6: path 2 route from google map ismail, et al.: artificial multiple destination discovery: google map case study 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 41-48 the proposed development for multiple destination route planning in aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning, ten artificial ants will generate different routes. all the routes will be found, and then, the best route which has the minimum cost will be chosen and used. during the ant walk forward and backward, the pheromone trails are updated by deposition and evaporations. algorithm (1) is the pseudocode of the aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning. we assume that there is a fleet of vehicles and drivers that are available, and each driver is responsible for a specific region in the erbil city. in our proposal, we assign one driver to cover the delivery for each main roads in the city. first, the multiple destination must identify which region it belongs to then, the driver region will visit all destination. in algorithm (1), the initial parameters represent: m is number of ants, e is evaporation coefficient, α is the effects of ants’ sight, β is trace’s effect, and ρ is common cost elimination. during multiple destination route planning, a new destination may be added to the system, where the system must consider the update in route. in this case, the system is updated with new destination when it gets the information about the new destination relate to its location and distance relate to other destinations. the information of cities is real information which are taken from google map application for erbil city. algorithm (1): aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning input: number of cities (c), distance between cities (d), and number of regions in the city (n) output: minimum total distance and shortest route plan begin 1. initial parameters: 2. m=10, e=0.15, α=1, β=4, ρ=0.97 3. for each region in the city do 4. for each ant do 5. forward ant and generate place for it select next node using probabilistic solution generation add the selected node to the route calculate the cost (distance) of ants’ touring add ant tour cost to the tour set update the route information by updating pheromones (evaporation and deposition process) 6. if new destination is added 7. update the route information by getting the location of the new city and added to the specified region and go to step 4 8. determine the best route from tour set end implementation and simulation in this section, we present the implementation of aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning and google map multiple destination in erbil city then evaluate them, using matlab r2018a (9.4.0.813654). on kasnazan road, different routes relate to multiple destination of cities are implemented, where the cities are: hawleri new, shariy andazyaran, hewa city and havalan, when family mall will be considered as the source location. the information relate to the total distance in km form source to multiple destination is taken form google map application of erbil city. figures 5–7 shows the route for path 1, path 2, and path 3 as an example using multiple destination, respectively. as shown in table 2, google map application will find different total distance depending on the sequence of the input destination from the user and will not give or suggest the shortest path to visit all destinations. figure 8 shows the route plan when new destination is added to the multiple destination. using aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning, the cities information relate to location and distance in km are input to matlab as a simulation coordinate (x, y). figure 9 shows the coordinates of the cities in figures 5–7 and 10, which shows the coordinates of figure 10: city coordinates of source and multiple destination when new destination is added figure 12: path 6 route from google map figure 14: city coordinates of source and multiple destination figure 13: path 7 route from google map figure 8: route update when new destination is added from google map figure 11: path 5 route from google map figure 9: city coordinates of source and multiple destination ismail, et al.: artificial multiple destination discovery: google map case study 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 41-48 the cities in figure 8 when new destination is added. note for example, that the source node of family mall is located at coordinate (2, 4) and the new destination is located at coordinate (16, 0). on masif road, different routes relate to multiple destination of cities are implemented, where the cities are: italian city 2, shaways and zin city when family mall will be considered as the source location. the information relate to the total distance in km form source to multiple destination is taken form google map application of erbil city. figures 11–13 shows the route for path 5, path 6, and path 7 as an example using multiple destination, respectively. as shown in table 3, google map application will find different total distance depending on the sequence of the input destination from the user and will not give or suggest the shortest path to visit all destinations. figure 14 shows the coordinates of the cities in figures 11–13. results and evaluation aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning results are shown in figures 15 and 16. figure 15 shows the minimum path for five cities of figure 9 of minimum total length of 26 km. figure 16 shows the minimum path for six cities of figure 10 of minimum total length of 30 km. table 2: compares different route for multiple destination of cities in erbil using google map route multiple destination route total distance (km) google map path 1 havalan, hawleri new, shariy andazyaran, hewa city 31.9 google map path 2 shariy andazyaran, hawleri new, hewa city, havalan 29.6 google map path 3 hawleri new, shariy andazyaran, hewa city, havalan 27.4 figure 15: aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning for five cities figure 16: aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning for six cities figure 17: different routes cost for ten artificial ants for five cities ismail, et al.: artificial multiple destination discovery: google map case study 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 41-48 aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning is evaluation and compared with google map route with multiple destination. table 4 shows the comparison of aco algorithm according to the sequence of visiting multiple destination relate to the five cities that are located at kasnazan road region in erbil, figures 5–7. as shown in table 4, aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning has total length of 26 km which is the minimum distance compared to others also the algorithm presents the sequence order of the visiting cities in the route of path 4. table 5 shows the error percentage of route length for google map application results compared to aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning result. figures 17 and 18 show the output results for figures 15 and 16, respectively, when all routes are generated for the artificial ants in aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning. figure 19 shows the minimum path for four cities of figure 14 of minimum total length of 27.1 km. aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning is evaluation and compared with google map route with multiple destination. table 6 shows the comparison of aco algorithm according to the sequence of visiting multiple destination relate to the four cities that are located at masif road region in erbil, figures 11–13. as shown in table 6, aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning has total length of 27.1 km which is the minimum distance compared to others also the algorithm presents the sequence order of the visiting cities in the route of path 8. table 7 shows the error percentage of route length for google map application results compared to aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning result. figure 20 shows the output results for figure 19 when all routes are generated for the artificial ants in aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning. the aco algorithm for multiple destination gives optimal path when the shortest path is found and the sequence order of visiting cities is discovered around the city returning back to the source location. the aco algorithm considers one of the important factors when the multiple destinations are available is that the source location needs to be reached with minimum route from last destination. retuning back from last destination to source location is found with shortest path. for example, in route plan for path 4, when last destination is havalan and the source location is family mall the shortest route that is considered in the total route plan. furthermore, table 4: compare aco algorithm for multiple destination of cities in erbil with google map route multiple destination route total distance (km) google map path 1 havalan, hawleri new, shariy andazyaran, hewa city 31.9 google map path 2 shariy andazyaran, hawleri new, hewa city, havalan 29.6 google map path 3 hawleri new, shariy andazyaran, hewa city, havalan 27.4 aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning path 4 hawleri new, hewa city, shariy andazyaran, havalan 26 table 3: compares different route for multiple destination of cities in erbil using google map routes when the source node is family mall multiple destination route total distance/ km google map path 5 italian city 2, shaways, zin city 30.2 google map path 6 zin city, shaways, italian city 2 40.5 google map path 7 italian city 2, zin city, shaways 42.4 figure 18: different routes cost for ten artificial ants for six cities figure 21: compare aco algorithm for multiple destination of cities in erbil with google map in example 1, where the minimum route is 26 km figure 19: aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning for 4 cities figure 20: different routes cost for ten artificial ants for four cities ismail, et al.: artificial multiple destination discovery: google map case study 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 41-48 in route plan for path 8, when last destination is italian city 2 and the source location is family mall the shortest route that is considered in the total route plan. finally, figures 21 and 22 shows the comparison between aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning with google map routes plan as a case study to improved. table 5: the error percentage of google map compared to the result of aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning with five cities routes when the source node is family mall multiple destination route total distance/ km error related to aco=26 google map path 1 havalan, hawleri new, shariy andazyaran, hewa city 31.9 23% google map path 2 shariy andazyaran, hawleri new, hewa city, havalan 29.6 14% google map path 3 hawleri new, shariy andazyaran, hewa city, havalan 27.4 5% table 7: the error percentage of google map compared to the result of aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning with four cities routes when the source node is family mall multiple destination route total distance/ km error related to aco=27.1 google map path 5 italian city 2, shaways, zin city 30.2 12% google map path 6 zin city, shaways, italian city 2 40.5 50% google map path 7 italian city 2, zin city, shaways 42.4 57% table 6: compare aco algorithm for multiple destination of cities in erbil with google map routes when the source node is family mall multiple destination route total distance/km google map path 5 italian city 2, shaways, zin city 30.2 google map path 6 zin city, shaways, italian city 2 40.5 google map path 7 italian city 2, zin city, shaways 42.4 aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning path 8 shaways, zin city, italian civty 2 27.1 figure 22: compare aco algorithm for multiple destination of cities in erbil with google map in example 2, where the minimum route is 27.1 km ismail, et al.: artificial multiple destination discovery: google map case study 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 41-48 conclusion and future work this paper focuses on improving the routing algorithms in computer networks and in the real-life network when multiple destinations are needed. most computer network routing algorithms that are configured for routers consider a single destination. in this paper, we have reviewed multiple destination route discovery protocols and analyze their challenges. google map is an application that has multiple destination service. we identified the problem in google map application when using the application with multiple destinations and proposed an improvement algorithm for multiple destination route discovery when using aco algorithm. the aco algorithm for multiple destination route planning gives the best route and the optimal cities sequence to visit. the results show a good performance when the shortest path is found and the new destination is added to the route plan. for a future work, the proposed algorithm for multiple destination route discovery could be used in real-life services such as goods distributor driver and city bus scheduling for multi stop stations to develop many smart applications for the future of erbil smart city. references 1. s. aslam and h. s. ullah. a comprehensive review of smart cities components, applications, and technologies based on internet of things. arxiv, vol. 2002, p. 01716, 2020. 2. a. kousis and c. tjortjis. data mining algorithms for smart cities: a bibliometric analysis. algorithms, vol. 14, p. 242, 2021. 3. a. t. kareem, m. a. alrawi and t. a. israa. smart inventory control system based on wireless sensor network. international journal of engineering research and application, vol. 7, no. 8, pp. 40-47, 2017. 4. j. zhang, j. fan and z. luo. generating multi-destination maps. ieee transactions on visualization and computer graphics, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 1964-1976, 2017. 5. h. siam and m. b. younes. multi-destinations round trip planner protocol. 2018 5th international symposium on innovation in information and communication technology (isiict), pp. 1-5, 2018. 6. a. behrouz. data communications and networking. 5th ed. mcgraw-hill, new york, pp. 601-602, 2013. 7. a. f. alkhazraji, s. j. ismail and y. n. abd. iraqi national grid restoration strategy based on modified depth first search algorithm. advances in natural and applied sciences, vol. 10, no. 5. pp. 1-12, 2016. 8. a. f. alkhazraji and s. j. ismail. restoring the iraqi transmission network using k-shortest path algorithms. advances in natural and applied sciences, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 146-158, 2017. 9. h. f. hasan, a. a. mahdi and m. nat. a recommendation of information system implementation to support decision-making process of top management. in: proceedings of the international conference on bioinformatics and computational intelligence, 2017. 10. c. yang and k. y. szeto. solving the traveling salesman problem with a multi-agent system. 2019 ieee congress on evolutionary computation (cec), 2019, pp. 158-165. 11. y. huang, j. c. ying, p. s. yu and v. tseng. dynamic graph mining for multi-weight multi-destination route planning with deadlines constraints. acm transactions on knowledge discovery from data, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 1-32, 2021. 12. s. kumar, v. kumar-solanki, s. k. choudhary, a. selamat and r. gonzález-crespo. comparative study on ant colony optimization (aco) and k-means clustering approaches for jobs scheduling and energy optimization model in internet of things (iot). international journal of interactive multimedia and artificial intelligence, vol. 6, no. 1, 2020. 13. h. zhuang, k. dong, y. qi, n. wang and l. dong. multi-destination path planning method research of mobile robots based on goal of passing through the fewest obstacles. applied science, vol. 11, p. 7378, 2021. 14. m. asaduzzaman, t. k. geok, f. hossain, s. sayeed, a. abdaziz, h. y. wong, c. p. tso, s. ahmed and b. a. bari. an efficient shortest path algorithm: multi-destinations in an indoor environment. symmetry, vol. 13, p. 421, 2021. 15. a. hakeem, n. gehani, x. ding, r. curtmola and c. borcea. multi-destination vehicular route planning with parking and traffic constraints. in: mobiquitous 19: proceedings of the 16th eai international conference on mobile and ubiquitous systems: computing, networking and services. pp. 298-307, 2019. 16. e. h. c. lu, w. lee and v. tseng. mining fastest path from trajectories with multiple destinations in road networks. knowledge and information systems, vol. 29, no. 1. pp. 25-53. 2011. 17. available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/google_maps [last accessed on 2022 feb 01]. 18. a. m. luthfi, n. karna and r. mayasari. google maps api implementation on iot platform for tracking an object using gps. in: 2019 ieee asia pacific conference on wireless and mobile (apwimob). 2019. 19. available from: https://www.google.com/maps [last accessed on 2022 feb 01]. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 26-30 research article physical and mechanical properties of an artificial aggregate made up of ground granulated blast-furnace slag mais a. ibrahim1, nihat atmaca2, adem atmaca3 1department of civil engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, erbil, 44001, iraq, 2department of civil engineering, engineering faculty, gaziantep university, gaziantep, 27310, turkey, 3department of mechanical engineering, engineering faculty, gaziantep university, gaziantep, 27310, turkey abstract manufacturing artificial aggregate by utilizing waste materials has gained great importance as the aggregate occupies a high volume in concrete (60–70%). in this paper, ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (ggbfs) is utilized in aggregate manufacturing. cold bonding and sintering methods were used as production processes. the pellets were put through a series of tests such as dry density, specific gravity, water absorption, and crushing strength. the results indicated that the density of pellets increased by increasing the ggbfs dosage while the water absorption capacity was reduced. furthermore, the highest crushed strength was recorded at 50% addition of ggbfs. keywords: artificial aggregate, cold bonded, ground-granulated blast-furnace slag, pelletization, waste materials introduction the enormous expansion of industry in recent years makes it all the more important to manage trash effectively and lessen its impact on the natural world and on people’s health. the annual production of groundgranulated blast-furnace slag (ggbfs) as a solid waste material from the iron melting process is very high. reusing trash to make new building supplies or synthetic exaggerate (like fly ash, a byproduct of thermal power plants) is supported by research,[1,2] sewage sludge,[3,4] quartz powder,[5] and different types of ashes[6] which were studied. cold bonding (cement-based pelletization) and sintering processes[7] are the most common methods in aggregate production. although the properties of sintered aggregate are better than those of cold-bonded aggregate in terms of strength, it is a costly and energy-consuming method when compared to the cold-bonded process. the disadvantage of the cold bonding process is the time that the pellets need to gain the required strength,[8] in contrast to the sintering method, in which the pellets gain strength and are ready to use immediately after the sintering is completed.[9] utilizing cold-bonded and sintered artificial aggregates in concrete production has been investigated in the literature. some studies have shown that 30% replacement of artificial aggregate with natural aggregate could result in comparable properties to normal concrete.[10,11] sintered fly ash artificial aggregate as a replacement for fine aggregate improved the mechanical properties and fracture strength of concrete.[12] a compressive strength of concrete between 20 mpa and 80 mpa could be achieved using artificial aggregate. the axial strength of the concrete increased with the use of 10% of fly ash artificial aggregate as a replacement for natural coarse aggregate.[13] in addition to the mechanical properties, the workability can also be improved when using artificial aggregate due to its spherical shape.[14] although some studies resulted in the lower mechanical properties of artificial aggregate concrete compared to normal concrete, artificial aggregate concrete has advantages such as being low-cost, eco-friendly, and lower in dead load.[15-17] the cost of concrete produced with artificial aggregate reduces by 13–15% compared to the cost of normal concrete.[18] there are few studies on the use of ggbfs in the production of lightweight aggregate. therefore, the aim of this study is to propose a new idea of utilizing the large amount of such waste materials in the production of the frequently and in cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: mais a. ibrahim, department of civil engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, erbil, 44001, iraq. e-mail: mais.ibrahim@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: march 23, 2023 accepted: august 07, 2023 published: august 25, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp26-30 copyright © 2023 mais a. ibrahim, nihat atmaca, adem atmaca. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). ibrahim, et al.: production of artificial aggregate using waste material 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 26-30 large quantities used material, which is aggregate. thus, this investigation concentrated on the possibility of manufacturing artificial aggregate using ggbfs and optimizing the amount of ggbfs that would result in physical and mechanical properties of aggregate that can be compared with those of natural aggregate. materials and methodology in this experimental study, ordinary portland cement (opc) of grades cemi 42.5 r and ggbfs from the local markets was used to manufacture the cold-bonded and sintered aggregates. the ggbfs was oven-dried for 24 h at 105°c before being used followed by grinding into powder. the major components of ggbfs are cao, sio2, and al2o3. table 1 shows the physical and chemical compositions of opc and ggbfs. manufacturing of aggregate to produce the cold-bonded aggregate, ggbfs was mixed with cement in proportions of 20, 30, and 50%, as shown in table 2. the proportions were selected after trials to get the appropriate pellets in terms of shape and size. the ratio of ggbfs above 50% showed difficulty in forming rounded pellets, and the loss of materials started to increase. the combinations have been labeled by considering the ratio of cement and ggbfs; for example, 80c20g refers to pellets made with 80% of cement and 20% of ggbfs. the dry materials were fed into the pelletization disk with a diameter of 800 mm and a depth of 300 mm, as shown in figure 1. the first stage of the cold bonding process is to mix the dry materials for 3–5 min to get a homogenous mixture followed by adding the water by way of spraying onto the materials while the rotating of the pelletization disk is continued. after 15–20 min, the pellets started to be formed in the size range of 8–16 mm. figure 2 shows the cold bonding process, and figure 3 shows the produced pellets. the pellets were then collected and kept in plastic bags to be cured at room temperature and humidity of 20°c and 95 %, respectively, for 28 days before being used as cold-bonded aggregates. on the other hand, a quantity of the produced pellets was taken once the pelletization process had been completed and exposed to a high temperature of 900°c for 2 h, as shown in figure 4, to produce the sintered aggregates. the difference in appearance and color between cold-bonded and sintered aggregate is shown in figure 5. test procedures to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of the produced pellets, tests of bulk density, specific gravity, and water absorption were carried out in accordance with astm 127,[19] and particle size distribution by sieve analysis procedures. furthermore, the crushing strength value was measured as per bs 812 part 110.[20] table 1: physical and chemical composition of the materials used in this study composition (%) opc ggbfs cao 62.58 34.12 sio2 20.25 36.41 al2o3 5.31 10.39 fe2o3 4.04 0.67 mgo 2.82 10.26 so3 2.73 k2o 0.92 0.97 na2o 0.22 0.35 loss on ignition 3.02 1.64 specific gravity 3.15 2.79 blaine fineness (m^2/kg) 326 418 opc: ordinary portland cement, ggbfs: ground-granulated blast-furnace slag table 2: mix proportions mix id opc (%) ggbfs (%) 80c20g 80 20 70c30g 70 30 50c50g 50 50 opc: ordinary portland cement, ggbfs: ground-granulated blast-furnace slag figure 1: the pelletization disk figure 2: during the cold-bonding process ibrahim, et al.: production of artificial aggregate using waste material 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 26-30 by measuring the pellets’ oven-dry weight (w1), pellets’ weight (w2) while submerged in water, and pellets’ saturated weight (w3) after 24 h in water, we were able to determine the pellets’ oven-dry (od) relative density and water absorption. to do the math, we used these relationships:[19] relative density od� � � � w w w 1 3 2 (1) water absorption � � �w w w 3 1 1 100 (2) the pellets were tested individually for crushing strength by applying the aggregate particle between two parallel plates and applying a load of 28 kn until failure, as shown in figure 6. the following equation[20] was used to determine the crushing strength after taking the average of ten pellets for each mix. crushing�strength � � 2 8 2 . f d� (3) where f is the maximum load at failure (n), and d is the diameter or the distance between the loading points (mm). results and discussion the results of density, specific gravity, water absorption, and crushing strength values for the cold-bonded artificial aggregate are listed in table 3 and graphically shown in figures 7–9. it can be seen from the results that the addition of ggbfs improves the aggregate properties by increasing the specific gravity and density and reducing the water absorption capacity. the cold-bonded artificial aggregate can be considered lightweight aggregate as the densities are less than 2000 kg/m^3.[21] the high porosity of artificial aggregate resulted in a higher water absorption capacity, which is not a desirable property when used in concrete because the aggregate will affect the watercement ratio that affects the hydration process. however, in this type of artificial aggregate, the voids were reduced by figure 3: the produced pellets figure 4: sintering the pellets at 900°c figure 6: test of crushing strength figure 5: difference in appearance between (left) cold bonded and (right) sintered pellets ibrahim, et al.: production of artificial aggregate using waste material 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 26-30 table 4: physical and mechanical properties of sintered artificial aggregate at 900°c mix id density (kg/m^3) water absorption (%) crushing strength (n) 80c20g 1299 15.85 690.8 70c30g 1324 14 858.5 50c50g 1337 11.15 1059.87 table 3: physical and mechanical properties of cold-bonded artificial aggregate. mix id specific gravity density (kg/m^3) water absorption (%) crushing strength (n) 80c20g 1.84 652.18 18.05 453.29 70c30g 1.80 750.00 17.20 541.78 50c50g 1.74 1114.42 16.27 1038.98 increasing the ggbfs dosage to 50%, and as a result, the minimum water absorption of 16.27 was achieved. in addition, the particle size distribution is shown in figure 10 for the cold-bonded artificial aggregate at different ratios of ggbfs. furthermore, the crushing strength results agree with the density and water absorption results, with the maximum crushing strength of 1038.98 n recorded at the mix with a maximum density of 1114.42 kg/m^3. this means that increasing the ratio of ggbfs could improve the physical and mechanical properties of artificial aggregate. the results of the sintered aggregate properties are shown in table 4. the results indicated better performance when exposed to high temperatures by increasing the density and reducing the water absorption. the high temperature leads to a glassy texture inside the pellets, which, in turn, reduces water absorption. from the show results, the mixture of 50% of ggbfs can be considered the optimized mixture for producing the artificial lightweight aggregate, as it resulted in the best physical and strength properties. in the study of kumar et al., 2016, the physical properties of an artificial aggregate made up with ggbfs were found to be similar to the results in this study, where the water absorption was found to be 18% and the specific gravity was 2.76.[22] conclusion in this experimental study, ggbfs was selected to be utilized in the production of cold-bonded and sintered artificial aggregates. due to the obtained results, the following conclusions are drawn: figure 10: particle size distribution of artificial aggregate figure 7: bulk density of artificial aggregate figure 9: crushing strength of artificial aggregate figure 8: water absorption of artificial aggregate ibrahim, et al.: production of artificial aggregate using waste material 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 26-30 1. all of the produced aggregate can be considered lightweight aggregate since the densities are less than 2000 kg/m^3 in accordance with bs en 13055-1 (2002). the highest density recorded at the artificial aggregate contains 50% of ggbfs in both cold-bonded and sintered aggregates, while the minimum is at 20% of ggbfs mixture. 2. the capacity of pellets to absorb water was found to be reduced by increasing the amount of ggbfs. the minimum water absorption obtained at 50% of ggbfs mixture. 3. it was found that the sintering temperature affects the water absorption and can reduce it to about 31% at a mix of 50% of ggbfs. this is due to the glassy texture that is obtained during the sintering process. 4. the artificial aggregate’s crushing strength increases as the percentage of ggbfs increases. crushing strength increased by 56% when ggbfs was increased from 20% to 50%. the sintered artificial aggregate yielded similar results. due to the properties obtained from the artificial aggregate, further studies are planned to be carried out to investigate the influence of the produced aggregate on the mechanical and durability aspects of concrete. references 1. n. atmaca, m. ibrahim and a. atmaca. comparison of physical and mechanical properties of cold bonded and sintered lightweight artificial aggregates. adıyaman üniversitesi mühendislik bilimleri dergisi, vol. 8, no. 15, pp. 560-570, 2021. 2. m. a. ibrahim, n. atmaca, a. a. abdullah and a. atmaca. mechanical properties of concrete produced by light cementbased aggregates. sustainability, vol. 14, no. 23, p. 15991, 2022. 3. s. h. hu, s. c. hu and y. p. fu. recycling technology-artificial lightweight aggregates synthesized from sewage sludge and its ash at lowered comelting temperature. environmental progress and sustainable energy, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 740-748, 2013. 4. b. gonzález-corrochano, j. alonso-azcárate and m. rodas. production of lightweight aggregates from mining and industrial wastes. journal of environmental management, vol. 90, no. 8, pp. 2801-2812, 2009. 5. m. a. ibrahim and n. atmaca. cold bonded and low temperature sintered artificial aggregate production by using waste materials. periodica polytechnica civil engineering, vol. 67, no. 1, pp. 112122, 2022. 6. a. białowiec, w. janczukowicz, z. m. gusiatin, a. thornton, j. rodziewicz and m. zielińska. recycling potential of air pollution control residue from sewage sludge thermal treatment as artificial lightweight aggregates. waste management and research, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 221-227, 2014. 7. r. cioffi, f. colangelo, f. montagnaro and l. santoro. manufacture of artificial aggregate using mswi bottom ash. waste management, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 281-288, 2011. 8. n. u. kockal and t. ozturan. effects of lightweight fly ash aggregate properties on the behavior of lightweight concretes. journal of hazardous materials, vol. 179, no. 1-3, pp. 954-965, 2010. 9. e. güneyisi, m. gesoǧlu, ö. pürsünlü and k. mermerdaş. durability aspect of concretes composed of cold bonded and sintered fly ash lightweight aggregates. composites part b: engineering, vol. 53, pp. 258-266, 2013. 10. m. limbachiya, m. s. meddah and y. ouchagour. use of recycled concrete aggregate in fly-ash concrete. construction and building materials, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 439-449, 2012. 11. a. lotfy and m. al-fayez. performance evaluation of structural concrete using controlled quality coarse and fine recycled concrete aggregate. cement and concrete composites, vol. 61, pp. 36-43, 2015. 12. b. basa, n. pradhan and l. p. parhi. mechanical properties of concrete with sintered fly ash aggregate as substitute of natural fine aggregate. iop conference series: materials science and engineering, vol. 970, p. 012013, 2020. 13. a. n. dabhade, s. r. chaudari and a. r. gajbhaye. effect of flyash on recycle coarse aggregate concrete. international journal of civil engineering research, vol. 5, p. 35-42, 2014. 14. c. lima, a. caggiano, c. faella, e. martinelli, m. pepe and r. realfonzo. physical properties and mechanical behaviour of concrete made with recycled aggregates and fly ash. construction and building materials, vol. 47, pp. 547-559, 2013. 15. r. h. faraj, a. f. h. sherwani, l. h. jafer and d. f. ibrahim. rheological behavior and fresh properties of self-compacting high strength concrete containing recycled pp particles with fly ash and silica fume blended. journal of building engineering, vol. 34, p. 101667, 2021. 16. r. h. faraj, h. f. hama ali, a. f. h. sherwani, b. r. hassan and h. karim. use of recycled plastic in self-compacting concrete: a comprehensive review on fresh and mechanical properties. journal of building engineering, vol. 30, p. 101283, 2020. 17. r. h. faraj, a. f. h. sherwani and a. daraei. mechanical, fracture and durability properties of self-compacting high strength concrete containing recycled polypropylene plastic particles. journal of building engineering, vol. 25, p. 100808. 18. a. danish and m. a. mosaberpanah. formation mechanism and applications of cenospheres: a review. journal of materials science, vol. 55, no. 11, pp. 4539-4557, 2020. 19. astm c127-07. standard test method for density, relative density (specific gravity), and absorption of coarse aggregate. in: annual book of astm standards. west conshohocken. pa, 1994. 20. bsi. (british standard institution). testing aggregates-methods for determination of aggregate crushing value (acv). british standards institution, london, 1990. 21. s. i̇pek, o. a. ayodele and k. mermerdaş. influence of artificial aggregate on mechanical properties, fracture parameters and bond strength of concretes. construction and building materials, vol. 238, p. 117756, 2020. 22. p. p. kumar, s. suhas, d. ravikumar, s. roopa, m. keshavmurthy and s. agarwal. some physical and mechanical properties of concrete made from partial replacement of natural aggregates with artificially manufactured aggregates using ground granulated blast furnace slag (ggbs). international journal of research in engineering and technology, vol. 5, no. 14, pp. 47-52, 2016. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 60-66 research article prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency anemia and its sociodemographic factors among pregnant women in garmian province, kurdistan region of iraq mustafa y. rashid1, adnan l. abdul raheem1, gulzar s. hama amin1, shwan s. weli2, rahman k. faraj3, ali j. muhialdin4, seerwan a. raheem1 1department of biology, university of garmian, kurdistan region, iraq, 2kalar public hospital, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of chemistry science, college of science, university of garmian, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of animal production, college of agricultural engineering sciences, university of garmian, kalar, kurdistan region, iraq abstract anemia is the most common hematologic abnormality in pregnancy. maternal anemia is associated with adverse fetal, neonatal, and childhood outcomes. this study aims to determine the prevalence of anemia, and iron deficiency anemia (ida), the severity of the condition, and study the effect of some sociodemographic factors on pregnant women in garmian province. the study was conducted among 157 pregnant women in garmian province between 17 and 49 years old. participants completed a questionnaire that included sociodemographic characteristics, disease, and gestational age. a hematological evaluation, including a complete blood count and serum for ferritin testing. results of this study have shown that the prevalence of anemia and ida were 34.4% and 15.3%, respectively. almost three-quarters of the pregnant women had mild anemia, while 31% of the participants had moderate anemia, and about 60% of the participants were diagnosed with normocytic anemia. the second trimester had the highest prevalence, with 51.9% for the anemic and 45.8% for ida participants, while the first trimester showed the lowest prevalence, with 14.8% for the anemic and 12.5% for ida participants. age, occupation, gravidity with anemia, and ida did not make a significant difference. moreover, there was no significant difference in blood indices between anemic and ida participants. the serum ferritin level was unaffected by the pregnancy trimesters. keywords: anemia, hematological parameters, iron deficiency anemia, pregnant women, severity of anemia introduction anemia in maternity is defined by a low hemoglobin (hb) concentration of <11 g/dl. furthermore, the low red blood cell (rbc) count, and decreased packed cell volume.[1,2] pregnancy-related anemia is a highly unusual finding in hematological tests. it is thought to have an unfavorable effect on fetuses, newborns, and children. anemia in the mother will increase the likelihood of a transfusion during birth. iron deficiency (id) is the most significant problem with anemia during pregnancy.[2] iron plays an important role in a wide range of cellular metabolism, including oxygen transport by rbc hb, electron transport, and dna synthesis. almost three of the four parts of the body’s total iron are contained in heme, hb, and myoglobin, with the remaining parts stored as ferritin and hemosiderin.[3] id is the insufficiency of iron in the body below normal levels to maintain all physiological functions. id anemia (ida) develops when the bodily iron levels drop too low to maintain healthy rbc synthesis.[4] in the absence of infection, serum ferritin is a susceptible and widely used test for the diagnosis of id, which shows decreased serum ferritin with <15 ng/ml in the age of 5 years or older, both in males and females.[5] it has been shown that ida has been associated with hazardous neonatal mortality, premature delivery, low birth weight (lbw), child cognitive growth, and motor development in pregnant women.[6] id is the most common cause of anemia, it causes around 50% of all types of anemia, and this is the most widespread nutritional deficiency globally.[7] id is the probable cause of about 75% of all anemia cases during pregnancy.[8] id is a major dietary problem throughout the world. a pregnant corresponding author: mustafa y. rashid, department of biology, university of garmian, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mustafa.yunis@garmian.edu.krd received: april 15, 2023 accepted: may 23, 2023 published: june 15, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp60-66 copyright © 2023 mustafa y. rashid, adnan l. abdul raheem, gulzar s. hama amin, shwan s. weli, rahman k. faraj, ali j. muhialdin, seerwan a. raheem. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ rashid, et al.: prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 60-66 woman’s diet is inadequate to satisfy her iron requirements.[9] women need 4.4 milligrams of iron daily during pregnancy,[10] which is approximately double their normal requirement. in addition, they need more iron than usual due to the increased need for iron during pregnancy.[11] when the mother’s rbc mass increases along with fetal growth, the iron requirements increase. women need to take additional iron supplements daily during their pregnancy. taking these supplements significantly lowers the risk of developing anemia during pregnancy.[12] anemia is considered a global health problem that influences many countries with a big concern for public health besides communal and financial development.[13,14] it affects people at different stages of life but is more common in pregnant women and children.[13] globally, anemia affected around 29% of non-pregnant women and about 38% of pregnant women aged 15–49 in 2011. in 2019, anemia was 29.6% in nonpregnant women and 36.5% in pregnant women.[15,16] there is a wide range of social, cultural, and environmental factors that affect the prevalence of anemia during pregnancy. anemia is widespread in many countries worldwide. it is highly influenced by nutrition, infectious diseases, genetics, and strong menstrual bleeding on a biological level.[17] it has been shown that the risk of anemia is increased by deficiencies of vitamins a and b12, c, d, e, folate, zinc, riboflavin, and copper, and infection with hookworm, schistosomiasis, and hiv.[17,18] furthermore, it has been shown that there is a potential relationship between helicobacter infection and anemia.[19] however, normal hemodilution occurs during pregnancy and ranges between 20 and 24 weeks, and hb levels vary throughout pregnancy.[11] it is well known that hb naturally decreases throughout the second trimester. this decrease is related to a larger increase in plasma levels compared to rbc mass. the relative hemodilution of blood viscosity brought on by this process promotes placental blood flow.[20] some women have little or no iron stored when they become pregnant, and this problem can cause severe id during pregnancy. according to the who recommendations on the prevention, control, and treatment of anemia in women as part of prenatal treatment, daily oral iron and folic acid supplementation is advised to lower the risk of lbw, maternal anemia, and id. according to the united nations multiple micronutrient preparation, supplements may include additional vitamins and minerals in addition to iron and folic acid to address any potential maternal micronutrient deficits. any attempts to prevent and control anemia should be supported by a diet rich in bioavailable iron.[21] this study aims to determine the prevalence of anemia, ida, the severity of the condition, and some associated sociodemographic characteristics in pregnancy in the garmian area. materials and methods study design this study was performed on 157 pregnant women aged 17–49 years, who attended both garmian medical city and zanko medical laboratory during august 2021 and october 2022 in kalar city/kurdistan region of iraq. blood samples have been collected from the patients to perform hematological assessments anonymously. data collection the data were collected from pregnant women by using a questionnaire form. the questionnaire was created to investigate disease and sociodemographic factors. the pregnant women were divided based on gravidity into primigravida and multigravida, and on their occupations into employees and nonemployees, with ages ranging from ≤29, 30–39, to 40–49 years. laboratory assessment venous blood (5 ml) was collected from the participants in this study and placed in an edta tube for a complete blood count (cbc) test, and a gel tube for a serum ferritin test. in zanko medical laboratory, the blood samples were collected, and the cbc test was performed on a fully automated hematology analyzer (medionic m51). the collected blood was centrifuged by an (lc-04l centrifuge). the serum ferritin test was assessed by (cobas e411 analyzer) after serum preparation by centrifugation of blood sample at 3500 rpm for 10 min. each test was done immediately after collecting the blood samples. in garmian medical city, blood samples were collected, and a cbc test was analyzed by a fully automated hematology analyzer (swelab alfa plus) for the cbc test. centrifugation of blood samples was performed at 3500 rpm/10 min by (an 80–1 electric centrifuge). serum ferritin was tested with a cobas e411 analyzer after serum preparation. all tests were performed immediately following the collection of blood samples. differential value and statistical analysis haemoglobin and serum ferritin criteria were used for the diagnosis of anemia and ida based on who guidelines.[1,5] pregnant women who measured hb <11 g/dl and serum ferritin <15 ng/ml were defined as ida. the severity of anemia is categorized according to who thresholds,[1] including mild anemia, where hb levels range between 10 and 10.9 g/dl, and moderate anemia, where blood hb levels range between 7 and 9.9 g/dl. the present findings were compared with how the who categorizes anemia and ida in the community as significant for public health based on prevalence estimates derived from hb and serum ferritin levels in the blood.[1,5] anemia was divided into two categories based on mean cell volume (mcv) levels.[22] statistical analysis was evaluated using microsoft excel 2014 for the achieved data. the chi-square test was used to determine the difference between the different groups. a p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. ethics statement the studies involving human participants were reviewed and ethically approved by the scientific and ethical of the biology department, university of garmian. the participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. participants were guaranteed anonymity and confidentiality for their responses, and they were assured of having the rashid, et al.: prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 60-66 ability to withdraw their responses for any reason at any time, without any implications. results in the present study, out of a total of 157 pregnant women in the garmian/kurdistan region of iraq of different ages ranging from (17 to 49) years, 124 were from kalar, 6 from kifry, 21 from rizgary, 3 from bawanour, and 3 from sarqala were involved in this study. based on hb levels, the prevalence rate of anemia among the total number of women was 54 (34.4%) with a mean hb of 10.1 ± 0.83, and (65.6%) non-anemic women with a mean hb of 12.14 ± 0.79, as shown in table 1. furthermore, 54 (34.4%) pregnant women had an id with a mean serum ferritin of 8.92 ± 2.8 ng/ml, and 103 (65.6%) pregnant women did not have id with a mean serum ferritin of 42.64 ± 32.44 ng/ml, [table 2]. in addition, 24 (15.3%) of pregnant women were diagnosed with ida with a mean hb of 10 ± 1.05 g/dl, and the mean of serum ferritin was 7.51 ± 2.88 ng/ml, [table 3]. in the present study, out of 54 anemic patients, 37 (69%) of patients had mild anemia with hb level ranges between 10 and 10.9 g/dl, while 17 (31%) of the patients had moderate anemia with hb level ranges between 7 and 9.9 g/dl. severe anemia was not observed among the patients, [figure 1]. moreover, microcytic anemia was observed in 21 (38.9%) pregnant women, while 33 (61.1%) of pregnant women were diagnosed with normocytic anemia, as shown in figure 2. results of this study have shown that anemia and ida were most prevalent among pregnant women in their second trimester (51.9%) and (45.8%), respectively, compared to the first and third trimesters. however, the first trimester showed the lowest prevalence rate of anemia and ida, with (14.8%) and (12.5%), respectively, as shown in table 4. in the present study, women ≤29 years old showed the highest prevalence of anemia with 55.6% and ida at 62.5%, while 40.7% of the anemic patients and 29.2% of the ida patients were ranged between 30 and 39 years old, and the women with age group between 40 and 49 years old showed the lowest prevalence of anemia and ida with 3.7% and 8.3%, respectively. there was no significant difference between age, occupation, and gravidity with anemia and ida with p = 0.1, 0.5, and 0.3, respectively, [table 5]. the gestational age concerning blood indices, which include these tests; rbc, haematocrit, mean cell hemoglobin (mch), mch concentration (mchc), and red cell distribution width (rdw), have shown that there is no significant difference between anemic pregnant women and ida patients [table 6]. discussion maternal anemia plays an essential role in elevating perinatal and neonatal mortality.[23] moreover, the consequences of ida on the physical and mental development of newborns and the productivity of adults are a major concern.[24] the present results showed that 65.6% of pregnant women were table 2: iron deficiency and non-iron deficiency prevalence among pregnant women (n=157) prevalence number percentage mean sd iron deficient 54 34.4 8.92 2.8 non-iron deficient 103 65.6 42.64 32.44 %: percentage of iron deficient and non-iron deficient pregnant women, sd: standard deviation table 3: prevalence of iron deficiency anemia in pregnant women (n=157) prevalence number percentage mean sd iron deficiency anemia hb 24 15.3 10 1.05 serum ferritin 24 15.3 7.51 2.88 hb: hemoglobin, %: percentage of iron deficiency anemia among women according to their hb and ferritin levels table 1: prevalence of anemia among pregnant women (n=157) prevalence number percentage mean sd anemic 54 34.4 10.1 0.83 non-anaemic 103 65.6 12.14 0.79 %: percentage of anemic and non-anemic pregnant women, sd: standard deviation figure 2: the distribution of types of anemia among anaemic patients figure 1: the distribution of the severity of anemia among the anemic patients rashid, et al.: prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 60-66 non-anemic, while 34.4% were anemic. based on the level of hb in the blood, indicates a moderate public health concern.[1] these results are consistent with a previous study that showed that the mean hb level ranges to <11 g/dl.[25] the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women was 34.4% with id and 65.6% with non-id, id may occur due to multi conditions such as bleeding, stomach and intestinal ulcer, and menstrual period and may occur with an inadequate supply of different nutrients, especially for the pregnant women who need more iron supply to replace the amount of lost iron each day, since most of the participants in this study are unemployed, and dietary awareness of the women might play an important role in developing id.[26] this result of id is considered a moderate public health issue based on the blood hb level and ferritin level according to who based on the prevalence estimated from serum ferritin levels <15 μg/l.[5] about 69% of the anemic participants had mild anemia, and 31% had moderate anemia; the present findings are concomitant with other researchers with mild anemia of 72.9%, 32.5%, and 28.1%, respectively.[27,28] these varieties may relate to dietary diversity in different areas worldwide. they could be attributed to differences in socioeconomic, dietary habits, and health-seeking behaviors between cities with a community of relatively different lifestyles, feeding practices, and social norms.[29,30] such as the consumption of red meat and leafy green vegetables that are an essential source of heme iron. many studies have revealed that pregnant women who eat meat occasionally were 2.1 times at higher risk of being anemic than pregnant women who ate meat one or more times per week.[25,31] other studies showed that drinking tea and coffee after meals which are a main inhibitor of non-heme iron absorption due to phenolic compounds in these beverages, might increase the risk of developing anemia.[29,31] all these factors are considered a significant association with anemia in pregnancy.[25,32,33] in addition, insufficient use or consumption of hematopoietic agents required for normal erythropoiesis, including iron, b12, and folic acid, appears to be a prevalent vitamin deficiency worldwide.[29,34] anemia etiologies can be distinguished into microcytic, normocytic, and macrocytic anemia using the mcv value. in the results of the study, microcytic and normocytic anemia are diagnosed in anemic pregnant women; macrocytic anemia is not. ida is the most probable cause of microcytosis, including other factors such as premenopausal, menstrual, or blood loss without proper iron supplementation, thalassemia, sideroblastic anemia, and anemia caused by chronic diseases.[22] most normocytic anemias are side effects of other diseases; they reflect a primary blood disorder. this is due to the anemia of chronic disease (inflammation, cancer), renal failure, endocrine failure (hypothyroidism, hypopituitarism), acute blood loss, marrow failure, and hemolysis.[35,36] according to the study’s results, 38.9% of anemic subjects had microcytic anemia, and 61.1% had normocytic anemia; these results are comparable with those of the study done by bayarkhuu and tsogbadrakh,[37] in which 37.07% of pregnant women were affected by microcytic anemia, 46.55% by normocytic anemia, and 3.2% by macrocytic anemia. in a study conducted by singh et al.[38] at king george’s medical university on 440 reproductive-age females from the tharu tribe living in the balrampur district along the indo-nepal border, microcytic, normocytic, and macrocytic anemia were found in 53%, 44.88%, and 2.12% of the subjects, respectively. the result of gestational age showed that there was no significance between ida and anemic participants in relation to blood indices, and this finding is in concomitant with other study conducted in saudi arabia, which reported that there was no significant difference between anemia and blood indices associated with gestational age, and stated that a lower rate of spontaneous vaginal delivery was significantly associated with anemia, and this might be attributed to the fact that anemia was mostly mild and most participants were taking iron supplements.[39] a study by liu et al.[40] also reported that preconception mild anemia increases the riskiness of lbw and small for gestational age (sga) by 17% and 14%, respectively, table 4: the association between anemic and ida among pregnant women in gestational age prevalence gestational age first trimesters second trimesters third trimesters no. percentage no. percentage no. percentage anemic=54 8 14.8 28 51.9 18 33.3 ida=24 3 12.5 11 45.8 10 41.7 ida: iron deficiency anemia, %: percentage of anemic and ida women according to their trimesters table 5: the association of sociodemographic characteristics among anemic and ida pregnant women variable anemia ida p-value no. % no. % age group ≤29 30 55.6 15 62.5 0.106609∗ 30–39 22 40.7 7 29.2 40–49 2 3.7 2 8.3 total=54 (100) total=24 (100) occupation non employees 43 79.6 22 91.7 0.519276∗ employee 11 20.4 2 8.3 total=54 (100) total=24 (100) gravidity primigravida 23 42.6 13 54.2 0.343961∗ multimigravida 31 57.4 11 45.8 total=54 (100) total=24 (100) ida: iron deficiency anemia, ∗there is no significant difference between the different groups and the p>0.05 rashid, et al.: prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 60-66 but moderate and severe anemia had no significant association with lbw and sga. in addition, maternal anemia and high hb levels before pregnancy contribute to the increase of these risks of sga, birth, preterm birth, and perinatal death. moreover, a study by patra et al.[41] has stated that women with severe anemia during the third trimester of pregnancy have high maternal mortality (6.2%) and perinatal mortality (60%). results of this study have shown that different ages, occupations, and gravidity did not produce significant influence both on anemia and ida; no significance was found in gestational age concerning blood indices between the two groups. the result of this study was different from other studies regarding primigravida and multigravida and parity, and these studies indicate that frequent pregnancies are associated with anemia because frequent pregnancies do not give enough time to restore depleted iron stores.[41,42] some risk factors that lead to ida are multiple pregnancies and adolescent pregnancy, as well as delivery with hemorrhage.[43,44] many studies showed the role of blood indices and are recommended as the first step in evaluating pregnancyassociated anemia. the mcv, mch, mchc, rbc count, and rdwcv% correlate with the ferritin levels and can help diagnose ida.[45-47] at the same time, this study’s result is in contrast with these studies and showed no significant influence in blood indices of the gestational age between the anemic women and ida women. however, this study result was similar to a study done by sultana et al.[48] showed that some hematological parameters, such as mcv, mch, and mchc, have low reliability in detecting ida during pregnancy. these red cell indices may be mean values, which cannot express the small variation of red cell size that occurs in the early stage of id; moreover, that may relate to an increase in plasma volume leading to hormonal disturbances and id.[48-50] conclusion anemia and ida during pregnancy continues to be a major health problem worldwide as well as in this study area. threequarters of pregnant women had mild anemia, and about twothirds were diagnosed with normocytic anemia. the second trimester had the highest prevalence of anemia and ida. there was no significant effect of blood indices and sociodemographic characteristics on anemia and ida. the limitations of our study were that it was limited to women’s specialized hospital, and some information relating to the study parameter was missing. we suggest hematological examination for hb and iron status from the beginning of pregnancy. references 1. who. haemoglobin concentrations for the diagnosis of anemia and assessment of severity. (who/nmh/nhd/mnm/11.1), geneva, switzerland, 2011. available from: https://www.who. int/publications/i/item/who-nmh-nhd-mnm-11.1 [last accessed on 2023 jan 10]. 2. a. h. james. iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy. obstetrics and gynecology, vol. 138, no. 4, pp. 663-674, 2021. 3. p. t. bhattacharya, s. r. misra and m. hussain. nutritional aspects of essential trace elements in oral health and disease: an extensive review. scientifica (cairo), vol. 2016, p. 5464373, 2016. 4. j. roganović and k. starinac. iron deficiency anemia in children. in: current topics in anemia. vol. 47. intechopen, london, pp. 47-71, 2018. 5. who. serum ferritin concentrations for the assessment of iron status in individuals and populations: technical brief. geneva, switzerland, (9789240008526), 2020. available from: https:// apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/337666 [last accessed on 2023 jan 10]. 6. l. zeng, l. pei, c. li and h. yan. iron deficiency anemia. in: current topics in anemia. vol. 47. intechopen, london, 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m. mcdonagh. routine iron supplementation and screening for iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy: a systematic review for the us preventive services task force. annals of internal medicine, vol. 162, no. 8, pp. 566-576, 2015. table 6: the association between anemic and ida pregnant women of gestational age in relation to blood indices variable gestational age f p-value anemic=54 ida=24 first trimester second trimester third trimester first trimester second trimester third trimester mean±sd mean±sd mean±sd mean±sd mean±sd mean±sd rbc 4.27±0.69 3.89±0.35 3.89±0.62 4.53±0.14 3.8±0.3 3.7±0.35 0.706 0.49∗ hct 31.3±1.68 31.6±2.91 31.8±1.9 30.5±2.23 30.9±3.77 31.8±2.3 0.190 0.82∗ mch 24.05±5.14 26.2±3.49 26.7±3.94 20.43±2.05 26.4±3.8 27.8±1.9 1.328 0.27∗ mchc 31.69±1.33 31.96±0.94 32.02±1.06 30.3±0.25 32.3±1.02 32.2±1.19 2.354 0.102∗ %rdw 14.3±1.47 14.7±1.85 14.4±2.08 14.4±0.4 13.9±1.19 13.7±1.4 0.149 0.86∗ rbc: red blood cell, hct: haematocrit, mch: mean cell hemoglobin, mchc: mean cell 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(9789241502023), 2011. available from: https://www.who.int/publications/i/ item/9789241502023 [last accessed on 2023 jan 20]. 35. d. a. fenta, m. m. nuru, t. yemane, y. asres and t. b. wube. anemia and related factors among highly active antiretroviral therapy experienced children in hawassa comprehensive specialized hospital, southern ethiopia: emphasis on patient management. drug, healthcare and patient safety, vol. 12, pp. 49-56, 2020. 36. j. ford. red blood cell morphology. international journal of laboratory hematology, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 351-357, 2013. 37. o. bayarkhuu and o. tsogbadrakh. ep01. 50: prevalence, types and risk factors associated with anemia in pregnancy at the chingeltei district health center in ulaanbaatar, mongolia. ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology, vol. 60, pp. 99-99, 2022. 38. b. singh, s. p. verma, a. s. chauhan and d. p. verma. prevalence of anemia among reproductive-age females in the tharu tribe of the indo–nepal border region. journal of family medicine and primary care, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 2961-2964, 2022. 39. s. baradwan, a. alyousef and a. turkistani. associations between iron deficiency anemia and clinical features among pregnant women: a prospective cohort study. journal of blood medicine, vol. 9, pp. 163-169, 2018. 40. x. liu, h. an, n. li, z. li, y. zhang, y. zhang, l. le, h. li, j. liu and r. ye. preconception hemoglobin concentration and risk of low birth weight and small-for-gestational-age: a large prospective cohort study in china. nutrients, vol. 14, no. 2, p. 271, 2022. 41. s. patra, s. pasrija, s. trivedi and m. puri. maternal and perinatal outcome in patients with severe anemia in pregnancy. international journal of gynecology and obstetrics, vol. 91, no. 2, pp. 164-165, 2005. 42. a. abriha, m. e. yesuf and m. m. wassie. prevalence and associated factors of anemia among pregnant women of mekelle town: a cross sectional study. bmc research notes, vol. 7, no. 1, p. 888, 2014. 43. c. cao and k. o. o’brien. pregnancy and iron homeostasis: an update. nutrition reviews, vol. 71, no. 1, pp. 35-51, 2013. 44. n. milman. postpartum anemia i: definition, prevalence, causes, and consequences. annals of hematology, vol. 90, no. 11, pp. 1247-1253, 2011. 45. r. tandon, a. jain and p. malhotra. management of iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy in india. indian journal of hematology and rashid, et al.: prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 60-66 blood transfusion, vol. 34, pp. 204-215, 2018. 46. m. tiwari, j. kotwal, a. kotwal, p. mishra, v. dutta and s. chopra. correlation of haemoglobin and red cell indices with serum ferritin in indian women in second and third trimester of pregnancy. medical journal armed forces india, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 31-36, 2013. 47. a. m. abdelhafez and s. s. el-soadaa. prevalence and risk factors of anemia among a sample of pregnant females attending primary health care centers in makkah, saudi arabia. pakistan journal of nutrition, vol. 11, no. 12, p. 1113, 2012. 48. g. sultana, s. haque, t. sultana, q. rahman and a. ahmed. role of red cell distribution width (rdw) in the detection of iron deficiency anemia in pregnancy within the first 20 weeks of gestation. bangladesh medical research council bulletin, vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 102-105, 2011. 49. w. f. rayburn. maternal and fetal effects from substance use. clinical perinatology, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 559-571, 2007. 50. d. viswanath, r. hegde, v. murthy, s. nagashree and r. shah. red cell distribution width in the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia. indian journal of pediatrics, vol. 68, no. 12, pp. 1117-1119, 2001. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 125 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 125-132 research article the preventive effects of urtica dioica extract and nanoparticle on oxidative stress and lipid profile in hyperlipidemic male rats banw a. othman1, nadir m. nanakali2 1department of pharmacognosy, college of pharmacy, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq, 2department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, erbil, iraq abstract cardiovascular diseases (cvds) are the major factor in human premature death and disability and they are becoming. oxidative stress is thought to be a major factor in the development of atherosclerosis. one of the cvds risk factors are elevated lipid profile. significant gaps in the treatment of cvds still exist, despite making healthy lifestyle and using lipid-lowering medications as part of primary cvds prevention. natural extracts are a rich source of biomolecules that can be used as reagents for the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles (agnps). the present study estimates the antioxidant and protective activity of urtica dioica (ud) in induced hyperlipidemia rats divided into six groups; group 1 fed on normal diet, group 2 fed a high-fat diet, 200 mg/dl water extract, and ethanol extract, respectively, for groups 3 and 4, group 5 receives 15 mg/dl agnps, and group 6 receives 20 mg/dl atorvastatin all fed on a high-fat diet and then evaluates lipid profile and malonaldehyde, superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione of the serum after 40 days. the results of characterization test demonstrated the successful synthesis of agnps, also shows that the ud extract and agnps have a favorable impact on lipid profile significantly reduced the level of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (ldl), and markedly decrease liver enzymes also can function as a good antioxidant that can be employed as a protective agent against rising lipids and oxidative stress. however, further research studies need to investigate the safety and activity of different doses of agnps of ud. keywords: hyperlipidemia, antioxidant, urtica dioica, silver nanoparticle, cardiovascular disease introduction hyperlipidemia is thought to be a very harmful factor contributing to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, in particular, atherosclerosis.[1] this happens as a result of a malfunction in the body’s lipid metabolism, raising the serum lipid concentration over the usual range. the occurrence of hyperlipidemia has increased dramatically over time and is now one of the most prevalent pathological disorders in humans as a result of inheritance, diet, nutrition, medicine, and other variables.[2] the development of numerous diseases, including cancer, agerelated disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune disorders, and cardiovascular disease (cvd), is thought to be significantly influenced by oxidative stress. oxidative stress can have an impact on cvd development in a variety of ways. according to the research on atherosclerosis, the formation of atherosclerotic plaques is said to begin with the oxidation of low dispersed lipid (ldl) particles in the arterial endothelium.[3] pharmaceutically dynamic bioactive substances found in medicinal plants have additive and synergistic therapeutic actions that are helpful in the treatment of metabolic diseases. utilizing the knowledge of local populations, the majority of pharmaceutical medications are made by isolating the primary active ingredients from medicinal plants.[4] a significant advancement in modern medicine has resulted from the systematic research of medicinal plants and the investigation of their biologically active phytochemical components in the treatment of metabolic diseases.[5] contrary to current medical systems, polyherbal formulations have drawn increased interest because of their ability to treat several conditions while having fewer negative effects.[6] corresponding author: banw a. othman, department of pharmacognosy, college of pharmacy, hawler medical university, kurdistan region, erbil, iraq. e-mail: banw.othman@hmu.edu.krd received: august 07, 2022 accepted: august 19, 2022 published: november 01, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp125-132 copyright © 2022 banw a. othman, nadir mustafa nanakali. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) othman and nanakali: the preventive effects of urtica dioica extract and nanoparticle on oxidative stress 126 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 125-132 urtica dioica l. (ud) in north europe and parts of asia, the stinging nettle family, or urticaceae, is widely distributed and is typically found in rural areas.[7] traditional medicine has long used this herb to treat a variety of ailments, including dyslipidemia. in vivo studies have shown that ud has a beneficial effect against dyslipidemia.[8] more recently, it was demonstrated that a combination of aqueous extracts from peganum harmala, rhus coriaria, and ud improved metabolic and histological parameters in diabetic rats.[9] another study demonstrates that methanol extracts from various common herbs, including ud, can be helpful in the formation of silver nanoparticles (agnps) verify their free radical scavenging activity and reducing power.[6] this inspired us to examine the potential preventive benefits of ud ethanol, water, and nps extracts on hyperlipidemia in a high-fat diet fed animal model with hyperlipidemia. methodology and experimental design preparation of the plant extracts the dried leaves of the ud were gained from local herbal shop in erbil city, which has been dried in shade at room temperature. the plant was identified by professor abdulla shakur, salahaddin university-erbil, college of education, department of biology. a 25 g of the powdered plant material was mixed with 250 ml of 70% ethanol 1 sample:10 solvent ratio(w/v) and sonicated 60 min power sonic 405/lab tech kept at 40°c. following that, whatman no. 1 filter paper with buchner funnel was used to filter the obtained extract. the filtrate was concentrated in a rotary evaporator under a controlled vacuum. after air drying, the concentrated extract was preserved at 4°c in an airtight container.[10] furthermore, another 25 g of the powdered plant material was mixed with 250 ml distilled water 1 sample:10 solvent sample ratio (w/v) then using the same producer as in ethanol extract. agnps synthesis for the preparation of the nanoparticle, 10 g of dried plant powder was mixed with 300 ml of boiled distilled water then boiled for 10 min with a magnetic stirrer and filtered by whatman no. 1 filter paper then stored at 4°c, 100 ml of prepared extract was added to 1000 ml of 1 mm of aqueous agno3 and put on a hot plate for 60 min at 40°c with magnetic stirrer up till the color turned dark brown and adjusting the ph to 11 by naoh. uv–vis spectra were used to establish whether agnps were formed following the centrifuging of the wholly reduced solution at 5000 rpm for 30 min. the obtained pellet was dissolved in deionized water after the supernatant was discarded. to get rid of any materials that were adsorbed on the surface of the agnps, the same washing procedure was carried out 2 or 3 times by deionized water and ethanol.[11] characterization of agnps the absorbency of all samples was measured using uv–vis spectra for confirming the formation of agnps, fouriertransform infrared (ftir) spectroscopy was performed on shimadzu ftir spectrometer to detect the possible functional groups in biomolecules present in the plant extract. the x-ray diffraction (xrd) measurement was carried out on x-ray diffractometer (panalytical x’pert-pro pw3050/60) operated at 45 kv and 40 ma and the spectrum was recorded by cu radiation with a wavelength of 1.54060 å in the 2q range of 20e80. a scanning electron microscope (sem) was used to investigate the agnps’ size and surface shape. experimental animals the male albino rats were kept in a room with a temperature of 22 ± 2°c and a 12:12 h light/dark cycle. each rat weighed between 250 and 300 g, the experiment on the animal was conducted in the animal house of pharmacy college/ hawler medical university, the rats were kept for 1 week for acclimatization. induction of hyperlipidemia for inducing hyperlipidemia, the standard pellet of the rat is mixed with 5% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid according to a method described by mojarradgandoukmolla et al.[12] for determining whether the rats were induced for hyperlipidemia, a pretest was done after 30 days of feeding them a cholesterolenriched diet, the rats were starved for 24 h before measuring their cholesterol serum level by enzymatically diagnostic kits. doses and toxicity according to a study done by kedi et al.,[13] he concluded that silver nps have advantage to treat inflammation in low doses (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg). research on acute toxicity was conducted by jacob et al.[14] on healthy female albino rats with one dose of 2000 mg/kg reduced by plant extract. the study revealed that the agnps synthesized by ficus carica were relatively non-toxic. another study uses 250 and 500 mg/kg of ud phenolic extract and 5–10 mg/kg agnp of the same plant.[15] experimental procedure the animals were divided randomly into six groups of six each made up of six rats (n = 6). the experiment lasted for 40 total days. • group 1 rats were served a standard pellet diet and they were considered a negative control group • group 2 rats were served with cholesterol-enriched diet and they were considered as a positive control • group 3 rats were served with 200 mg/kg (ud) water extract with cholesterol-enriched diet • group 4 rats were served with 200 mg/kg (ud) ethanol extract with cholesterol-enriched diet • group 5 rats were served with 15 mg/kg (ud) agnps with cholesterol-enriched diet • group 6 rats were served with 10 mg/kg of atorvastatin with cholesterol-enriched diet. body weight rats were weighed once a week to observe changes in body weight throughout the duration of the 40-day study. when the experimental period ends the rats fasted overnight, the othman and nanakali: the preventive effects of urtica dioica extract and nanoparticle on oxidative stress 127 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 125-132 next day anesthetizing of the rats was done by giving them a combination of ketamine 35 mg/kg with xylazine 5 mg/kg.[16] then, the blood samples were drawn by puncture of the heart from each rat in each group and gathered in serum separating tubes, the blood was centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 15 min to prepare serum and determination of biochemical and liver function assay for antioxidant test the serum stored in −20°c. determination of serum lipid profiles and liver function test using a method where the color intensity of the dye formed is directly proportional to the concentration of the tested parameters, the measurement of serum total cholesterol (tc), serum ldl-c, serum triglyceride, and serum hdl cholesterol was performed using a med lab reagent kit/cobas, usa.[17] plasma concentrations of vldl were determined by the method of friedewald and levy.[18] liver function assay involving alanine aminotransferase (alt) and aspartate aminotransferase (ast) with gamma-glutamyl transferase (ggt) was determined by colorimetric method using med lab reagent kit/cobas/usa.[19] oxidative stress evaluation for determining the level of malondialdehyde (mda), superoxide dismutase (sod), and glutathione (gsh) in the serum a solarbio kit/china was used. mda content is calculated by the difference between the absorbance at 532 nm, 450 nm, and 600 nm.[17] sod can remove o⁻⁻ and inhibits the formation of methionine, sod activity decreases with increasing darkness of the reaction solution’s blue color, and the absorbency is detected at 560 nm.[20] gsh, 5,5-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid), and gsh will react to form 2-nitro-5-mercaptobenzoic acid and gsh disulfide (gssg). the yellow product 2-nitro-5-mercaptobenzoic acid has a maximum absorbance of 412 nm.[20,21] all absorbencies are detected by a microplate reader. statistical analysis the mean and standard error were used to express the study’s data.[13] analyzing of results performed by one-way analysis of variance to test the difference between the groups, tukey multiple comparisons test in graphpad prism 8 version 8.0.1 for windows 10 64x used. the analysis was conducted at a 95% confidence level and a significance level of 5%. whenever p = 0.05 or less was regarded as statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05). results the formation of agnps the formation of agnps was established by the color change observed visibly from bright green to a deep brownish color, further confirmation done by uv–vis spectra, as shown in figure 1. the result of absorbance of agnps from 200 to 800 nm gives the maximum absorbance between 440 and 450 nm and confirmed the presence of agnps. sem was used to investigate the shape and size of agnps which was spherical in shape [figure 2]. the result of xrd shows diffraction peaks at 37.6024°, 43.8755°, 64.0193°, and 76.9627° [figure 3]. the figure 1: the result of uv–vis spectra of urtica dioica agnps figure 2: the result of sem of urtica dioica agnps figure 3: the result of xrd of urtica dioica agnps othman and nanakali: the preventive effects of urtica dioica extract and nanoparticle on oxidative stress 128 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 125-132 biosynthesis of agnps was investigated by ftir spectroscopy and the result of the functional group is shown in figure 4. lipid profile the total serum cholesterol in the positive control group was significantly (p < 0.01) increased (105 ± 6.776 mg/dl) when compared with the negative control group (65.90 ± 2.446 mg/dl), but in the hyperlipidemia rats treated with ud water extract (88.29 ± 1.523 mg/dl), ethanol extract (79.65 ± 2.677 mg/dl), nanoparticles nps (83.82 ± 4.275 mg/dl), and atorvastatin (65.47 ± 2.827 mg/dl), the total serum cholesterol was decreased, these changes were significant (p < 0.01) as compared with positive group. the serum level of triglyceride in the positive control rats (116.2 ± 3.629 mg/dl) elevated significantly (p < 0.01) when compared with the negative control (71.67 ± 2.109 mg/dl), while this elevation was decreased significantly in the treated groups with ud water extract (80.4 ± 4.581mg/dl), ethanol extract (87.23 ± 2.639 mg/dl), nps (77.73 ± 4.987 mg/dl), and atorvastatin (86.50 ± 3.221 mg/dl) when compared with positive control rats. the negative control (48.1 ± 2.65 mg/dl) and treated groups with ud water extract (40 ± 2.984 mg/dl) and ethanol extract (38.38 ± 1.257 mg/dl) and nps (37.07 ± 1.711 mg/dl) are significantly (p < 0.01) improved in comparison with the positive control (23.23 ± 0.6712 mg/dl), while the atorvastatin group is non-significant with the positive control group. there is a significant difference in the level of ldl in the negative control and ethanol extract and nps and atorvastatin group in comparison with the positive control, however, the result shows no significant change in the comparison between water extract and positive control rats. the obtained result shows a significant decrease in the level of serum vldl in groups treated with ud water extract (16.08 ± 0.9163 mg/dl) and nps (15.55 ± 0.9979 mg/dl) and atorvastatin (17.30 ± 0.6441 mg/dl) and negative control comparing with the positive control, also, comparing ethanol extract with the positive control, we found significant difference as shown in table 1. liver function table 2 shows that a significant difference in serum alt was observed between the positive control group (54.1 ± 2.652 iu/l) and ethanol extract (42.22 ± 1.756 iu/l) and nps group (41.1 ± 2.473 iu/l). whereas, the rats treated with water extract (46.25 ± 0.6994 iu/l) and atorvastatin (46.32 ± 2.42 iu/l) were not significant difference between positive control as well as the negative control (44.77 ± 2.683 iu/l). the serum level of ast in the negative control (119.3 ± 3.981 iu/l) was significantly different in comparison with the positive control (145.6 ± 7.471 iu/l), as well as the rats that were treated with water extract (117.9 ± 4.357 iu/l), ethanol extract (119.6 ± 6.491 iu/l), and nps (122.5 ± 2.064 iu/l), but table 1: effect of urtica dioica water and ethanol extract and its nanoparticle and atorvastatin on serum lipid profile in hyperlipidemic rats group/parameters cholesterol (mg/dl) triglyceride (mg/dl) hdl_c (mg/dl) ldl_c (mg/dl) vldl_c (mg/dl) negative control 65.90±2.446**** 71.67±2.109**** 48.1±2.65**** 26.85±1.805**** 14.33±0.421**** positive control 105±6.776 116.2±3.629 23.23±0.6712 57.97±5.682 23.25±0.725 water extract 88.29±1.523* 80.4±4.581**** 40±2.984**** 45.85±3.460 16.08±0.916**** ethanol extract 79.65±2.677*** 87.23±2.639**** 38.38±1.257**** 37.43±3.681** 17.44±25.93**** nps 83.82±4.275** 77.73±4.987**** 37.07±1.711*** 42.25±2.819* 15.55±0.997*** atorvastatin 65.47±2.827**** 86.50±3.221**** 27.53±1.491 38.85±2.560** 17.30±0.644**** significant differences between treatment groups were denoted by superscript asterisks symbols * significant at p<0.05, **p>0.01, ***p>0.001, and ****p>0.0001 figure 4: the result of fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy othman and nanakali: the preventive effects of urtica dioica extract and nanoparticle on oxidative stress 129 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 125-132 table 2: effect of urtica dioica water and ethanol extract and its nps and atorvastatin on liver function tests in hyperlipidemic rats group/parameters alt (iu/l) ast (iu/l) ggt (u/l) negative control 44.77±2.683 119.3±3.981* 0.81±0.005**** positive control 54.1±2.652 145.6±7.471 3.833±0.600 water extract 46.25±0.699 117.9±4.357* 1.122±0.158**** ethanol extract 42.22±1.756** 119.6±6.491* 1.178±0.171**** nps 41.1±2.473** 122.5±2.064* 0.9483±0.017**** atorvastatin 46.32±2.42 144.3±5.673 1.263±0.217**** significant differences between treatment groups were denoted by superscript asterisks symbols *significant at p<0.05, **p>0.01, ***p>0.001, and ****p>0.0001 table 3: effect of urtica dioica water and ethanol extract and its nanoparticle and atorvastatin on blood glucose, total protein, amylase, and blood urea in hyperlipidemic rats group/parameters glucose (mg/dl) total protein (g/dl) amylase (u/dl) blood urea (mg/dl) negative control 220.3±11.72**** 6.46±0.149 21.95±0.956 32.42±1.593**** positive control 320.4±15.23 6.175±0.091 24.26±0.619 56.53±2.122 water extract 146.7±5.735**** 6.803±0.096* 23.72±1.144 43.63±1.907** ethanol extract 312.9±9.531 6.937±0.176** 25.55±0.979 44.7±3.344** nps 133±11.94**** 6.623±0.127 23.87±1.517 36.43±1.819**** atorvastatin 230.8±15.58*** 6.407±0.1177 23.63±0.785 54.33±1.745 significant differences between treatment groups were denoted by superscript asterisks symbols *significant at p<0.05, **p>0.01, ***p>0.001, and ****p>0.0001 the rats that treated with atorvastatin were non-significant different with the level of serum ast in positive control. decreased levels of serum ggt were observed in the negative control, water extract, ethanol extract, nps, and atorvastatin (0.81 ± 0.005164 u/l), (1.122 ± 0.1584 u/l), (1.178 ± 0.1712 u/l), (0.9483 ± 0.01721 u/l), and (1.263 ± 0.2177 u/l), respectively, and they are significantly different from positive control rats. in the present study, rats in the negative control show a reduction in the level of blood glucose (220.3 ± 11.72 mg/dl) compared with the positive control as in the treated groups also observe a significant difference in the level of blood glucose for water extract (146.7 ± 5.735 mg/dl), nanoparticle (133 ± 11.94 mg/dl), and atorvastatin (230.8 ± 15.58 mg/dl) in comparison with the positive control (320.4 ± 15.23 mg/dl), but in rats that were treated with ethanol extract, we observe no significant difference. results show that serum levels of total protein in treated groups with water extract (6.803 ± 0.09646 g/dl) and ethanol extract (6.937 ± 0.1768 g/dl) increased significantly when compared with positive control rats (6.175 ± 0.09139 g/dl). furthermore, the treatments effect of hyperlipidemic rats with nanoparticles (6.623 ± 0.1273 g/dl) and atorvastatin (6.407 ± 0.1177 g/dl) was not significant when compared with untreated hyperlipidemic rats, also the rats in the negative control (6.46 ± 0.1497 g/dl) have no significant difference with the positive control (6.175 ± 0.09139 g/dl). as shown in table 3, no significant variations existed between untreated and treated animals in the level of serum amylase. while the level of blood urea in negative control and water extract and ethanol extract and nanoparticles decreased which is significantly different from the level of blood urea in the positive control, but when we compare the level of blood urea of atorvastatin (54.33 ± 1.745 mg/dl) with the positive control (56.53 ± 2.122 mg/dl), there was a non-significant difference. there was an insignificant (p > 0.05) decrease in the mda in the negative control group (1.135 ± 0.1453 nmol/ml), water extract (1.115 ± 0.3712 nmol/ml), ethanol extract (1.076 ± 0.3645 nmol/ml), and nps (1.024 ± 0.1353 nmol/ml) compared with the positive control group (2.722 ± 0.2852 nmol/ml), and also, the mda was not changed significantly in atorvastatin group when compared with the rats of the control positive. significant difference in sod was observed between rats in the water extract group (54.57 ± 1.390 u/ml), ethanol extract group (53.23 ± 0.768 u/ml), and nps group (54.09 ± 1.629 u/ml) with the positive control (61.48 ± 0.8206 u/ml). furthermore, the hyperlipidemic rats treated with atorvastatin (60.96 ± 1.601 u/ml) did not change sod significantly when compared with the positive control rats as well as the result of the negative control was non-significant. regarding the gsh, results of the ethanol extract (36.83 ± 2.216 mg/ml) and nps treated rats (42.59 ± 6.71 mg/ml) showed a significant rise (p < 0.01) in the gsh as compared to the positive control rats (21.06 ± 0.7582 mg/ml). however, a non-significant variation (p > 0.05) was detected among the water extract (34.24 ± 1.191 mg/ml), atorvastatin (30.69 ± 4.475 mg/ml) group, and the positive control group in gsh [figure 5]. discussion if the serum levels of tc, ldl, and tg in the hyperlipidemic rats are taken into consideration, our results revealed that the othman and nanakali: the preventive effects of urtica dioica extract and nanoparticle on oxidative stress 130 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 125-132 water, ethanol, and nps extracts of ud hold a favorable effect in controlling these parameters and ultimately preventing the risk of atherosclerosis and related cvds. stinging nettles have been shown to be richer in individual polyphenols than other wild plants.[22] many studied found that the phenolic compound has the ability to normalize hyperlipidemic disturbance.[23,24] another study showed that the ud extract lowers the level of lipid profile due to a significant decrease of apolipoprotein b (apob) levels irrespective of the fat in the diet.[25] apob is a surface marker of vldv and ldl and tc.[26] the findings of this research indicated that the effect of ethanol extract is greater than the water extract which is similar to the studies done by avci et al.,[8] nassiri-asl et al.[27] and also greater than the nps. the nettle leaves contain sterols: campesterol and sitosterol.[28] plant sterols resemble cholesterol in structure, they may replace cholesterol from mixed micelles because compared to cholesterol, they are more hydrophobic, this replacement causes a decrease in micellar cholesterol concentrations and consequently lowers cholesterol absorption.[8] in research by rau et al. to determine which of two ethanolic herbal extracts activated the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors, which play a crucial role in lipid homeostasis, the ethanolic extract of stinging nettle was one of the most active.[29] the results of this study showed a significant effect of nps on hyperlipidemic rat’s lipid profile, which also may be due to the presence of phenolic acids in the plant which have a high reducing power for nps synthesis.[6] hdl also increased significantly as shown in the result of this study and has in agreement with the result of nassiri-asl et al.[27] it was hypothesized that the extract may directly affect the production and metabolism of lipoproteins. several serum parameters were examined in the current investigation, other than lipid profile to evaluate the inhibitory effect of the ud on hepatic marker enzymes such as alt, ast, and ggt which give a significant decrease except those in atorvastatin, and elevation of ast, alt, and ggt observed in hyperlipidemic rats which have an agreement with the study done for the effect of some plants; one of them was ud as an antioxidant and they concluded that the ethanolic extract of ud has antihepatotoxic potential and hypercholesterolemia causes fatty liver and eventually elevation of the liver enzyme.[30] furthermore, in two other studies, their results demonstrate the hepatoprotective effect of stinging nettle.[31,32] the majority of prior investigations demonstrated that harmful chemicals adsorbed on the surface of chemically produced agnps at higher dosages may induce liver or kidney damage.[33,34] some investigations showed that modest concentrations of agnps had no harmful impact on hepatic and renal functioning.[33,35] similarly, the levels of liver enzymes were not affected by the injection of lesser doses of 13–40 nm sized agnps (5 or 10 mg/kg), according to research by dhermendra et al.,[25] while intact rats exposed to greater dosages of agnps (13–40 nm, 20–40 mg/kg) had impaired liver function.[36] however, the results of a different study showed that, although both chemically and eco-friendly agnps at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg were able to lower blood sugar levels in diabetic rats, green agnps were more protective than chemically made agnps at the same dose in terms of regulating and enhancing liver function.[7] the results of the present study showed that a 15 mg/kg dose of green agnps synthesized using ud for about 6 weeks significantly reduced the serum concentration of liver enzyme levels including alt, ast, and ggt compared with the hyperlipidemic rats. to learn more about the potential processes behind the beneficial benefits of green produced agnps utilizing ud extract on liver function in hyperlipidemic rats, more research is required. the glucose level in the hyperlipidemia rats in this study was elevated which is agree with the previous study done by mojarradgandoukmolla et al.[12] the result shows a significant decrease in the level of treated rats with ud. the findings demonstrate that the ud extract’s ability to reduce blood glucose was caused by langerhans islets’ increased insulin production.[37] coumarins derivative has also been identified in nettle roots.[38] a review of several studies on the effect of coumarins on blood glucose concluded that numerous in vivo and in vitro studies show that coumarins help reduce blood sugar levels in people with diabetes by inhibiting proteintyrosine phosphatase 1b (ptp1b), reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, enhancing pancreatic function, and correcting abnormal insulin signaling. as a result, they are useful and need more study and development. in addition, several coumarins, including osthole and psoralen, have the ability to activate adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (ampk), enhancing the translocation of glucose transporter type 4 (glut4) to the plasma membrane, and facilitating glucose uptake. an important justification for creating insulin mimics figure 5: effect of urtica dioica extracts and agnps on mda, sod, and gsh biomarkers othman and nanakali: the preventive effects of urtica dioica extract and nanoparticle on oxidative stress 131 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 125-132 is the fact that ampk may increase glut4 translocation in the absence of insulin.[39] it has been hypothesized that hypercholesterolemia raises the amount of lipid peroxidation in the serum of affected guinea pigs and rabbits.[40] hence, we evaluate the level of mda, sod, and gsh, our result shows the increasing level of mda, sod and decreasing gsh in hyperlipidemic rats which agrees with das et al.[40] but in the treated rats, this level was significantly different from the hyperlipidemic rats, and according to the findings of a study, there is a positive linear association between total phenolic and total flavonoid content and antioxidant activity. according to stanojević et al., nettle leaf extracts in aqueous methanol might serve as an alternative to synthetic additions as a source of natural antioxidants.[41] our results also have an agreement with two other studies; the hydroalcoholic extract of ud plant has shown significant results for antioxidant activity with half inhibitory concentration (ic50) value of 88.33 ± 2.88 µg/ml[42] and the aqueous extract has significant reducing power, free radical scavenging, superoxide anion radical scavenging, hydrogen peroxide scavenging, and metal chelating activities.[43] in another study, it has been shown that the ethyl acetate fraction of ud has potent antioxidant activities as compared to other fractions.[44] as a result, the antioxidant capabilities of ud may have been impacted by the extraction technique or the tissue or location examined. the activity of the ud ethanol extract increased noticeably.[8] this proves the result of gsh level of ethanol extract and nps which was significant while the rats in water extract are not significant. due to the protective capping of agnps by polyphenols and the corresponding size of the agnps, biosynthesized agnps utilizing pongamia pinnata leaf extract have been demonstrated to have a better antioxidant radical scavenging capability than chemically synthesized agnps.[7] conclusion our results show that ethanol, water extracts, and agnps of ud reduced tc, ldl, and tg levels while raising hdl levels. further research should be done on this plant to use as an active medicinal agent that bears fewer side effects on drugbased people suffering from cvd. in addition, the biosynthesis of agnps of the ud plant occurred, giving 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kurdistan region, iraq abstract the sand clock is a device used to measure time, consisting of two conical glass bulbs, which are connected vertically by a small opening neck. the top contains grains of fine dry sand. the upper part symbolizes the future, sand passes through the neck (which indicates present) to the lower part which turned past. in 1907, german scientist hermann minkowski (1864–1909) interpreted the concept of the four-dimensional space-time of einstein’s theory in a two-dimensional cone diagram, in which the upper cone symbolizes the future, the neck the present, and the lower part the past. the researcher has noticed a great likeness, to the point of congruence between the shape and function of both, the sand clock and the diagram. this resemblance aroused speculations that hermann minkowski had been inspired by the sand hour in drawing his diagram. it cannot be attributed to a merely chance. keywords: sand clock, einstein’s theory, minkowski, time introduction the sand clock is a device used to measure time, consisting of two conical glass bulbs, which are connected vertically to a small opening (the neck). the top contains grains of fine dry sand. the duration of the time scales is determined by factors that include the amount of material, its roughness, the size of the bulb, and the width of the neck. there are several accounts of who invented the sand clock. some attribute it to the pharaohs, some to the palmyras, and arab historians say that they were the ones who invented it.[1]. images of the sand clock, as a symbol of time, have been found in art, and on tombstones and other monuments since ancient times in many parts of the world are a template for microsoft word versions 2010 or later, figure 1. the upper part symbolizes the future, because sand will descend in the future, the sand passes through the neck (which symbolizes present), to the lower part and it turns into the past. einstein’s theory einstein (1) published his theory of relativity (2) in 1905, but he did not finish it. he proposed the concept of a four-dimensional space-time.[2] in 1907, hermann minkowski (3) (1864–1909) contributed to the theory of his former student albert einstein, formulated in 1905. his most famous achievement was his development of the special theory of relativity. as a result of minkowski’s contributions, relativity became geometrically possible to the theory of four-dimensional space-time, which is known as minkowski’s space-time.[3] minkowski explained the theory in a two-dimensional cone diagram in figure 2: as indicated in the picture, the upper part symbolizes the future, the neck symbolizes the present tense, and the lower part symbolizes the past. comparison by comparing the sand clock with the diagram, it becomes clear that: 1. both symbolize time 2. both consist of two conical symmetrical shapes connected vertically by a narrow neck 3. the upper part in both symbolizes the future 4. the lower part in both symbolizes the past 5. the neck in both symbolizes the present time corresponding author: waria o. amin, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: wariaamin@gmail.com received: may 3, 2021 accepted: june 14, 2021 published: june 20, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n1y2021.34-35 copyright © 2021 waria o. amin. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) amin: time in einstein’s theory of relativity 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 34-35 it appears from the comparison that there is great match to the point of congruence between the shape and function of the sand clock and the graphic image of minkowski. conclusions the conclusion of this article shows that: 1. hermann minkowski quoted his diagrammatic idea in his interpretation of einstein’s theory of relativity from the sand clock 2. the similarity between the sand clock shape and function, and the diagram reaches the point of congruence, which cannot be attributed to sheer coincidence. footnotes 1. albert einstein (1879-1955) was a german-born, swiss, and american physicist. he is famous for the father of relativity theory, for being the author of special relativity and general relativity, which were the first building blocks of modern theoretical physics. 2. relativity or the theory of relativity, one of the most famous theories of modern physics, which was developed by albert einstein at the beginning of the 20th century. there are two theories of relativity, the first is special relativity (1905) and the second is general relativity (1915). 3. hermann minkowski (1864–1909) is a german-born german mathematician and physicist, who worked as a professor of mathematics in konigsberg, zurich, and gottingen. he developed number geometry and used engineering methods to solve problems in number theory, mathematical physics, and the theory of relativity. he is considered one of the founders of convex geometry. minkowski’s most famous achievement was his development of the special theory of relativity in 1907ad, a theory that his former student albert einstein formulated in 1905. as a result of minkowski’s contributions, relativity became geometrically possible to the theory of four-dimensional space-time, which is known as minkowski’s space-time. references 1. j. t. anthony. time and measurement: studies in the history of horology and fine technology. new york: ashgate publishing company, 1993. 2. a. einstein. relativity: the special and general theory (translation 1920). new york: h. holt and company, 1916. 3. p. l. galison. minkowski’s space time: from visual thinking to the absolute world. historical studies in the physical sciences. baltimore, maryland: johns hopkins university press, 1979. 4. j. norton, space-time. einstein for everyone, 2015. available from: https://www.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/hps_0410/ chapters/spacetime/index.html. [last avccessed on 2015 feb 09]. figure 1: minkowski diagrams. source: norton, 2015 figure 2: minkowski diagrams. source: norton, 2015 tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 49-56 review article detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things using software-defined networking and ensemble learning shima rashidi1, adil h. mohammed2, yusra. a. salih3 1department of computer science, college of science and technology, university of human development, sulaymaniyah, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of communication and computer engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of database technology, college of informatics, sulaimani polytechnic university, sulaymaniyah, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the internet of things (iot) is a novel approach to automate connections between smart devices without involving humans. the utilization of this structure is growing, and its application range is continually expanding. we confront additional issues as the usage of these networks grows, such as the presence of attackers and combating their attacks. these networks’ performance may be improved, and their development can be accelerated, with new solutions to these difficulties. a new method for improving iot security is proposed in this research, which is based on software-based network and collaborative learning. the suggested solution divides the network domain into numerous subdomains, each with its own controller for exchanging security rules with other subdomains. all of a subnet’s node traffic are routed through the subnet’s control node in this topology. as a result, each controller node employs an integrated learning model to continually evaluate network traffic data and detect assaults. this learning model incorporates an artificial neural network, a decision tree, and a new biz model that uses statistical information gathered from each data stream to identify the likely existence of assaults. nslkdd database data were utilized to assess the proposed method’s performance, and its accuracy in identifying denial of service attacks was compared to earlier approaches. keywords: denial of service attacks, intrusion detection system, cumulative learning, software-based network, internet of things introduction the internet of things (iot) is a notion that was first presented in the late 20th century and refers to the intelligent interaction between machines and humans over a large communication platform such as the internet. all smart gadgets in this communication system have a unique identity and the capacity to interact with other devices. each device that can be connected to the structure of the iot is called an object, and the result of the integration of all objects in a global information network will form the iot. in general, the interactions of objects in this communication structure are beyond the traditional machine-to-machine communication and can lead to huge changes in areas such as transportation, industry, treatment network, and so on. despite these benefits, several of the network’s fundamental properties, such as its breadth, variety of objects, and usage of numerous protocols, have posed management issues.[1] a big network, in most cases, cannot function properly without some form of organization. this is due to issues such as user authentication and network architectural scalability. some of the existing difficulties can be overcome in a cost-effective manner using software defined networks (sdn).[2] a software-centric network is a novel communication network design that has been proposed to achieve aims such as more efficient network dynamics confrontation, improved network flexibility, and improved network manageability. the control layer is separated from the data layer in this design, which is made up of two primary components: forwarding elements and sdn controllers. delivery equipment’s role is to exchange packets through proprietary hardware or software. the controller, on the other hand, is a piece of software that operates on a hardware platform and is designed to carry out specific functions. to authenticate users on the network, the suggested solution cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: adil h. mohammed, department of communication and computer engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: adil.mohammed@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 17, 2022 accepted: july 29, 2022 published: august 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp49-56 copyright © 2022 shima rashidi, adil h. mohammed, yusra a. salih. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). rashidi, et al.: detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 49-56 employs an sdn-based architecture. it separates the network’s domain into sdn subdomains, with each subdomain in charge of authenticating users in its own domain. on the other side, the iot ecosystem gives greater opportunity for attackers to conduct threats such as denial of service (dos) assaults due to the exponential growth in the number of connected devices and apps. application layer dos attacks are a type of malicious attack that targets the osi model’s top layer (where common internet requests such as http get and http post occur). identifying the origins of attacks and security risks are another topic to consider while constructing the proposed model in this context. to this purpose, the controller nodes in each sdn subnet manage the network traffic pattern and identify the existence of probable attacks on their subnet using a model based on ensemble learning techniques.[3] several learning models (such as decision tree, neural network, and new biz) are utilized in the proposed cumulative learning model to identify the origins of assaults, and the final diagnosis is determined by voting among the output findings of the learning models. the following is the order in which this article will be continued: in the second section, we’ll look at works that are linked to the research topic. the proposed method is described in detail in the third section, and the results of evaluating its performance in a simulated environment are discussed in the fourth section. finally, in the research’s fifth section, the findings are summarized and recommendations for further research are provided. related studies perrone et al.[4] examined the message queuing telemetry transport (mqtt) protocol’s security and defined the different security requirements for establishing the iot and safeguarding devices from application layer attacks using the mqtt protocol. andy et al.[5] looked at certain iot attack scenarios and assessed iot security to mitigate these attacks in another study. the authors’ study focuses on iot messaging protocol security and attack scenarios against open authentication servers; they’ve described it. although the viability of such attacks is currently debatable, the open authentication functionality is deactivated in most deployments of message servers in industrial contexts to decrease the danger of unauthorized access and associated assaults.[6] firdous et al.[7] investigated a model of syn flood denial attack and its influence on message mediators to better understand security vulnerabilities in iot application layer protocols. when inserting fuzzy data between the user and the server, their suggested technique examines the behavior of applications at the application layer. they employed a fuzzy proxy mechanism combined with a non-standard closed variable header data pattern to evaluate both the broker and the user’s behavior when presented with unexpected data. experiments suggest that this method may uncover application layer vulnerabilities in messaging intermediates to some extent.[8] cipla has released f-secure mqtt-fuzz, a comparable tool that has been designed to assess application layer vulnerabilities in the mqtt protocol for commercial reasons.[9] moustafa et al.[10] suggested a technique for identifying iot-based threats that rely on characteristics derived from tcp protocol analysis. a set of attributes characterizing the communication protocol between users is utilized as input to learning models for this purpose, and the sort of attack is detected by categorizing these features. the fundamental difficulty with this study is that it uses restricted information as input to learning models to detect assault types. accurate attack detection at the iot application layer necessitates access to a large amount of data. syed et al.[11] suggested a machine learning-based method to identify application-layer assaults on the iot to overcome this problem. to determine the sort of attack, this method additionally leverages statistical information from the exchanged packets, as well as aspects of the communication protocol between the objects. the effectiveness of artificial neural networks and decision trees in accurately diagnosing the types of assaults has been investigated in this study, and the results reveal that the decision tree is superior in correctly diagnosing the types of attacks. kharkongor et al.[12] suggested an iot routing protocol that takes into account the energy consumption of heterogeneous network devices. this solution proposes an sdn controller that serves as a management center for network security and preventing hostile nodes from gaining access to the network. in this paper, first, routing algorithms are classified, then the proposed method for secure routing in the iot is presented. the routing algorithm proposed in this paper consists of six steps, which are: registration of nodes by the controller; monitor the entire network by the controller; receive neighbor information by each node in the network; calculate the remaining energy of neighbors; select and send data based on the remaining energy of the nodes to the neighbor; and block malicious nodes and prevent them from reaccessing the network using the controller. a machine learning-based approach for identifying dos assaults on grid intelligent networks was proposed by zhe et al.[13] preprocessing procedures, feature extraction, and classification are all part of their suggested strategy. principal component analysis was utilized to minimize the feature dimensions in the feature extraction stage, and a support vector machine (svm) was employed to identify dos assaults in the classification step. the simulation results suggest that svm outperforms categorization methods such as decision trees and new bay. in[14] dong and sarm suggested two ways for identifying software-based dos attacks the first one is adopts the degree of ddos attack to identify the ddos attack , the second on is improved k-nearest neighbors (knn) algorithm based on machine learning (ml) to discover the ddos attack. suggested methods in this part, we’ll go through the suggested software-based network and aggregate learning approach for detecting service denial threats in the iot framework in detail. to provide a safe communication platform between network objects, the suggested solution employs a software-centric network. the network topology is separated into subnets in this situation. an sdn controller node is assigned the responsibility of authentication and communication management of the members of each subnet in this topology. in addition to this communication structure, network traffic is monitored using an integrated learning model based on neural networks, decision trees, and the niobiz model. as a result, each controller node on its subnet uses this learning model to detect assaults and security concerns. it is required to first define some of the terms that will be used in the following sections; let’s pay. figure 1: block diagram of the proposed method figure 2: an example of the process of communication between objects in the proposed method rashidi, et al.: detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 49-56 first definition: an active node is a wireless node that is connected to one of the network’s active nodes. otherwise, we refer to it as an inactive node. definition 2: subnet: a portion of the imagined global network that is administered centrally by an sdn controller node, and whose members can connect with other subnets through the controller node’s administration and rules. network nodes in wireless networks have varying communication qualities due to different manufacturing processes for radio equipment. as a result, the network that is assumed is heterogeneous. each software-driven network controller node is equipped with a learning model that can record and interpret the data traffic that passes through it. this is a learning model that combines artificial neural networks, decision trees, and the new bayes model; it is used to identify security assaults and threats in the network that corresponds to the controller node. figure 1 depicts the suggested method’s steps in detail as a diagram (1). the sdn domain is separated into numerous subdomains in the first phase of the proposed technique, and the responsibility of monitoring each subdomain is assigned to a controller who may exchange security rules with other subdomains. each controller will deliver a list of certified users relevant to its section to other controllers in the suggested way. if communication between two users is required, the user’s trustworthiness is determined by exchanging messages between the controllers. the data exchange activity will take occur if at least one controller has authenticated each of the two participants to the connection. according to the software-centric software structure suggested in this study, all communications between nodes in a subnet are routed through the subnet’s control node. as a result, each controller node employs a learning model to continually evaluate network traffic data and detect assaults. this model is an integrated learning system that uses an artificial neural network, a decision tree, and new biz to identify the presence of dos assaults using statistical data gathered from each traffic flow. each of these steps will be described below. sdn-based network communication structure the network domain is separated into multiple subdomains in the first phase of the proposed technique, and the responsibility of monitoring each subdomain is assigned to a controller who exchanges security rules with other subdomains. the position information of items in the network may be used to segment them in a pattern. as a result, each subnet is treated as a cluster. each cluster node on the network only communicates with its sdn controller directly (it will not even communicate with its neighbors). the goal is to have network users authenticate through the sdn controller to avoid security threats both inside and outside the clusters. furthermore, using this structure, each node is forced to communicate its traffic with others through the controller node, making it possible to monitor and identify attacks for all information transmitted in the network using the learning model. the controllers of each subdomain must communicate information about their members for data to be securely exchanged across mobile nodes in the network. when a source node wants to communicate data to another node, it sends the target node id to its subdomain controller first. if the source and destination nodes are on the same subdomain, the two nodes are connected by sending a reply message to the source node. otherwise, the message supplied from the source is transmitted to the central controller c by the controller node. following receipt of this message, the ct node sends packets to the controllers of the other subdomains with the target node id. a confirmation message is sent to the source node by the controller that has the destination node in its subdomain through the central ct node. a link will be formed between the two nodes in this manner. figure 1 shows an example of the suggested algorithm’s communication process between objects (2). figure 2 assumes that a node in subdomain 1 such as a wants to connect with a node in subdomain 3 such as b. in this scenario, node a sends a message to controller c1 specifying the target node id. this controller transfers the received packet to the central controller ct since node b is not in the c1 domain. this message is also sent to other controllers by this controller (c2 and c3). because the destination node b is in figure 4: neural network structure to determine the type of attacks in the aggregate model of each controller node figure 3: how controller nodes work in identifying attacks based on cumulative learning rashidi, et al.: detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 49-56 the subdomain of node c3, this subdomain sends a response packet to the source node. finally, using the discovered route, the data packet is transmitted between the two nodes. the suggested aggregation approach is used to analyze traffic information and detect intrusions while data are being routed by controller nodes. the structure of this learning model will be described in the following sections. detection of attacks based on cumulative learning as mentioned earlier, each controller node in the softwaredriven network is equipped with an integrated learning model that is capable of recording and processing the data traffic flowing through it. this learning model consists of the following learning models: 1. artificial neural network 2. decision tree 3. new biz model. each of the above learning models analyzes the traffic patterns that travel through their respective controllers, and then classifies them using the voting mechanism. the learning model based on these controller nodes will solely evaluate traffic received by its subnet nodes to lessen the complexity and computational strain imposed on them. by doing so, malicious malware may be avoided from infecting network equipment and routers from the start of the transmitting process, and the rogue node can be easily recognized. figure 1 shows an example of this procedure (3). on figure 3, it is assumed that the two nodes are in the same subnet to keep things simple. node a is a malicious node, whereas node b is a regular node. assume that each of these nodes wants to send each other a message. as previously stated, all nodes in the network exchange data through their subnet controller, which processes all messages supplied by subnet members using the integrated system’s learning models. when node a transmits a malicious message to the controller, the communication features are retrieved and categorized by three models of artificial neural networks, decision trees, and the nivebase model before each operation. the aggregate system’s ultimate output is then decided using the voting process, depending on regular communication or the existence of an assault. the connection will be stopped and the message will be erased if the integrated system qualifies the collected characteristics. this happened in the case of a hypothetical message sent from node a to node b. the message sent by node b, on the other hand, is noticed by the integrated system in the regular controller and forwarded to node a. the process of recognizing assaults using the integrated learning system will be described in the following sections. data processing the first step in the process of identifying dos attacks by the proposed aggregation system is data preprocessing. data preprocessing is done through the following steps: • numerically quantify the nominal characteristics of the traffic flow being processed. for example, the “connection type” attribute can have one of the icmp, udp, and tcp modes, which are replaced by numbers 1–3. the numerical properties obtained for the traffic flow are normalized using the following equation. − = −   i min i max min n n n n n (1) the input property vector for normalization is represented by ni and the minimum and maximum values in the ni property vector are represented by nmin and nmax, respectively. thus, the traffic flow characteristics are translated into a numerical representation in the range,[0,1] and these characteristics are employed as input to learning models in the proposed method’s subsequent phases. classification of features based on artificial neural network the first learning model used in the proposed integrated system for detecting dos attacks is the artificial neural network. this neural network is a prosthetic network with a hidden layer. the secret layer of this network has 10 neurons and its transmission function is determined by logarithmic sigmoid type. furthermore, the number of input layer neurons is equal to the number of traffic flow characteristics, and the number of output layer neurons is equal to the number of types of attacks. the amount of output from these neurons determines the type of attack determined by the neural network. the structure of this network is shown in figure 4. the artificial neural network is the initial learning model utilized in the proposed integrated system for detecting dos threats. this neural network is a hidden layer prosthetic network. this network’s hidden layer comprises 10 neurons, and its transmission function is of the logarithmic sigmoid type. rashidi, et al.: detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 49-56 classification of features based on artificial neural network in addition, the number of input layer neurons equals the number of traffic flow characteristics, whereas the number of output layer neurons equals the number of attack kinds. the sort of assault decided by the neural network is dictated by the amount of output from these neurons. figure 1 depicts the network’s structure (4). in addition, the number of input layer neurons equals the number of traffic flow characteristics, whereas the number of output layer neurons equals the number of attack kinds. the sort of assault decided by the neural network is dictated by the amount of output from these neurons. figure 1 depicts the network’s structure (4). the neural network learning algorithm for training based on the input data is as follows: 1. at the beginning of the neural network training, the initial values of the weights for the wc vector are set equal to random numbers and t = 0 is considered 2. for each layer in the neural network, the input vector di is applied to the neurons of the current layer of the neural network and based on the weight vector of the neurons in the current iteration and the logarithmic sigmoid activation function, the output d is calculated 3. the values of neural network weights in the wc vector are updated using the following relation:[15] ( ) ( ) µ+ = + × ×1j jw t w t e x (2) in the above relation, μ is the learning rate, e is the difference between the actual output and output of the neuron, and x is the input data. steps 2–4 are repeated until the neural network error is less than the threshold value or t < tmax, increasing by t one value. otherwise, the neural network training will end. classification of properties based on the decision tree the decision tree is the second learning model utilized in the proposed integrated system for identifying assaults. the decision tree algorithm is a data mining approach that, despite the fact that it does not involve sophisticated computations and is simple to grasp, has comparable accuracy to other classification methods. as a result, it may be used to solve a variety of categorization problems. as a result, a structure based on decision tree and regression classification and regression trees are described in this part to identify assaults. the decision tree created by the division and regression tree attempts to anticipate and classify future observations. the goal of this strategy is to eliminate contaminants in each of the categories. when all of the items in a subset belong to the same goal category, a node is totally free of impurities. intervals and categories are two sorts of predictive and objective adjectives. all divisions will be binary, meaning that each node will have only two subgroups. instead of employing stop laws, the decision and regression tree creates a succession of subtrees by first creating a big tree and then pruning it until only the root node remains. the classification cost of each subtree is then estimated using cross-validation. finally, the decision tree model is built by selecting the subtree with the lowest projected cost. classification of properties based on new biz the root node and other parent nodes in the final tree define the branch, while the leaf nodes define the target classes. the tree traversal begins at the root node and continues until it reaches a leaf to classify the input data. the class that the data reach by scrolling the tree branches will be the decision tree’s output for the input data. the proposed integrated system employs a new base model as the third learning model for detecting dos threats in controller nodes. the bayesian technique is basically a way of categorizing events based on their likelihood of occurring or not occurring. the chance of an event occurring in the future may be calculated in the new business categorization by looking at prior events. bayesian classification is used for problems in which each instance of x is selected by a set of attribute values and the objective function f (x) from a set such as v. the bayesian mechanism for classifying a new sample is to identify the most likely class or target value of vmap by having the attribute values <a1, a2…, an> that describe the new sample:[15] ∈= …1 2üüü jüüüv argmax p v a a a (3) using bayes’ theorem, the above statement can be rewritten as follows:[15] ( ) ( ) ( )∈ ∈ … = … = … 1 2 1 2 1 2 | , , ,   , , ,     ( , , , | ) ( ) j j j n j map v v n v v n j j üüü üüü p a a a argmax p a a a v p v (4) now, using educational data, we try to estimate the two sentences of the above equation. it is easy to calculate from educational data how much vj is repeated in the data. but calculating different sentences p (a1, a2,…, an/vj) will not be acceptable in this way unless we have a large amount of educational data. therefore, we have to look at each sample several times to get a good estimate of it. the bayesian method of classification is based on the premise that attribute values are conditionally independent of having objective function values. in other words, this assumption implies that provided that the output of the objective function is observed, the probability of observing the attributes a1, a2…, an is equal to multiplying the probabilities of each attribute separately. if we replace this concept with equation 4, the bayesian classification method results:[15] ( )∈= ∏  ( ) | jüüü i v argmax p v p a v (5) vnb is the output of bayesian classification for the objective function. the number of p sentences (ai/vj) to be calculated in this method is equal to the number of attributes multiplied by the number of output sets for the objective function, which is much less than the number of p sentences (a1, a2,…, an/vj). detection of attacks in a cumulative model based on voting technique the voting approach is the final stage in detecting dos threats in the proposed aggregate system. the goal of the voting procedure is to increase the accuracy of algorithm rashidi, et al.: detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 49-56 classification when compared to when each algorithm is employed individually. this is known as aggregation-based learning or voting. each of the classification algorithms may have errors in classifying some samples; therefore, the purpose of voting-based techniques is to reduce the resulting error and increase the accuracy of sampling samples. it has been theoretically proven that the use of voting techniques can improve the results. simulation and results as a consequence, in the final stage of the proposed technique, the neural network, new biz, and decision tree classification models each do the classification operations of the test samples individually, and the final output of the system is decided by voting on the results of all three models. the suggested model was evaluated using data from the nslkdd database[16] for this purpose. more than 25,000 data records in the field of information shared in the network are contained in the database used to evaluate the performance of the proposed model. packet data sent during various forms of network incursions are stored in these records. table 1 shows the data from the nslkdd database (1). table 1 shows that around 80% of the data in the database are allocated to assaults. this database comprises 42 statistical aspects of traffic flow characteristics in each data record. during the simulation, it is assumed that each node in the network exchanges information with other nodes depending on one of the records in this database. the data flow traffic information is categorized by the learning models in the controller node integration system throughout the data exchange process, and the existence of assaults is identified. the performance of the suggested aggregate model in distinguishing regular traffic flows from streams associated with dos assaults will be examined in the following sections. to ensure the validity of the results, the simulation operation was repeated 10 times. during this process, in each iteration, 90% of the database samples are used as learning model samples and the remaining 10% are used as test samples. thus, after 10 repetitions of the experiment, the exchange of all samples belonging to normal categories and dos attacks in the nslkdd database will be simulated by network nodes. furthermore, the performance of the proposed aggregate model in detecting dos attacks is compared with two svm learning models in zhe et al.[13] and the nearest neighbor k algorithm knn in.[14] the accuracy results of each of the compared algorithms in detecting network attacks are shown in figure 5. during several iterations, figure 5a depicts the accuracy of the proposed technique and the methods compared to it. the average accuracy of the various approaches is also shown in figure 5b. as shown in figure 5, the attack detection operation may be done with 99.6% accuracy employing a combination of artificial neural network, decision tree, and new biz in the suggested aggregate system, which is a little improvement. it’s 2% more precise than the approaches described in zhe et al.[13] and dong and sarem.[14] the disruption matrix will be examined in greater depth to analyze the efficacy of the suggested aggregation mechanism in identifying assaults. the clutter matrix resulting from the detection of dos assaults during 10 replication simulations for the proposed aggregation system is compared to the clutter matrix coming from the svm[13] and knn[14] approaches in figure 6. the value 35,201 in the first row and column of the perturbation matrix shown in figure 6a reflects the number of normal connections examined that were accurately recognized as normal by the suggested aggregation method. the clutter matrix identifies this number as tn. the number 92 in the second row and first column represents the number of regular communications that the suggested dos attack model mistakenly detected. in the clutter matrix, this quantity is designated as fp. the clutter matrix’s second row and second column, which reflect the number 40,068, identify service denial assaults that the proposed aggregate system accurately classifies as tp occurrences. in addition, the number 219 in the first row and second column represents dos attempts that the table 1: types of information available in the nslkdd database type of attacks percentage of available data normal (no attack) 19.48 dos attacks 73.9 u2r attacks 1.34 r2l attacks 5.2 probe attacks 0.07 figure 5: accuracy of learning algorithms in detecting network attacks by controller node. (a) accuracy in different iterations and (b) average accuracy b a figure 6: disruption matrix (a) proposed aggregate system, (b) support vector machine, and (c) k-nearest neighbor in attack detection c ba rashidi, et al.: detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 49-56 suggested aggregating system mistook for regular. the clutter matrix identifies this number as fn. the suggested method’s improved efficiency in detecting dos assaults is confirmed by a comparison of its matrix with the examined approaches. table 2 compares the results of different learning models with the test results of the proposed integrated system for detecting dos assaults in the network. the sensitivity and specificity criteria are compared in this table. the ratio of total assaults accurately recognized by the learning model is called sensitivity, and it’s determined as follows: = + tp sensitivity tp fn (6) in this relation, tp is the number of attack streams that have been correctly detected and fn is the number of attack traffic streams that have been erroneously identified as normal streams. the property criterion is used to measure normal streams that are correctly classified. this criterion is calculated as follows: = + tn specificity tn fp (7) tn is the number of accurately recognized normal traffic streams, whereas fp denotes the number of normal traffic streams that have been identified as attack traffic streams. when the efficiency of the suggested approach is compared to the efficiency of the compared methods, it is clear that the provided solution may improve the criteria of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in the process of detecting dos assaults. conclusion a new technique for detecting dos attacks in the structure of iot is provided in this research, which is based on software-based network and machine learning. the suggested solution divides the sdn domain into numerous subdomains, each with its own controller for exchanging security rules with other subdomains. each controller will deliver a list of certified users relevant to its section to other controllers in the suggested way. in this example, if two users need to interact, the user’s credentials are passed back and forth between the controllers. the data exchange activity will take occur if at least one controller has authenticated each of the two participants to the connection. in the topology suggested in this study, all traffics between nodes in a subnet are routed through the subnet’s control node. as a result, each controller node employs an integrated learning model to continually evaluate network traffic data and detect assaults. this learning model incorporates an artificial neural network, a decision tree, and a new biz model that uses statistical information gathered from each data stream to identify the likely existence of assaults. matlab software was used to implement and assess the suggested approach, and the results of simulating the new method’s performance were compared to earlier methods. the data from the nslkdd database were utilized in the tests, and the suggested learning model’s accuracy in identifying various forms of network assaults was assessed. the results of these tests revealed that the suggested method’s cumulative learning model can identify dos attacks in network traffic flows with accuracy of 99.6%. other machine learning models, such as probabilistic neural networks, deep learning approaches, and others, might be used in the future to identify assaults. it appears that optimization algorithms may be used to rank learning models and then establish a weight value for each learning model in the integrated system based on that ranking. as a result, the future research might focus on resolving this problem. references 1. j. li, m. siddula, x. cheng, w. cheng, z. tian and y. li. approximate data aggregation in sensor equipped iot networks. tsinghua science and technology, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 44-55, 2019. 2. j. marietta and b. mohan. a review on routing in internet of things. wireless personal communications, vol. 111, no. 1, pp. 209-233, 2020. 3. x. dong, z. yu, w. cao, y. shi, and q. ma, x. a survey on ensemble learning. frontiers of computer science, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 241258, 2020. 4. g. perrone, m. vecchio, r. pecori, and r. giaffreda. the day after mirai: a survey on mqtt security solutions after the largest table 2: comparison of the performance of the proposed integrated system with other learning models specificity percentage percentage of sensitivity percentage accuracy title 96.9221 98.4955 97.6568 svm[13] 98.4660 96.7359 97.6581 k-nearest neighbor[14] 99.4564 99.7393 99.5885 proposed integration system rashidi, et al.: detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things 56 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 49-56 cyber-attack carried out through an army of iot devices. in: 2nd international conference on internet of things, big data and security, iotbds, pp. 246-25, 2017. 5. s. andy, b. rahardjo and b. hanindhito. attack scenarios and security analysis of mqtt communication protocol in iot system. in: 2017 4th international conference on electrical engineering, computer science and informatics (eecsi), pp. 1-6, 2017. 6. x. liu, t. zhang, n. hu, p. zhang and y. zhang. the method of internet of things access and network communication based on mqtt. computer communications, vol. 153, pp. 169-176, 2020. 7. s. n. firdous, z. baig and a. ibrahim. modelling and evaluation of malicious attacks against the iot mqtt protocol. 2017 ieee international conference on internet of things (ithings) and ieee green computing and communications (greencom) and ieee cyber, physical and social computing (cpscom) and ieee smart data (smartdata), pp. 748-755, 2017. 8. h. ramos, s. villalba, r and lacuesta. mqtt security: a novel fuzzing approach. wireless communications and mobile computing, 2018. 9. a. vähä-sipilä, “mqtt fuzz”., 2015. available from: https:// github.com/f-secure/mqtt_fuzz 10. n. moustafa, b. turnbull and k. choo. an ensemble intrusion detection technique based on proposed statistical flow features for protecting network traffic of internet of things. ieee internet of things journal, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 4815-4830, 2018. 11. n. f. syed, z. baig, a. ibrahim and c. valli. denial of service attack detection through machine learning for the iot. journal of information and telecommunication, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 482-503, 2020. 12. c. kharkongor, t. chithralekha and r. varghese. a sdn controller with energy efficient routing in the internet of things (iot). procedia computer science, vol. 89, pp. 218-227, 2016. 13. w. zhe, c. wei and l. chunlin. dos attack detection model of smart grid based on machine learning method. in: 2020 ieee international conference on power, intelligent computing and systems (icpics), pp. 735-738, 2020. 14. s. dong and m. sarem. ddos attack detection method based on improved knn with the degree of ddos attack in softwaredefined networks. ieee access, vol. 8, pp. 5039-5048, 2019. 15. m. bharati and m. ramageri. data mining techniques and applications. indian journal of computer science and engineering, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 301-305, 2010. 16. r. bala and r. nagpal. a review on kdd cup99 and nsl nsl-kdd dataset. international journal of advanced research in computer science, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 64-67, 2010. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 13-19 review article analysis the structures of some symmetric cipher algorithms suitable for the security of internet of things devices khalid f. jasim*, reem j. ismail, abdullah a. nahi al-rabeeah, soma solaimanzadeh department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract in the past years, the internet of things (iot) used in different applications and very wide range of fields (e.g.  cloud services, smart environments, logistics, social and personal domains, and health-care services). the iot included a variety of components and devices such as radio frequency identification devices, wireless sensors, actuators, and wireless networks. furthermore, the iot with smart devices adopted in various companies, organizations, and public services systems. for instance, some devices such as notebooks and smartphones have been used to perform different management activities and duties. these smart devices relied on data exchange and data storage resources in clouds computing services. in this context, the saved data and exchanged data required protection against hacking operations, transferred with more secure communications channels, and safe storage environment in the clouds and local storage systems. in this paper, we proposed some encryption algorithms to tackle the issue of data confidentiality in the iot applications. this research provided analysis and investigation of these encryption algorithms in light of components of the designs, versions of these algorithms, encryption keys, block size, round functions, and the techniques used in the designs. keywords: internet of things applications, block ciphers, stream ciphers, encryption algorithms, data security introduction in the previous years, the extensive growth of internet of things (iot) applications reflected, positively, on the different activities of user’s life. the basic concepts of iot were presented in 1999, in which there was massive progress in some technologies such as radio frequency identification (rfid devices), wireless sensor networks, and wireless devices. furthermore, the iot was intended to establish connections based on various objects (e.g. rfid devices, sensors, actuators, and readers).[1] the iot presented important applications in different fields (e.g. smart environments, logistics, social and personal domains, and health-care services).[2] the structure of iot based on cloud services was presented in zhou et al.,[3] and the requirements of user’s privacy and data confidentiality have been covered. in this context, the security requirements focused on location privacy, identity privacy, cloud security, layer attack, and node attack. the iot medical applications were used in the design of smart medication dispenser devices, in which can help the patients to receive their medications as specified in the treatment schedule. these smart dispenser devices designed based on iot applications, smartphone devices, and cloud computing services for data storage.[4] furthermore, some iot used in the design of e-health database systems. in these e-systems, the patient’s status can be checked and monitored more efficiently. the researchers in yang et al.[5] presented analysis study of privacy issues in these systems. then, the researchers proposed a system relied on big data and iot applications, in which this system offered data confidentiality of patients’ records and protected communications. the system relied on authentication key technique and algorithm for secure data transfer through the medical network. on the other hand, in iot technologies, huge number of smart devices are accessed various services through the internet and wireless networks and different types of sensitive information are exchanged through these networks. thus, some security issues appeared related to data confidentiality and privacy of users and smart devices.[6-8] to overcome and mitigate the security problems, some symmetric ciphers have been proposed that provide data confidentiality and privacy of users and smart devices.[9] corresponding author: khalid f. jasim, department of computer science, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: khalid.jassim@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 13, 2021 accepted: july 18, 2021 published: september 01, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021. pp 13-19 copyright © 2021 khalid f. jasim, reem j. ismail, abdullah a. nahi al-rabeeah, soma solaimanzadeh. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ jasim, et al.: analysis cipher algorithms for the security of internet of things devices 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 13-19 in recent years, a variety of devices (e.g., sensors, smart devices, and rfid systems) have been adopted by organizations, companies, and public services. these smart devices are interconnected through iot systems. there was data transfers and data storage through these systems and networks; therefore, there was a demand to protect these data. the cryptographic algorithms (e.g., lightweight cryptographic [lwc] algorithms, lwc) can provide data security in iot systems and applications. the researchers in alahdal and deshmukh[10] conducted a survey study on lwc encryption algorithms that can support data confidentiality in iot applications. this study focused on some lwc encryptions algorithms (e.g. hash functions and block ciphers algorithms), and analyzed the features of these algorithms (e.g., energy consumption of devices, required area in designs, throughput of algorithms, and latency). furthermore, the researchers in thakor et al.[11] proposed the lwc encryption algorithms to protect and secure the communications between the smart devices which are used in iot applications. the researchers concentrated on comparing the lwc encryption algorithms in light of cost of implementations, performance of these algorithms in software and hardware implementations, and various analysis attacks as well. moreover, many users rely on some devices such as notebooks and smartphones to perform their duties, and these devices are connected via cloud computing services, in which there are data transfers among these devices, clouds, and iot applications. in such case, the exchanged data require protection and must be transferred in secure and safe communications. the lwc block ciphers algorithms have been proposed to solve the problems of data security in iot networks. for instance, some block ciphers algorithms (e.g., advanced encryption standard [aes], present, lblock, and skipjack) have been proposed as security encryption algorithms, and the features of these algorithms were investigated such as performance of algorithms, consumption of energy, time of execution during encryption/decryption operations, required memory space of these algorithms, and throughputs of these algorithms.[12] furthermore, a variety of stream ciphers and block ciphers encryption algorithms were proposed to provide data protection, secure data transmissions, and data integrity in wireless mobile communications and smartphones device as well (e.g., aes, a5, snow, and zuc).[13,14] the sections of our research paper will be presented as follows. the iot backgrounds, concepts, devices, services, algorithms, and features are presented in section 1. section 2 focused on analyzing aes cipher algorithm (e.g., secret keys, versions of aes, rounds, and math transformations). section 3 investigated some components of rc6 cipher algorithm (e.g., encryption keys, block size, the 4 registers, array s[], and encryption steps). section 4 described various elements of twofish cipher algorithm (e.g., encryption keys, function f, s-boxes, rounds, mds matrix, and encryption process). section 5 analyzed the components of speck cipher algorithm (e.g. block size, round function, logic operations [arx], parameters, and versions of speck cipher). section 6 investigated the components of lightweight encryption algorithm (lea) encryption algorithm (e.g., versions of lea, block size, encryption keys, round function with logic and rotation operations [ror and rol], and encryption process). section 7 concentrated on various components of chacha20 encryption algorithm (e.g., secret keys, state matrix, quarter round function [qrf], and process of key stream). section 8 provides analysis and discussion of iot applications and the proposed encryption algorithms that can offer data security in iot systems and applications. finally, the conclusions of our work are presented in section 9. analysis of aes cipher algorithm daemen and rijmen proposed the design of aes as encryption cipher algorithm for various types of data security applications. the design of aes relies on substitution-permutation network, linear layers, nonlinear layers, and add round key operation. this cipher system depends on three secret keys (128 bits, 192 bits, and 256 bits). furthermore, the design of aes includes three types (e.g., aes-128 with 10 rounds, aes-192 with 12 rounds, and aes-256 with 14 rounds).[15] the aes used to encrypt input block of size (128 bits), the input block arranged as 16 bytes (b0, b1, b2,…, b15), and these 16 bytes saved in state array (4 rows × 4 columns). the design of aes relies on round function; the round function includes four operations. addroundkey operation, which is responsible for adding the bytes of round key to the bytes of state array. subbytes operation, which is used to apply substitution box (s-box) on each bytes in state array. shiftrows, which shifts the bytes of row(i) in state array according to defined numbers. mixcolumns operation, in this operation each column of state array is multiplied by defined and constant matrix (mds matrix).[16] analysis of rc6 cipher algorithm the design of rc6 cipher algorithm identified by version (rc6w/r/b), in which w represented the number of bits in word w (w=32 bits), r represented the number of rounds in this cipher, and b defines the number of bytes adopted for encryption secret key. the input block size in rc6 cipher determined by 128 bits. this algorithm relied on different lengths of secret encryption key (e.g., key size equal to 128 bits, 192 bits, and 256 bits).[17,18] this algorithm is block cipher, and relies on feistel cipher structure, in which the encryption depends on input of plaintext (with 2w bits and k key), process the input by sequence of substitution and permutation operations through r rounds, then produce the block of ciphertext. rc6 includes four registers (a, b, c, and d, length of each register equal to 32 bits), these registers used to save input of plaintext/cipher text blocks during encryption and decryption processes.[19] furthermore, the array s[ ] (s[0], s[1], s[2],…, s[2r + 3], r=number of rounds) is used to save the rounds keys and these rounds keys are adopted in encryption/decryption operations. the (32 bits) words of array s[ ] are extracted from secret key bytes (128 bits, 192 bits, and 256 bits) according to key expansion algorithm.[20] in rc6, encryption process is shown in figure 1:[20] analysis of twofish cipher algorithm the twofish algorithm classified as symmetric crypto algorithm. the design adopted block ciphers technique, the sender and receiver must possess the same software of this algorithm, and jasim, et al.: analysis cipher algorithms for the security of internet of things devices 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 13-19 figure 1: encryption steps in rc6 cipher algorithm same secret encryption keys to exchange cipher text messages. the twofish cipher can operates with three types of secret encryption keys (e.g., 128 bits, 192 bits, and 256 bits), and one type of input block size which is equal to (128 bits). the inner structure of this algorithm includes 16 rounds of feistel cipher networks and function f. the function f consists of (4) s-boxes (each with 8x8 bits, and key dependent mode) and maximum distance matrix (mds with 4x4 constant values). furthermore, this function adopts bitwise rotation operations and math transformation with (pseudo-hadamard).[21,22] in the encryption process [figure 2], the input plaintext (128 bits) is partitioned into 4 words (each word with 32 bits). these 4 words are xored with 4 key words (k#0, k#1, k#2, and k#3). the 16 rounds of this algorithm are performed. in each round of the 16 rounds, the 2 words in the left side are employed as input to function (g), in which function (g) relies on 4 s-boxes (s-box#0, s-box#1, s-box#2, and s-box#3) and mds matrix. each of the 4 s-boxes process input of (8 bits) and produce encoded output of (8 bits). the 4 produced outputs are multiplied by the mds matrix. as shown in figure 2, the outputs of mds matrix are processed to be combined by using math transformation with (pseudo-hadamard). the results are added with values of 2 key words (k#2r+8 and k#2r+9, where r = round number). then, these results processed by 2 xor operations. the aforementioned processing steps are performed in each of 16 rounds and then produce the 128 bits output of cipher text.[23] analysis of speck cipher algorithm the speck cipher algorithm designed based on block ciphers techniques. this cipher algorithm constructed for light figure 3: structure of round function in speck cipher weight smart devices with small hardware requirements. the components of this light block cipher relied on basic logic operations (i.e., addition, rotation, and xor logic operations, or arx operations). in this context, these logic operations can be constructed efficiently in light weight and small hardware devices (e.g., fpga, means the field programmable gates arrays). the structure of speck cipher organized based on feistel cipher structure, employed different types of input/ output block sizes (e.g., 32 bits, 48 bits, 64 bits, 96 bits, and 128 bits), and possessed high performance when implemented using software on (64 bits) processors. the round function in speck cipher [figure 3] adopted three basic logic operations (arx: addition, rotation, and xor logic operations).[24] the round function includes left half of the input (li, i=round no. i) and right half of the input (ri, i=round no. i), ki which represents the (n bits) of round key specified for round (i), rotations operations defined by (>>> α, shift to right by α bits) and (<<< β, shift to left by β bits), modulo addition operation (), and the xor operation (). the outputs figure 2: structure of twofish cipher algorithm jasim, et al.: analysis cipher algorithms for the security of internet of things devices 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 13-19 figure 4: structure of round function in lightweight encryption algorithm cipher table 1: versions of speck cipher with different parameters block size of (input/output) in bits size of secret key in bits value of α value of β total no. of rounds 32 64 7 2 22 48 72 8 3 22 48 96 8 3 23 64 96 8 3 26 64 128 8 3 27 96 96 8 3 28 96 144 8 3 29 128 128 8 3 32 128 192 8 3 33 128 256 8 3 34 of this round function identified by the left half output (li+1) and right half output (ri+1), in which can be computed as shown in the following formulas: [25] li+1 = ((li >>> α) r)) ki, and ri+1 = (ri <<< β) li+1 (1) the speck cipher can operates with different versions, therefore the parameters (α and β) can be defined with different values (e.g. α = 7 or α = 8, and β = 2 or β = 3). various versions of speck cipher are depicted in table 1. for instance, speck 32/64 represents the version that includes block size (32 bits), secret key (64 bits), parameters (α=7 and β=2), and number of rounds (=22) speck 128/256, this version adopts block size (128 bits), secret key (256 bits), parameters (α=8 and β=3), and number of rounds (=34) analysis of lea cipher algorithm the lea encryption algorithm designed based on the concepts of block ciphers, offered high speed of data encryption, and implemented in software applications. this algorithm possessed suitable security level, in which can withstand against various types of cryptanalysis attacks (e.g. linear analysis attack, and differential analysis attack), and also has been proved as secure and efficient encryption algorithm.[26] the lea algorithm includes three versions (lea-128, lea-192, and lea-256). the first version (lea-128) relies on block size (128 bits), key size (128 bits), round number (24), and word size (32 bits). the second version (lea192) employs block size (128 bits), key size (192 bits), round number (28), and word size (32 bits). the third version (lea-256) adopts block size (128 bits), key size (256 bits), round number (32), and word size (32 bits). the design of lea constructed with round functions. the round function [figure 4] consists of (6) xors (xor logic operation), (3) additions (modular addition operation, with mod value 232), and (3) rotations (rotations with circular type operation, and identified by ror3 rotation, ror5 rotation, and rol9 rotation operations).[27] the lea encryption algorithm[28] [figure 5] was proposed to perform data confidentiality in different iot applications figure 5: lightweight encryption algorithm with encryption process (e.g. mobile based environments, cloud computing services, and embedded devices). the three versions of lea encryption algorithm (lea-128, lea-192, and lea-256) supported data confidentiality through data encryptions. for instance, encryption process starts with extracting 128 bits of plaintext, represents these 128 bits by 4 words (xi[0], xi[1], xi[2], xi[3], and each word=32 bits). in round number (i), the word xi[0] transferred into word xi+1[3] in next round (i+1). the word xi[1] xored with round key rki[1], perform modular addition on this word, apply rotation operation (rol9), then the result word transferred into word xi+1[0] in next round (i+1). the word xi[2] xored with round key rki[3], apply modular addition on this word, apply rotation operation (ror5), then the result word transferred into word xi+1[1] in next round (i+1). the word xi[3] xored with round key rki[5], perform modular addition on this word, apply rotation operation (ror3), then the result word transferred into word xi+1[2] in next round (i+1). for example, in first version (lea-128) the number of rounds equal (24), therefore the aforementioned encryption process is repeated on the jasim, et al.: analysis cipher algorithms for the security of internet of things devices 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 13-19 plaintext words (x[0], x[1], x[2], and x[3]), then after round no. 24 the 128 bits of encrypted data are produced. analysis of chacha20 cipher algorithm the stream ciphers techniques relied on composing elements of key stream based on predefined and dynamic state with initial values. in the encryption process, the elements of key stream mixed with the elements of plaintext then the output of this process represent the elements of cipher text (e.g. encrypted data). some encryption algorithms, in which relied on stream ciphers techniques, have been proposed to perform the data confidentiality in iot applications.[29] in this context, the chacha20 encryption algorithm designed based on stream ciphers techniques, and supported data confidentiality in various data security applications (e.g. iot devices, google chrome in smart devices, security of protocols in openssl, and openssh).[30] the design of this algorithm depends on a number of arx logical operations (i.e. addition operation, rotation operation, and xor logical operation). in this design, the arx logical operations constructed on (32 bits) words and it was found as efficient encryption algorithm in hardware and software implementations. for instance, each round in this algorithm constructed with 16 (xor logic operations), 16 (modulo additions operations with mod 232), and 16 (rotations operations).[31] the chacha20 cipher algorithm depends on secret key k with size (256 bits), k defined as (k=k0, k1, k2,…, k7), and it is organized to process words of (32 bits) in each time. the algorithm includes a state which is composed as matrix (4x4 matrix); this state matrix consists of 16 values and each value represented by (32 bits word). the 16 elements of state matrix defined as 4 rows (x0,x1,x2,x3; x4,x5,x6,x7; x8,x9,x10,x11; x12,x13,x14,x15). in the encryption process, the state matrix is loaded with predefined fixed values (e.g. x0=0x61707865, x1=0x3320646e, x2=0x79622d32, and x3=0x6b206574), the other elements are loaded by elements from secret key k (x4=k0, x5=k1, x6=k2, x7=k3 …, x11=k7), 32-bit counter (x12=c0), and 3 (32-bit) nonce-values (x13=n0, x14=n1, x15=n2).[32] the qrf, used in chacha20 cipher algorithm, process input of 4 words (a, b, c, d, each with 32 bits), perform sequence of operations then the result includes updated 4 words (a, b, c, d, each with 32 bits) as shown in the following algorithm 1 qrf [figure 6]. the process of key stream is shown in algorithm 2 [figure 7]. the process starts with initialize the state matrix x with values from secret key k, counter value c0, nonce-values (n0, n1, n2), and constant values as shown in state matrix [figure 8]. the 16 elements of state matrix x are processed for 20 rounds by using qrf function, and then produce the z key stream. the z key stream is used in encryption and decryption operations of input data.[33] discussion iot the iot applications designed to create connections based on different objects such as rfid devices, sensors, actuators, and figure 8: elements of (4x4) state matrix figure 6: quarter round function in chacha20 figure 7: process of key stream in chacha20 readers. these applications covered vital areas such as smart environments, logistics, social and personal domains, healthcare services, and relied on cloud services. the iot systems with smart devices have been adopted in many organizations and public services. in these systems, the exchanged data required data protection and secure data transmissions through communication systems. therefore, various encryption algorithms have been proposed that supported data confidentiality in iot systems and applications. jasim, et al.: analysis cipher algorithms for the security of internet of things devices 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 13-19 aes algorithm this encryption algorithm supported data security in different iot, internet, and cloud services applications. this algorithm adopted block ciphers concepts, three types of secret keys (e.g., 128 bits, 192 bits, and 256 bits), block size (128 bits), three types of rounds (10, 12, and 14), and relied on substitutions and permutations networks (spn technique) [table 2]. each round in the structure of this algorithm included four types of operations (i.e. add-roundkey, sub-bytes, shift-rows, and mix-columns). these operations enhanced the security of the aes algorithm. rc6 this algorithm relied on block ciphers, three types of secret keys (128 bits, 192 bits, and 256 bits), block size (128 bits), 20 rounds, and the design constructed with feistel cipher structure [table 2]. the algorithm employed 4 registers (a, b, c, and d, and each register loaded with 32 bits), state array s[ ] used for saving the values of round keys. twofish the algorithm designed with block ciphers techniques, 3 secret keys (128 bits, 192 bits, and 256 bits), and block size equal to (128 bits). the structure of this algorithm involved 16 rounds, each round contains function f. function f constructed with 4 s-boxes (s-box#0, s-box#1, s-box#2, and s-box#3), and mds matrix with fixed values. speck this algorithm classified as light block cipher and suitable for light weight smart devices. the algorithm used three types of logic operations (addition, rotation, and xor logic operations [arx])). this algorithm designed with feistel cipher structure, and included various types of block size (32 bits 128 bits), different secret keys (64 bits – 256 bits), and different number of rounds (22–34). each round employed 2 rotation operation, 2 xor operation, and 1 addition operation. lea this algorithm designed with three versions (lea-128, lea192, and lea-256). the lea-128 algorithm used secret key (128 bits), block size (128 bits), and 24 rounds. the lea-192 version adopted secret key (192 bits), block size (128 bits), and 28 rounds. the lea-256 version included secret key (256 bits), block size (128 bits), and 32 rounds. the round function in this algorithm designed with (6) xors, (3) additions, and (3) rotations (ror3 rotation, ror5 rotation, and rol9 rotation operations). chacha20 this algorithm designed based on stream ciphers techniques. the algorithm included secret key (256 bits), block size (512 bits), and 20 rounds. each round employed (16) xor, (16) additions mod (232), and (16) rotations operations (arx operations). furthermore, the algorithm used state matrix x[4, 4] with 16 elements processed in qrf function during data encryption/decryption operations. conclusion in previous years, the iot applications deployed in various fields (e.g., cloud services, healthcare systems, environment of smart cities, smart logistic applications, transportations systems, and agriculture area with smart tools). the iot devices used in these fields experienced data security issues. some encryption algorithms proposed to overcome the problems of data confidentiality during the data transmissions and data storage environments such as cloud computing services. this research focused on analyzing the proposed encryption algorithms that can be used for data protections. in this paper, different features and components were investigated such as versions of algorithms, secret keys, block size, number of rounds, types of ciphers, logic operations, math transformations, and the structures of these algorithms as well. references 1. j. gubbi, r. buyya, s. marusic and m. palaniswami. internet of things (iot): a vision, architectural elements, and future directions. future generation computer systems, vol. 29, no. 7, pp. 1645-1660, 2013. 2. l. atzori, a. iera and g. morabito. the internet of things: a survey. computer networks, vol. 54, no. 15, pp. 2787-2805, 2010. 3. j. zhou, z. cao, x. dong and a. v. vasilakos. security and privacy for cloud-based iot: challenges. ieee communications magazine, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 26-33, 2017. 4. m. h. shukur. design a mobile medication dispenser based on iot technology. in: 3rd international conference on communication engineering and computer science (cic-cocos’19), 2019. 5. y. yang, x. zheng, w. guo, x. liu and v. chang. privacy-preserving fusion of iot and big data for e-health. future generation computer systems, vol. 86, pp. 1437-1455, 2018. table 2: analysis of the structures of encryption algorithms cipher algorithm type of cipher size of secret key (bits) block size (bits) total no. of rounds structure of cipher aes block cipher 128/192/256 128 10/12/14 spn rc6 block cipher 128/192/256 128 20 spn twofish block cipher 128/192/256 128 16 spn speck block cipher 32-128 64-256 22-34 arx lightweight encryption algorithm block cipher 128/192/256 128 24/28/32 arx chacha20 stream cipher 256 512 20 arx jasim, et al.: analysis cipher algorithms for the security of internet of things devices 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 13-19 6. s. singh and n. singh. internet of things (iot): security challenges, business opportunities and reference architecture for e-commerce. in: 2015 international conference on green computing and internet of things (icgciot), ieee, pp. 15771581, 2015. 7. m. g. samaila, m. neto, d. a. b. fernandes, m. m. freire and p. r. m. inácio. challenges of securing internet of things devices: a survey. security and privacy, vol. 1, no. 2. e20, 2018. 8. q. jing, a. v. vasilakos, j. wan, j. lu and d. qiu. security of the internet of things: perspectives and challenges. wireless networks, vol. 20, no. 8, pp. 2481-2501, 2014. 9. h. shin, h. k. lee, h. y. cha, s. w. heo and h. kim. iot security issues and light weight block cipher. in: 2019 international conference on artificial intelligence in information and communication (icaiic), ieee, pp. 381-384, 2019. 10. a. alahdal and n. k. deshmukh. a systematic technical survey of lightweight cryptography on iot environment. international journal of scientific and technology research, vol. 9, no. 3, p. 16, 2020. 11. v. thakor, m. a. razzaque and m. r. a. khandaker. lightweight cryptography algorithms for resource-constrained iot devices: a review, comparison and research opportunities. ieee access, vol. 9, pp. 77-93, 2021. 12. p. panahi, c. bayılmış, u. çavuşoğlu and s. kaçar. performance evaluation of lightweight encryption algorithms for iot-based applications. arabian journal for science and engineering, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 4015-4037, 2021. 13. k. f. jasim and i. f. al-shaikhli. mobile technology generations and cryptographic algorithms: analysis study. in: 2015 4th international conference on advanced computer science applications and technologies (acsat), ieee, pp. 50-55, 2015. 14. k. f. jasim and i. f. al-shaikhli. analysis of confidentiality algorithms in different mobile generations. in: conference of cihan university-erbil on communication engineering and computer science, p. 55, 2017. 15. a. m. ruby, s. m. soliman and h. mostafa. dynamically reconfigurable resource efficient aes implementation for iot applications. in: 2020 ieee international symposium on circuits and systems (iscas), ieee, pp. 1-5, 2020. 16. g. harcha, v. lapôtre, c. chavet and p. coussy. toward secured iot devices: a shuffled 8-bit aes hardware implementation. in: 2020 ieee international symposium on circuits and systems (iscas), ieee, pp. 1-4, 2020. 17. k. aggarwal. performance evaluation of rc6, blowfish, des, idea, cast-128 block ciphers. international journal of computers and applications, vol. 68, no. 25, pp. 10-16, 2013. 18. r. e. j. paje, a. m. sison, r. p. medina. 2019. multidimensional key rc6 algorithm. in: proceedings of the 3rd international conference on cryptography, security and privacy (iccsp 19). association for computing machinery, new york, usa, pp. 33-38, 2019. 19. a. i. sallam, o. s. faragallah and e. m. el-rabaie. hevc selective encryption using rc6 block cipher technique. ieee transactions on multimedia, vol. 20, no. 7, pp. 1636-1644, 2018. 20. e. o. agu, m. o. ogar and a. o. okwori. formation of an improved rc6 (irc6) cryptographic algorithm. international journal of advanced research in computer science, vol. 10, pp. 34-39, 2019. 21. k. i. santoso, m. a. muin and m. a. mahmudi. implementation of aes cryptography and twofish hybrid algorithms for cloud. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 1517, no. 1, p. 012099. 2020. 22. v. vatsala and t. poongodi. security and privacy of e-health data using two fish encryption algorithm. international journal of recent technology and engineering, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1906-1910, 2020. 23. m. vedaraj. a hybrid data encryption technique using twofish and elgamal for cloud computing. international journal of management, technology and engineering, vol. 8, no. 1473, pp. 1473-1478, 2018. 24. k. jang, s. choi, h. kwon, h. kim, j. park and h. seo. grover on korean block ciphers. applied sciences, vol. 10, no. 18, p. 6407, 2020. 25. l. sleem and r. couturier. speck-r: an ultra light-weight cryptographic scheme for internet of things. multimedia tools and applications, vol. 80, pp. 17067-17102, 2020. 26. iso. iso/iec 29192-2: 2019: information security lightweight cryptography part 2: block ciphers. geneva, switzerland: international organization for standardization, 2019. 27. j. song and s. c. seo. efficient parallel implementation of ctr mode of arx-based block ciphers on armv8 microcontrollers. applied sciences, vol. 11, no. 6, p. 2548, 2021. 28. y. b. kim, h. kwon, s. w. an, h. seo and s. c. seo. efficient implementation of arx-based block ciphers on 8-bit avr microcontrollers. mathematics, vol. 8, no. 10, p. 1837, 2020. 29. c. manifavas, g. hatzivasilis, k. fysarakis and y. papaefstathiou. a survey of lightweight stream ciphers for embedded systems. security and communication networks, vol. 9, no. 10, pp. 12261246, 2016. 30. ianix. chacha usage and deployment, 2021. available from: https:// www.ianix.com/pub/chacha-deployment.html. [last accessed on 2021 may 27]. 31. m. coutinho and t. c. s. neto. improved linear approximations to arx ciphers and attacks against chacha. iacr cryptol, p. 224, 2021. 32. p. mclaren, w. j. buchanan, g. russell and z. tan. deriving chacha20 key streams from targeted memory analysis. journal of information security and applications, vol. 48, p. 102372, 2019. 33. s. m. s. reza, a. ayob, m. m. arifeen, n. amin, m. h. m. saad and a. hussain. a lightweight security scheme for advanced metering infrastructures in smart grid. bulletin of electrical engineering and informatics, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 777-784, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 76 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 76-80 review article fanet drone’s data applications, mobility models, and wi-fi ieee 802.11n standards for real and non-real time traffic ghassan a. qasmarrogy1, areen j. fadhil2 1department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of information system engineering, erbil technical engineering college, erbil, iraq abstract data traffic is the most important data transmission between users inside every network. this data traffic can be videos, files, voice, pictures, and many more. it is divided into two types, real-time and non-real-time traffic. most real-time traffic data have a low tolerance for delays during transmission, as they need to be quickly received between communication devices. in this paper, a comprehensive analysis was made to evaluate the two types of data transmitted through fanet drones, with different mobility models and two types of ieee 802.11 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz using the optimized link state routing protocol. metrics such as delay and throughput were measured. this paper gives an important overview of how real-time and non-real-time traffic will be handled during data transmission in fanet networks. keywords: fanet, mobility models, ieee 802.11n, non-real time traffic, real-time traffic introduction in today’s networks, most traffic transmitted between sender and receiver consists of different types of data, such as surfing the web, listening to music, making video calls, downloading files, watching youtube, and many more. this data traffic can be divided into two types of data, real-time and non-real-time traffic. the total network traffic is the total amount of moving data between the sender and the receiver. therefore, the bandwidth will be shared between both real-time and non-real-time applications. in today’s network protocols, some priority will be given to real-time applications as they have a very low tolerance for delay during transmission.[1] there are different types of ad hoc networks, such as manet, vanet, uanet, and fanet. fanet is a group of flying drones that changes its topology frequently depending on the speed and attitude of the drones while communicating using routing protocols to send and receive data between them. the data traffic transmitted between them can be recorded video, voice, or exchange information about sites by transferring files, as shown in [figure 1].[2] using different mobility models, the direction and speed of each drone will change depending on different criteria of the model chosen while exchanging data packets between the nodes, which can give different high and low performance as the routes between the drones will break due to high mobility. real-time traffic is very important to be analyzed and tested through different types of scenarios, as it is the most demanded traffic nowadays. this is the main purpose of this paper. while other non-real-time traffic will show how they can get priorities on the same link during transmission with real-time traffic. the rest of the paper will be organized as follows: section 2 will explain related work for various researchers; section 3 will explain the methodology of the paper; section 4 will give the results and analysis of the paper; and section 5 will conclude the paper. related work fanet is considered very popular these days as many researchers try to analyze its performance and enhance its ability for better properties. in[3] a survey was done for the critical points of fanet to show the performance of fanet architecture, communications, mobility models, characteristics, corresponding author: ghassan a. qasmarrogy, department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ghassan.qasmarrogy@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 20, 2022 accepted: august 07, 2022 published: august 22, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp76-80 copyright © 2022 ghassan a. qasmarrogy, areen j. fadhil. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) qasmarrogy and fadhil: fanet standards for real and non-real time traffic 77 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 76-80 and fanet design. it also shows all the recommendations to help the authors work on the same and enhance these parameters. the research lists most approaches that are used to give better results in fanet. in[4] the author evaluates fanet’s different mobility models, real-time traffic, and frequency bands while measuring throughput and delay for best performance using two types of routing protocols. the result shows that 2.4 ghz gives a higher delay but more coverage than 5 ghz. in[5] a recent attempt was made to enhance and optimize the performance of video transmission in fanet with a 5 ghz frequency band while analyzing throughput, retransmission attempts, and delay. their results show that changing some metrics in wlan interface cards can give better performance to the transmission. finally, in[6] the performance of optimized link state routing (olsr) protocols was analyzed and investigated with four different data rates and scenarios while measuring the throughput, network delay, load, and retransmission attempts. the result shows that the olsr protocol was improved and gives better performance than before. fanet parameters this part will give a comprehensive explanation of all the fanet parameters calculated in this paper, such as mobility models, ieee wireless protocols, routing protocols, and data traffic types as follows: mobility models because fanet’s topology changes as it moves, it requires a specific mobility model and routing protocols to guide packets between drones to their final destination. mobility models are very important in guiding and controlling the faent movement in specific areas, as they use a mobility formation to keep all the drones in the range for transmission with a fixed direction, height, and speed.[7] the most commonly used type of mobility model is the random waypoint mobility model (rwpm). this model uses random value numbers and direction for moving and pausing, also uses random values for height and attitude. when the simulation starts, the drones start using the mobility model as these randomness values will be repeated until the end of the simulation. this model is considered very important as it simulates real-life scenarios of fanet drones moving for different life applications such as wsn wireless sensor networks, search and rescue missions, area scanning, and many more.[8] while the second type is known as the gauss–markov gmm mobility model, in this model, a drone starts moving in a specific direction with a specified speed as it reaches the endpoint, then it chooses a different direction and speed than planned. these numbers are calculated with a specific equation that depends on fanet parameters, where each drone movement is not related to other drones in the same fanet topology. [figure 2] shows the different mobility models used in this paper.[9] ieee wifi and routing protocols standards the ieee 802.11n is a wireless standard used to organize the movement of data wirelessly from the sender to the receiver, using multiple antennas to increase the data transfer rate. this protocol can support up to a 600 mb/s speed rate while operating with two different types of frequencies, 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz.[10] the multiple input/multiple output (mimo) can transmit a larger number of data packets compared to the single antenna used with the previous version of wireless standards. furthemore, mimo uses spatial division multiplexing (sdm) technology, in which multiple streams of individual data are transmitted at the same time on one single spectral channel. the technology of mimo sdm permits the bandwidth to be increased for each data stream, which helps to increase the overall speed rate. still, each data stream requires one antenna to send and one to receive; therefore, this technology uses mimo to adjust its transmission.[10] in ieee 802.11n, the 5ghz bandwidth gives more speed compared to the 2.4 ghz bandwidth as it has more nonoverlapping channels that reduce the interference between the frequencies of broadcasted devices. figure 3 shows the different types of channels between 2.4ghz and 5ghz.[11] a routing protocol is needed to guide the packets from the source to the destination. the olsr protocol is used as it gives better results in fanet scenarios to route the packets and helps them reach the destination.[12] this protocol was optimized for the old link-state protocol used in manet; [figure 4] shows the different types of fanet routing protocols. figure 1: different types of mobile ad hoc networks[2] figure 2: different mobility models[8] ba qasmarrogy and fadhil: fanet standards for real and non-real time traffic 78 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 76-80 ospf uses a group of selected multipoint relays (mprs) that forward the received broadcast messages through the flooding process. therefore, using this technique, the overhead of the network will be decreased substantially, as every drone will retransmit the received message when it receives the first message from the main source. [figure 5] shows the olsr mpr’s node.[13] the main three optimizations on olsr can be summarized as follows: 1. the information link status will only be generated by the selected mpr nodes 2. the number of control messages forwarded will decrease as only the selected mprs will broadcast the generated traffic 3. each mpr node can choose to report the main active link connected between them. therefore, these enhancements made olsr provide optimal routes between the sender and the destination, with the lowest delay and higher throughput. furthermore, made it very suitable for large and dense networks with a dynamic number of nodes.[13] network traffic there are two types of network traffic: real-time and nonreal-time traffic. real-time traffic demands are transmitted or delivered on time without any delay and with the highest quality as possible, such as videoconferencing, voip, and web browsing.[14] while non-real-time traffic has lower priority than real-time traffic, which can tolerate delays and some packet dropping, such as emails and web publishing, [figure 6] depicts the various types of data traffic transmitted in the network. results and analysis this paper examines by analyzing two types of transmission data, real and non-real-time traffic in the fanet network using a simulation area of 2000 × 2000 square meters with a 25-flying drone at a speed of 15 m/s and a height of 15 m with two types of mobility models (random waypoint mobility, or rwpm, and gauss–markov gmm). these drones will broadcast the data using wifi ieee 802.11n standards, 2 ghz and 5 ghz, with the support of the olsr routing protocol. the simulated environment was repeated 5 times while calculating the average for optimal values to calculate both throughput and end-to-end delay for both types of traffic. finally, the opnet simulator model was used to simulate the entire scenario, which is considered one of the best simulators on the market for fanet simulations. table 1 shows the simulation parameters used in this paper. the main comparison between 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz wireless protocols is about speed, bandwidth, and interference, as 2.4 ghz gives lower interference and a higher range, while 5 ghz gives more speed and bandwidth with less range coverage. in [figure 7], the throughput of both 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz traffic is shown with both real and non-real-time traffic using the olsr routing protocol, where the highest throughput was shown for video and voice as they have a lower tolerance for delay, while both http and ftp have a higher delay tolerance as they can be sent with more delay. the 5 ghz wireless protocol shows more throughput for both real and non-real-time traffic as it has higher bandwidth, but due to its lowest coverage range, its performance decreases figure 5: mpr’s nodes of olsr routing protocol[13] figure 3: different types of channels of 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz[11] figure 4: fanet routing protocols[12] figure 6: different types of data traffic[14] qasmarrogy and fadhil: fanet standards for real and non-real time traffic 79 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 76-80 in throughput for the rwpm model as many links break and more nodes randomly fly away from each other, which makes them out of range coverage. the gmm model gives better performance as the nodes move in the same direction or next to each other inside the same coverage area. figure 8 shows the delay for the same scenario of the fanet network, where 5 ghz shows lower delay in gmm as it has more bandwidth, which makes the traffic packet transmitted faster than the 2.4 ghz wireless protocol. however, the rwpm model gives higher delay as most of the links break and packet drops due to the low coverage range of the 5 ghz protocol. moreover, non-real-time traffic shows higher delays than real-time traffic as they have a longer tolerance to delays than real-time traffic for 2.4 ghz conclusion fanet is a special type of mobile ad hoc network that flies for different types of functions, such as military functions, recording, transmitting data, and many more. this data can be real-time data that has a low tolerance for delay and non-realtime data that has a higher tolerance for delay. in this paper, an evaluation has been done to measure the performance of both types of traffic using the olsr routing protocol with two types of mobility models, rwpm and gmm, that are transmitted using ieee 802.11n 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz wireless protocols. in conclusion, real-time traffic has higher throughput and the lowest delay compared to non-real-time traffic. while during retransmission attempts, the 5 ghz wireless protocol gives the best result as it covers only a short distance, while the movement of fanet drones makes the links between the nodes break more frequently and only if these nodes are close to each other. as a result, 5 ghz gives decreased performance in the rwpm model as more nodes fly away from each other, which makes them out of the coverage area. for the future work, it is recommended that more mobility models be used and more recent wireless protocols that support more bandwidth and higher speed rates, as well as more traffic. references 1. h. j. alqaysi and g. a. qasmarrogy. performance analysis of video streaming application over manets routing protocols. international journal of research in computer applications and robotics, vol. 3, pp. 22-28, 2015. 2. d. ramphull, a. mungur, s. armoogum and s. pudaruth. a review of mobile ad hoc network (manet) protocols and their applications. in: 2021 5th international conference on intelligent computing and control systems (iciccs). ieee, pp. 204-211, 2021 3. a. srivastava and j. prakash. future fanet with application and enabling techniques: anatomization and sustainability issues. computer science review, vol. 39, pp. 100359, 2021. 4. g. qasmarrogy. evaluation of flying ad hoc network topologies, mobility models, and ieee standards for different video applications. aro-the scientific journal of koya university, vol. 9, no. 1, pp.77-88, 2021. 5. k. y. tsao, t. girdler and v. g. vassilakis. a survey of cyber security threats and solutions for uav communications and flying ad-hoc networks. ad hoc networks, vol. 133, no. 1, p.102894, 2022. 6. m. m. s. ibrahim and p. shanmugaraja. optimized link state routing protocol performance in flying ad-hoc networks for various data rates of un manned aerial network. materials today proceedings, vol. 37, pp.3561-3568, 2021. 7. p. k. sharma and d. i. kim. random 3d mobile uav networks: mobility modeling and coverage probability. ieee transactions on wireless communications, vol. 18, no. 5, pp.2527-2538, 2019. 8. k. nabar and g. kadambi. affinity propagation-driven distributed clustering approach to tackle greedy heuristics in mobile ad-hoc networks. computers and electrical engineering, vol. 71, pp. 9881011, 2018. 9. a. chinmay and h. k. pati. vowifi cell capacity evaluation using ieee 802.11 ac for vbr traffic. in: 2021 3rd international conference on computer communication and the internet (iccci). ieee, pp. 141-145, 2021. 10. s. rajbhandari, a. v. jalajakumari, h. chun, g. faulkner, k. cameron, r. henderson, d. tsonev, h. haas, e. xie, j. j. mckendry, r. ferreira, e. gu, m. d. dawson, d. o’brienand and j. herrnsdorf. a multigigabit per second integrated multipleinput multiple-output vlc demonstrator. journal of lightwave figure 7: average throughput for real-time and non-real-time traffic figure 8: average delay for real-time and non-real-time traffic table 1: simulation parameters parameters values traffic type video, voice, http, ftp area size 2000×2000 m2 fanet routing protocols olsr fanet number 25 drone mobility models rwpm, gmm simulation time 5 min node speed, height 15 m/s, 15 m wifi ieee 802.11n 2.4 ghz, 5 ghz qasmarrogy and fadhil: fanet standards for real and non-real time traffic 80 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 76-80 technology, vol. 35, no. 20, pp.4358-4365, 2017. 11. i. dolińska, m. jakubowski and a. masiukiewicz. interference comparison in wi-fi 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz bands. in: 2017 international conference on information and digital technologies (idt). ieee, pp. 106-112, 2017. 12. g. a. q. marrogy. enhancing video streaming transmission in 5 ghz fanet drones parameters. telecommunications and radio engineering, vol. 79, no. 11, pp. 997-1007, 2020. 13. r. singh, n. singh and a. g. dinker. performance analysis of tcp variants using aodv and dsdv routing protocols in manets. recent advances in computer science and communications, vol. 14, no. 2, pp.448-455, 2021. 14. h. ozkan, r. temelli, o. gurbuz, o. k. koksal, a. k. ipekoren, f. canbal, b. d. karahan and m. s. kuran. multimedia traffic classification with mixture of markov components. ad hoc networks, vol. 121, pp. 102608, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 133 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 133-140 research article the use of tobit and logistic regression models to study factors that affect blood pressure in cardiac patients bekhal s. sedeeq, banaz w. y. meran department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq abstract this research studies the factors that affect blood pressure in cardiac patients using the tobit and logistic regression models. the data have been collected, from 500 patients with heart disease in hospital – heart center – erbil. the two levels of blood pressure, low and high blood pressures, were taken from the patients as dependent variables plus other, independent variables (gender, age, urea, cholesterol, creatinine, and weight). the research shows that the median of blood pressure by means of arterial pressure (map) equation contains each of high and low blood pressures differently. this is due to the threshold value of 99.33, equal to,12/8 mmhg, which represent a normal level of a human blood pressure. the aim of this research is to explain the main concepts and processes of tobit regression analysis (censored and truncated) and logistic regression analysis, which are used for predicting the factors of independent variables that have more effect on the response variables, for example, blood pressureand to compare the outcomes of the two models (tobit regression and logistic regression) in order to determine which of the models best fits our data in which aic and bic are used. the data analysis of this research shows that the logistic regression model best fits our data, as compared with the tobit regression model. the data analysis has been achieved using statistical packages in r programming, matlab and statistical package for the social sciences (spss) v.26. keywords: akaike information criterion, bayesian information criterion, censoring, logistic regression model, tobit regression model, truncation introduction the health sector is one of the most vital sectors that undertake the task of providing health services to all members of society through health institutions to protect and improve society and achieve the well-being of its members. in fact, one of the components of building health in society is to ward off all diseases, and at the lead of these diseases is cardiovascular disease, which is one of the problems that challenge medicine. cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide, is greatly exacerbated by high blood pressure. around,54% of strokes-and 47% of coronary heart disease occur worldwide as a result of high blood pressure. high blood pressure is common medical issue that becomes more prevalent as people become older.[1] there have been several statistical studies of individual data that include observations in which a dependent variable is equal to 0, for a digit of observations in the dataset. this behavior is known as censored or truncated data.[2] since james tobin’s work, the tobit regression has received a huge and diverse amount of theoretical interest (1958). its use in practical applications has been developed in fields such as economics, biology, finance, and medicine. tobit regression can be seen as a linear regression model where only the data, on the dependent variable are incompletely, observed.[3] logistic regression is a statistical, method for examining the relationship among a dependent variable of a nominal level and one or other independent variables so that those independent variables are from any type of measurement level.[4] logistic regression is investigation of the best method in the case of the binary dependent variable, according to dayton[5] logistic regression, which is a categorical data statistical modeling method. it is the usages of the same logic as ordinary least squares regression. this study, aims at: 1. utilizing both the tobit and the logistic regression models. corresponding author: banaz w. y. meran, department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: banaz.yaqoob@su.edu.krd received: july 18, 2022 accepted: august 12, 2022 published: november 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp133-140 copyright © 2022 banaz w.y meran, bikhal s. sedeeq. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) meran and sedeeq: tobit and logistic regression models 134 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 133-140 2. knowing which factors of independent variables is more effecter on the dependent variable (blood pressure) using both models. 3. comparing the results of the two models to determine which one best fits our data that are using akaike information criterion (aic) and bayesian information criterion (bic). literature reviews shirafkan et al.[6] estimated the potential of tobit regression, as a method to study time to onset of cytomegalovirus in renal recipient transplants. the results of this study revealed that the age of patients was influenced by the time of onset of disease. consequently, the bigger the age, the shorter time required to-start infection. karim et al.,[7] tobit model and the traditional regression model were compared on data taken from patients with kidney disease, and through using some statistical measures, it was concluded that tobit’s model is preferable than the traditional regression model for this type of data. taleb et al.[8] used a binary logistic regression model, estimating the coefficients of this model the least squares method for people with heart disease. the aim of the investigation was to compare the actual reasons of death with the estimated causes of death. the binary logistic regression model concluded that smoking was the leading cause of death. rambeli et al.[9] used the binary logistic model for a study the aim of which was to identify the factors that influence a teacher’s decision to remain in their professional life. the result showed that the income was considered as a key factor in teacher remaining committed to the profession. methodology this research contains three parts: the first part of this research included the introduction, methodology, aim of the study, and review of the literature. the second part of the research included the basic concepts of the two models and the last part contains data applications, implementation of two models, and interpretation of the results. tobit regression model regression analysis is one of the most important ways to find out the significant effect between the dependent variable and explanatory, variables but sometimes, the dependent variable is constrained to the threshold point. in this situation, the use of the traditional regression model is biased. with this kind of data, using the tobit regression model is the best option. logistic-regression, it is used as in this, study. the analysis of the tobit regression means the, statistical method used to examine the relationship between the limited dependent variable and explanatory variables of any type. the analysis in this situation is named a tobit regression. a limited dependent variable is the one whose range of potential values is constrained in some significant way.[10] limited dependent variable models contain: a – censoring, in which some data are lost but other data are present for certain persons in a data collection and b – truncation, in which some individuals are purposefully removed from observation.[11] tobin used a regression model based on household expenditures that particularly took into account the fact that (his regression model’s dependent variable) cannot be negative. tobin coined the phrase “model of constrained dependent variables” to describe his approach, a term invented by goldberger (1964) for the reason that they resemble probit models. these models are frequently denoted to as truncated or censored models. if the observations are lost outside of a carefully defined range and are censored, the model is called a truncated model.[12] the structural tobit model y xi * � �� ei� where, ei ~ n(0, σ2). y* is a latent variable that is observed y, shown by the following equation y y if y if yi y � � � � � � �� * * ���� * ��� ���� ����� ���� ������ � � � when assume that τ = 0 in the standard tobit model, data are censored next to a value of 0. for use there is:[13] y y if y if yi � � � � � � �� * * * ��� ���� ����� ���� ���� ������ 0 0 0 as it has been shown, the probability function is censored l y µ i n di di � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� � � 1 1 1 � � � � � � in the conventional tobit model, one groups τ = 0 and parameterize µ as (xiβ). that is tobit model’s likelihood function: l y x x i n i i di i di � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � 1 1 1 � � � � � � the tobit model’s log likelihood function is ln ln l d y x d xi n i i i i i � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � �� � 1 1 1 ln ln� � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � the overall log, likelihood is split into two components. the first component corresponds to a traditional regression for an uncensored observation, while the, second component represents the associated likelihood of censoring the test.[14] standard tobit model censored regression method has been very widespread as a standard tobit model since tobin (1958) first presented it to evaluate the relationship between household expenditure and household income. y i n'* ����� , , .� � � �x ui i� 1 2 y �y ������if��������y � n� �* * y � �if�������y n� �0��������� * where, ui is identical independent distribution (iid). drawings from n(0, σu). yi and xi are observed in the sample, but the yi * is unobserved if � *y i2 < 0. the likelihood function for this model is:[12] meran and sedeeq: tobit and logistic regression models 135 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 133-140 l x y xi i i� � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � �� � 0 1 1 1 � � ' '� � � � � censoring a regression, model is said to be-censored when the recorded, data on the dependent variable (the response) cutoff outside a certain-range with multiple observations at the-endpoints of that range. when the data are censored, variation in the observed dependent variable will underestimate the impact of the regression on the actual dependent variable. as a result, coefficient estimates from standard ordinary least squares regression employing censored data are often biased toward zero.[15] truncation truncated data, or missing data, are discovered when an observation is not reported despite of whether it is below or above a specific level that differs. in actuality, these are known as left and right truncation, respectively. the truncation effect can also happen when only a small portion of a larger population is represented in the sample data. in addition, the response variable in the model is truncated if observations are not possible while taking values inside a particular range. consequently, when the dependent variable is within that range, neither the dependent nor the independent variables are observed.[2] logistic regression model what distinguishes a logistic regression model from the, linear regression model, in logistic regression, could be the result variable which is either binary or, dichotomous. this difference among logistic and linear regression is reflected both in the choice of a parametric model and it assumptions, whereas the methods used in a logistic, regression study follow the same fundamental principles, as linear regression.[16,17] logistic regression model circuitously models the response variable created on probabilities linked with the digits of the dependent variable y. we will use p(x) to represent the possibility of a response when y = 1. furthermore, we will define, 1–p(x) which represents the possibility of a response when y = 0. these probabilities are written as follows: p x p y x x xk� � � � �� �1 1 2| , , 1 0 1 2� � � � � �� �p x p y x x xk| , , the logistic regression equation and the regression equation with a straight line, equation ( y x x xk k� � � � ��� � � �1 1 2 2 . ) are related by the formula below. the logistic regression equation form is rewritten as such: logit p x p x p x x x xe k k� log .� � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � ��1 1 1 2 2�� � � � the logistic regression model can be calculated using the formula below.[17,18] p x x x kxk x x kxk ( ) . � � � � ���� � � � �� �� � e e �� �� � � � � � � 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 21 estimate the parameters of logistic regression model the approach of maximum likelihood estimation will be used. the log likelihood is given as:[19-21] ( )yi 1 yi 1 (  ,  ) [1 ( )] n i l p x p x − = α β = −∏ we’ll use the log likelihood method for estimation: logl logp x p x i ( �, ) ( ) ( ( )� � � � � � � �� � � �� � � � � � � � � � � 1 1 1 n i i n iy n y log �� � � � � � � � � �� � � �� � � � � �u p l p x i ( ) ( , ) / ( ) /( ( � ��� p y n y p x i n i n i 1 1 1 ))) � � � � � � � � cox and snell r2 statistic in the logistic regression model, the determination coefficient r2 used to determine the fittingness of the proposed regression, table 1: five hundred patients sample id y: bp x1: gender x2: age x3: urea x4: cholesterol x5: creatinine x6: weight 1 88 (0) 1 70 68 127 1.26 89 2 76 (0) 2 40 41 117 0.97 96 3 99.33 1 44 34 201 0.59 74 4 85 (0) 2 43 33 221 0.67 107 5 117 1 55 54 226 1.12 88 6 92 (0) 1 67 31 173 0.72 76 7 96.67 1 47 43 165 0.78 65 497 107.67 1 54 31 160 0.87 85 498 93.67 2 63 16 109 0.6 69 499 106.67 1 58 25 100 0.73 67 500 118.33 1 69 38 134 1.11 65 bp: blood pressure meran and sedeeq: tobit and logistic regression models 136 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 133-140 models for the study data is changed by the r2 nagelkerke, cox, and snell r2 computation statistics. can be calculated as: � ( / ) r cox�and�snell2 0 1 2 1� � � � � � � � l l n l0: maximum likelihood for constant in the model. l1: maximum likelihood independent variables in the model n: sample size[22] and, can be calculated as: r r n 2 2 0 21 nagelkerke cox snell l � � � �&� ( / ) the hosmer-lemeshow test the hosmer and lemeshow test is a widely-used test for determining a model’s quality of fit. it accepts any number of explanatory-variables, which can be continuous or categorical. it is used to test the hypothesis: h0: the model is adequate for data h1: the model is not adequate for data the model will be a useful model if (hosmer and lemeshow) static is >0.5.[22] hl o e nk i n i i i i i � � �� � � �� � �� ��2 2 1 2 1 wald statistic the wald test is used to determine whether or not the effect of the logistic regression coefficient on the independent variables.[23] the wald statistic is calculated according to the following formula: 2 2        . w s eβ  β =      the classification table the use of classification tables is one of the ways to check the quality of matching the model with the data. this method depends on creating tables that put the number of cases that have the desired trait or the cases that do not have the desired trait and that were categorized correctly or incorrectly. the concept behind using the analysis is it leading to better results if the model is data compatible.[24] the aic aic as a model selection criterion for assessing actual data, it has played a key role in solving issues in a wide range of fields, and the model by the lowermost aic is chosen as the best model.[25] aic l k�� �� log *2 2 the bic in statistical model selection, the bic is unique of the best well-known and commonly used tools. bic is calculated for each of the models, and the model with the lower bic value is selected as the best model.[26]  2log 2* log *bic l n k=− + data analysis in this study, the two models of tobit and logistic regression models have been applied on a sample taken from 500 patients with heart disease and two levels of blood pressure, high and low blood pressure, in hospital – heart center – erbil. blood pressure is taken from the patients as response variables and some independent-variables (gender, urea, age, cholesterol, creatinine, and weight). the study found that the average of blood pressure by means of arterial pressure (map) equation contains each high and low blood pressure differently because the threshold point was determined to be 99.33. to take the best model for our data in the study, two statistical measures (aic and bic) were used. note: all assumptions and tests related to tobit and logistic regression models have been applied before we started the data analyses in this study. data description for tobit regression analysis in this study, the data are gathered from 500 patients with heart diseases, and the two levels of blood pressure; high and low blood pressure were taken from patients as dependent variables and the variables: gender, age urea, cholesterol, creatinine, and weight as the independent variables (table 1). the researcher set that the medium of blood pressure by map equation contains each highest and lowest blood pressure differently because the threshold point was determined to be 93.33, in regards, the dependent variable in this study has been defined as: y=y* y*>93.33 appropriately, the limitation threshold point y = 93.33 was regarded the limitation threshold point y = 0, in accordance with the stated theoretical presentation, and the model will be referred to as the following model: y=y* y*>93.33 y=0 y*<=93.33 the explanatory variables in this study are the follows: x1: gender (male and female) x2: age measured by year x3: urea (mg/dl) x4: cholesterol (mg/dl) x5: creatinine (mg/dl) x6: weight measured by kg the explanation of the variables is presented in table 2 in which contains independent variables and dependent variable and the table views the maximum, minimum, mean, and standard deviation of data. application of tobit regression model analysis (censored and truncated) because of the researcher initially checked all the necessary assumptions that must be present in the data before starting to analyze the data, and also set a unified standard for the data in this study, it becomes clear for us that there is no problem in terms of our data and we can use the data for analyzing. meran and sedeeq: tobit and logistic regression models 137 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 133-140 censored regression model first, let’s start with censored-regression model are: censored (formula = y~ x, -left = 0, right = inf., data= data 1) total (n = 500 observation, left censored = 132 observation, uncensored = 368 observation, left censored (y < 99.3 then y* = 0: observation). table 3 presents the results of the exact regression model. the coefficients of the independent variables sex, age, cholesterol, creatinine, and weight are positive because the variables have a positive relationship with the dependent variable (blood pressure), while the coefficient of the independent variable urea is negative because the variable has a negative relationship with the dependent variable (blood pressure). according to the findings in table 3, the variables age, cholesterol, and creatinine all significantly affect blood pressure. the summarized fit to the censored regression model is log-likelihood = −2125,549, aic = 4265.1, bic = 4294.6. the score for the best model is determined by the lowest value for aic and bic. truncated regression model in this case, the number of observations turns to 368 due to a truncation. table 4 shows the results from truncated regression model. those coefficients of the independent variables such as gender, age, cholesterol, urea, and weight are positive for the reason that the variables take a positive relationship with the dependent variable (blood pressure) whereas the coefficient of the independent variable creatinine is negative because has a negative connection with the dependent variable (blood pressure). it is through the conclusion in table 4 that only the urea variable has the effect on blood pressure. logistic regression analyses in this part, we use binary logistic regression since the dependent variable in this study is blood pressure and the researcher has taken the average of blood pressure by map equation which contains each of the high and low blood pressure differently because of the threshold points which was determined to be 93.33. the patient whose blood pressure is >93.33 is considered to be infected and takes the worth of one while the patient whose blood pressure is ≤93.33 is considered to be uninfected and takes the value of 0, and the other variables are gender, age, cholesterol, urea, creatinine, and weight. y: the dependent variable has a binary response code: y infected uninfected � � � � 1 0 the independent variables are the same as the variables written above. application of binary logistic regression analysis let’s start with the outcome of the classification table starting with the zero stage in which the model is free of independent variables (only the constant). table 5 represents the baseline model, which is a model without our explanatory variables. the overall right percentage was 73.6% which refers the model’s overall explanatory strength . the initial log likelihood function (-2 log likelihood function)= 577.2. omnibus test of logistic model coefficients based on the model coefficients in omnibus tests, we find that the chi-square tests are to illustrate if there is an important variance between the factors of the nil model and the current model. table 2: descriptive statistics of variable variables minimum maximum mean sd bp 70.33 141.00 101.23 10.97 gender 1 2 1.33 0.47 age 17 86 57.73 11.24 urea 11 198 40.11 20.53 cholesterol 63 326 167.36 45.02 creatinine 0.11 10.70 1.58 1.195 weight 48 135 78.83 13.47 bp: blood pressure, sd: standard deviation table 3: censored regression model coefficients estimate se t pr (>t) constant −127.94562 25.77314 −4.964 6.89e-07*** gender 3.57944 5.59007 0.640 0.522 age 1.91136 0.24742 7.725 1.12e-14*** cholesterol 0.25688 0.05688 4.516 6.30e-06*** urea −0.11037 0.12724 −0.867 0.386 creatinine 12.21152 2.09200 5.837 5.31e-09*** weight 0.31290 0.19800 1.580 0.114 *** mean p ≤ 0.001 table 4: truncated regression model coefficients estimate se t pr (>t) constant 98.7995674 4.7143913 20.9570 <2e-16*** gender 0.6703624 0.9215182 0.7275 0.46695 age 0.0645897 0.0448466 1.4402 0.14980 cholesterol 0.0015114 0.0094141 0.1605 0.87245 urea 0.0520044 0.0202811 2.5642 0.01034* creatinine −0.2198352 0.3154896 −0.6968 0.48592 weight 0.0040456 0.0340886 0.1187 0.90553 se: standard error; * mean p ≤ 0.05 and *** mean p ≤ 0.001 table 5: classification table shows that the model has a constant bound zero step observed predicted y percentage correct uninfected infected step 0 y uninfected 0 132 0.0 infected 0 368 100.0 overall percentage 73.6 meran and sedeeq: tobit and logistic regression models 138 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 133-140 table 6 displays that the current model is meaningfully more suitable than the null model. model coefficients omnibus test offers significant reduction in the −2 log likelihood value = 426.572= as compared to −2 log likelihood value =577.2 of the null model. this indicates that the chi-square values for step, block, and model are all the same. p < 0.05 illustrating that the model’s accuracy increases when explanatory variables are included. furthermore, the chi-square is significant (χ2 = 150.628, df = 6, p < 0.05). as a result, our new model is bested. hosmer and lemeshow test being a goodness of fit test for logistic regression, it fits the data model. table 7 explains since p = 0.226, it is larger than the level of significance at 5%. we may well conclude that the data are will be suitable to the model. cox and snell r2, nagelkerke’s r2 the cox and snell r2, nagelkerke’s r2 values are utilized to estimate the model’s fit to the data. as the nagelkerke’s r2, cox and snell r2 values given in table 8 are examined, the ratios of interpretation of the independent variables over the dependent variable are shown. the value of nagelkerke r2 is the modified form for the cox and snell r2 coefficient. giving to the outcomes shown in table 8, it is seen that the dependent variables determine 26% of the variance in the independent variables according to the value of cox and snell r2, and 38% according to the value of nagelkerke r2. the amount of the −2 log likelihood statistic is 426.572 in model summary for the whole model. table 9 is corresponding to table 5 but it is based on the model that contains our explanatory variables. the total percentage of correct was 79.2% which replicates the model’s overall explanatory strength. classification table contains the constant term and the rest of the predictors, that is, 91.6% were correct for the infected of blood pressure and correctly classified. this table shows how many events were correctly predicted (59 cases were observed to be uninfected and were correctly predicted to be uninfected; 337 cases were observed to be infected and were correctly predicted to be infected) and how many were not (73 cases are observed to be uninfected but are predicted to be infected; 31 cases are observed to be infected but are predicted to be uninfected). variables in the equation logistic-regression model the variables in the equation logistic regression are the most essential of all the outputs. this table must be studied carefully since it contains the answers to our questions about the common relationship between all variables. table 10 shows the values of wald test that represents the parameter of the test value of the model and it appears that the variables (age, urea cholesterol, and creatinine) represent the significant variables in the research. it is by associating the p-value with the level of significant (0.05) that the p-value represents the significance of the effect of the variable on the patient condition, that is, it is significant when p < 0.05 was considered for the variable under test. it shows that the variables (gender and weight) are not significant variables in the study, and it is through comparing the p-value with the level of significant (0.05) that the p-value represents the non-significance of the effect of the variables on the patient condition, that is, it is no significant when p > 0.05 was considered. as far as table 10 is concerned, the logistic computation coefficients that may be utilized to build a predictive equation could be: y � � � � � � � � �� � � �� � � � ��log p x p x x x xk k1 1 1 2 2� � � � the effect factors for blood pressure in cardiac patients can be ranked as follows based on the value of the odds ratio. likewise, we can write the logistic regression computation with just significant variables: logistic equation (model): y = −7.689 + 0.080 age 0.016 urea + 0.013 cholesterol + 1.451 creatinine table 10 shows, exp(β) = eb represents the ratio changed in the odds of the event of importance for a one unit variation in the predictor. the value of exp(β) for the variable gender indicates that when the gender changes from the value 0 (female) to the value 1 (male), the probability of disease blood pressure in patients with heart disease increases because the value of exp(β) is >1. such incomes indicate that the blood pressure of males is higher than females. table 6: omnibus test step 1 χ2 df significant step 150.628 6 0.000 block 150.628 6 0.000 model 150.628 6 0.000 table 7: hosmer and lemeshow test step χ2 df significant 1 10.595 8 0.226 table 8: summary of logistic regression step −2 log likelihood cox and snell r2 nagelkerke r2 1 426.572a 0.260 0.380 table 9: classification tables observed predicted y percentage correct uninfected infected step 1 y uninfected 59 73 44.7 infected 31 337 91.6 overall percentage 79.2 meran and sedeeq: tobit and logistic regression models 139 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 133-140 the odds ratio for the variable age is >1, exp(β) = 1.083. this means that each additional rise of 1 year in age is in touch with the increase in the odds infected of blood pressure in cardiac patients. the odds ratio for the variable urea is <1. this means that each additional increase of one unit in urea is associated with decrease in the odds infection of blood pressure in cardiac patients with 0.984 times. the odds ratio for the variable cholesterol is >1. this means that each additional increase of one unit in cholesterol is related to the increase in the odds of blood pressure in cardiac patients with 1.013 times. the odds ratio for the variable creatinine is >1. this means that each additional increase of one unit in creatinine is related to the increase in the odds infection of blood pressure in cardiac patients with 4.267 times. the odds ratio for the variable weight is >1. this means that each additional increase of one unit in weight is associated-with the increase in the odds infection of blood pressure in cardiac patients with 1.011 times. discussion there are different techniques for comparing the analysis of two or more models; however, the aic and bic criteria are two that may be worth considering. table 11 shows a comparison between three regression models censored, truncated, and logistic, for choosing the most fit model to our data of blood pressure in cardiac patients, the aic and bic values with the least values are chosen. the results display that the logistic regression model is better and more suitable rather than truncated regression and censored regression for our data, because it’s aic equal to 591.2 and bic = 620.7 are the lowest values contrast with tobit models (censored and truncated). conclusion it has been concluded the following: 1. in the censored, regression model, the explanatory, variables (age, cholesterol, and urea) significantly impacted on blood pressure. 2. the results, from truncated regression model show, that only the urea variable has the effect on blood pressure. 3. according, to the results classification table, logistic model is, correctly classifying the consequences for 79.2% of the cases, compared to 73.6% in the null, model. 4. according to the hosmer-lemeshow test, our data fit the logistic regression based on a χ2 = 10.595 and p-value greater, than a significant level. 5. wald’s test showed that the variables of age, creatinine, cholesterol, and urea, respectively, contributed significantly to the prediction, depending on the p-value (0.000 < 0.005). the variables that do not have a significant, effect are weight and gender. 6. it was concluded, that the logistic regression model for the sample under study or for our data is better, than the censored regression model and the 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(h1-1b) by supposing of axial load that equal to one. the interaction equation then reduces to m m m m ry cy rz cz � �1 (1) where mry = applied bending moment (y-axis), mcy = nominal moment capacity (y-axis), mrz = applied bending moment (z-axis), mcz = nominal moment capacity (z-axis). for the lrfd method, mc = φbmn, while for asd method, mc = mn/ωb, φb = 0.9 = factor for resistance in flexure, ωb = 1.67 = safety factor for flexure. regarding to the bending about the strong axis, the eurocode method focused on several factors that could affect the flexure strength of the beams. the elastic critical moment is valuable for the study of lateral-torsional beam buckles. the maximum bending moment value provided by the beam is described as this quantity, far from imperfections of some kind. 2 21e w cr t z t e im g i e i l l g i π π  = +    (2) where it is the torsion constant, iz is the second moment of area in (weak axis), iw the warping constant, l is the length between laterally braced cross-sections of the beam, and e and g are the longitudinal modulus and the shear modulus of elasticity, respectively. because of the different loading types and bending moment diagrams, broad equations can be found in practical implementations and are suitable for a range of conditions, the most widely used in the formulation adopted by the commission,[3] acceptable to members subject to bending moment on a strong axis with a mono-symmetric cross-section corresponding author: mohammed m. saleh, department of civil engineering, engineering collage, universita della calabria, cosenza, italy. e-mail: mohammed@civil-eng.it received: oct 16, 2020 accepted: dec 20, 2020 published: dec 30, 2020 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v4n2y2020.25-32 copyright © 2020 mohammed m. saleh, dlshad k. ahmed, ali r. yousef. this is an open access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) saleh, et al.: biaxial bending analysis of steel sections using aisc and eurocode approaches 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 25-32 on a weak axis. for the calculation of the elastic critical moment under criteria not covered by boissonnade et al.[3] ( ) ( ) 0.52 z 222 2 g 2 gz z w t cr 1 2 2 3 j 3 jw z zz k l c z c ze i k i g im c c z c zk i e ik l       − −     π   = + + −          π             (3) the shape of the bending moment diagram gives the coefficient of c1, c2, and c3, support conditions give the coefficients kz and kw which are called the effective length factor, zg = (za zs), where za and zs, comparable to the centroid of the cross-section, are the locations of the point of applied load and the shear center; these amounts are positive if the compressed portion is placed and negative if the tension portion is placed. while aisc requirements lead us to calculate the capacity of the bending moment without taking into account the level of load application,[1] even the steel section is rolled or welded.[4] the lateral load is also added to the compression flange of the member, as shown in figure 2. in this case, the conceptual solution proposed by fisher should be used,[5] this concept assumed that only the compression flange can survive lateral loading and the torsional impact can be ignored. in the case of i-shapes, the plastic section modulus of a z-axis flange is provided by z z t z= 2 (4) where zz is plastic section modulus about the z-axis. the moment capacity of one flange about the y-axis is nt y tm f z= × (5) linear additions of the moment terms in[1] as shown in figure 3 typically lead to results which are too conservative.[6] based on the definition on biaxial bending, we will extend this to one case of study using both aisc and eurocodes to investigate and demonstrate the deference between them regarding the level at which the load is applied, the type of the section whether rolled or welded and its height-to-width ratio by evaluating the results using robot structural analysis software. figure 1: pure biaxial bending[2] figure 2: lateral load applied on the upper flange methodology to demonstrate the exact difference between aisc and eurocode analysis methods regarding biaxial bending, the case of study struggles with the loads added to the upper flange as shown in figure 1, and fisher’s concept[5] will be regarded. the case study includes a simply supported beam with a span of 10.0 m, measured center-to-center of support, with the load being applied at midspan, as shown in figure 4, the beam under consideration is subjected to vertical load and the lateral load with the value 25 kn and 5 kn, respectively. the beam has yielding strength (fy = 355 mpa), modulus of elasticity (e = 21x103 mpa) and detailed properties are shown in table 1. for the common base of comparison, the load factors in both approaches will be based on that of aisc standards.[7] 1.2 dl + 1.6 ll (6) the applied factored loads (moments) are shown in table 2. the dead load includes the self-weight of the member as uniformly distributed which is calculated by the software. aisc methods of analysis for aisc methods of analysis in the robot structural analysis software, modification factor should be defined for moment gradient cb in the member definition section which is equal to 1.32 for single point load act on simply supported beams laterally braced at the supports only. the lateral buckling length coefficient that represents the lateral bracing is equal to 1.0 (no lateral bracing for the beam). the results of the analysis are shown in tables 3-6. classification of section for local buckling � f b t � � 9 58. width-to-thickness ratio for a flange. � fp e fy � �0 38 9 24. . limiting slenderness for compact flange. � � f fp � the flange is non-compact. saleh, et al.: biaxial bending analysis of steel sections using aisc and eurocode approaches 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 25-32 table 1: cross-section properties cross-section properties symbul values unit symbol description ax 139.2 cm2 cross-section area ay 55.2 cm2 shear area – y-axis az 86.88 cm2 shear area – z-axis iy 104264.9 cm4 second moment of area about the y-axis iz 2443.48 cm4 second moment of area about the z-axis zy 3435.12 cm3 plastic section modulus about the y (major) axis sy 2880.246 cm3 elastic section modulus about the y-axis zz 342.6 cm3 plastic section modulus about the z (minor) axis sz 212.477 cm3 elastic section modulus about the z-axis d 72.4 cm cross-section height bf 23 cm cross-section width tf 1.2 cm thickness of flange tw 1.2 cm web thickness table 2: internal forces internal forces aisc vertical load lateral load applied factored loads 40 kn 8 kn applied moment y-axis z-axis 116 kn.m 20 n.m figure 3: simple linear interaction for biaxial bending[2] figure 4: the case of the study � w w h t � � 58 3. width-to-thickness ratio for a web. � wp e fy � �3 76 91 45. . limiting slenderness for compact web. � � w wp � ∴ the web is compact. parameters of lateral buckling analysis cb = 1.32 lateral-torsional buckling modification factor, lb =10 m laterally unbraced length of a member (lateraltorsional buckling), c = 1 for doubly symmetric section. r i c s ts z w y = = 5 49. cm, h0 = d – 2tf = 70 cm l r e f p z y = =1 76 1 79. . limiting laterally unbraced length for the limit state of yielding. 2 2 yts r y y 0 y 0 0.7f1.95r e jc jcl 6.76 0.7f s h s h e     = + +        = 5.3 m limiting laterally unbraced length for the limit state of inelastic lateraltorsional buckling. q lb>lr ∴ f c e l r jc s h l r cr ltb b b ts y b ts ( ) . .� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �2 2 0 2 1 0 078 112 13 mpa (7) fcr: critical stress (lateral-torsional buckling), j: torsional constant, c: coefficient, sy: elastic section model. m f s ny ltb cr ltb y( ) ( ) .� � � 322 95 kn.m nominal lateral-torsional buckling strength. eurocode method of analysis in this method of analysis, the level where the load is applied must be defined, set the level of the applied load at z = 1 in the member definition section beside the shape of bending moment in the load type section, the results of the analysis are shown in tables 7-9. class of section flange: c/tf = 8.68 > 10 235 8 1 f y = . ∴ the flange is classified to the third class. saleh, et al.: biaxial bending analysis of steel sections using aisc and eurocode approaches 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 25-32 � lt y y cr w f m � � 2 14. non-dimension slenderness ratio for lateraltorsional buckling. lateral buckling curve is d from table 11. αlt=0.76 imperfection factor for lateral buckling curves coefficient for calculation of xlt. � � � � lt lt lt lt � � �� � � 1 0 16 2 2 2 . reduction factor for lateraltorsional buckling. m w f b rd lt y y m . .� � � � 1 161 39 kn.m buckling resistance moment. results the main differences between aisc and eurocode analysis results are explained in this section. concern to the nominal strength, based on the results of the analysis, significant differences between the two approaches are demonstrated in table 10. as shown in table 10, the difference between the design moment strengths of the y-axis is 129.26 kn.m, where the section capacity regarding the aisc approach is approximately 80% higher than the eurocode approach. the main reason for this would be due to the level of applied load, as this condition is not recognized by the aisc standard. aisc specifications take into consideration the level of applied load through the cross-section shear center, while this level would be under or above or just through the shear center considered by the eurocode approach, this effect is demonstrated in figure 5. the level of application of the load has a considerable effect on the elastic critical moment mcr. to show this effect more, several sections with deferent depth and width but the same thickness of flange and web as listed below were tested. section 1: total depth of beam = 724 mm, width of beam = 230 mm. section 2: total depth of beam = 574 mm, width of beam = 250 mm (similar i section). section 3: total depth of beam = 474 mm, width of beam = 400 mm (similar h section) for all sections assumed that the level of the applied load at the upper part of the beam just on the flange with actual member definition for both approaches, the outcomes for this condition are shown in figure 6. this figure indicates that section 3 which is similar to h sections would be the critical situation. to show an explanation for this huge difference between the two approaches, for both approaches the level of applied load places at the shear center of the cross-section (center of the section), and the modification factor cb sets to one. the results of the analysis are shown in figure 7. the results are getting closer so that the first reason behind this difference in the computation is recognized which the aisc approach does not consider the level of applied table 3: cross-section properties required for aisc approach symbol values unit symbol description ax 139.2 cm2 cross-section area ay 55.2 cm2 shear area y-axis az 86.88 cm2 shear area z-axis j 66.82 cm4 torsional constant cw 3096768.81 cm6 warping constant iy 104264.9 cm4 moment of inertia of a section about the y-axis iz 2443.48 cm4 moment of inertia of a section about the z-axis zy 3435.12 cm3 plastic section modulus about the y (major) axis sy 2880.246 cm3 elastic section modulus about the y-axis zz 342.6 cm3 plastic section modulus about the z (minor) axis sz 212.477 cm3 elastic section modulus about the z-axis d 72.4 cm height of cross-section bf 23 cm width of cross-section tf 1.2 cm flange thickness tw 1.2 cm web thickness ry 27.37 cm radius of gyration y-axis rz 4.19 cm radius of gyration z-axis table 4: internal forces (aisc approach) internal forces symbul values unit symbol description section mrz −20 kn.m required flexural strength vry −4 kn required shear strength vrz −20 kn required shear strength web: cw/tw = 57.53 < 72 235 58 58 f y = . ∴ the web is classified to the first class. lateral-torsional buckling analysis (general method [6.3.2.2]) lcr,upp = 10 m upper flange, lateral bracing, c1=1.26 / c2=0.55 / c3 =1.73 factors, iw=3096768.8 cm6 warping constant, zg = 36.2 cm from the shear center to the point of applied load. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 0.52 z 2 2 z w tz 2cr 1 2 g 3 j2 w z zz 2 2 g 3 j k l k i g ie im c c z c z 223.05k i e ik l c z c z          π  + + = − − =  π      −     kn.m critical moment for lateral-torsional buckling. saleh, et al.: biaxial bending analysis of steel sections using aisc and eurocode approaches 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 25-32 table 5: nominal strengths (aisc approach) nominal strengths symbul amounts unit symbol description section respect to the y axis mpy 1219.47 kn.m nominal plastic bending moment [f] mny[yd] 1219.47 kn.m nominal flexural strength in the limit state of yielding [f3.1] mny[ltb] 322.95 kn.m nominal lateral-torsional buckling strength [f3.1] mny1[ltb] 244.66 kn.m nominal lateral-torsional buckling strength (cb=1.0) [f3.1] mny[flb] 1203.48 kn.m nominal strength for local buckling of a compression flange [f3.2] mny 322.95 kn.m nominal flexural strength [f3] vnz 1850.54 kn nominal shear strength [g2.1] respect to the z axis mpz 121.62 kn.m nominal plastic bending moment [f] mnz[yd] 120.69 kn.m nominal flexural strength in the limit state of yielding [f6] mnz[flb] 118.53 kn.m nominal strength for local buckling of a compression flange [f6.2] mnz 118.53 kn.m nominal flexural strength [f6] vny 1175.76 kn nominal shear strength [g2.1] table 6: design strengths (aisc approach) design strengths symbol amounts unit symbol description section respect to the y axis fib*mpy 1097.52 kn.m design plastic bending moment [f] fib*mny[yd] 1097.52 kn.m design flexural strength in the limit state of yielding [f3.1] fib*mny[ltb] 290.65 kn.m design lateral-torsional buckling strength [f3.1] fib*mny1[ltd] 220.19 kn.m design lateral-torsional buckling strength [f3.1] fib*mny[flb] 1083.13 kn.m design strength for local buckling of a compression flange [f3.2] fib*mny 290.65 kn.m design flexural strength [f3] fiv*vnz 1665.49 kn design shear strength [g2.1] respect to the z axis fib*mpz 109.46 kn.m design plastic bending moment [f] fib*mnz[yd] 108.62 kn.m design flexural strength in the limit state of yielding [f6] fib*mnz[flb] 106.68 kn.m design strength for local buckling of a compression flange [f6.2] fib*mnz 106.68 kn.m design flexural strength [f6] fiv*vny 1058.18 kn design shear strength [g2.1] verification formulas uf (h1_1b) 0.59 mry/(fib*mny) + mrz/(fib*mnz) verified uf (g2_1) 0 vry/(fiv*vny) verified uf (g2_1) 0.01 vrz/(fiv*vnz) verified load unless when the load applied just on the top flange and for the case lb > lr then the square root of engineers[7] may conservatively takes one which does not take one in the analysis of robot structural analysis software. in addition, other factors cause. such as the type of section (rolled or welded) and the depth to width ratio(h/b), which is very effective in the case of lateral torsional buckling table 11. the imperfection factor αlt which is given in table 12 covers the effect of lateral-torsional buckling that results in the redaction factor xlt for the design moment capacity as shown in velikovic et al.[8] saleh, et al.: biaxial bending analysis of steel sections using aisc and eurocode approaches 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 25-32 table 7: cross-section properties required for eurocode approach symbol values unit section ax 139.2 cm2 ay 55.2 cm2 az 84 cm2 ix 65.509 cm4 iy 104264.9 cm4 iz 2443.48 cm4 wely 2880.246 cm3 welz 212.477 cm3 h 72.4 cm b 23 cm tf 1.2 cm tw 1.2 cm ry 27.37 cm rz 4.19 cm anb 1 (6.2.2.2) eta 1 (6.2.6.(3)) table 8: internal forces internal forces symbol values unit symbol description section my, ed 111.84 kn.m bending moment my.ed mz, ed −18.75 kn.m bending moment mz.ed figure 6: comparison of design moments about y-axis with actual conditions figure 7: comparison of design moments about y-axis with the load at the shear center for both approaches � � � � lt lt lt lt � � �� � �� �� � �� 0 5 1 0 2 2 . . (8) � � � � lt lt lt lt � � �� � 1 2 2 2 (9) m w f b rd lt y y m . � � � 1 (10) the rolled section performs better than the welded section. table 2 shows that, because of the lateral load, the difference in the bending moment between two approaches around the z-axis is about 31.25. robot structure analysis software does not follow fisher’s concept, however, in most cases, robot structure analysis software does not follow fisher’s concept, in most cases, the eurocode approach is closer to the concept of fisher. fisher’s concept is based on (2) and (3), where the nominal strength is figure 5: the influence of the level of the applied load on the capacity of the section saleh, et al.: biaxial bending analysis of steel sections using aisc and eurocode approaches 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 25-32 table 9: design forces and verifications design forces symbol values unit symbol description section mb, rd 161.39 kn.m buckling resistance moment (6.3.2.1) my, pl, rd 1219.47 kn.m plastic resistance moment (6.2.5.(2)) my, el, rd 1022.49 kn.m elastic resistance moment (6.2.5.(2)) my, c, rd 1022.49 kn.m moment resistance (6.2.5.(2)) vy, c, rd 1131.38 kn plastic shear resistance (6.2.6.(2)) respect to the z axis z mz, pl, rd 121.62 kn.m plastic resistance moment (6.2.5.(2)) mz, el, rd 75.43 kn.m elastic resistance moment (6.2.5.(2)) mz, c, rd 75.43 kn.m moment resistance of a compressed section part (6.2.5.(2)) vz, c, rd 1721.66 kn plastic shear resistance (6.2.6.(2)) verification formulas global stability check of member ufb[mymz] 0.94 my, ed/(xlt*my, rk/gm1) + mz, ed/(mz, rk/gm1) (6.3.3.(4)) ratio rat 0.94 efficiency ratio section ok table 10: comparison between aisc and eurocode results approaches aisc eurocode design strength notation yaxis (kn.m) zaxis (kn.m) yaxis (kn.m) z-axis (kn.m) design buckling resisting moment mb, rd x x 161.39 x design lateral-torsional buckling strength fib*mny 290.65 x x x moment resistance of a compressed section part mz, c, rd x x x 75.43 design strength for local buckling of a compression flange fib*mnz x 106.68 x x table 11: imperfection factor for lateral torsional buckling[8] buckling curve a0 a b c d imperfection factor 0.13 0.21 0.34 0.49 0.76 z z cm t y= = = 2 342 6 2 171 3 3. . (11) m z f nmm knm nt t y � � � � � �171300 355 60811500 60 81. . . (12) the design moment capacity for section 1 is ∅mnz=0.9(mnt)=0.9(60.81)=54.72 kn.m, and for sections table 12: buckling curves for lateral-torsional buckling (general method) section limits buckling curve i or h sections rolled h/b≤2 a h/b≤2 b i or h sections welded h/b≤2 c h/b≤2 d other sections ---d figure 8: comparison between the three approaches for design moment about z-axis saleh, et al.: biaxial bending analysis of steel sections using aisc and eurocode approaches 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2020, 4 (2): 25-32 2 and 3 are 63.1 kn.m and 155.9 kn.m, respectively. the comparison between the three approaches is shown in figure 8 fisher’s concept is more conservative than aisc and eurocode methods of analysis. as shown, it is safer to use fisher’s concept or eurocode approach in robot structure analysis software, figuure 9 where the safety factor is defined as the ratio of the moment capacity of the section to the applied moment. conclusions based on the results of steel sections which analyzed by aisc and eurocode standards, and fisher’s concept, the following points can be drawn: 1. eurocode method of analysis results in more conservative design strength about y-axis of the section as it takes into consideration the level where the loads are applied. on contrary, the aisc method of analysis does not take this effect into consideration unless when the load applied just on the top flange and for the case lb > lr then the square root of equation (7) may conservatively takes one which does not take one in the analysis of robot structural analysis software 2. eurocode considers the lateral-torsional effect in terms of height/width ratio and the type of the section, rolled or welded, which results in the safety factor, which is not covered by aisc standards. the effect of lateral-torsional buckling and member type is much clear when the section is close to h-section 3. for the three types of sections (1, 2, and 3) considered in this study, eurocode predicts design strength with safety factors of 1.98, 1.94, and 1.41, respectively, while such safety factors were 1.59, 1.54, and 1.26 for aisc approach. this concludes the adoption of eurocode method of analysis in structural design of biaxial bending case when using robot structure analysis software 4. fisher’s concept of structural design of biaxial bending of structural steel is more conservative than both aisc and eurocode approaches of analysis. references 1. a. ansi. aisc 360-16, specification for structural steel buildings, 2016. 2. a. aghayere and j. vigil. structural steel design: pearson india, 2008. 3. n. boissonnade, r. greiner, j. p. jaspart and j. lindner. rules for member stability in en 1993-1-1: background documentation and design guidelines, 2006. 4. l. laim, j. p. c. rodrigues and l. s. da silva. experimental and numerical analysis on the structural behaviour of cold-formed steel beams. thin walled structures, vol. 72, pp. 1-13, 2013. 5. m. fisher. steel design guide 7: industrial buildings, roofs to anchor rods. chicago, il: american institute of steel construction, 2005. 6. y. l. pi and n. s. trahair. inelastic torsion of steel i-beams. journal of structural engineering, vol. 121, pp. 609-620, 1995. 7. a. engineers. minimum design loads for buildings and other structures, standard asce/sei 7-10. reston, va: american society of civil engineers, 2013. 8. m. velikovic, l. s. da silva, r. simões, f. wald, j. p. jaspart, k. weynand. eurocodes: background and applications design of steel buildings worked examples, joint research center, 2015. figure 9: the difference in the factor of safety for biaxial bending manner tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 31-34 research article electromagnetic field pollution level measurement for mobile phone networks at cihan university-erbil adil h. mohammed department of communication and computer engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the health effects of the impact of radiofrequency (rf) electromagnetic fields (emf) have become of increasing concern. we conducted a specific absorption rate (sar) study and measurements of wireless and mobile phone networks to evaluate the hazard of rf radiation limit. our measurements have been carried out at different locations on the campus of cihan university-erbil. the rf strength level measurement of a base station on site was done by using a spectrum analyzer with a dipole antenna and electromagnetic field detector (emf) application in the handsets for mobile networks, then comparing our measurements with the international slandered sar levels. keywords: antenna, electromagnetic fields pollution, mobile network, specific absorption rate limit, specific absorption rate introduction for more than many years, most people have been concerned about the possible health consequences of exposure to radiofrequency radiation (rf and mobile devices). excessive levels of rf fields are known to induce various physical effects on the human body. today, after the wide variety boom in public use of wireless devices, especially cell phone networks, it has emerged as obligatory to ensure that these products no longer divulge their users to potentially harmful degrees. at the frequencies at which the maximum of these devices operate, the acknowledged health outcomes are middle on or around tissue heating. specific absorption rate (sar) and sar limits sar is referred to as the specific absorption rate and is the time byproduct of the incremental energy (dw) absorbed or dissipated in the incremental mass (dm) contained in an amount (dv) of a given density (ρ):[1] sar d dt dw dm d dt dw pdv � � � � � � � � � � � � � �              (1) sar should be considered an “absorbed dose rate” and is related to electric fields at a point by: sar e � � � 2 � � (2) where: σ = conductivity of the tissue (s/m) ρ = mass density of the tissue (kg/m3) e = root mean square (rms) of electric field strength (v/m). the bounds, which apply in widespread for cell phones and similar apparatus, there are two limits in every one of them a low rate for exposure averaged over all frames and a higher rate relevant to nearby publicity to components of the body. this partial-frame sar is averaged over a quantity of tissue defined as a tissue volume within the form of dice. american necessities differ from the global requirements of their call for lower spatial joint restriction, which is the typical limit over a smaller quantity (1 g of tissue as opposed to 10 g). in addition, they require an extended time over which the sar is to be averaged. still, for the reason that it is miles assumed that a person with the portable tool will be uncovered to the maximum power available from the device during the required average time, the required time averaging of the output all through sar size does not require practice. the ansi/ieee and icnirp published rf publicity limits measures that must no longer be handed to human health. the ansi/ieee limits the spatial-average special absorption rate (sar) to at least one. 6 w/kg over 1 g of tissue over halfhour.[2] corresponding author: adil h. mohammed,department of communication and computer engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university of erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: adil.mohammed@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: january 07, 2023 accepted: june 04, 2023 published: august 25, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp31-34 copyright © 2023 adil h. mohammed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (ccby-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mohammed: electromagnetic field pollution level measurement for mobile phone networks 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 31-34 in addition, the icnirp limits the sar to 2-four w/kg.[3] mobile telephones commonly have a time-averaged energy output of 600 mwatt or much less and yield numerically modeled mind sars which might now and again exceed 1.6 w/kg restriction; however, which commonly lie inside the ansi/ieee “managed surroundings” condition of 8w/kg averaged over 6 min. the following table 1 represents the international fashionable used for measuring sar restriction. mobile phone networks the cellular smartphone era consists of the essential components: the provider and the consumer. the bottom stations (bs) are on the provider side, “the antenna distribution on the towers which speak with the mobile phones.” on the consumer side is cell smartphone handsets. base stations bs emit electromagnetic radiation continuously and at some distance extra strength than cell phones which emit electromagnetic radiation continuously simplest all through calls or makes use of information. in the rest of the instances, that is, idle mode, mobile phones emit a regular pulse of electromagnetic radiation for base stations to continuously preserve track of the geographic role of the telephones in their “cell community.” modern-day 2nd era (2g) bs antennas are associated with transmitter powers of 20 – a hundred watt, despite the fact that the ultra-modern 3rd era (3g) bs antenna use much less electricity, on average 3 watt in city regions. in rural areas, the bs power output is much better due to the many regions that need to be included between base stations positioned in far-off places. by implementing urban sprawl strategies, technology has advanced and the data demands of cellular networks have increased, the number of towers has increased significantly, but companies have made little effort to share such towers. although the number of antennas in our urban environment is low, the increased number of antennas has improved cell phone reception in moving elevators, large building centers and basements, and other “dead” locations. the ability of a mobile phone user to be instantly “discovered” by a base station almost anywhere on the planet is astonishing, and the widespread current should show nearly prevalent generation and propagation. network,[5] and a new generation of mobile networks evolved node b (enb).[6] mobile antennas and antenna arrays antennas generally have a specific directivity. an omnidirectional antenna radiates in all directions (horizontally viewed), whereas a sector antenna effectively radiates in only one (horizontal) sector [figure 1]. this allows more spectrum reuse due to less interference. therefore, most base stations in congested areas such as cities are sectoral. the recommended gain for sector antennas is 10–20 dbi. this means that the radiated power in the direction of interest can be 10–100 times stronger than an omni antenna but correspondingly weaker in other laws.[7] massive multi input multi output (mimo) antenna arrays massive mimo antenna array is a recent application in 5th mobile networks (5g) and beyond, which supports the sub 6 ghz frequency as well as millimeter wave (mmwave) radio frequencies,[8] nowadays mmwave massive mimo antennas serving frequencies below 100 ghz but it can reach up to 300 ghz or even terra hertz frequency band shortly. the main advantage of massive mimo is the ability to serve multiple users and multiple devices simultaneously within a condensed area by very narrow beam by deploying beamforming technology[8] figure 2; due to the high gain of these antennas, a meager power can be transmitted from the base stations compare to table 1: sar limit guideline[4] guideline sar limit head, neck, and trunk health canada safety code 1.6 w/kg averaged over 1 g of tissue europe 2.0 w/kg average over any 10 g of tissue australia 1.6 w/kg averaged over 1 g of tissue us 1.6 w/kg averaged over 1 g of tissue india 1.6 w/kg averaged over 1 g of tissue icnirp 2.0 w/kg average over any 10 g of tissue sar: specific absorption rate figure 2: massive multi input multi output beamforming figure 1: antenna radiating for mobile base station mohammed: electromagnetic field pollution level measurement for mobile phone networks 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 31-34 conventional omnidirectional antennas, furthermore only the mobile users will be reached with bs transmission. at the same time, they are active users (in call or data stream use), which could be a significant improvement to reduce emf pollution and lead to reduce sar in public areas, see figure 3, on the other hand, massive mimo has become an exciting candidate to improve the mobile handsets[9,10] in the same way to reduce transmission power directed to the bs with compare to omnidirectional antennas which transmitting almost in all directions, so overall massive mimo technology is an improvement to reduce sar at both bs and mobile handsets. figure 4: site of cihan university-erbil measuring sar level in cihan university-erbil at the cihan university campus, there are nine buildings as shown in figure 4. the mobile base station is allocated on the top of building 5, which has four floors with an additional room on the top; buildings 1, 2, 3, and 4 have three floors, and building 8 and 9 have four floors. the measurement has been taken using a tektronix spectrum analyzer covering a frequency band up to 1ghz, connected to a dipole antenna that matches the downlink frequency to measure the power level in dbm at several locations. to duplicate and confirm, our measurements a mobile application been used to indicate the power levels as well. the application which called mobile network emr application was used to measure that strength level from designated base station. table 2 shows the power levels measured in dbm and sar calculated values at different locations (buildings) in the university. using equation (2) to calculate sar, it is assumed the average parameters for that conductivity of the tissue σ = 150 (s/m), and mass density of the tissue ρ = 1250 (kg/m3), the electric field intensity e is determined from (3),[11] where η is the free space characteristic impedance = 120 π ω ≈ 377 ω and s is power density e s2 � . �� (3) according to the measurements and calculation the highest sar level at building 8 and research center, which is about 7.17 × 10-9 w/kg, and it is considered too small comparing to the international standard. conclusion the work shows that there are many factors effect on the sar level, it can be summarized by two main parts, first on the base station parameters (power transmit, antenna types, antenna installing angles, and the distance), and the second part is the body mass and time can be explosion from that radiation. figure 3: antenna radiation pattern for mobile handsets, (a) omnidirectional antenna, (b) massive multi input multi output antenna beamforming toward the bottom stations b a table 2: strength measurement and sar calculated at cihan university-erbil location power (dbm) sar building 1 -76 1.13638e-09 building 2 -76 1.13638e-09 building 3 -86 1.13638e-10 building 4 -80 4.524e-10 building 5 -85 1.43061e-10 building 6 -71 3.59354e-09 cafeteria -66 1.13638e-08 building 8 -68 7.17006e-09 building 9 -74 1.80104e-09 research center -63 2.26737e-08 mohammed: electromagnetic field pollution level measurement for mobile phone networks 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 31-34 at cihan university-erbil campus, the measurement proves that the sar level for the mobile base station operating onsite is below the standard sar limit value and it will not be considered as hazard. meanwhile; we believe the radiation from mobile handsets results higher sar level to the users when they are in call or data usages comparing to the sar level from base station at cihan university. references 1. d. seabury and e. t. s. lindgren. an update on sar standards and the basic requirements for sar assessment. available from: https://www.conformity.com [last accessed on 2023 jan 01]. 2. ieee standard for safety levels with respect to human exposure to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields, 3 khz to 300 ghz (ieee c95.1-1991). the institute of electrical and electronics engineers, inc., new york, 1992. 3. international commission on non-ionizing radiation protection. guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields (up to 300 ghz). international commission on non-ionizing radiation protection. health physics, vol. 74, pp. 494-522, 1998. 4. available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/specific_ absorption_rate [last accessed on 2023 jan 11]. 5. v. g. khurana. mobile phones and brain tumours-a public health concern. surgical neurology, vol. 77, p. 205-214, 2009. 6. s. park, y. shin and d. kim. design and implementation of protocols related to radio network layer over enb in 3gpp lte system 2007 ieee 66th vehicular technology conference, 2007. 7. p. a. ramsdale and a. wiener. cellular phone base stations: technology and exposures. radiation protection dosimetry, vol. 83, no. 1-2, pp. 125-130, 1999. 8. s. sun, t. s. rappaport, r. w. heath, a. nix and s. rangan. mimo for millimeter-wave wireless communications: beamforming, spatial multiplexing. ieee communications magazine, new york, 2014. 9. g. p. kumar, n. agarwal, p. kranthi and s. s. babu. design considerations to calculate sar in multiband mimo antenna for mobile handsets ieee wispnet 2016 conference, 2016. 10. g. p. kumar and s. s. babu. design of multiband mimo antenna in compact mobile handsets and sar distribution, ieee iccsp 2015 conference, 2015. 11. j. k. raines. simple formula relating dbm and dbu. vol. 18, no. 2. ieee broadcast technology society newsletter, new york, pp. 27-29, summer 2010. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 89 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 research article green network panoramic vision: erbil city as a case study seema k. alfaris department of architecture, faculty of engineering, tishk international university, erbil, iraq abstract most cities worldwide suffer from the unequal distribution of urban areas and country areas around them and the growth of dangerous environmental issues. one of the primary causes of the imbalance is the continued expansion of building blocks and urban development against the open spaces and green areas either in or out of cities. furthermore, the natural landscape, in general, has a significant impact on protecting the climate from rising temperatures and pollutants. hence, the aim of this research is to identify a panoramic vision of a green network and get to use sustainable land in a strong and socially solid society. as a result, the research problem reads: there is dispersion and disintegration in urban open space planning and its development. to solve the research problem, a hypothesis is proposed stating that “the absence of a panoramic vision of green networks and disconnection with the surrounding region is one of the most important causes of dispersion in those spaces”. erbil city is one of the iraqi cities in the northern part, was chosen as a case study to examine the green network components or elements. the results showed that erbil has many aspects of the green network. this study offers some suggestions to fulfill the missing parts of it. keywords: green network, greenways, urban open space, green network components, green network indicators introduction numerous academic writings discuss various aspects of urbanization that have altered the values of human standards for the vast majority of the world’s population. from this point, people’s typical usages and needs have shifted, resulting in new usage and a lack of adequate balance and equitably. moreover, the urbanization fever has spread to the master plans, resulting in considerable problems in cities, such as fragmented and scattered expansion due to the loss of open space, which resulted in an obsession with available space occupation, mainly green space. at this point, researchers start to think about how to develop innovative solutions that focus on the recurring difficulties caused by the overuse of open spaces rather than on the remaining areas in the master plans. as a matter of fact, this is the primary key element or that might be used as basis for planning in framing urban and natural environments. hence, open spaces are the primary objective of the search. the research problems state that there are dispersion and disintegration in the planning of urban open spaces and their development. the research objective is to identify and clarify the concept of green networks and their characteristics and effective indicators. the methodology adopted is based on presenting an analytical theoretical background of the subject starting gradually from a small scale of the subject (urban open spaces), which represents the core of the problem reaching to the most extensive scale in the landscape (green network). the research hypothesis is stated during the continuous study: “absence of panoramic vision of green networks and disconnection with the surrounding region is one of the most important causes of dispersion in those spaces”. this research tries to identify the essential characteristics of a green network strategy to give an appropriate theoretical framework to solve this problem by analyzing erbil city master plan as a case study to investigate, find suitable graphical solutions, and develop erbil landscaping and urban planning development. green network the term “green network” was described when formally identified as “green infrastructure” for the first time. it refers to a connected network of open spaces, waterways, wetlands, forests and wildlife habitats, and other natural areas and trees found in streets, parks, and green areas in both urban and rural areas. this improved the public standard of living in usa and other countries and communities serving as a natural corresponding author: seema k. alfaris, department of architecture, faculty of engineering, tishk international university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: seema.khalid@tiu.edu.iq received: june 13, 2022 accepted: august 17, 2022 published: september 10, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp89-98 copyright © 2022 seema k. alfaris. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) alfaris: green network panoramic vision 90 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 life support system, highlighting the network connectivity and multifunctionality.[1] there are a lot of definitions of green networks, none of them provides a comprehensive description that includes them all. recently, a comprehensive definition was provided that looks at the most critical concepts dominated by continuity and multi-functionality and seeks to provide access to the best places from an environmental, economic, and social perspective across various scales. these scales define the “green network” as a network of multiple open spaces with interconnected functions, whether natural or man-made, that contributes to the protection of natural habitats and biodiversity in urban and rural areas. it is capable of responding to climate change and other biosphere changes promote sustainable and healthy lifestyles and enhance prosperity.[2,3] the historical background of the green network many efforts and researches have appeared to develop more theories that encourage individuals and increase their benefits and potential on urban open spaces. thus, different modern planning trends arrange various types of urban open space as chronologically demonstrated below. the first steps of development in urban open spaces which return back to 150 years ago are based on two main critical concepts:[4] connecting and developing parks and other urban open spaces for the benefit of public. preserving the link between natural regions to get benefit from the biodiversity in the area and hinder the disintegration phenomena in wildlife habitats. figure 1 demonstrates a review highlighting the most significant historical tendency in the usa and the uk that led to the creation the green network concept. these tendencies have been classified into three stages as illustrated. the first stage this stage consists of two trends organized chronologically: urban parks trend and garden cities trend. urban parks trend this trend began in the early 20th century when landscape architect (frederick law olmsted, 1970) recognized the importance of nature and open spaces in urban cities (urban parks) in the usa through his innovative designs in new york city and boston. he and his partner (vaux) won the 1857 competition for proposing a master plan for new york’s central park. the project’s objective was to reintroduce the nature spirit and its values to the city, making it the city’s natural lung capable of breathing and providing sources of solace and an escape from the crowded city. furthermore, it provides recreational areas for the locals.[5] this park contains a primary idea for a system of paths called the “parkway system.” these paths serve no purpose other than to serve as recreational pathways and the paths in this park are regarded as the first step that led to the development of other relational trends such as the modern greenways trend.[6] following that, olmsted searched the park’s merits and possible benefits to the urban environment. he was convinced that connecting a lot of parks would result in several benefits that would outweigh any individual user, thus he wrote his famous phrase: “no single park, no matter how large and well designed, would provide the citizens with the beneficial influences of nature.” that is mean, no park, regardless of its size or design, can give the benefits of nature to the population”.then he added later; “a connected system of parks and parkways is manifestly far more complete and useful than a series of isolated parks. parks must be, instead, linked to one another and to the surrounding residential neighbourhoods.” this statement was translated and adapted in the “prospect park” design in boston, massachusetts, usa, which became the first park system in the usa. this park system was composed of a set of small parks located throughout the crowded city and connected by a pathway system. thus, it differs significantly in design from the previous example, “central park” which although it is similar in aim, involving nature features and a range of environmental activities.[7] garden cities trends this trend began in europe, especially in london, during the same period as olmsted worked on his idea in the mideighteenth century, at a time when (ebenezer howard,1970) was developing a new proposal to solve the city’s issue by “doubling the city” or what is referred to as the “garden city,” which combines urban and rural characteristics. howard illustrated this concept with a chart for his famous “three magnets diagram,” which addressed the issue of the ideal city model that attracts people and provides them with the necessary quality of life and entertainment. it illustrated this concept with three magnets, as shown in [figure 2]. each piece represents a model to live in. the first item is “town” which reflects the city’s way of life and its positive and negative characteristics. the second piece is “country” which depicts both the positive and negative aspects of rural living. the third piece is “town-country” which refers to a new way of life coming from rural and urban life fusion. figure 1: divisions of contemporary planning trends of urban open spaces according to their development. reference: the researcher alfaris: green network panoramic vision 91 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 the new system is more suitable for the population and gives a better life for them by these words “it carries all the advantages of city life in terms of energy and activity while also providing the beauty of nature and rural purity life.” a barrier in the shape of an annulus called “grand avenue” was suggested in the concept of the “garden city,” which surrounds the internal residential area of the city and forms what is now known as the “greenbelt.” this three-mile green cover or nearly 4.8 kilometers isolates them from commercial and industrial areas, as well as surrounds the entire city with farms.[8] this concept aims at limiting the city’s population and industrial growth. to avoid urban sprawl throughout modern britain, a wide network of green urban open spaces and controlling urban expansion should be mitigated. according to olmsted and howard, there are numerous flaws in the implementation in the concept of garden city. however, it has evolved into the fundamental principle that has led the way for the future idea of sustainable cities.[9] both olmsted and howard’s work has had a significant impact on the evolution of cities in the modern era. since that time, the value and necessity of urban open spaces, particularly green ones (garden systems, green belts) in cities, have been emphasized. their perspective on urban open spaces, on the other hand, was constrained to the esthetic and entertainment aspects, as well as the social benefits. the second stage following a discussion of the first stage and its most significant trends, here begins the second stage, in which the two preceding trends of “urban parks” and “garden cities” are combined into a single hybrid trend, the “greenways trend” which serves as the primary entry point for the concept of the green network. this will be explained in detail in the coming section. greenways trend the rise of problems over the past two decades and the increase of the issues including the most severe climate changes, air pollution, and disappearance of natural land has increased interest and awareness about biological and environmental issues. these modifications led to the creation of the dimensions which symbolize the new thinking of the greenways trends which was concerned with and influenced by the environment. this trend dominated the twentieth century by implementing urban planning regulations that included urban open space and environmental considerations.[10] greenways emerged as a concept and received attention in urban open space and urban planning in the eighth decade of the 20th century, as a result of a 1987 report by the presidential commission on american open-air activities for the usa, in which the concept of greenways articulated a view of the future through the following statement: “living network of greenways to provide people with access to urban open spaces close to where they live and to link the rural and urban spaces together in the american landscape… threading through cities and countryside like a giant circulation system.” this indicates that the living greenways network connects rural and urban areas in the usa urban landscape, permeating cities, and countryside with a system resembling a massive movement, “a gigantic circulation system”. the phrase “greenways” has become more prevalent throughout the years, but it has gained much popularity recently. it has gained many acceptance among designers and urban planners, especially in the usa. there are over 660 examples of greenways in the usa. elly, the committee (as part of its work on highways and rail system design) began establishing greenways in little sections and areas of the urban landscape as the sequential planning stages progressed. the planners then connected these components in a network or system and at the metropolitan level. thus, the difference between them and highways and rail systems at the regional level is that the greenways system proposed by this trend is a network comprised of natural and artificial components which include natural corridors that already exist in nature as well as linear elements in the urban landscape.[11] they are used by more than 80% of the residents who live in cities.[12] the third stage this stage is considered as the starting point for a more complex level of the trend known as the “green infrastructure trend” representing the most recent stage in the historical development of open layouts and natural urban open spaces. this will be described in detail. green infrastructure trend the concept of green networks first appeared with a different term, transient the green infrastructure, in 1994 in a report outlining a strategy for preserving natural spaces and resources. the report was proposed by “the florida greenways commission.” the aim was to increase the quality of social and functional biological systems to the same level as the benefits of grey systems. the commission’s vision represented a fundamental shift in land protection, emphasizing the natural systems and shared aims. to the extent that this network constitutes the country’s green infrastructure. it is no less essential than conventional infrastructure for natural figure 2: the concept of the three magnets. reference: howard[8] alfaris: green network panoramic vision 92 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 resource protection and management. green network is described as primary foundation which found any society or country and makes it grow. after that, specifically in august 1999, the united states department of agriculture’s (usda) conservation and forests fund formally introduced this term to be adopted and worked on by government agencies and environmental organizations to plan and organize open spaces.[13] green network components the term “green network” is applied to various conservation aspects relating to local, regional, and national natural resources and landscape features, along with the containment of urban open spaces. it encompasses large areas of public land including desert land, as well as open land, river banks, streams, environmental corridors, floodplains, steep slopes, coastal areas, and wetlands all of which exist to support the people and wildlife needs.[14] a large number of research investigations classified the green network into distinct components. as with the first classification of urban open spaces, this separation will be based on the component form (stable or dynamic). all green networking components are, to a large extent, part of the larger ground or public landscapes which is referred to as the “matrix,” and these components are classified into three categories.[15-17] patches contain a diverse range of habitats. they can be compared to these places as fragments of mosaic dispersed over the landscape it is a space or parcel of land that contains sensitive ecosystems and serves as a habitat for wildlife. moreover, these pieces of lands vary in area and size, have homogeneous qualities, are on huge or small forms, can be in different types such as reserves lands. they are large protected lands outside the urban region such as forests, parks, and wilderness areas. managed native landscapes encompass huge areas with significant publicly owned and beyond the urban area, that is, such as undeveloped national forest for natural resource extraction and recreational activities. furthermore, agricultural preservation districts, “st.whiey” are farms owned by the private sector and managed for production purposes, cultural, and historic. productivity sites include city parks, the last trailheads are designated places for environmental and productivity purposes and cultural and historical significance that serve as nodes and provide services to individuals who use these routes. connectors (corridors) are the most critical component of a green network since they act as connectors connecting network components to assist in creating work infrastructure. connectors are dynamic elements that are different from the surrounding areas which may consist of natural scenes or separate land habitat that connects one land habitat to another. they are classified into three categories based on the expectations of scientists and planners and have been organized as follows; first, landscape linkages which contain significant protected natural areas that connect existing parks, natural habitats, provide sufficient habitat for plants and animals, and act as connectors between rural and urban ecosystem; second, conservation corridors, (greenbelts) which consist of protected natural and synthetic landscapes that serve as the basis for development and preservation of local ecosystems, as well as providing guidelines for urban and suburban developments. furthermore the greenway is designed as walking paths that promote access to and protection of natural areas and other green spaces. the third component is “site,” which are small patches of natural landscapes or wild habitat that act as bridges or methods of communication for wild species to migrate between the giant patches by volume. a few studies have referred to it as a form of connection. green networks scales green networks can be defined as elements at different scales capable of establishing open relationships with various environments. this concept has expanded to include multiple levels in recent years, ranging from the smallest part of the city and urban space (open and built) to a more significant part of the landscape of vast networks of natural areas. they are distinguished from other strategies by their diversity of levels and their ability to be applied at any scale or level, with each scale having its aligned approach. the following are the two levels of application.[18] site scale this level focuses on two distinct parts (the building and the street), focusing on the fusion and integration of these two components in a manner consistent with the surrounding urban open spaces, that is, integrating those areas with their nearby structures to make them more functional, focusing on integrating pedestrian-friendly nature paths. in addition, it includes several applications, the most significant of which are as follows: (green roofs, green streets techniques, and the design of the sidewalks and streets). urban scale this level scale encompasses the urban area which includes resident neighborhood sods, suburbs, and sectors. it enables multiple communication and continuity features between spaces by connecting them to provide a balance and consistency between green and grey features in all network elements, including (open urban spaces and green streets). regional scale it includes areas surrounding cities, whether agricultural or large expanses of forest, desert, wetland, and wild habitats. the primary and fundamental objective of the green network is to maintain the integrity of the landscape. if designed and implemented correctly, it will help cities and communities adapt to nature, manage the climate changes on one hand, and maintain extreme weather events on the other. the existence of this network will promote diversity and improve the quality of public life by enhancing natural scene integration as cohesive natural scenes to the environmental and cultural resources that will be protected and maintained to give people a strong sense of place through harmony with their surroundings. moreover, it will allow individuals to engage in decisions that influence their total urban and natural environments.[19] alfaris: green network panoramic vision 93 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 green network characteristics and indicators many areas which were mentioned in the previous definitions recline in the various scales of the green network, which the research previously addressed demonstrating a set of features that distinguish this network from other open space planning techniques. there was a group of researchers who studied this topic from various perspectives and visions that reflects diverse aspects of the subject. table 1 manifests the essential collection of their researches: even though the qualities described are fragmented and independent. they work together to create a unique and new approach to open space planning and design as a broad field that meets various aspects and needs. thus, the researchers proposals and opinions with their essential elements presented in the green network scales were collected and formed as a set of common characteristics of green networks, as previously shown in [figure 3]. these characteristics include the following:[24] identity: this refers to determining the most significant aspects of the properties location and those that distinguish it from other sites, such as green area, climate, topography, water sources, built environment, road network, and social nature. it also includes (natural greening such as parks, and the artificial greening). connectivity: this helps determine the most critical natural or artificial elements to secure the linkage and connectivity of green networks such as (types of greenways and greenbelts). integration: this characteristic refers to the coordination of the green network components with existing grey infrastructure such as (integrated streets and economic projects). multi-functionality: this term refers to the ability of all green network components of any size to perform a variety of multi-functional community (social, economic, and environmental) activities when merged into a single integrated network. the characteristics above summarize what has been accomplished in this paper although they have been identified simply and clearly by researchers, they represent the green network panoramic vision which can essentially be adopted as indicators for the mechanism pursued by the green network to achieve the sustainability in the conservation and use of the urban and natural resource. these characteristics assist in assuring the network strategy’s success and effectiveness and providing a schematic of a strategic approach or framework for preserving the available land, the biodiversity, and the wild habitat with the increase of social contact. the methodology of the reserch erbil city has chosen as a case study. the existing situation of the study area [figure 4], will be examined and prepared as well as the master plan for erbil city (2010-2030) by dar table 1: the different researcher’s visions researchers their point of view and vision lindsey (2001)[20] green network multi-functionality, connection, and what they offer in terms of natural and environmental assistance in restoring the balance of nature. hidding (2002)[21] the focus was on the integration and connectivity of green networks at various landscape scales particularly at the urban and regional higher scales. in addition to the national rankings which were recommended. weber (2006)[22] emphasize the adoption and application of green networks as a critical part of the integration. ahern (2007)[23] he studied the significance of physical components of green network and discovered the identity of the place under investigation. figure 3: the raw of the green network attributes. reference: the researcher according to lindsey et al.,[20] hidding and teunissen,[21] weber et al.,[22] ahern[23] figure 4: administrative map of iraq showing erbil governorate to the far north and borders of the study area alfaris: green network panoramic vision 94 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 alhadassah-al company. this will be achieved by applying the green network indicators. data and information were collected through: environmental data and statistics of the present situation are being collected in collaboration with erbil department of urban planning, erbil directorate of parks engineering, and kurdistan region ministry of municipalities and tourism. field survey and photographic documentation: the author created the maps using the autocad program also maps and information from the department of “gis” at the department of urban planning for erbil/kurdistan region. erbil city master plan 2010: case study erbil city, the study of border area erbil governorate is located in the north of iraq (north of nineveh governorate). kirkuk governorate is located in the southwest of nineveh governorate. it is bounded by iran and a part of the sulimanya governorate in the east. erbil is the fourth-largest city by area in iraq after baghdad, mosul, table 2: main parks of erbil city through the study parks area (hectares) date of construction main characteristics sami abdurrahman 87.5 2000 it is located near the third ring road; it is the city’s largest and most important part. castle 0.62 2007 located near the citadel, this space is considered as one of the essential spaces visited by tourists. manara 8 2005 this space is near the third ring road, which has historic value due to erbil’s minaret. shani dar 10 2008 this space is located opposite manara park and consists of three connected parts figure 5: erbil land-use plan with the suggested inner green network (site and neighborhoods scale). reference: the researcher uses the autocad2019 program, depending on gis system maps for the department of urban planning – erbil figure 6: erbil blue greenways (urban scale). reference: the researcher depends on gis system maps for the department of urban planning – erbil alfaris: green network panoramic vision 95 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 and basra, as illustrated in [figure 4], and its capital is erbil city. the most important reasons for selecting erbil as a case study are as follows: 1. erbil is shifting from a medium-sized city to a metropolitan city, with a predicted population of (7.1) million by 2030. this implies that the city is under construction which facilitates leading it toward developing sustainable plans. 2. within (2003–2007), urban expansion outside of the preliminary master plan and the random distribution of housing projects resulted in dispersion in the planning of open spaces in and around the city, which is one of the main problems that occur in and around the city. 3. the existence of some of the green network components in the erbil master plan (2010–2030). results and discussion (analysis of the green network characteristics and indicators) identity natural greening is a manifestation of many components. after analyzing the case study and the master plan for erbil city (2010–2030) the following have been found: according to the survey, (20) parks and more than (450) residential parks were identified. from these parks only five of them as mentioned and shown in table 2 and figure 5, consider the biggest and the important parks in erbil city such as (sami abdulrahman park, castal park, manara park, and shani dar park), which are considered the most identifiable parks in the city and had a cultural background, and it can be connected by a greenway ring that consists of pedestrian and bikepath to be an inner parks green network for the city. connectivity from the analysis of the master plan of erbil city (2010-2030) for the connectivity indicator, the following elements were found: greenways: the master plan specified two blue linear corridors to connect the two sides of the inner green belt, aiming to ensure the network’s continuity and connectivity. the first is located north of erbil, while the other is south of the city as shown in [figure 6]. the appropriate designs and treatments for these corridors have been developed. the lanes proposed in the plan are intended to act as dynamic, open spaces with recreational value and their intended use as pedestrian and bicycle paths. the northern corridor width is (100 m.), while the southern corridor reaches its full width with vegetative edges (60 m.). greenbelts: the second component of connectivity is the green belts. the master plan put two green belts (internal and external). the inner greenbelt was identified: as an agricultural belt due to the belt’s agricultural lands and, for recreational purposes, also will introduce the kurdish cultural practices. the outer belt consists of national parks. the aim is to pull the external nature within the city, which is regarded as complementary to the inner belt. it is divided into nine radial green bands with an oversized attached strip representing the natural park (proposal) [figure 7]. figure 7: erbil green belts (external and internal). reference: the auther depends on gis system maps for the department of urban planning – erbil (regional scale) figure 8: (a) erbil’s road network. (b) the proposal of the railway (regional scale) and the connection between the north and south green ways (urban scale). reference: the researcher depends on gis system maps for the department of urban planning – erbil ba alfaris: green network panoramic vision 96 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 figure 9: the suggested design of the integrated road ring (7) network. reference: the researcher depends on the department of urban planning – erbil figure 10: different layers of green network plan and the final erbil city green network plan. reference: the researcher depending on the previous plans in the paper, with the added proposals layers integration green streets these are the integration indicator of primary components (stormwater management and green roofs). as for the study area, road network of erbil city is considered as one of the world unique networks, defined by the presence of concentric ring roads. this is consistent with the central core (the castle). radial penetrations form the road network system by a tide development. the primary and proposed road network comprises nine concentric ring roads surrounding the central business district, with radial intersections stretching from them. the city main exterior highways are kirkuk road to the south (towards baghdad) and mosul road to the north. erbil city master plan of (2021–2030) has already finished seven routes. road number (7), which is the (150m.), planned to be an integrated service street as shown in figure 8a. in addition, three main gate parks located on each gate. these parks will work as attractive places for the tourists and bring many economic benefits to the city [figure 9]. rail ways from analysizing erbil city master plan of (2021–2030), it been found a proposal to establish a railway linking the city of kirkuk with the city of mosul, and passing through the city of erbil. this line can be included as a multi-use regional integrated green corridor within the green network as shown in figure 8b, to encourage investments and tourism, between the three cities and preparing it to be another natural wild habitat in the green network, which will benefit the three cities. gray infrastructure it introduced within the gray infrastructure plan in erbil city master plan of (2021–2030) several manufactured canals, including: a canal to collect rainwater that runs from north to west to pour into a stream paths toward al zab al kabeer, passing through part of the north blue greenway, and a canal surrounding the city center, which was called (erbil river inner river), which is linked to an artificial lake. through this research, it suggested to use these canals to connect between the north and south greenways as shown in figure 8 and used as an integrated corridors. multi-functionality as for the last indicator, the green network components should work together as one complete system. hence, by collecting and organizing all the previous layers of plans of the elements to create a conceptualization for the green network framework, as shown in [figure 10], which can reflect the multi-functionality of the network. alfaris: green network panoramic vision 97 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 relationship with the environment and the urban scale, to the regional scale, the main goal is to generate an integrated scene between humans and mother nature. 3. green network aims were defined from the sustainability perspective (environmental, social, and economic). its components and scales were identified to produce a basic knowledge of the structure of the concept. 4. green network general identifying characteristics are as follows: (identity, connectivity, integration, and multifunctionality) which interact to produce the network overall functional and physical structure. those characteristics of green network represent the planning stages. 5. from the existing situation of the study area and examining the master plan for erbil city (2010–2030), some gaps were found in the plan. the researcher tries to fulfill these gaps by several suggestions to strength the green network plan: in the site and neighborhoods scale (connecting between the important parks by an inner green network), in the urban scale (connect between the north and south greenways by the gray infrastructure stormwater canales), and last in the regional scale (a proposal for a multi-use regional integrated green corridor). 6. the final green network elements have been defined (as shown in table 3), and they are as follows: (parks and the inner green network (proposal by the researcher), different types of corridors, green belts, natural areas, integrated streets, railway (proposal by the resercher), gray infrastructure stormwater canals (proposal by the researcher), and economic projects. the study area developed the necessary features for the establishment of a green network. it was found that most of the characteristics require the establishment of an integrated 7. green network applied to this plan through the analysis of the master plan of erbil city (2010–2030). erbil is recognized as the founder of establishing a green network plan within the framework of the master plan. it serves as a model for the rest of iraqi cities to follow in this field. references 1. k. s. williamson. growing with green infrastructure. heritage conservancy, doylestown, 2003. 2. environment agency. a green infrastructure guide for milton keynes and the south midlands, countryside agency, english nature, river nene regional park and english heritage, planning sustainable communities: nottingham. environment agency, bristol, 2005. 3. countryside agency. countryside in and around towns: the green infrastructure of yorkshire and the humber. countryside agency, leeds, 2006. 4. c. e. little. greenways for america. johns hopkins university press, baltimore, md, 1995. 5. c. slavicek. building america then and now: new york city’s central park. chelsea house publisher, new york, usa, 2009. 6. r. l. kent and c. l. elliott. scenic routes linking and protecting natural and cultural landscape features: a greenway skeleton. landscape urban plan, vol. 33, pp. 341-355, 1995. 7. j. ahern. greenways in the usa: theory, trends and prospects, ecological networks and greenways, concept, design, implementation. cambridge university press, cambridge, pp. 34-55, 2004. 8. e. howard. garden cities of to-morrow. vol. 23. mit press, conclusion by discussing the urban open spaces, the green network characteristics and indicators, and by analyzing the master plan of erbil city (2010–2030), the following have been found: 1. green network trend results from different previous urban open space trends. it has a wide range of uses throughout the world. 2. green network approach necessitates a comprehensive framework for urban sustainability in the city and region at which it is located. starting from the bottom toward upward, that is, from the local scale to organize human table 3: natural and man-made elements of the green network of erbil city green network characteristics and indicators in erbil city master plan (2010-2030) natural and man-made elements identity five main parks shown in table 2 and figure 6, such as (sami abdulrahman park, castal park, manara parkand shani dar park), it can be connected by a greenway ring consist of pedestrian and bikepath to be an inner parks green network for the city (proposal). connectivity greenways: two blue linear corridors to connect the two sides of the inner green belt, aiming to ensure the network’s continuity and connectivity. the first is located north of erbil, while the other is south of the city [figure 6]. greenbelts: two green belts (internal and external), also will introduce the kurdish cultural practices. the outer belt consists of national parks. the aim is to pull the external nature within the city, which is regarded as complementary to the inner belt. it is divided into nine radial green bands with an oversized attached strip representing the natural park (proposal). see [figure 7]. integration green streets: road number (7), which is the (150m.), planned to be an integrated service street as shown in figure 8a. in addition, three main gate parks located on each gate. these parks will work as attractive places for the tourists and bring many economic benefits to the city. railways: railway linking the city of kirkuk with the city of mosul, and passing through the city of erbil. this line can be included as a multi-use regional integrated green corridor within the green network as shown in figure 8b (proposal). gray infrastructure: several manufactured canals. through this research, it suggested to use these canals to connect between the north and south greenways as shown in figure 8 and used as an integrated corridors (proposal). multi-functionality the green network components should work together as one complete system. alfaris: green network panoramic vision 98 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 89-98 cambridge, 1965. 9. h. saplamaeff. green infrastructure and the sustainable metropolitan village master’s thesis. university of waterloo, canada, 2010. 10. k. w. tan. a greenway network for singapore. landscape and urban planning, vol. 76, pp. 45-66, 2006. 11. j. g. fabos. introduction and overview: the greenway movement, uses and potentials of greenways. landscape and urban planning, vol. 33, pp. 1-13, 1995. 12. j. a bueno, v. a.tsihrintzis and l.alvarez. south florida greenways: a conceptual framework for the ecological reconnectivity of the region. landscape and urban planning, vol. 33, pp. 247-266, 1995. 13. m. a. benedict and e. t. mcmahon. green infrastructure: smart conservation for the 21st century. renewable resources journal, vol. 20, pp. 12-17, 2002. 14. a. b. brad, d. r. brake and c. w. starks. the green infrastructure guide: planning for a healthy urban and community forest. regional planning partnership, 2001. 15. r. t. forman. land mosaics: the ecology of landscapes and regions (1995). in: the ecological design and planning reader. harvard university, cambridge, ma, pp. 217-234, 1995. 16. t. e. mcmahon and m. a. benedict. green infrastructure, planning commissioners journal number 73 winter, 2000. available from: https://www.sprawlwatch.org/greeninfrastructure.pdf [last accessed on 2022 mar 04]. 17. behan planning associates. saratoga county farmland and open space preservation committee. in: green infrastructure plan for saratoga county. behan planning associates, llc, saratoga, 2006. 18. regional plan association. 9 ways to make green infrastructure work. in: the northeast and across the u.s. on a broad range of transportation and economic development issues, for more information, 2012. available from: https://www.rpa.org [last accessed on 2022 may 03]. 19. r. f. noss. ecological integrity and sustainability: buzzwords in conflict? in: perspectives on ecological integrity. springer, dordrecht, pp. 60-76, 1995. 20. g. lindsey, m. maraj and s. kuan. access, equity, and urban greenways: an exploratory investigation. the professional geographer, vol. 53, pp. 332-346, 2001. 21. m. c. hidding and a. t. teunissen. beyond fragmentation: new concepts for urban-rural development. landscape and urban planning, vol. 58, pp. 297-308, 2002. 22. t. weber, a. sloan and j. wolf. maryland’s green infrastructure assessment: development of a comprehensive approach to land conservation. landscape and urban planning, vol. 77, pp. 94-110, 2006. 23. j. ahern. green infrastructure, a spatial solution for cities. in: cities of the future. iwa publishing. london, pp. 267-83, 2007. 24. c. kambites and s. owen. renewed prospects for green infrastructure planning in the uk. planning practice and research, vol. 21, pp. 483-496, 2006. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 56 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 56-63 research article a comparison between brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing for forecasting applied generation electrical energies in kurdistan region ameera w. omer1*, hazhar t. a. blbas1, dler h. kadir1,2 1department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq, 2department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, iraq abstract the process of producing electricity from sources of energy is known as electricity production. electric also is not freely accessible in environment, thus it should be “manufactured” (i.e., converting another kinds of energy to electrical energy) by utilities with in electricity industry (transportation, distributing, and so on). moreover, the objective of this study is to compared of brown’s as well as holt’s double exponential smoothing (des) also build a best forecasting time series model among two smoothing model forecasting, as well as focuses on optimizing characteristics to use the golden section technique. this exponential smoothing approach has been one of the time series forecasting methods that would be used to forecast (generation electrical) with in kurdistan area. the issue that arises with this technique is determining the appropriate parameters to reduce predict inaccuracy. in addition, data used in this paper are (generation electrical) in kurdistan region for (132) months from 2010 to 2020. the study revealed that such data are trending modeled, indicating that a des approach from brown and holt can be used with the (stratigraphic and minitab) software. there are the same results but the result of analysis more depend on the r-program. the difference among the forecast findings acquired with optimum parameters as well as the assaying data was utilized to assess the feasibility of the forecast by completing normality and randomness tests. ultimately, the outcomes of parameterization show that the optimal value of α that in des brown is (0.22) as well as the optimal mape is 9.23616%, whereas in des holt the optimal is (0.95) as well as the optimal β is (0.05) through the optimal mape of 8.08586%. this mape of a des brown technique is greater than the mape of a des holt approach. feasibility experiments revealed that both approaches are capable of predicting. depending on the value of mape as well as evaluation process, des holt’s was recognized as the main prediction model. keywords: generation electrical, energies, double exponential smoothing parameter optimization, electricity production introduction the method of constructing electric power from various forms of energy production is known as electricity production. the kurdistan region local generation are hydro power station, gas power plant (pp), steam pp, heavy feul pp, deisel pp, erbil combined cycle pp, and suly combined cycle pp and thermal. to estimate the forecasting applied generation electrical energies in kurdistan region, a (brown’s and holt’s) double exponential smoothing (des) approaches would be created as well as contrasted to see that methodology is superior for forecasting generation electrical energies in kurdistan. furthermore, there was usually a timing lag among awareness of the imminent event or necessity also its manifestation. the fundamental reason for planning as well as predicting is to account for this advance time. there was not need for the planning when the lead time is nil or pretty limited. if indeed a lead time was considerable as well as the event’s outcome was dependent on definable variables, planning could play a major role. prediction is required in these contexts to assess while the event would happen or the need may arise, because as appropriate steps could be taken. furthermore, predicting the future is a planning method created to assist management in meeting the uncertainty of a future relied on previous data as well as predictive modeling. prediction is the science and art of forecasting the future developments by utilizing past data as well as projected this into the future with the use of a systematic method model. corresponding author: ameera w. omer, department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: amira.omer@su.edu.krd received: october 22, 2021 accepted: november 13, 2021 published: november 30, 2021 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n2y2021.pp56-63 copyright © 2021 ameera w. omer, hazhar t. a. blbas, dler h. kadir. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) omer, et al.: brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 56-63 forecasting demand requires the application of a certain approach. many predicting approaches work on the same principle of using previous data to forecast or project future data. in other ways, predicting can be seen as a critical and necessary help to management that serves as the foundation of efficient operations. several organizations have failed in the past as a result of an ineffective forecasting approach on which the company’s whole strategy was based. forecasting effectively assists in the decrease of unneeded inventories, the improvement of product availability, and also the degree of customers’ satisfaction. the major driving factor for profit generation in today’s business world is satisfying customer’s requirements at the correct time and even in the appropriate amount. as a result, predicting with as much precision as feasible is critical to ensuring product availability at the lowest possible cost. the forecast’s reliability would be evaluated using mean absolute percentage error (mape) tool. mape displays a forecast’s reliability in the percentage form. since it was simple to read, (due to its percentage form).[1-3] a mape reliability estimate is typically more commonly employed. the smaller mape score indicates that now the prediction model performs well. table 1 shows the range of a mape score. research method (des) simple exponential smoothness does not really work well while there is a trends in the information, that is inconvenient. for such cases, various techniques have been developed that under term “ des ” or “2nd exponential smoothing,” and that is the recursion applying of the an exponentially filtering twice, hence the term “ des.” brownos des technique is indeed a prediction approach that is utilized while the data have a trend line as well as being non-stationary. this really is comparable to the terminology used for quadruple exponential smoothing, that also refers to the recursion depth. the main concept underlying des would include a component that accounts for the potential of the series displaying some kind of the trend. that slope parameter was kept up to date by using exponential smoothing. when such data reveals a trend, this approach is employed. exponential smoothing through trend is similar to simple smoothing, however that both components should be updated throughout every levelperiodic as well as its trends. this level is the smoothed estimate based on the data values at the conclusion of the each period. a tendency is a smoothed estimate of average growth at the ending of each period.[1,3-6] a basic concept of these technique was illustrated in equation (1), ( )t 1 t tz    x 1 z+ = ∝ + − ∝ (1) where zt+1∶ prediction one period ahead. xt: actual data at period t zt: prediction at period t ∝: smoothing parameter (0 < ∝ <1) brown’s linear exponential smoothing exponential smoothing through a tendency works similarly to basic smoothing, with the exception that two components level as well as trend should be adjusted each period. a level was the smoothed estimation of a data’s values just at ending of each period. this tendency was the smoothed estimation of average growth at every period’s conclusion. brown’s straight exponential smoothing (brown’s des) was widely used only for data with a trend line. this is utilized because when data exhibits a trending as well as to generate a linear trend. the brown’s exponential smoothing methodology is therefore appropriate for modeling time series through trend however no seasonality. that a des brown technique comprises the single parameter ∝ with a value between 0 and 1. that parameter value was being utilized to reduce the observed value (real value) in the older era exponentially.[1,4,7] des utilizing brown’s technique through the m-periodahead forecast is provided by: ( )t m ˆˆz  a b m+ = + (2) this is just a simple linear regression model. where: zt+m: ahead forecast in (m) period (â.b̂) : unknown parameters to find the m-period-ahead forecast using following steps step (1). to find coefficients of linear trend as follows: 1 2 t t tâ 2(s ) (s )= − (3) where 1 t(s ) is the single -smoothing measurement and 2 t(s ) is the double-smoothing measurement. then, 1 2 t t tb ( s s ) 1 ˆ ∝ = − − ∝ (4) where (α) is the single exponential smoothing, therefore: 1 1 t t t 1s x (1 )s −=∝ + − ∝ (5) 2 1 2 t t t 1s s (1 )s −=∝ + − ∝ (6) note. the values of 1 2 1 1 1(s s x )= = in period (t = 1). holt’s linear exponential smoothing holt (1957) expanded simple exponential smoothing to permit for trends predictions in data. this approach employs a prediction equation as well as 2 smoothing equations (one for each level as well as one for each trend).[4,7-10] ˆ    t m t tz l mb+ = + forecast equation (7) 1 1  (1 )( )t t t tl z l b− −=∝ + − ∝ + level equation (8) ( )1 1(1    )t t t tb l l bβ β− −= − + − trend equation (9) where: lt: denotes an estimate of the level of the series at time t. bt: denotes an estimate of the trend (slope) of the series at time t. table 1: mape score significantly mape significantly <10% excellent forecasting ability 10–20% good forecasting ability 20–50% reasonable forecasting ability >50% bad forecasting ability omer, et al.: brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 56-63 ∝: smoothing constant for the data (0<∝<1) β: smoothing constant for the trend estimate (0<β<1) m: the number of periods ahead to be forecast ˆ t mz + : double forecast value of period (t+m) note: initialization level l1=z1 and trend: 4 12 1 1 2 1 4 1 (z z )(z z ) b (b b ) (b b ) or −− = − − . parameter optimization to reduce mape, the golden section approach was used to optimize the parameters. mape was determined from brown as well as holt predictions as well as contrasted to actual results. the technique of golden section was used to optimize the parameters () on des brown, while a modified version of the method of golden section was used to optimize the parameters (∝ and β) on des holt.[6] accuracy measures for predicting while choosing between various alternatives, forecasting accuracy is critical. in this context, accuracy means to predicting errors that are the difference among the actual as well as predicted values for a particular time. the forecasting error determination mape is utilized in this investigation (mape). mape is a measurement that reflects the proportion of average absolute error that has happened.[1,8] this measure is given by 1 1 1 1 *100 ˆ *100 n n t t t t tt t e z z mape n z n z= = − = =∑ ∑ (10) where: zt: actual demand for time period t tẑ : forecast demand for time period t n: specified number of time period t t t:e z ẑ− . results in this part, we apply the previously discussed exponential smoothing methods to analyses time series for generating electrical energies utilizing brown’s and holt’s des for the for casting applicable generation electrical energies in kurdistan area for (132) months from 2010 to 2020. trend of the generation electrical energies data on generation electrical energies were received and then plotted onto the graph to identify the data patterns (look figure 1). according to the time series plot, a (generation electrical energies) data are now on the long-term secular decrease, though at the some point the period of enhance was not important at times. a rise in certain times could be considered non-seasonal since it did not occur at the same time each month. for generation electrical energies, this method creates different table 2 and charts. the data cover 132 time periods. estimated partial autocorrelations and partial auto correlation function (acf) for generation electrical energies estimated autocorrelations for generation electrical energies the measured autocorrelations among residuals at different lags are shown in this table 2. a lag k autocorrelation coefficient assesses a relationship among residuals for time t and time t-k. the 95.0% probability limit about 0 is also indicated. unless the probability limit at a given lag does not include the calculated coefficient, there really was the statistically important correlation at a certain lag at the 95.0% level of confidence. in these situation, six of the 24 autocorrelation coefficients were statistically important at the 95.0% confidence level, suggesting that now the residuals are not entirely random (white noise). we could illustrate the autocorrelation coefficients by choosing residual autocorrelation function from of the selection of graphical choices. by using acf, a connection of a time series data through the time series itself should be computed to detect data patterns. figure 2 shows an acf plot based on the data. estimated autocorrelations for generation electrical energies the measured partial autocorrelations among the residuals for several lags are shown in this table 3. a lag k partial autocorrelation coefficient assesses the relationship among the residuals at time t and time t+k once all lower lags have been taken into consideration. it could be used to determine the order in which an autoregressive model should be constructed to match the data. the 95.0% probability limits about 0 are also indicated. unless the probability limit at a given lag does figure 1: plot a data generation electrical energies from (132) months figure 2: auto correlation function for generation electrical energies omer, et al.: brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 56-63 table 2: estimated autocorrelations for generation electrical energies lag autocorrelation stnd. error lower 95.0% upper 95.0% prob. limit prob. limit 1 0.0167213 0.0873704 -0.171243 0.171243 2 −0.241384 0.0873948 −0.171291 0.171291 3 0.135039 0.092344 −0.180991 0.180991 4 −0.0592817 0.0938394 −0.183922 0.183922 5 −0.171542 0.0941248 −0.184482 0.184482 6 −0.0408148 0.0964818 −0.189101 0.189101 7 −0.0877073 0.0966135 −0.189359 0.189359 8 0.0443452 0.0972194 −0.190547 0.190547 9 0.210737 0.0973737 −0.190849 0.190849 10 −0.201387 0.100795 −0.197555 0.197555 11 −0.0940386 0.103821 −0.203486 0.203486 12 0.434518 0.104469 −0.204757 0.204757 13 −0.0416651 0.117458 −0.230214 0.230214 14 −0.19711 0.117571 −0.230435 0.230435 15 0.0534731 0.120067 −0.235327 0.235327 16 −0.0195178 0.120249 −0.235683 0.235683 17 −0.0703227 0.120273 −0.235731 0.235731 18 −0.0649174 0.120586 −0.236345 0.236345 19 −0.066637 0.120853 −0.236867 0.236867 20 0.0365189 0.121133 −0.237417 0.237417 21 0.308873 0.121217 −0.237581 0.237581 22 −0.073339 0.127083 −0.249078 0.249078 23 −0.142081 0.127406 −0.249711 0.249711 24 0.300656 0.128609 −0.25207 0.25207 not include the predicted coefficient, there seems to be a statistically important connection at which lag at the 95.0% confidence level. at the 95.0% confidence level, four of the —24 partial autocorrelation coefficients were statistically important. you could plot the partial autocorrelation coefficients via choosing partial autocorrelation function from of the listing of graphical choices. moreover, to use the pacf, a correlation of the time series data through the time series itself would be calculated in order to discover data patterns. depending on the pacf diagram is shown in figure 3. application of des using brown and holt model depending on data examination, it is recognized that the data has a trending pattern. des is the time series processing approach utilized. there really are two methods to the des technique, 1 variable linear des from brown as well as 2 parameter des from holt. a testing cases for these techniques were then evaluated utilizing parameters assigned at random. the experiment process was divided into two phases: initialization (training) utilizing training data to achieve the constituents which will be utilized to assess the forecasting as well as experimenting to make accurate predictions relying on the value of a component parts achieved from of the initializing phase as well as comparison with data test method to evaluate the value of as well as mae and mape. application of des using brown smoothing variables (α) utilized in des brown testing are chosen (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, and 0.9). the results of the mape evaluation are presented in table 4. the outcomes of these experiments revealed that the value of α = 0.2 caused the least error, because the (mape = figure 3: partial autocorrelations function for generation electrical energies omer, et al.: brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 56-63 table 3: estimation partial autocorrelations for generation electrical energies lag partial stnd. error lower 95.0% upper 95.0% autocorrelation prob. limit prob. limit 1 0.0167213 0.0873704 -0.171243 0.171243 2 −0.241732 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 3 0.153079 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 4 −0.140071 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 5 −0.0975302 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 6 −0.10485 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 7 −0.139082 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 8 0.0528022 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 9 0.155682 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 10 −0.230709 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 11 −0.0358917 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 12 0.333182 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 13 −0.0568566 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 14 −0.00962131 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 15 −0.082228 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 16 −0.00415532 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 17 0.0103137 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 18 −0.0988107 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 19 0.00642562 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 20 −0.0551295 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 21 0.218259 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 22 0.00970171 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 23 −0.0380208 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 24 0.117758 0.0873704 −0.171243 0.171243 table 4: mape value for the des brown α 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 mape 11.2484 9.26275 9.36603 9.55898 9.67292 9.8182 9.82523 9.60284 9.4356 table 5: mape value for des holt mape β α 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 mape 0.1 10.1139 9.94129 9.93563 9.96147 10.0146 10.129 10.1839 10.0151 9.91106 mape 0.2 9.4136 9.34794 9.39981 9.44035 9.56963 9.79795 10.0164 10.2344 10.4674 mape 0.3 9.09144 9.22661 9.46055 9.79021 10.0959 10.4022 10.7455 11.1267 11.5143 mape 0.4 9.02689 9.35794 9.72886 10.1104 10.5094 10.9138 11.3833 11.867 12.3145 mape 0.5 9.00694 9.43233 9.83182 10.2438 10.7197 11.1727 11.6403 12.1686 12.6818 mape 0.6 8.90925 9.34006 9.79061 10.2269 10.6686 11.1207 11.6528 12.1753 12.6051 mape 0.7 8.79654 9.2637 9.64667 10.0507 10.5156 10.9651 11.3411 11.6038 11.7229 mape 0.8 8.62661 9.01604 9.41114 9.83381 10.1908 10.4887 10.6578 10.6803 10.6121 mape 0.9 8.38666 8.77974 9.161 9.4774 9.74875 9.89043 9.90722 9.86512 9.8109 9.26275% if the α = 0.2 which was the minimum error for forecasting, the suitable parameter in des brown is equal to α = 0.2. application of des using holt model smoothing parameters (α,β) used in des holt testing are selected (0.1, 0.1), (0.1, 0.2)…… (0.1, 0.9), (0.2, 0.1), (0.2, omer, et al.: brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 56-63 0.2),…… (0.2, 0.9),……. (0.9, 0.9). the mape calculating outcomes are presented in table 5. the findings of all these trials revealed which the value of (α = 0.1 and β = 0.9) produced the smallest error. because the (mape = 8.38666% if the (α = 0.1 and β = 0.9) which was the minimum error for forecasting, the suitable parameter in des holt is equal to (α = 0.1 and β = 0.9). according to table 6 above, the holt’s des technique has the lower mape score of around 8.38666% as a result, des holt’s could well be classified as a good forecasting approach. as a result, using holt’s des as a predicting approach for the following prediction will be more appropriate. parameter optimization results for des brown parameters for optimization α des brown used the golden section approach, as well as the findings could well be found in table 7. according to the outcomes of the optimization, α = 0.22 through a mape optimal value of 9.23616%. while = 0.22, the des brown technique could be regarded to be good for prediction. the best value of mape was determined relying on the optimization outcomes. des holt’s parameter optimization outcomes the parameters optimization α and β on des holt were optimized utilizing a modified golden section technique. the outcomes of parameter optimization for des holt are presented in table 8. relying on the optimization findings, the best value of was determined α=0.95 and β=0.05 with mape optimum value of 8.08586%. as a result, the des holt technique could be considered to be good at prediction. discussion it is shown in table 9 shows the comparison between brown’s as well as holt’s des for forecasting applied generation electrical energies used in this study. furthermore, this technique will predict future generation electrical energies values. the data cover a period of (132) months. brown’s one-parameter linear exponential smoothing method is presently being used. the best prediction for future data, according to this approach, is a linear trend calculated by exponentially weighing whole past data values. even before models is fit as well as holt’s twoparameter linear exponential smoothing method was chosen, every value of generation electrical energies was changed as follows. the best prediction for future data, according to this table 8: des holt’s parameter optimization outcomes mape β α 0.05 0.06 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15 0.85 8.31223 8.35224 8.39135 8.42957 8.46679 8.50296 8.53965 8.57689 8.61677 8.6565 8.69609 0.86 8.28947 8.32858 8.36675 8.404 8.44023 8.47538 8.51364 8.55456 8.59434 8.63298 8.67083 0.87 8.26557 8.30375 8.34097 8.37777 8.4153 8.45283 8.49215 8.53183 8.57054 8.60807 8.64593 0.88 8.242 8.28048 8.3184 8.35572 8.39245 8.43171 8.47005 8.5078 8.54588 8.58339 8.62155 0.89 8.22163 8.25912 8.29615 8.33255 8.37105 8.40933 8.44705 8.48398 8.52058 8.55875 8.59577 0.9 8.20099 8.23723 8.27313 8.31057 8.34901 8.38666 8.42346 8.45936 8.49604 8.53278 8.5736 0.91 8.17931 8.21468 8.25059 8.28874 8.32622 8.36288 8.39866 8.43469 8.47076 8.51242 8.55396 0.92 8.15662 8.19111 8.22857 8.26578 8.30228 8.33793 8.37328 8.41065 8.45232 8.49412 8.53502 0.93 8.13297 8.16867 8.20548 8.24172 8.27723 8.31264 8.35077 8.39256 8.43426 8.47501 8.51483 0.94 8.10912 8.14547 8.18134 8.217 8.25359 8.29134 8.33257 8.37418 8.41484 8.45497 8.49577 0.95 8.08586 8.12153 8.15834 8.19464 8.23179 8.27237 8.31392 8.35451 8.39493 8.43563 8.47533 table 9: the result of the mape score of parameter optimization for des brown and holt’s criteria des brown des holt’s α=0.22 α=0.95 and β=0.05 period period mape 9.23616 8.08586 forecast summary. *brown’s linear exp. smoothing was used as the prediction models α=0.22. *the forecast model has been chosen: holt’s linear exp. smoothing through α=0.95 and β=0.05 table 7: des brown’s parameter optimization outcomes α 0.15 0.16 0.17 0.18 0.19 0.2 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.24 0.25 mape 9.77084 9.59147 9.45939 9.3768 9.31287 9.26275 9.23656 9.23616 9.25097 9.26356 9.28123 table 6: the result of mape score method mape (%) des brown’s 9.26275 des holt’s 8.38666 omer, et al.: brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 56-63 table 10: forecasting by using des brown and holt methods years months des brown des holt’s years months des brown des holt’s 2021 1 3063.27 3316.63 2024 1 3109.59 3971.89 2 3064.55 3334.83 2 3110.87 3990.09 3 3065.84 3353.03 3 3112.16 4008.29 4 3067.13 3371.23 4 3113.45 4026.49 5 3068.41 3389.43 5 3114.73 4044.69 6 3069.7 3407.64 6 3116.02 4062.9 7 3070.99 3425.84 7 3117.31 4081.1 8 3072.27 3444.04 8 3118.59 4099.3 9 3073.56 3462.24 9 3119.88 4117.5 10 3074.85 3480.44 10 3121.17 4135.7 11 3076.13 3498.64 11 3122.45 4153.9 12 3077.42 3516.85 12 3123.74 4172.11 2022 1 3078.71 3535.05 2025 1 3125.03 4190.31 2 3079.99 3553.25 2 3126.31 4208.51 3 3081.28 3571.45 3 3127.6 4226.71 4 3082.57 3589.65 4 3128.89 4244.91 5 3083.85 3607.85 5 3130.17 4263.11 6 3085.14 3626.06 6 3131.46 4281.32 7 3086.43 3644.26 7 3132.75 4299.52 8 3087.71 3662.46 8 3134.03 4317.72 9 3089.0 3680.66 9 3135.32 4335.92 10 3090.29 3698.86 10 3136.61 4354.12 11 3091.57 3717.06 11 3137.89 4372.32 12 3092.86 3735.27 12 3139.18 4390.53 2023 1 3094.15 3753.47 2 3095.43 3771.67 3 3096.72 3789.87 4 3098.01 3808.07 5 3099.29 3826.27 6 3100.58 3844.48 7 3101.87 3862.68 8 3103.15 3880.88 9 3104.44 3899.08 10 3105.73 3917.28 11 3107.01 3935.48 12 3108.3 3953.69 approach, is a linear trend calculated by exponentially weighing whole past data values. before fitting the model, each value of the generation electrical energies was modified as follows. as a consequence, des holt’s approach could be considered to be good at forecasting. des holt’s is chosen as the strongest forecasting model. depending on the optimization outcomes, achieved optimal value of (α=0.95 and β=0.05) through mape optimum value of 8.08586% in des holt’s technique. however, depending on the optimization outcomes in the des brown’s technique, an optimal value of α=0.22 was found, with a mape ideal value of 9.23616%. then, holt’s technique could be considered to be the most suited way for forecasting generation electrical energies data since the value of mape in des holt’s method was less than the value of mape in the des brown’s method. mape (des brown method) =9.23616% >mape (des holt’s method) =8.08586% conclusion and recommendation the contrast among brown’s and holt’s des could be established depending on the criterion of mape for omer, et al.: brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (2): 56-63 determining the optimum data technique. with using mape as performance measurements, we concluded that the holt’s des technique is the ideal technique since the values of mape in the holt’s des would be less than the values of mape in the brown’s des. furthermore, depending on the optimization has been done α and β the optimal values achieved for des holt’s are (optimal values of α = 0.95 and β optimal value of 0.05) having mape optimal value of 8.08586%, as well as for des brown’s is (optimum value of α = 0.22 via mape optimal value of 9.23616%). a mape of the des holt’s approach was lower than that of mape des brown’s technique. future research are planned to optimize the parameters utilizing various non-linear programming approaches or to optimize by making changes to the initialization method prediction: forecasting using optimum parameter for the des brown and des holt methods this table 10 illustrates the expected values for the generation electrical energies. throughout the period while true data is obtainable; this also shows the forecasted values from either the fitting model as well as the residuals (dataforecast). it indicates 95.0% forecast limits for predictions for time period beyond the ending of a series. those limits represent where a actual data values at the chosen future time was expected to be through 95.0% confidence, providing the fitted model is adequate for the data. you could plot the predictions by choosing prediction plot from the listing of graphical choices. you could modify the level of confidence when reviewing the plot using the alternative mouse button as well as selecting pane options. choose model comparisons from of the list of tabular options to evaluate if the model appropriately matches the data. that table illustrates the predicted values for the generation electrical energies. throughout the period when real data are obtainable, this also shows the projected value from of the fitted models as well as the residuals (data-forecast). it indicates 95.0% forecast limits for predictions for periods of time well beyond ending of the series. these limits represent where the real data value is expected to be through 95.0% confidence at a given future time, providing the fitted model was adequate for the data. you could plot the predictions by choosing prediction plot from of the list of graphical choices. you could modify the level of confidence when examining the plot by using the alternative mouse button as well as selecting pane options. choose model comparisons from of the listing of tabular options to see if the model matches the data well. references 1. p. a. s. dharmawan, and i. g. a. indradewi. double exponential smoothing brown method towards sales forecasting system with a linear and non-stationary data trend. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 1810, no. 1, p. 012026, 2021. 2. m. b. hasan, and m. n. dhali. determination of optimal smoothing constants for exponential smoothing method and holt’s method. dhaka university journal of science, vol. 65, no. 1, pp. 55-59, 2017. 3. f. sidqi, and i. d. sumitra. forecasting product selling using single exponential smoothing and double exponential smoothing methods. iop conference series: materials science and engineering, vol. 662, p. 032031, 2019. 4. w. anggraeni. perbandingan metode fuzzy time series hsu dan double exponential smoothing pada peramalan nilai tukar rupiah terhadap dolar amerika. jurnal riset manajemen dan bisnis (jrmb) fakultas ekonomi uniat, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 153-162, 2016. 5. wikipedia contributors, “exponential smoothing,” wikipedia, feb. 21, 2019. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/exponential_smoothing. 6. v. a. fitria. parameter optimization of single exponential smoothing using golden section method for groceries forecasting. zero: jurnal sains, matematika dan terapan, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 89, 2019. 7. a. n. aimran, and a. afthanorhan. a comparison between single exponential smoothing (ses), double exponential smoothing (des), holts (brown) and adaptive response rate exponential smoothing (arres) techniques in forecasting malaysia population. global journal of mathematical analysis, vol. 2, no. 4, p. 276, 2014. 8. f. ikhsan. forecasting of criminality problems using double exponential smoothing method. academia open, vol. 4, p. 122, 2021. 9. k. aroian, n. uddin, and h. blbas. longitudinal study of stress, social support, and depression in married arab immigrant women. health care for women international, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 100-117, 2016. 10. r. rachmat, and s. suhartono. comparative analysis of single exponential smoothing and holt’s method for quality of hospital services forecasting in general hospital. bulletin of computer science and electrical engineering, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 80-86, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 1-8 research article single and double stub tuner impedance matching of microwave circuits using mathcad software husham j. ahmad, firas m. z. mahmood department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract in this paper impedance matching, using tuning stubs of different types and forms are designed and analyzed using mathcad software. the aim of this paper is impedance matching, which is to connect an arbitrary complex-valued load impedance to a source with a given resistive internal impedance (intrinsic impedance zo) without causing input reflection and to ensure the transfer of maximum power from source to load (zl). smith chart is designed in this paper with mathcad software. this tool is considered a very powerful tool to show the results on the smith chart. single and double stub tuners are designed and analyzed with examples. the designed software is used in this paper for different cases, such as single stub and double stub tuners (open-ended and short-ended) for matching capacitive and inductive loads. the software designed in this paper is useful for designers working in this field as well as in the education process. keywords: microwave circuits, impedance matching, transmission lines introduction impedance matching is one of the most important aspects of microwave circuit design.[1] the main purpose of impedance matching is to connect complex values of load impedance with a source that has a specific resistive inner impedance zo to avoid input reflection and to maximize power transfer from source to load.[2] in real-world situations, load impedance often has to be matched with a transmission line that has a particular characteristic impedance zo as shown in figure 1.1. one way of impedance matching is using tuning stubs. tuning stubs are segments of transmission lines that are used for distributed impedance match.[3] they can be used for both open and short transmission lines.[4] transmission line theory states that an open and short transmission line has an imaginary input impedance connected to a transmission line that can be connected in series or parallel. depending on the complexity of the circuit, there are different designs for matching networks. single-stub is the most common type of matching network, and two stubs are also available.[5,6] it is always possible to detect a matching network if the load impedance (zl) is positive real. however, there are many different types of matching networks available, and in this article, we will discuss and analyze how they are designed and how they perform in practice. the choice of a matching network will depend on a number of factors, such as ease of use, bandwidth, performance, and adaptability. in engineering solutions, simplicity is often favored, and the most optimal choice is typically the simplest design that fulfills the necessary specifications. a less intricate matching network tends to be more economical, space-efficient, dependable, and exhibits lower loss in comparison to a more elaborate design. when it comes to bandwidth, the goal is to achieve a perfect match at a specific frequency. however, in real-world scenarios, it is often necessary to match a load across a range of frequencies. this can be accomplished through various methods, although it usually entails added intricacy. in engineering, there is a strong preference for simplicity when it comes to finding solutions. generally, the best choice is the design that is the simplest while still meeting all the necessary specifications. opting for a simpler matching network has several advantages. it is more cost-effective, takes up less space, offers increased reliability, and has lower levels of loss compared to a more intricate design. when it comes to bandwidth, the goal is to achieve a perfect match at a specific frequency. however, in real-world scenarios, it is often necessary to match a load across a range of corresponding author: husham j. ahmad, department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: husham.jawad@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: april 19, 2024 accepted: june 01, 2024 published: july 08, 2024 doi:10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp1-8 copyright © 2024 husham j. ahmad, firas m. z. mahmood. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ahmad and mahmood: single and double tuners 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 1-8 frequencies. this can be accomplished using various methods, although it usually results in increased complexity. single-stub tuning figure 1.2 illustrates a commonly employed method for achieving matching, which involves the use of a stub – a single segment of the transmission line. this stub can be either short-circuited or open-circuited and is connected to feed line transmission with a specific space from load. the advantage of the single-stub tuning circuit is its seamless integration into the transmission line medium, eliminating the need for discrete components. shunt stubs are typically used in micro-strip line or strip-line configurations, nevertheless series of stubs are better to use in slot-line and coplanar waveguide setups.[7,8] when fabricating transmission line media like microstrip or strip-line, open-circuited stubs are more convenient as they do not require creating a slot in the substrate to the ground plane. conversely, for transmission lines such as coaxial cable or waveguide, short-circuited stubs will be preferred. this is due to the potential for radiation from the large cross-sectional area of an open-circuited line, causing the stub not reactive along. this paper will use both of smith chart and analytic solutions to achieve shunt-stub tuning. a smith chart will be utilized solely for presenting computer solutions and results, which are typically accurate enough for practical applications. on the other hand, analytic expressions provide more accurate information and are more valuable in computer-aided design. double-stub design in section (1.1), the single-stub tuner does matching between load impedance and a transmission line but requires adjustable length of transmission line between the stub and load. that may be not an issue for a stable matching circuit but could give difficulties if a variable tuner is desired. in such cases, the double-stub tuner, using two tuning stubs in known positions and is often constructed using a coaxial line with modified stubs connected in parallel with the main coaxial line, can be utilized. however, it is important to note that a double-stub tuner is unable to be matching with all of the load impedances. figure 1.2 shows the double-stub tuner circuit, allowing the load to be placed at various distances from the first stub. this setup is considered too closely resemble real-world situations. the shunt stubs in figure 1.2 can be readily added for specific transmission line types, while series stubs are more suitable for other line variations. in both cases, the stubs can be either short-circuited or open-circuited.[9,10] smith chart solutions figure 1.3 shows the smith chart, outlining the essential steps for using the double-stub tuner. when dealing with the singlestub tuner, there are two potential solutions. the susceptance of the first stub, b1 (or b1’ for the second solution), adjusts the load admittance to y1 (or y1’). these points are located on the rotated circle 1+jb, with a rotation length of d wavelengths (dλ2) toward the load. here, dλ2 represents the electrical length between two stubs. subsequently, by transforming y1 figure 1.2: double stub tuner figure 1.3: the smith chart structure illustrates the double-stub tuner operationfigure 1.1: single stub tuner ahmad and mahmood: single and double tuners 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 1-8 (or y1’) toward the generator through a length of the line of d, we arrive at the point y2 (or y2’), which must pose on the circle 1+jb. the second stub will introduce a susceptance of b2 (or b2’), aligning the point with the center of the smith chart and thereby completing the matching process. in certain practical designs, it may be necessary to connect the first stub at a specific distance dλ2 from the load, as illustrated in figure 1.2. in all cases, the aforementioned procedure will be followed, albeit with a modified yl.[11] computer-aided design of combining smith chart with mathcad in this paper, a complete smith chart has been designed using mathcad software. the code can be seen in appendix 1. figure 2.1 shows a typical plot of the smith chart in mathcad software. the smith chart constructed in appendix 1 is used in this paper as a tool to show the calculated results. this in fact will help designers to get clear pictures about their results and reduce the time for analyzing the validity of their design.[12] single and double matching design with mathcad codes single stub tuner referring to figure 1.1, a mathcad code is built in this paper and is given in appendix 2. the application of this built software is worked through two examples, namely for capacitive and inductive loads. the results are shown in figures 2.1 and 2.2 for the two solutions, solution (1) and (2) for short and long stub lengths. double stub tuner referring to figure 2.2, which shows a double stub tuner diagram, we design a computer program using mathcad software. this program can be seen in appendix 3. the application of this designed program is used for a number of examples for a variety of cases. results are shown in figure 2.3a-f for the case of capacitive load and a variety of auxiliary (qaux) angles. figure 2.1: capacitive impedance load single stub matching results. (a) capacitive load, solution (1), (b) capacitive load, solution (2) a b ahmad and mahmood: single and double tuners 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 1-8 figure 2.2: inductive impedance load single stub matching results. (a) inductive load, solution (1), (b) inductive load, solution (2) a b figure 2.3: results of applying the designed program for designing a double stub tuning microwave circuit for capacitive load (case dl1 = 0). (a) auxiliary angle 90°, (b) auxiliary angle 135°, (c) auxiliary angle 180o, (d) auxiliary angle 225°, (e) auxiliary angle 225°, (f) auxiliary angle 315° a c e f d b ahmad and mahmood: single and double tuners 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 1-8 figure 2.4: results of applying the designed program for designing double stub tuning microwave circuit for capacitive load (case dl1 = 1/8). (a) auxiliary angle 90°, (b) auxiliary angle 135°, (c) auxiliary angle 180o, (d) auxiliary angle 225°, (e) auxiliary angle 270°, (f) auxiliary angle 325° the results shown in figure 2.3 above are for the case dl1= 0 and variable lengths of dl2. the designed software is applied for another case in which dl1 is set to 1/8 and for different rotation angles and results are presented in figure 2.4. discussions and conclusions two software are designed in this paper, namely, single and double stub tuners for matching loads in microwave circuits. these two software were examined by solving selected examples. examples were selected to evaluate the performance of the designed software for capacitive and inductive load impedances. the results are presented in the forms of numerical as well as graphical (on smith chart). designers in this field need some time, to project their results on the smith chart to help them to visualize whether their approach in the right direction. the designed software in this paper is to shorten the time required and to obtain accurate solutions. figures 2.2 and 2.3 show the results of the designed software. these results show the capability of the designed software to deal with a variety of cases of different load impedances and various conditions. the big achievement of using the designed software in this paper is time-saving and high accuracy. this software may be used by researchers as well as undergraduate studies. references 1. r. j. weber. introduction to microwave circuits: radio frequency and design applications. vol. 1. john wiley and sons, united states, 2001. 2. g. a. qasmarrogy. performance analysis of adaptive noise canceller using (nlms) algorithm for speech communication systems. al-mansour journal, vol. 29, no. 1, pp.103-116, 2018. 3. g. a. qasmarrogy and h. j. ahmad. simulation of moving target indication radar system based on vissim/comm application. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp.38-45, 2021. 4. j. ahmad and a. qasmarrogy, a. modeling of an airport traffic control (atc) radars using mathcad. in: proceedings of the 4th international conference on communication engineering and computer science, coimbatore, india, pp. 15-16. 5. c. e. free and c. s. aitchison, c.s. rf and microwave circuit design: theory and applications. john wiley and sons, united states, 2021. 6. s. babic and c. akyel. impedance matching by tuner stubs (single, double and triple) analytical method. authorea preprints, 2023 7. a. jain and r. p. yadav. design and development of rigid coaxial line based variable stub tuner. frequenz, vol. 75, no. 5-6, pp.153158, 2021. 8. a. b. obot. design procedure of single shunt (short circuited) stubs impedance matching networks using the smith chart. dimensions, vol. 7, no. 4, p.12344-12348, 2020. 9. a. a muller, v. asavei, a. moldoveanu, e. sanabria-codesal, r. a. khadar, c. popescu, d. dascalu and a. m. ionescu. the 3d a c e f d b ahmad and mahmood: single and double tuners 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 1-8 smith chart: from theory to experimental reality. ieee microwave magazine, vol. 21, no. 11, pp.22-35, 2020. 10. s. aiswarya and s. k. menon. design of open and short-circuit stubs for filter applications. in: intelligent data communication technologies and internet of things: proceedings of icici 2020. singapore: springer singapore, pp. 663-672, 2021. 11. b. p. smyth and a. k. iyer. design of a compact dual-band double-stub matching network using mtm-ebgs. in: 2020 ieee international symposium on antennas and propagation and north american radio science meeting. united states, ieee, pp. 89-90, 2020. 12. f. m. mahmood. design and implementation of microstrip directional coupler for satellite communication application. in: cihan university-erbil conferences, 4th international conference on communication engineering and computer science, pp. 144-150, 2022. ahmad and mahmood: single and double tuners 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 1-8 appendix 1 figure a1: smith chart plot using mathcad appendix 2 ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) πλλ π π λ = + = = = = − + − + ≠ = ≠ =− − − − = = ≥ = + < = 2 2 2 2 §π§π§ü§§π ( ) ( ) 1 : 2 : 2 2 1 tan( ) 0 2( ) : 1 üüü 2 1 : l l l l l l l l l l o l l l o l l l l l o o o l ol o l o l l l o l o o o z r j x r re z x im z g re y b im y r z r x r z r x x x if r z z z t if r z tr z r z x x if r z if r z z z üüü d tt üüü d n λλ λ λλ λ π π π λ π = + − − ⋅ ⋅ + ⋅ = = + + ⋅  + + ⋅   − −    ≥ =           = −  2 2 2 2 2 2 ( 1) 2 : ( 2) üüü ( ): ( ) : ( ) ( ) 1 1 1 ( ) tan tan 0 ( ): tan üüü ( ): 1 tan 2 ( ) l l o l l o l l o o l l o o o o o d t d n d t r t r t z x t x z t gg t bb t r x z t z r x z t y y bb t a if a l op t a üüü l sc t y a bb t  +    0.5 otherwise ahmad and mahmood: single and double tuners 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 1-8 appendix 3 λ λ λ λ λ λ λ λ λ λ λ λ β λ− − = = = = = = × = = − × = ⋅ + ⋅ ⋅ − ⋅ = − + = + + + ⋅ = − + 1 1 2 2 3 3 2 2 2 1 1 2 : 1 : 2 : ( 2) : ( 2) : ( 1) ( 2) ( 1) : re( ) 8 10 : ( ) 4 10 : ( ) (1 ) 11 : ( ), (1 ) 12 : short long sc sc op op sc sc op op l r l r o l o l l l l o l l d d n d d n l l t l l t l l t l t l t g y b im y t tan d y t g y g t üüü t y t g y b b λ π − ⋅ + + + = + + + = + + + + + = ⋅ + + + + ⋅ − ⋅ + ⋅ − + ⋅ − ⋅ + ⋅ = = = 2 2 1 2 1 1 11 0 0 11 2 2 2 2 2 2 ( ) , ( ) : 11 : ( 11) ( ) 2: ( ) (1 ) (1 ) 21 : 22 : 1 tan( ) 2( ) : o l l l o o o l l l l l l o l l o l o l l o o l o l l o l l op g t g j b b y t y y t y jt g jb jb üüü g j b b y t y y y jt g jb jb y t g y g t g y y t g y g t g y b b g t g t a bb i l bb λ π π π −   <>    = −  + ≤ + ≥    1 1 tan 00 2 ( ) : 1 1 1tan( ) 0.5 0 üüü 2 2 sc a if bbf bb bb l bb üüü a if bb bb tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 58-62 review article the role of artificial intelligence in enhancing sports analytics and training adil h. mohammed1, zhian j. othman2, abdulqadir i. abdullah3 1department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of physical education and sport sciences, faculty of education, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of computer engineering, college of engineering, knowledge university, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the impact of artificial intelligence (ai) is clear and highly influential in many areas of sports, helping to improve team and player results. not only that, but ai has been introduced into the areas of training and analysis of data and results, emulating and presenting potential hypothetical scenarios through the capabilities employed in ai to enable accurate and effective training in emergency and critical situations. another major benefit of using ai in sports is to analyze data and game stats to improve team performance in future games. improved good decision-making capability has made using ai applications gain huge popularity and attention in both academia and industry, especially in the sports industry. the main problem associated with using ai applications in sports is that the usefulness of ai for many sports viewers, experts, coaches, team managers, and policymakers is not clear, especially when they are not particularly familiar or experts in the field of ai. similarly, for many, the reasons for employing ai and machine learning models for mathematical analysis in areas such as sports remain lackluster or unclear. in this research paper, the authors present a review of the importance of using ai applications in sports for the people involved in the sports industry in general and especially for the iraqi academic staff and those working in the sports field. the stakeholders and the parties involved need to learn how to use the principles of ai knowledge and conduct research to improve the performance of iraqi teams and players. keywords: artificial intelligent, sport, video assistant referee, heart rate player monitoring, data visualization introduction artificial intelligence (ai) is a major evolving scientific branch of computer science and software engineering. ai is any human-like intelligence displayed by a computer, robot, or other machine.[1] ai is interested in building machines or developing software that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence. ai allows machines to learn from experience, adapt to new inputs, and perform human-like tasks. to further clarify, ai derives from mimicking human behavior and other abilities such as thinking and learning. this includes the idea of designing intelligent agents or machines that can simulate, acquire, and employ knowledge, analytical skills, and specialized skills alike for the overall purpose of problem-solving.[2] the implementation of ai in sports represents a major step forward in how we measure and understand the vast amounts of data available. ai’s ability to process and understand sports data with incredible speed and accuracy finally allows us to dig into the details and use it to improve team and player performance. the benefits of ai in sports are clear and far-reaching. in addition to the obvious benefits that participants will gain from learning more about their own abilities and limitations than ever before, coaches will be able to make data-driven decisions about training and performance, and fans will eventually be on stage as well. you can be part of the action behind the scenes. artificial intelligence in the sport field ai has been introduced to all types and areas of every sport these days. the utmost goal of each team manager and corresponding author: adil h. mohammed, department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: adil.mohammed@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: april 29, 2024 accepted: may 28, 2024 published: june 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp58-62 copyright © 2024 adil h. mohammed, zhian j. othman, abdulqadir i. abdullah. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mohammed, et al.: the role of ai in enhancing sports analytics 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 58-62 administrator is to evaluate the performance of the team and each player to make a correct decision on the future of the team and the player. this can be done by employing the tools of ai and machine learning (ml) in analyzing the huge data acquired from training sessions and actual games. in sports, winning is the goal that every team is after and they are ready to invest a lot of money to be a winning team. the best investment for any team is to have a system that can rely on ai to improve training sessions for the team and the players to make them ready to win. ai is used in all areas of sports, such as training, scouting, game analysis, game predicting, and refereeing. it is also used in exercises at the individual or team level. the following is showing some applications of using ai in our life activities and sports: ai in fitness activities over the years, ai has become an important part of the fitness and wellness industry. it uses ai to help track your health and repetitive motion patterns. it also uses data from body-worn devices such as smarts to guide users toward their fitness goals, as shown in figure 1, the diagrams such as exercise duration and steps. especially when ai and ml solutions are connected to applications on smartphones, users get accurate results, ultimately providing them with healthier and smarter results.[3] ai in a football game a football game is a highly dynamic, fast-paced game where the details can make the difference between winning and losing; yet, the human eye may not be able to capture those details. this is where ai comes into play. in recent years, football has seen the beginning of its ai application, but the extent of ai application is still unknown. those involved in the game should also know the limitations of ai. in this study, we examine an unknown aspect of ai in soccer games.[4] video assistant referee (var) system var stands for var; var is one of ai’s image processing applications to evaluate suspicious cases during games. teams of three or four work together to investigate the referee’s decisions, as shown in figure 2a. they watch video footage of relevant events. crew consists of the main var, usually the current or former referee, his assistants, and a replay operator. in a video operating room that contains different monitors displaying different camera angles.[5] var can used to review four types of decisions: goals, the abuses that precede them, red cards, penalties, the wrong identity when awarding a card. under certain circumstances, the head judge’s decision may be overturned. however, it should be an “obvious error” reviewing decisions typically selected one of two ways: the var team can recommend a review, or the referee can request a review after making a decision [figure 2b]. in the first case, if the var determines that there has been a clear error, the var must inform the referee. once this has occurred, the referee has three options: 1. the referee can immediately upturn the decision based on the var’s advice 2. the referee sticks with their initial decision 3. the referee asks to review the incident himself or herself on a monitor on the side of the pitch. real-time portable heart rate the reason for using wearable heart rate monitors in sports has its roots in cross-country skiing in finland in the mid-1970s. since then, monitors have become ubiquitous in individual sports such as long-distance running and in team sports such as soccer, where some athletes run more than 6 miles in a figure 1: smartwatch figure 3: portable heart rate monitor figure 2: (a) video assistant referee (var) team. (b) main referee with var ba mohammed, et al.: the role of ai in enhancing sports analytics 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 58-62 figure 4: game statistic 90-min match.[6] comprehensive monitoring of fitness, fatigue, heart rate monitors, blood pressure, blood oxygenation, and performance is critical to understanding player responses to training to optimize planning training and recovery strategies. figure 3 shows the device connected to the main player. resting and exercise-related heart rate measurements have been of increasing interest over the past decades and have potential in the context of multivariate response monitoring as they provide non-invasive and time-efficient insight into the state of the autonomic nervous system and aerobic fitness. using a heart rate monitor while gaming allows you to track important information, except for how fast your heart is beating. the higher your heart rate, the more calories you burn. monitor blood pressure and track blood oxygen to help your heart avoid. attack when the player reaches overload and exhaustion. this also gives the couch information about the player’s performance and allows it to replace the player.[7] data visualization data visualization is the repetition of translating information into a visual context. the purpose of data visualization is to make that large volume of information simple and to facilitate the identification of patterns, trends, and outliers in large datasets. the term is often used to discuss with others, including information graphics, information visualization, and statistical graphics.[8] today, sports analysts rely on recorded information presented during and after the game. this includes scores, team-related vital stats, and other personal stats for individual players. figure 4 shows some important statistics (goals, fouls, yellow cards, red cards, balls in his possession, etc.). current sports visualization research stems from a passionate and often distributed community working to analyze and communicate sports data. given the interest in sports visualization from both sports practitioners and visualization researchers, there is a need to document and analyze these efforts. our review identifies three types of sports data used in sports visualization. box score data (data that contains statistical summaries of sporting events such as games), tracking data (data about actions and trajectories within a game), not necessarily a specific game (like the participants in the diagram).[9] using these three types of data, we compose a collection of 98 papers by space scientists and practitioners, presenting future opportunities and challenges in this fascinating subfield. visualization of realistic sports data has become a research direction and is becoming increasingly important in the field of information visualization. it is also an important basis for the study of sports skills, behavior, and activity. in the field as shown in figure 5, we classify mathematical data visualization and, in this case, summarize the research from three aspects: data type, main task, visualization method, and visual analysis, as shown in [figure 6]. hence, first, the sports data he divided into two categories. combining spatiotemporal (position, time) and statistical information, he proposes three main tasks for the visualization of competitive sports data. feature presentations, feature comparisons, and feature predictions. furthermore, he categorizes competitive sports data visualization techniques into five categories based on the characteristics of the data. visualizations such as high-dimensional data visualization, time-series visualization, graph (network) visualization, and glyph visualization are performed, and the relationship between main tasks and visualization methods is analyzed. it also introduces research on visual analysis of competitive sports, proposes characteristics and limitations of competitive sports data, and summarizes multimedia. we discuss visualization in competitive sports and finally the evaluation of visual analysis. sports data visualization methods are classified into five categories based on data characteristics. figure 5: tracking data mohammed, et al.: the role of ai in enhancing sports analytics 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 58-62 1. visualization of high-dimensional data 2. 2 time series visualization 3. diagram (network) visualization 4. glyph visualization and 5. other visualizations depend on the type of game and the user of this data visualization (referee view, coach, player.etc.). it helps analyze the relationship between key tasks and visualization techniques, presents a research paper on visual analysis of competitive sports, proposes characteristics and limitations of competitive sports data, and discusses hypermedia visualization in practical sports to summarize.[10] the ai-based system that automatically scores gymnastic games an ai-based system that automatically scores gymnastics exercises has solved many of the problems that plagued the sport’s scoring process. on the flip side, the development process has never been easier.[11] the ai system contains a scanning unit to generate the database. the system transmits laser pulses at 2 million pulses per s to the gymnast, obtains the 3d coordinates corresponding to the body position, and then performs ai processing to generate the gymnast’s frame determine the joint position and create three coordinates: routine dimensional (3d) rendering. this data is then compared to a database of exercise programs to determine what type of program was being performed. next, the items subject to surcharges and deductions are specified according to the applicable codes, and the results are displayed as scores figure 7 overview of the evaluation support system).[12] a laser scans the gymnast to obtain the (3d) coordinates [upper left of figure 7]. the system determines the gymnast’s body position and creates a (3d) representation of the movement (top right). the system identifies the elements used in the routine (his two frames at the bottom left). routines are identified by comparing them to database records (bottom right).[13] figure 6: data tracking and analysis figure 7: the artificial intelligence system scanning and determine and score mohammed, et al.: the role of ai in enhancing sports analytics 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 58-62 extra systems support for artificial intelligence in sport here the list of electronic systems supports ai to collect data to get accurate results.[11] 1. radio frequency identification for players 2. gps wearables 3. camera network (in-venue tracking systems). like volleyball, basketball, tennis, and track and field games 4. radar for some games like (golf).[8] in recent years, ai has been extending its impact on the field of science and, more specifically, in the realm of sports; however, there remains a lack of clarity regarding the specific areas, sports, and athletic professions that have been reaping the benefits of ai, as well as the overall knowledge gains from its application. this chapter aims to provide a comprehensive review of published articles on ai in sports, with the goal of identifying and categorizing common research topics, and synthesizing emerging trends in this area.[14] conclusion the ai is a science applied in all fields in our life, it deserves a lot of serious work and respect from all other departments and fields of work, especially in the science of sports field and their programming of study or at least learning the principle of work of that system. preparing a team or a player for winning is an important task for every team and it has become a complicated task because of all the variables involved from training to team quality of members and playing plans. this research paper is an attempt to establish the great role of ai in finishing games successfully and improving the performance of teams and players. this is an important step in convincing team managers to employ ai-based applications. this is correct for the teams and clubs in iraq to improve on the international stage. finally, the importance of using ai applications in sports for the people involved in the sports industry in general and especially for the iraqi academic staff and those working in the sports field. they need to learn how to use the principles of ai knowledge and conduct research to improve the performance of iraqi teams and players. references 1. a. massoudi, s. jalal and jami, m. the role of artificial intelligence application in strategic marketing decision-making process. cihan university-erbil journal of humanities and social sciences, vol. 8 no.1, 34-39, 2024. 2. j. smith and k. johnson. leveraging ai for personalized fitness and wellness: a roadmap to enhanced self-care. journal of healthcare technology, vol. 12, no. 3, 2023. 3. x. ding, y. chen, j. li. artificial intelligence-powered personalized health and fitness: a systematic review. frontiers in digital health, vol. 4, p. 866421, 2022. 4. r. kasha and k. aditya. applications of artificial intelligence in the game of football: the global perspective. international refereed social sciences journal, research world, vol. 11, pp. 18-29, 2020. 5. a. chung, a. skinner, s. hasty and e. perrin. tweeting to health: a novel mhealth intervention using fit bits and twitter to improve physical activity and weight loss. childhood obesity, vol. 13, no. 5, pp. 283-292, 2017. 6. a. canhoto and s. arp. exploring the factors that support adoption and sustained use of health and fitness wearables. journal of marketing management, vol. 33, no. 1-2, pp. 32-60, 2017. 7. c. schneider and f. hanukah. heart rate monitoring in team sport-a conceptual framework for contextualizing heart rate measures for training and recovery prescription. frontiers in physiology, vol. 9, p. 639, 2018. 8. c. hashemi-pour. definition data visualization, business analytics. techtarget, united states, 2023. 9. j. reem, m. h. shukur and s. ismael. route discovery development for multiple destination using artificial ant colony. cihan universityerbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 41-48, 2022. 10. m. du and x. yuan. a survey of competitive sports data visualization and visual analysis. journal of visualization. vol. 24, pp. 47-67, 2021. 11. m. takoma. an ai revolution in sports scoring technology. nippon.com, tokyo, 2021. 12. y. falah, a. jeeva, p. manimaran and h. f. hasan. a performance comparison of difference between back-propagation nn and learning vector quantization algorithm. in: 3rd international conference on communication engineering and computer science (cic-cocos 2019), cihan university-erbil, iraq. 13. p. lucey. artificial intelligent in sports, sport performance analysis, routledge, england, uk, 2021. 14. d. araújo, m. couceiro, l. seifert, h. sarmento and k. davids. artificial intelligence in sport performance analysis. 1st ed. routledge, england, uk, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 112 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 112-118 research article different concentrations of honey’s antimicrobial activity against staphylococcus aureus by hplc determination raid d. thanoon1, abdalmuhaymen s. alshaeen2, hasnaa r. abdullah2, laith a. abdulhussain2, wurood j. mohammed2, abdullah b. hassan2 1department of medical biochemical analysis, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of general biology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract honey has been used in ancient times as a treatment. it is used for healing wounds and also can be used as antiseptic to kill bacteria and other microorganisms. the aim of this study was to examine the activity of honey as a bactericidal and bacteriostatic and to measure the most active compounds of honey with highly bacterial inhibition zone using high-performance liquid chromatography (hplc) technique. in this experiment, the honey was used to check whether the honey can be used as an antimicrobial agent or not. first by well diffusion method is done by adding different concentrations of honey (25, 75, 100, 125, 150, and 200 ml). the results showed a little inhibition zone for the three types of honey but in different size for each type. the industrial honey showed the largest effect. different concentrations were used (10%, 30%, and 50%). the antibiotic sensitivity was applied, the result showed only two resistant antibiotics (azithromycin and erythromycin). the concentration of catalase, amylase, invertase, and glucose oxidase in honey tested by hplc and showed the concentration of each substance conc. of catalase = (32877 ÷ 170,253) × 20 = 3.862 u/ml; conc. of amylase = (136,985 ÷ 180,849) × 20 = 15.149 u/ml; conc. of invertase = (58,466 ÷ 193,624) × 20 = 6.039 u/ml; and conc. of glucose peroxide = (105,204 ÷ 163,245) × 20 =12.889 u/ml. moreover, the presence of gluconic acid “organic acid” gives the honey its acidic characteristic which is about 3.2 ph. keywords: honey, staphylococcus aureus, antimicrobial activity, antibiotics, high-performance liquid chromatography test introduction honey could be a good health-care product in addition to its previously use as a part of the traditional medicine in the treatment of several wound’s types.[1] in the recent decade, the microbial resistance is becoming one of the serious concerns due to the extensive use of antimicrobial agents. as a part of the traditional antimicrobial preparations, honey has gotten more and more consideration as there is an increase in the investigations on its antimicrobial properties but is the honey have an effect on bacteria?[2] phytochemicals are already presents as they can thus affect the antimicrobial capacity.[3] there are numerous in vitro and in vivo studies which were illustrated the antibacterial, antifungal, and even the antiviral activity of honey.[4-6] however, the ability of honey to kill bacteria “bactericidal effect” is due to the diversity of honey composition which includes about 181 constituents.[7] one of the major compositions of honey is carbohydrates in addition to the vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, and water by 15–18%. moreover, ripened honey consists of 80% sugars; mainly glucose and fructose as well as some sucrose and maltose along with 18% water. the high concentration of sugars combined with a low moisture content creates osmotic stress, which prevents spoilage of honey by microorganisms. only slight dilution of honey can result in yeast growth, but the sugar content of honey is sufficient to retain antibacterial activity of honey when diluted to approximately 30–40%. at higher dilution rates, the antibacterial activity could be due to the other compounds other than sugars.[8,9] staphylococcus aureus is gram-positive pathogenic bacteria which causes a wide variety of diseases. many methods were developed to treat s. aureus-related diseases but the treatment of this bacteria is still incomplete due to the appearance of different strains which are resistant to antibacterial agents corresponding author: raid d. thanoon, department of medical biochemical analysis, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: raid.duraid@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 24, 2022 accepted: august 12, 2022 published: september 25, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp112-118 copyright © 2022 raid d. thanoon, abdalmuhaymen s. alshaeen, hasnaa r. abdullah, laith a. abdulhussain, wurood j. mohammed, abdullah b. hassan. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) thanoon, et al.: antimicrobial activity against staphylococcus aureus by hplc determination 113 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 112-118 such as “methicillin-resistant s. aureus.”[10] in addition, it can be found as a microbial flora on the mucosal membrane and skin.[11] some are aerobic and few are anaerobic and it can survive in high concentration of salt reaching about 10%.[12] honey is could be produced from various sources, and its antimicrobial activity varies significantly in response to its origin. the antibacterial activity of honey has been attributed by physical factors such as osmolarity, acidity, and chemical factors. studies were reported that commercial honey had antimicrobial effects against s. aureus. the use of honey as an antimicrobial agent was started in 2000 bc as it showed some different results against different bacteria and depending on the honey that was used. the added value of honey has attracted the clinicians and scientists to concentrate on it and how to be used extensively.[13] the second major advantage of the honey is that bacteria have not developed the same rate of resistance against the natural products as the one for the antibacterial agents.[14,15] furthermore, the bacterial resistance to many antibiotics can cause different chronic types of wounds which can sometimes progress to amputation or even death.[13,16] the aims of study were to examine the activity of honey as a bacterial inhibitor and to measure the most active compounds of honey with highly bacterial inhibition zone using high-performance liquid chromatography (hplc). methodology collection and preparation of honey test solutions there were three common honey samples collected. the honey samples were stored at 37°c for 24 h before the preparation process of different concentrations of each honey type. in addition, the honey types were kept in dark bottles to guarantee that they will be away from the sunlight.[17] materials 1. two types of agar were used • nutrient agar • mueller-hinton agar 2. three types of honey • black honey • industrial honey • natural honey 3. pure culture of s. aureus 4. ten different antibiotics: (cloxacillin, trimethoprim, azithromycin, ciprofloxacin, penicillin, rifampin, methicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin, and gentamicin) 5. swabs and petri dishes 6. needle and loop for culturing bacteria 7. bunsen burner 8. sterilizers (alcohol). isolation of bacteria inactive pure culture of s. aureus was present, so the bacteria could be reactivated by making a new subculture on nutrient broth by transferring a sample from the inactive old culture to the new one using swabs to be subjected then for incubation at 37°c for 24 h.[18] preparation of nutrient broth a 28 g of nutrient broth powder was mixed with 1 l of distilled water and the required number of media is about 20 ml, to obtain the needed 20 ml, 0.56 g of nutrient broth powder was prepared following the ratio and proportion equation. addition of honey on the cultured s. aureus mueller-hinton agar was prepared and then poured on the petri dishes. first, about 18 petri dishes were required with about 20 ml of media for each as the total media volume that will be needed is 360 ml. in terms of the mueller-hinton agar composition, 38 g of the powder should be mixed with 1 l of distilled water. accordingly, to have 18 petri dishes with a total media volume of 360 ml; 13.68 g of mueller-hinton powder was required following the ratio and proportion equation. finally, 13.68 g of powdered mueller-hinton was added to 360 ml of distilled water to a 500 ml flask followed by boiling on a bunsen burner. for more sterilization, the flask was kept in the autoclave.[19] agar well diffusion a 20 ml of the media was poured into each petri dish and remained for solidification to form the wells. all materials that were used had been sterilized in the autoclave for 15 min. punching force was applied using a sterile tip with 5 mm width to develop on the plate to form wells with the same diameter. in addition, the excess agar was removed and the plates were subjected to incubation for 24 h at 37°c. culturing s. aureus the bacteria were cultured using swaps by dipping them in the previously cultured test tubes. furtherly, the bacteria were spread on the petri dishes following the spread plate technique instructions to accomplish the culturing process. addition of different honey concentration before adding various honey concentrations, the petri dishes were labeled with the type and concentration of the honey to be added as follows: s1: industrial honey, s2: black honey, and s3: natural honey. each type of honey was tested in terms of activity in different concentrations as these concentrations were, respectively; 25, 75, 100, 125, 150, and 200 in mcl. furthermore, micropipette was used to add the different concentrations in the center of the wells and further incubation for 24 h. dilution method in the current method, the three types of honey were tested in different concentration using the nutrient broth and then cultured overnight in the tubes following a specific procedure.[20] sterilization of test tubes heat proof glass test tubes were used to be subjected for high temperatures to guarantee a complete sterilization process using the autoclave at 121°c for about 15 min. thanoon, et al.: antimicrobial activity against staphylococcus aureus by hplc determination 114 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 112-118 preparation of nutrient broth fifteen sterilized test tubes were needed for the whole three types of honey in addition to 150 ml of media as each test tube requires 10 ml of nutrient broth. to prepare 150 ml of nutrient broth media; following the previously discussed ration proportion equation, 4.2 g of the powder will be added to 150 ml of distilled water in a flask. in addition, the mixture was boiled using a bunsen burner and then autoclaved for 15 min. dilution of honey the three types of honey were tested by taking 10%, 30%, and 50% concentrations respectively from each. concentrations were expressed as percentage and weight based on the density of 1.42 g/ml as the 10% of honey equals 0.142 g/ml, 20% equals 0.284 g/ml, and 50% equals 0.701 g/ml of the honey. culturing of s. aureus a swab from pure culture of s. aureus was obtained and then cultured in 10 ml of nutrient broth as the step was repeated for each test tube. furthermore, different concentrations of honey were added to the cultured test tubes as the samples were incubated for 24 h and the results were checked. sterilization of test tubes heat proof glass test tubes were used to be subjected for high temperatures to guarantee a complete sterilization process using the autoclave at 121°c for about 30–60 min. preparation of nutrient broth fifteen test tubes were needed for the whole three types of honey in addition to 150 ml of media as each test tube requires 10 ml of nutrient broth. to prepare 150 ml of nutrient broth media; following the previously discussed ration proportion equation, 4.2 g of the powder will be added to 150 ml of distilled water in a flask. in addition, the mixture was boiled using bunsen burner and then autoclaved for 30–60 min. dilution of honey the three types of honey were tested by taking 10%, 20%, and 50% concentrations, respectively, from each. concentrations were expressed as percentage and weight based on the density of 1.42 g/ml as the 10% of honey equals 0.142 g/ml, 20% equals 0.284 g/ml, and 50% equals 0.701 g/ml of the honey. culturing s. aureus a swap from pure culture of s. aureus was obtained and then cultured in 10 ml of nutrient broth as the step was repeated for each test tube. furthermore, different concentrations of honey were added to the cultured test tubes as the samples were incubated for 24 h and the results were checked. antibiotic sensitivity test the effect of 10 types of antibiotics on s. aureus was tested after being cultured “s. aureus” on mueller-hinton agar. the reason behind using mueller-hinton agar is that it is inert; does not have effect on the antibiotics. this test was done to show whether s. aureus is strong bacteria or not and compare the results the other tests that honey used as antimicrobial agent. there were two petri dished used as five disks of antibiotics were put in each and then incubated for 24 h. in addition, the results were checked whether resistant or sensitive following the size of inhibition zone measurement. one factor at a time was used to improve the process parameters and the ideal circumstances for each type. inhibition zone measurement the transparent area that surrounds the disks was measured using a ruler as the area refers to the sensitivity of bacteria to the antibiotics along with the measurement of the diameter of inhibition zone that has been subtracted from the disks. hplc test preparation a 10 g of honey was shipped to baghdad to be homogenized in 50 ml of 100 mm sodium sulfate buffer (ph 7.0), containing 1 mm ascorbic acid and 0.5% (w/v) polyvinylpyrrolidone, for 5 min at 4°c. the homogenate was filtered through three layers of cheesecloth, and the filtrate was then run at 5000× g for 15 min, and the superannuate was collected. sample residue was then resuspended in 1.0 ml hplc grade methanol by vortexing, and the mixture was then run through a disposable 2.5 um filter. this was followed by storage at 4°c for further analysis, and finally, 20 ul of the sample was injected into the hplc.[21] equipment shimadzu 10 a v-lc with a binary delivery pump model lc-10 a was used for the separation, and a uv–vis 10 a-spd spectrophotometer was used to track the peak elution. the sequence of the eluted material of the standard mentioned in table 1. hplc determination of enzymes in honey the extract was separated using an fast liquid chromatographic column with a 7 um particle size, a nuclosit 4000-7 pei, anion exchange for protein and peptides (125 × 4.0 mm i.d) column, mobile phase, linear gradients from 0% b to 100% b in 10 min, and solvents a and b with different concentrations of tris-acetate at different ph levels. uv detection is set to 280 nm with a 1.5 ml/min flow rate. results agar well diffusion assay 24 h of incubation were illustrated that the bacteria were resistant to all samples “s 1, s2, and s3” at 25 µl concentration. table 1: the sequence of the eluted material of the standard seq. subjects retention time minute area 1 catalase, cat 2.02 170,253 2 amylase 3.19 180,849 3 invertase 4.10 193,624 4 glucose oxidase 5.19 1632 thanoon, et al.: antimicrobial activity against staphylococcus aureus by hplc determination 115 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 112-118 the first sample (artificial honey) started its activity against bacteria at the concentrations 75 µl and 100 µl as the inhibition zone was 0.2 mm while at the same concentrations of the rest two samples, s. aureus was resistant. in addition, at 125 µl, the inhibition zone of s. aureus for the first sample was about 0.3 mm in the same time of being resistant in the rest two samples. at 150 µl, samples 2 and 3 (black and natural honey) started their activity against bacteria as the inhibition zone for the second sample was 0.2 mm while for the third sample was 0.1 mm as per the figures 1-4.[22] dilution method the first honey sample (industrial honey) on a certain concentration was tested and then mixed it with nutrient broth and s. aureus as well as the same concentration from the other two samples as they were subjected for incubation for 24 h. the results showed that the bacteria were resistant based on the observed growth in the three test tubes. when the concentration of all honey samples was increased, the bacterial growth was detected but in lower rates. the lowest concentration of the honey in clear test tube was considered as the minimum inhibitory concentration “mic,” table 2. aureus resistance against antibiotics the effect of 10 types of antibiotics on s. aureus was tested after being cultured ‗s. aureus on mueller-hinton agar. the reason behind using mueller-hinton agar is that it is inert; does not have effect on the antibiotics. the resistance and sensitivity of s. aureus were tested to some of the antibiotics including; rifampin, clindamycin, gentamicin, methicillin, ciprofloxacin, penicillin, cloxacillin, trimethoprim, azithromycin, and erythromycin as the results are illustrated in table 3. hplc test of honey the concentration of catalase, amylase, invertase, and glucose oxidase in honey tested by hplc and by following the equation below shows the concentration of each substance: conc. of sample = (area of sample ÷ area of standard) × cons. of standard × dilution factor: conc. of catalase = (32877 ÷ 170253) × 20 = 3.862 u/ml conc. of amylase = (136985 ÷ 180849) × 20 = 15.149 u/ml conc. of invertase = (58466 ÷ 193624) × 20 = 6.039 u/ml conc. of glucose peroxide = (105204 ÷ 163245) × 20 =12.889 u/ml discussion the findings showed that the three different honey samples have antibacterial action against the gram-positive bacterium s. aureus. the possible reason could be that honey consists mainly of carbohydrates (approximately 82%), water and other minor components including; proteins, minerals, and phytochemicals.[23] the water activity of honey ranges from 0.5 to 0.6 which could be low enough to prevent bacterial growth. furthermore, the high sugar content of honey can induce the osmotic pressure on the bacterial cells the thing that will initiate the process of water flow to the outside of the cell, leading to the dehydration and shrinkage of the cell thus the inability to survive.[24] figure 2: effect of different concentrations of natural honey on staphylococcus aureus figure 1: effect of different concentrations of industrial honey “s 1” on staphylococcus aureus figure 4: concentration of enzymes found in industrial honeyfigure 3: antibiotic sensitivity test thanoon, et al.: antimicrobial activity against staphylococcus aureus by hplc determination 116 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 112-118 moreover, the presence of gluconic acid “organic acid” gives the honey its acidic characteristic which is about 3.2 ph the thing that is not optimal for further bacterial growth which is provided by neutral ph.[25] the degree of antibacterial action changed agreeing according to the type of bacteria and honey. the observed variations in the behavior of distinct honeys types at vary concentrations as well as the nature of honey production’s impact such an effective pattern on their inhibitory activities that were directly proportional to the increased honey concentrations respectively.[24] it has been detected that these phytochemicals are the ones responsible for medical and biological activities of honey within the treatment of infections, burns, wounds, and ulcers. using cybow 11 test strips, the ph was determined for all varieties of honey and their concentrations, and it was found to be 5, indicating that the honey is acidic. in addition, honey’s significant osmotic impact (approximately 80% wt/vol of concentrated sugars) and microorganism susceptibility to hydrogen peroxide act as inhibitors of bacterial development.[26] in this research, agar well diffusion and the dilution method were both employed to assess the antibacterial activity of honey. acidity, non-hydrogen peroxide activity, high osmotic effect, and the presence of phytochemical components, which are helpful in regulating bacterial dispersal, are the main actions of honey. because honey has a significant amount of sugar, bacteria cannot grow in it because the ph is low enough to prevent many types of bacteria from growing in it. honey’s primary antibacterial component, hydrogen peroxide, is produced when the enzyme glucose oxidase is triggered by honey dilutions. furthermore, other components found in honey and give it the ability to kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria.[27,28] all of the investigated honeys’ mic and inhibitory zone values against s. aureus demonstrated bactericidal and bacteriostatic activity. our findings are comparable to those of other studies.[29] the bacteria were resistant to the honey sample if any zone had a diameter of <3 mm. the bacterium appeared to be sensitive to the honey sample, though, as shown by a zone diameter higher than 7 mm.[30] these honey samples might be used topically to heal wounds because the bacteria are known to infect wounds and are sensitive to the honey samples. it is known that honey may be used to cure an infected wound.[31] it was shown that 50% (v/v) of the three samples’ concentration of honey that prevented the growth of which 90% of staphylococcus aureus accordingly. the findings of earlier studies reflect our ideals. these variations in honey’s antibacterial action may result from its diverse bee sources or species.[32] in addition, samples of honey included alkaloids, tannins, and flavonoids, all of which are known to have antimicrobial properties.[19] data from both the agar diffusion and broth dilution methods indicated that bacteria were more resistant to the second and third samples more than industrial honey, despite the fact that this result is supernatural, according to previous research, the natural honey has greater antibacterial activity than modified honey. this may be due to fraud by the companies exporting these two samples and selling them as a natural honey. however, in our studied if we take into account that the two samples are natural, the second sample was having greater antibacterial activity than the third, the reason is due to the different nectar source of the bees or the change in acidity and water rate in both samples. the industrial honey is tampered with honey. it started off as pure honey, but later other ingredients – glucose, dextrose, molasses, sugar syrup, flour, corn syrup, starch, or any other product – were added to boost its volume or alter its qualities. inverted sucrose from beet or cane sugar is artificial honey. to mimic genuine honey, it has been altered in look, flavor, and odor.[33] there are various researches studied the chemical components of industrial honey in general, regardless of the company that manufactured it to distinguish between natural honey and artificial honey. a total of 800 samples of industrial honey were examined for this reason. since the designs of honey with 0 and 7 and 0 and 0 and c-4 sugar content (percent) were so similar, it was possible to determine that honey with 7 and c-4 sugar content (percent) was also free of c-4 sugars. the 13c protein levels of both honey groups and the 13c honey values show a very good association. a helpful characteristic for contaminated honey with a c-4 sugar content (percent) 7 is that the c-4 sugar content (percent) 7 group had lower (p 0.05) values (16.30) for the 18o value compared to other honey. table 2: mics of honey against staphylococcus aureus growth solution % mic result s1 10 no mic negative 20 no mic negative 50 mic positive s2 10 no mic negative 20 no mic negative 50 mic positive s3 10 no mic negative 20 no mic negative 50 mic positive mic: minimum inhibitory concentration table 3: antibacterial activity of antibiotics against staphylococcus aureus antibiotic (mcg) sensitivity inhibition zone cloxacillin (10 mcg) sensitive 8.1 cm trimethoprim (10 mcg) sensitive 6.2 cm azithromycin (15 mcg) resistant no inhibition ciprofloxacin (10 mcg) sensitive 10.4 cm penicillin g (10 mcg) sensitive 5.3 cm rifampin (5 mcg) sensitive 8.1 cm methicillin (10 mcg) sensitive 3.5 cm gentamicin (10 mcg) sensitive 7.8 cm clindamycin (10 mcg) sensitive 6.5cm erythromycin (10 mcg) resistant no inhibition thanoon, et al.: antimicrobial activity against staphylococcus aureus by hplc determination 117 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 112-118 a hplc test was carried out to determine the components of industrial honey and their concentrations to determine why industrial honey had a greater impact on honey. this test’s results revealed that industrial honey is primarily composed of carbohydrates, catalase, and invertase, and that its low water content also plays a role in the concentration-dependent killing of bacteria. hplc test showed that the most common type of enzymes present in the honey is organic acidic and is explained the acidity of honey. it also showed a high amount of glucose oxidase which plays an important role in killing bacteria by oxidation of glucose to h2o2. [7] many researches have employed the earlier techniques while using the agar diffusion method to measure the activity of honey. when researchers researched honey or the natural antibacterial components of honey, they discovered a number of issues with the agar diffusion method. a few modifications in the experimental settings, such as agar volume, inoculation concentration, and incubation conditions, may cause significantly different findings. these include insensitivity, wherein modest levels of antimicrobial activity are not always evident.[34] finally, the data acquired by the dilution techniques and time-kill assay did not confirm the results of the agar diffusion obtained in the current investigation, which indicated limited activity. it was obvious that there was no direct correlation between mic and zone size. this shows that results from the agar diffusion technique may not always be an accurate reflection of overall antibacterial activity. this research also studied the effect of some antibiotics on bacteria to see if s. aureus is resistant or sensitive to it. we have noticed that s. aureus was sensitive to some antibiotics, including rifampin, clindamycin, gentamicin, methicillin, ciprofloxacin, penicillin, cloxacillin, and trimethoprim, and it was resistant to azithromycin and erythromycin. conclusion all tubes that were cultured with addition of honey showed a level of turbidity except 10% diluted tubes which was a clear tube (no turbidity) that refers to mic. in the well diffusion method, the three types of honey had different effects at the same concentration of honey. low concentration had not any effect and high concentration of honey showed a different effect. although the industrial honey had more effect (larger inhibition zone), we cannot consider it as an antimicrobial agent because the inhibition zone was not large enough compared to the concentration of honey and other antibiotics that were used. references 1. n. a. albaridi. antibacterial potency of honey. international journal of microbiology, vol. 2019, pp. 1-10, 2019. 2. p. mcloone, m. warnock and l. fyfe. honey: a realistic antimicrobial for disorders of the skin. microbiology and immunology, vol. 49, pp. 161-167, 2016. 3. c. v. nolan, j. harrison and j. a. g. cox. dissecting the antimicrobial composition of honey. antibiotics, vol. 8, p. 251, 2019. 4. k. s. hossain, m. g. hossain, a. moni, m. m. rahman, u. h. rahman, m. alam, s. kundu, m. m. rahman, m. a. hannan and m. j. uddin. prospects of honey in fighting against covid-19: pharmacological insights and therapeutic promises. heliyon, vol. 6, p. e5798, 2020. 5. s. anand, m. deighton, g. livanos, e. c. k. pang and n. mantri. agastache honey has superior antifungal activity in comparison with important commercial honeys. scientific reports, vol. 9, p. 18197, 2019. 6. o. escuredo, l. r. silva, p. valentão, m. c. seijo and p. b. andrade. assessing rubus honey value: pollen and phenolic compounds content and antibacterial capacity. food chemistry, vol. 130, pp. 671-678, 2012. 7. s. bogdanov and p. martin. honey authenticity mitteilungen aus dem gebiete der. lebensmitteluntersuchung und hygiene, vol. 93, pp. 232-254, 2002. 8. j. t. seil and t. j. webster. antimicrobial applications of nanotechnology: methods and literature. international journal of nanomedicine, vol. 7, pp. 2767, 2012. 9. a. f. henriques, r. e. jenkins, n. f. burton and r. a. cooper. the effect of manuka honey on the structure of pseudomonas aeruginosa. european journal of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, vol. 30, pp. 167-171, 2011. 10. m. a. mundo, o. i. padilla-zakour and r. w. worobo. growth inhibition of foodborne pathogens and food spoilage organisms by select raw honey. international journal of food microbiology, vol. 97, no. 1, pp. 1-8, 2004. 11. h. goossens, m. ferech, v. r. stichele and m. elseviers. outpatient antibiotic use in europe and association with resistance: a crossnational database study. lancet, vol. 365, no. 9459, pp. 579-587, 2005. 12. e. hołderna-kędzia and b. kędzia. miody odmianowe i ich znaczenie lecznicze. wydawnictwo duszpaster stwa rolników, włocławku, poland, 2002. 13. j. cooke. when antibiotics can be avoided in skin inflammation and bacterial colonization? a review of topical treatments. current opinion in infectious diseases, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 125-129, 2014. 14. s. mandal, m. deb mandal and n. k. pal. antimicrobial resistance pattern of salmonella typhi isolates in kolkata, india during 1991-2001: a retrospective study. japanese journal of infectious diseases, vol. 55, pp. 58-59, 2002. 15. a. mansour, k. enayat, n. m. s. neda, a. behzad. antibacterial effect and physicochemical properties of essential oil of zataria multiflora boiss. asian pacific journal of tropical medicine, vol. 3, pp. 439-442, 2010. 16. b. joshua and n. d. keshu. comparing the antibacterial and functional properties of cameroonian and manuka honeys for potential wound healing-have we come full cycle in dealing with antibiotic resistance? molecules, vol. 20, no. 9, pp. 1606816084, 2015. 17. v. m. french, r. a. cooper and p. c. molan. the antibacterial activity of honey against coagulase-negative staphylococci. journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, vol. 56, pp. 228-231, 2005. 18. o. o. akanbi and b. o. omafuvbe. microbiological and physicochemical properties of some commercial nigerian honey. african journal of microbiology research, vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 891-896, 2009. 19. a. simon, k. traynor, k. santos, g. blaser, u. bode and p. molan. medical honey for wound care still the “latest resort”. evidence based complementary and alternative medicine, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 165-173, 2009. 20. d. dinkov. perspection of royal jelly and bee honey as new antibacterial therapy agents of hospital infections. journal of clinical pathology and laboratory medicine, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 5-8, 2017. 21. k. j. abhishek, v. ravichandran, s. madhvi and r. k. agrawal. synthesis and antibacterial evaluation of 2-substituted-4,5diphenyl-n-alkyl imidazole derivatives. asian pacific journal of tropical medicine, vol. 3, no. 6, pp. 472-474, 2010. thanoon, et al.: antimicrobial activity against staphylococcus aureus by hplc determination 118 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 112-118 22. v. p. shenoy, m. ballal, p. g. shivananda and i. bairy. honey as an antimicrobial agent against pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from infected wounds. journal of global infectious diseases, vol. 4, no. 2, p. 102, 2012. 23. f. g. p. moumbe, f. zambou and m. kaktcham. antimicrobial activity of probiotic strain lactobacillus plantarum isolated from ‘‘sha0a” and assement of its viability in local honey. the journal of microbiology, biotechnology and food sciences, vol. 3, pp. 226231, 2013. 24. d. m. manisha and m. shyamapada. honey: its medicinal property and antibacterial activity. asian pacific journal of tropical biomedicine, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 154-160, 2011. 25. s. natarajan, d. williamson, j. grey, k. g. harding and r. a. cooper. healing of an mrsa-colonized hydroxyurea-induced leg ulcer with honey. journal of dermatological treatment, vol. 12, pp. 33-36, 2001. 26. p. l. miorin, n. c. levy, a. r. custodio, w. a. bretz and m. c. marcucci. antibacterial activity of honey and propolis from apis mellifera and tetragonisca angustula against staphylococcus aureus. journal of applied microbiology, vol. 95, pp. 913-920, 2003. 27. n. al-waili, k. salom and a. a. al-ghamdi. honey for wound healing, ulcers, and burns; data supporting its use in clinical practice. the scientific world journal, vol. 11, pp. 766-787, 2011. 28. m. diez. characterization of uniflora honey by their physical characteristics. food chemistry, vol. 79, pp. 373-379, 2002. 29. m. ahmed, s. sahile and c. subramanian. evaluation of antibacterial potential of honey against some common human pathogens in north gondar zone of ethiopia. international journal of pure and applied zoology, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 286-295, 2000. 30. o. e. agbagwa and n. frank-peterside. effect of raw commercial honeys from nigeria on selected pathogenic bacteria. african journal of microbiology research, vol. 4, no. 16, pp. 1801-1803, 2010. 31. a. kingsley. the use of honey in the treatment of infected wound. the british journal of nursing, vol. 10, no. 22, pp. 13-16, 2001. 32. r. zintchem, g. o. fankem, c. fokunang, p. mkounga, e. t. achick, r. kamgang, d. gatsing and t. dimo. in vitro evaluation of the antimicrobial properties of mallotus oppositifolium decoction leaf extracts and fractions. international journal of biological and chemical sciences, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 815-824, 2015. 33. n. prica, m. živkov-baloš, s. jakšid, z. mihaljev, b. kartalovid, j. babid and s. savid. moisture and acidity as indicators of the quality of honey originating from vojvodina region. arhiv veterinarske medicine, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 99-109, 2014. 34. p. h. s. kwakman, j. p.c. van den akker, a. güçlü, h. aslami, j. m. binnekade, l. de boer, l. boszhard, f. paulus, p. middelhoek, a. a. te velde, c. m. j. vandenbroucke-grauls, m. j. schultz and s. a. j. zaat. medical-grade honey kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria in vitro and eradicates skin colonization. clinical infectious diseases, vol. 46, no. 11, pp. 1677-1682, 2008. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 42-46 research article exploring investigation of the impact of studying statistics at enhancing mathematical skills during years of faculty marwan t. hasan abstract subject of statistics has always known as field related to mathematics and because statistics is commonly taught in schools as part of the mathematics curriculum, it is regarded as a mathematical. in salahaddin university, entering to the department of statistics is limited to students who graduated from science department at high school. thus, we anticipate students with good knowledge in mathematical level. students from all stages of the department were encouraged to participate in the examination and their scores were recorded. the objective of this study are to explore whether there is substantial difference between male and female as well as to discover whether the more higher stages enhance their mathematical level of knowledge. normality test was done on the dataset and if failed to meet it, nonparametric test such as mann–whitney u- and kruskal–wallis test at significant level 0.05. keywords: statistics, mathematics, normality test, mann–whitney u, kruskal–wallis introduction this is unnecessary to stress the value of statistical literacy for today’s person, and we come to an agreement with[1] that lacking of it, having an educated estimation and participating in social and political discussions about the environment, health, education, and other issues is difficult. many teachers, on the other hand, are uncomfortable with the topic. teachers who have not had specialized instruction obtain their knowledge straight from school textbooks and may be unable to spot mistakes.[2] as a result, teachers are unable to recognize and react to students’ ideas, prejudices, and misunderstandings (russell, ibid.). furthermore, the necessity to teach a topic that is not well-understood causes anxiety. “a sense of uncertainty attributed not so much to a deficiency of training in statistics, but also to an absence of preparation in the teaching of statistics,” according to interviews with italian mathematics students.[3] furthermore, teachers are unaware of the breadth of the statistical material they could teach. furthermore, teachers are unaware of the breadth of the statistical material they are required to teach. descriptive numbers, for example, are thought to be simple and uninteresting. as a result, statistics was relegated to the end of the academic year, if not entirely lost, due to a lack of time.[4] there is a lot of works on gender and theoretical achievement in mathematics, with a lot of diverse perspectives and observations. boys outperformed girls in algebra, according to studies undertaken in northern countries.[5,6] demonstrating that on standardized math exams, boys outperformed children. female students, on the other hand, seem to do higher than male students, according to a growing body of foreign research.[7,8] a large-scale analysis in the united states of america[8] found that girls have caught up to boys in mathematics results, including in high school, where there was a difference in previous decades. they confirmed that girls outperform boys even in tasks including complicated problem solving. the international institute for educational planning[9] conducted the second southern and eastern africa consortium for monitoring education quality survey (2000–2002) and found no major gender gaps among students in south africa. only in seychelles did the same research reveal that girls scored slightly higher than boys. boys, on the other hand, ranked slightly higher than girls in tanzania, kenya, mozambique, zanzibar, and malawi. the gaps were not important in other school systems, like those in south africa. received: may 17, 2021 accepted: june 22, 2021 published: june 30, 2021 copyright © 2021 marwan t. hasan. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v5n1y2021.pp42-46 department of statistics, college of adminstration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq corresponding author: marwan t. hasan, department of statistics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: marwan.hasan@su.edu.krd https://doi.org/10.24086/cuesj.v5n1y2021.pp42-46 hasan: the impact of studying statistics at enhancing mathematical skills 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 42-46 another body of evidence suggests that gender differences in mathematical success are dwindling.[10,11] the divide has been shrinking in the united states of america, according to perie et al.[12] gender gaps in mathematics achievement are shrinking and changing in australia, according to research forgasz et al. and vale.[13,14] many studies performed in australasia between 2000 and 2004 reported no substantial variations in mathematics performance between male and female students, while males were more likely to attain higher mean scores, according to vale.[14] researchers have conducted experiments in a variety of ways around the world to look at the aspects that affect gendered math achievement. many of these findings have concentrated on the causes that contribute to disparities in math achievement between boys and girls.[15-18] feminist scholars have attempted to interpret male-female gender dynamics to make sense of the interactions of girls and boys in mathematics classes.[19,20] girls are often overlooked and assigned inferior status in mathematics classes, according to their findings. teachers’ expectations of girls’ math success are based on rote learning, hard work, and perseverance rather than innate flexibility, ability, and risk taking, which are the learning styles of boys, according to the results. in this article, we will attempt to demonstrate how statistics will help students understand mathematics by encasing certain mathematical terms in a genuine and inspiring way. in reality, plentiful of mathematics is established to explain and model life phenomena, from dayto-day depending to medicine and economics, and statistics is often used to do so. another objective of this study is to show how score of math score varies between male and female, as well as the students between stages of studying at department of statistics. importance of simple data analysis mathematics was created to solve issues that people faced on a daily basis. comparisons, charts, and other numerical communications all use numbers in daily life. as a result, “it is vital to create children’s mental representations of numbers at the same time as they learn to count and calculate.”[20] most of this mathematics is encapsulated in statistics that attempt to explain the universe around us. statistics comprises the majority of the mathematics taught in primary school and a portion of the high school curriculum, according to an examination of some school textbooks and accounts of experiments. when it comes to small surveys, descriptive statistics are normally the first step. moreover, preschoolers may benefit from these basic tasks. the development of graphical representations is also ripe for the picking. allowing the children to build their own images is a vital first step and then bringing them to see the elements that are central and those that are absent, such as names, references, and so on. collecting, organizing, categorizing, storing, and symbolizing data are a basic data handling operation. number principles such as cardinal and ordinal, numbering, and basic arithmetical operations are enabled in this activity. it’s just the start. numbers will gradually take the place of dots, and words will replace the sketches that represent each data type. simple pictograms can pave the way for well-organized tables, with numerical details and periods replacing categories. the definition of a number as a metric, such as height or weight, would emerge. importance of proportionality several experiments[21-23] suggest that relational logic and, in particular, fractions and percentage are not well understood. it was discovered that gymnasium students, as well as teachers, had trouble with this sort of figures.[24,25] the principle of proportion is a fundamental concept in mathematics that encompasses the scope of percentage but is also essential to comprehend the linear function. the principle of proportionality is a fundamental mathematical concept that encompasses the concept of percentage while also being essential to comprehending the linear function. it’s often connected to fractions and decimals, as well as graphical representation.[23] there is a “training to obey such laws” rather than a “gain of experience.”[26] statistics, once again, provides beneficial ways to focus on both of these concepts. many everyday circumstances, such as things and their prices, time, and speed, may be the focus of a mathematical survey, which will deal with the multiplicative systems, which are the basis of the proportionality principle. importance of variability and functions variability and functions are examples of mathematical principles that are often found in statistics. line diagrams depicting the association among two variables, for example, can be used to analyze patterns and make forecasts, as well as another technique to view statistics and, finally, modeling. it also serves as a primer on the analysis of heterogeneity and functions. this holds true with linear relationships and regression as well. scatter plots can be seen right away.[27] students should then search for the straight line (or, finally, the shape) that can best translate the relationship between the two variables. they would use the principle of distance between a point and a line or between two lines, as well as absolute values and absolute value functions, to do so. then, you’ll have to do with numbers of distances or squares of distances. methodology data to find out the effect of statistics at enhancing mathematical level, a 20 math questions were developed and designed for a sample of 262 students at salahaddin university – college of economics and administration, department of statistics. the sample includes students from all four stages and both male and female gender. the results were generated using spss v 25 to explore and implement descriptive statistics as well as inferential statistics hasan: the impact of studying statistics at enhancing mathematical skills 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 42-46 like non-parametric comparison tests such as mann–whitney test, kruskal–wallis test. an 0.05 significance level was used as threshold value to report the tests results. results descriptive statistics it is always important, as a first step to do any statistical analysis, to have a tour on some statistical measurements to see how the data are distributed, and for that some tables and graphs have been generated. as shown from table 1, the distribution is based on gender and female participants are way higher than males with 181 and 82, respectively, in terms of their distribution, as first thought we can see that there is no huge difference between male and female with respect to mean and sd values. figure 1 confirms that the score variable is sort of equally distributed with a little bit difference and yet cannot be sure until further investigation is made. we can also hint that the score variable is relatively far to be distributed normally for both male and female [table 2]. referencing to stage variable, it is clear that the number of participants for stages 1 and 2 is quite close to each other with 64 and 55 students, respectively, and only 38 students at stage 4 joined the examination. however, a huge number of students were seen in the test with 106. it is worth mentioning that stages 1 (13.203) and 3 (11.783) were much better than students at stages 2 (9.763) and 4 (9.500) concerning to their mean values as they are above the cut value (>10). there might be rational reason for that as at stages 1 and 3, there are some topics which are purely mathematics. figure 2 shows a very useful information in relation to variable distribution. it does tells us that the students in mathematics examination at all four stages had done differently and as seen students at stage 1 were the best one, followed by stages 3, 4, and 2. no normality of the data can be stated. conducting any statistical test to do some comparison requires some assumption to be met. the most common requirement is whether the data are normally distributed. before implementing the normality test, it is better to see the nature of the data. thus, we created the histogram plots for the data and none of the dimensions refer our thoughts to normal distribution. thus, none of the groups strongly suggested to have a perfect normal distribution. however, to be sure about the normality distribution or homogeneity, first let’s see what the shapiro–wilk test leads us. table 3 provides enough evidence to go ahead with nonparametric test to know whether the categorical variables are significantly difference between the levels in response to score achievements. test comparison the time has come to go further into the investigation to discover whether gender has any effect on students to be knowledge with mathematical subjects in statistical department regardless to their stages. since we ended up with not normally distributed and hence, we implemented mann– whitney u-test to compare two groups (in our case gender) and kruskal–wallis test for more than 2 groups (in our case stages). table 4 demonstrates that there is no statistical difference between male and female regarding to their level of knowledge in mathematics since the p-value (0.270) is much larger than the significance level (0.05). referencing to stages as we expected that somehow there might be some discrepancies in their performances at the examination. we thought the more studying in statistics, the more involvement with mathematics is happened. the kruskal table 1: mean and sd exploration for gender gender score n mean sd male 82 11.024 4.128 female 181 11.508 3.769 table 3: normality test for both independent variables in response to score achievement shapiro–wilk statistic df sig. gender male 0.968 82 0.036 female 0.983 181 0.027 score 1 0.976 64 0.250 2 0.933 55 0.004 3 0.977 106 0.057 4 0.960 38 0.190 table 2: mean and sd exploration for stages stages score n mean sd one 64 13.203 3.941 two 55 9.673 3.283 three 106 11.783 3.602 four 38 9.500 3.689 figure 1: boxplot for both male and female and score achievement hasan: the impact of studying statistics at enhancing mathematical skills 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 42-46 test confirmed that there were statistical differences in achieving scores in the examination mathematics since the p-value (0.000) is less than 0.05. nevertheless, we cannot know exactly between which stages the difference was occurred, and we needed to compute the multiple comparison tests among each pair. for this purpose, mann–whitney u-test was applied and ended up that there was no difference between stages 2 and 4 only. conclusion as we reach to conclusion, the study reported that there were no differences among males and females in achieving higher or lower mark in mathematical examination at the department of statistics. this result matches with other previous studies. although, female participants were much higher than male participants with about nearly 100 students and still the descriptive result showed no statistical significance result. on the other hand, stages as expected unlike gender had shown that students might increase their level of mathematics while studying statistics and in our study interesting result came up. students in stages 1 and 3 performed better than student at stages 2 and 4 in the examination with reference to descriptive statistics. similar to gender, again non-parametric test was used and consequently showed significant outcome. kruskal– wallis test which works just like anova was calculated and indicated significant conclusion. furthermore, to dive into the detail, mann–whitney u-test was applied again between each pair of stages and reached to report that there was only difference in student’s performance at stages 2 and 4. references 1. c. konold, a. pollastsek and a. gagnon. students analyzing data: research of critical barriers. in: j. b. garfield and g. burrill, (eds.), research on the role of technology in teaching and learning statistics: 1996 proceedings of the 1996 iase round table conference. voorburg, the netherlands: international statistical institute, pp. 151-167. 2. a. hawkins, f. jolliffe and l. glickman. teaching statistical concepts. the effective teachers series. london: longman, 1992. 3. l. gattuso, and m. a. pannone, teacher’s training in a statistic table 4: mann–whitney u and kruskal–wallis test result for the case study mean rank chi-square p-value pairwise comparison gender mann–whitney male 124.341 1.216 0.270 female 135.470 stage kruskal–wallis mann–whitney 1 167.125 35.779 0.000 no difference only occurred between stages 2 and 4 2 96.900 3 141.840 4 96.197 figure 2: boxplot and histograms for detecting how the variables are distributed hasan: the impact of studying statistics at enhancing mathematical skills 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2021, 5 (1): 42-46 teaching experimentation. in: b. phillips, (ed.), proceedings of the sixth international conference on teaching statistics, cape town. voorburg, the netherlands: international statistical institute, pp. 685-692, 2002. 4. m. aksu, problem areas related to statistics in training teachers of mathematics in turkey. in: a. hawkins, (ed.), training teachers to teach statistics proceedings of the international statistical institute round table conference, budapest, hungary. voorburg, the netherlands: international statistical institute, pp. 127-137, 1990. 5. e. fenemma. gender and mathematics. what is known and what i wish was known? (unpublished manuscript). madison, wisconsin: wisconsin centre for educational research, 2000. 6. k. g. messmer. result of an empirical study into gender differences in attitudes towards mathematics. educational studies in mathematics journal, vol. 25, pp. 209-216, 1994. 7. m. arnot, m. david and g. weiner. closing the gender gap. cambridge: polity press, 1999. 8. j. s. hydea and j. e. mertzb. gender, culture, and mathematics performance, 2009. available from: http://www.tctvideo. madison.com/uw/gender. 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http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 76-83 research article optimizing health pattern recognition particle swarm optimization approach for enhanced neural network performance mohammad a. assaad1, ghazi h. shakah2 1department of informatics and software engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of software engineering, ajloun national university, jordan abstract health pattern recognition is vital for advancing personalized health-care interventions. this research introduces a synergistic approach, combining fuzzy c-means (fcm) clustering with particle swarm optimization (pso), to optimize the hyperparameters of an artificial neural network (ann) and enhance health pattern recognition. leveraging key features such as “smoker,” “bmi,” and “genhlth,” fcm reveals distinctive health clusters, providing nuanced insights into diverse health profiles within the dataset. subsequently, the pso algorithm systematically optimizes critical ann hyperparameters, significantly decreasing the training loss to 0.004. this reduction underscores the effectiveness of the optimization process, indicating improved learning and predictive capabilities of the ann. the proposed methodology not only refines health pattern recognition but also holds promise for personalized health-care analytics. the identified clusters offer actionable insights for tailored interventions, addressing specific health profiles within the population. this research contributes to the evolving landscape of health-care analytics by integrating advanced clustering and optimization techniques, paving the way for more effective and individualized health-care strategies. keywords: health pattern recognition, fuzzy c-means, particle swarm optimization, hyperparameter optimization, health clusters, optimization algorithms introduction health-care analytics, driven by advanced data-driven methodologies, is a key to transforming patient care and outcomes. to enhance our understanding of complex health patterns, this research endeavors to amalgamate fuzzy c-means (fcm) clustering and particle swarm optimization (pso) techniques to optimize the hyperparameters of an artificial neural network (ann). the overarching goal is to achieve a more precise and individualized recognition of health profiles within a diverse dataset.[1] the burgeoning field of health pattern recognition is critical for discerning intricate relationships between lifestyle, demographic, and health-related factors. identifying distinct clusters within populations can unearth nuanced insights into health behaviors, aiding in developing targeted and personalized health-care strategies. features such as “smoker,” “body mass index (bmi),” and “genhlth” provide multifaceted dimensions for analysis, offering a comprehensive view of an individual’s health status.[2] the initial phase of this study leverages fcm clustering to categorize individuals into health clusters based on shared characteristics. this technique excels in capturing the inherent fuzziness and overlaps present in health-related data, allowing for a more realistic representation of diverse health profiles. the clusters identified by fcm lay the foundation for subsequent optimization through pso, which systematically refines the hyperparameters of an ann. the significance of hyperparameter optimization in neural networks cannot be overstated. the choice of parameters such as the number of neurons in hidden layers and activation functions directly influences the model’s learning capacity and predictive accuracy. pso, inspired by social behavior and collaboration, offers an innovative approach to finetuning these hyperparameters. by systematically exploring corresponding author: mohammad a. assaad, department of informatics and software engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mohammad.anwar@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 03, 2024 accepted: july 03, 2024 published: september 15, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp76-83 copyright © 2024 mohammad a. assaad, ghazi h. shakah. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) assaad and shakah: optimizing health pattern recognition pso approach 77 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 76-83 the solution space, pso aims to discover optimal parameter configurations that lead to improved ann performance.[3] the outcomes of this research are not merely confined to the realm of algorithmic enhancements. the optimized ann holds the promise of being a powerful tool for health pattern recognition, offering potential applications in risk assessment, disease prediction, and targeted intervention strategies. as we navigate the intricate landscape of individual health profiles, the synergy of fcm and pso presents a novel avenue for advancing health-care analytics and ushering in a new era of personalized health care. this study contributes to the evolving dialog on the intersection of data science and health care, where innovative methodologies hold the potential to revolutionize patient-centric care and well-being. related work mahesa[3] study addresses the critical need for efficient brain tumor segmentation in medical imaging, aiming to expedite the analysis process and facilitate timely patient treatment. traditional manual segmentation methods are time-consuming, causing delays in treatment initiation and impeding the timely dissemination of health information.[4] to automate this process, the research proposes an enhancement to an existing partition-based brain tumor segmentation algorithm.[5-8] the chosen image segmentation algorithm is fcm, a widely used method. to further optimize the segmentation process, pso is introduced. this optimization algorithm operates concurrently with the segmentation algorithm, enhancing its efficiency. the evaluation involves comparing the objective function of the original algorithm (without optimization) with the optimized version (fcm-pso) using six different medical images. the key focus is on minimizing the objective function, which serves as a measure of segmentation quality. the results demonstrate that the fcm optimized by pso (fcm-pso) achieves a lower objective function compared to the original fcm across the six images. this outcome indicates that the optimized fcm is closer to the global minimum, showcasing its potential to significantly enhance the segmentation algorithm’s performance.[9,10] siringoringo[5] study addresses a common challenge in fcm, a well-known clustering algorithm, where sensitivity to initial cluster center values and susceptibility to local optima can impact performance. in response, this research introduces an enhanced version, combining fcm with pso for effective sentiment clustering in high-dimensional and unstructured data. pso is employed to optimize the determination of initial cluster centers, mitigating the sensitivity issues associated with traditional fcm. the results demonstrate that the proposed fcm-pso outperforms conventional fcm across various metrics, including rand index, f-measure, and objective function values (ofv). notably, the superior ofv value indicates that fcm-pso exhibits faster convergence and improved noisehandling capabilities. this enhancement suggests that the fcm-pso algorithm offers better overall performance, making it a promising solution for sentiment clustering in highdimensional and unstructured datasets. the papers[6,11] showed that the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence has consistently spotlighted image processing technology as a challenging and prominent area of research. with the advent and progression of machine learning and deep learning methodologies, swarm intelligence algorithms have emerged as a focal point of investigation. the integration of image processing technology with swarm intelligence algorithms has proven to be a novel and effective means of enhancement. swarm intelligence algorithms emulate the evolutionary principles, behavioral characteristics, and cognitive patterns observed in biological populations such as insects, birds, and natural phenomena. these algorithms, including the ant colony algorithm, pso algorithm, sparrow search algorithm, bat algorithm, and thimble colony algorithm, exhibit efficient and parallel global optimization capabilities, demonstrating robust optimization performance.[12] this paper delves into a comprehensive study of various swarm intelligent optimization algorithms, exploring their models, features, improvement strategies, and application domains within image processing. the applications cover a spectrum of image-processing tasks, including segmentation, matching, classification, feature extraction, and edge detection. the analysis involves a thorough examination of theoretical research, improvement strategies, and practical applications in image processing. a comparative study is conducted to discern the strengths and weaknesses of different algorithms.[13] drawing insights from existing literature, the paper scrutinizes improvement methods for the aforementioned algorithms and provides a holistic overview of their collective impact on advancing image processing technology. the representative algorithms, particularly those fused with image segmentation technology, are identified for in-depth analysis and summarization. the paper consolidates the diverse swarm intelligence algorithms, highlighting their shared framework, common traits, and distinguishing features. it also acknowledges existing challenges and concludes with a forward-looking projection of future trends in this interdisciplinary domain.[14] wu et al.[10] paper addresses the challenge of quality detection in the production and processing of stuffed food, focusing on frozen dumplings on a conveyor belt. the proposed solution introduces a small neighborhood clustering algorithm to effectively segment frozen dumpling images, enhancing the overall qualified rate of food quality. the method employs feature vectors constructed from image attribute parameters, utilizing a distance function between categories to perform segmentation through a small neighborhood clustering algorithm.[15] key aspects of the algorithm include the selection of optimal segmentation points and sampling rate. the paper outlines a process for calculating the optimal sampling rate and proposes a search method to determine it. in addition, a validity judgment function for segmentation is introduced. the optimized small neighborhood clustering (osnc) algorithm is then applied to continuous image target segmentation experiments using fast frozen dumpling images as samples. assaad and shakah: optimizing health pattern recognition pso approach 78 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 76-83 the experimental results showcase the osnc algorithm’s high accuracy in defect detection, achieving a rate of 95.9%. comparative analysis with existing segmentation algorithms highlights the osnc algorithm’s robustness against interference, faster segmentation speed, and efficient preservation of key information. this algorithm effectively addresses limitations observed in other segmentation methods, making it a promising solution for improving the quality detection process in stuffed food production. methodology this paper employs a comprehensive methodology that integrates fcm clustering and pso to enhance health pattern recognition through the optimization of an ann. the sequential application of these techniques is designed to discern distinctive health clusters and subsequently refine the ann’s hyperparameters for improved performance. dataset and feature selection the foundation of our methodology lies in the careful selection of features that encapsulate essential dimensions of health profiles. the dataset encompasses a diverse array of features such as “smoker,” “bmi,” and “genhlth,” providing a multifaceted representation of individuals’ health characteristics. fcm clustering fcm clustering is employed to categorize individuals into distinct health clusters based on the chosen features. fcm excels in handling data with inherent fuzziness and overlaps, offering a more realistic representation of the complex interplay between health-related attributes. the iterative optimization process of fcm converges to reveal clusters that capture shared characteristics within the dataset, and figure 1 shows the difference between fcm (soft clustering) and hard clustering.[3-6] pso following the identification of health clusters, the study introduces the pso algorithm to optimize the hyperparameters of an ann. the hyperparameters targeted for optimization include the number of neurons in the first hidden layer (hidden_layer1), the number of neurons in the second hidden layer (hidden_layer2), and the activation function in the output layer (activation_functions). pso, inspired by social behavior and collaboration, utilizes a swarm of particles to systematically explore the hyperparameter space and discover configurations that minimize the ann’s training loss. figure 2 shows pso convergence mechanism.[12-14] ann architecture and training the ann architecture is defined based on the optimized hyperparameters obtained through the pso algorithm. a sequential model is created using the keras framework, with input dimensions matching the selected features. the model comprises multiple layers, including the input layer, hidden layers with the specified number of neurons, and an output layer with the chosen activation function. the model is trained figure 2: pso convergence mechanism figure 1: hard clustering versus soft clustering using the mean squared error loss function and the adam optimizer. figure 3 shows the basic architecture of ann.[11,13] evaluation and validation to assess the effectiveness of the optimized ann, the dataset is split into training and testing sets. the model’s performance is evaluated using metrics such as mean squared error on the testing set. in addition, internal validation metrics such as silhouette score, davies–bouldin index, or fowlkes–mallows index may be employed to quantitatively assess the quality of the identified health clusters. visualization visual representations are generated to aid in the interpretation of results. these include plots illustrating the training loss over epochs for both the initial and optimized ann, scatter plots showcasing the distribution of data points within identified health clusters and 3d visualizations of cluster centers and data points for enhanced interpretability. interpretation and implications the final step involves interpreting the results and discussing the implications of the identified health clusters and the optimized ann. insights into distinct health profiles, potential risk factors, and the model’s generalization capacity are thoroughly examined. the findings are contextualized within the broader domain of health-care analytics, emphasizing the potential for personalized intervention strategies. results and discussions the determination of an optimal number of clusters is pivotal in ensuring meaningful partitioning of the dataset. employing assaad and shakah: optimizing health pattern recognition pso approach 79 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 76-83 internal validation metrics and thoughtful consideration, the analysis points toward an optimal number of clusters. following a meticulous evaluation, our research (3) clusters as the most fitting configuration for encapsulating the inherent structures within the data. fcm clustering, utilizing the features “smoker,” “bmi,” and “genhlth,” has unveiled distinctive health patterns within the dataset. the analysis determined an optimal number of clusters, revealing three distinct groups: • cluster 1 denoted as “health-conscious individuals,” individuals exhibit lower bmi values, tend to be nonsmokers, and generally report good health perceptions. • cluster 2, characterized as having a “moderate health profile,” consists of individuals with moderate health indicators, including bmi, smoking habits, and general health perceptions. • cluster 3, labeled as “health risk factors,” comprises individuals with higher bmi values, a higher prevalence of smoking, and self-reported lower general health perceptions. these identified cluster characteristics offer a nuanced understanding of the diverse health profiles present in the dataset, particularly emphasizing smoking habits, bmi, and general health perceptions. the subsequent sections will delve deeper, presenting internal validation metrics and visual representations of these clusters to enhance our comprehension of their reliability and interpretability. figure 4 shows fcm clustering. the results obtained from the fcm clustering analysis, focusing on the features “smoker,” “bmi,” and “genhlth,” offer valuable insights into the diverse health profiles within the dataset. the identification of three distinct clusters provides a meaningful partitioning that reflects different health patterns. the main objective of ann is to enhance the precision of cluster assignments obtained from fcm. while fcm provides soft membership values indicating the likelihood of a data point belonging to each cluster, an ann can be employed to refine these assignments, potentially leading to more accurate and distinct cluster boundaries. ann training loss the training loss in a neural network is a measure of how well the model is learning from the training data. it represents the error between the predicted outputs and the actual targets during training. in general, a decreasing training loss is a positive sign, indicating that the model is improving its ability to make predictions on the training data. figure 4 shows ann training loss over epochs. we could break down the scenario as: initial loss (epoch 1): 1.1010 • at the start of training, the model’s weights are initialized randomly. the initial loss reflects how well the model performs with these random weights. figure 4: fuzzy c-means clustering figure 3: ann basic architecture assaad and shakah: optimizing health pattern recognition pso approach 80 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 76-83 loss after 5 epochs: ~1.0990 • the loss has decreased slightly after the first 5 epochs. this suggests that the model is adjusting its weights based on the training data, and it’s starting to make better predictions. loss after 50 epochs: ~1.0985 • the loss has continued to decrease after 50 epochs. this is a positive indication, as it suggests that the model is learning more complex patterns in the data and is likely to generalize well. here are a few considerations: • learning rate: the learning rate is a hyperparameter that determines the step size at each iteration while moving toward a minimum of the loss function. if the learning rate is too high, the model might overshoot the minimum, and if it is too low, the model might converge slowly. adjusting the learning rate could impact the convergence speed. • model complexity: if the model is too complex for the given data, it might overfit the training set, leading to poor generalization of new data. regularization techniques or adjusting the model architecture could help. • data quality and distribution: the training loss is also influenced by the quality and distribution of the training data. ensure that the dataset is representative and that outliers or noise are appropriately handled. • evaluation on test set: while training loss is informative, it is crucial to evaluate the model’s performance on a separate test set to ensure it generalizes well to unseen data. figure 5 shows ann training loss over epochs. if the training loss continues to decrease, and the model performs well on the test set, it indicates successful training. if the training loss plateaus or increases on the test set, it might be a sign of overfitting or other issues that need attention. application of pso pso is a nature-inspired optimization algorithm that simulates the social behavior of birds or fish. in the context of neural network training, pso can be employed to search for optimal sets of parameters (weights and biases) that minimize a cost function, ultimately improving the performance of the neural network. integration with ann training in the code, pso is integrated into the training process of the ann after an initial training phase. the goal is to fine-tune the weights and biases of the neural network to further enhance its performance. pso parameters the pso algorithm involves a swarm of particles (potential solutions) that move through the solution space seeking the optimum. each particle’s position represents a potential solution, and its movement is guided by its own experience and the collective experience of the swarm. figure 5: ann training loss over epochs main parameters optimized with pso 1. particle position: the particle position represents a set of parameters for the neural network, including weights and biases. pso optimizes these parameters to improve the network’s ability to make accurate predictions. 2. particle velocity: particle velocity determines how fast a particle moves through the solution space. in the context of neural network optimization, it influences how much the parameters (weights and biases) are updated in each iteration. 3. objective function: the objective function is a crucial component in pso. in the context of neural network training, it is often associated with the training loss or a related metric. pso seeks to minimize this function by adjusting the neural network parameters. 4. swarm size and iterations: the size of the swarm (number of particles) and the number of iterations are important parameters that influence the exploration-exploitation trade-off. larger swarm sizes allow for more exploration, while more iterations provide additional opportunities for refinement. 5. inertia weight, c1, and c2: these are control parameters in the pso algorithm that balances the influence of the particle’s current velocity, its personal best position, and the global best position. adjusting these parameters impacts the convergence and exploration characteristics of the algorithm. ann optimized parameters the pso algorithm is applied to optimize the hyperparameters of an ann. the hyperparameters that are optimized using pso in the code include: 1. number of neurons in the first hidden layer (hidden_layer1): • values: 32, 64, 128, 256 • this parameter represents the number of neurons in the first hidden layer of the neural network. 2. number of neurons in the second hidden layer (hidden_layer2): assaad and shakah: optimizing health pattern recognition pso approach 81 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 76-83 • values: 64, 128, 256, 512 • this parameter represents the number of neurons in the second hidden layer of the neural network. 3. activation function in the output layer (activation_functions): • values: “linear,” “softmax” • this parameter represents the activation function used in the output layer of the neural network. these hyperparameters are systematically searched using nested loops, where the code iterates through different combinations of hidden_layer1, hidden_layer2, and activation functions. for each combination, a new ann model is created and trained, and the resulting loss is evaluated. the pso algorithm is used to find the combination of hyperparameters that minimize the loss. the loss is calculated using the mean squared error loss function, and the pso algorithm optimizes the weights and biases of the neural network concerning the specified hyperparameters. after the pso optimization, the code prints the minimum loss value and the corresponding optimal hyperparameters, which include the number of neurons in the first hidden layer (hidden_layer1) and the activation function in the output layer (activation_functions). the optimal combination is determined based on the minimum loss achieved during the pso optimization process. table 1 shows the optimized parameters of ann using pso and the corresponding minimum loss value. ann loss value after pso optimization a decrease in the training loss to a value as low as 0.004 is generally a positive outcome and indicates that the optimization process, facilitated by pso, has effectively improved the performance of the ann. figure 6 shows the ann training loss over epochs after pso optimization. in the following, we discuss the significance of this achievement: optimization success the decrease in training loss from the initial values to 0.004 suggests that the pso algorithm has successfully optimized the weights and biases of the neural network. a lower training loss indicates that the model is better at fitting the training data and capturing the underlying patterns. improved generalization achieving a low training loss is an important step toward improved generalization. while training loss measures the error on the training set, a low value indicates that the model has learned to represent the patterns in the data. this, in turn, increases the likelihood of the model generalizing well to unseen data. conclusion clustering insights through fcm the application of fcm clustering to health-related indicators has yielded profound insights into the nuanced structure of our dataset. by categorizing individuals into clusters based on factors such as smoking habits, bmi, and self-reported general health perceptions, fcm facilitated the identification of distinct health profiles. each cluster encapsulates a unique set of characteristics, allowing for a more granular understanding of health-related trends within the population. neural network optimization through pso building upon the clustered insights, the subsequent optimization of the ann using pso demonstrated the potential for swarm intelligence to enhance predictive modeling in the health domain. the substantial reduction of the training loss to an impressive 0.004 attests to the efficacy of pso in finetuning the neural network parameters. this optimization not only improves the model’s ability to capture intricate relationships within the data but also positions the ann as a powerful tool for health prediction. significance of achieved results the achieved results hold significance in several key aspects: precision in health profiling the clustering results obtained through fcm provide a detailed segmentation of the population based on health indicators. this precision in health profiling enables targeted interventions and personalized healthcare strategies. health practitioners and policymakers can leverage these insights to tailor health programs that address the specific needs of each cluster. improved predictive capabilities the optimized ann, refined through pso, showcases improved predictive capabilities with a training loss of 0.004. figure 6: ann loss over epochs after pso optimization table 1: ann-optimized parameters parameter optimized value hidden layer 1 256 activation function softmax minimum loss value 1.27e-12 assaad and shakah: optimizing health pattern recognition pso approach 82 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 76-83 this enhanced precision in predicting health outcomes is invaluable for proactive health management. it allows for early identification of potential health risks within specific clusters, enabling timely interventions and preventive measures. methodological contributions the combination of fcm clustering and pso optimization contributes methodologically to the fields of data science and machine learning. the synergy between unsupervised clustering and optimization techniques offers a comprehensive approach to analyzing complex health datasets. this methodology can be adapted and extended to various domains, fostering advancements in both research and practical applications. informed decision-making in public health the insights gained from this research provide a foundation for informed decision-making in public health. by understanding the diverse health profiles within a population, policymakers can tailor interventions, allocate resources efficiently, and implement targeted health campaigns. this contributes to the overarching goal of improving public health outcomes and reducing health disparities. empowering health-care professionals health-care professionals can leverage the precision in health profiling to enhance patient care. the detailed understanding of health clusters allows for personalized treatment plans and interventions, leading to more effective healthcare delivery. this empowerment of health-care professionals aligns with the paradigm shift toward patient-centric and data-driven healthcare practices. advancements in machine learning for health the application of fcm clustering and pso optimization to health data represents a significant advancement in the intersection of machine learning and public health. the developed methodology provides a template for leveraging machine learning techniques to uncover hidden patterns in health-related datasets. the adaptable nature of the approach opens avenues for its application in diverse health research endeavors. future works while our current research provides valuable insights into health clustering and optimization techniques, there remain promising avenues for future exploration: enhanced feature engineering explore additional health indicators and demographic features to broaden the scope of the analysis. the inclusion of more diverse variables may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of health patterns. dynamic clustering techniques investigate dynamic clustering techniques that adapt to changes in the dataset over time. this is particularly relevant in health-related studies, where trends and behaviors may evolve. interpretability of clusters further research into the interpretability of the identified clusters is essential. understanding the characteristics and health implications of each cluster can inform targeted interventions. references 1. s. mistry, l. wang, y. islam and f. a. j. osei. a comprehensive study on healthcare datasets using ai techniques. cancers (basel), vol. 11, p. 3146, 2022. 2. s. williams, h. l. horsfall, j. p. funnell, j. g. hanrahan, d. z. khan, w. muirhead, d. stoyanov and h. j. marcus. artificial intelligence in brain tumor surgery-an emerging paradigm. cancers (basel), vol. 13, p. 5010, 2021. 3. r. mahesa and e. p. wibowo. optimization of fuzzy c-means clustering using particle swarm optimization in brain tumor image segmentation. journal of theoretical and applied information technology, vol. 98, pp. 3056-3066, 2020. 4. a. pandey, r. gupta and r. dubey. improved brain tumor detection using fuzzy rules with image filtering for tumor identification. international research journal of engineering and technology (irjet), vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 202-207, 2018. 5. r. siringoringo and j. jamaluddin. initializing the fuzzy c-means cluster center with particle swarm optimization for sentiment clustering. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 1361, 012002, 2018. 6. american cancer society. brain and spinal cord tumor in adults early detection, diagnosis, and staging. cancer. org|1.800.227.2345. available from: https://www.cancer. org/cancer/types/brain-spinal-cord-tumors-adults/causesrisksprevention/risk-factors.html 7. s. roy, s. sadhu, s. k. bandyopadhyay, d. bhattacharyya and t. h. kim. brain tumor classification using adaptive neurofuzzy inference system from mri. international journal of bioscience and bio-technology, vol. 3, pp. 203-218, 2021. 8. a. e. francis. time processing of brain’s electrical signals using normalized constant-correlation function to diagnose brain lesions. in: cihan university-erbil conferences, 3rd international conference on communication engineering and computer science (cic-cocos’19), 2019. 9. s. n. nerurkar. brain tumor detection using image segmentation. international journal of engineering research in computer science and engineering (ijercse), vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 64-70, 2017. 10. q. wu, p. li, z. chen and t. zong. a clustering-optimized segmentation algorithm and application on food quality detection. scientific reports, 13, p. 9069, 2023. 11. m. assaad, r. boné and h. cardot. a new boosting algorithm for improved time-series forecasting with recurrent neural networks. information fusion, vol. 9, pp. 41-55, 2008. 12. m. xu, l. cao, d. lu, z. hu and y. yue. application of swarm intelligence optimization algorithms in image processing: a comprehensive review of analysis, synthesis, and optimization. biomimetics, vol. 8, p. 235, 2023. 13. z. xiao, r. huang, y. ding, t. lan, r. dong, z. qin, x. zhang and w. wang. a deep learning-based segmentation method for assaad and shakah: optimizing health pattern recognition pso approach 83 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 76-83 brain tumor in mr images. in: ieee 6th international conference on computational advances in bio and medical sciences (iccabs), 2016. 14. r. sharmila and k. s. joseph. brain tumor detection of mr image using naïve bayes classifier and support vector machine. international journal of scientific research in computer science, engineering and information technology, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 690695, 2018. 15. j.n. wright. cns injuries in abusive head trauma. american journal of roentgenology, vol. 208, pp. 991-1001, 2017. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 103 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 103-111 review article a review on the structure, application, and performance of the passive microstrip devices abbas rezaei1, salah i. yahya2,3 1department of electrical engineering, kermanshah university of technology, kermanshah, iran, 2department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, erbil, iraq, 3department of software engineering, faculty of engineering, koya university, koya, iraq abstract microstrip technology is widely applied for design and implementation of several communication devices such as filters, diplexers, triplexers, multiplexers, and couplers. they are utilized to isolate desired signals and remove disturbing signals. the layout of filters, diplexers, and triplexers have two, three, and four ports, respectively. passive filters have at least one pass channel, whereas diplexers have at least two channels to transmit the desired signal, and multiplexers have more passbands with more channels. to implement the passive components, first a cell called resonator must be designed. creativity is very important in resonator design. it must be small and novel to get a better device than previous works. therefore, the layout of the previous reported resonator, used in passive microstrip devices, is studied in this work. there is a fierce competition among designers to miniaturize and increase the device performance. hence we, will investigate them, from the point of view size and performance, in this work. some diplexers are multi-channel, which are more difficult to design than two-channel diplexers. therefore, the multi-channel diplexers are less reported than the two-channel diplexers. the design of multiplexers is also very difficult because several channels must be controlled. hence, they are less designed than filters and diplexers. the diplexers can be bandpass-bandpass or lowpass-bandpass, where the latest is less designed. this is because designing a lowpass-bandpass diplexer needs lowpass and bandpass resonators, whereas the design of a bandpass-bandpass diplexer needs only a bandpass resonator. keywords: diplexer, filter, microstrip, multiplexer, multi-channel introduction modern wireless communication systems widely need to microstrip passive devices such as filters,[1-6] diplexers,[7-22] multiplexers (triplexers[23-30] and quadruplexers,[31-37] five-channel multiplexer[38]), and couplers.[39-49] for all of these passive devices, it is very necessary to have small dimensions, low insertion loss (il), low return loss (rl), suppressed undesired harmonics, sharp roll-off at the edge of passbands (high frequency selectivity), etc. the number of reported lowpass and bandpass filters (bpf) is very high. meanwhile, the designers in[1-2] could miniaturize the filters very well. the proposed filter in[1] works at 0.85 and 1.85 ghz for mobile communication-850 and 1900 global systems. in[3] the filter size is large but it can attenuate 28th harmonics up to 85 ghz, where it operates at 3 and 6.3 ghz. coupled open loops have been utilized in[4] to obtain a dual band bpf for wireless local area networks. in[5] the number of filter channels are four, which is designed by a circular multi-mode resonator. the reported filters in[6] are single-band with wide and flat passbands. several types of microstrip diplexers such as twochannel, multi-channel, bandpass-bandpass, and lowpassbandpass are presented in.[7-22] they have three ports, called; port1, port2 and port3, which pass the desired signal through two different frequency channels. the channels are created among port1-port2 and port1-port3, so port1 is common. the designers have to establish high isolations between all channels. the dual-band bandpass-bandpass diplexers in[7-9] are very small, but the isolation between channels is neither good nor bad. in,[10] the number of channels is increased to four, which leads to increase the size. two lowpass-bandpass diplexers have been designed in[11-12] with flat channels, while in[13-15] the advantage is their wide stopband. the design process become hard when we decrease the gap between channels. however, the reported diplexer in[16] has quite close channels. in the designs, it can be seen that when the engraved cells are corresponding author: abbas rezaei, department of electrical engineering, kermanshah university of technology, kermanshah, iran. e-mail: a.rezaee@kut.ac.ir copyright © 2022 abbas rezaei, salah i. yahya. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) received: july 28, 2022 accepted: september 5, 2022 published: september 20, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp103-111 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj mailto:a.rezaee@kut.ac.ir rezaei and yahya: passive microstrip devices 104 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 103-111 used, the channels become relatively narrow.[17-18] the use of meandering cells in[19] and[20] leads to save the size, relatively. in,[21] a wide-band diplexer with low insertion losses at both channels is obtained based on stub loaded coupled lines. the proposed diplexer in[7] has several features in terms of very compact size, low-insertion losses, low-group delays at both channels, and wide fractional bandwidths. large wide filled cells with spiral structures,[23] stub loaded coupled lines,[24] coupled hairpins,[25-28] and coupled open loops[29] have been used to design triplexers with four ports and three channels. the designers in[30] could get to very high isolation between channels using coupled u-shape structure. however, using this resonator leads to increase the size. quadruplexers are types of multiplexers with five ports and four passbands.[31-37] in,[32] in addition to the quadruplexer, a five channel multiplexer is designed. despite of having close channels, a high isolation between channels is obtained,[34] which is a great achievement. microstrip couplers have four ports, which they should create two passing channels and an isolation channel.[39-49] in addition to losses and selectivity, the phase shift is an important factor. in 90° couplers, the phase difference between the two passing channels should be close ± 90°[39-41]. in zero-degree couplers, the phase difference between the two passing channels should be close to zero.[42] in this work, we will study the structure advantages and disadvantages of these passive microstrip devices. since filter design is the basis of other designs, several filters will be studied first. then, the types of diplexers will be examined and compared. after that, the structure of triplexers and quadruplexers with their performance comparison will be presented. finally, couplers structures and their performance will be studied. structures, performance, and applications of filters several types of microstrip filters are reported. to design a filter, first a resonator is designed. this structure is then developed and optimized to obtain the desired frequency response. a high performance filter should have low il and rl, high frequency selectivity, and no disturbing harmonics before and after the passband. among the filters, three structures that lead to relatively good frequency response are shown in table 1. throughout this article, λg represents the guided wavelength at first resonance frequency. as shown in table 1, designers had to increase the size to eliminate harmonics. in,[1] the structure is new, very elegant, and complex. its advantage is small size, low loss, and wide bandwidth. in,[3] using coupling structure, several capacitors are created to control the stopband, where we can see many transition zeros. according to the resonance frequencies, the designed filter in[4] is suitable for wireless local area networks. to investigate the advantage and disadvantages, the performance of some microstrip filters is compared in table 2. in table 2, noc represents the number of channels, il and rl, respectively. as presented in table 2, best il and rl are obtained by[3] and,[1] respectively, while the design of a microstrip device with more channels is hard. structures, performance, and applications of diplexers diplexers are three-port devices which uses two different channels to separate and transmit the desired signals. they are table 1: layout and frequency response of dual-band bandpass filters (dimensions are in mmm) references layout frequency response [1] overall size: 0.0017 λg 2 [3] overall size: 0.056 λg 2 [4] overall size: 0.036 λg 2 (320mm2) http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj rezaei and yahya: passive microstrip devices 105 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 103-111 table 2: performance comparison of some microstrip filters references ils (db) rls (db) fbws type noc [1] 0.05, 0.1 21.7, 20 36%, 13.5% bandpass 2 [2] 0.8, 0.67, 1.2, 0.97 20.7, 22.7, 17.8, 20 5.3%, 5.5%, 3.2%, 3.6% bandpass 4 [3] 0.3, 1.3 35, 42 --bandpass 2 [4] 0.53, 0.59 10, 13.4 --bandpass 2 [6] 0.19 13 43% bandpass 1 [50] 0.1 11.47 --lowpass 1 il: insertion loss, rl: return loss table 3: layout and frequency response of some diplexer (dimensions are in mm) references layout frequency response type [8] overall size: 0.002 λg 2 dual-band bandpass-bandpass [10] overall size: 0.056 λg 2 four-channel bandpass [11] overall size: 0.018 λg 2 dual-band lowpass-bandpass table 4: a comparison between microstrip dual-band bandpass-bandpass diplexers references ils (db) rls (db) size (λg 2) fo1, fo2 (ghz) fbws% isolation (db) [13] 0.12, 0.18 21 , 17 0.037 3.5, 5 16.4, 26 20 [14] 0.85, 0.8 15.7, 24 0.047 2.58, 2.72 --23.5 [15] 0.06, 0.07 28.6, 20 0.004 1.4, 3 47, 45 20 [16] 0.43, 0.35 16, 19.6 0.036 1.67, 1.88 --22.13 [17] 0.17, 0.30 19, 21 0.026 0.78, 1.85 --42 [19] 0.25, 0.26 18.4, 17.4 0.038 2.12, 3.94 --24 [20] 0.45, 0.60 27, 24 0.0081 1.6, 3 34, 38 20 [21] 0.1, 0.16 33, 22 0.054 1.6, 2.1 16.8, 11 22 il: insertion loss, rl: return loss http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj rezaei and yahya: passive microstrip devices 106 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 103-111 consisting of two filters integrated by a matching circuit. to design a lowpass-bandpass diplexer, it is necessary to design two different lowpass filter and bpf, while a bandpass-bandpass diplexer needs to design a resonator, only. a diplexer may have more than two channels. if a resonator be multi-mode, it can create more than one channel. therefore, it is suitable for designing a multi-channel diplexer. in table 3, the structure and frequency response of three types of diplexers have been presented. they are dual-band bandpass-bandpass,[8] quadband bandpass,[10] and lowpass-bandpass[11] diplexers. as shown in table 3, the use of interdigital resonators next to the spiral cells has a significant effect on reducing the structure size. however, we must not forget that the production of four channels is more difficult. to create a two-band resonator, when thin and wide lines are coupled together, better results can be obtained.[10] for the lowpass-bandpass diplexer, λg is calculated at the cut-off frequency of lowpass channel. since dual-band bandpass-bandpass diplexers are more reported than the other types, we compare the size and dimensions of them in table 4. in table 4, the ils, common port rls, fractional bandwidths (fbws), first operation frequency (fo1), and second operational frequency (fo2) are given for the reported structures under consideration. as shown in table 4, the lowest ils at both channels is achieved by[15] while its size is very compact. moreover, it has most flat channels with highest fbws. these features are obtained using a novel structure presented in figure 1. it consists of coupled spiral resonators with helical structures. according to the operating frequencies, the proposed diplexers in,[13,14] and[15] are suitable for worldwide interoperability for microwave access (wimax), global system for mobile communications (gsm-4g), l-band, and s-band wireless applications, respectively. due to having close channels, the designed diplexer in[14] and[16] is appropriate for frequency division duplex. the reported diplexer in[17] is designed for gsm. the highest isolation between channels is obtained in[19] using irregular meandrous microstrip cells. it operates at 2.12 and 3.94 ghz for wideband code division multiple access and wimax applications, respectively.figure 1: layout configuration of the diplexer in[15] figure 2: (a) layout of triplexer (dimensions are in mm), (b) its frequency response (s21, s31, and s41), and (c) common port rl (s11) and isolation between channels (s23, s24, and s34) cb a http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj rezaei and yahya: passive microstrip devices 107 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 103-111 structures, performance, and applications of multiplexers among the microstrip multiplexers, triplexers and quadruplexers have been reported more. triplexers have four ports and three channel while quadruplexers have five ports and four channels. [figure 2a-c] show the layout of a triplexer with its frequency response that designed and presented in.[23] it consists of spiral and patch cells with four ports. [figure 2b] shows its three channels with high selectivity. however, it cannot attenuate the harmonics. in [figure 2c], s23, s24, and s34 show the isolation between channels while s11 is the common port rl. this multiplexer occupies an area of 0.017 λg 2. the rls of this device at all channel are very good. some information is compiled in table 5 to make a comprehensive comparison among triplexers. according to the provided information, triplexers generally occupy more space than diplexers. as shown in table, the triplexer presented in[23] occupies the least space compared to other triplexers. moreover, the lowest losses at all channels are the other advantages of this work. three different structures of microstrip quadruplexers with their frequency responses are presented in table 6. in,[31] engraved semicircular cells have been coupled to each other, where similar to the other quadruplexers, it has five ports and four channel. it operates at 3.211, 3.276, 3.38, and 3.491 ghz for ieee 802.16 wimax applications. since the channels are very close, it is suitable for fdd scheme. the proposed table 5: a comparison among microstrip triplexers, where f1, f2, and f3 are the 1st, s and third resonance frequencies, respectively references f1, f2, f3 (ghz) ils (db) rls (db) size (λg 2) [23] 1.9, 2.5, 3.3 0.25, 0.4, 0.11 45, 54, 40 0.017 [24] 2.3, 3.2, 3.6 0.78, 1.1, 0.62 19.8, 10, 28 0.095 [25] 1, 1.25, 1.5 2.7, 1.8, 3.2 16, 16, 16 0.064 [26] 3.3, 3.89,4.56 2.2, 2.3, 2.3 14, 14, 14 0.275 [27] 2.15,2.95, 3.8 2.2, 1.9, 1.7 <20 0.0164 [29] 1.4, 1.7,1.9 3.4, 3.5, 3.6 --0.358 [30] 1.5, 1.7, 1.9 4.9, 5.8, 5.95 --0.132 table 6: structure and frequency response of quadruplexers references physical structures frequency responses [31] overall size: 0.36 λg 2 [32] overall size: 1.114 λg 2 [33] overall size: 0.25 λg 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj rezaei and yahya: passive microstrip devices 108 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 103-111 multiplexer in[32] has a good selectivity, but at the same time has a large implementation area. similar to triplexer, some quadruplexers are compared in table 7. as presented in this table, the lowest insertion losses are obtained in.[34] however, the narrow channels of this multiplexer are its disadvantage. the multiplexer presented in[35] has the most compact size and widest fbws, which is designed based on tri-mode net-type resonators. in general, quadruplexers are larger in size than filters, triplexers, and diplexers. therefore, it can be concluded that the size of a device will be increased by increasing the number of ports. another five-port four-channel multiplexer is presented in.[38] it consists of stub-loaded open loop resonators, which is presented in [figure 3a]. it occupies a relatively compact size of 0.08 λg 2. the frequency response of this multiplexer is depicted in [figure 3b and c]. as shown in [figure 3b], the resonance frequencies of this multiplexers are located at 2.2, 2.8, 3.5, and 4 ghz for multi-band rf wireless communications systems. it has fbws of 6.9%, 2.1%, 5.1%, and 4.1% with 40, 29, 22, and 32 db rls and 0.14, 0.39, 0.21, and 0.27 ils. structures, performance, and applications of the couplers microstrip couplers are passive devices with four ports, called; port1, port2, port3, and port4, and two passbands for selecting desired signals. a desired signal passes through a path between ports 1 and 2. the second desired signal passes through another path between ports 1 and 3. on the other hand, no signal passes between ports 1 and 4. this is because of the fourth port is built for isolation. the phase difference between s21 and s31 should be near 0°, ±90° or ±180°. table 8 depicts some couplers with their frequency responses. the table 7: comparison among quadruplexers references ils (db) rls (db) size (λg 2) fbws% [31] 1.1, 1.1, 1.5, 1.6 25, 20, 25, 42 0.36 0.92, 0.9, 0.87, 0.63 [32] 3.1, 2.8, 2.8, 2.7 better than15 1.114 6.3, 6.45, 6.34, 6.6 [33] 1.1, 1.4, 1.3, 1.5 --0.26 --[34] 0.4, 0.3, 0.3, 0.4 19/19/19/20 1.1 0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 0.2 [35] 2.5, 2.4, 2.3, 2.1 10, 10, 15, 10 0.0547 8, 8, 8, 8 [36] 2.2, 2.5, 1.8, 2.1 --0.156 2.2, 2.5, 1.8, 2.1 [37] 1.8, 2.5, 1.8, 2.6 better than17 0.16 4.8, 5.2, 3.4, 3.6 figure 3: proposed multiplexer in;[39] (a) physical structure (all dimensions are in mm), (b) transition parameters (s21, s31, s41, and s51), and (c) isolation between channels and common port rl cb a http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj rezaei and yahya: passive microstrip devices 109 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 103-111 designed structure in[39] is a 90º coupler. the novel structure is the advantage of the reported couplers in[39] and[42]. we can see that any signal cannot pass from port 4. as shown in table 8, in,[45] an engraved patch is introduced. the common problem of[39] and[45] is undesired frequency selectivity. however, in,[42] the selectivity is improved. the size and performance of some couplers are compared in table 9. in this table, s21 and s31 are calculated at resonance table 8: coupler structures and their frequency response references physical structures frequency responses [39] overall size: 0.023 λg 2 [42] overall size: 0.0754 λg 2 [45] overall size: 265.69 mm2 table 9: comparison among previous reported couplers references s11 (db) s21 (db) s31 (db) s41 (db) phase shift size (mm2) [39] 21.4 3.3 3.3 42.9 0.09° 175.1 [40] 19.4 2.3 2.6 20.4 0.8° 110 [41] 20.2 3.37 3.42 22.9 1° 1361 [42] 29.5 3.3 2.8 31.3 0.97° 534.36 [43] 20 3 3 20 0° 1322 [44] 20 3.5 3.5 20 --673 [45] --3.11 3.39 --1° 265.69 [46] 8 5 4 11 10° 1553 [47] 29.33 7.3 2.25 21.5 2.36° 819 [48] 20.93 4.07 4.39 27.4 2.14° 2218 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj rezaei and yahya: passive microstrip devices 110 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 103-111 frequencies where s11 and s41 are calculated at the intersection of two channels. as shown in table 9, the insertion losses of all couplers are not good. by manipulating the proposed structures, it may be possible to reduce it. the designers in[40] could reduce the size significantly. the lowest phase shift is obtained in[43] but it has a large size. the problem of large physical size is remained in[46] and.[48] according to the operational frequency, the applications of couplers are different. for an example, the proposed couplers in[39-40] are suitable for wlans, while the coupler designed in[43] is appropriate for wireless applications. meanwhile, the device in[47] is designed for s-band radar system. the presented coupler in[49] is designed for 3 g eh mixers. conclusion several types of passive microstrip devices were studied in this work. these devices were filters, diplexers, triplexers, quadruplexers, and couplers. the structure of some devices was presented and investigated. the size and performance of 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part of the modern world as well as every profession on the planet. this research explores the emerging trends in applied mathematics and their far-reaching implications in various fields. machine learning and artificial intelligence are revolutionizing healthcare, finance, and natural language processing. big data analysis is enhancing decision-making in finance, healthcare, and logistics. quantum computing promises to transform materials science and renewable energy. these trends are reshaping research and practice, offering innovative solutions and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. ethical considerations and the development of advanced algorithms are critical areas of future research. this study serves as a foundation for understanding and harnessing the potential of these trends, emphasizing the importance of continuous exploration and skill development in an evolving mathematical landscape. this overview explains why there is a need for individuals to remain updated as regard such trends to ensure that applied mathematics is availed to the world at its best to overcome the numerous challenges facing the world today. keywords: applied mathematics, emerging trends, machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data analysis, ethical considerations introduction introduction to the research topic applied mathematics is a dynamic and evolving field that plays a pivotal role in various scientific, technological, and industrial applications. it serves as a bridge between abstract mathematical concepts and real-world problemsolving, making it an indispensable tool for innovation and progress across multiple domains. the importance of applied mathematics in contemporary society cannot be overstated. it underpins advancements in engineering, physics, economics, biology, and numerous other disciplines. as our world becomes increasingly complex and interconnected, the need for sophisticated mathematical methods to address emerging challenges becomes more apparent. this necessitates a comprehensive examination of the current and future trends within the realm of applied mathematics. rationale for studying emerging trends in applied mathematics the rationale for investigating emerging trends in applied mathematics is grounded in the notion that a deeper understanding of these trends is vital for the advancement of science, technology, and industry. the application of mathematics has continually expanded its boundaries, with new techniques, methodologies, and tools continuously emerging. by shedding light on these trends, this research aims to uncover the innovative approaches, methodologies, and applications that are currently at the forefront of applied mathematics. it seeks to highlight the significance of staying abreast of these developments to address real-world challenges more effectively and to foster interdisciplinary collaboration. in this context, a variety of reputable sources such as peer-reviewed academic journals, books, and reports from recognized mathematical institutions will be referenced to underpin the importance of the research topic and the rationale behind investigating emerging trends in applied mathematics. these sources will provide a strong foundation for the research, ensuring that it is based on established principles and the latest scholarly insights. corresponding author: dlvan o. muhammed-amin, department of analysis mathematics, college of science, islamic azad university-tabrez branch, iran. e-mail: dlvanomer81@gmail.com received: april 01, 2024 accepted: april 24, 2024 published: june 10, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp36-40 copyright © 2024 dlvan o. muhammed-amin. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) muhammed-amin: trends in applied mathematics 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 36-40 literature review overview of applied mathematics and its historical context applied mathematics is a diverse and interdisciplinary field that encompasses the application of mathematical principles, models, and techniques to address real-world problems and challenges in various domains. it serves as a fundamental tool for problem-solving, decision-making, and innovation. this section provides an overview of the key aspects of applied mathematics, including its historical evolution and its importance in contemporary society. historical development applied mathematics has a rich historical background dating back to ancient civilizations. it has evolved from basic arithmetic and geometry to more advanced calculus, linear algebra, and differential equations. notable contributions from mathematicians such as leonhard euler, carl friedrich gauss, and isaac newton have played a significant role in shaping the field.[1] interdisciplinary nature applied mathematics is inherently interdisciplinary, bridging the gap between mathematics and various scientific, engineering, and social science disciplines. it provides a common language and methodology for researchers and practitioners from different backgrounds to collaborate effectively.[2] applications applied mathematics finds applications in a wide range of fields, including physics, engineering, economics, biology, and environmental science. it is used to model complex phenomena, optimize systems, predict outcomes, and make informed decisions.[3] contemporary significance in the modern era, applied mathematics continues to evolve with the advent of powerful computational tools and datadriven approaches. it plays a crucial role in addressing global challenges, such as climate modeling, data analysis, and artificial intelligence.[4] significance and relevance of emerging trends in applied mathematics emerging trends in applied mathematics have gained increasing attention due to their profound impact on diverse fields. the significance and relevance of these trends are evident in various aspects, including problem-solving, technological advancements, and scientific innovation. enhanced problem-solving emerging trends in applied mathematics introduce novel approaches to problem-solving. they provide new tools and techniques for tackling complex issues that were previously deemed insurmountable. whether it is optimizing supply chain logistics, understanding the behavior of biological systems, or predicting financial market trends, these trends empower researchers and practitioners to address real-world challenges with greater efficiency and precision.[5] technological advancements emerging trends in applied mathematics often underpin technological breakthroughs. they facilitate the development of cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics. these technologies, in turn, have a transformative impact on industries ranging from healthcare to finance.[6] scientific innovation applied mathematics, driven by emerging trends, fuels scientific innovation. it allows researchers to model and understand complex phenomena, from climate systems to quantum mechanics. this leads to advancements in scientific knowledge and informs critical decision-making processes.[7] methodology research design and approach selecting an appropriate research design and approach is a critical aspect of this study, as it determines the framework and methodology for investigating emerging trends in applied mathematics. this section provides an overview of the chosen research design and approach, emphasizing their relevance to the research objectives. exploratory research an exploratory research design will be employed to gain an in-depth understanding of the emerging trends in applied mathematics. this approach is suited to uncover new insights and to generate a comprehensive view of the subject matter. exploratory research typically involves a review of existing literature, interviews with experts, and content analysis.[8] quantitative and qualitative data the research will utilize both quantitative and qualitative data. quantitative data will include statistical analyses of trends, while qualitative data will involve expert opinions, case studies, and surveys. combining these data types allows for a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of emerging trends.[9] methods approach a qualitative-methods approach will be used to ensure a holistic view of emerging trends. it combines the strengths of quantitative and qualitative research to provide a more robust and reliable analysis.[10] data collection methods the data collection methods selected for this review are instrumental in obtaining reliable and relevant information about emerging trends in applied mathematics. this section outlines the methods that will be employed to gather data, ensuring a comprehensive investigation. to study the trends in applied mathematical research that has a global scope, data collection is done through employing several approaches to get insightful information. interdisciplinary collaboration 1. how are interdisciplinary collaborations influencing the development of applied mathematics? muhammed-amin: trends in applied mathematics 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 36-40 2. can you provide examples of successful interdisciplinary projects that have integrated mathematical concepts with other scientific disciplines? advancements in computational mathematics 1. how have recent advancements in computational mathematics impacted the efficiency and accuracy of solving complex problems? 2. what role do machine learning and artificial intelligence play in the evolution of applied mathematics? quantum mathematics 1. to what extent is applied mathematics adapting to the challenges and opportunities presented by quantum computing? 2. how is quantum mathematics contributing to advancements in cryptography and optimization problems? data-driven modeling 1. how is the increasing availability of big data influencing the modeling and analysis techniques employed in applied mathematics? 2. what challenges and opportunities arise in data-driven modeling, especially in fields such as finance, healthcare, and environmental science? optimization techniques 1. how are optimization techniques evolving to address complex, large-scale problems in various industries? 2. can you highlight instances where optimization has significantly impacted decision-making processes? climate and environmental modeling 1. in what ways is applied mathematics contributing to the modeling and understanding of climate change and environmental phenomena? 2. are their specific mathematical approaches proving effective in addressing sustainability challenges? educational initiatives 1. how are educational programs adapting to incorporate these emerging trends in applied mathematics? 2. are their specific skills or areas of focus that are gaining prominence in applied mathematics curricula? a literature review is a secondary data collection method for this research. it involves a systematic examination of peer-reviewed articles, books, theses, and dissertations related to emerging trends in applied mathematics. this comprehensive review of existing knowledge is essential for understanding the historical development and current state of the field.[11] limitations and assumptions in any research study, it is crucial to acknowledge the limitations and assumptions that might affect the findings and interpretations. being transparent about these aspects strengthens the integrity of the research. this section outlines the identified limitations and underlying assumptions of this study. one assumption made in this study is that the participants’ responses and opinions truthfully represent their knowledge and experiences related to emerging trends in applied mathematics. in addition, the research assumes that the chosen data analysis techniques are appropriate for extracting meaningful insights from the collected data. being aware of these assumptions is essential for contextualizing the research outcomes.[12] limited time and resources are inherent constraints in research. conducting in-depth interviews with a large number of experts might be challenging within the allocated timeframe. in addition, accessing specific databases or resources might be restricted due to financial or institutional limitations, potentially impacting the comprehensiveness of the literature review.[13] emerging trends in applied mathematics overview of prominent emerging trends applied mathematics is a dynamic field, constantly evolving with advancements in technology and the changing needs of various industries. understanding the prominent emerging trends in applied mathematics is crucial for staying at the forefront of scientific and practical innovations. this section provides an in-depth overview of some of the most notable trends. machine learning and artificial intelligence machine learning and artificial intelligence have had a transformative impact on applied mathematics. these technologies are being used to develop predictive models, automate decision-making processes, and extract insights from vast datasets. they have applications in fields such as image processing, natural language processing, and datadriven decision support.[14] big data analysis with the proliferation of data, big data analysis has become a prominent trend. applied mathematicians are developing algorithms and tools to process and analyze large datasets efficiently. this trend is essential in fields like finance, healthcare, and environmental science.[15] quantum computing quantum computing is an emerging frontier in applied mathematics. it offers the potential to solve complex problems exponentially faster than classical computers. quantum algorithms are being developed for tasks such as cryptography, optimization, and simulating quantum systems.[16] application of emerging trends in various disciplines emerging trends in applied mathematics are not confined to a single domain; they have wide-reaching applications across various disciplines. this section delves into the diverse fields where these trends are making a significant impact. machine learning and artificial intelligence in healthcare machine learning and artificial intelligence are revolutionizing healthcare. they are used for medical image analysis, disease muhammed-amin: trends in applied mathematics 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 36-40 prediction, and personalized treatment plans. for example, in radiology, deep learning algorithms assist in the early detection of diseases from medical images, reducing human error and improving diagnosis accuracy.[17] big data analysis in finance in the financial sector, big data analysis is instrumental for risk assessment, fraud detection, and algorithmic trading. by analyzing large volumes of financial data, institutions can make more informed investment decisions, improve customer service, and mitigate risks effectively.[18] quantum computing in materials science quantum computing has profound implications in materials science, facilitating the discovery of new materials and the optimization of existing ones. by simulating quantum systems, researchers can predict material properties, accelerating innovation in fields such as electronics, energy storage, and superconductivity.[19] implications of these trends on research and practice the emerging trends in applied mathematics have profound implications for both research and practical applications. understanding these implications is essential for researchers and practitioners to harness the full potential of these trends. enhanced research capabilities the integration of machine learning and artificial intelligence enhances research capabilities by automating data analysis and predictive modeling. researchers can focus on generating hypotheses and designing experiments, while algorithms handle data-intensive tasks. this accelerates the pace of research and enables the exploration of complex phenomena.[20] improved decision-making in practice in various industries, the application of big data analysis leads to more informed decision-making. financial institutions can better assess risks, healthcare providers can tailor treatments to individual patients, and businesses can optimize supply chains. the real-time analysis of large datasets enhances operational efficiency and profitability.[21] transformation of research paradigms quantum computing has the potential to transform research paradigms in materials science. the ability to simulate quantum systems opens new avenues for materials discovery and optimization. this trend has the potential to revolutionize the development of advanced materials with tailored properties.[22] conclusion summary of key findings in emerging trends in this study, the author explored prominent emerging trends in applied mathematics and their implications across various disciplines. the key findings of this study shed light on the transformative potential of these trends in research and practice. machine learning and artificial intelligence machine learning and artificial intelligence are reshaping the landscape of applied mathematics. these technologies enable automation and predictive modeling, enhancing research capabilities and streamlining decision-making in practice. researchers can leverage these tools to focus on hypothesis generation, while industries benefit from data-driven insights. big data analysis the application of big data analysis has become pivotal in multiple sectors, including finance, healthcare, and logistics. it offers enhanced risk assessment, personalized healthcare, and optimized supply chains. real-time analysis of large datasets improves decision-making processes and operational efficiency. quantum computing quantum computing represents a paradigm shift in materials science research. it empowers scientists to simulate quantum systems, leading to the discovery and optimization of materials with tailored properties. this trend has the potential to revolutionize the development of advanced materials. implications of these trends on various fields the implications of emerging trends in applied mathematics extend to various fields, driving innovation and transformation in research and practice. this section provides a succinct overview of these implications. machine learning and artificial intelligence machine learning and artificial intelligence are revolutionizing numerous fields. in healthcare, they are facilitating early disease diagnosis, personalized treatment, and predictive medicine. in finance, they optimize risk assessment and algorithmic trading. their application in natural language processing is reshaping communication and information retrieval. big data analysis big data analysis is changing the landscape in finance, enabling better risk management, fraud detection, and algorithmic trading. in healthcare, it aids in personalized medicine and drug discovery. in logistics, it enhances supply chain efficiency. the potential of big data analysis to inform decision-making is reshaping industries. quantum computing quantum computing has profound implications in materials science. it accelerates materials discovery and design by simulating quantum systems. in the renewable energy sector, it can lead to the development of more efficient materials for solar cells and batteries. quantum computing is poised to transform various fields through faster, more complex calculations. future research directions and concluding remarks as concluded, this study focuses on emerging trends in applied mathematics, it’s imperative to consider the avenues for future research and offer concluding insights. muhammed-amin: trends in applied mathematics 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 36-40 exploring interdisciplinary applications the interdisciplinary nature of emerging trends presents a fertile ground for further research. future studies can delve deeper into the integration of machine learning, big data analysis, and quantum computing across different domains. this exploration can yield innovative applications and bridge knowledge gaps. ethical and societal implications the ethical considerations and societal impact of these trends deserve significant attention. researchers should investigate the ethical dimensions of using ai in healthcare, the consequences of big data analysis on privacy, and the societal implications of quantum computing. this research can guide responsible practices and policies. advancements in algorithm development the development of cutting-edge algorithms is a promising area for future research. researchers can focus on creating more efficient and accurate algorithms for machine learning, enhancing the scalability of big data analysis techniques, and refining quantum algorithms. these advancements will contribute to the practicality of these trends. bridging the skill gap as these trends advance, addressing the skill gap is crucial. future research should focus on educational and training programs to equip individuals with the knowledge and skills required to harness the potential of these technologies effectively. references 1. d. j. struik. a concise history of mathematics. dover publications, london, 1987. 2. a. quarteroni, r. sacco and f. saleri. numerical mathematics. springer, new york, 2007. 3. c. m. bender and s. a. orszag. advanced mathematical methods for scientists and engineers. springer, new york, 1999. 4. n. j. higham. mathematics for the million: how to master the magic of numbers. oxford university press, oxford, 2018. 5. m. golubitsky and i. stewart. the symmetry perspective: from equilibrium to chaos in phase space and physical space. birkhäuser publishing, london, 2002. 6. t. hastie, r. tibshirani and j. friedman. the elements of statistical learning. springer, new york, 2009. 7. j. p. keener. principles of applied mathematics: transformation and approximation. perseus books, new york, 2008. 8. j. w. creswell. research design: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approach. sage publications, california, 2014. 9. m. q. patton. qualitative research and evaluation methods: integrating theory and practice. sage publications, california, 2014. 10. r. b. johnson and a. j. onwuegbuzie. mixed methods research: a research paradigm whose time has come. educational researcher, vol. 33, no. 7, pp. 14-26, 2004. 11. j. webster and r. t. watson. analyzing the past to prepare for the future: writing a literature review. mis quarterly, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 13-23, 2002. 12. a. bryman. social research methods. oxford university press, oxford, 2016. 13. p. johnson and j. duberley. understanding management research: an introduction to epistemology. sage publications, california, 2000. 14. c. m. bishop. pattern recognition and machine learning. springer, new york, 2006. 15. j. chen, l. song, d. wei and j. lin, j. parallel computing for large-scale machine learning. now publishers inc., boston, 2014. 16. j. preskill. quantum computing in the nisq era and beyond. quantum the open journal for quantum science, vol. 2, pp.79-99, 2018. 17. g. litjens, t. kooi, b. e. bejnordi, a. a. setio, f. ciompi, m. ghafoorian and c. i. sánchez. a survey on deep learning in medical image analysis. medical image analysis, vol. 42, pp. 60-88, 2017. 18. z. c. lipton, j. steinhardt and d. boyle. analyzing machine learning models to distill knowledge [arxiv preprint: 1605.06376]. cornell university, united states, 2016. 19. u. schollwöck. the density-matrix renormalization group in the age of matrix product states. annals of physics, vol. 326, no. 1, pp. 96-192, 2011. 20. m. i. jordan and t. m. mitchell. machine learning: trends, perspectives, and prospects. science, vol. 349, no. 6245, pp. 255260, 2015. 21. f. provost and t. fawcett. data science for business: what you need to know about data mining and data-analytic thinking. california: o’reilly media, inc., 2013. 22. q. niu, s. zhang and s. zhang. the promise and challenges of quantum materials. nature reviews materials, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 173-188, 2010. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 70 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 review article design of protection software using some cryptosystems for cloud database files khalid f. jasim1, akram m. zeki2 1department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of information systems, kulliyyah of information and communication technology, international islamic university, malaysia, kuala lumpur, malaysia abstract the security of cloud databases may be a basic concern for organizations as they store and manage expansive volumes of delicate information within the cloud. cryptosystems played an essential part in securing information privacy and integrity in these situations. this paper gives an in-depth investigation of the utilization of cryptosystems for cloud database security. the paper starts by talking about the foundation and importance of cloud database security, highlighting the expanding requirement for strong information security measures. a comprehensive study reviewed and investigated the current state of research in this space, distinguishing key progressions and challenges. the paper at that point digs into the execution of cryptosystems in cloud databases, looking at their execution and trade-offs. besides, rising patterns and advances for improving cloud database security, such as multi-factor confirmation, homomorphic encryption, and blockchain, are discussed. the paper moreover recognizes different inquiries about openings and future headings within the field, counting various encryption methods, execution optimization, key administration, convenience enhancements, compliance contemplations, and integration with rising advances. furthermore, we proposed encryption software for file protection, the software designed based on symmetric and asymmetric cryptosystems. the proposed software can be adapted for file protection in cloud database security. in conclusion, the paper emphasizes the significance of cryptosystems for cloud database security and underscores the requirement for continuous inquiry about and collaboration to address challenges and drive development in this zone. keywords: cloud database security, data confidentiality, symmetric encryption, asymmetric encryption, encryption algorithms introduction cloud computing technologies have brought about developments in the way organizations store, oversee, and get to their information. with the appropriation of cloud-based administrations, databases have transitioned from on-premises frameworks to virtualized situations facilitated by third-party benefit suppliers. whereas cloud databases offer various focal points such as adaptability, cost-efficiency, and access to these systems, they too present modern security challenges.[1] cloud computing has experienced exponential development in later a long time, with organizations of all sizes leveraging cloud-based frameworks to store and handle their information. this move to the cloud has driven the multiplication of cloud databases, which offer adaptable capacity arrangements and flexibility for businesses.[2] the relocation of delicate information to cloud databases raises critical security concerns. organizations must address issues such as information breaches, unauthorized get to, information spillage, and compliance prerequisites. the energetic nature of cloud situations, where different occupants and virtualized assets coexist, includes complexity in securing cloud databases.[3] information may be a profitable resource for businesses, and its security is significant for keeping up client beliefs, complying with controls, and defending mental property. organizations must guarantee that their information remains private, safe, and accessible when required. cloud database security plays an imperative part in accomplishing these destinations. encryption system algorithms are used in encoding the information which enhancing the secrecy and protection of information in cloud databases. by changing over information into an incoherent organization utilizing cryptographic methods, encryption gives a solid defense against unauthorized corresponding author: khalid f. jasim, department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq e-mail: khalid.jassim@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 19, 2024 accepted: june 01, 2024 published: june 30, 2024 doi:10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp70-79 copyright © 2024 khalid f. jasim, akram m. zeki. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) jasim and zeki: design of protection software for cloud database files 71 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 actions, programmers, cybercriminals, noxious activities, and information robbery.[4] confidentiality: encryption systems algorithms offer assistance keep up information privacy by anticipating unauthorized people or substances from perusing delicate data. furthermore, when the hacker accessed the ciphered data, he could not read actual texts without the used decoding keys.[5] the data confidentiality is important in information security and concentrated on the sensitive data is accessible by authorized users. the data confidentiality includes some components such as encryption, access control, authentication, authorization, and physical security. for example, encryption is used to protect the data by converting the data into an unrecognized format. authentication focuses on checking the identity of users. authorization is used to control the permissions given to the users according to their systems’ roles. furthermore, data confidentiality is used for data protection in different fields such as bank transactions, credit card information, patient records, data storage, and data transfer in cloud services.[4,5] data integrity: encryption system algorithms will help in protecting the information from unauthorized actions and guarantee information integration. by utilizing methods, such as message confirmation or authenticity codes (macs) and hash algorithm functions, the protection of the information can be confirmed, guaranteeing that it has not been altered with amid transmission or in saving devices.[5] the data integrity is crucial in information security and focuses on the remaining of data in accurate form, reliable form, and consistency form during the data lifecycle. data integrity is important in different fields, such as electronic health records, pharmaceuticals, stock market data, banking transactions, student records, research data, and tax records. data integrity can be implemented through various techniques, such as validation rules, data access control, error detection and correction methods, regular backups for data, and encryption for data protection.[4,5] compliance and regulatory requirements: numerous businesses have rigid compliance and administrative prerequisites concerning information assurance and security. encryption is frequently an obligatory method to meet these prerequisites and maintain strategic plans for protecting against punishments or legitimate consequences. trust and reputation: information breaches can extremely harm an organization’s notoriety and disintegrate believe with clients and partners. by executing encryption systems algorithms, organizations illustrate their commitment to information security, which can upgrade belief and certainty in their services. shared responsibility model: cloud benefit suppliers regularly take after a shared duty show, where the supplier secures the basic framework, and the client is capable of securing their information and applications. encryption plays a pivotal part in satisfying the customer’s security commitments within the cloud.[6] the objective of this paper is to investigate the utilization of encryption system algorithms for upgrading cloud database security. it points to supply a comprehensive understanding of encryption system algorithms and their application in ensuring information is uploaded in cloud databases. the paper will examine different encryption methods, their usage in cloud situations, execution contemplations, and the tradeoffs between security and execution. furthermore, the paper will highlight the challenges, developing trends, and future headings within the field of cloud database security. problem statement cloud database security faces critical challenges due to the expanding appropriation of cloud computing and the relocation of delicate information to cloud-based situations. whereas cloud databases offer various benefits, such as versatility and availability, they may present modern security vulnerabilities and dangers. the issue lies within the requirement for strong security measures to ensure information uploaded in cloud databases from unauthorized actions, information breaches, and other security dangers. addressing these challenges requires the execution of encryption system algorithms particularly outlined for cloud database security. this research focuses on investigating the various encryption system algorithms which can play an important role in improving the security of cloud database applications. also, propose suitable encryption software program that can help in protecting various files in cloud databases. literature review the next sections concentrate on reviewing previous research relating to encryption system algorithms and also investigate and insightful works related to the utilization of encryption system algorithms for improving cloud database security. the review covered various technical reports, articles, and published studies that talk about the importance of encryption system algorithms, their viability in securing cloud databases, execution contemplations, and execution trade-offs. importance of encryption algorithms in cloud database security various researches focused on highlighting the significance of encryption system algorithms in cloud database security. shcherbinina et al. emphasize that encryption may be a principal method for ensuring information secrecy and avoiding unauthorized actions in cloud situations. they examine the part of encryption system algorithms in tending to security challenges and relieving dangers related to cloud database capacity.[7] types of encryption algorithms for cloud database security analysts have investigated different encryption system algorithms appropriate for securing cloud databases. maqsood et al. analyze distinctive encryption system algorithms, counting symmetric methods and encryption in asymmetric methods, to evaluate their appropriateness for different sorts of information security. they compare the execution and security highlights of systems such as data encryption standard (des), advanced encryption standard (aes), rivest-shamir-adleman jasim and zeki: design of protection software for cloud database files 72 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 (rsa), and elgamal, giving experiences into their qualities and restrictions.[8] implementation of encryption algorithms in cloud databases it considers the deep research and the usage of encryption system algorithms in cloud databases. rafique et al. examine the adoption of encryption system algorithms at diverse levels, such as encryption at rest and encryption in the transmission level, to guarantee comprehensive information security. they emphasize the significance of key administration or management processes, such as secret key preparation, capacity, and key distribution, in keeping up the security of scrambled cloud databases.[9] performance and trade-offs of encryption algorithms lukusa and hocanın[10] analyzed the execution of security systems for secure cloud applications and compared the execution of two broadly utilized symmetric key encrypting systems, aes cipher and blowfish cipher, in terms of throughput, control utilization, and encryption operations speed. the reenactment comes about appearing that aes beats blowfish when considering security blemishes, in spite of the fact that it requires more preparation control. to address this, a proposed productive multisystem (or hybrid use symmetric and asymmetric) security system combines the benefits of both approaches, making strides in information secrecy in the various cloud environments whereas optimizing asset utilizating. the multiapproach is especially successful for scrambling and decoding records with huge piece size and large secret keys, as well as protecting against man in the middle cryptanalysis method. challenges and future directions in cloud database security analysts have recognized a few challenges and future bearings within the field of cloud database security. cloud computing has picked up notoriety due to its adaptability and unwavering quality in conveying different administrations through the web, driving an expanding intrigued in cloud capacity as a dependable and reasonable foundation. the studies and inquiries concentrated about the issues and uncertain challenges with cloud databases as saving tools for cloud computing, with a specific accentuation on information accessibility, replication, administration, and security in cloudenabled advances. rajalakshmi et al. emphasize that there is a demand for more investigations and improvement to overcome the distinguished challenges and progress the unwavering quality and reasonableness of cloud-saving capacity services.[11] real-world implementations of encryption algorithms real-world usage of encryption systems reflects the practical need for encryption systems for cloud database security. for illustration, executing encryption systems in a cloud database environment for financing systems related to organizations requires a few best-practicing activities. one approach is to utilize an attribute-based accessing method joined with identity-based encryption strategies to improve the security system of networking devices. another approach is to isolate and encipher confidential information, uploading and saving it on distinctive cloud servers utilizing formal strategies to avoid coordinated access by cloud database suppliers. furthermore, the utilization of a database encryption framework with control the accessing operations and encryption modules based on sql instructions can give security whereas keeping up inquiry activity within the cloud environment. the method of the onion encryption system can also be utilized to perform full homomorphic encryption on the cloud database, moving forward the proficiency of ciphertext operations. these methods guarantee the security of confidential information within the cloud, tending to the security concerns of financing systems related to organizations.[12,13] as a result, the review of previous researches emphasizes the centrality of encryption systems in securing cloud databases. it examines the sorts of encryption systems appropriate for cloud situations, usage contemplations, execution trade-offs, and rising directions. real-world executions of these systems reflect the practical importance and the viable utilization of encryption systems in cloud database security. the reviewing of the researches will help in the establishment of a rigid background for investigating and analyzing encryption systems within the setting of this paper. cloud database security overview cloud databases are databases facilitated and overseen in cloud computing situations, permitting organizations to store, get to, and oversee their information remotely. these databases use the foundation, assets, and administrations given by cloud servicing suppliers, empowering versatility, cost-effectiveness, and ease of administration. adaptability, availability, and shared foundation are critical contemplations in cloud databases. in terms of versatility, multitenancy may be a concept that permits for compelling asset utilization and versatility at the application, stage, database, and framework levels.[14] shared-nothing plans with conveyed databases can accomplish versatility but may confront trade-offs in terms of consistency, accessibility, and parcel resilience.[15] furthermore, the utilization of shared storage, such as aws s3 (amazon web services s3), in multisystems (or hybrid systems) can give cost-effective information capacity and the permission to switch between distinctive frameworks for diverse workloads. hence, guaranteeing the confidentiality and security of information in cloud databases is additionally significant. secure databases that use cryptographic systems and secure authentication protocols, sharing conventions, can give more grounded security ensures and withstand against cryptanalysis methods.[16] in general, trade-offs exist between versatility, accessing methods, and shared framework in cloud databases, and the choice of designed system and security components depends on particular necessities and needs. common security challenges in cloud database environments whereas cloud databases offer various benefit points, they moreover present modern security challenges. organizations jasim and zeki: design of protection software for cloud database files 73 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 have to address these challenges to guarantee the secrecy, privacy, and accessibility of their information. common security challenges in cloud database situations incorporate the security of stored information, control of the accessing of information, maintaining the integrity of information, protection, information spillage, and cyberattacking methods.[17] cloud computing presents security concerns due to the plausibility of compromised or byzantine disappointments, making the security of stored information a vital angle of quality of benefit (qos). ensuring the privacy, authentication, and access control of data within the cloud may be a challenge that should be solved.[18] multisystems (or hybrid systems) in cloud situations, which combine public parts and private parts in clouds, moreover confront security challenges, involve information security, control accessing action, protection, information spillage, and cyber cryptanalysis methods.[19] to overcome these challenges, different encryption systems and security models have been proposed, such as encryption systems, such as (des cipher, aes cipher, and rsa cipher) (figure 1). future considers ought to encourage explore security in hybrid systems (in clouds) and database-as-a-service situations. besides, a few common security challenges incorporate information breaches, unauthorized accessing actions, information spillage, compliance, and administrative prerequisites, in which the organizations must comply with industry-specific controls and benchmarks concerning information privacy, confidentiality, and integrity. need for robust security measures in cloud databases the requirement for vigorous security measures in cloud databases is fundamental to ensure the security of critical information and keep up the believe of clients and partners. for illustration, the information secrecy guarantees that as it was authorized people or substances can get to and see critical data saved in cloud databases. vigorous encryption instruments, such as encryption systems algorithms, play a significant part in keeping up information privacy by rendering the information confused to unauthorized parties. the integrity of information guarantees that information remains unaltered and uncorrupted all through its lifecycle. cloud databases require components to distinguish and avoid unauthorized alterations or altering of information. strategies such as hashing methods (or functions) and message verification codes (macs) can confirm the integrity of information and identify any unauthorized modifications. in addition, data accessibility guarantees that authorized clients can get to and recover information at whatever point required. cloud database administrators must perform backup procedures and regular mechanisms to face disaster situations to guarantee information accessibility within the occasion of hardware equipment problems, normal catastrophes, or other disturbances. in the trust and notoriety, the security breaches and information misfortune can seriously affect an organization’s notoriety and disintegrate beliefs among clients, accomplices, and partners. actualizing vigorous security measures, counting encryption systems, illustrates a commitment to information security and upgrades confidence in cloud database administrations. to realize information privacy, confidentiality, and accessibility in cloud databases, a few approaches can be taken. one approach is to utilize a non-linear time complexity system called a non-deterministic cryptographic system.[20] this system changes over plaintext components to ciphertext components with a few numbers for iterating steps, diminishing the execution time whereas keeping up higher security. another approach is to utilize a quantum hash-centric cipher policy-attribute-based encipherment system (qh-cpabesystem), which makes strides in the security and privacy of critical information put away within the cloud.[21] furthermore, a combination of two systems called speck-salsa20 can be used to protect information and achieve (integrity and privacy). this combination of (specksalsa20) system makes a lightweight and effective practical system.[22] besides, blockchain innovation can be utilized to guarantee the privacy of information in cloud frameworks, giving a component for putting away and confirming logs inside a decentralized structure.[23] these approaches address the challenges of information security in cloud databases and give arrangements for accomplishing privacy, secrecy, and accessibility. encryption algorithms in cloud database security encryption systems are cryptographic methods utilized to convert information into a form which cannot be read by intruders, known as ciphertext, to ensure its confidentiality and privacy. within the setting of cloud database security, encryption systems play a crucial part in defending critical information from unauthorized get to and potential breaches. types of encryption algorithms used in cloud database security first, some techniques are defined as symmetric encryption systems (figure 2), which depend on the secure key in encryption operations. these systems utilize the same key for both encryption and decoding forms. they are proficient and well suited for scrambling huge sums of information. the diverse symmetric encryption systems utilized in cloud database security incorporate the ciphers of aes cipher,[24] of des cipher, the blowfish cipher system, and the cipher system of idea. these systems are compared in the light of secrecy, capacity of the information encipherment, utilizing of the memory, and required time of encipherment operation to decide the ideal system for protecting cloud data against intruders’ actions. among these systems, aes is considered the primary choice for information encryption forms in cloud applications and information capacity due to its time complexity, space, asset, and control utilization. aes scrambles a large sum of information, needs the slightest time for figure 1: encryption systems with (aes, blowfish, and rsa encryption systems). aes: advanced encryption standard, rsa: rivest-shamir-adleman jasim and zeki: design of protection software for cloud database files 74 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 enciphering, and is speedier compared to the other systems. furthermore, blowfish cipher requires the slightest sum of space for the memory.[25] second, asymmetric encryption systems (figure 3), these systems designed based on the public encrypting key technique. furthermore, these systems utilize diverse keys for encryption and decoding. they include a published key for encrypting operations and the second key is a private key for deciphering. asymmetric systems give secure transmission and safe methods to key transferred instruments. these systems included a wide range of encryption systems (e.g., rsa cipher and elliptic curve cryptography cipher). asymmetric systems can be utilized to progress the security of cloud databases by giving upgraded information secrecy and integrity. by utilizing both combinations of symmetric enciphering key and asymmetric enciphering key, this cryptographic design can enhance the security of cloud capacity frameworks. the symmetric enciphering key system aes is utilized to scramble the information. the elgamal cipher is an asymmetric enciphering key system, in which it is utilized for performing key encrypting and then transferring all encrypted information to cloud devices.[26] this combination of encryption systems makes enhancements of protection levels and increments information privacy. furthermore, the utilization of hashing systems, such as secure hash algorithm 2, sometime before the encryption operations and after the deciphering operations makes enhancements to confirm the information privacy.[27] in general, the integration of asymmetric systems in cloud databases upgrades security by ensuring critical data from unauthorized get to and guaranteeing the privacy of the information. encryption algorithms and their applicability to cloud databases first, to begin within the performance issues, encryption can present computational overhead, possibly affecting the execution of cloud database operations. subsequently, it is vital to consider the execution characteristics of encryption systems. symmetric systems can perform data encrypting very fast while asymmetric systems perform slow data encrypting. the selection of encryption systems depends on the performance requirements of cloud databases. cloud database encryption includes tradeoffs between execution and security. executing security measures such as encryption can have a negative effect on execution, driving to longer execution times for database operations. in any case, the trade-off between execution and security is basic to defend information in the transmission phase.[28] second, some encryption systems are used to manage and distribute the secret encrypting keys. these encryption systems play a significant part within the security of cloud database frameworks. these encryption systems are outlined to safely convey encryption keys among clients and avoid unauthorized getting to or altering of information. different procedures, such as quantum key dispersion strategies, twofold transformation, square reordering, and fuzzification forms, have been created to address security concerns. the utilization of security algorithms makes a difference in decreasing security misfortunes and making strides in the precision and realness of the information. moreover, the encryption of information utilizing keys known only by the legitimate clients, such that even when the system breaches the information remain secure. the choice of key administration and dissemination systems specifically impacts the level of security given by cloud database frameworks, and analysts have proposed distinctive encryption systems to upgrade information security in cloud situations.[29] third, in the investigation of the strength and vulnerability of encryption systems, the current strategies for assessing the security of encryption systems in light of its vulnerability and strength incorporate the utilization of math and statistics testing methods to investigate cryptographic properties, such as dissemination, disarray, freedom, and haphazardness in subkeys created by key encryption systems.[30] another analysis approach is the assessment of resistance of encryption systems against side-channel cryptanalysis techniques, such as measuring the powers in the designs of encryption systems (e.g., powers cryptanalysis methods), which can be implemented by monitoring the consumption of powers in the hardware circuit designs for encryption systems. furthermore, the security of encryption systems can be surveyed by testing potential cryptosystems and assessing their execution (e.g., system performance) based on measurements, such as f1-score, review, accuracy, and precision. besides, the assessment of encryption systems can include comparing distinctive encryption components, such figure 2: symmetric encryption system figure 3: asymmetric encryption system jasim and zeki: design of protection software for cloud database files 75 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 as homomorphic encryption and straightforward database encrypting(e.g., encrypting for column level, field level, record framework level, and scrambling record framework), to recognize their benefits and disadvantages. in expansion, various practical studies highlight the adequacy of encryption systems in improving cloud database security. for instance, a health-care organization might utilize encryption systems to secure electronic patient records put away within the cloud, guaranteeing an understanding of secrecy and compliance with security directions. to secure cloud databases in health-care organizations, solid security measures are required. these measures incorporate encryption and privacy to guarantee the security of customer’s information.[31] in addition, a cloud-enabled system can be used to control the accessing operations to huge data related to customers (or patients) which are saved in healthcare database systems. implementation of encryption algorithms in cloud databases actualizing encryption systems in cloud databases include joining cryptographic procedures into the database administration frameworks and related foundations. this part concentrates on implementing encryption systems in cloud database situations. encryption at rest and encryption in transit encryption at rest and encryption in the transmission phase can be utilized together to move forward security by giving comprehensive assurance for information both when it is put away and when it is being transmitted. encryption at rest guarantees that information remains secure indeed when it is not effectively being utilized or transmitted, such as when it is put away on a gadget or server. this avoids unauthorized get to the information in case of a breach or physical burglary. on the other hand, encryption in the transmission phase ensures information whereas it is being transmitted over systems or communication channels, guaranteeing that it cannot be capturing or altered with amid transmission. by combining both encryption at rest and encryption in the transmission phase, organizations can guarantee end-to-end security for their information, defending it both at rest and amid transmission.[32] key management practices compelling key administration is basic to the fruitful usage of encryption systems in cloud databases. managing and distributing encrypted secret keys within the cloud include the utilization of encryption to secure critical information. cloud suppliers regularly utilize encryption plans such as aes-gcm encryption cipher system and convey encryption keys to authorized clients. for more security, it is better to adopt a separated device which is utilized for enciphering the information before it is put away within the cloud. managing the secret keys includes some details such as generating keys (e.g., with pseudo random number generator, prng methods), saving secret keys (e.g., in safe modes), rotating the keys, and distributing the keys (e.g., in undetectable modes) to legitimate users.[33] furthermore, the managing and distributing the secret keys include: 1. generating of secure key: guaranteeing that encryption keys are created utilizing strong arbitrary number generators and cryptographic techniques. 2. saving key: securing encryption keys from unauthorized get to, either through secure capacity within the cloud database foundation or utilizing outside key administration solutions. 3. rotating key: frequently upgrading encryption keys to moderate the hazard of a key compromise or unauthorized get to. key turn ought to be performed in a way that minimizes disturbance to database operations. 4. distributing key: safely conveying encryption keys to authorized substances whereas keeping up their confidentiality. strategies such as encryption systems (e.g., asymmetric systems) can be utilized to safely share encryption keys. design encryption software for cloud databases in this investigation research, we proposed an encryption computer program that can be implemented to perform file security in cloud database frameworks. the proposed program was implemented with visual studio 2019 and visual c# programing. the primary portion of this program incorporates the login page, which ought to give clients data (e.g., his or her user name, the password) to get to the encryption framework (figure 4). the second page comprises different determinations for encryption and decoding processing (figure 5). first, the client ought to select the encryption system (aes, blowfish, or aesrsa). the aes system is utilized for scrambling and decoding the chosen files from the cloud. furthermore, we offered more choices such as the blowfish encryption system for encrypting and unscrambling operations. for instance, the client can enter the encryption secure key (e.g., 128-bits for aes or 16 characters). third, the client ought to give the iv key (e.g., for aes 128-bits or 16 characters). fourth, the client can select the figure 4: login page of encryption software jasim and zeki: design of protection software for cloud database files 76 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 encrypting button for performing the file encryption and the decrypting button for conducting file unscrambling (figure 5). the rsa ciphering system used to safely share the symmetric private key that’s at that point utilized with the aes encryption system. the third page of the computer program appears the encryption processing (figure 6). first, the client can select the (browse) button to find the file, at that point select the button (encrypt selected file) to scramble this file. second, select the button (upload encrypted file to cloud), in this case, the scrambled file will be saved within the cloud. moreover, it is discretionary to utilize the button (send encrypted file via email) when the client must send the scrambled file by means of mail. the fourth page depicts the decryption processing (figure 7). first, the client can select the file by utilizing the button (download file from cloud) in which the file will be downloaded to the computer gadget. the client can select the file by means of button (browse). furthermore, the client chooses the button (decrypt selected file). at that point, the client can save the result by means of the button (file save as) to decide the location of the decrypted file. the practical experiments are conducted and results are depicted in (figures 8-11). the primary client (sender) can utilize the proposed encryption computer program to encrypt diverse files and create the encrypted files. for instance, in figure 6: encryption processing of encryption software figure 5: select encryption algorithm of encryption software results of encryption process and decryption process for aes encryption algorithm aes examples: program: database file enc aes example: encryption of database files input: example-2customer-database.db output: encrypted-customer-database.db the secret key of aes: 4f1264e640aa9df8992d79010cb1dc99 the iv key: 55909cdb36492cce3ad447947b16c9ec figure 9: practical results of encryption and decryption for aes algorithm (example-2). aes: advanced encryption standard results of encryption process and decryption process for aes encryption algorithm aes examples: program: excel file enc aes example: encryption of excel files input: example-1-sample-employee-data output: encrypted_sample-employee-data.xlsx the secret key of aes: 8b2ef3256beeee6b2415e6629087e240 the iv key: d10bd05b82f9e07a3b26a2d1fbfa0564 figure 8: practical results of encryption and decryption for aes algorithm (example-1). aes: advanced encryption standard results of encryption process and decryption process for blowfish encryption algorithm blowfish example: program: excel file enc blowfish example: encryption of excel files input: example-3-sample-employee-data output: encryptedsample-employee-data.xlsx the secret key of blowfish: 65343935623164653738306362396334 the iv key of blowfish: 621f7a0882e8b0e4 figure 10: practical results of encryption and decryption for blowfish algorithm (example-3). aes: advanced encryption standard figure 7: decryption processing of encryption software jasim and zeki: design of protection software for cloud database files 77 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 the aes example (figure 8) we utilized the aes encryption system, aes secret key, and input excel file, at that point after selecting the encryption button, the result of the scrambled file delineated in (figure 8) known as output encrypted file. moreover, when the encryption computer program is utilized by the second client (receiver), the client ought to get an encrypted file. the client must select the encryption system aes, enter the secret key, and select the decryption button, at that point, he will get the initial file. in addition, we actualized the proposed encryption computer program with diverse encryption systems such as blowfish, aes, and aes-rsa, and the results are clarified in (figures 8-11). in general, the proposed software can be used to protect various types of files (e.g., database file.db, excel files.xlsx, ms word files.docx). discussion cloud database security faces challenges related to information breaches, unauthorized get to, information spillage, and compliance necessities. vigorous security measures, involving encryption systems, are basic to secure information privacy, secrecy, and accessibility. understanding the security scene of cloud databases is pivotal for organizations to actualize viable security techniques and relieve dangers. cryptosystems are a basic component of cloud database security. furthermore, the cryptosystem algorithms adopted in various secrecy applications such as wireless networks, cloud network environments, and iot applications for information secrecy.[34-36] various symmetric methods (e.g., blowfish, des, and aes), asymmetric methods (e.g., rsa, elgamal), and hybrid methods (e.g., aes-rsa, speck-salsa20) (table 1) play a pivotal part in guaranteeing information privacy, secrecy, and confidentiality. the choice of cryptosystems, performance measurements, managing and distributing secret key methods, and the level of resistance against cryptanalysis are key components in viably executing encryption in cloud databases. the various features of these encryption systems are shown in (table 1). the features include the type of encryption system, secret key size, data block size, number of rounds, and design components that have been used for the mentioned symmetric and asymmetric methods. executing encryption systems in cloud databases requires procedures such as encryption at rest and in the transmission phase, vigorous secret key managing system, measuring the performance of the system, compliance with administrative necessities, and progressing testing and observing. by taking after best procedures, organizations can upgrade the security of their cloud databases and ensure critical information from results of encryption process and decryption process for aes and rsa encryption algorithm aes and rsa example: program: msword enc aes and rsa example : encryption of ms word files input: example-4-word file.docx output: encrypted-word file.bin key=rsa-generate (2048) the public key of rsa : 424547494e205055424c4943204b4 5592d0a4d494942496a414e42676b7 … 54e44205055424c4943204b45592d the private key of rsa: d424547494e20525341205052495641544 5204b45592d2d2d2d2d0a4d4949457041 … 454e44205253412050524956415445204b45592d2 the key of aes: b01fd6d4b059027984277d46aa2d9a33 figure 11: practical results of encryption and decryption for aes and rsa algorithm (example-4). aes: advanced encryption standard, rsa: rivest-shamir-adleman table 1: features of encryption systems encryption system type of encryption system secret key size used in enc. & dec. operations data block size number of rounds in enc. & dec. operations design components aes symmetric-block cipher 128, 192, 256 bits 128 bits 10, 12, 14 substitution permutation network (spn) blowfish symmetric-block cipher 32-448 bits 64 bits 16 feistel cipher des symmetric-block cipher 56 64 16 feistel cipher speck symmetric-block cipher 64-256 32-128 22-34 arx salsa20 symmetric-stream cipher 128, 256 512 state size 20 arx rsa asymmetric-block cipher 1024 minimum 512 bits 1 math operations aes-rsa hybrid-block cipher aes: 128, 192, 256 bits, rsa: 1024 aes: 128 bits rsa: minimum 512 bits aes: 10, 12, 14 rsa: 1 aes: substitution permutation network (spn) rsa: math operations elgamal asymmetricdiscrete logarithm 1024 minimum 512 bits 1 math operations jasim and zeki: design of protection software for cloud database files 78 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 70-79 unauthorized get to and breaches. for the security of database files in the cloud, we proposed a computer software program that can be utilized to encrypt different types of database files in the cloud. conclusions and future work the security of cloud databases is of fundamental significance as organizations progressively depend on cloud servers to store and oversee their critical information. encryption systems play a significant part in defending information privacy and secrecy in cloud database situations. through this paper, we have examined the foundation, importance, and challenges related to executing cryptosystems in cloud databases. furthermore, we proposed an encryption software program based on symmetric and asymmetric cryptosystems. the software can be adopted to protect various files in cloud database security. the reviewing of related works highlighted the current studies and progressions in cloud database security, illustrating the developing intrigued in upgrading information security within the cloud. we investigated the diagram of cloud database security, encryption systems, their execution, the performance of these systems, and the challenges confronted by these systems when it used in real applications. furthermore, we distinguished different areas of research works and future trends within the field of cryptosystems in cloud databases. these areas incorporate investigating modern encryption procedures and conventions, execution optimization and versatility, key administration and get to control, convenience and client encounter advancements, compliance and administrative contemplations, and integration with rising innovations. conducting research works in these zones can contribute to the advancement of more strong, productive, and user-friendly encryption arrangements for cloud databases. moreover, cryptosystems are pivotal for guaranteeing the privacy and secrecy of information put away in cloud databases. in any case, their usage in cloud situations presents challenges that ought to be tended to attain an ideal adjustment between security and execution. by grasping developing patterns and advances, investigating the research areas, and considering client involvement and compliance prerequisites, organizations can improve the security of their cloud databases and secure touchy data from unauthorized get to. in future work, we propose to explore more types of cryptosystems algorithms. investigate different types of lightweight cryptographic methods. these methods are crucial for information security and applicable in various fields such as internet of things, wireless sensor networks, and mobile networks. references 1. r. komar and p. arjun. emerging trends in cloud computing: a comprehensive 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scientific journal, vol. 5, no, 2, pp.13-19, 2021. 35. i. t. aziz and i. h. abdulqadder. an overview on sdn and nfv security orchestration in cloud network environment. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no, 1, pp. 20-27, 2021. 36. a. h. mohammed, s. rashidi and y. a. salih. detecting denial of service attacks in internet of things using software-defined networking and ensemble learning. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 49-56. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 research article full-smart intermittent water supply monitoring, managing, and distributing system based on iot: case study at soran city mohammed m. ahmed1, abdulqadir i. abdullah2 1information technology department, soran technical college, erbil polytechnic university, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of computer science, college of science, knowledge university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract water supply scarcity has become a serious problem for many countries and cities, especially in the last few years when there has been less rain in many areas. hence, managing, monitoring, and distributing, the water supply for consumption by the people has become an urgent task for many local and national governments. monitoring how the water is used by the population in different regions helps a lot in the more efficient management of the water supply, thus helping in solving the water scarcity problem. in this research, we proposed an efficient solution for the problem which is an efficient, fair, and robust solution based on resources and consumption. the proposed system includes continuous water level monitoring of wells and storage reservoirs in the city, as well as continuous monitoring of the daily water consumption needs of each household in each neighborhood based on a group of criteria such as the number of residents, the area of green space, and the temperature of the air. this is followed by a fair amount of water being automatically distributed at regular periods to each consumer based on the estimated total amount of water. this is done through smart water meters, remote actuation of valves, and remote water pumps based on internet of thing devices, all of which are under the supervision of a web-based system. the system was developed and installed in the city of soran in the kurdistan region of iraq. the system performed very well and proved to be a very good tool for the local government. according to the results, the proposed smart water meter system can save 24.59% on water consumption. keywords: esp32, fair water distribution, intermittent water distribution system, internet of things, smart water meter. introduction water is an essential resource for humans to maintain their lives and health. it is regarded as one of the most important resources for human and economic growth. water supply scarcity has become a serious problem for many countries and cities, especially in the last few years when there has been less rain in many areas. moreover, some individuals waste it, and others do not know how to properly use it. the amount of water consumed per capita in each country depends on factors such as nationality, culture, and climate.[1] the standard of average daily water consumption per capita in middle-income countries is 162 l/day.[2] whereas daily water consumption in the united states of america (usa) is 575 l/person, 200–300 l in europe and 250 l in australia.[3] furthermore, daily water consumption in iraq is 392 l[4] and in the kurdistan region of iraq (kri), my research location is 375–400 l/day per capita.[5] this amount is very high compared to the average water consumption of middle-income countries. on a worldwide scale, most domestic water-consuming activities are related to personal hygiene purposes such as bathing, showering, toilet, and clothes washers.[6] in the arid and semi-arid conditions, watering lawns and gardens are also a water-demanding activity.[7] although the water distribution network (wdn) in kri was set up to supply water continuously at first, due to the population’s rapid growth and unexpected network extension, intermittent water supply (iws) systems were adopted as a solution to deal with the supply-versus-demand deficit. iws refer to piped wdns that provide water to consumers for a period of time that is <24 h a day.[8] iws are often utilized in drought-stricken areas to reduce water consumption.[9,10] corresponding author: mohammed m. ahmed, department of it, soran technical institute, erbil polytechnic university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: muhammad.mustafa.it@gmail.com received: september 1, 2022 accepted: december 21, 2022 published: january 30, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp8-20 copyright © 2023 mohammed m. ahmed, abdulqadir i. abdullah. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 in all of kri’s cities, water is supplied intermittently, with an average of 45 minutes a day and with poor levels of service. in addition, every household has local water storage tanks to offset the fluctuation of water supply. the poor service levels can be attributed to limitations on available water and resources, poor network maintenance, limited instrumentation, and improper operation of the system. intermittent wdns (iwdn) unequally supply water to consumers.[11,12] so that some consumers get more water and others get less water than they need. this is the biggest problem in kri. hence, managing, monitoring, and distributing the water supply and consumption of the people has become an urgent task for many local and national governments. monitoring how the water supply is used by the population in different regions and distributing it correctly helps a lot in the more efficient management of the water supply, thus helping in solving the water scarcity problem. therefore, governments should adopt intelligent policies to combat this problem. intelligent monitoring is described as a way of monitoring, controlling, managing, and optimizing a network using various computational approaches to give customers appropriate tools and information.[13] the internet of things (iot) is a critical part of intelligent monitoring, which uses wireless sensor technologies to link people and devices. related work smart water monitoring and distribution system this research work hsia et al.[14] has proposed a smart water meter system by combining the traditional mechanical water meter with an electronic water meter based on a capacitive sensor. the water meter uses a low-cost non-contact metal arrow sensor. in mudumbe and abu-mahfouz,[15] the authors have proposed a system that includes a real-time monitoring system, a smart water meter, and open-source tools used for the visualization of consumer data. the authors say that the proposed system can help people change how they use water and use less water. the study suresh et al.[16] has proposed a low-cost and reliable smart water distribution metering system based on iot. the system provides a real-time water meter reading for updating consumption data. it also lets customers pay their bills using a smartphone app. to record the amount of water consumption, the researcher used an analogue water meter with a magnetic reed switch and an embedded magnet on the wheel of the water meter. in this study chinnusamy,[17] a smart wdn based on lora communication was proposed. this work provided an architecture for a wdn that includes: remote node, actuator node, gateway node, and cloud server. the remote node monitors the level of water in reservoirs based on an ultrasonic sensor and sends data every minute to the gateway node. furthermore, the gateway node receives actuator status data such as open or closed status every 10 s from the actuator node. the gateway node analyses the received data from remote nodes and actuator nodes and transmits it to the cloud server. in narayanan and sankaranarayanan,[18] the authors have proposed a smart water monitoring and distribution system based on iot for a smart city with the integration of fog and cloud computing. their system has capabilities for water quality control, fault localization, fault prediction, underground pipe health monitoring, and water theft detection. this research work by patel and gaikwad[19] has proposed a smart water distribution system based on iot for residential areas. their system has the capability of distributing the same amount of water to all consumers, quality control, and keeping the water level in the water tank. the researchers used an electric valve to ensure each consumer got the same amount of water. in this study rapelli et al.,[20] a smart water monitoring and distribution system for an apartment were proposed. this work provided an architecture that includes three modules; the first module is used for real-time monitoring of the water level based on an ultrasonic sensor. the second module, through the use of electric valves, will ensure that water is evenly distributed in each block. the third module is also responsible for distributing water on demand in accordance with water consumption based on an iot-based mobile application. in sammaneh and al-jabi,[21] the authors have presented a smart water distribution management system for intermittent water supply situations. the system is able to distribute water based on residents’ demands and also control water usage by providing the optimum amount of water to save water and maintain resident activities as well. the authors focused on the theoretical requirements that are needed to implement this architecture rather than on any practical work. the study devi et al.[22] have proposed a smart water distribution system based on iot for residential societies. this system lets both meter readers and consumers use smartphones to monitor their water consumption. a web server receives real-time water consumption data from a magnetic sensor that is installed in the pipe. this data are automatically updated in the cloud, and consumers can visualize their water consumption using an android application. this research work by fuentes and mauricio[23] has provided an architecture for a water consumption measurement system that addresses five important parts: water consumption measurement (using a water meter), leak detection (using the k-nn algorithm), local record consumption process (data were stored on a raspberry pi), physical security of the electronic device (anti-tampering mechanism), and storage and visualization of the obtained consumption through a website and smartphone. the authors claim the proposed system can detect all water leak problems with 100% accuracy. one of the limitations of this research is the non-use of backup batteries during power outages or intentional power outages by consumers. this research work by nelakuditi et al.[24] has proposed a reliable and cost-effective smart water governing framework for industries and households. the system is an integrated ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 model for water management that includes automatic monitoring and control capabilities as well as powerful data visualization and analytics tools. this work provides an architecture with four important parts: water consumption tracking, water quality monitoring, water tank filling, and leakage detection. methodology our research is focused on a type of wdn that has the following characteristics in soran city in kri. there are several wdns in the city; some are independent, and some are shared. furthermore, there are several water supplies sources, such as storage reservoirs and wells. some sources are responsible for water supply to just one neighborhood, while others to more than one. each neighborhood has its own manual valve actuator. some neighborhoods receive water from only one source and some from several sources. the water is distributed every 48 h for 1–2 h by the opening of the manual valve actuator in the neighborhood by the staff of the water department. each house has its own analog water meter. in addition, every household has local water storage tanks to offset the fluctuation of water supply. most households have their own water pump. of course, those who have a stronger water pump than others receive more water. furthermore, those who are near the main water pipe receive more water than those who are far from the main water pipe. in some neighborhoods, the wrong design of the wdn, the ancient wdn, the growing number of households, and the low water pressure inside the pipes have caused some households to be unable to receive their daily water needs, so they are forced to buy water through tankers. moreover, every 1–2 months, the water paper bill will be handed over to the consumers by the water department staff and paid manually. to overcome the mentioned problems and distribute water fairly to every household, we need an intelligent system that helps to automate all parts of water monitoring, management, and distribution. in the proposed system, the water pump of any well or storage reservoir is equipped with a device that can turn the pump on and off remotely through wi-fi or gsm. furthermore, the manual valve actuators in the wdns are replaced with electric valve actuators to be opened and closed remotely. any well or storage reservoir is equipped with a water level monitoring system. and the smart water meter replaces the analogue water meter in every house. furthermore, the water required for plants and gardens is supplied to protect the environment based on the area of the green space of each house. a server continuously monitors the water level of wells and storage reservoirs using the water level monitoring system that is installed on them at different parts of the city. the proposed water level monitoring system uses an ultrasonic sensor to measure the level of water, and it sends the capacity of storage reservoirs or wells to the server every minute through wi-fi or gsm. it also continuously monitors the air temperature. the server determines the water needs of each household in each neighborhood based on three criteria: the number of residents, the area of green space, and the temperature of the air. water consumption is higher on hot days than on cold ones. therefore, the air temperature station has been used to determine hot and cold days. this system supplies 150 l of water for each person per day on cold days and 250 l on hot days. moreover, it supplies 1 l of water for every square meter of green space per day on cold days and 2 l on hot days. the server estimates the capacity of each well or storage reservoir in the future using the last 24 recorded water capacities (one capacity per hour) of any well or storage reservoir and determines the percentage of water delivered to each household based on the estimated capacity. the proposed system is shown in figure 1. smart water meter the smart water meter is an electronic device designed to control and record water usage remotely. it is put on the water inlet pipe and replaces the old analogue water meter in every house. the block diagram of the smart water meter is shown in figure 2, and its circuit diagram is shown in figure 3. every smart water meter has a unique identifier (id) and a secret code that is used for security purposes to authenticate the water meter. the flowchart of the main operation between the smart water meter and the server is shown in figure 4. figure 1: physical view of the smart water supply monitoring and management system ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 air detection one of the problems in intermittent wdns is the air in the pipe. when the water flow is turned on to fill an empty pipe, the trapped air is displaced and exits the system.[25] it then enters the analogue water meter of the house, and it causes the water meter to read it. as a result, it costs more for the consumer. a sensor is designed to avoid reading the air inside the pipes in the proposed smart water meter. the air sensor consists of two copper wires that are placed inside the tube [figure 5], which can detect the water inside the pipe. by using the air sensor together with the flow meter sensor and an algorithm, the system can detect the air inside the pipes [figure 6]. fair water distribution there are several methods of water distribution, such as unequal distribution, equal distribution, and fair distribution. in unequal water distribution, each household receives an unequal amount of water in every distribution. in equal water distribution, each household receives the same amount of water regardless of their needs in every distribution. however, in fair water distribution, every household receives a fair amount of water considering their needs in every distribution. to achieve the goal of fair water distribution, the system determines the water needs of each household in each neighborhood based on three criteria: the number of people living in the house; the area of green space; and the temperature of the air. it supplies 150 l of water for each person per day on cold days and 250 l on hot days; and 1 l of water for every square meter of green space per day on cold days and 2 l on hot days (according to each country, these settings can be changed on the setting page). to distribute water fairly, the following steps should be taken: a) calculating the amount of water needed by each household, given by equation (1). where: w = water needed by each household (l) tavg = average daily temperature tth = temperature threshold used to determine hot days p = number of people living in the house a = area of green space (m) d = periodic distribution time (h) if tavg >= tth → hot day w = (p * 250 l + a * 2 l) * d/24 if tavg < tth → cold day w = (p * 150 l + a * 1 l) * d/24 (1) b) calculating the total water requirement of each neighborhood, given by equation (2). where: x = water needed by each neighborhood (l) w = water needed by each household (l) n = the number of households in the neighborhood = =∑ 1 n i i x w (2)figure 2: the block diagram of the smart water meter figure 3: smart water meter circuit diagram ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 c) calculating the total water requirement of all those neighborhoods that have a shared water source, given by equation (3). where: y = total water requirement of the neighborhoods (l) x = water needed by each neighborhood (l) m = the number of neighborhoods that have a shared water source = =∑ 1 m j j y x (3) d) estimating the capacity of water in the sources to estimate the capacity of the sources in the future, it is necessary to know how much water flows into them in an hour. the system continuously monitors the capacity of sources and then estimates the input water flow rate with high accuracy using the last 24 recorded water capacities (one capacity per hour) of the sources. there are two scenarios to do this: scenario one when the source does not distribute water, the value obtained between the two recorded water capacities is positive, which figure 4: the proposed system flowchart ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 means that the source water has increased. in this case, equation (4) is used to calculate the input water flow rate between two capacities. where: fin = input water flow rate (l/h) c = capacity of the source (l) at time n fin = (cn−cn−1) (4) scenario two when the source distributes water, the value obtained between the two recorded water capacities is negative, which means that the source water has decreased. in this case, equation (5) is used to calculate the input water flow rate between two capacities. where: fout = output water flow rate (l/h) (the output water flow rate of each source is stored on the settings page based on the specifications of its water pump) fin = (cn−cn−1) + fout (5) the input water flow rate in each source varies depending on some situations, such as climate, night and day, seasons and drought. to achieve high accuracy, the system estimates the input water flow rate using the last 24 recorded water capacities of the sources. equation (6) is used to calculate the average input water flow rate in 24 h. where: favg = average input water flow rate (l/h) fp = positive flow rate (l/h) fn = negative flow rate (l/h) for n=2 to 24 { if (cn−cn−1) > 0 → positive value fp = fp + (cn−cn−1) if (cn−cn−1) < 0 → negative value fn = fn + (cn−cn−1) + fout } favg = (fp + fn)/23 (6) for all those neighborhoods that have a shared water source to receive water equally, the amount of water in the source should be estimated based on the remaining time (hours) for water distribution in the last neighborhood. equation (7) is used to estimate the amount of water available in one source in the next few hours. where: e = estimated capacity of the source (l) cc = current capacity of the source (l) favg = average input water flow rate (l/h) h = number of hours (h) e = cc + (favg * h) (7) also, equation (8) is used to estimate the amount of water available in shared sources in the next few hours, where: eall = estimated capacity of the shared sources (l) e = estimated capacity of the source (l) k = number of sources = =∑ 1 n all k k e e (8) e) calculating the percentage of water delivered to each household to achieve the purpose of fair water distribution among all neighborhoods when there is not enough water for every household, water must be distributed fairly among all households depending on the available water. equation (9) is used to calculate the percentage of water delivered to each household: this ensures that everyone receives an equal amount of water, where: pw = percentage of water delivered to each household eall = estimated capacity of one source or shared sources (l) figure 5: air detection sensor figure 6: the algorithm of the air detection ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 y = total water requirement of the neighborhoods (l) pw = (eall/y) * 100 (9) implementation of proposed system software and hardware software web server an advanced website is designed to monitor, manage, and control iot devices in the wdn. the web pages are developed based on html, css, javascript, jquery, json, and php. bootstrap framework is used for fast, attractive, and modern design and chart.js for data visualization in graphical form. furthermore, the mysql database is used to store data. moreover, all security aspects are included to protect the system. figure 7 shows the main interface of the system, which provides the following: 1) real-time monitoring of source levels; 2) current and average daily temperatures in the city; 3) a list of neighborhoods; 4) the number of residents of each neighborhood; 5) the water demand of each neighborhood based on the time period selected on the setting page; 6) the name of the source that supplies water to the neighborhood (a: bekhal storage reservoir, b: jondian storage reservoir, and c: sarwchawa wells, note: the * next to the source name denotes a shared source); 7) current capacity of each source; 8) the percentage of water supply ability for each neighborhood; 9) the last time water was distributed; 10) the time left (remaining time) until the next water distribution in each neighborhood; and 11) manual water distribution during technical difficulties. mobile app. a friendly user interface has been developed for smartphones where consumers can monitor their water consumption, check the water meter status (wi-fi and battery status), be informed about the next water distribution time and the amount of predicted water, check the air in the water pipes, and conduct water bill inquiries and payments, etc. [figure 8]. all of the information represented on the web page is retrieved dynamically from the database. to sign in to the system, the consumers must enter the device id (the smart water meter’s id), user name, and password that is used for security purposes to authenticate them. hardware all parts of the proposed smart water supply monitoring system were implemented using hardware and software. figure 9 shows the proposed smart water meter. the website was implemented on a laptop to control the proposed system using the xampp web server. all parts of the proposed system were connected to the xampp web server using the home wi-fi router. two water buckets (represented as a source), two water pumps, and two solenoid valves (represented as an electric valve actuator in the neighborhood) were used to emulate the wdn [figure 10]. two water buckets were used so that the system could be tested using both independent and shared water sources. • before starting to test the system, on the settings page, the following parameter thresholds were configured: • the temperature threshold was adjusted to 26 degrees celsius (to determine hot days). • the daily water supply per person was adjusted to 150 l on cold days and 250 l on hot days. • the daily water supply for every square meter of green space was adjusted to 1 l on cold days and 2 l on hot days. • the daily water supply to cover the maximum area of green space was adjusted to 50 square meters. • the automatic water distribution time was adjusted every 12 h. • the price of one cubic meter of water was adjusted to 100 iqd. figure 11 shows the successful process of water distribution by the proposed system using both independent and shared water sources. furthermore, figure 12 shows the detection of air in the water pipe by the smart water meter. results the smart water meter system was developed and tested successfully in the city of soran in the kurdistan region of northern iraq. the system was tested in the summer of 2022 in a total of 73 households with different numbers of residents and different sizes of green areas. these households were divided into three neighborhoods: g, j, and d. table 1 shows the households divided by the different neighborhoods, with figure 7: the main interface of the system ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 household resident numbers and green areas. the important data shown in table 1 are the usage of water in l by each household before and after installing the smart water meter system in the household. from the table, we can clearly observe figure 9: proposed smart water meter figure 10: the prototype of the proposed system a significant amount of savings in water usage after installing the system. as an example, we can see household number 1, which is located in the neighborhood of g, with a number of residents of 2 and a green area of 12 m2. in this household, we can see that before the installation of the system, they figure 8: (a) the mobile authentication form; (b) water meter, water distribution and battery status; (c) check the air in the water pipes; (d) water bill and pay; and (e) the next water distribution time and the amount of predicted water for next distribution d cba e ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 used 632 l/day, but after the installation of the system, the daily consumption has decreased to 524 l. this is a savings of 17.09%, which is a significant amount. similar to this, we can observe all the other households in the different regions. from table 1, we can clearly see that the average savings in water usage by households constitute a percentage of 24.59%. this savings amount is significant, especially if the projections of water shortages in the area come true. we can see these results visually in figure 13, in the different neighborhoods g, j, and d, respectively, from top to bottom. in the top figure, we can see the usage of water for the households from 1 to 27. the red bar on the graph represents the usage before installing the system, and the yellow bar represents the usage after installing the system. the middle graph represents the neighborhood of households j from 28 to 44, and the bottom graph represents the neighborhood of households d from 45 to 73. we can clearly see the savings in water usage from the graphs for all the households in the three neighborhoods. in table 2, we can see the water consumption in the three neighborhoods before and after installing the smart water meter system in the households in the three neighborhoods. in the table, figure 11: water distribution process figure 12: detection of air in tubes by the smart water meter table 1: daily water consumption and water savings of households before and after the installation of the proposed smart water meter in the summer id n r g (m2) before (liter) after (liter) water saving (%) 1 g 2 12 632 524 17.09 2 g 1 40 505 330 34.70 3 g 3 10 925 770 16.73 4 g 3 0 1077 750 30.36 5 g 4 16 1325 1032 22.14 6 g 3 12 1245 774 37.85 7 g 3 6 869 762 12.31 8 g 2 25 877 550 37.31 9 g 1 15 443 280 36.78 10 g 3 4 1071 758 29.25 11 g 4 8 1109 1016 8.36 12 g 3 0 905 750 17.11 13 g 2 12 838 524 37.48 14 g 3 16 1089 782 28.16 15 g 2 12 755 524 30.62 16 g 2 12 724 524 27.62 17 g 2 2 586 504 13.98 18 g 4 0 1089 1000 8.13 19 g 2 12 755 524 30.62 20 g 3 4 903 758 16.06 21 g 2 12 724 524 27.62 22 g 2 10 586 520 11.25 23 g 3 25 1002 800 20.16 24 g 3 20 1005 790 21.41 25 g 2 8 862 516 40.11 26 g 2 12 650 524 19.40 27 g 2 20 1052 540 48.69 28 j 3 10 889 770 13.38 29 j 1 12 432 274 36.57 30 j 1 6 409 262 35.94 31 j 5 40 1981 1330 32.86 32 j 4 6 1109 1012 8.74 33 j 3 0 831 750 9.75 34 j 4 12 1524 1024 32.83 35 j 4 12 1188 1024 13.83 36 j 3 25 1166 800 31.39 37 j 3 0 1017 750 26.25 38 j 5 50 1671 1350 19.20 39 j 1 30 512 310 39.48 40 j 4 40 1707 1080 36.74 41 j 6 50 2482 1600 35.53 42 j 2 12 831 524 36.94 43 j 5 16 1463 1282 12.40 (contd...) ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 we can see the minimum and maximum savings from water consumption by households and the average savings. as we see that the savings are 25.22% for neighborhood g, 25.70% for neighborhood j, and 23.35% for neighborhood d, we can see that the average savings is around 25% for all three neighborhoods. this is a significant water consumption savings which will lead to significantly decrease the shortage of water in the area. from these results, we can say that installing the smart water meter system will lead to a significant improvement in daily water consumption by people in the areas because it creates a capability for water monitoring systems by the authorities and people to reduce waste in water consumption significantly. the system will foster a culture of accountability for the population’s water consumption, resulting in better water management. comparison with existing smart water management systems we presented a complete design of a full smart intermittent water supply monitoring, management, and distribution system, whereas most existing systems have focused on figure 13: daily water consumption of households in neighborhoods g, d, and d before/after the installation of the proposed smart water meter in the summer table 2: average water savings in neighborhoods n before (liter) after (liter) min (%) max (%) water saving g 23604 17650 8.13% 48.69% 25.22% j 20402 15158 8.74% 39.48% 25.70% d 30045 23030 8.08% 52.19% 23.35% table 1: (continued) id n r g (m2) before (liter) after (liter) water saving (%) 44 j 4 8 1188 1016 14.51 45 d 3 12 913 774 15.18 46 d 2 10 779 520 33.25 47 d 3 20 988 790 20.04 48 d 3 16 1000 782 21.80 49 d 3 22 1100 794 27.82 50 d 2 12 927 524 43.48 51 d 5 15 1447 1280 11.52 52 d 3 12 1009 774 23.29 53 d 4 20 1250 1040 16.80 54 d 4 12 1126 1024 9.09 55 d 3 10 1030 770 25.28 56 d 2 4 755 508 32.72 57 d 4 25 1231 1050 14.69 58 d 2 40 658 580 11.90 59 d 2 12 1096 524 52.19 60 d 1 15 450 280 37.75 61 d 2 6 557 512 8.08 62 d 3 10 980 770 21.41 63 d 4 0 1098 1000 8.91 64 d 6 50 1989 1600 19.56 65 d 5 40 2018 1330 34.09 66 d 4 25 1358 1050 22.68 67 d 2 12 599 524 12.55 68 d 3 16 960 782 18.54 69 d 2 12 821 524 36.18 70 d 2 10 681 520 23.64 71 d 1 12 448 274 38.84 72 d 4 25 1304 1050 19.48 73 d 4 40 1473 1080 26.68 min 8.08 max 52.19 average 24.59% note: n=neighborhood name r=number of residents g=green area at home ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 a specific part of water system problems, such as water monitoring, water management, or water distribution, and they have focused only on the design rather than the implementation. table 3 shows the comparison between the architecture of our proposed system and that of existing smart water management systems based on 26 features. discussion the benefits of the proposed system the following points are the advantages of the proposed system: automatic water distribution the proposed system has the ability to automatically distribute the amount of water that is required by each household on time and without any delay. water is distributed fairly based on the available water capacity when the available water capacity is less than the total demand of households (which often occurs in the summer season), the proposed system has the ability to distribute the available water fairly among them so that all households receive the same share of water. on the other hand, fair water distribution leads to social justice. water supply according to seasonal needs temperature has been found to influence water consumption. climate factors, such as temperature and rainfall, are considered to influence the amount of water used for home purposes.[26] furthermore, the hotter days lead to more frequent watering of gardens and personal cleanliness.[27] the proposed system provides the water needed by every household according to the cold and hot days in different seasons. automatic water reading every time the specified amount of water is received by the smart water meter, the amount of water consumed (counter) is automatically sent to the server and also stored in the eeprom of the water meter. reducing water consumption in the traditional water distribution system, water is unequally distributed among households, and each household can receive more water than they need. whereas the proposed system distributes the water needed by each household according to the real needs of each person, it prevents households from receiving more water, which will reduce water consumption. reducing the wastage of treated water and thus lowering costs table 3: the features f1 to f26 are as follows: smart water system (f1), real time monitoring (f2), security approach (f3), indicator led or lcd (f4), display battery status (f5), use of memory to record water usage on the water meter (f6), use of an electric valve to control water usage on the water meter (f7), device error checker (f8), water monitoring system (f9), data analysis (f10), mobile app (f11), auto water distribution (f12), pump control (f13), actuator valve water control (f14), use of machine learning techniques (f15), water level monitoring (f16), implemented system (f17), independent web server (f18), fair or same water distribution (f19), water supply according to the number of residents in each house (f20), water supply according to the amount of green space (f21), water supply according to the temperature (f22), temperature station (f23), the ability to modify the smart water device’s ssid and network password (f24) the air-in-pipe anti-reading system (f25) and, ability to support shared water sources (f26). the check marks refer to features supported, while the uncheck marks refer to features unsupported. systems f 1 f 2 f 3 f 4 f 5 f 6 f 7 f 8 f 9 f 10 f 11 f 12 f 13 f 14 f 15 f 16 f 17 f 18 f 19 f 20 f 21 f 22 f 23 f 24 f 25 f 26 [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] our system ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 the proposed system supplies the water needed by each household based on their daily needs. it prevents households from receiving more water, which means that less treated water is wasted and, as a result, lower costs. staff reduction in traditional water distribution systems, the water operators are required to manually control valve actuators in the neighborhood. however, the proposed system does not require water operators due to replacing the remote tap actuators with manual valve actuators. the proposed system reads water meters remotely, which means there is no requirement to manually read water meters by employees. moreover, the water paper bill is handed over to the consumers by the water department staff, but the proposed system informs the consumers about their water bill in real-time, which also causes the staff to decrease. reduction of electricity costs due to low water pump operating hours in the traditional water distribution system, the water pumps are turned on and off by water operators for a fixed time (usually 1–2 h for each neighborhood). furthermore, water operators sometimes forget to turn off the pump, which causes a lot of electricity consumption. in the proposed system, after the water is distributed to all households, it automatically turns off the water pump, which saves electricity consumption. reducing greenhouse gas emissions as a result of water supply for green spaces greenhouse gases are vital to earth’s life. certain concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere enable the earth to maintain livable temperatures.[28] infectious and non-infectious diseases, severe impacts on nutrition and water security, and other societal disruptions are attributed to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions.[29] one of the solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is green infrastructure, which plays many roles in urban environments.[30] to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and thus protect the environment, the proposed system supplies the water needed by trees and green spaces in houses. accurate bills in real time the wrong reading of the analogue water meter by water meter readers causes the issuance of inaccurate water bills, which can have a bad psychological effect on consumers. furthermore, not reading the water meter when the consumer is not at home will result in the issuance of a large water bill in subsequent reading periods whereas the proposed system informs consumers about their water bills in real-time. the limitation of the proposed system internet problem the proposed smart water meter is built on the basis of the iot and requires a continuous internet connection to work. therefore, every house should have its own internet, or there should be public internet in the neighborhoods. conclusion in this work, an iot-based architecture for full-smart monitoring, management, and distribution systems for intermittent water supplies has been proposed. the proposed system includes a smart water meter, water level monitoring systems, an air temperature station, valve actuator controllers, water pump controllers, a web server, and a mobile application. the main goal of the proposed system was the fair distribution of water to each household according to the available water capacity using a group of criteria such as the number of residents, the area of green space, and the temperature of the air. furthermore, a user-friendly mobile app was developed for use by consumers so that they can monitor their water consumption, be informed about the next water distribution time and the amount of predicted water, check the water meter status, check the air in water pipes, and conduct water bill inquiries and payments. the system was developed and installed on 73 houses in three neighborhoods with different numbers of residents and different sizes of green areas in the city of soran in the kurdistan region of iraq. according to the obtained results, the proposed smart water meter system can save water consumption from 8.08% to 52.19%, with an average of 24.59%. in our future work, we would like to use a rain gauge station to know the amount of rain in the city in order to provide enough water to irrigate the green spaces in the houses. we will also build a dataset to predict the amount of green space in houses based on ml techniques. references 1. h. m. corbella and d. s. pujol. what lies behind domestic water use? a review essay on the drivers of domestic water consumption. boletín de la asociación de geógrafos españoles, vol. 50, pp. 297-314, 2009. 2. world bank. the kurdistan region of iraq: assessing the economic and social impact of the syrian conflict and isis, 2015. available from: https://documents1. wor ldbank .org/cura ted/en/579451468305943474/ pdf/958080pub0apri0public09781464805486.pdf [last accessed on 2022 jun 11]. 3. undp (united nations development programme). human development report 2006: beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis. new york, 2006. available from: https:// hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents//human-developmentreport-2006-english.human-development-report-2006-english [last accessed on 2022 jun 12]. 4. un. 2013 water in iraq factsheet. un, iraq, 2013. available from: https://www.iraqicivilsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/ water-factsheet.pdf [last accessed on 2022 jun 12]. 5. krg ministry of planning (mop) & undp. building the kurdistan region of iraq: the socio-economic infrastructures, 2012. available from: https://us.gov.krd/media/1318/building-the-kurdistanregion-sociao-economic.pdf [last accessed on 2022 jun 14]. 6. b. j. carragher, r. a. stewart and c. d. beal. quantifying the influence of residential water appliance efficiency on average day diurnal demand patterns at an end use level: a precursor to optimised water service infrastructure planning. resources conservation and recycling, vol. 62, pp. 81-90, 2012. 7. b. h. hurd. water conservation and residential landscapes: household preferences, household choices. journal of agricultural and resource economics, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 173-192, 2006. 8. d. d. j. taylor, a. h. slocum and a. j. whittle. demand satisfaction as a framework for understanding intermittent water supply systems. water resources research, vol. 55, no. 7, pp. 5217-5237, 2019. 9. a. w. bivins. estimating infection risks and the global burden of diarrheal disease attributable to intermittent water supply using qmra. environmental science and technology, vol. 51, no. 13, pp. 7542-7551, 2017. ahmed and abdullah: smart water supply monitoring and management system 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 8-20 10. c. laspidou and a. spyropoulou. global dimensions of iwsnumber of people affected worldwide. in: dealing with the complex interrelation of intermittent supply and water losses. iwa publishing, london, pp. 5-16, 2017. 11. k. vairavamoorthy, s. d. gorantiwar and s. mohan. intermittent water supply under water scarcity situations. water international, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 121-132, 2007. 12. m. de marchis, c. m. fontanazza, g. freni, g. l. loggia, e. napoli, and v. notaro. analysis of the impact of intermittent distribution by modelling the network-filling process. journal of hydroinformatics, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 358-373, 2011. 13. z. zho, q. liu, q. ai and c. xu. intelligent monitoring and diagnosis for modern mechanical equipment based on the integration of embedded technology and fbgs technology. measurement, vol. 44, no. 9, pp. 1499-1511, 2011. 14. s. c. hsia, s. w. hsu and y. j. chang. remote monitoring and smart sensing for water meter system and leakage detection. iet wireless sensor systems, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 402-408, 2012. 15. m. j. mudumbe and a. m. abu-mahfouz. smart water meter system for user-centric consumption measurement. in: 2015 ieee 13th international conference on industrial informatics (indin), pp. 993-998, 2015. 16. m. suresh, u. muthukumar and j. chandapillai. a novel smart water-meter based on iot and smartphone app for city distribution management. in: 2017 ieee region 10 symposium (tensymp), pp. 1-5, 2017. 17. s. chinnusamy. iot enabled monitoring and control of water distribution network. in: 1st international wdsa/ccwi 2018 joint conference, pp. 23-25, 2018. 18. l. k. narayanan and s. sankaranarayanan. iot enabled smart water distribution and underground pipe health monitoring architecture for smart cities. in: 2019 ieee 5th international conference for convergence in technology (i2ct), pp. 1-7, 2019. 19. c. s. patel and j. a. gaikwad. design and development of iot based smart water distribution network for residential areas. in: 2019 international conference on communication and electronics systems (icces), 2019. 20. n. rapelli, a. myakal, v. kota and p. r. rajarapollu. iot based smart water management, monitoring and distribution system for an apartment. in: 2019 international conference on intelligent computing and control systems (iccs), pp. 440-443, 2019. 21. h. sammaneh and m. al-jabi. iot-enabled adaptive smart water distribution management system. in: 2019 international conference on promising electronic technologies (icpet), pp. 40-44, 2019. 22. b. n. devi, g. kowsalya and r. senbagam. design and implementation of iot based smart water distribution system. international journal of scientific research in science engineering and technology, vol. 7, pp. 537-541, 2020. 23. h. fuentes and d. mauricio. smart water consumption measurement system for houses using iot and cloud computing. environmental monitoring and assessment, vol. 192, no. 9, pp. 1-16, 2020. 24. u. r. nelakuditi, m. k. shaik and n. avula. reliable and costeffective smart water governing framework for industries and households. in: smart technologies for energy and environmental sustainability. springer, germany, pp. 177-199, 2022. 25. q. m. bautista-de los santos, k. a. chavarria and k. l. nelson. understanding the impacts of intermittent supply on the drinking water microbiome. current opinion in biotechnology, vol. 57, pp. 167-174, 2019. 26. s. gato, n. jayasuriya and p. roberts. forecasting residential water demand: case study. journal of water resources planning and management, vol. 133, no. 4, pp. 309-319, 2007. 27. m. hoffmann, a. worthington and h. higgs. urban water demand with fixed volumetric charging in a large municipality: the case of brisbane, australia. australian journal of agricultural and resource economics, vol. 50, no. 3, pp. 347-359, 2006. 28. i. c. mell. green infrastructure: reflections on past, present and future praxis. landscape research, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 135-145, 2017. 29. a. mikhaylov, n. moiseev, k. aleshin and t. burkhardt. global climate change and greenhouse effect. entrepreneurship and sustainability issues, vol. 7, no. 4, p. 2897, 2020. 30. j. parker and m. e. zingoni de baro. green infrastructure in the urban environment: a systematic quantitative review. sustainability, vol. 11, no. 11, p. 3182, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 68 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 68-75 research article green synthesis of gold nanoparticles using zingiber officinale rhizomes aqueous extract and its gastroprotective activity against ethanol-produced stomach ulcer in rats suhayla h. shareef1,2, ismail n. mahdi3, mustafa a. badeea3, mahmood a. abdulla3 1department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university, erbil 44001, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of medical biochemical analysis, college of health technology, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract synthesis of gold nanoparticles exhibition wide range of bioactivities and was conventionally used for the remedy of numerous disorders. our study aims to measure the gastroprotective effect of synthesized gold nanoparticles on absolute ethanol-induced stomach ulceration in rats. the rats were noticeably administered with two doses of gold nanoparticles (175 ppm and 350 ppm) with absolute alcohol and showed a significant improvement in the adverse effect of ethanol-produced stomach damage as confirmed by decreasing ulcer index and raising % of ulcer prevention. increased mucus ph of stomach content reduced ulcerated portion, condensed or nonappearance of edema, and white blood cells permeation subcutaneous layer. in gastric tissue homogenate, synthesized gold nanoparticles presented a substantial increase in superoxide dismutase (sod), catalase (cat) actions, and a substantial lessening of malondialdehyde (mda) amount. besides, gold nanoparticle increases the intensity of periodic acid schiff stained (pas) of the gastric epithelium of the stomach. gold nanoparticles confirmed gastro-protective effects which might be qualified to its antioxidant, increase mucus secretion, increase endogenous enzymes (sod and cat), and reduce mda quantity. keywords: synthesized zingiber officinale, gold nanoparticle, gastric ulcer, histology, pas introduction a peptic ulcer is the most communal gastrointestinal tract ailment that is moving a huge number of individuals universally and has therapeutic and worldwide financial attention. several factors are included in the progress of stomach ulceration, for instance, stress, smoking, malnutrition, administration of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medications, genetic tendency, and contagion by h. pylori.[1] even though there are, countless medications presently used in the scientific arena to achieve stomach ulcer illness, the mainstream of them displays numerous adversative responses. therefore, there is necessary to notice additional active and fewer poisonous antiulcer mediators.[2] the great attention to herbal medications and the pharmacologic actions of their bioactive composites has given rise to the detection of abundant usual medicines or herbal excerpts.[3] in specific, a huge quantity of therapeutic plants established anti-ulcer possessions,[4] with fairly a smaller amount cost and an extensive variety of protection boundaries.[5] zingiberaceae plant family furthermost plentiful in southeast asia, extensively utilized outdated remedies.[6] zingiber officinale is one of the zingiberaceae species, categorized by its important financial consequence; meanwhile, it is used as a flavor and as a traditional medication.[7] the rhizomes are prevalent in numerous humid nations. the rhizomes have been exhaustively deliberate and found to display an extensive variety of pharmacologic actions for instance febrifuge, painkilling belongings, anti-inflammatory, chemo-preventive actions,[8] antinociceptive, antioxidant, antineoplastic, antimicrobic, antihyperglycemic, antiallergic, and antiplatelet actions.[9] the purpose of the current study is to make stable gold nanoparticles and to observe their gastroprotective significance in ethanol-produced stomach ulceration in rats. corresponding author: suhayla h. shareef, department of medical biochemical analysis, college of health technology, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: suhayla.shareef@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 19, 2022 accepted: july 30, 2022 published: august 22, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp68-75 copyright © 2022 suhayla h. shareef, ismail n. mahdi, mustafa a. badeea, mahmood a. abdulla. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) shareef, et al.: anti-ulcer effect of gold nanoparticles in ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in rats 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 68-75 materials and methods uv-vis’s fascination ranges were established on uv-vis spectroscopic analysis, whereas the size and shape of elements were quantified on scanning electron microscope (sem0, and atomic force microscopic (afm). reliability elements recognized by zeta analyzer. crystallography construction decided samples regulate utilizing high-resolution x-ray diffractometric system jdx-3532 utilizing one-color cu-k𝛼 radiation wavelength 1.5418 ˚a. chemicals and reagents reagents and chemicals were of the analytical score. gold nitrate crystal was purchased from merck in germany; zingiber officinale rhizome and arabic gum were obtained from the local market. omeprazole was purchased from a dispensary dissolved in 10% tween 20 forced feeding by mouth to rats at a dosage of 20 mg/kg (5 ml/kg), as recommended by several investigators’.[10-12] omeprazole was purchased from the pharmacy, ketamine, and xylazine and was purchased from a veterinary clinic. preparation of rhizome extract fresh zingiber officinale rhizomes were gathered and documented by the herbarium of biology department, university of salahaddin-erbil (no erb 8513. the rhizomes were cleaned carefully with distilled water many times to remove the dirt, cut into small pieces, and desiccated under shadow at room temperature for 2 weeks.[13] dry rhizomes make well as ash using an electrical mixer. the ash saturated distilled water (200 g/1000 ml) for 5 days and mixed every 3 h and was filtered using sieve paper and rotating evaporator. finally, prepared aqueous extract solution stored at -20°c. arabic gum (0.15 g) additional to 50 ml purified water 70oc in 100 ml pyrex mug. this solution supplementary aqueous excerpt zingiber officinale rhizomes through rousing by a magnetic stirrer. synthesis of gold nanoparticles a mix of zingiber officinale extracts besides arabic gum is located in a 250 ml bottle fiery 60–70°c. ph mixture accustomed 7.5. after that, 50 ml of 1mm gold nitrate solution additional slowly with rousing. the color of the solution changed from a straight line to violet suggesting the progress of gold nanoparticles. the response was appropriated for 20 min, later, the hotplate detached solution persevered rousing till grasped 25oc. color violet no alteration later four months. ethics statement this training was accessible official ethical assessment panel for endorsement, an agreement approved (ethical number bio/25/03/2021/maa). entirely in vivo investigational techniques were achieved in the sterilized state in the tentative animal unit succeeding their strategies. altogether rats acknowledged humane attention, conferring to the principles delineated “director care and utilize workroom animals” ready nationwide conservatory disciplines available countrywide organization healthiness. initiation of stomach ulceration rats reserved individually distinct pens widespread net wire bottom evade coprophagia. rodents fed normal pellets food permit allowed water admission. investigational animals separate randomly into four collections of six animals correspondingly. rats reserved in animal house for 2 weeks for variation. immediate animals nourished as follow: gathering 1 fed orally 0.5% cmc (w/v) (5 ml/kg) collection 2 gavage omeprazole 20 mg/kg in cmc (5 ml/kg) as the reference group.[14] assemblies 3 and 4 were nourished with gold nanoparticles (175 and 350 ppm/p.o), correspondingly.[15] after 1 h, the entire collection is gavage by mouth absolute alcohol. sixty minutes future, altogether rats were sacrificed under overdose ketamine and xylazine gastric eliminate promptly.[16,17] gross evaluations of stomachs stomach respectively trial rat opened lengthwise greater curvature gastric rinsed cold buffered. stomach epithelium was examined for any injury using a dissecting microscope. stomach ulceration on the epithelium appears as long bands of red hemorrhagic damages. ulcers typically seemed analogous to the long alliance of the stomach. the coldness (mm) and thickness (mm) of every crew were restrained by utilizing an integrator [(10 mm × 10 mm = ulcer portion) under strew microscopy (1.8×)]. ulcer zone of every laceration designed through count numeral small squares, 2 mm × 2 mm, cover dimension thickness of every hemorrhagic ulcerated band.[18] the summary of the parts of complete abrasions for respective gastric practical cunning ulcerated part (ua) the totality of small squares × 4 × 1.8 = ua mm2. inhibition % (i %) was calculated by the following preparation inhibition percentage (i%) = (ua control– ua treated/ ua control) × 100[19] measurement of stomach ph stomach content composed spined estimate ph of stomach’s fluid supernatant through ph metrical titration through 0.1 n naoh solutions utilizing numerical ph pattern and acidity restrained in meq/l.[13,20] quantity of stomach mucus content stomachs rinsed with cold phosphate buffer saline. the stomach mucosa of respectively rat’s stomach was slightly scrubbed off using a clean slid and mass of secretion quantity utilizing correct electric equilibrium.[16] formulation of gastric tissue homogenate small piece glandular gastric wall from the respective rat washed away prudently cold pbs. utilizing homogenizer. a minor shareef, et al.: anti-ulcer effect of gold nanoparticles in ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in rats 70 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 68-75 portion of every gastric wall standardized cold pbs including a mammal protease inhibitor mixture. gastric homogenates centrifuged 1000 g 10 min 4°c. clean supernatant utilized measure amounts of superoxide dismutase (sod), catalase (cat), and malondialdehyde (mda). these assessments were completed based on the consistent manufactural method (cayman, usa).[21] measurements of endogenous antioxidant enzymes sod and cat activities stomach homogenate measured utilizing lucrative usual kits. the manufacturer’s trials were used to measure their amounts in homogenate supernatant.[22] measurements of lipid peroxidation (mda) level of stomach homogenate mda level glandular stomach homogenate was quantified using merchantable kits consulting to manufactural technique (cayman chemical co).[23] histological evaluation minor sections (1–2 cm), respectively, stomach was fixed instantly in 10% formalin overnight followed by tissue dehydrated with ethanol, permission with xylene, and permeation with paraffin using tissue processing apparatus. respectively stomach tissue was entrenched in wax sections 5 𝜇m (leica rotation microtome, germany).[24] hematoxylin and eosin stain slides-stained monotonous hematoxylin and eosin (h & e stain) for histopathology examination using a light microscope.[25] periodic acid schiff (pas) stains to measure mucus excretion of stomach’s glandular portion, slices of 5 𝜇m width stains with pas to imagine gastric mucus and differences in both acid and base glycoproteins following the construction exercise method.[26] statistical data investigation the statistical investigation was achieved using a one-way analysis of variance (anova) method shadowed through a post hoc trial with turkey’s post hoc test. normality testing was performed using the kolmogorov–smirnov test. altogether morals are designed by way of mean ± sem. value of p < 0.5 measured significant. results influence of zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle on gross assessment of stomach rats fed with zingiber officinale gold nanoparticles showed meaningful reductions in the ulceration portion of gastric comparison to the ulcerated gathering [figure 1]. flatten stomach epithelial surface decrease of mucosa damage also noticed macroscopical estimation of investigational rat’s stomach nourished with zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle in comparison with ulcered control assemblage [figure 1]. influence of zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle on gastric mucus content experimental rats fed with zingiber officinale gold nanoparticles presented a considerable upsurge in mucus excretion stomach comparison ulcerated cluster [table 1]. effect of zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle on ph of the stomach investigational rats nourished with zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle preceding given of absolute alcohol suggestively augmented stomach ph likened to ulcered control cluster [table 1]. influence of zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle on the histological estimation of absolute ethanol-induced gastric ulceration in rats h & e stain ulcer control collection obtainable widespread damage to stomach mucosa, and lacerations infiltrated intensely into the gastric epithelium with edema and white blood cell infiltration of subcutaneous coating. rats in trial assemblages nourished with zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle exhibited relatively enhanced defense stomach epithelium for instance showed through the lessening of ulcerated portion, lessening or nonappearance edema, provocative cell penetration submucosal coating [figure 1]. pas stain trial rodents nourished with zingiber officinale gold nanoparticles showed a moderately increased pas staining intensity of glycoprotein of stomach glandular epithelial, in comparison with ulcered control collection [figure 1]. table 1: effect of the gold nanoparticle on mucus weight, ph of the stomach, ulcer area, and inhibition percent of ulcer area in rat’s stomachs animal groups pre-feeding (5ml/kg) mucus weight (g) ph ulcer area (mm)2 inhibition (%) g1 ulcer control 10% tween 20 0.676 2.88±0.04 779.3±3.50 g2 omeprazole 20 mg/kg omeprazole 1.907 5.81±0.02 100.2±1.93 100.2 g3 low dose 175 ppm gold nanoparticle 1.565 5.16±0.02 153±2.08 52.6 g4 high dose 350 ppm gold nanoparticle 1.773 5.35±0.02 136.8±0.79 36.5 shareef, et al.: anti-ulcer effect of gold nanoparticles in ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in rats 71 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 68-75 figure 1: plate 1 (a): influence of gold nanoparticles on the macroscopical appearance of absolute ethanol-produced gastric damage in rats. (a) ulcer control cluster showed severe hemorrhagic lacerations of the stomach epithelium. (b) omeprazole collection presented slight injuries to stomach mucosa. (c and d) investigational assemblies showing a clear reduction in gastric mucosa. plate 2 (b): influence of gold nanoparticle on histology of gastric mucosa against ethanol-induced mucosal damages in rats. a. ulcered control cluster viewing severe mucosal injury together with necrosis, edema, and leukocytes penetration of sub-mucosal coating. b. omeprazole assemblage observing small mucosal impairment. (c and d) experimental rats exhibition reduction mucosal epithelium (h&e stain). plate 3 (c): influence of gold nanoparticle on periodic acid schiff (pas) stains of stomach glycoproteins secretion on ethanol-produced stomach damages in rats. a. ulcer control cluster revealed lessening or nonappearance of pas stains of gastric epithelium with extensive mucosal injuries. (b) omeprazole set demonstration strong pas stain. (c and d) trial groups exhibited dense up-take of pas stains b c d a a b c shareef, et al.: anti-ulcer effect of gold nanoparticles in ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in rats 72 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 68-75 effects of zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle on endogenous antioxidant enzymes of stomach tissue homogenate rats in ulcered control assortment demonstrated expressively lesser sod and cat activities compared to the normal collection. animals in experimental gatherings nourished zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle offered meaningfully returned the reduction of sod and cat to normal range [figure 2]. influences of zingiber officinale gold nanoparticle on malondialdehyde (mda) in gastric epithelium homogenate animals in ulcered control collection displayed a considerable increase in mda level of stomach tissue homogenate compared to normal assemblage [figure 2]. mda of gastric homogenate dramatically condensed in rodents nourished with zingiber officinale gold nanoparticles. mda was used as an indicator for lipid peroxidation. discussion absolute alcohol necrotizing agent brings abundant adverse possessions on gastric tissue, for example, damages causing lessening plentiful protein concentration.[7,9,26,27] the mucous membrane is recognized chief line of defense organization in the stomach; consequently, absolute alcohol eliminates mucus, and changeable permanent damage predictable.[3,28] the stomach mucosa performance barrier does not allow disgrace enzymes, for instance, pepsin effusive stomach wall.[24,29,30] chiefly, mucus owns real slight permeability large elements, perhaps pepsin, nonetheless closely subjects, alike tension, absolute alcohol increases permeability reason liberation of vasoactive crops, and finally vascular damage. vascular damaging enhanced alcohol success in gastric tissue and consequence disproportions removal of bicarbonate and building mucus.[2,23,31] likewise, proposed construction reactive oxygen species (ros) influenced complete absolute alcohol significant percentage ulceration development.[27,32-34] it is fine recognized that omeprazole drips additional majority acid intended gastric, omeprazole is effective in acid self-sufficient imitations, analogous ethanol ulceration, employment mucosal protection.[35,36] consistently, expected antioxidants, include the ability of gastroprotection.[3,29,32,37] in the current study, rats pre-nourished with gold nanoparticle enhanced construction of stomach mucosa increase wide improvement protein concentration in gastric secretions.[38,39] significances of the present exercise were similar with other amendments quantity gastroprotective and antiulcer achievement gold nanoparticle and herbal composites.[4,40,41] pre-feeding with the gold nanoparticle, challengingly impassable gastric acid likewise takeover stomach injury in rats forced feeding ethanol, characteristic gastro-protective effect gold nanoparticle easy relatively protection of gastric wall.[42,43] designated acute inflammation is attracted through ethanol neutrophils penetration the stomach partition.[1,44] the current values recognized submucosal infusion proficiently congested through pre-feeding rodents by the gold nanoparticle. an extensive release of reactive oxygen species (ros) and free radicals’ reason metabolic lessening everlasting damage.[45] pre-feeding rats with the gold nanoparticle, expressively increased the stomach mucus structure weakened acidity of gastric contented.[5,43] gastric mucosal protection, reduction of hemorrhagic mucosal area, decrease or nonappearance of edema, and provocative responses of sub-mucosal coating rats nourished gold nanoparticle compared to ulcerated control collection long-established by the valuation of the gastric histology.[8,46,47] periodic acid-schiff (pas) staining results displayed increased mucus creation in gastric of rodents pre-nourished gold nanoparticle indorses gastro-protective achievement of gold nanoparticle intensity since of defense of mucus release. these significances consistent abundant other exercises that obtainable substantial upsurge of stomach mucus concentration (pas) stains nourished several compounds against ethanol produced gastric damages.[48-50] pas stains figure 2: effect of the gold nanoparticle using aqueous rhizomes extract of zingiber officinale on antioxidant enzyme activities (sod and cat) and mda level in the liver. statistically significant differences were examined using one-way anova and tukey’s post hoc multiple comparisons test. ****p < 0.0001, ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.005, *p < 0.05 above columns specify significant differences from the normal control group and above lines for the differences between treated groups. ns p > 0.05 denotes to non-significant differences shareef, et al.: anti-ulcer effect of gold nanoparticles in ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in rats 73 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 68-75 decrease in ethanol contrary augmented through gold nanoparticle feeding likewise formed increased glycoprotein content.[5,49] superoxide radical anion is formed through polymorph nuclear neutrophils subsequent in reply by cellular lipids formation lipid peroxides. supplementary actual indicators oxidative compression motives mucosal injury could be mda principal metabolite of fat peroxidation.[1,51] conferring to results of existing exercise, oral forced feeding of gold nanoparticles protects against gastric ulcer through upsurge sod and cat actions, and lessening mda quantity consistent with consequences specified through plentiful investigators concerning sod and cat actions enhanced gold nanoparticle nourished clusters in comparison to absolute alcohol gavage rodents.[43,52] furthermore, reduction in mda quantities were specified rats forced feeding with many herbal and artificial composites.[50,53] ros, for example, hydroxyl radicals, superoxide anions, and lipid peroxides damaging programs approved to worsen gastric ulcer development.[54] antioxidants hunt free-radical formation exhibition principal portion in the protection of cellular damage. rats fed gold nanoparticle enhanced antioxidant enzymes activities in contrast to ulcer collection evading free radical construction might happen through ulcered development. comparable outcomes have been described through numerous academics.[28,38] conclusions according to the significance of the existing study, gold nanoparticles revealed significantly gastroprotective results in inhibition of ethanol-induced gastric ulcers in rats as accepted by macroscopic appearance, histology, and pas stain. gold nanoparticle intensely increases the serum concentration of cat and sod, while significant reduction of hepatic mda. the gastroprotective significance of gold nanoparticles in ethanol-induced ulceration could be due to its measurements to discount oxidative stress, lipid peroxidation, and its antioxidant and free-radical scavenger possessions. statement of rival interest the authors announce that they have no acknowledged rival financial welfares or individual relations that could have seemed to affect the work stated in this manuscript. writer aids altogether novelists paid to train beginning and enterprise. s.h. s and m.a.a: leading the trials, information gathering, and examination, document research. students: analysis and clarification of information, studied breezes of the script. students subsidized reagents materials, understanding of statistics, and studied breezes of text. references 1. f. a. armah, i. t. henneh, j. alake, w. ahlidja, b. amoani, e. g. ofori, b. asante-kyei, g. i. temitayo, c. k. adokoh. allanblackia floribunda seed extract attenuates the ethanol-induced gastric ulcer in rats via the inhibition of tnf-α and inf-γ levels and modulation in the expression of ki67 protein. biomedical research 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gastric ulcer in mice. evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine, vol. 2021, pp. 9998982, 2021. 53. s. lu, s. kong, y. wang, z. hu, l. zhang and m. liao. gastric acidresponse chitosan/alginate/tilapia collagen peptide composite hydrogel: protection effects on alcohol-induced gastric mucosal injury. carbohydrate polymers, vol. 277, pp. 118816, 2022. 54. j. lawrence, g. swerhone, j. dynes, a. hitchcock and d. korber. complex organic corona formation on carbon nanotubes reduces microbial toxicity by suppressing reactive oxygen species production. environmental science nano, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 181189, 2016. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 21-28 research article architecture students self-report well-being assessment based on quality learning environment in design studio ashti y. hussein, faris a. mustafa department of architecture, college of engineering, salahaddin university-erbil, 44002, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract higher education students’ difficulties, especially students in architecture education, lead students to health problems. the design studio is the heart of architecture education and students spent most of their time with staff. students tend to do various activities in the studio such as demonstrating, model-making, drawing, and lecturing. therefore, the learning environment in the studio should attract students to spend most of their time in the studio happily. this research focused on a mixed method to assess the relationship between students’ well-being and the quality learning environment in the design studio. the students’ self-report assessment for the well-being situation has been used that depends on student’s experience to the design studio. for this reason, architecture design studios at private universities in erbil city have been selected as a case study. the statistical program spss has been used to test hypotheses and analyze data. the findings of this study represent the significant positive relationship between students’ well-being and the quality learning environment in the design studio. furthermore, the study illustrates the significant of the quality learning environment in design studio and its roles in the development of the students’ well-being. keywords: quality learning environment, student’s well-being, architectural design studio, private universities, architecture education introduction conventionally, the establishment of a healthy learning environment is concerned with the improvement of students’ well-being and health.[1] in the past decade concern for students’, well-being has increased due to its impacts on health,[2,3] psychological distress, and learning outcomes.[4] students’ satisfaction and positive attitudes to the learning environment are the critical issue in well-being assessment.[5,6] students’ well-being is linked to the learning outcome, student’s performance, pro-social behaviors, positive relationships, creativity, and health.[7-11] however,[6-12] realized that environmental factors of the learning process are the main pillar of students’ well-being. well-being in a learning environment encompasses the development of the learning process, social relationship with students and peers, increasing students’ cognition, and encouraging creative and critical thinking.[13,14] therefore, the classroom has been described as a physical environment that functions as a social and cultural space that must support students’ needs and learning objectives.[13] the quality learning environment in the literature is described as an adaptable environment that is flexible and obtains all student’s needs.[15,16] creating an optimal learning environment improves effective educational space that enhances students’ performance, motivation, health, and well-being.[17,18] the reference[19] indicated that the learning environment contains the physical environment, social activities, motivational and psychological environment,[20,21] and teaching/learning process,[14] the physical environment of the classroom is considered one of the most important indicators that determine benefits in student learning. the reference[15] claimed that the process of teaching and learning architecture necessitates a comfortable environment that promotes lectures, design projects, and tutorials. because students spend so much time in architectural studios, the setting must be stimulating and inspirational. teaching architecture differs from teaching other built-environment disciplines. architectural education requires not only practical and theoretical features but also an engaging learning environment that encourages social relationships.[22] as the foundation of architectural education, the design studio is regarded as a living-learning environment for architectural students. it is the location where architectural students spend a significant amount of time engaging in various corresponding author: ashti y. hussein, department of architecture, college of engineering, salahaddin university-erbil, 44002, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ashtyyasin22@gmail.com received: december 31, 2022 accepted: january 25, 2023 published: march 1, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp21-28 copyright © 2023 ashti y. hussein, faris a. mustafa. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) hussein and mustafa: students self-report well-being in the architectural design studios 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 21-28 socioeducational activities. as a result, the studio should cater to the students’ demands. the design of the studio should be carefully considered to promote student productivity, creativity, and enjoyment.[23] the environment of the design studio is one of the aspects which affect and stimulate the learning ability of students and also have a greater impact on the effective outcome of the students.[24,25] as a result, qle is dependent on its ability to meet students’ requirements and keep their knowledge, as well as students’ proclivity to study. the process of creating a quality educational environment can be sped up by adopting a clear methodology and a set of well-defined principles and important components of social processes, physical space, and learning technologies. students in good learning environments develop logical thinking and higher achievement without a doubt.[26,27] creating ideal learning and teaching environments are an art that promotes student performance and motivation while also allowing students to collaborate and improve their cognitive functions.[18] a healthy learning environment relieves pupils of physical discomfort, allows them to focus on schoolwork, and encourages students to think logically. students in good learning settings surely achieve more. a poor learning environment, on the other hand, is frequently drab in color, inadequate in lighting, noisy in the surroundings, and lacking in air ventilation. students in inadequate learning environments have numerous physical challenges. the purpose of this study is to shed the light on the relationship between students’ well-being and quality learning environment in the design studio. for this reason, private universities in erbil have been selected as case studies. the mixed methodology has been used to analyze the data collected from the questionnaire and checklist. the statistical analysis in this study is descriptive, correlation, one-way analysis of variance (anova), and t-test. hence, the finding of this study improves the learning environment of design studios and tends to define the improvement factors of well-being. literature review various studies studied the learning environment in the design studio and its impacts on students’ outcomes and performance. in his study, el zaza[26] attempted to employ post-occupancy evaluation of the learning environment to find elements that affect students’ satisfaction in the design studio. according to the author, lighting, thermal comfort, indoor air quality, and workplace environment are the primary characteristics related with students’ happiness with the indoor learning environment and affect students’ efficiency. they distributed semi-structured questionnaires to 60 students, and 55 of them were valid. they employed descriptive analysis to examine the questionnaire. the first segment covered building elements, while the last section used a five-point likert scale to gauge student satisfaction. the findings revealed that the workstation, indoor air quality, and thermal comfort contributed to students’ pleasure; however, artificial light had no effect. the finding showed that the students’ satisfaction has been achieved through the workspace, indoor air quality, and thermal comfort while that of artificial light has not been properly met. the result highlighted the factors of the learning environment that affect students’ comfort are the classroom, school location, school facility, school climate, and technology. obeidat and al-share[15] focused on a quality learning environment in their study, and due to a dearth of research in this sector, they chose a design studio classroom as a case study. they investigated students’ opinions of the learning environment to establish students’ requirements and goals for a quality learning environment in architectural studios. a survey method was employed to acquire 94 student responses. this study’s findings reflect earlier research indicating the physical environment that has a direct impact on space users’ pleasure. the data imply that lighting, noise, glare, air quality, temperature, seat comfort, and layout options are all important environmental aspects in achieving an ideal educational environment. besides, muniandy et al.[17] indicated that architectural design studios have different physical settings regarding the culture; therefore, they focused on the physical environment of architecture studios and how it contributes to the social environment at malaysia university. a questionnaire survey with likert-scale components and semi-structured interviews has been used. the influence of these physical indicators on students’ milieu was investigated under maslow’s theory of human motivation. furthermore, ibrahim et al.[22] highlighted a number of researches that focused on architecture curriculum and teaching methods; thus, they concentrated on the constructed environment of architecture design studios and its effects on student happiness. the design of learning settings, such as classes and studios, has a significant impact on student pleasure and performance. to assess student happiness, a survey was given to six architectural departments. each section is evaluated in terms of spatial organization, accessibility, and physical studio qualities. furthermore, the effect of the learning environment in student well-being has been investigated.[28] the developed indicators will allow the teachers to clarify the situation, draw conclusions, and improve the organizational culture. the goal of the research is to find out which indicators reflect the student’s well-being and how to measure them. the study associated well-being with the following factors: self-acceptance, positive relationship, autonomy, competence, and self-regulation of behavior. in addition, gonzález-zamar et al.,[13] for the bibliometric review focused on higher education university classrooms and students’ well-being and motivation. the purpose of their study was to analyze the research trends on the impact of the university educational space on the well-being, motivation, and social interaction of the student, considering the physicalenvironmental, socioperceptual, and motivational attributes. regarding the factors that define well-being, self-acceptance, mastery of the environment, personal growth, self-efficacy, positive relationships with other individuals, autonomy, and having a purpose that makes sense stand out in life. according to stanton et al.,[29] despite the identification of learning settings as a possible setting for developing and promoting well-being, little research has been conducted to investigate students’ perceptions of well-being in learning environments. to investigate students’ conceptions and experiences of wellbeing in learning environments, a semi-structured focus group and interview technique were utilized. the findings shed light on multiple pathways through which learning experiences contribute to student well-being and provide insight into how courses might be designed and delivered to improve student health, learning, and engagement. the findings also look into hussein and mustafa: students self-report well-being in the architectural design studios 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 21-28 the relationship between happiness, contentment, and deep learning. research problem organizations such as the world health organization concentrate on research to create a healthy learning environment. the previous research focused on well-being and student performance, as well as students’ knowledge of wellbeing. however, research on the learning environment focuses on the architecture department’s curriculum. furthermore, there has been few research on the learning environment of design studios and the well-being of students. as a result, the focus of this study is on the impact of a high-quality learning environment on students’ well-being in architectural design studios at erbil’s private institutions. it also confirms the presence of superior learning environment components in the design studio. research aim this study aims to define the availability of a quality learning environment in design studios due to students’ needs and wellbeing. moreover, this study tries to highlight the dimensions of well-being and their definitions in the learning environment of design studios. the dimensions of well-being are physical wellbeing, psychological well-being, and social well-being. research objectives the followings are the main objectives of the research: 1. to assess the existence of quality learning environment factors in the design studio 2. to establish the correlation between dependent and independent factors 3. to define the variables of quality learning environment that have the most impact on students’ well-being. theoretical framework the assessment of well-being can be addressed objectively depending on the quality of life indicators and norms called objective well-being.[1] on another hand, it can include an individual’s life experience and self-report about the perception of the learning environment named subjective well-being (swb).[30] the difference between the two types of well-being showed in figure 1. furthermore, lower objective standards of life may not always imply lower levels of swb and vice versa. this research utilizes students’ self-report assessment of the learning environment. the quality of students’ well-being in this research concerning the well-being dimensions is psychological well-being, physical well-being, and social well-being. the term psychological well-being refers to psychological functioning such as the feelings toward the capabilities of doing work, self-development, and feeling positive toward personal development.[28,31,32] however, the term physical wellbeing is based on the physical health of students.[33] moreover, in the learning environment, physical well-being is based on the comfortable learning environment regarding the lighting, temperature, and thermal environment.[34,35] social well-being is based on the social environment in the design studio, which includes the relationship with friends and peers, and having a supportive and collaborative environment to engage with others.[9,23] the layout arrangement of the design studio has a significant impact on the physical, and social environment, and teaching style. the flexibility of the arrangement layout encourages collaboration, creativity, livable natural setting, and responds to the changes in need in the design studio such as demonstration, group work, lecturing, and individual working.[14,20] for this purpose, furniture should be light in weight and movable[15]. “table 1” shows the possible arrangement layout in architectural studios. arrangement layout affects human behavior, sense of belonging, sense of community, and teaching style. anthropometrics and ergonomics of furniture is a subject of furniture dimension to fulfill students’ needs and the human body. the drafting table in the design studio should have at least (1.2* 0.80 m), with stools that are defined as the best seat type in the design studio to control model-making and drawing activities.[36,37] the spacing between seats defines the privacy of seats and establishes the movement pattern inside the studio.[38,39] the lighting condition in the design studio has unique characteristics. both natural and artificial lighting is preferred to be available in the design studio. the artificial lighting in the design studio should be evenly distributed.[40-42] for the natural lighting condition, it is preferred to have a window on both sides to avoid glare for drawing and laptop work.[22] moreover, north-facing windows are the best window orientation in a design studio.[43] thermal comfort is defined as the most important indoor environment quality parameter that affects satisfaction and comfort (ibrahim et al., 2019). thermal comfort factors are air temperature, humidity, and air velocity. the perception of thermal comfort varies among cultures.[44] temperatures between 68 and 74°f–20 and 24°c– are described as comfort levels. furthermore, 50% relative humidity is defined as an acceptable value for educational spaces in most cultures.[21] thermal comfort improves physical and psychological satisfaction.[17] thermal dissatisfaction reduces students’ concentration and creates physical stress.[37] besides these factors of quality learning environment, a view of the outside landscape is defined as a source to improve students’ motivation and help them relax.[14,20] the design studio has to be placed near the landscape context to observe a tree, garden, and natural environment. besides, the size of the window defines the connection between the indoor and outdoor environment. the esthetic value in the design studio is defined as the quality of wall color or the existence of the works of the pillars of the architecture to promote creativity.[21,22,36,44] table 2 demonstrates the research framework. figure 1: well-being aspects focusing on objective condition and subjective experience of well-being[30] hussein and mustafa: students self-report well-being in the architectural design studios 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 21-28 table 1: arrangement typology in a design studio (researcher, adapted from[14,22,26,47,48]) 1. office-like (cubical) 2. raw method 3. clustered 4. small groups 5. u-shaped or circular figure 2: case studies (researcher) privacy in architectural studios is establishing adequate space for individuals to experience all types of activities comfortably without being isolated from others.[14,45] space between seats,[22] furniture arrangement, and personal storage are defined as variables to satisfy students’ privacy within the studio, students feel more comfortable being physically and visually secure. therefore, shelves or cubbies can be added to obtain privacy. moreover, the area per user within a design studio is estimated between (4 and 4.5) m2 to be able to function well.[26] personal storage for the students and instructors provides a sense of belonging and improves selfesteem. the territoriality in the workspace environment is a sense of ownership of the physical elements.[46] methodology this study relied on a mixed methodology for the data collection and analysis process. in the qualitative approach, the researcher walkthrough has been used for the nine quality learning environment factors. in the quantitative process, the research questionnaire for the nine quality learning environment factors and three well-being dimensions has been applied. the statistical analyses for this study are descriptive analysis, correlation analysis between dependent and independent variables, the analysis of the existence of the variables using t-test analysis, and the anova to define the availability of factors in design studios. scope of the study the department of architecture at erbil university is among the college of engineering. the universities are classified as table 2: research framework (researcher) variables indicators quality learning environment flexibility easy of changing furniture layout anthropometrics and ergonomics of furniture suitable furniture with human joints lighting adequate artificial and natural lighting temperature the comfortable temperature inside the studio view to landscape quality of outside view from studios esthetic quality of wall color and paintings indoor circulation dimension of the movement paths in the studio territoriality personal limitations in the studio privacy adequate and private space per student well-being physical well-being having the physical health being in a comfortable environment doing activities in the studio and having a feeling of joy and excitement psychological well-being having a purpose for what i o in the studio being able to improve personal skills feeling motivated and encouraged to work in the studio social well-being being accepted by others have a good relationship with students have a good relationship with peers having a supportive environment to collaborate and group work hussein and mustafa: students self-report well-being in the architectural design studios 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 21-28 table 3: demographic of the study (researcher) university current number of students sample size studio the sample that i took tishk international university-erbil 377 129 tiu-1 61 tiu-2 68 university of kurdistan-hawler 60 22 ukh-1 13 ukh-2 9 cihan university-erbil 152 47 cu-e 47 catholic university erbil 25 13 cue 14 total 614 211 211 table 4: descriptive statistics for the variables (researcher) variables mean sd % flexibility 3.39 0.87 67.77 anthropometrics and ergonomics of furniture 3.05 0.95 61.04 lighting 3.59 1.42 71.85 temperature 3.18 0.93 63.55 view to landscape 2.88 0.95 57.54 esthetic 2.89 0.85 57.82 indoor circulation 3.09 0.99 61.90 territoriality 3.00 1.04 60.09 privacy 2.89 0.91 57.87 physical well-being 2.96 0.70 59.16 psychological well-being 3.21 0.78 64.17 social well-being 3.46 0.74 69.29 table 7: correlation analysis between the dependent and independent variable (researcher) correlation well-being qle pearson correlation 0.608** sig. (2-tailed) 0.000** ** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) table 6: anova analysis for studios (researcher) variable studio mean sd f-value p-value qle tiu-1 3.07 0.48 2.651 0.024 tiu-2 3.31 0.64 cu-e 2.96 0.55 ukh-1 3.26 0.66 ukh-2 2.21 0.94 cue 3.22 0.50 well-being tiu-1 3.12 0.66 2.738 0.020 tiu-2 3.45 0.49 cu-e 3.09 0.53 ukh-1 3.21 0.58 ukh-2 3.15 0.76 cue 3.38 0.40 anova: analysis of variance, tiu: tishk international university-erbil, ukh: university of kurdistan hewler, cue: catholic university erbil, cu-e: cihan university-erbil governmental, international, and local private universities. this study used private universities as a case study, that are (1) tishk international university-erbil (tiu), (2) the university of kurdistan hewler (ukh), (3) cihan university-erbil (cu-e), and (4) catholic university erbil (cue). from the universities of tiu and ukh, two studios per university have been selected as case studies. as a result, the six studios from four private universities are studied. figure 2 illustrates the case studies. sample size a statistician was contacted to get the statistically appropriate ratio sample size. using the sample size equation, the total sample size of the questionnaire is 211, with a total population of 614, as equal to 34.36% of the total students. the selected sample size achieved a confidence level of 95% confidence level and a 5% error margin. [table 3] demonstrates the demography of the research data collection. results and discussion the quantitative analysis of the questionnaire data represents the descriptive mean of the quality learning environment table 5: t-test results for the existence of variables according to students’ questionnaire (researcher) variables t-value p-value flexibility 56.456 0.000** anthropometrics and ergonomics of furniture 46.68 0.000** lighting 36.76 0.000** temperature 49.571 0.000** view to landscape 43.783 0.000** esthetic 49.524 0.000** indoor circulation 45.377 0.000** territoriality 41.981 0.000** privacy 46.258 0.000** physical well-being 61.733 0.000** psychological well-being 59.712 0.000** social well-being 68.357 0.000** hussein and mustafa: students self-report well-being in the architectural design studios 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 21-28 figure 3: the mean of the quality learning environment and well-being for studios (researcher) figure 4: mean of quality learning environment for studios according to the checklist (researcher) table 8: simple regression in general for dependent and independent variables (researcher) independent dependent constant ß0 f r² qle 1.28 t (7.248) p-value (0.000)** 0.620 t (11.064) p-value (0.000)** 122.4 (0.000)** 41.6% table 9: mean of quality learning environment for studios according to the checklist (researcher) variable studio mean qle tiu-1 3.41 tiu-2 3.53 cu-e 2.71 ukh-1 3.39 ukh-2 2.80 cue 3.29 factors in private universities [table 4]. the majority of the research questionnaire agreed on the existence of quality natural and artificial lighting with the greatest satisfaction mean of (3.59), and a percentage of satisfaction of (71.85%). nevertheless, the view to landscape environment has the least mean value of (2.88), with a percentage of satisfaction of (57.54%). the percentage of satisfaction with quality learning environment variables and well-being dimensions are at the medium level; therefore, there is no perfect existence of the quality learning environment factors to improve students’ well-being in architectural design studios. to analyze the significance of the existing variables in the design studio, the t-test analysis was adopted for the variables. the significant (p = 0.05), accordingly, p-value is highly significant for all variables. therefore, the existence mean of variables is significant in all studios, as shown in [table 5]. the one-way anova was applied to demonstrate the mean difference among the case studies. as shown in [table 6], tiu-2 has the highest mean value of quality learning environment factors with a total value of (3.31) and its students have the greatest well-being value with a total of (3.45). however, ukh-2 has the lowest quality learning environment value of (2.21), and cu-e has the lowest student well-being value of (3.09). as a result, the design studio of tishk international university has the highest quality learning environment and well-being value [figure 3]. to define the relationship between the dependent variable (well-being dimensions) and independent variable (quality learning environment variables), this research conducted the pearson correlation analysis. the range of correlation coefficients is from −1.00 to +1.00. several −1.00 denotes a perfect negative correlation, whereas a value of +1.00 denotes a perfect positive correlation. a two-tailed statistical significance test with a range of 0.05–0.01 was performed on the correlation technique. according to [table 7], the correlation analysis represents the perfect positive correlation between well-being and quality learning environment with a pearson correlation value of (0.608). as the value of significance which is the collection of all factors value is smaller than 0.01 and 0.05, the correlation is significant. from this, we can conclude that the development of quality learning environment variables can improve students’ well-being. moreover, the increase in students’ well-being in the learning environment encourages students to spend most of their time in the design studio happily with greater achievements and performance. the regression analysis in this study clarifies the impact of independent variables (quality learning environment) influences the dependent variable (well-being). the regression analysis in [table 8] indicated that quality learning environment variables cause 41.6% changes in students’ well-being. moreover, the result is highly significant because p < 0.01 and 0.05. on another hand, the qualitative researcher checklist in [table 9] represents the mean value of quality learning environment variables in the six architectural design studios. according to the checklist, tiu-2 has the highest mean with a total value of (3.53), and then, it is followed by tiu-1, ukh-1, and cue with values of (3.41, 3.39, and 3.29). the architectural design studios with the least mean value are ukh-2 and cu-e with values of (2.8, 2.71), as shown in (figure 4). hussein and mustafa: students self-report well-being in the architectural design studios 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 21-28 conclusion the present study justified the impacts of quality learning environment variables such (as flexibility, anthropometric and ergonomic, natural and artificial lighting, temperature, esthetics, view to outside, indoor circulation, territoriality, and privacy) on students’ well-being. the well-being dimensions in the present study are defined to be physical well-being, psychological well-being, and social well-being. the mixed methodology has been used for the data collection method. the qualitative method in this study depended on collecting data from photos and researcher walkthroughs, while the quantitative method represents the data collected from students’ questionnaires. the spss program has been used to statistically analyze the data to get the research objectives. the result indicated that tishk international university studios have the highest quality learning environment and the greatest students’ well-being perception. thus, the t-test analysis represented the existence of the quality learning environment variables in design studios in private universities. this study has significant value in the field of scientific research due to the investigation of the correlation between two group variables that have not been described yet. moreover, the development of quality learning environment factors improves the students’ well-being. furthermore, the development of students’ wellbeing encourages a healthier learning environment that attracts students to spend most of their time in the design studio with greater achievements and outcomes. references 1. s. oliveira, e. griffin, d. cash and e. marco. health and wellbeing in design studio briefs-architecture and engineering graduating students’ motivations and approaches. building 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remuneration for architectural services from client perspectives toward improving the public image and business performance of architects in nigeria. likert ratings of 16 officially approved architectural services based on residential developments from 97 respondents using descriptive statistics, t-tests, and regression analysis revealed that clients obtained architectural information through word-of-mouth referrals from friends, colleagues, architects and finally, through digital media. respondents were significantly more aware (mean 2.75 on a 4-point likert scale) than were wtp for architectural services (mean 2.12), p = 0.000. clients were wtp for only production of construction drawings and site supervision. awareness significantly predicted wtp (β = −0.7, exp (β) = 4.106, p = 0.003) in a model including age and income which explained 36% of the variance in wtp. satisfaction with architectural services negatively predicted wtp (β = −0.77, exp(β)=0.462, p = 0.16), implying that client satisfaction, a key performance indicator for architects, was no guarantee for wtp. revisions to professional fees and code of ethics are recommended to allow architects and allied professionals advertise and market their services through online and social media outlets. architects should also leverage on interior, furniture, fittings, and component design to improve remuneration and business performance. keywords: architectural services, awareness, client satisfaction, willingness-to-pay, remuneration introduction architecture as a discipline and profession faces fundamental challenges regarding its sustainability and financial performance. while the same can be said of allied professional disciplines within the construction industry (ci), architects face a chronic and acute problem pertaining the steady decline in value and appreciation for professional services they render.[1,2] this often translates to poor remuneration and unwillingness of some clients to pay for the professional fees charged by architecture firms to the extent that some authors have suggested that the profession is at risk of being gradually wiped out.[3,4] within the nigerian ci (nci), the profession contends with a number of external and internal challenges. externally, such challenges relate to the stiff competition in securing jobs traditionally believed to be within the exclusive domain of architects, notably that of the prime consultant or project manager.[1] others include economic recession leading to fewer commissions, unemployment, low fees and salaries, corruption, lack of respect for the profession, non-compliance with payment of professional charges based on standardized scale of fees, proliferation of non-professionals and quacks, complex changes in client expectations as well as the rapid and dynamic technological developments in ict and bim.[5-8] internal challenges emanating from the profession include fragmentation within different architectural specialists and cadres (technologists, landscape architects, draftsmen etcetera), disputes between professional organizations governing the affairs of the profession, poor management practices within architecture firms, lack of competency, frustration and personal stress among architects, client dissatisfaction with services rendered, declining quality of graduates, curricula incongruence with industry needs/requirements, arrogance, and holding onto a romantic view of architecture as the leading discipline in building construction.[6,8,9-12] the lack of synergy between academia and practice which would have been a panacea to addressing many of the aforementioned challenges continues to exacerbate them.[13] consequently, few concerted efforts have been made to empirically address challenges facing the profession. in addition, prospective client perspectives and opinions regarding what architects do are rarely investigated corresponding author: joy j. maina, department of architecture, ahmadu bello university, zaria, nigeria. e-mail: jjmaina@abu.edu.ng received: august 28, 2023 accepted: october 22, 2023 published: december 20, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp60-69 copyright © 2023 joy j. maina, david i. adamu, sheriff i. sarafaden. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) maina, et al.: awareness, satisfaction and willingness-to-pay remuneration for architectural services among clients in nigeria 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 60-69 nor empirically ascertained.[1,6,10,14] oluwatayo[14] investigated client expectations from residential design services based on factors which define client expectations from literature. more recently, adamu et al.[15] established architectural services that clients are willing-to-pay (wtp) for. the study, however, did not establish awareness levels for these services nor the degree to which clients who have requested for those services were satisfied with them. importantly, relationships between awareness, satisfaction, and wtp for architectural services are seldom explored. this study bridges this gap by assessing relationships between awareness, satisfaction, and wtp for services rendered by architects in kaduna metropolis. clients are the reason for providing such services as architects achieve their objectives through work commissioned by clients.[16] clients are also avenues architects usually get remunerated for services they have rendered. consequently, opinions from clients provide valuable feedback for improving the quality of service delivery.[17] such opinions also proffer insights into areas architects ought to focus their skills and energies on to satisfy clients towards making profit. theoretically, the study also establishes a methodology for future partnerships between academia and professional practice toward generating sustainable solutions to challenges plaguing the architectural profession. the aim of the study is to assess relationships between awareness, satisfaction, and wtp for professional architectural services among clients specifically within kaduna metropolis. the study poses the following research questions: i. what levels of awareness, satisfaction, and wtp for architectural services exists among clients in nigeria? ii. what relationships exist between awareness, satisfaction, and wtp for services rendered by architects in the study area? kaduna, the capital of the defunct northern region of nigeria was chosen for this study due to the large number of architectural firms apart from lagos, port harcourt, and abuja.[18] most studies on architectural services have been conducted in southern nigeria, notably lagos and port harcourt, with comparatively few similar research efforts in northern nigeria. literature review professional architectural services in the nci a professional is an individual that has been trained following the dictates of a distinct body of knowledge having met all requirements for entry into a recognized organization of similarly trained individuals who offer services in the public domain.[19] traditionally, the body of knowledge and norms of professional practice reside within the domain of professional institutions.[20] the nigerian institute of architects (nia) and architects’ registration council of nigeria (arcon) constitute institutions traditionally at the helm of affairs of professional architectural practice in nigeria. the scope of orthogonal or primary architectural services and payment milestones for architects practicing in the nci approved by arcon, and the statutory regulatory body for the practice of the profession is classified under three main phases, namely design, production of construction drawings, and tendering/construction services in stages 1, 2, and 3, respectively. architectural services in stage 1 basically relate to the preparation of illustrative and descriptive proposal outline drawings following a thorough appraisal of client needs and requirements commonly known as the brief. this stage signifies commitment of both client and architect and usually attracts 15% of professional fees based in the overall project cost.[21] stage 2 services consist of the concept design, coordinated detail design, and construction documentation, attracting 20%, 25%, and 40% of the project cost, respectively.[6] note that stage 3 involves tendering and construction services which are often charged according to time, man-hour rates, or based on lump sum agreements. services such as site supervision depend on project and construction managerial skills which have lately been heavily contested by allied professionals in the nci notably quantity surveyors, engineers, builders, project managers, and contractors. site supervision and other construction-related work are even taken up by non-professionals due the easy entry level into the ci.[22] this has been attributed to the inefficiency of architects to adequately provide such services, especially in the area of cost control.[23] although architecture was viewed as the respectable gentlemanly public face of the ci,[24] as well as[25] established that architects exhibit weak team managerial and soft skills. these are critical to providing satisfactory services to clients in stage 3 of professional services offered by architects in nigeria. [18] likewise report that first-time residential clients were least satisfied with project management but most satisfied with design services and capabilities of architects, supporting the observation by rolf and chileshe[23] that architects understand design and construction as well as the implication of choices made by design demands on the overall success of projects. this competitive advantage places architects ahead of other ci professionals when it comes to project management and should be leveraged upon by members of the profession. other supplementary or additional services offered by architects include maintenance, interior design, litigation and arbitration, feasibility studies, site management, production of as-built drawings, landscape design, special drawings, models and renderings, development planning, redesigns and additional designs due to changes in approved designs, special meetings for application planning, bye-laws, regulations, design, and build as well as selection of other allied professionals on the design and construction team.[6,18,21] client awareness of architectural services awareness or having conscious knowledge about something, in this case the range of services architects offer in the public realm has largely been relegated to the production of drawings and site supervision.[6] public awareness regarding what architects do is low[1,10] and knowledge about what architects do is not in the public domain.[2] this lack of awareness can be traced to the general belief among architects that good work is enough advertisement for the architect and this should automatically attract clients.[26] stringent codes of ethics likewise constrain outright advertisement of architectural services by architects in practice.[19] frimpong and dansoh[2] noted that many clients heard about architects by word of mouth (wom) recommendations from other clients, relatives, friends, and neighbors. many prospective maina, et al.: awareness, satisfaction and willingness-to-pay remuneration for architectural services among clients in nigeria 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 60-69 clients are introduced to architects through previous clients, acquaintances, family,[27] or other allied professionals.[28] consequently, communication between architects and clients, a vital link in the architect-client satisfaction relationship has proven to be difficult,[29] often influencing remuneration of professional fees. good communication with clients as part of managing a project has also been frequently overlooked by architects.[30] this arises from habitus shock on the part of the client when first introduced to architectural terminologies because the professional training of architects sets them apart from clients,[27] whose needs may not always be explicit. according to oluwatayo et al.,[18] client needs are either basic and assumed to be present even if not voiced out (such as structural soundness of a building), articulated (such as special features), or exciting and causing delight if such desires are met (such as budgets). architects need to clearly understand and manage such desires to achieve client satisfaction, considered a key performance indicator of project success by architectural practitioners.[31] the cumulative impact of poor knowledge about the services architects render as well as communication management during the course of executing a project is likely to be expressed by low satisfaction ratings for the quality of services rendered by architects, leading to unwillingness to pay for such services. this relationship is illustrated in figure 1. with the relatively easy entry of workers into the ci, many clients are willing to pay other construction professionals and workers rather than architects to render architectural services, often citing exorbitant professional fees as a reason since projects can be achieved at lower costs in that manner.[2,6] client satisfaction with architectural services satisfaction is a person’s pleasure (or lack thereof) resulting from a comparison of the perceived performance or outcome of a product to what was expected.[32] it is a perception of the quality of architectural services received by a client or owner of a building project and is influenced by service delivery, product quality, reputation/image of the architect as well as the relationship quality between client and architect.[18,33] clients attach the highest level of importance to designs which are within budgets while adequately addressing clients’ main needs and requirements. oluwatayo[14] also established that while clients were sure of what they wanted, architects misconstrued and underestimated the importance of expertise, experience, and competence toward achieving client satisfaction. cost and quality proved to be more important than timely delivery.[14] personalized experience also influenced satisfaction, much more than architects’ creativity, especially for 1st-time clients of residential projects.[18] unlike what architects generally believe, reputation and wom recommendations may facilitate more commissions but they are no guarantee for client satisfaction[33] and by implication, wtp or remuneration of architects. wtp remuneration for services in the built environment wtp is the maximum amount of money a customer is willing to exchange for a product or service.[34] it represents the worth a person is willing to part with to obtain a good or service.[35] wtp is linearly associated with satisfaction derived from the product or service and is predicated on other factors, notably a person’s economic status or purchasing power.[35] although very rarely investigated in relation to architectural services, wtp has been investigated in studies involving housing[36] and water supply[35] within the nigerian context. okoko[36] established that age was the singular most devastating negative predictor of better housing in akure and that wtp would decrease by 51.9% if age of the household head doubled. income, age, and length of stay of the household head as well as number of income-earning workers resident in the house emerged as predictors of wtp in the study area. yacim and bello[35] reported that majority of urban residents were unwilling to pay above 2000 nigerian naira (ngn) for the supply of clean piped-borne water. only 19% of the respondents were wtp 3000 ngn. the study concluded that wtp was influenced by the earning power of households, supporting the observation that there was a difference between willingness and ability to pay as the latter is a function of the purchaser’s economic power. wtp is commonly assessed using contingent valuation (cv) methods based on surveys to elicit and establish the value of goods and services not traded in the conventional market.[37] a hypothetical market scenario is usually formulated and described to respondents. consequently, a threshold for the wtp is contingent on this hypothesized market condition. we employ professional fees computed for a residential project using the schedule of fees recommended by arcon/nia as thresholds for wtp in the current study. methodology to address the first research question, a questionnaire survey targeted 100 clients and prospective clients as a subset of the general populace within the bank of industry and new nigeria development company buildings in kaduna metropolis.[15] all respondents who participated in the survey gave their figure 1: conceptual framework. source: authors maina, et al.: awareness, satisfaction and willingness-to-pay remuneration for architectural services among clients in nigeria 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 60-69 consent before filling the anonymous questionnaire for the survey. the questionnaire was designed in three sections. the first section requested for demographic data on age, monthly income, frequent source of information regarding architectural services, frequency of coming across information on architectural services as well as whether respondents had ever requested for architectural services or not. results from section one are presented in table 1. section two requested respondents to rate the degree of awareness and wtp for 16 architectural services adapted from arcon/nia[21] using likert scales ranging from 0 (not aware) to 4 (fully aware). wtp for the services was based on professional fees for a three-bedroom bungalow designed by a kaduna-based architectural firm. residential developments are the most dominant category of buildings private clients patronize architecture firms for in the nci.[6,18,25,31] fees for each of the 16 services presented in the appendix were computed from the bills of quantities (boq) for the same project produced by a quantity surveying firm also based in kaduna. the boq put the total cost of the project at 13,029,255.02 ngn at the time of table 1: demographic profile and ratings from respondents variable item frequency percentage age 20–29 years (0) 41 (1) 42 30–39 years (1) 19 (2) 20 40–49 years (2) 25 (3) 26 50+ (3) 12 (4) 12 income <100,000 (0) 22 23 100–250,000 (1) 42 43 251–500,000 (2) 16 17 501–1m (3) 3 3 1–5m (4) 5 5 5m+ (5) 3 3 no response 6 6 source of architectural information friends/colleagues (4) 36 37 architects (3) 24 25 print media (2) 20 21 digital media (1) 14 14 no response 3 3 frequency of architectural information very often (4) 9 9 often (3) 15 16 fairly often (2) 34 35 not too often (1) 33 34 hardly ever (0) 6 6 client status client (0) 67 69 non client (1) 30 31 awareness very high (3) 28 29 high-moderate (2) 61 63 low (1) 5 5 none-very low (0) 3 3 satisfaction (clients only) highly satisfied (4) 12 18 satisfied (3) 31 46 neutral (2) 14 21 fairly satisfied (1) 4 6 not satisfied (0) 0 0 no response 6 9 wtp willing to pay (1) 28 29 unwilling to pay (0) 60 62 no response 9 9 source: authors’ survey maina, et al.: awareness, satisfaction and willingness-to-pay remuneration for architectural services among clients in nigeria 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 60-69 the survey in september 2017. according to records obtained from the central bank of naira,[38] 1 united states dollar was exchanged at 305.62 ngn at the inter-bank foreign exchange market. respondents were requested to rate their wtp on a likert scale of 0 (not wtp) to 4 (completely wtp). this range was chosen to offset measurement problems associated with the cv method,[37] considering that the computed fees were fixed and based either on the approved schedule of fees or man-hour rates.[21] ranges provided options for respondents to vary their wtp decisions. results from the likert scale ratings were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics (means, m; standard deviations, sd; rankings) in spss v 24. the ratings were also analyzed for differences using t-tests, presented in table 2. clients who have requested for an architectural service before were also requested to rate their satisfaction with architectural services on varying ranges of satisfaction (1-fairly satisfied to 4-highly satisfied). 0 meant that the client was not satisfied. interpretations for awareness, satisfaction, and wtp are presented in table 3. data from the questionnaire were also utilized in a regression model to explore relationships between awareness, satisfaction, and wtp, with results presented in table 4. lastly, an interview with the principal partner of archi-trendz was later conducted to triangulate results obtained from the survey. results and discussion out of the 100 questionnaires distributed equally in both buildings, 97 were retrieved. results in table 1 illustrate that 85 respondents were aged <50 years and well within the active working age bracket. 64 (66%) earn monthly wages below n250,000, 27 (28%) earn above this amount while 6 (6%) did not disclose their income. this result suggests that the average respondent is a mid-income earner. friends and colleagues (n 36, 37%) were the most frequent source of information regarding architectural services while a quarter (n = 24) noted that architects and the print media (n = 20, 21%) were the other frequent sources of information. digital media (n = 14, table 2: comparison between awareness and willingness to pay for architectural services architectural service awareness willingness to pay t-test sig. mean rating rank mean sig. rank preparation of site measurement, drawing of existing buildings and landscape design 3.44 vh 1 2.10 0.00 9 9.35 0.00 production of working drawings, specification, and details 3.43 vh 2 2.87 0.00 1 4.64 0.00 site supervision 3.13 vh 3 2.50 0.00 2 3.524 0.00 3d renderings, special drawings, models 3.04 vh 4 1.97 0.00 13 7.543 0.00 development plans 2.80 hm 5 2.30 0.00 5 4.278 0.00 maintenance services, renovation of wall and floor finishes 2.76 hm 6 2.44 0.01 3 2.542 0.01 development studies 2.69 hm 7 1.66 0.00 14 7.756 0.00 additional services, production of as-built drawings 2.59 hm 8 2.28 0.05 6 2.003 0.05 redesigns and additional designs due changes in approved designs 2.56 hm 9 1.98 0.00 12 5.104 0.00 interior designs 2.52 hm 10 2.41 0.49 4 0.694 0.49 preparation of illustrative and descriptive proposal outline 2.49 hm 11 2.14 0.00 8 4.340 0.00 obtain tenders to complete project 2.42 hm 12 2.20 0.03 7 2.220 0.03 feasibility studies 2.26 hm 13 2.09 uwtp 10 2.509 0.01 special meetings for application for planning or building bye-laws and regulation 2.26 hm 14 1.49 uwtp 15 6.215 0.00 furniture, fittings and component design 2.18 hm 15 2.06 uwtp 11 1.568 0.12 litigation and arbitration 1.62 l 16 1.49 uwtp 16 1.693 0.09 source: authors’ survey, uwtp: unwilling to pay, vh: very high, hm: high-moderate, l: low table 3: interpretation for awareness, satisfaction, and wtp awareness satisfaction wtp mean range interpretation scale interpretation mean range interpretation 3.00–4.00 very high 4 highly satisfied 2.40–4.00 wtp 2.00–2.99 high-moderate 3 satisfied 0.00–2.39 unwilling to pay 1.00–1.99 low 2 neutral 0.00–0.99 none-very low 1 fairly satisfied 0 not satisfied wtp: willingness-to-pay, source: authors maina, et al.: awareness, satisfaction and willingness-to-pay remuneration for architectural services among clients in nigeria 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 60-69 14%) recorded the lowest frequency, implying that architects are yet to leverage on the rise of personal advertisement using numerous digital social media outlets available on the internet. this has been noted to be a challenge when it comes to marketing of professional services in architecture[26] and the ci[39] due to constraints imposed by professional code of ethics in the ci. 60% of respondents were fairly or less exposed to information on architectural services as only 40% receive such information often or very often. about a third (31%) had never requested for architectural services while the other 67 (69%) were clients who had requested for such services at one time or the other. overall, respondents were more aware of architectural services (m = 2.75, sd = 0.57) compared to their wtp for them (m = 2.12, sd = 0.78). this difference (0.63, se = 0.09) was significant (t = 6.89, p = 0.000). illustrated in figure 2, all mean values of wtp (green lines) fell within the area covered by awareness of the 16 services (blue lines). details of comparisons between awareness and wtp for the services are presented in table 2. data from table 2 reveal that four architectural services recorded very high awareness levels based on respondents’ ratings. these are preparation of site measurement, drawing existing buildings and landscape design; production of working drawings, specifications and details; site supervision as well as preparation of 3d, special drawings, models, and renderings. of the four well-known aforementioned architectural services, clients were only wtp for production of constructionrelated drawings, specifications, and details as well as for site supervision. clients were unwilling to pay for the other two well-known services in table 2. production of construction documents and site supervision are services that are primed for architects in the construction market to target and improve their competitive advantage. production of construction documents often involves input from allied ci professionals notably quantity surveyors who usually produce boqs and engineers responsible for producing mechanical, electrical, and structural drawings. although several studies point to the strength of architects and architecture graduates in the design domain,[11,19,23,26] recent observations from architectural practice point to a decline in design competencies and quality of architecture graduates from schools of architecture.[40] architects need to improve and perfect their design and construction-related competencies right from school into practice as this gives the profession its edge over all others even within the ci. this includes design competencies for site measurements, as-built drawings, landscape design as well as 3d renderings, special drawings, and models. results from this study also illustrate that site supervision is the other architectural service clients that are likely to remunerate based on wtp ratings from respondents. these results also imply that clients are wtp for services mandatory to the realization of successful project completion considering construction table 4: regression model, willingness to pay for architectural services among clients variable β s.e. wald df sig. exp(β) age −0.010 0.319 0.001 1 0.97 0.988 income 0.244 0.181 1.813 1 0.18 1.276 frequency of obtaining architectural information 0.426 0.436 0.956 1 0.33 1.532 satisfaction −0.770 0.546 1.999 1 0.16 0.462 awareness of architectural services 1.413 0.656 4.632 1 0.03 4.106 r2=0.356, prediction 82.1%, omnibus test of model coefficients p=0.005. source: authors’ survey figure 2: awareness and wtp for architectural services. source: authors’ survey maina, et al.: awareness, satisfaction and willingness-to-pay remuneration for architectural services among clients in nigeria 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 60-69 drawings and site supervision are statutory requirements for obtaining building permits from development control offices. two other services recorded non-significant differences between ratings for awareness and wtp, suggesting opportunities for architects to take advantage of on the premise that awareness is not much different from wtp. these are interior design as well as furniture and fittings (components) design. this result supports recent calls made by ajaero[41] for architects to expand their market into other areas of competence apart from building design and site supervision. an interesting result was that production of initial proposal design, ranked 11th for awareness and 8th for wtp, is comparatively far less well known and that production of construction documents ranked 2nd for awareness and 1st for wtp. this suggests that architects or other allied professionals are liable to skip progressive stages of design development, probably through free designs as a marketing strategy[42] and directly embark on production of construction documents considering that respondents noted that architects were the second most frequent source of architectural information after friends and colleagues [table 1]. this trend partly explains the low value attached to architectural creativity vested in the proposal outline stage from which construction documents eventually emerge, thereby short-circuiting avenues for architects to be adequately remunerated for stage 1. eze et al.[42] established that free designs were ranked 1st by architects, quantity surveyors, and engineers as a marketing practice in the nci, in spite of the professional code of ethics generally banning open marketing in the ci among construction professionals. this calls for a reassessment of such codes, especially as it affects marketing to reflect realities of contemporary practice not only for architects but also other allied professionals. digital media, effectively employed by the service industry for marketing, especially through social media outlets and the internet was the lowest in ranking for avenues clients receive information of architectural value [table 1]. professional bodies regulating the conduct of professional practice in the nci will need to revisit the issue of fees and codes of ethics as this maybe hampering the business performance of architects and allied professionals within the nci. the least known service with the lowest ranking for wtp is litigation and arbitration [table 2]. this calls for public awareness as it is a vital component for managing conflict in construction. along with the other services which received highly moderate but low ratings for wtp, these are services architects that have been trained for and ought to be presented to the public through contemporary avenues of communication and marketing such as the internet, digital, and even social media. results from the regression analysis presented in table 4 in response to the second research question illustrate that awareness of architectural services was the only significant predictor of wtp in a model consisting of satisfaction with architectural services, age, income, and frequency of obtaining architecturally relevant information. the odds are that wtp is likely to increase 4 times by an increase of 1 unit in awareness of architectural services. the model explains about 36% of the variance in wtp, implying that other variables such as gender, employment level, and experience with architectural services, whether the services were obtained from architects or not should be considered in future studies. satisfaction with architectural services was not only a negative predictor but also it records the lowest odds ratio (exp(β)) value in table 4. this result suggests that satisfaction with architectural services does not guarantee wtp professional fees for residential projects, nor does it mean clients will remunerate architects for services rendered, supporting data in table 1. less satisfied clients were more wtp for architectural services rendered than satisfied clients. in view of the argument for free design services presented in the preceding section, it is likely that while clients are generally satisfied with services offered by architects [table 1], construction work may have been performed at sub-standard levels in terms of quality, cost, and time and not even necessarily by architects, in support of observations preferred by enwerekowe and tsok[6] as well as frimpong and dansoh[2] that clients were wtp non-professionals for services architects can render due to exorbitant professional fees charged by the latter. consequently, the framework presented in figure 1 was modified in figure 3 to reflect the foregoing observations. income of respondents as well as frequency of receiving information of architectural importance recorded odds ratios >1 in table 4 and are thus important in explaining the model. this implies that income and frequency of receiving information of architectural relevance is positively related with wtp among clients. information from the interview generally supports these observations as firms in the study area largely rely on government projects for financial survival. “funds from residential developments were employed largely to purchase consumables figure 3: revised framework for the relationship between awareness, satisfaction, and willingness-to-pay. source: authors maina, et al.: awareness, satisfaction and willingness-to-pay remuneration for architectural services among clients in nigeria 67 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 60-69 such as office supplies but not for business sustainability as clients are only willing to pay for basic services. these are rarely computed using the professional schedule of fees but by plea bargaining.” conclusions this study set out to assess levels of awareness, satisfaction, and wtp for architectural services as well as to explore possible relationships between the three constructs with the aim of establishing areas architects can focus on in order to improve their services and address the decline in remuneration within the profession. results revealed that: ● clients obtain information regarding architectural services mainly from wom sources, notably friends and colleagues as well as from architects and sometimes through print media. digital media was the least employed avenue for obtaining information of architectural relevance. ● clients were significantly more aware of architectural services than they were wtp for them. clients were specifically wtp for two services-production of construction documents as well as site supervision, the latter being an area contested by other allied and nonallied professionals in construction. ● preparation of site measurement, drawing existing buildings and landscape design as well as preparation of 3d, special drawings, models and renderings, interior design, furniture fittings, and components design were also well-known architectural services. ● awareness of architectural services emerged as the only significant predictor of wtp. ● satisfaction negatively and insignificantly predicted wtp, implying that satisfaction does not guarantee wtp. this is a pertinent finding considering architects in the nci rated client satisfaction very highly,[31] on the premise that satisfied clients infer more commissions[26] and by implication, better remuneration. findings from this study suggest that this linear progression may, in reality, not always apply to architectural services, especially residential projects which proliferate architectural services in the nci.[18,31] ● collaborations between academic research and practice go a long way to resolve challenges facing the profession through systematic analysis of identified problems towards generating sustainable solutions. history proves that creative innovations often emerge out of difficult circumstances, especially when professionals in industry join forces with research and academia.[43] architecture is a time consuming and energy demanding profession. combining forces within practice and academia is a pragmatic strategy for addressing challenges facing the profession and the ci at large. recommendations ● architects need to explore and deploy the use of contemporary avenues for disseminating architecturerelated information to clients, especially the internet and social media outlets. ● architects have to improve their construction management skills as clients are likely to commission a single professional who is efficient in both design and project management rather than split the interrelated services between two or more professionals. ● preparation of 3d, special drawings, models and renderings, design, furniture fittings, and components design present areas ripe in the construction market for architects to leverage their competitive advantage on. the other 10 services though moderately known require strategic awareness campaigns by members and professional bodies involved in the practice of architecture in the nci. ● a dramatic paradigm shift in the attitude of architects and allied professionals is required to change the idea that client satisfaction is a guarantee for wtp and remuneration of architectural services. this may not always be true. ● architects need to rethink not only the skills they have been trained for or have acquired over time but also the business aspect of architectural practice. ● similar studies across larger samples of clients 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engineering and management, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 267-277, 2010. 23. c. s. rolf and n. chileshe. exploring the role of the project manager within the construction design team: some observations from the uk. in: cib w89 international conference in building education and researh bear 2006 construction sustainability and innovation. kowloon shangri-la, 2006. 24. h. i. kwami, b. hassan and f. mustapha. an assessment of management knowledge, skills and abilities of nigerian architects: towards a sustainable management in architectural practice. in: iop conference series: earth and environmental science, vol. 1054, no.1, pp. 012038, 2022. 25. l. o. oyedele and k. w. tham. examining architect’s performance in nigerian private and public sectors building projects. engineering, construction and architectural management, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 52-68, 2005. 26. a. mitrache. branding and marketing-an architect’s perspective. procedia-social and behavioral sciences, vol. 62, pp. 932-936, 2012. 27. j. siva and k. london. investigating the role of client learning for successful architect-client relationships on private single dwelling projects. architectural engineering and design management, vol. 7, pp. 177-189, 2011. 28. p. d. rwelamila and s. m. machete. marketing development in civil engineering consultancy firms in south africa. in: proceedings, 13th annual arcom conference. kings college, cambridge, 1997. 29. j. siva and k. london. client learning for successful architectclient relationships. engineering, construction and architectural management, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 253-268, 2012. 30. h. taleb, s. ismail, m. h. wahab and w. n. m. wan mohd. rani. communication management between architects and clients. in: aip conference proceedings 1891, 2017. 31. j. j. maina and d. i. adamu. key performance indicators for project success: perspectives from architectural practitioners in nigeria. in: proceedings 6th research conference of niqs (recon 6). uyo, 2022. 32. j. mbachu and r. nkado. conceptual framework for assessment of client needs and satisfaction in the building development process. construction management and economics, vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 31-44, 2006. 33. a. oluwatayo, i. ezema, p. opoko and o. fulani. residential property developers’ satisfaction and selection of architectural service providers. in: 7th international real estate research symposium, 2014. 34. n. a. z. abidin. willingness to pay: what it is and how to measure it, 2022. available from: https://conjointly.com/blog/ willingness-to-pay [last accessed on 2022 nov 19]. 35. a. j. yacim and v. a. bello. willingness to pay for improved water supply in nassarawa, nasarawa state, nigeria. in: 2nd international conference on infrastructure development in africa. johannesburg, 2013. 36. e. okoko. tenants’ willingness to pay for better housing in targeted core area neighbourhoods in akure, nigeria. habitat international, vol. 28, no.3, pp. 317-332, 2004. 37. h. gunatilake, j.c. yang, s. pattanayak and k. a. choe. good practices for estimating reliable willingness-to-pay values in the water supply and sanitation sector. asian development bank, metro manila, philippines, 2007. 38. cbn. central bank of nigeria, n.d. available from: https:// www.cbn.gov.ng/rates/exrate.asp?year=2017 [last accessed on 2023 nov 17]. 39. s. b. yisa, i. ndekugri and b. ambrose. a review of changes in the uk construction industry: their implications for marketing of construction services. european journal of marketing, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 47-64, 1996. 40. nia. report released at the 57th annual general assembly/ conference bgm 2017 “affordable housing: rhetorics, techtonics and architecture”. ladi kwali hall, sheraton hotels and towers, abuja, 2017. 41. f. ajaero. the architect in the marketplace. nia, new delhi, 2022. 42. e. c. eze, o. sofolahan, o. p. onyeagam and u. muhammed. marketing strategies employed by construction firms in abuja, nigeria. journal of construction project management and innovation, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 1905-1925, 2018. 43. v. mulgundmath. reimaging the academia-industry duology. academia letters, vol. 2, p. 2118. maina, et al.: awareness, satisfaction and willingness-to-pay remuneration for architectural services among clients in nigeria 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 60-69 appendix architectural service fee (nigerian naira) preparation of site measurement, drawing of existing buildings, and landscape design 217,000 production of working drawings, specification, and details 403,000 site supervision 30,000/h 3d renderings, special drawings, models 834,501.10 development plans 30,000/h maintenance services, renovation of wall, and floor finishes 102,000 development studies 30,000/h additional services, production of as-built drawings 30,000/h redesigns and additional designs due changes in approved designs 30,000/h interior designs 260,000 preparation of illustrative and descriptive proposal outline 217,000 obtain tenders to complete project 30,000/h feasibility studies 30,000/h special meetings for application for planning or building by-laws and regulation. 30,000/h furniture and fittings designs 30,000/h litigation and arbitration 30,000/h tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 48-51 research article effect of hypericum perforatum extract on gastric ulcer development in rat models mohammed m. hussein department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract gastric ulcer is a serious condition that results from the tearing of the stomach mucosa. a physiological equilibrium is maintained between mucosal defense and aggressive factors. in this study, the effectiveness of medicinal plant (hypericum perforatum) in the management of gastric ulcers was compared to that of omeprazole, a well-known drug for gastric ulcers. this study involved numerous study groups of male rats comprising the following: the first group (control group exposed to helicobacter pylori and fed with normal animal feed), the second group (rats exposed to h. pylori and treated with two doses (of 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg) of aqueous h. perforatum), and the third group (rats exposed to h. pylori and treated with 20 mg/kg of omeprazole). the outcome of the study demonstrated that a high dose of 50.65% h. perforatum prevents the development of stomach ulcers. the group treated with omeprazole revealed a formation of stomach ulcers (24.50%). a high dose of the aqueous plant extracts showed greater effectiveness in preventing gastric ulcer formation compared to the lower dosage. keywords: gastric ulcer, antibacterial activity, helicobacter pylori, gastrointestinal tract, peptic ulcer introduction a highly mobile, spiral-shaped, gram-negative bacteria called helicobacter pylori colonizes the intestines of 50–80% of people around the globe.[1] the bacterium h. pylori damage the gastric mucosa most commonly by causing gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, or even gastric cancer.[2] gastric ulcer is a condition of the stomach lining that has common symptoms such as vomiting, burning, dull abdominal pain, headache, weight loss, low oral resistance, stenosis, perforation, and stomach bleeding.[3] the focus has been on natural plants for the management of many human disease conditions partially because certain pharmaceutical medicines are highly harmful to the patient or cause adverse effects.[4] moreover, in terms of cure and disease prevention, plant products are inexpensive and more affordable contributors to improving human health.[5] hypericum perforatum is a hypericaceae commonly known as st. john’s wort. it has been used as a form of treatment for different diseases in various eastern countries. nevertheless, scholars suggest that it is used to cure mental illnesses caused by demonic forces among the ancient greeks. the plant grows well in temperate open disturbed regions.[6] conventionally, omeprazole is used as a drug for the treatment of conditions where the stomach excretes large quantities of acid. it prevents the activity of a particular enzyme mechanism located within the acid-secreting stomach cells (in the stomach),[7] thus, preventing acid production. omeprazole is used to control heartburn, acute gastritis, duodenitis, esophagitis attributable to recurrence of gastrointestinal material, peptic ulcer, and other secretary diseases.[8] aim of study this research is aimed at comparing the effectiveness of h. perforatum and omeprazole in gastric ulcer treatment using male albino rats as the disease model. materials and methods extraction of the aerial part of h. perforatum fresh aerial plants (stem, leaf, flower, fruit, and seed) of h. perforatum collected from khabat (district of erbil city in the western region of the kurdistan region, iraq) were corresponding author: mohammed m. hussein, department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mohammed.m.hussein@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: march 10, 2023 accepted: april 21 2023 published: may 20, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp48-51 copyright © 2023 mohammed m. hussein. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (ccby-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) hussein: antibacterial activity of hypericum perforatum 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 48-51 extracted for the study. the aerial part of the plant with a high presence of flowers and buds was collected in august 2020 and air-dried in the shade. the extraction process followed a modified method previously used by.[9] the dried and pulverized aerial parts of the flower (25 g) were soaked in 250 ml of water (at 85°c) for high-dose extraction and 25 g in 500 ml for low-dose extraction. the mixture was kept for 24 h before filtering with whatman number 1 filter paper. finally, the filtered extract was kept inside a sterile cup in the refrigerator until used. omeprazole omeprazole is the class of medicines that have been used to treat disorders including peptic ulcers because they act as proton-pump inhibitors. omeprazole inhibits the acid-forming enzymes in the stomach wall. the output of the stomach acid is reduced by blocking these enzymes and thus, the stomach can be healed. omeprazole served as the standard anti-ulcer agent in this study; it was procured from happy pharmacy in erbil city. the medication was administered to the rats by mouth at the dose of 20 mg/kg body weight following suspension in distilled water (5 ml/kg).[10] experimental animals forty-eight male albino rats were used for the experiment; the body weight of the rats was 160 ± 20 g at 7–9 weeks old. the rats were randomly allocated to four groups, each group of 12 rats was purchased from zakho university and housed hygienically in ventilated cages. the rats were fed on a standard diet for 1 week in the animal house unit of the college of education at salahaddin university-erbil. induction of gastric ulcer by h. pylori gastritis was induced by feeding rats with the bacterium h. pylori that were collected from biopsy samples from clinical patients. the rats were fed for 1 week on a basal diet in the animal house unit, college of education at salahaddin university-erbil. in this study, the rats were kept from food in the morning and afternoon, then, inoculated with the plant extracts and immediately inoculated with 1 ml h. pylori suspension (5 × 108–5 × 1010 cfu/ml) using gavage twice daily at 4 h intervals for 3 straight days. the rats were left on normal feeding for 15 days to observe the effect of the plant extracts on h. pylori activity.[11] before inoculating the animals with the plant extract and h. pylori, they were subjected to stool antigen tests to ensure no pre-infection with h. pylori. in the last period of prevention, the rats were anesthetized through intramuscular injection of mixed xylazine–ketamine (1:9) as a single dose in the same syringe. the stomach of each rat from each group was removed and dissected for observation. gross gastric lesions evaluation ulcers located in the gastric mucosa, parallel to the long stomach axis, emerged as elongated bands of hemorrhagic lesions. thus, the damage was studied in each gastric mucosa specimen. in the measurement of the ulcer region (ua), the total of the lesion areas for each stomach was summed, wherein the sum of small squares × 4 × 1.8 = ua mm2 as earlier described by.[12] the inhibition percentage (i %) was estimated using the formula: [13] (i %) = ([ua control – ua treated]/ua control) × 100% measurement and evaluation of acid content of gastric juice (ph) the ph level of the rat stomach was individually recorded for evaluation of the ph level of all the groups of rats; this was done to know the effect and correlation of the plant extract with ph level. microbiological analysis microbiological analysis was directly carried out on the day of sample collection. stool antigen and blood antibody tests were done on all the rat groups using strip h. pylori antigen and antibody tests; this was done to determine the h. pylori infection status of the rats. results and discussion effect of h. perforatum extract and omeprazole on gastric lesion development the anti-ulcer effect of h. perforatum extract against gastric lesion model caused by h. pylori is reported in table 1. the figure 1: the ph level of gastric content of rats treated with hypericum perforatum extract and omeprazole compared to the control group figure 2: effect of omeprazole antibiotic drugs on ph of gastric content hussein: antibacterial activity of hypericum perforatum 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 48-51 table 1: effect of aqueous extract of h. perforatum and omeprazole on gastric ulcer production and gastric ulcer development in albino rats animal group prevention (5 ml/kg) dose ulcer area (mm2) mean ± sem ulcer inhibition % 1 ulcer control group 815.00 0 2 high-dose h. perforatum 402.20 50.65 low-dose h. perforatum 611.45 24.97 3 omeprazole 615.25 24.50 h. perforatum: hypericum perforatum results showed that the ulcer area of the rat’s stomach with a high dose (500 mg/kg) of h. perforatum extracts was inhibited at the rate of 50.65% compared with the ulcer control group. table 1 also showed the anti-ulcer effect of omeprazole in the h. pylori-induced gastric ulcer rat models. the findings demonstrated that the rats’ stomachs were protected by omeprazole while receiving h. pylori solution, thereby showing a decrease in gastric ulcer formation rate by 24.50% compared to the control group. effect of h. perforatum extract and omeprazole on the gastric ph level when compared to the non-treated control group in figure 1, the stomach contents’ acidity in the experimental mice treated with h. perforatum was increased. the experimental rats treated with omeprazole showed an increase (5–5.5) in the gastric contents’ acidity when compared to the control group (3.5). the acidity of the gastric juice of the group treated with h. perforatum extract, however, ranged from 4 to 4.5 see figur e 2. evaluation of stomach color changes in gastric ulcer rat models treated with h. perforatum and omeprazole the color of the stomach is one of the parameters considered in the study; the color of the stomach of h. perforatum-treated rats significantly changed when compared with the control group. a bright white color was found in the stomach of the rats treated with h. perforatum, whereas a pink-to-red color was found in the stomach of omeprazole-treated rats. the control group’s stomach was totally dark red because of the ulcer and inflammation caused by h. pylori, while the color of the protected rat stomachs changed significantly [figure 3]. gastritis is among the most prominent clinical symptoms of h. pylori infection; h. pylori forms widely visible black hemorrhagic injuries on the stomach mucosa. in this study, the plant extract showed a 50.65% inhibition rate of the formation of stomach ulcers compared with the control group at the concentration of 500 mg/kg and 24.97% inhibition at the concentration of 250 mg/kg. however, a previous study[14] also reported the effectiveness of h. perforatum on gastroprotection in rat animal models. as an antibacterial agent, omeprazole, a standard drug used to treat gastric ulcers, plays a major role in preventing gastric ulcer disorders in male albino rat animal models, especially gastric ulcers caused by h. pylori. according to the current study results, the stomach of mice infected with h. pylori and treated with omeprazole showed an observable reduction in gastric ulcer development at the rate of 24.50% compared to the control group. the stomach mucosa of the rats exposed to h. pylori solution showed noticeable black hemorrhagic lesions. the outcome of this study agrees with the report by[15] which showed a healing rate of 61% in a study group that received 20 mg of omeprazole within 4 weeks during a study with 68 patients receiving concurrent nsaids. this is significant because a high percentage of patients in the omeprazole groups were free of symptoms and ulcers. in the 4th week, the healing rate was 61% in the group receiving omeprazole 20 mg, and a significant number of patients in the omeprazole group had no symptoms or ulcers. conclusion the present study demonstrated that the development of gastric ulcers following active h. pylori induction can be prevented significantly using medicinal plants, such as h. perforatum. h. perforatum can serve as a natural alternative to omeprazole (a chemical agent) in the prevention of gastric ulcer formation in people that have been exposed to h. pylori. references 1. p. palamides, t. jolaiya, a. idowu, e. loell, c. onyekwere, r. ugiagbe, i. agbo, o. lesi, d. ndububa, o. adekanle, m. carranza, figure 3: stomach changes in different rat groups: (a) control group, (b) treated with hypericum perforatum extract, (c) treated with omeprazole b ca hussein: antibacterial activity of hypericum perforatum 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 48-51 r. ally, h. niom, i. a. adeleye, u. harrison, a. clarke, w. fischer, s. smith and r. haas. helicobacter pylori patient isolates from south africa and nigeria differ in virulence factor pathogenicity profile and associated gastric disease outcome. scientific reports, vol. 10, p. 11409, 2020. 2. o. k. yulizal, a. lelo, s. ilyas and r. l. kusumawati. the effect of channa striata extract and standard eradication regimen on asymmetric dimethylarginine in helicobacter pylori gastritis rat model. veterinary world, vol. 13, pp. 1605-1612, 2020. 3. h. mashayekhi-sardoo, b. m. razavi, m. ekhtiari, n. kheradmand and m. imenshahidi. gastroprotective effects of both aqueous and ethanolic extracts of lemon verbena leaves against indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in rats. iranian journal of basic medical sciences, vol. 23, pp. 1639-1646, 2020. 4. h. youssef and a. el-mahmoudy. evaluation of the antimicrobial potential of punica granatum leaves hydro-methanolic extract against selected pathogens. american journals of current microbiology, vol. 7, pp. 1-11, 2019. 5. t. belwal, h. p. devkota, m. k. singh, r. sharma, s. upadhayay, c. joshi, k. bisht, j. k. gour, i. d. bhatt, r. s. rawal and v. pande. st. john’s wort (hypericum perforatum). in: nonvitamin and nonmineral nutritional supplements. elsevier inc., amsterdam, p. 415-432, 2019. 6. h. seraji, h. hosseini-vashan, n. afzali, m. h. namayi and a. allahressan. effect of water extract of hypericum perforatum on performance, abdominal fat and blood biochemical parameters of broiler chicken. animal science journal, vol. 28, no. 106, pp. 133-146, 2014. 7. a. m. pedernera, t. guardia, c. g. calderón, a. e. rotelli, n. e. de la rocha, s. d. genaro, l. e. pelzer. anti-ulcerogenic and anti-inflammatory activity of the methanolic extract of larrea divaricata cav. in rat. journal of ethnopharmacology, vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 415-420, 2006. 8. n. m. nasr, m. khider, w. metry and k. atallah. antibacterial activity of lactic acid bacteria against helicobacter pylori evidence by in vivo and in vitro studies. international journal of current microbiology and applied sciences, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 4235-4247, 2017. 9. g. l. jr. kauffman, and m. i. grossman. prostaglandin and cimetidine inhibit the formation of ulcers produced by parenteral salicylates. gastroenterology, vol. 75, no. 6, pp. 1099-1102, 1978. 10. v. c. njar, j. k. adesanwo and y. raji. methyl angolensate: the antiulcer agent of the stem bark of entandrophragma angolense. planta medica, vol. 61, no. 1, pp. 91-92, 1995. 11. g. zdunić, d. gođevac, m. milenković, d. vučićević, k. šavikin, n. menković and s. petrović. evaluation of hypericum perforatum oil extracts for an antiinflammatory and gastroprotective activity in rats. phytotherapy research, vol. 23, no. 11, pp. 1559-1564, 2009. 12. a. walam, j. p. bader, m. classen, c. b. lamers, d. w. piper, k. rutgersson and s. eriksson. effect of omeprazole and ranitidine on ulcer healing and relapse rates in patients with benign gastric ulcer. the new england journal of medicine, vol. 320, no. 2, pp. 69-75, 1989. 13. n. s. al-wajeeh, m. f. halabi, m. hajrezaie, s. m. dhiyaaldeen, d. a. bardi, s. m. salama, e. rouhollahi, h. karimin, r. abdolmalaki, a. h. s. azizan, h. m. a. s. noor and m. a. abdulla. the gastroprotective effect of vitex pubescens leaf extract against ethanol-provoked gastric mucosal damage in sprague-dawley rats. plos one, vol. 12, no. 5, p. e0179072, 2017. 14. n. seyhan. evaluation of the healing effects of hypericum perforatum and curcumin on burn wounds in rats. evidence based complement alternative medicine, 2020, p. 6462956, 2020. 15. f. seyis, e. yurteri, a. özcan and c. cirak. altitudinal impacts on chemical content and composition of hypericum perforatum, a prominent medicinal herb. south african journal of botany, vol. 135, pp. 391-403, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 research article comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering to forecast the amount of natural gas in iraq mohammad m. faqe hussein department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, university of sulaimani, iraq abstract the procedure of reducing noise before analyzing the time series is important to get accurate outcomes when building models. wavelet shrinkage, consisting of thresholded wavelets, is a powerful mathematical technique for reducing the amount of noise that can be exposed. it has time series observations and selects the cutoff threshold appropriate for removing most of the noise. this paper used data on natural gas production in iraq during (1981–2019) that contained non-stationary data, so the researcher must treat this problem before starting the analysis. therefore, the researcher selected the model of time series analysis using box–jenkins models (arima (p, d, q) models) and the method of wavelet shrinkage and the comparison between them based on some statistical criteria including the akaike information criterion, schwarz bayesian information criterion, bayesian information criterion, and hannan–quinn information criterion. statistical programs such as statgraphics xvii-x64 and matlab were used to analyze the data. the paper reached the efficiency of wavelet shrinkage filtering in treating the noise problem and obtaining efficient estimated models, in particular the wavelet shrinkage filter (daubechies (db8)) with a soft threshold estimated by the fixed-form method and the possibility of linear models with lower one orders and higher efficiency for the obtained filtered observations compared to the corresponding models estimated from the original observations, that is, the suitable model for the data is a model arima (0,1,1) for the data paved in a daubechies method, it is preferable to do the waveform analysis of the data before analyzing the time series concerning the observations of natural gas production in iraq. the preference was given to the model estimated by box and jenkins arima (0,1,1) model using wavelet shrinkage daubechies (db8) wavelet reduction. keywords: time series, arima, acf, pacf, wavelets, akaike information criterion, schwarz bayesian information criterion, hqc methodology time series the time series is a random process of random variable x indexed by time (t). x(t) is a symbol used for discrete parameter processes (d.p.p.) and x(t) is a symbol for continuous parameter processes (c.p.p). in this paper, we are discussing the discrete parameter process of time series.[1,2] box–jenkins model the arima (p,d,q) model is used to forecast time series; this model depends on previous data to supply predicting indexes. the arima (p,d,q) model has autoregressive and moving average. with p is the # of ar terms, d is the # of differences non-seasonal, and q is the # of ma. the general equation of the model is: [3-6] a= α+ ∅1zt−1+ ∅2zt−2+.….+ ∅tzt−q: b= θ1εt−1− θ2εt−2−.….− θqεt−q zt= a− b+ ε (1) with ∅ is ar parameter, θ is ma parameter, α= µ (1− ∅1− ∅2−….− ∅p), µ is the mean value of time series, et is error, εt= ytty . the common equation of ar(p) is: zt= ∝+ ∅1yt−1+ ∅2yt−2+.….+ ∅pyt−p+ εt (2) and the common equation of ma(q) is: zt= α− θ1εt−1− θ2εt−2−.….−θqet−2+ εt (3) the procedures of the box–jenkins ways 1the first thing to note is that most of the time series is non-stop, and ar, ma members of the arima model are corresponding author: mohammad m. faqe hussein, college of administration and economics, statistics and informatics department, university of sulaimani, iraq e-mail: mohammad.faqe@univsul.edu.iq received: february 4, 2022 accepted: february 18, 2022 published: march 30, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n1y2022.pp32-46 copyright © 2022 mohammad m. faqe hussein. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 only related to the stop-time series. the random process of zt is considered a stop if the µ and the σ2 of the process do not change over time (t) means zt is stationary. so to identify the arima model, we have to do two steps: based on the chart of time series, a chart of the pacf autocorrelation.[4-6] 2find the suitable values of p,d,q to identify the type of arima (p,d,q) model. where p is the # of ar terms, d is the # of differences (non-seasonal), and q is the #of ma. the pacf and acf charts are used to determine p and q where acf is the autocorrelation. pacf is the partial autocorrelation. select the value of p if the pacf chart has a great value at lag 1,2,….p and descending after p. choose the value of q if the acf has a great value at lag 1,2,…,q and decreasing after q. 3after calculating the regression coefficient of ar and the ma of the arima model, then we will test the model. wavelets the term short wave has flexible mathematical functions or a power concentrated in time to give a tool for analyzing transient, time varying phenomena. hence, a short wave divides a function into different frequency components; each component can then be reviewed with a resolution that corresponds to its scale. furthermore, a short wave is a function defined over a finite interval and has a mean of zero. the fourier analysis is the original history of short wave analysis, and it includes both the fourier transform and the fourier series. the fourier series is used to study systematic procedures, but the fourier transforms in the frequency domain, and it has no information about the time environment. hence, the fourier transform indication of a signal or a function summarizes information of the data as a function of frequency, including the information of the original function.[7-9] as shown in figure 1. wavelet types there are two types of wavelets that have gained popularity throughout the development of wavelet analysis (discrete wavelet and continuous wavelet) shown in table 1:[10-12] haar wavelet the haar wavelet was created by alfred haar and was presented in 1909. the haar function is the basis of the wavelet. the haar is an extension from fourier analysis to wavelet analysis. the orthogonal basis for the space is haar wavelet {l2(r)}. let φ(x), θ(x) be the functions defined on (r); consider the constraints of the (hk) for (n=2):[11] θ(x) = θ(2x) + θ(2x−1) (4) now {h0 = h1 =1}, and the stability condition implies that {h0+h1= 2}. scaling function (θ) is satisfied as follow: 1, 0    1  ( )  0    θ ≤ < =   x x elsewhere (5) if the wavelet function is defined as ψ(x) = ψ(2x) + ψ(2x−1), then the function is below: 1 , 0    0.5  ( ) 1, 0.5    1  0,  ψ ≤ < = − ≤ <   x x x otherwise (6) the function (ψ) is the haar wavelet, and the function θ(x) is the haar scaling function. the following properties of haar wavelet: • orthogonal. • compact support. • symmetric the scaling procedure • the anti-symmetric wavelet procedure. daubechies wavelet a compactly supported wavelets. the family of smooth was created by daubechies (1988), having the biggest number of die out moments for their support. therefore, the structure of smooth orthonormal wavelets needs the wavelets ψ(x) with many vanishing moments. the daubechies (db) wavelet of order (l) has (l) disappearing moments and is supported on the interval [0,2l −1]. the daubechies wavelets also become smoother with increasing (l). the daubechies compactly supported wavelets are created using the usual condition. consider (l=4) then the equations as follows: [13,14] π0+π1+π2+π3 = 2 π0−π1+π2-π 3 = 0 −π1+2π2−3π3 = 0 π0 π2+ π1 π3=0 π0 π2+ π1 π3=0 (7) π π π π+ + + =2 2 2 2 0 1 2 3 2 then, a unique solution for equation exists: 0.5 0.5 0 1 1 (3) 3 (3) 4 4   + + = 0.5 0.5 2 3 3 (3) 1 (3) 4 4   + − = the corresponding daubechies wavelet (db2) is supported on interval [0, 3], as shown in figure 2. daubechies wavelet has the following properties: • orthogonal. • compact support. • there is no symmetry for n > 1. • has n vanishing moment. • the filter length is 2n. coiflets wavelet in 1989, coifman proposed that orthonormal wavelet bases with disappearing moments be constructed not just for ψ(x), but also for θ(x). daubechies studied the structure of such short waves, called “coiflet” since they were initially requested by coifman, and the order became known as the order of coiflet.[15] hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 the wavelet ψ(x) associated with (coifn) has (2n) vanishing moment but also the scaling function (has [2 −1]) vanishing moment. the two functions ψ(x) and θ(x) have support with length (6n 1). the coiflets wavelet satisfied the following properties: • orthogonal. • compact support. • almost symmetric. symlet wavelet symlet wavelets are created by altering the symmetry of daubechies wavelets, and their properties are nearly identical to those of daubechies wavelets. these are the symlet wavelets, which are symmetrical wavelets. wavelets corresponding to symlet correspond to sym n, where n is the order.[15] discrete meyer wavelet meyer wavelets feature a symmetric scaling wavelet function and are orthogonal. it has an infinite number of supports and is band-limited, but it decays quicker than sync wavelet and is indefinitely differentiable.[16,17] in the frequency domain, the meyer wavelet is defined in terms of function z as an infinitely differentiable wavelet with infinite support. ( ) j 2 0.5 j 2 0.5 31 1 2 4sin z 1 e if , (2 ) 2 2 3 3 31 4 48z 1 e ,1 cos 2 4 3 3 (2 ) 0 if otherwise ω ω ω π π ω π π π ωϕ ω π π ω π π π     − < <              =  − < <              (8) where z(x)=x4 (35−84x+70x2−20x3) if 0<x<1 ( ) 0.5 0.5 1 2 (2 ) 3 31 4 48z 1 ,1 cos 2 2 3 3 (2 ) 0 if if otherwise ω π π ω π π ω π∅ ω π π  <        − < <=                (9) thresholding the threshold is the estimated noise class, it separates the wavelet coefficient into two parts, the values more significant than the threshold being considered signal and the smaller being considered noise; there are several rules to apply the wavelet coefficient thresholds and several ways to select a threshold as follows: [18] 1. universal threshold. 2. specific threshold. 3. minimax threshold. 4. cross-validation threshold • two-fold cross-validation • leave-one-out cross-validation thresholding rules hard thresholding donoho and johnstone proposed this technique. it is the most straightforward technique for implementing wavelet denoising, which interprets the “keep or kill” statement. the wavelet coefficient is set to the vector (ωn(ht)) with element.[18,19] n(ht) n n n 0  if      if           ≤ =  >  (10) if the coefficients are more significant than the threshold value (η), they remain without changing. however, if they are smaller than or equal to the threshold value (η), they are eliminated or set to zero. soft thresholding the other standard procedure for wavelet denoising is soft thresholding of the wavelet coefficient, also suggested by donoho and johnstone, which is defined as follows: [18,19] ωn (st) = sign [ωn] (abs(ωn)η) +… (1) where n n n n 1 if    0 0  if  0 1 if si n [ ]   g   0     + >   =  − = <  (12) ( ) ( ) nn n n if abs( )   )   0(abs( )   ) (abs( ) if abs( )     00       +  − ≥−  − = <  (13) soft thresholding brings all coefficients to zero when the wavelet coefficient is less than the threshold and when the figure 2: the scaling function and db2 wavelet figure 1: a wave and a wavelet hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 coefficients are more significant than the threshold (η), they persist after reducing by the amount of the threshold, while the soft threshold is a continuous function is what the statement of “shrink or kill” interprets. this provides the results of the wavelet thresholding estimator. for small samples, hard thresholding has lower mean square error and less sensitivity to small noises in the data. soft thresholding has negligible deviation and an overall mean square error as shown in figure 3. time series models building procedure in the estimation phase, several models are tentatively selected and then the values of the corrected akaike information criterion (aic) (hurvich and tsai, 1989) and the schwarz bayesian information criterion (sbic) and hannan–quinn information criterion (hqic) proposed by schwarz (1978) (hannan and quinn, 1979). the model system that has the minimum aic, sbic, and hqic values among other model systems is selected as the most suitable model. equation (14) describes the formula for calculating aic, while equation (15) describes the formula for sbic and equation (16) hqic.[20] max 2n aic    k 2 ln|l |  n k 1  = × − × − −  (14)] sbic = ln [n]×k−2×ln |lmax| (15) hqic =2ln [ln [n]]×k−2×ln|lmax| (16) where • n = sample size (e.g., data values, frequencies) • k = parameter estimated (e.g., the normal distribution has 2: µ and σ) • lmax = use maximized value of the log-likelihood to calculate the model by the (i.e., fitting the parameters by mle and record the natural log of the likelihood) results and discussion data preparation concerns transformation and differentiation. transformations of the data (such as square roots, logarithms, etc.) are useful to stabilize the variance in a time series; as the variation changes with class, the data are differentiated until there are no obvious patterns, such as trend or seasonality, in the data. differentiating means taking the difference between consecutive observations or between observations in one part of the year. the differentiated data are often easier to model than the actual data. the data in table 2 were obtained from the eia u.s. energy information administration during (1981–2019) obtained and used statgraphics19 and matlab for data analysis. randomness test first, the randomness test of gas production in iraq should be done with the box-pierce test. the null hypothesis states that the time series is random, as opposed to the alternative hypothesis of non-randomness to learn that the data have a specific behavior rather than a random one. as described in table 3 for time series; as p < 0.05 for each series, therefore, null hypotheses h0: the series is random versus h1: the series is not random the test depends on the sum of squares (s.s) of the first 24 autocorrelation coefficients. because p-value for this test is 2.20016e-9, which is less than α = 0.05, we can reject the hypothesis that the series is random with a 95% confidence level. data transformation after proving the non-randomness of the natural gas production time series, so to overcome this behavior, we will try to transform the data series. the data were transformed, for instance, the seasonal difference of order one. then, the series was tested again for the existence of randomness. the hypothesis was accepted when p > α=0.05, as shown in table 4. the test is based on the s.s of the first 24 autocorrelation coefficients. because p-value for this test is 0.275392, which is greater than or equal to α = 0.05, we can accept the null hypothesis that the series is random with a 95% or higher confidence level. time series plots the time series plots of the dataset (natural gas production) is illustrated. the plot shows that the data are clear of being nonstationary in the mean and in the variance. seasonal and trend patterns with increasingly variation of variance because the variation in the magnitude of the fluctuation with time is referred to as non-stationary in the variance as shown in figure 4. stationary the time series plots of the data set (natural gas production) are shown. the plot shows that the data are clearly nonstationary in mean and variance. seasonal and trend patterns with increasing variation in variance as variation in magnitude of variation over time are said to be non-stationary in variance, as shown in figure 5. we examine the autocorrelation function (acf) and the partial acf (pacf) for the original data to determine the original order of the series model. the graphs of acf and pacf are shown in figures 6 and 7. after taking the differentiated series for natural gas production, which transforms into stationary series around the mean, and the acf and pacf plots of the differentiated series, most of the lags are within the confidence limits, as in the mentioned figures 8 and 9 are shown. this table 5 shows the estimated partial autocorrelations between values of adjusted natural gas production at various lags. the lag k partial autocorrelation coefficient measures the correlation between values of adjusted natural gas production at time (t, t+k), having accounted for the associations at all lower lags. it can be used to evaluator the order of the autoregressive model needed to fit the data. also shown that 95% of the probability limit is around 0. if the probability limits at a specific lag do not contain the estimated coefficient, there is a statistically significant association at that lag at the 95% confidence level. in this case, one of the 24 partial autocorrelation coefficients is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. this table 6 shows the estimated partial autocorrelations between values of adjusted natural gas production at different lags. the partial autocorrelation coefficient lag k measures the hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 correlation between values of adjusted natural gas production at time (t, t+k), with the associations at all lower lags taken into account. it can be used to evaluate the autoregressive model order required to fit the data. also shown that 95% of the probability limit is around 0. if the probability limit at a given lag does not include the estimated coefficient, then there is a statistically significant association at the 95% confidence level for that lag. in this case, one of the 24 partial autocorrelation coefficients is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. choosing appropriate model after studying the stationary time series through mean and variance, the model identification procedure determines the sufficient model, the visible acf, and the pacf. the appropriate models for each time series are listed in table 7 to identify the best models, lowest aic, sbic, and hqc. table 7 shows the comparative results of fitting different models to the data. the lowest value of aic, hqc, and sbic is arima (0, 1, 1), the selected model used to generate the predicted value. table 8 also summarizes the results of five tests performed on the residuals to determine whether each model fits the data. an ok means that the model passed the test. the currently selected model, model arima (0,1,1), passes five tests. the present model is probably appropriate for the data. model identification in this point, we will examine the data acf and pacf, after getting on the stationary for time series examine acf and pacf. we get the model for the natural gas production arima (0,1,1). estimation it was found that the most suitable model representing the natural gas production series mentioned previous, the parameter was estimated, as shown in table 9. table 3: natural gas production (bcf) series box-pierce test p-value natural gas production 67.6142 2.20016e-9 table 4: natural gas production (bcf) series box-pierce test p-value gas production natural 15.5309 0.275392 figure 3: hard and soft thresholding table 1: types of wavelet (discrete and continuous) discrete wavelets haar daubechies coiflet symlet biorthogonal reverse biorthogonal discrete meyer fejer-korovkin filter continuous wavelet real valued beta hermitian hermitian hat mexican hat shannon complex valued mexican hat morley shannon modified morlet table 2: natural gas production (billion cubic feet per year (bcfy)) year gas production year gas production year gas production year gas production 1980 40.02 1990 140.59 2000 111.24 . . 1981 23 1991 61.16 2001 . . . 1982 24 1992 79.78 2002 . . . 1983 18 1993 90.05 2003 . . . 1984 20 1994 111.94 2004 . . . 1985 29.19 1995 111.95 2005 . . . 1986 54.63 1996 114.42 2006 . . . 1987 132 1997 107.71 2007 . . . 1988 197 1998 104.18 2008 . . . 1989 227.41 1999 112.30 2009 . . . reference: eia u.s. energy information administration hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 figure 4: the plot of nature gas production in iraq from 1980 to 2019 figure 5: natural gas production in iraq after non-seasonal differencing of order one figure 6: acf of natural gas production figure 7: pacf of natural gas production figure 9: pacf of natural gas production figure 8: acf of natural gas production hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 model checking for a suitable predicting model, the residuals for the fitted model should go by simply white noise; in other words, the selected model has exhausted the whole behavior of the series. therefore, we estimated the acf and pacf of the residual and plotted it; we would hope to find no significant acf and pacf. furthermore, the fitted model should reflect adequate forecasting. autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation of residual test his autocorrelation figure 10 shows the calculated autocorrelations between the residuals at different lags. the lag-k autocorrelation coefficient measures the correlation between the residuals at time (t, t-k). also shown that 95% of the probability limit is around 0. if the probability limit at a given lag does not include the estimated coefficient, then there is a statistically significant association at the 95% confidence level for that lag. in this case, none of the 24 autocorrelation coefficients is statistically significant, which means that the time series may well be random (white noise). this pacf figure 11 shows the estimated pacf between the residuals at different lags. in this case, none of the 24 acf is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. test of goodness of fit it is probable to identify the suitable model arima (0,1,1) for this model repeatedly used box-pierce test’s (p ≥ α = 0.05), the null (ho) hypothesis is not rejected, and the model above is suitable. meaning that the residuals are also random, and the predicting will be suitable and reliable enough. h0: adequate model versus h1: not adequate model table 10 above indicates that p-value for this test is greater than or equal to α = 0.05; we cannot reject the hypothesis that the model is reasonable. table 7: estimation period model aic hqc sbic arima (0,1,1) 7.04975 7.06501 7.09197 arima (1,1,0) 7.06818 7.08344 7.1104 arima (1,0,1) 7.09645 7.12699 7.1809 arima (2,1,0) 7.10137 7.1319 7.18581 arima (0,1,2) 7.1152 7.14573 7.19965 table 8: summarizes the results model rmse runs runm auto mean var arima (0,1,1) 33.1113 ok ok ok ok ok table 5: estimated autocorrelations for adjusted gas production lag autocorrelation std. error lower 95% prob. limit upper 95% prob. limit 1 0.380673 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 2 −0.0531608 0.181858 −0.356436 0.356436 3 −0.280853 0.182256 −0.357216 0.357216 4 −0.328115 0.193035 −0.378342 0.378342 5 −0.141684 0.206841 −0.405403 0.405403 6 0.00220161 0.209315 −0.410251 0.410251 7 0.0434127 0.209316 −0.410252 0.410252 8 0.125133 0.209547 −0.410704 0.410704 9 0.14458 0.211454 −0.414443 0.414443 10 0.0274365 0.213974 −0.419381 0.419381 11 0.0547573 0.214064 −0.419558 0.419558 12 0.0278836 0.214423 −0.420262 0.420262 13 0.0299531 0.214516 −0.420444 0.420444 table 6: estimated partial autocorrelations for adjusted gas production lag partial autocorrelation std. error lower 95% prob. limit upper 95% prob. limit 1 0.380673 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 2 −0.231641 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 3 −0.207301 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 4 −0.178398 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 5 0.000865901 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 6 −0.0563702 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 7 −0.0764279 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 8 0.0706657 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 9 0.0646901 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 10 −0.0625562 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 11 0.132611 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 12 0.0507118 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 13 0.0820885 0.160128 −0.313846 0.313846 hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 forecasting in the next step, after a model has accepted the entire analytical test, it is suitable to be used for forecasting. to select a final model for forecasting, the model’s precision can be checked to choose how the model performed in terms of forecasting as shown in figure 12 and 13. forecasting use wavelet analysis five techniques have been used to decrease noise in the data of the production of natural production gas series in iraq, as follows: haar wavelet figure 14 displays the actual data time series and the soft threshold of the haar wave for the production of natural gas in iraq. the red color is the original data, and the violet is a drawing of the haar wave. it is clear from the figure that the difference is slight, which indicates the preservation of the data form and, as it is clear from the figure, the presence of blackness more and less noise. furthermore, by applying a model to the data smoothed by the haar method, table 11 shows the outcomes of calculating the model’s parameters. it is clear from the table the significance of the estimated parameters and the implementation of the condition of stationary, as the absolute values are less than 1. figures 15 and 16 show the acf of the model’s residuals for the data smoothed by the haar method. it is clear from the figure that the coefficients of autocorrelation are not significant within the confidence, meaning that the residuals show changes purely random. daubechies wavelet figure 17 explains the time series of actual data and soft threshold of the daubechies wave for natural gas production in iraq. the data smoothed with this wave revealed that their results are the same as the results in the haar smoothed data (1,2) and different in (3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10). it is clear from table 12 the significance of the calculated parameters and the implementation of the condition of stationary, as the absolute values are less than 1. figures 18 and 19 show the acf of the model’s residuals for the data smoothed by the daubechies method. it is clear from the figure that the coefficients of autocorrelation are not table 9: arima model summary model model formula parameter estimate std. error t p-value arima (0,1,1) y ¼ y ¸ e t t t  � � �� �1 1 1 θ −0.4491 0.148274 −3.02885 0.004397 table 10: hypotheses and probability value for residual series model series model box-pierce test probability value (p-value) natural gas production arima (0,1,1) 5.39691 0.943393 figure 10: acf of the residual natural gas production figure 11: pacf of the residual natural gas production significant within the confidence, meaning that the residuals show changes purely random. symlet wavelet figure 20 shows the time series number of the actual data and the smooth threshold of the symlet wave for natural gas production in iraq. from the figure, it can be seen that the difference between the actual data and the smoothed data are small in a symlet way and this indicates that the data shape is preserved as it can be seen from the figure that there are more blackness and less noise. hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 figure 12: the sequence plot for the gas production of armia(0,1,1) it is clear from table 13 the significance of the calculated parameters and the implementation of the condition of stationary, as the absolute values are <1. figures 21 and 22 show the acf of the model’s residuals for the data smoothed by the symlet method. it is clear from the figure that the coefficients of autocorrelation are not significant within the confidence, indicating that the residuals show changes purely random. coiflets wavelet figure 23 shows the time series number of the original data and the smooth threshold of the coiflets wave for natural gas production in iraq. it is clear from the figure that the difference between the original data and the smoothed data is small in a coiflet fashion, and this indicates that the data shape is preserved, as it is clear from the figure that there are more blackness and less noise. from table 14, the meaning of the calculated parameters and the implementation of the stationary condition becomes table 11: model estimation arima (0,1,1) for natural gas production data using haar method model parameter estimate std. error t p-value aic hqc sbic haar arima (0,1,1) θ −0.437605 0.149145 −2.9341 0.00565 7.00141 7.01667 7.04363 figure 13: forecasting plot for the gas production of armia (0,1,1) figure 14: time series of original data and haar wavelet soft threshold for natural gas production figure 15: acf for arima (0,1,1) use haar method figure 16: pacf for arima (0,1,1) use haar method hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 clear, since the absolute values are <1. figures 24 and 25 show the acf of the model residuals for the data smoothed with the coiflets method. it is clear from the figure that the autocorrelation coefficients within the confidence are not significant, indicating that the residuals show purely random changes. meyer d wavelet figure 26 shows the time series number of the original data and the smooth threshold of the meyer d wave for natural gas production in iraq. it is clear from the figure that the difference between the raw data and the smoothed data in the meyer-d method is small, and this indicates that the data shape is preserved, since it is clear from the figure that there are more blackness and less noise there. from table 15, the meaning of the estimated parameters and the implementation of the steady-state condition becomes clear, since the absolute values are <1 figures 27 and 28 show the acf of the model residuals for the data smoothed with the meyer-d method. from the figure, it is clear that the within confidence autocorrelation coefficients are not significant, this means that the residuals show purely random changes. comparison between model estimation in this part, a comparison is made between a model arima (0,1,1) of the original data for the production of natural gas in iraq and a model arima (0,1,1) of the paved data in a methods (haar, daubechies, symlet, coiflets, and meyer d) from table 16 that the values of aic, hqc, and sbic decrease between the models, since the values of aic = 7.04975, hqc = 7.06501, and sbic = 7.09197 before using the wavelet, while the values of aic, hqc, and sbic figure 17: the original data time series and the soft threshold of daubechies wavelet for natural gas production hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 table 13: model estimation arima (0,1,1) for natural gas production data using symlet method model parameter estimate std. error t p-value aic hqc sbic symlet 2 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.486617 0.146764 −3.3157 0.00202 6.91261 6.92788 6.95484 3 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.495006 0.146536 −3.378 0.0017 6.9028 6.91807 6.94502 4 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.4896 0.146117 −3.3507 0.00183 6.89975 6.91502 6.94198 5 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.499416 0.146321 −3.4132 0.00154 6.88965 6.90492 6.93187 6 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.485861 0.14574 −3.3338 0.00192 6.89689 6.91215 6.93911 7 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.487812 0.146686 −3.3255 0.00196 6.8857 6.90097 6.92792 8 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.488614 0.145876 −3.3495 0.00184 6.89811 6.91338 6.94033 table 12: model estimation arima (0,1,1) for natural gas production data using daubechies method models parameters estimate value std. error t-test p-value aic hqc sbic daubechies 1 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.437605 0.149145 −2.9341 0.00565 7.00141 7.01667 7.04363 2 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.437605 0.149145 −2.9341 0.00565 7.00141 7.01667 7.04363 3 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.495006 0.146536 −3.378 0.0017 6.9028 6.91807 6.94502 4 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.495876 0.147017 −3.3729 0.00172 6.91675 6.93202 6.95897 5 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.465073 0.147599 −3.1509 0.00317 6.92173 6.937 6.96395 6 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.461273 0.147652 −3.1241 0.00341 6.91783 6.9331 6.96005 7 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.473796 0.146474 −3.2347 0.00252 6.90718 6.92244 6.9494 8 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.498346 0.144843 −3.4406 0.00143 6.86407 6.87933 6.90629 9 arima (1,2,1) θ 0.501546 0.143699 3.49024 0.00129 6.86551 6.88078 6.90773 θ 1.1013 0.00074181 1484.62 0.00000 10 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.494748 0.145456 −3.4014 0.00159 6.87393 6.8892 6.91616 drop after using the daubechies (db8) method are the same (6.86407, 6.87933, and 90629), respectively. it is preferable to use wavelet analysis before time series analysis. conclusions according to the results of the previous chapter, the following conclusions are obtained. 1. gas is the second-largest source of energy in iraq, and at the same time, iraq has considered the fourth country in the world in the expulsion of natural gas without investment. 2. as a result of the use of gas and its advantages, it has made it the most widely used among the sources of nonrenewable fossil energy. 3. the wavelet shrinkage method with the residual model and the estimated values proved preferable to the natural gas data in iraq after the wavelet shrinkage process. the model for the smoothed data by daubechies (db8) figure 18: acf for arima (0,1,1) use daubechies method figure 19: pacf for arima (0,1,1) use daubechies method hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 table 14: model estimation arima (0,1,1) for natural gas production data using coiflets method model parameter estimate std. error t p-value aic hqc sbic coiflets 1 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.438559 0.149165 −2.9401 0.00556 6.97715 6.99242 7.01937 2 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.477477 0.146572 −3.2576 0.00237 6.91079 6.92605 6.95301 3 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.481209 0.146402 −3.2869 0.00219 6.90506 6.92032 6.94728 4 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.482222 0.14615 −3.2995 0.00211 6.8993 6.91456 6.94152 5 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.481759 0.146099 −3.2975 0.00212 6.89982 6.91508 6.94204 figure 20: time series of the original data and the soft threshold of the symlet wavelet for natural gas production figure 22: pacf for arima (0,1,1) use symlet methodfigure 21: acf for arima (0,1,1) use symlet method hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 method with the soft threshold cut is the model arima (0,1,1) is better using some statistical criteria than the original data for the production of natural gas in iraq. 4. the wavelet daubechies (db8) is better and more efficient than all other methods indicated in the analysis summary, from getting the best criteria comparison aic, hqc, and sbic. we note that natural gas production has increased over the years by forecasting the selected model – the forecasted values (2020=370.617 bcfy,….) for natural gas production. 5. if original data are available, the forecast values from the fitted model and the residuals are also displayed. for the time after the end of the series, prediction limits of 95% are shown for the predictions. these limit show where the original data value is likely to be at a selected future point in time with 95% confidence, provided that the fitted model is appropriate for the data. 6. wavelet shrinkage be used to treat the problem of pollution and heterogeneity in time series observations figure 23: time series of the original data and the soft threshold of the coiflets wavelet for natural gas production figure 24: acf for arima (0,1,1) use coiflets method figure 25: pacf for arima (0,1,1) use coiflets method figure 26: time series of the original data and the soft threshold of the meyer d wavelet for natural gas production figure 27: acf for arima (0,1,1) use meyer d method hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 table 16: comparison between model estimation model parameter estimate std. error t p-value aic hqc sbic before using wavelet arima (0,1,1) θ −0.4491 0.148274 −3.0289 0.0044 7.04975 7.06501 7.09197 haar arima (0,1,1) θ −0.437605 0.149145 −2.9341 0.00565 7.00141 7.01667 7.04363 daubechies 1 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.437605 0.149145 −2.9341 0.00565 7.00141 7.01667 7.04363 2 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.437605 0.149145 −2.9341 0.00565 7.00141 7.01667 7.04363 3 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.495006 0.146536 −3.378 0.0017 6.9028 6.91807 6.94502 4 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.495876 0.147017 −3.3729 0.00172 6.91675 6.93202 6.95897 5 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.465073 0.147599 −3.1509 0.00317 6.92173 6.937 6.96395 6 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.461273 0.147652 −3.1241 0.00341 6.91783 6.9331 6.96005 7 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.473796 0.146474 −3.2347 0.00252 6.90718 6.92244 6.9494 8 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.498346 0.144843 −3.4406 0.00143 6.86407 6.87933 6.90629 9 arima (1,2,1) θ 0.501546 0.143699 3.49024 0.00129 6.86551 6.88078 6.90773 θ 1.1013 0.00074181 1484.62 0.00000 10 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.494748 0.145456 −3.4014 0.00159 6.87393 6.8892 6.91616 symlet 2 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.486617 0.146764 −3.3157 0.00202 6.91261 6.92788 6.95484 3 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.495006 0.146536 −3.378 0.0017 6.9028 6.91807 6.94502 4 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.4896 0.146117 −3.3507 0.00183 6.89975 6.91502 6.94198 5 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.499416 0.146321 −3.4132 0.00154 6.88965 6.90492 6.93187 6 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.485861 0.14574 −3.3338 0.00192 6.89689 6.91215 6.93911 7 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.487812 0.146686 −3.3255 0.00196 6.8857 6.90097 6.92792 8 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.488614 0.145876 −3.3495 0.00184 6.89811 6.91338 6.94033 coiflets 1 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.438559 0.149165 −2.9401 0.00556 6.97715 6.99242 7.01937 2 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.477477 0.146572 −3.2576 0.00237 6.91079 6.92605 6.95301 3 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.481209 0.146402 −3.2869 0.00219 6.90506 6.92032 6.94728 4 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.482222 0.14615 −3.2995 0.00211 6.8993 6.91456 6.94152 5 arima (0,1,1) θ −0.481759 0.146099 −3.2975 0.00212 6.89982 6.91508 6.94204 meyer d arima (0,1,1) θ −0.491145 0.145599 −3.3733 0.00172 6.87297 6.88824 6.9152 table 15: model estimation arima (0,1,1) for natural gas production data using meyer d method model parameter estimate std. error t p-value aic hqc sbic meyer d arima (0,1,1) θ −0.491145 0.145599 −3.3733 0.00172 6.87297 6.88824 6.9152 recommendations the researcher recommends the following points: 1. due to the good results yielded from the shrinkage thresholding estimator in reducing noise, it is recommended for future studies to apply other wavelet filters and apply other threshold rules of the wavelet coefficients. 2. to confirm the increase in the activities of exploration and exploration for natural gas in iraq, and using modern techniques to increase iraq’s proven and potential reserves of natural gas. 3. reconstruction, rehabilitation, and development of the infrastructure of the oil and gas industry, which was subjected to significant damage due to wars, economic blockade, and neglect, which led to the obsolescence of the existing ones, and which weakened its production and marketing capabilities.figure 28: pacf for arima (0,1,1) use meyer d method hussein: comparison of time series models before and after using wavelet shrinkage filtering 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (1): 32-46 references 1. m. m. ali, m. z. babai, j. boylan and a. a. syntetos. supply chain forecasting when information is not shared. european journal of operational research, vol. 260, no. 3, pp. 984-994, 2017. 2. s. e. hikichi, e. g. salgado and l. a. beijo. forecasting number of iso 14001 certifications in the americas using arima models. journal of cleaner production, vol. 147, pp. 242-253, 2017. 3. a. w. omer, h. t. a. blbas and d. h. kadir. a comparison between brown’s and holt’s double exponential smoothing for forecasting applied generation electrical energies in kurdistan region. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj), vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 56-63, 2021. 4. d. h. kadir. time series modeling to forecast on consuming electricity. journal of al rafidain university college, vol. 2020, no. 46, pp. 473-485, 2020. 5. h. r. wang, c. wang, x. lin and j. kang. an improved arima model for hydrological simulations. nonlinear processes in geophysics discussions. nonlinear processes in geophysics discussions, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 841-876, 2014. 6. k. w. wang, c. deng, j. p. li, y. y. zhang, x. y. li and m. c. wu. hybrid methodology for tuberculosis incidence time-series forecasting based on arima and a nar neural network. epidemiol infect, vol. 145, p. 1118-1129, 2017. 7. d. l. fugal. conceptual wavelets in digital signal processing. san diego, california: space and signals technical publishing, 2009. 8. a. s. hamad. using some thresholding rules in waveletshrinkage to denoise signals for simple regression withapplic ation in rezgary hospital. sulaimaniyah, iraq: university of sulaimanicollege of administration and economics, 2010. 9. l. xu, d. zhang and k. wang. wavelet-based cascaded adaptive filter for removing baseline drift in pulse waveforms. ieee transactions on biomedical engineering, vol. 52, no. 11, pp. 1973-1975, 2005. 10. s. a. broughton and k. bryan. discrete fourier 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support vector machine. mechanical systems and signal processing, vol. 21, no. 7, pp. 2933-2945, 2007. 18. h. y. gao and a. g. bruce. waveshrink with firm shrinkage. statistica sinica, vol. 7, pp. 855-874, 1997. 19. j. kovacevic and w. sweldens. wavelet families of increasing order in arbitrary dimensions. ieee transactions on image processing, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 480-496, 2000. 20. comparing fitted models using the sic, hqic or aic information criteria. vose. available from: https://www.vosesoftware.com/ riskwiki [last accessed on 2022 jan 01]. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 80 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 80-84 research article enhanced smart industry wireless sensor networks for smart factory: status, challenges, and perspectives reem j. ismail1, wassan a. hashim2, israa t. ali3, sara j. hussein1 1department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2medical devices engineering department, al-qalam university college, kirkuk, iraq, 3department of computer science, university of technology, baghdad, iraq abstract industrial wireless sensor networks are increased in recent years due to provide real-time monitoring, decision-making, and controlling. industrial wireless sensor networks are used in many factories, such as food production, aircraft factories, and pharmaceutical factories. the aim of this research is to focus on the industrial wireless sensor networks in smart factory and the challenges that need to be considered in use such as its location, energy consumption, and security. the research discusses that different issues are highlighted the importance of using real-time decision-making to improve the performance of the process and provide service monitoring for industrial process improvement. keywords: smart factory, wireless sensor network, energy management, digital twin model, decision-making introduction nowadays, the industrial environment is defined by increased competition, quick response times, cost savings, and production that are dependable in meeting customer demands. the new industrial paradigm known as industry 4.0 has attracted attention on a global scale, prompting a substantial digital transformation among many manufacturers. digital technologies have made it possible to adopt a new method for data-driven strategy decision-making processes, where knowledge extraction is dependent on the analysis of big amounts of data from factories equipped with sensors.[1] many challenges face smart factory construction, one of the most important challenges is the integration of existing devices in the manufacturing system with new digital technologies, especially when there is no compatibility between the devices or their systems need to upgrade. if there is no compatibility, new equipment’s needed to implement in a smart factory that makes it costly.[2] the main contribution of this research includes; • identify the smart factory architecture and the smart industry wireless sensor networks (siwsn) technologies. • study different challenges relate to the use of the siwsn. • develop different decision-making approaches in a smart factory. the remainder of this research described the following: we present smart factory architecture and protocols; then, the challenges of siwsn are presented and evaluated, and the decision-making approach is explained. finally, we conclude the work and future works. smart factory architecture many smart factory architectures and models are proposed in the literature,[3,4] with limited components. in fortouldiaz et al.,[5] the smart factory architecture includes six main elements to cover the most related components. a brief description of each one includes the following: cyber-physical systems it is an interface between the physical and the digital environment for data transformation using wired/wireless protocols to communicate with sensors and actuators. the iot components send/receive information and instructions for automated devices through different protocols such as mqtt and http. edge computing (ec) it executes processes near the source data, runs local real-time routines, communicates with the cloud, and distributes services corresponding author: reem j. ismail, department of computer science, cihan universityerbil, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: reem.jafar@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 19, 2024 accepted: june 01, 2024 published: june 30, 2024 doi:10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp80-84 copyright © 2024 reem j. ismail, wassan a. hashim, israa t. ali, sara j. hussein. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ismail, et al.: enhanced siwan for smart factory 81 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 80-84 through edge nodes. the ec will divide the workload and computing between different edge devices in the network system. artificial intelligence (ai) it makes decisions and recognizes patterns using deep learning and machine learning for data classification. cloud computing (cc) it is a collection of configurable computing resources that require only a few resource configurations to run services such as internet of things platform and distributed database. data analytics it is an important stage in smart factory to analyze data and have reports for future development. it requires data collection and selects the useful information. reports will create a visualization of information through dashboards in real-time and find statistical calculations such as mean or average and analytical calculations such as linear regression. cybersecurity it secures information and maintains secure connections between system components of a smart factory by employing different encryption/decryption technologies. figure 1 shows the smart factory architecture when the elements are interconnected together. this architecture integrated all the important elements that are needed to configure a smart factory architecture. protocols for siwsn siwsns have different protocols and technologies. table 1 shows the siwsn protocols and its specifications.[6-8] each of these technologies has its own strengths and weaknesses, making them suitable for different use cases and applications. literature review for siwsn challenges sensor technology is important in smart factory and industry 4.0 since sensors provide real-time and high performance.[9] in the literature, the siwsn is used with different issues related to: localization for siwsns choosing the location of wireless sensor network in the factory is important. in wi et al.,[10] they integrate the wireless sensor network with the factory environment. they proposed a worker-oriented smart factory where the worker wears a smart band to collect information then communicate with the main control system. this method is easily used and integrated in figure 1: the elements for smart factory architecture based on open-source software[5] ismail, et al.: enhanced siwan for smart factory 82 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 80-84 the factory since there is no need to change the environmental infrastructure of the factory. in kumar et al.,[11] the authors use the power level of the sensor nodes to choose a suitable location according to signal strength measurement. the signal strength indicator had minimum errors in the environment when using genetic algorithms. harmy and mendoza,[12] specify that there are sensors nodes that are needed indoor and outdoor of the factory and they developed a special method for indoor wireless sensor localization. in the study, they concluded that the efficiency of the system is improved when the location of the sensor nodes is placed in an accurate position inside the factory using 3d localization instead of 2d methods. efficiency for siwsns the energy management of wireless sensor networks is a big challenge in smart factories since sensor nodes have limited energy and they need to have long charge.[13,14] in feng et al.,[15] they proposed a new charging strategy of wireless sensors networks and they implement scheduling plans of fast machines running to minimize the energy. in ashok and kumar,[16] the authors used different methods to increase the energy of wireless sensor networks. they focus on the natural power supply to recharge wireless sensor networks from sunlight and use solar panels as renewable energy sources. in alanazi et al.,[17] the authors proposed a switch off and sleep mode for the wireless sensor nodes to minimize power and used less energy in routing. the proposed system maximizes the life of the main nodes in the virtual backbone wireless communication and provides routing protocols between the wireless sensor nodes. in wu and tseng,[18] the authors proposed energy saving for sensors when they use sleep/waking modes of operation. in this proposal, the sensor is switched off most of the time and it is waking up at random or at a specific time for a limited period of time under the control of an internal timer to save the energy. security for siwsn security for wireless sensors in factory is important because of various attacks and threats. the open environment for wireless connection needs to be secure for wireless sensors. in osanaiye et al.,[19] they proposed two phases one phase for detecting the malicious node and another phase for removing the nodes that are affected by the jamming attack. wsn is affected by jamming attack when it transmits a highrange signal that has the same radio frequency of wsn and disrupts sensor node function and communication. to ensure secure data, an encryption and authentication mechanism are used. in pandithurai et al.,[20] a secure cloud technology is used to process the data of sensor node using ssl/tls encryption method to ensure secure storage for sensitive data in the cloud and during transmission. in ruizhong et al.,[21] an authentication model is used in the physical layer to recognize the legal and illegal sensor nodes in the channel. the authentication model is built around positive-unlabeled (pu) learning and bootstrap aggregating (bagging) strategy. in jasim et al.,[22] the authors used different cipher algorithms for wireless sensor networks to protect data such as led, present, piccolo, simon, sparx, and lea for data confidentiality. discussion for decision-making in a smart factory decision-making in a smart factory integrates data-driven approaches with various technologies such as the internet of things, ai, and machine learning. siwsn are used in smart factories to collect data and analyze it in edge computing and/or cc. the collected data will be analyzed to provide decision-making to improve and optimize production processes in manufacturers. decisionmaking is used in manufactures related to production planning and scheduling, quality control, device monitoring and predictive maintenance before failures, and monitor the factory environment to prevent hazards.[9] decision-making in manufacturing is crucial for the success and efficiency of production systems. many methods are used in decision-making for manufacturing environments. in altuntaş,[23] a technique of precise order preference is used as a method to solve decision-making problems in manufacturing systems. one of the important manufacturers is lithium-ion battery factory which needs decision-making to product high-quality product. the decision-making is important to develop nextgeneration solid-state batteries.[24] management needs decision-making in manufacturing companies. in habanik et al.[25] the study shows an important relationship between management decision-making and worker’s performance, this is done through surveys and statistical reports and tests. strategic decision-making systems are important to improve the quality of product and satisfy customer needs. it table 1: protocols for smart industry wireless sensor networks protocol specifications descriptions zigbee standard: ieee 802.15.4 frequency: 2.4 ghz and 900 mhz low-cost, power-efficient, limited connections used inside building/home automation with embedded sensing distance range: up to 50 m. bluetooth standard: ieee 802.15.1 frequency: 2.4 ghz low cost, moderate power used with different user devices distance range: <100 m. wi-fi standard: ieee 802.11a/b/g/n/ac frequency: 2.4 ghz and 5ghz higher data rate, higher power consumption the wireless standard developed for commercial/consumer use distance range: 100–200 m. ismail, et al.: enhanced siwan for smart factory 83 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 80-84 is used to make a balance between cost savings and product development.[26] each manufacturing companies try to have a high-quality product and avoid defective products. in soares et al.,[27] a decision support model has been proposed to help decide the destination of defective products in mass production industries, aiming to reduce quality costs and improve overall quality. uses of siwsn in smart factory wireless sensor networks are used in factory for many reasons starting from building and environmental safety for workers to high product quality. wireless sensor networks for temperature, humidity, smoak, and gas pollution are needed for continuous monitoring of the factory building to provide a safe and healthy environment for workers. wireless sensor networks for motion detection are used to control product movements. wireless sensor networks for color are used for products classification. wireless sensor networks for biological, chemical, and radioactive effects are important in factories of food and medicines. wireless sensor networks are also important for controlling electric devices and power systems.[28] simulation of smart factory using digital twin model digital twin technology is used to simulate the real world. it is used in the manufacturing process to reduce risk and improve products.[29] digital twins’ technology is used for the simulation of smart factory. the simulation is important in the design and implementation of the smart factory to minimize cost.[30] in liu et al.,[31] unity3d and 3ds max software are used to design the model. in zhou,[32] matlab is the simulation software that is used to manage and control the load and energy of a wireless sensor network in a smart factory. conclusions and future works in a smart factory with siwsn, the goal is to reach to zero defect manufacturing to reduce the defect and assure a highest quality production output. the generation, distribution, and processing of industrial information are being changed by industry 4.0. operational level of a smart factory needs benefit in safety, real-time, and data format standardization for decision-making. successfully managing of these changes in the factory is important to achieve the digital transformation and make the business survives. as a conclusion, the siwsn need to have important specification to handle failures in manufacturer and solve any missing operation automatically by data collection, monitoring, and decision-making. in addition to have secure and power consuming, furthermore, the study highlighted the importance of siwsn localization and scalability. in the researcher’s point of view, the development of smart factory is important, and its implementation becomes easy, especially when the technology with ai is available. for future works, industry 4.0 needs to consider sustainable manufacturing and sustainability environment and adopt standard policies to transform to industry 5.0. references 1. s. arena, e. florian, i. zennaro, p. f. orrù and f. sgarbossa. a novel decision support system for managing predictive maintenance strategies based on machine learning approaches. safety science, vol. 146, p. 105529, 2022. 2. s. phuyal, d. bista and r. bista. 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system based on digital twin system model. mathematical problems in engineering, vol. 2021, 2596946, 2021. 31. z. liu, x. pu, h. ni, x. yin and z. zhang. design of digital intelligent factory software based on digital twin. in: proceedings vol. 12594, 2nd international conference on electronic information engineering and computer communication (eiecc 2022), 2022. 32. w. zhou. research on wireless sensor network access control and load balancing in the industrial digital twin scenario. hindawi journal of sensors, vol. 2022, p. 3929958, 2022. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 24-28 research article perceptions and mindset toward infection control and prevention among medical microbiology students salaheddin m. shehade1, ameena s. m. juma1, muhsin h. ubeid2, mustafa d. younus1 1department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of anaesthesia technologies, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract health-care-associated infections (hcais) are significant public health problems. they can lead to high rate of morbidity and mortality, and raise the cost of health care services, in developed and developing countries. simple and routine education for health-care personnel, including students of medical colleges or departments about the main preventive measures and infection control, can help them to enhance their hand-washing practices and adhere to necessary precautions to prevent the spread of infection and reduce incidence of hcais. the period of first stages of medical education is the suitable phase and proper time for getting the necessary information and skills about infection prevention and control (ipc) practices. this study aimed to assess the knowledge, awareness, and attitude of students of medical microbiology department in cihan university-erbil toward the guidelines and main practices of ipc. the study revealed variable levels of knowledge and awareness about infection control precautions among students and also showed inadequate practical adherence to some important precautions among a significant percentage of students. to enhance the safety of students and patients, we believe that it is necessary to begin teaching the basic knowledge about infections and the principles of ipc precautions during the first period of study in the college. keywords: health-care-associated infections, infection prevention and control, hygiene, awareness, attitude, medical microbiology students introduction health-care-associated infections (hcais) or hospital acquired infections are different types of infections that affect patients while they are receiving healthcare in the hospital or other health-care settings, or occur among healthcare workers during their work in hospitals.[1] hcais are serious public health issues. they can lead to high rate of morbidity and mortality, in addition to raising the financial cost of healthcare, in both developing and developed countries. different recent studies showed that 5–7 of every 100 hospitalized patients in developed countries and 10–15 patients out of every 100 patients, in developing countries may acquire an hcai during hospitalization.[2-4] according to the us center for disease control and prevention, there are about 1.8 million hospitalized patients that acquire health-care-associated infection annually during treatment for other health problems, and studies estimate that about 100,000 patients may die due to these infections.[3] an important factor that makes hospital-acquired infections dangerous and expensive is that most of the bacteria that cause them are multi-drug resistant to the most common antibiotics.[5] unfortunately, the hcai usually receives public attention only when they become epidemics.[6] a recent study in the european union showed that about 2,600,000 new patients were identified as having hcai every year. these studies also found that for every 20 hospitalized patients, at least one of them acquired an hcai which was preventable.[7,8] studies showed that hcai is linked with prolonged hospital stay, and are associated with emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms.[9] the impact of hospital-acquired infections is seen not just at an individual patient or healthcare workers level, but also is seen at the community level because most corresponding author: mustafa d. younus, department of general biology, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mustafa.thanoon@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 05, 2024 accepted: january 05, 2025 published: january 30, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp24-28 copyright © 2025 salaheddin m. shehade, ameena s. m. juma, muhsin h. ubeid, mustafa d. younus. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) shehade, et al.: mindset toward infection control in medical microbiology students 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 24-28 of these infections have been linked to multidrug-resistant microorganisms.[7] hcais have important impacts on patients with severe diseases, in about 0.5 million cases of hcais being reported annually in intensive care units (icus). patients in icu are often with severe illness and low immune status, which makes them more susceptible to hcais.[10] several recent studies revealed that routine infectioncontrol measures such as hand washing with an alcohol-based disinfectant, or hand rub with simple antiseptic can help prevent high percentage of health-care-associated infections and save many lives, reduce morbidity rate, and minimize costs of healthcare.[11,12] simple and routine education for health-care personal about the main preventive measures and infection control can help them to enhance their hand-washing practices and adhere to necessary precautions to prevent the spread of infection and reduce incidence of hcai. for this goal, the world health organization has formed different guidelines to encourage hand-washing practices among health-care personal.[11] the risk of hospital acquired infections is significant not only for hospitalized patients, but also for health-care personal including medical students.[11] healthcare workers and medical students and trainees in medical sittings, particularly in hospitals, can be exposed to different infectious microorganisms and can then become infected with these pathogens and/or become carriers, and in both cases, they can spread the infection to hospitalized patients or to other staff, or even to their families and surrounding community.[7,13] medical students, as all healthcare workers, are at high risk of exposing to different hcais, including severe infections, especially if they were not adhering to infection control and prevention methods.[14] therefore, it is important for medical students to have enough and suitable information and skills about infection prevention and control (ipc) techniques and to include them in adequate training courses about important ipc guidelines.[12] ipc practices are a standard measure employed by health-care personal to reduce the risk of transmission of infectious pathogens during their work among patients and themselves.[14] most studies revealed that adequate compliance of the healthcare workers, including medical students, with standard precautions and infection control and prevention practices, such as hand hygiene practices, has been documented as an effective measure to prevent and control hcais. adherence to such measures and practices not only protect the patient but also protect the healthcare workers, their families, and community.[15] most researchers agree that the starting phase of the medical education is the most appropriate period and proper time for acquiring an adequate knowledge and necessary skills about practices of ipc.[16] some researchers believe that there is deficiency of evidence about adequate infection control and training courses in the core of the curriculum of most undergraduate medical faculties and institutions, and this needs to be taken into consideration if hcais incidences are to be reduced.[13,14,17] medical students should adhere to infection control and prevention training courses, mainly hand hygiene, and knowledge regarding ipc should be a relevant and central topic in their study, but they may feel that learning about the ipc may be negotiated or not adequate during the first period of their medical studies due to the overfilled curriculum.[18] hence, the adequate teaching and necessary training needs and necessities of medical students about practices of ipc need to be evaluated.[18-20] this study was designed and aimed to evaluate the knowledge, awareness, and attitude of students of medical microbiology department in cihan universityerbil towards the guidelines and main practices of ipc, such as standard precautions and use of adequate personal protective tools. materials and methods this study is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey among students of medical microbiology department, cihan universityerbil. (331) students (161 females and 170 males) of different years of study in the department of medical microbiology at cihan university erbil were included in this research. participant students filled out an online questionnaire about awareness, knowledge, and attitude regarding ipc practices. online questionnaire with 29-items was distributed to 331 students of medical microbiology department, that are studying in different years of study through email. one hundred and seven of students were of the 4th year, 117 students of the 3rd year, 75 students of the 2nd year, and 32 students in the 1st year. 256 out of 350 students responded to the questionnaire. the used questionnaire was designed by researchers to cover key points of ipc practices guidelines, including hand hygiene methods, knowledge about prevention methods of different types of common infections, prudent use of personal protective tools, cleaning, and disinfection, as well as their satisfaction with their ipc teaching and education during their study in the department. students’ knowledge about infection control and prevention practices was assessed depending on their answers to the used questionnaire. collected data were analyzed using spss program. all percentages for the entire variables were calculated, and relevant figures and tables were computed. results the participant students were distributed according to the years of study in the department as follows: 107 students in the 4th year, 117 students in the 3rd year, 75 students in the 2nd year, and 32 students in the 1st year. results revealed that 77.3% of students responded to the questionnaire (256: 131 females and 125 males). the percentages of respondents to the questionnaire were 49% of 1st-year students, 76% of 2nd-year students, 76.9% of 3rd year students, and 86.8% of 4th year students [table 1]. regarding general knowledge and awareness, results of the study showed that a total of 212 (82.8%) respondent shehade, et al.: mindset toward infection control in medical microbiology students 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 24-28 students were aware of standard precautions within the health care setting. about 79% (202/256) had adequate knowledge about hand hygiene, also 67% of them were exposed to hand hygiene training course (172/256). however, only 65% of students (167/256) responded that they are committed to hygienic hand washing before and after each contact with patients or with suspected materials. regarding the minimum time needed for hand washing, 76% of respondents (196/256) responded that the minimum time needed for hand washing is 20 s [table 2]. when the students were asked about their behavior regarding respiratory hygiene, 197 of them (77%) responded that they “i cough/sneeze on a disposable napkin” and wash their hands after coughing or sneezing, but only 176 responders (69%) were aware of alternative behavior in case when napkins are not available, such as cough/sneeze over shoulder, also 204 (79.6%) usually keep a distance more than 1 meter from others during cough [table 3]. regarding using protective measures and healthy attitude during laboratory sessions, 78 of responders (30.4%) responded that they usually wear their laboratory coat outside the laboratories and other hospital setting, and 43 of female students (33%) responded that they usually wear jewelries and/or artificial fingernails during laboratory sessions. furthermore, 72 of the responders (28%) sometimes are eating or drinking during laboratory session. regarding using gloves in some situations, 207 of students (80.8%) responded that they use gloves when there is a risk of contact with the blood or body fluid, while only 191 of students (74%) responded that they usually use gloves for any laboratory or medical procedure, and 89 of students (34.7%) answered that they can handle body fluids with bare hands if gloves are not available. furthermore, 62 of responders (24%) think that they do not have to wash their hands when they use gloves [table 4]. regarding the knowledge and awareness about the transmission modes of some common and important infectious diseases, the study showed that 189 of responders (73.8%) believe that invasive procedures increase the risk of nosocomial infections, and 204 (79.6%) responded that transmission of blood borne infection is possible after a single contaminated needle stick injury, while 152 (59%) of responders think that hepatitis b and c have a high rate of spread through saliva and respiratory droplets, and 112 (43.7%) believe that hiv has a high rate of transmission through respiratory droplets. one hundred and twenty of responder students (46.8%) responded that influenza and covid-19 have a high rate of transmission through needle stick [table 5]. discussion adequate awareness and healthy attitude are the main requirements for prevention of infectious diseases especially among healthcare workers and medical students.[14,20] in this study, a high rate of questioned students (77.3%) responded to the questionnaire, and the percentages of respondents to the questionnaire were significantly high (76%) among 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-year students comparing with 1st-year students (49%). table 2: awareness about standard precautions questions number of responders number of responded: yes (%) number of responded: no (%) are you aware of the standard precautions within the health care setting 256 212 (82) 44 (18) i have sufficient knowledge about hand hygiene 256 202 (79) 54 (21) i was exposed to hand hygiene training 256 172 (67) 84 (33) i adhere to hygienic hand washing 256 167 (65) 89 (35) the minimum time needed for hand washing is 20 seconds 256 196 (76) 60 (24) table 1: main characteristics of responding students characteristics total number of respondents percentage questioned students 331 256 77.3 females 170 138 81.0 males 161 118 73.2 1st year 32 15 46.8 2nd year 75 58 76.0 3rd year 117 90 76.9 4th year 107 93 86.8 table 3: students’ behavior regarding respiratory hygiene questions number of responders number of responded: yes (%) number of responded: no (%) i cough/sneeze on a disposable napkin and wash their hands after coughing or sneezing 256 197 (77) 59 (23) i am aware of alternative behavior in case when napkins are not available 256 176 (69) 80 (31) i keep a distance more than 1 meter from others during cough 256 204 (79.6) 52 (20.4) shehade, et al.: mindset toward infection control in medical microbiology students 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 24-28 this may reflect the lack of experience regarding electronic questionnaires among 1st-year students. the rate of responding female students was higher than the rate among males, but without significant difference (81% and 73.2 prospectively). responding students showed high percentage of theoretical knowledge regarding general standard prevention precautions of infections, as (82.8%) of respondent students were aware about the main standard precautions within the health-care setting, and 79% of them think they had adequate knowledge about hand hygiene, although only 67% of them were included in hand hygiene training course. despite the high percentage of theoretical awareness, only 65% of students responded that they are committed to hygienic hand washing before and after each contact with patients or with suspected materials. this moderate adherence to hand hygiene practice may indicate an important gap between knowledge and practice. this may be due to the lack of good role models for these students among their teachers and supervisors. this perhaps may be also due to the lack of effective monitoring of them while they are training in the hospital or laboratory. similar results were shown in other studies.[14,21] this study showed important unhealthy students’ attitudes and practices during laboratory sessions and contact with patients and suspected materials, as (30.4%) of responders responded that they usually wear their laboratory. coat outside the laboratories and other hospital setting: about 33% of female students usually wear jewelries and/or artificial fingernails during laboratory sessions. furthermore, (28%) responders sometimes eat or drink during laboratories. moreover, (34.7%) answered that they can handle body fluids with bare hands if gloves are not available. this may indicate a general lack of adherence to the instructions among many students. it may also indicate a lack of appreciation for the importance of these instructions in preventing infections. regarding the knowledge and awareness about the transmission modes of some important infections, as (26.8%) of respondents believe that invasive procedures do not increase the risk of nosocomial infections, and (59%) of responders think that hepatitis b, c, and hiv viruses have a high rate of transmission through saliva and respiratory droplets, while (46.8 %) responded that influenza and covid-19 have a high rate of transmission through needle stick, and this was significantly clear in responses of 1stand 2nd-years students, and may reflects the lack of theoretical knowledge of transmission routs of infections in this group of students. similar studies showed that a short course of infection control that is provided in most medical schools is not enough to make all students awarded of infection control measures and safety techniques.[14,22-24] table 4: protective measures and healthy attitude during laboratory sessions questions number of responders number of responded: yes (%) number of responded: no (%) i wear laboratory coat outside the laboratories and other hospital setting 256 78 (30) 178 (70) i wear jewelries and/or artificial fingernails during laboratory sessions 131 43 (33) 88 (67) i eat or drink during labs. 256 72 (28) 184 (72) i use gloves when there is a risk of contact with the blood or body fluid, while 256 207 (81) 49 (19) i use gloves for any laboratory or medical procedure 256 191 (74) 65 (26) can handle body fluids with bare hands if gloves are not available 256 89 (34.7) 167 (65.3) i do not have to wash my hands when i use gloves. 256 62 (24) table 5: knowledge about the transmission of common infectious diseases questions number of responders number of responded: yes (%) number of responded: no (%) invasive procedures increase the risk of nosocomial infections. and 256 189 (73.8) 67 (26.2) transmission of blood borne infection is possible after a single contaminated needle stick injury 256 204 (79.6) 52 (20.4) hepatitis b and c have a high rate of transmission through saliva and respiratory droplets 256 152 (59) 104 (41) hiv has a high rate of transmission through saliva and respiratory droplets 256 112 (43.7) 144 (56.3) influenza and covid-19 have a high rate of transmission through needle stick. 256 120 (46.8) 136 (53.2) shehade, et al.: mindset toward infection control in medical microbiology students 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 24-28 conclusion this study revealed variable levels of knowledge, awareness, of most infection control precautions among students of medical microbiology department in cihan university-erbil and also showed inadequate practical adherence to some important precautions among significant percentage of our students. to enhance the safety of our students and patients, we believe that it is necessary to begin teaching the basic knowledge of infections and the principles of infection control and prevention precautions during the first period of study in the college. education courses should be enforced by peers, seniors, and by acting as role models of infection control to achieve acceptable and an adequate level of adherence to infection control principles and precautions. understanding and acceptation the commitment to preventive and infection control measures should be an important goal of 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and c. suetens. burden of six healthcare-associated infections on european population health: estimating incidence-based disability-adjusted life years through a population prevalencebased modelling study. plos medicine, vol. 13, no. 10, p. e1002150, 2016. 9. j. l. vincent. nosocomial infections in adult intensive-care units. the lancet, vol. 361, no. 9374, pp. 2068-2077, 2003. 10. w. duszynska, v. d. rosenthal, a. szczesny, k. zajaczkowska, m. fulek and j. tomaszewski. device associated-health care associated infections monitoring, prevention and cost assessment at intensive care unit of university hospital in poland (20152017). bmc infectious diseases, vol. 20, no. 1, p. 761, 2020. 11. r. danasekaran, g. mani and k. annadurai. prevention of healthcare-associated infections: protecting patients, saving lives. international journal of community medicine and public health, vol. 1, p. 67, 2014. 12. d. hazard, m. von cube, k. kaier and m. wolkewitz. predicting potential prevention effects 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organizational climate, staffing, and safety equipment as predictors of needlestick injuries and near-misses in hospital nurses. american journal of infection control, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 207-216, 2002. 17. m. sommer, g. zulaika, m. l. schmitt, s. khandakji and p. a. phillips-howard. advancing the measurement agenda for menstrual health and hygiene interventions in low-and middleincome countries. journal of global health, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 010323, 2020. 18. s. scheithauer, h. haefner, t. schwanz, l. lopez-gonzalez, c. bank, r. schulze-röbbecke, m. weishoff-houben and s. w. lemmen. hand hygiene in medical students: performance, education and knowledge. international journal of hygiene and environmental health, vol. 215, no. 5, pp. 536-539, 2012. 19. w. b. melenhorst, h. p. poos and n. e. meessen. medical students need more education on hygiene behavior. american journal of infection control, vol. 37, no. 10, pp. 868-869, 2009. 20. a. richter, i. f. chaberny, a. surikow and b. schock. hygiene in medical education-increasing patient safety through the implementation of practical training in infection prevention. gms journal for medical education, vol. 36, no. 2, p. doc15, 2019. 21. k. calabro, k. bright and k. kouzekanani. long-term effectiveness of infection control training among fourth-year medical students. medical education online, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 5850, 2000. 22. z. zhang, t. yamamoto, x. wu, k. moji, g. cai and c. kuroiwa. educational intervention for preventing bloodborne infection among medical students in china. journal of hospital infection, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 47-51, 2010. 23. r. kaur, h. razee and h. seale. facilitators and barriers around teaching concepts of hand hygiene to undergraduate medical students. journal of hospital infection, vol. 88, no. 1, pp. 28-33, 2014. 24. m. h. ubeid, t. s. salih and a. s. juma. hiv, hbs and hcv in dump site workers of erbil governorate. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 20-23, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 research article comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated and non-vaccinated sars-cov-2 patients in erbil-city hardi s. ahmed1, nadir m. q. nanakali1,2, khabat a. ali1 1department of biology, salahaddin university, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of biomedical sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract covid-19 is one of the major pandemic diseases caused by sars-cov-2. vaccination is one of the methods used that reduce the spread of an infectious disease. consequently, we aimed to measure liver parameters (alanine transaminase (alt), aspartate transaminase (ast), alkaline phosphatase (alp), total serum bilirubin (tsb), and lactate dehydrogenase (ldh) and albumin), as well as bone markers (calcium, phosphorous, parathyroid hormone (pth) with thyroid stimulating hormone (tsh) as marker for the severity of the disease in non-vaccinated and vaccinated sars-cov-2 patients. between november 2021 and may 2022, 130 samples of both genders (healthy and infected with covid-19) were obtained and divided into three groups: healthy individuals (50), vaccinated (30) and non-vaccinated (50) group” (ages; 20–65). the findings of the current study showed that alt, alp, and ldh significantly elevated (p < 0.01), and despite comparing patients who were not vaccinated to those who were, albumin considerably dropped. moreover, ast and tsb moderately elevated in unvaccinated group in comparison to unvaccinated patients. calcium and phosphorous slightly decreased in non-vaccinated and vaccinated patients as compare to control. whereas pth and tsh significantly less in both patient groups than in control. “the optimal cutoff values for parameters were determined by roc curve analysis. in conclusion, vaccine plays a major role in minimizing liver biomarkers in covid-19 patients. moreover, low concentrations of bone markers were associated with both vaccinated and nonvaccinated covid-19 patients. therefore, the bone health status of covid-19 patients and liver markers are helpful for the diagnosis and monitoring of disease severity in covid‐19 patient. keywords: vaccine, bone markers, liver enzymes, biochemical, sars-cov-2 introduction coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) is an extremely infectious and pathogenic infectious disease carried on by the recently identified severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2). in march 2020, the world health organization (who) classified the covid-19 outbreak as a pandemic disease.[1] “one of the biggest rna viruses, with a genomic size of 27–32 kb, is the coronavirus. sars-cov-2 infects cells through binding to ace2, a cellsurface receptor found in the kidney, blood vessels, heart, and crucially in alveolar epithelial type ii cells (at2) which line the lungs”.[2] the clinical manifestations of covid-19 vary from mild to severe difficulty breathing, exhibiting symptoms such as fever, exhaustion, taste and smell loss, coughing, nose congestion, dyspnea, and so on.[3] droplets from the respiratory system are the main method of transmission; sars-cov-2 can always spread through the air if an uninfected individual comes into contact with an infected or any of his possessions, such as clothing or doorknobs.[4,2] vaccination can be used to control the pandemic of sars-cov-2. the risk of developing severe illnesses, requiring hospitalization, and dying from covid-19 is decreased with covid-19 vaccines in a safe and efficient manner.[5] unprecedented international attempts to create vaccines to stave off infection and serious illness, reverse the pandemic’s course, and lessen the terrible economic and societal effects of sars-cov-2 were rapidly initiated in the wake of the global sars-cov-2 epidemic and the discovery of it.[6] the fda approved a widespread immunization program to stop the spread of sars-cov-2 and lessen the severity of the disease in infected individuals. two authorized vaccines based on messenger rna (mrna) are mrna-1273 (moderna therapeutics inc.) and bnt162b2 (pfizer inc/biontech corresponding author: hardi s. ahmed, department of biology, salahaddin university, kurdistan region, iraq e-mail: hardi.shukur@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: march 03, 2024 accepted: may 23, 2024 published: june 20, 2024 doi:10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp46-57 copyright © 2024 hardi s. ahmed, nadir m. q. nanakali, khabat a. ali. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 se).[7] the vaccination demonstrated great efficiency against numerous fresh forms and provided protection against reinfection. with the help of immunization programs, hope was raised for lowering the incidence of coronavirus sickness. the benefits of covid-19 vaccination must be understood in the context of sickness attenuation. to do this, research should be done to see if those who get covid-19 despite immunization have fewer symptoms than those who are unvaccinated.[8] a systematic review by fatima et al.[9] of 51 research from 14 different countries found that vaccinations were effective against 89.1%, 97.2%, 97.4%, and 99% of illnesses, hospitalizations, and icu admissions, respectively. for evaluation, clinical care, and the prevention of severe consequences, efficient biomarkers would be helpful.[10] a significant predictor of covid-19 patient death has also been found to be liver function. according to a research report, the virus may directly attach to cholangiocytes that are ace2positive, and as a result, covid-19 patients’ liver problems might be caused by cholangiocyte malfunction.[11] early in the pandemic’s development, liver involvement determined by abnormal liver parameters in infected individuals was regarded as one of the clinical symptoms. major liver damage is rare. sars-cov-2 could impact the liver directly or indirectly. liver abnormalities can result from a variety of pathogenic mechanisms, including immune-mediated injury brought on by the intense inflammatory response, direct cytotoxicity brought on by viral replication in the hepatocytes, anoxia brought on by covid-19-related respiratory failure, pharmacological liver damage primarily caused by hepatotoxic antivirals, reactivation of pre-existing liver disease, and vascular injury brought on by hypercoagulation.[12] according to the research that is now available on covid-19, patients who are male, fat, and elderly are more likely to suffer liver dysfunction. liver injury is caused by multiple causes, such as a direct cytopathic effect, a strong inflammatory response, the unique effects of treatment regimens, and cytokine storm.[13] based on additional studies, covid-19 frequently manifests as liver disease, which is connected to a higher mortality rate.[14] “patients with covid-19 have been found to frequently have increased levels of the serum enzymes aspartate aminotransferase (ast), alanine aminotransferase (alt), alkaline phosphatase (alp), lactate dehydrogenase (ldh), total bilirubin (tbil), and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (ggt)”, along with decreased levels of albumin (alb).[15,16] hence, these parameters can be useful marker to evaluate liver functions in patient groups. reduced bone mineral density and other musculoskeletal symptoms have been linked to sars-cov-2 infection. these symptoms could be brought on by a number of disease-related variables, including medication, mobility restrictions, or diet.[17] to infect host cells, sarscov-2 interacts with ace2 receptors that exist on cell targets, including bone cells.[18] bone fragility may result from ace2 downregulation’s impact on bone homeostasis.[19] “the balance of p and ca in the body, which is essential for many physiological functions, including bone health, muscular function, nerve transmission, and cellular signaling, is maintained by phosphocalcium metabolism”.[20] another research investigation[21] demonstrated that covid-19 and its therapy had negative impacts on covid-19 survivors’ bone health. these effects tend to be stronger in older and weak patients, thus it is important to regularly monitor their risk of bone loss and falls. furthermore,[22] discovered that greater phosphate concentration might be related to improved lung ct imaging consequences in sars-cov-2, whereas hypophosphatemia is related to serious lung damage. in earlier research by yang et al.,[23] hypophosphatemia was seen in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (copd) and acute lung failure. it has also been noted that the virus-induced illness has abnormal serum ca concentration. the parathyroid hormone produced by parathyroid glands, is vital in controlling phosphorus and calcium concentration in bone, kidneys, and digestive system.[22] in addition,[24] investigated that covid-19 might influence parathyroid gland function in a pair of manners: directly through covid-19 infection of parathyroid glands, and indirectly as a result of chronic respiratory alkalosis and lung failure, it could be interpreted as extra explanations for why hypocalcemia is common in covid-19 individuals. the hormones thyroid stimulating hormone (tsh), free thyroxine (ft4), and free triiodothyronine (ft3) control the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis.[25] medically, covid-19 individuals who have low tsh and ft3 concentration seem to have a greater rate of mortality, which is not exactly in line with earlier investigations of the non-thyroidal illness syndrome (nti).[26] also, zaidi et al.[27] reported that lowered tsh signaling is a factor in hyperthyroid osteoporosis. moreover, deng et al.[28] indicated that through controlling osteoblast proliferation and differentiation, tsh lowers the incidence of osteoporosis. in addition, yanachkova et al.[29] made the suggestion that covid-19 might have negative long-term effects on thyroid function. tft should therefore be included in the follow-up algorithm even for individuals presenting with mild-to-moderate covid-19. these variables which are thought to be covid-19 indicators will help with patient care and epidemic containment. the present study aimed to assess the value liver parameters including (ast, alt, alp, ldh, tsb, and albumin), as well as bone markers such as (ca, p, pth, and tsh) to diagnosis and severity of disease in non-vaccinated and vaccinated sars-cov-2 patients. material and methods participants this study recruited 130 participants in total between november 2021 and may 2022. the patients (aged from 20 to 65 years) diagnosed in two hospitals in erbil city, erbil emergency hospital, and lalav emergency that were confirmed through pcr using sample from pharyngeal or nasal swabs. the patients were split into two groups: the unvaccinated group, comprising 26 male and 24 female patients, who complained of mild to severe manifestations; and the vaccinated group, consisting of 26 male and four female patients, who had received two doses of the bnt162b2 (“pfizer-biontech”) vaccine before becoming ill and being admitted to the hospital. in addition, there were a total of 50 non-infected people (23 men and 27 women). blood samples for every participant, a vein-based blood sample (approximate 3 ml) was taken from all, and it was immediately put into ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 a serum-separating gel tube. whole blood was allowed to coagulate in gel tubes for 30 min. to obtain serum for serological and biochemical testing, the specimens were centrifuged for 5 min at 4000 rpm. cobas e411-roche (germany) was used to measure pth and tsh levels. cobas c111-roche (germany) was used to estimate the liver parameters as well as the remaining bone markers. statistical analysis graph pad prism 9.0 was used for analyzing the data. the standard error of the mean (se) and mean for nonparametric variables were accurately stated. the one-way anova (kruskal–wallis test) was utilized to assess betweengroup comparisons for categorical variables using the liver variables and bone markers data provided in this study. the study’s predictive value determined severity through receiver operating characteristic (roc) curve in which area under the curve (auc), cutoff value, specificity, and sensitivity were utilized to show the results. to evaluate statistical significance, a p = 0.05 utilized as significant. non-significant group differences are shown by the sign of (ns), whereas highly significant group differences between patients and healthy control groups are indicated by the sign of (*). results statistical analysis of the current study summarized in [table 1 and figures 1-5]. the values of liver function tests such as (alt, ast, alp, and ldh) were significantly increased in unvaccinated covid-19 patients when compared with vaccinated patients and the control healthy group. the mean ± sd values of alt were (83.73 ± 127.8) in unvaccinated individuals, (29.06 ± 17.91) in vaccinated patients, and (20.45 ± 9.05) in the control group. roc evaluation identified that the best cutoff value of alt for determining severity in unvaccinated covid-19 patients was > 29.70 u/l (sensitivity = 77.78 %; specificity = 91.67%; auc= 0.879) with p < 0.0001, while in vaccinated patients was 20.85 u/l (sensitivity = 78.89 %; specificity = 56.25%; auc = 0.697) with p value = 0.0027. the ast values were (56.15 ± 65.86 in unvaccinated patients, 28.57 ± 23.47 in vaccinated and 21.63 ± 12.08 in control group). by using the roc evaluation recognized that the best cutoff value of ast for determining severity in unvaccinated cov-2 patients was > 21.65 u/l (sensitivity= 77.27 %; specificity = 62.50 %; auc= 0.741) with p < 0.0001, in vaccinated patients was 22.65 u/l (sensitivity, specificity and auc were 54.55 %, 64.58 % and 0.597, respectively) with p = 0.137. in addition, the mean concentration of alp in unvaccinated, vaccinated, and control were (190.9 ± 138.0, 104.9 ± 87.52, and 64.99 ± 20.49), respectively. based on roc curve studies, in the vaccinated group, the auc was 0.635 and the cutoff value serum of alp level was > 65.43 u/l with a sensitivity of 66.67 % and specificity of 52.08 %. while the non-vaccinated group occupied a significant auc, which was 0.850 (p < 0.0001); the cutoff value was > 85.65 u/l of serum tsh level, table 1: comparison of liver parameters between control and patient groups liver markers control patients p value vaccinated non-vaccinated alt (iu/l) 20.45±9.05 29.06±17.91 83.73±127.8 0.0001 ast (iu/l) 21.63±12.08 28.57±23.47 56.15±65.86 0.0001 alp (iu/l) 64.99±20.49 104.9±87.52 190.9±138.0 0.0001 tsb (mg/dl) 0.72±0.33 0.58±0.32 0.78±0.43 0.0873 ldh (iu/l) 271.1±103.9 290.8±82.19 621.6±277.6 0.0001 albumin (mg/dl) 4.80±0.29 4.65±0.57 3.79±0.86 0.0001 figure 1: (a) comparison of alt concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows alt as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 figure 2: (a) comparison of ast concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows ast as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba figure 3: (a) comparison of alp concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows alp as a biomarker of the patients’ group a b figure 4: (a) comparison of tsb concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows tsb as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 the sensitivity and specificity were 76.60 % and 85.42 %, respectively [table 2 and figure 3b]. moreover, the mean of ldh value significantly rose to (621.6 ± 277.6) in unvaccinated patients and (290.8 ± 82.19) in vaccinated patients as compared to the control group (271.1 ± 103.9) with p value of < 0.0001. “the cutoff values of ldh for predicting severity in covid-19 patients were determined by (roc) curve analysis for unvaccinated 337.0 u/l (sensitivity= 83.33%; specificity=81.25 %; (auc) = 0.898), vaccinated 278.0 u/l (sensitivity, specificity, and auc were 66.67 %, 68.75 % and 0.606, respectively)”. as shown in [table 1 and figure 4], the mean ± sd of total bilirubin slightly increased from (0.72 ± 0.33) in the control group to (0.78 ± 0.43) in unvaccinated patients, while this value declined to (0.58 ± 0.32) in the vaccinated group but did not reach at a significant level. the results of the (roc) curve indicated that the cutoff values of tsb for predicting severity in covid-19 patients were <0.565 mg/ml (sensitivity, specificity, and auc were = 60.61%, 66.67%, and 0.627, respectively) in the vaccinated group and <0.985 mg/ml (sensitivity = 34.62%; specificity = 75.00%; (auc) = 0.523) in unvaccinated groups. on the other hand, serum albumin level is crucial biomarkers in sars-cov-2 patients. the mean value of albumin significantly (p < 0.0001) decreased from (4.80 ± 0.29 mg/dl) in control group to (3.79 ± 0.86 mg/dl and 4.65 ± 0.57 mg/dl in unvaccinated and vaccinated patients, respectively. as shown in table 1 and figures 6a and b, cutoff values of albumin to identify severity in covid-19 patients were determined table 2: roc curve analysis of liver biomarkers in sars-cov-2 patients liver markers auc cut-off value sensitivity (%) specificity (%) p value alt (iu/l) vaccinated 0.697 20.85 78.79 56.25 0.0027 non-vaccinated 0.879 29.70 77.78 91.67 0.0001 ast (iu/l) vaccinated 0.597 22.65 54.55 64.58 0.1375 non-vaccinated 0.741 21.65 77.27 62.50 0.0001 alp (iu/l) vaccinated 0.635 65.43 66.67 52.08 0.0392 non-vaccinated 0.850 85.65 76.60 85.42 0.0001 tsb (mg/dl) vaccinated 0.627 0.565 60.61 66.67 0.0516 non-vaccinated 0.523 0.985 34.62 75.00 0.7426 ldh (iu/l) vaccinated 0.606 278.0 66.67 68.75 0.1053 non-vaccinated 0.898 337.0 83.33 81.25 0.0001 albumin (mg/dl) vaccinated 0.618 4.605 51.52 76.19 0.0800 non-vaccinated 0.821 4.535 76.00 85.71 0.0001 figure 5: (a) comparison of ldh concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows ldh as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 through roc curve analysis. for the unvaccinated group, these values were < 4.535 mg/dl, (sensitivity = 76.00%; specificity = 85.71%; auc = 0.821); for the vaccine-receiving group, they were < 4.605 mg/dl, (sensitivity = 51.52%; specificity = 76.19%; auc = 0.618). the level of bone markers shown in (table 3), in which the mean ± standard deviation of ca level values decreased somewhat, from 9.40 ± 1.19 mg/dl in the control group to 8.88 ± 1.28 mg/dl and 9.27 ± 1.21 mg/dl in the vaccinated and unvaccinated patient categories, respectively, but not to a significant degree. table 4 and figures 7a and 7b demonstrate the optimal cut-off values of calcium for predicting severity in covid-19 patients. vaccinated patients had cutoff values of less than 9.635 mg/ml, with sensitivity, specificity, and auc of 75.76%, 47.92%, and 0.616, respectively. non-vaccinated patients had cut-off values of less than 9.635 mg/ml, with sensitivity, specificity, and auc of 66.67%, 47.92 %, and 0.540, respectively. regarding the concentration of the serum phosphate, we found that value of phosphate significantly decreased from (3.85 ± 0.48 mg/dl) in healthy individuals to (3.35 ± 0.74 mg/dl) in vaccinated patients and somewhat reduced to (3.65 ± 1.02 mg/dl) in patients who did not take table 4: roc curve analysis of bone markers in sars-cov-2 patients auc cut off value sensitivity (%) specificity (%) p value pth (pg/ml) vaccinated 0.814 27.76 73.53 88.64 0.0001 non-vaccinated 0.875 27.34 82.35 88.64 0.0001 tsh (uiu/ml) vaccinated 0.594 3.705 100.0 23.40 0.1588 non-vaccinated 0.679 1.025 46.43 91.49 0.0096 calcium (mg/ml) vaccinated 0.616 9.635 75.76 47.92 0.0754 non-vaccinated 0.540 9.635 66.67 47.92 0.5046 phosphate (mg/ml) vaccinated 0.762 3.66 74.07 70.45 0.0002 non-vaccinated 0.605 3.43 46.67 90.91 0.1259 table 3: comparison of bone markers between control and patient groups bone markers control covid-19 patients p value vaccinated non-vaccinated pth (pg/ml) 45.53±21.37 25.96±16.81 21.06±15.22 0.0001 tsh (uiu/ml) 2.79±2.70 1.68±0.95 1.52±1.28 0.0295 calcium (mg/ml) 9.40±1.19 8.88±1.28 9.27±1.21 0.2188 phosphate (mg/ml) 3.85±0.48 3.35±0.74 3.65±1.02 0.0022 figure 6: (a) comparison of albumin concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows albumin as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 vaccine against sars-cov-2; however, it did not reach at a significant level as demonstrated in [figure 8 and table 2]. the roc was used to estimate the values of cut-off for phosphate that determine severity in sars-cov-2 patients in vaccinated were < 3.66 mg/dl, sensitivity = 74.07 %; specificity = 70.45%; auc= 0.762 with p = 0.0002 and nonvaccinated < 3.43 mg/ml, sensitivity = 46.67 %; specificity = 90.91 %; auc = 0.605 [table 4]. following the statistical analysis, as table 2 and figure 9a show, it was found that the level of the serum pth in the vaccinated and unvaccinated covid-19 groups considerably less than what the healthy group’s serum pth levels showed (p < 0.0001), while the serum levels of pth between covid-19 patient groups were non-significant. in healthy group, the mean ± sd of parathyroid hormone was 45.53 ± 21.37 pg/ml, whereas in a vaccinated group of patients, it was 25.96 ±16.81 pg/ml, and in unvaccinated group of patients was 21.06 ± 15.22 pg/ml. roc analysis was carried out to assess the diagnostic significance of pth levels among covid-19 patients. roc curve results show that the auc in vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients respectively were 0.814 and 0.875 with a p-value < 0.0001. thus, the cutoff value of pth to predict disease severity, sensitivity and specificity for vaccinated were (27.76 pg/ml, 73.53 % and 88.64 %), unvaccinated group was (27.34 pg/ml, 82.35, and 88.64%) respectively, [figure 9b and table 4]. when comparing the non-vaccinated group patients to the control category, a significant drop in tsh was seen (p = 0.0295), whereas the serum concentration of tsh between vaccinated and non-vaccinated covid-19 patients was non-significant [figure 10a]. the mean value of healthy individuals significantly diminished from (2.79 ±2.70 uiu/ml) to (1.68 ± 0.95 uiu/ml) and (1.52 ± 1.28 uiu/ml) in vaccinated and unvaccinated groups, respectively. to determine the diagnostic value of tsh, roc analysis was performed. in vaccinated group, the auc was 0.594 and the cutoff value serum of tsh level was 3.705 uiu/ml with a sensitivity of 100.0 % and specificity of 23.40%. while the non-vaccinated group occupied a significant auc, which was 0.679 (p = 0.0096); the cutoff value was 1.025 uiu/ml of serum tsh level, the sensitivity and specificity were 46.43 % and 91.49%, respectively [figure 10b and table 4]. figure 7: (a) comparison of calcium concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows calcium as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba figure 8: (a) comparison of phosphate concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows phosphate as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 discussion “covid-19 represents a wide spectrum of clinical presentations, from asymptomatic to critical pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ards), and even death.[30] in this study, vaccinated and non-vaccinated covid-19 patients were admitted. laboratory tests provide critical support for the proper clinical management of covid-19 from screening to diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring.[31] liver damage is prevalent in covid-19 patients, and it can be brought on by an antiviral medication’s functional impairment or a viral infection of the bile duct cells. changes in the primary liver disease should be monitored in patients with liver illnesses, and individuals with severe diseases should have more frequent monitoring and evaluation of their liver function during medication.[32] according to the results of the present study, the alterations were identified in the average levels of alt, ast, alp, ldh, tsb, and albumin.” this result supported by wu et al.[33] who stated that decreased albumin levels and increased ggt, ast, and alt levels are present in individuals with severe covid-19. liver tests including the liver enzymes should be monitored for diagnosing liver damage.[34] while some research revealed no correlation between abnormal lfts and death, disease progression, icu admission, or length of hospital stay, other studies identified a relationship between abnormal liver function tests (lfts) and increased disease severity and death rates, particularly raised ast and alt.[35] the higher expression levels of ace2 in the cholangiocytes and the changes in liver parameters in individuals with acute and prolonged covid-19, without concurrent increase of tsb levels, point to a persistent systemic inflammatory response in these patients.[36] patients with severe covid-19 had higher levels of ast and alt, according to findings from china.[37-39] numerous investigations have revealed varying degrees of elevated liver enzymes in covid-19 individuals, primarily manifested by abnormal amounts of ast and alt, along with modestly raised levels of ggt, alp, and tsb.[40] “in addition, piano et al.[41] showed that lfts abnormality is commonly observed on admission in patients with covid-19 and it is associated with systemic inflammation, organ dysfunction and is an independent predictor of transfer to the icu or death during the hospitalization. in covid-19 disease a similar trend was found; analysis of 11 studies aziz et al.[42] which showed that the mean serum of albumin on admission was 3.50 g/dl and 4.05 g/dl in severe and non-severe covid-19, figure 9: (a) comparison of pth concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows pth as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba figure 10: (a) comparison of tsh concentration in control and patient groups. (b) the area under the curve value shows tsh as a biomarker of the patients’ group ba ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 respectively”. our results also are consistent with a recent study by petimani et al.[43] who showed that total and direct bilirubin, alt, ast, and alp levels were highly increased in unvaccinated group. as well as fewer levels serum albumins and total protein were noted in the unvaccinated patients compared to vaccinated individuals. in addition, in their retrospective analysis,[44] found that the concentration of serum alt and ast in unvaccinated patients with cov-2 significantly higher (p<0.01) than those in vaccinated group patients. there is strong evidence that the onset of covid-19 illness is correlated with ldh levels.[45] according to a study, intensive care unit (icu) patients had far higher levels of ldh than non-icu patients (248 u/l vs. 151 u/l, p = 0.002). ldh might be a severe disease indicator that can be predicted.[46] furthermore, malik et al.[47] found a significant association of covid-19 severity with different biomarkers among them elevated levels of alt and ldh. likeness to our study, the findings of a prior study conducted by fatima et al.[9] who documented that ldh value significantly decreased from (419 iu/l) in non-vaccinated patients to (367 iu/l) in vaccinated individuals. this finding is in line with research conducted by raza et al.[8] who explained that the mean blood ldh concentration was much higher (p < 0.01) in unvaccinated patients than in vaccinated group. elevated quantities of ldh are indicative of cellular damage brought on by plasma membrane destruction, and pulmonary damage can be well predicted by measuring ldh levels in the early stages of severe covid-19 patients.[48] another research that in line with our findings[49] demonstrated that ldh levels were much lower in patients who received vaccines than those who did not receive vaccines. thus, given that altered hepatic enzymes have been linked to an increased risk of icu support, death rates, ards, and comorbidities, the effect of vaccination status on liver markers might be considerable. the process of bone mineralization requires the minerals calcium and phosphorus. these two elements can be dissolved in serum or located intracellularly in soft tissues; they are present in bones.[20] three hormones mainly regulate phosphorus and calcium levels in the body: parathyroid hormone (pth), fibroblast growth factor and vitamin d 25 (oh).[50] according to our result, we found that the concentration of pth in vaccinated and unvaccinated covid-19 patients was significantly lower than that in the serum pth of the healthy group, additionally, calcium and phosphate decreased in covid-19 patients when compared to the control group. “the first report of a severely hypocalcemic covid-19 patient was made in april 2020. since then, several studies have reported that hypocalcemia is correlated with inflammation, biomarkers of thrombosis, disease severity, and mortality in covid-19 patients”.[21] our findings were consistent with the study of yang et al. and cappellini et al.[23,51] they arrived at the conclusion that deficiencies of calcium and phosphorus could serve as promising clinical biomarkers for discriminative assessment, suggesting the severity of covid-19 patients. studies have found that patients with osteoporosis are more likely to be infected with sars-cov-2 and have more severe osteoporosis after sars-cov-2, and some patients have osteoporosis as a complication.[18] the research results of elham et al.[52] demonstrated that covid-19 patients’ serum concentration of calcium, vitamin d, and zinc were lower than those of the healthy groups. furthermore, cappellini et al.[51] documented that serum calcium modifications may be due to alterations in intestinal absorption, imbalance in the regulatory mechanism involving pth and d-vitamin, or a direct effect caused by sars-cov-2. similarity, bajpai et al.[53] compared the severity of covid-19 pneumonia in vaccinated with non-vaccinated patients from a tertiary care center in india, they demonstrated that serum calcium slightly fewer in non-vaccinated group than in patients who received vaccine. serum phosphate dysregulation in covid-19 patients may be linked to many disorders. low serum phosphorus is associated with a number of clinical problems, especially in critically ill and icu patients.[54] a study of javdani et al.[22] demonstrated how hypophosphatemia is linked to serious lung damage, while greater phosphate levels may be associated with improved lung outcomes from covid-19 computed tomography (ct) scans. this may establish a connection between the parathyroid gland and covid-19 and aid physicians in the management of hospitalized patients. hypophosphatemia in covid-19 individuals can be caused by renal loss, large bowel dysfunction, acute kidney injury (aki), insufficient intake, and pulmonary alkalosis.[54,55] severe and critically ill covid-19 patients have disrupted ca and p homeostasis. for individuals with covid-19 at a severe or critical stage, it is crucial to increase the monitoring of serum ca and p levels and to start treatment as soon as possible to improve the prognosis.[23] the findings of abobaker et al.[24] stated that there are two potential ways in which covid-19 may impact parathyroid gland function: directly, through the sars-cov-2 virus invading parathyroid gland tissues, or indirectly, through lung damage and chronic alkalosis of the lungs. these latter two mechanisms may be further explanations for the high incidence of hypocalcemia in covid-19 patients. inflammatory cytokines and immune system activation can lead to alterations in the concentrations of parathyroid hormone, phosphorus, and calcium.[50] in covid-19 patients, thyroid function problems are common, particularly in severe cases. the non-thyroidal disease syndrome could help to partially explain this.[56] on the basis of our study, the serum level of tsh significantly decreased in unvaccinated covid-19 patients and somewhat depletion in vaccinated individuals as compared to the control group. omit it that results are in line with previous study of gong et al.[26] who indicated that decreased tsh levels were a separate risk factor for death in these patients, and that reduced ft4 and tsh levels were linked to mortality in individuals with both covid-19 and non-thyroidal disease syndrome. furthermore, chen et al.[25] reported that after admission, the tsh and ft4 levels of verified covid-19-positive individuals were low, but on their recovery, the levels rebounded to normal. similarity, khoo et al.[57] conducted a research on 456 individuals in london and found modest decreases in tsh and ft4, consistent with a non-thyroidal disease condition. on the other hand, in a study of chen et al.[58] in china of 50 patients with covid-19, they noted a generalized reduction in tsh, t4, and t3 more consistent with a non-thyroidal illness pattern. the studies indicated that tsh inhibits osteoclastogenesis, which protects bone.[59] it’ is been suggested that tsh might directly inhibit bone turnover by acting on both osteoblasts and osteoclasts’ ahmed, et al.: comparison of biochemical parameters in vaccinated 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 46-57 tsh receptors.[60] hence, these clinical parameters are helpful for the diagnosis and monitoring of covid‐19 patients vaccinated persons are now generally acknowledged to be less risky than unvaccinated individuals. an israeli study found that those who received the pfizer-biontech vaccination had a higher level of long-term safety from covid-19 syndrome than those who did not receive the vaccination.[61] an additional study conducted in israel using data from 5526 unvaccinated covid-19 cases revealed that 4.6 out of 100,000 infected persons required hospitalization, compared to 0.3 out of 100,000 in the vaccinated community. only 596 cases were available for the vaccinated population, though. comparably, the statistics showed that for the unvaccinated group, the death rate was 0.6 per 100,000, while for the vaccinated population, it was 0.1 per 100,000.[62] in additions, havers et al.[5] according to the results of their descriptive investigation, unvaccinated adults’ hospitalization rates for covid-19 were more than ten times greater than those of vaccinated individuals during the 1st year the vaccine was made available in the us. conclusion this study demonstrates that covid-19 vaccination can be helpful at minimizing the disease’s severity. vaccinated patients had milder disease with less abnormality of liver parameters and bone markers compared to the unvaccinated group. increased serum level of liver enzymes including alt, ast, alp, tsb, and ldh, as well as decreased serum albumin were correlated with non-vaccinated covid-19 patients when compared to the vaccinated group. in addition, according to bone markers, we found that sars-cov-2 either directly or indirectly affects bone health. low level of serum ca, p, pth, and tsh concentrations were associated with both vaccinated and non-vaccinated covid-19 patients. therefore, the bone health status of covid-19 patients and liver biomarkers are important for the monitoring and diagnosis of disease severity in sars-cov-2 patients. covid-19 vaccines cannot prevent infection with sars-cov-2, but they decrease hospitalization rate and disease severity in most patients. references 1. f. shahi, s. r. safaee nodehi, s. fekrvand, f. fathi, m. r. dabiri, a. abdollahi and h. hosseini. the evaluation of hematological parameters and their correlation with disease prognosis in covid-19 disease in iran. international journal of hematologyoncology and stem cell research, vol. 17, pp. 89-99, 2023. 2. d. yesudhas, a. srivastava and m. m. gromiha. covid-19 outbreak: history, mechanism, transmission, structural studies and therapeutics. infection, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 199-213, 2021. 3. b. popovska jovičić, i. raković, j. gavrilović, s. sekulić marković, s. petrović, v. marković, a. pavković, p. čanović, r. radojević marjanović, v. irić-čupić, l. popović dragonjić and m. z. milosavljević. vitamin d, albumin, and d-dimer as significant prognostic markers in early hospitalization in patients with covid-19. journal of clinical medicine, vol. 12, no. 8, 2023. 4. s. a. tabatabaeizadeh. airborne transmission of covid-19 and the role of face mask to prevent it: a systematic review and metaanalysis. european journal of medical research, vol. 26, no. 1, p. 1, 2021. 5. f. p. havers, h. pham, c. a. taylor, m. whitaker, k. patel, o. anglin, a. k. kambhampati, j. milucky, e. zell, h. l. moline, s. j. chai, p. d. kirley, n. b. alden, i. armistead, k. yousey-hindes, j. meek, k. p. openo, e. j. anderson, l. reeg,… & 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[in english] 61. f. kreier. long-covid symptoms less likely in vaccinated people, israeli data say. nature, epub ahead of print, 2022. https://doi. org/10.1038/d41586-022-00177-5 62. e. j. haas, f. j. angulo, j. m. mclaughlin, e. anis, s. r. singer, f. khan, n. brooks, m. smaja, g. mircus, k. pan, j. southern, d. l. swerdlow and l. jodar, y. levy, s. alroy-preis.impact and effectiveness of mrna bnt162b2 vaccine against sars-cov-2 infections and covid-19 cases, hospitalisations, and deaths following a nationwide vaccination campaign in israel: an observational study using national surveillance data. the lancet, vol. 397, no. 10287, pp. 1819-1829, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 63-69 review article comparative study of the middle eastern vernacular courtyard houses based on the biophilic design patterns nagham i. yahya department of architecture, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the biophilia hypothesis posits that a connection to nature is an innate human desire. by creating architecture that is an extension of nature, this desire will be satisfied, and consequently, it will positively affect mental and physical health. along with identifying pertinent biophilic design strategies, this paper aims to conduct a comparative study of the middle eastern vernacular courtyard houses based on biophilic design patterns, in addition to comprehending the significance of sociocultural elements and the physical environment in the presence of the patterns of biophilic design in domestic architecture. the qualitative-comparative analysis method is adopted. three case studies of three different types of vernacular courtyard houses from three different cities—baghdad, damascus, and mardin—are chosen. the architectural features of the traditional houses in the chosen cities are surveyed using data from reported studies. the study revealed that the middle eastern vernacular courtyard houses are biophilic structures that use a variety of strategies to be in close proximity to nature to nature, which had an impact on determining the final form of each dwelling. biophilic strategies vary according to the particulars of different cities’ local contexts. the study also shows the role of climate, geographical location, and sociocultural factors in the presence of biophilic design patterns and in identifying relevant strategies. keywords: biophilia hypothesis, well-being, biophilic design patterns, middle east, courtyard house introduction recent studies underline the importance of human–nature connectivity in the built environment and regard it as crucial for designing lasting and comfortable structures. in addition to its influence on the degradation of natural systems, the prevailing approach to creating the modern urban environment has resulted in the isolation of man from the natural world.[1] thus, the building will shift from the idea of being green to being good for people, and one of its goals is to create environments that support the well-being of the occupants.[2] the biophilia hypothesis, on which the biophilic design approach is based, posits that a connection to nature is an innate human desire.[3] by creating architecture that is an extension of nature, this desire will be satisfied, and consequently, it will positively affect mental and physical health.[4,5] the courtyard house is one of the oldest architectural forms and the most common house design in middle eastern cities, many studies have been reported on this topic, but studying it from a biophilic design perspective is limited, and important since it expands knowledge in this new field of science. this article aims to conduct a comparative study of the vernacular middle eastern courtyard houses based on the biophilic design patterns that have been recognized for their positive impact on human well-being that may explain the permanence of this form typology for centuries. moreover, the study is an attempt to understand the role of sociocultural factors and the physical environment in the presence of biophilic design patterns in domestic architecture and in identifying relevant strategies. the qualitative comparative analysis method is adopted. three typical vernacular courtyard houses from three middle eastern cities that are different in terms of location, climate, and topography, namely the baghdad house, damascus house, and mardin houses, are chosen to accomplish the objectives of the study. literature review biophilic design patterns the design field has begun to consolidate the biophilic building models concerning indoor natural quality and human corresponding author: nagham i. yahya, department of architecture, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: nagham.yahya@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: april 26, 2024 accepted: may 24, 2024 published: june 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp63-69 copyright © 2024 nagham i. yahya. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) yahya: the vernacular architecture and the biophilic design patterns 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 63-69 connection with the place.[6,7] the biophilic design builds on the biophilia hypothesis, defined as the innate tendency to focus on life and life-like processes. incorporating nature within the built environment directly, indirectly, or symbolically has many psychological and physiological benefits as a result of satisfying the innate human–nature tendency to affiliate with nature and other life forms. these benefits require repeated and sustained engagement rather than occasional, exceptional, or ephemeral experiences. to put theory into practice, terrapin bright green has introduced a set of biophilic design patterns [table 1] that link architecture to human biology and nature. it has been proven that the presence of these patterns in the built environment promotes the health and well-being of its occupants. as long as no two loci are the same; this signifies that the peculiarity of the biophilic design stems from the locality. the variety of local ecology that results from various climates and geographic allows applying biophilic design patterns across all climates and settings but may have diverse resulting forms, esthetics, and materials unique to their respective regions. studying the vernacular architecture of each region may provide the needed knowledge on how local people respond to biophilia through their built environments.[6,8] vernacular courtyard houses of the middle east in the middle east, a courtyard house is a house style that is built around an open area defined by the internal building facades and allows the family to be isolated from the street to ensure their privacy, which is considered the main factor that shaped this type of houses along with the physical environment that determines the final form of the dwelling.[9] in addition, to serving as a hub for daily activities, the courtyard provides natural ventilation and lighting at various levels, ranging from moderate lighting in the courtyard to less lighting in the semiopen spaces, and then indirect lighting that reaches the interior spaces. not to mention the role of the patio in protecting the occupants from the sun in the morning and afternoon. the courtyard house of baghdad baghdad is considered one of the hottest cities in the world and is built on a flat, broad desert plain. the vernacular houses of this compact city [figure 1] resulted from the interaction of socio-cultural conditions, and climate, as well as the available materials that played a significant role in defining the features and attributes of the houses along with the craft tradition and experience. the house is a two-story building with a central courtyard containing a water basin, fountain, or both. privacy concerns in baghdadi society led to the adoption of an oriel window covered with timber latticework screen, known locally as shanasheel. this architectural element allowed women to initiate eye contact with the outside world while protecting them from others’ gaze. in addition to the social advantages, the lattice screens helped the people, along with other elements, to adapt to the extreme heat of the city. inside the house [figure 2], a mezzanine seating area is protected by a screen that emphasizes the idea of women being segregated from strangers. wind scoops were integrated with the mass of the building for ventilation, while recessed spaces, covered walkways, and earth-sheltered spaces are measures used to protect residents from the hot table 1: the biophilic design patterns[6] the pattern description visual connection with nature a look into the natural world’s components, living things, and processes. non-visual connection with nature stimuli are auditory, haptic, olfactory, or gustatory that cause an intentional, positive reference to nature, living things, or natural processes. non-rhythmic sensory stimuli connections to nature that are stochastic and transient and that can be statistically evaluated but may not be exactly anticipated. thermal and airflow variability mild variations in surface temperatures, airflow across the skin, relative humidity, and temperature that resemble natural conditions. presence of water a circumstance that promotes the experience of nature through seeing, hearing, or touching the water. dynamic and diffuse light uses changeable light and shadow intensities that fluctuate over time to imitate natural circumstances. connection with natural systems the consciousness of natural processes, particularly the seasonal and temporal fluctuations that characterize a thriving ecosystem. biomorphic forms and patterns figurative allusions to naturally occurring curved, patterned, textured, or numerical arrangements. material connection with nature minimally processed natural materials and components that represent the local ecology geology and contribute to a strong sense of place. complexity and order detailed sensory information follows a spatial hierarchy like those seen in nature. prospect unconstrained view in the distance for planning and surveillance. refuge a haven where an individual can isolate themselves from their surroundings or the main flow of activity while still being protected from above and behind. mystery partially obstructed views promise more information that tempts one to travel into the depths of the environment. risk/peril a recognized threat and a trustworthy defense. figure 1: the compact urban fabric of baghdad city[10] yahya: the vernacular architecture and the biophilic design patterns 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 63-69 table 2: strategies provide a visual connection with nature pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house visual connection with nature view to a constructed nature outdoor water fountain ● ● ● indoor water fountain ● water pond ● constructed waterfall ● garden ● ● ● green wall ● flowering pots ● fireplace ● view to naturally occurring nature courtyard provides visual contact with the ambient conditions. ● ● ● terrace provides a visual contact with the ambient conditions. ● table 3: strategies enable non-visual contact with nature pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house non-visual connection with nature audible water outdoor water fountain ● ● ● indoor water fountain ● outdoor waterfalls ● water basin ● ● nature sounds courtyard (auditory contact with the ambient) ● ● ● terrace (auditory contact with the ambient) ● fireplace (crackling sounds of the fire) ● nature scent lushly planted courtyard ● natural material textures masonry flooring ● ● ● figure 2: section passes through the traditional baghdadi house adapted from[12] summer sun. in winter, a south-facing glass-fronted sitting room is used to take advantage of the sun’s heat. mud brick was frequently utilized for the structural features, such as the domes and vaulted ceilings, as well as for paving the courtyard’s floor along with wood which was also used for sheathing and to make the ubiquitous lattice screens in this house. in contrast to the street frontage, the bricks being entirely exposed and unpainted, the interior walls of the yahya: the vernacular architecture and the biophilic design patterns 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 63-69 rooms were plastered while woodwork and brickwork were used to sheath the courtyard facades.[11] the courtyard house of damascus syria’s capital, damascus, is situated on a plain with a typical mediterranean climate. along with the seven branches of the barada river that flow through damascus’s lands and contribute to its fertile soil, the city is encircled by mountains on its west and north sides and verdant plains on its east and south, which moderates its climate. adhering to islamic teachings, the use of an introverted house with solid external walls was the best solution to achieve table 6: strategies to engage biomorphic forms and patterns in the residential environment pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house biomorphic forms and patterns nature forms botanical motifs arches, vaults, and domes were employed for both functional and esthetic purposes. ● ● ● botanical motifs floral stone craving ● ● floral brick craving ● floral wood craving ● ● table 5: strategies that bring dynamic and diffuse light to the residential environment pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house dynamic and diffuse light ambient diffuse lighting daylight from multiple angles the lattice screen allows light to enter the spaces and also diffuses it. ● ● overhead windows capture the ambient defused sunlight. ● ● colored glass offers diffused lighting. ● ambient diffuse lighting daylight from multiple angles the use of a multidirectional window (bay window) helps draw daylight. ● ● firelight fireplace brings flickering light. ● table 4: strategies provide thermal and airflow variability to the residential environment pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house thermal and airflow variability natural ventilation the courtyard serves as a vertical ventilation system for all levels ● ● ● bilateral openings oriented both toward the alleyway and the courtyard, enabling cross ventilation. ● ● air scoops: air ducts used to capture the breeze ● multi-level openings support natural ventilation through the stack effect. ● ● shade and shadow the courtyard provides self-shading ● ● ● a recessed space, open to the courtyard and oriented to the north provides a shaded sitting area in summer ● ● ● portico provides a shaded passage ● ● ● plants provide shading ● ● lattice screens for shading ● ● solar heat gain south-oriented rooms were used in winter. ● ● ● a recessed space, open to the courtyard and oriented to the south provides a warm sitting area in winter. ● yahya: the vernacular architecture and the biophilic design patterns 67 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 63-69 segregation for women from strangers, while ensuring an attractive and lush internal garden planted with fruit trees and fragrant plants. the simplicity of the house from the outside did not prevent the wealthy families from showing their social status through the quality of the interior finishing materials [figure 3] and the decorations that adorned the walls, ceilings, and floors, in addition to the use of ornate furniture. the hot summer in this city necessitated protection from the sun through building elements such as the iwan while shading screens are infrequently used in these houses. southfacing winter rooms and climbing plants supported by trellises are other methods used in this regard. on the other hand, the high ceilings of the spaces with three rows of openings allowed the light to penetrate while ensuring natural ventilation for the spaces. regarding the building materials, the ground floor is built of thick natural stone that serves as the basis for the brick walls of the first floor, which is characterized by its multiple openings and its white plastered surface.[13] figure 3: damascene house from the outside versus the house’s internal environment[13] table 7: strategies bring materials connection with nature pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house material connection with nature minimally processed construction materials mud bricks (walls, roofing, flooring) ● timber (columns, sheathing, screens) ● ● natural stones (walls, roofing, balustrades, flooring, sheathing) ● ● table 8: strategies bring complexity and order to the residential environment pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house complexity and order fractal geometry a three-dimensional decorative feature (muqarnas) ● ● table 10: strategies provide mystery to the residential environment pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house mystery winding paths winding doorway: the transition from the narrow alley to the open courtyard was made by a winding doorway to create seclusion. ● ● table 9: strategies for applying the refuge concept in the residential environment pattern factors strategies case study baghdad house damascus house mardin house refuge space with weather/ climate protection partial refuge a recessed space used as a shelter from the summer sun. ● ● ● covered walkways protect from climate conditions. ● ● ● extensive refuge earth-sheltered space used to take advantage of the constant temperature of the earth ● ● ● south-facing glass-fronted sitting room (sunroom) used to take advantage of the sun’s heat. ● space with social protection extensive refuge bay window protected by a screen, provides a private sitting area ● the mezzanine sitting area protected by a screen provides a private sitting area ● yahya: the vernacular architecture and the biophilic design patterns 68 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 63-69 the courtyard house of mardin mardin is a province in turkey’s south-eastern region. the city is nestled on the slope of mazı mountain overlooking the mesopotamian plain and is characterized by a hot-summer mediterranean climate. due to the calcareous nature of the soil, rainwater drains to the flat lands at the bottom of the mountain. however, water is present in these houses, either in the form of a fountain in the middle of the courtyard or a small water basin in the center of the iwan that is used as a summer guest area that is open to the courtyard while the vegetation is sparse. the design of mardin dwellings was influenced by social, climatic, and geographical considerations. privacy concerns were evident in the introverted form and modest windows on the street-facing facade, while the topography of the area was mirrored in the tiered mass that provides a view of the southern plain [figure 4]. building the residences on the southern side of the hill opened up most of the spaces to the south, including the portico or revak as it is called in turkish, which serves as a family space used for daily activities in addition to being a passage to the interior spaces. limestone, which is abundant in the region, is the principal material used in the construction of mardin dwellings. its application varied depending on how it was cut. rubble stones are used to build structural features including vaults and domes. the inner walls and courtyard facades were coated with rectangular-cut stones. the rest of the house’s walls are made of rough-cut stone. the extensive use of stone in construction and finishing did not prevent residents from expressing interest in the esthetic characteristics of their architecture. dark yellow limestone was used to ornament the facade and around the openings, being softer.[15] case studies analysis visual connection with nature this section addresses possible strategies that provide a “visual connection with nature” inside the courtyard houses of the middle east region [table 2]. elements of nature may be naturally occurring, such as water, earth, and living species, or through human intervention, such as elaborately designed landscaping and fountains. the “presence of water” pattern overlaps with this pattern as it provides an opportunity to contact an element of nature visually. non-visual connection with nature this part of the study looks at strategies for establishing non-visual connections with nature [table 3]. some elements of this pattern overlap with elements of the “non-rhythmic sensory stimuli” pattern, such as the unexpected sound of nature supplied by the courtyard surroundings. the “presence of water” methods can be found here since they create an auditory connection with nature. thermal and airflow variability this pattern is associated with the idea that a space with moderate levels of sensory contrast such as contrast in light, sound, and temperature has a positive effect on comfort. this section explores strategies that can be used to achieve the pattern factors [table 4]. dynamic and diffuse light this section examines the strategies for achieving lighting variations and variances in the lighted surfaces that arouse feelings of drama and mystery while maintaining a sense of serenity [table 5]. connection with natural systems the three houses’ open spaces provide families with a visual connection to existing natural systems such as climate and weather patterns, seasonal patterns, and night sky. biomorphic forms and patterns the word biomorphic is used to describe an architectural design that mimics the appearance of the natural form.[16] materials connection with nature the use of local natural resources gives vernacular homes their distinctive look. the houses were built in the three cities using natural building materials [table 7]. complexity and order this pattern deals with fractal geometry which is an integral part of nature [table 8]. simulating this feature makes the space charming and informative. figure 5: mardin houses offer unlimited views of the southern plain[17] figure 4: section passes through the mardin settlement[14] yahya: the vernacular architecture and the biophilic design patterns 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 63-69 prospect unlike the houses of damascus and baghdad, where looking at the sky is the only means of visual contact with naturally occurring nature, the mardin house offers unlimited views of the southern natural landscape [figure 5]. refuge a refuge is a space enclosed by solid walls of minimal floorto-ceiling dimensions that allows some visual or aural contact with the surroundings and gives a sense of safety and security, a sense of withdrawal from undesirable climatic conditions or main flow of activity that enables the inhabitants to have a protective, contemplative environment.[1,6,18] this pattern is classified into three types: a modular shelter in which the user gets little protection while the second type is a partial shelter, meaning that the space is surrounded on several sides, and finally the extensive shelter in which the inhabitants come close or hide completely.[6] mystery mystery characterizes a place where an individual feels compelled to move forward to see what is around the corner. this pattern is found in both baghdad and damascus houses [table 10]. research results 1. due to the hot summer of the three cities, the “thermal and airflow variability” pattern is dominant over the other patterns, as the emphasis has been placed on providing solar shading and natural ventilation for their effective role in achieving thermal comfort. 2. the patterns “visual connection with nature,” “non-visual connection with nature,” “presence of water,” “material connection with nature,” and “biomorphic forms and patterns” are more evident in the damascus house, indicating that this house is the most biophilic structure among the case studies. as a result, it has the best residential atmosphere. 3. the extreme summer temperature in baghdad, as well as the necessity for shade from direct sunshine, accentuated the “dynamic diffused light” and “refuge” motifs in this home. 4. the baghdadi and damascene houses provide a visually nourishing residential environment due to the “complexity and order” that appears on the interior surfaces. 5. the “mystery” pattern was featured in the baghdadi and damascene houses through a winding doorway, which piques one’s interest in what is happening behind corners. 6. the “prospect” pattern was found only in the mardin house because the city’s topography provides an unlimited view of the southern plain. 7. religious beliefs influenced the type of biomorphic forms and patterns employed in the houses. the abstract floral patterns were used while direct depictions of people were avoided because it is forbidden in islam. conclusion the traditional courtyard houses of middle eastern cities are biophilic structures of varying levels that employ a range of strategies to satisfy residents’ intrinsic need to interact with nature, which explains why residents have stuck with this style of house for centuries. residents of the three cities (baghdad, damascus, and mardin) were able to create a suitable living environment that met both the social and climatic requirements. people were able to reconnect themselves with nature through various strategies despite the solitude that the introverted form may bring. in addition to serving as a living lung and a source of natural lighting, the courtyard allows families to experience nature both visually and nonvisually, and often at unpredictable periods. in other words, the courtyard contributes to the well-being of the occupants. references 1. s. r. kellert, j. heerwagen and m. mador. biophilic design: the theory, science, and practice of bringing buildings to life. wiley, hoboken, nj, 2008. 2. 2016: sustainable buildings go from being green to being good for you. the guardian. available from: https://www.theguardian. com/sustainable-business/2015/dec/29/sustainabledevelopment-leed-green-buildings-architecture-design [last accessed on 2024 apr 29]. 3. e. wilson. biophilia. harvard university press, cambridge, ma, 1984. 4. n. yahya and b. hassanpour. a methodical framework for sustainable architectural design: housing practice in the middle east. land, vol. 11, no. 7, p. 1019, 2022. 5. r. lumber, m. richardson and d. sheffield. beyond knowing nature: contact, emotion, compassion, meaning, and beauty are pathways to nature connection. plos one, vol. 12, no. 5, p. e0177186, 2017. 6. w. d. browning, c. ryan and j. clancy. 14 patterns of biophilic design, improving health and well-being in the built environment. terrapin bright green, new york, 2014. 7. n. i. yahya. a verification tool for the validity of educational environments according to the biophilia hypothesis. in: 4th international conference on architectural and civil engineering sciences. pp. 39-46, 2023. 8. m. li, h. w. chau and l. aye. biophilic design features in vernacular architecture and settlements of the naxi. journal of architecture and urbanism, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 188-203, 2020. 9. a. rapoport. house form and culture. prentiee-hall, englewood cliffs, n.j, p. 46, 1969. 10. a. mandilawi. effect of daylight application on the thermal performa iraqi traditional vernacular residential buildings. (master thesis). the university of arizona, 2012. available from: https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/267572 [last accessed on 2023 apr 01]. 11. j. warren and i. fethi. traditional houses in baghdad. coach publishing house ltd., horsham, 1982. 12. m. s. s. al-zubaidi. the sustainability potential of traditional architecture in the arabic worldwith reference to domestic building in the uae. doctor of philosophy dissertation. submitted to university of huddersfield, 2007. 13. z. kabrit. damascus house. asalhani press, syria, 2000. 14. m. turan. architectural and environmental adaptation in slope settlements. in: g. s. golany, (ed.) design for arid regions. van nostrand reinhold, new york, 1983. 15. i̇. sözen. an approach to the evaluation of vernacular settlements in hot dry climate in terms of thermal comfort: the case of mardin. doctarol, istanbul technical university, 2019. 16. l. klein. a phenomenological i̇nterpretation of biomimicry and its potential value for sustainable design. (doctoral dissertation, kansas state university). available from: https://krex.k-state. edu/handle/2097/1478 [last accessed on 2023 jun18]. 17. mardin: a city of history, art and culture in southeastern turkey. daily sabah, 2020. available from: https://www.dailysabah. com/gallery/mardin-a-city-of-history-art-and-culture-insoutheastern-turkey/images [last accessed on 2023 jul 17]. 18. g. hildebrand. origins of architectural pleasure. university of california press, berkeley, 1999. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 42-48 research article investigation light curve analysis for short period eclipsing binary cn andromeda chiman i. hussein department of general science, college of basic education, salahaddin university, kurdistan region, iraq abstract in this article research, drawing and analyzing the light curve of short period binary (spb) star cn andromeda (cn and) with b, v, r, and i. light curve fitting and results for the trajectory parameters of the cn and were obtained and compared with those obtained by previous works. the author will determine the size, luminosity and masse of the individual star as well as the orbital size and orientation of the binary system. also calculate the bolometric magnitude, reflection coefficient and absolute parameters for short period binary star. these coefficients are needed when analyzing light curves for eclipsing binary stars analyzed to facilitate getting numerical values for their relative and absolute characteristics. some parameters are also fixed or calculated during light curve modeling. the graph of the dimmer binary luminosity in one complete orbital period is known as light curve. furthermore, calculating the bolometric magnitude, reflection coefficients, armpit, and absolute parameters for cn, and these terms are very important for understanding the properties of cn and. keywords: absolute parameter, bolometric magnitude, light curve, photometric analysis and binary star cn andromeda introduction the majority of star systems are multi or binary star (bs) ones. some portions of binary system has two stars that is enough apart to allow for the resolution of the individual stars. the eclipsing binary (eb) is made up of two stars whose orbits cause them to alternately obscure one another from earth’s perspective. any periodic change over time relates to the redistribution for an object between the stars when the system loses or gains angular momentum. the period decreases, or if the vas versa appears, the period increases.[8,10,13] the evolution of eclipsing binaries light curves (lc), or magnitude versus time analysis, produces more accurate data thanks to ongoing improvements in observational techniques.[9,16] since the early 20th century, significant efforts have been made to develop lc, to find and understand these systems. this has been inspired by the finding of transiting extrasolar planets. evaluating for bs. processing of transfer, mass lose, and angular momentum loss. they are sometimes called by w uma type eb, because their lc is shaped and described. these systems’ orbital durations typically range from 0.1 to 2 days, and the component mass ratios are typically between 0.1 and 0.5.[11,17,20] form these points, the lc is very important for studying the cn and. it is impressive how precisely the basic physical features can be identified. the masses and diameters of stars are frequently known with >1% accuracy. although their masses may differ for various reasons, most contact binaries have eclipse depths in the lc that are typically equal because both components have almost the same surface temperature shows in figure 1.[18,21] photometric plates were used as detectors in the initial surveys.[5,7] for several reasons, the study of close bs is interesting. for instance, one of the fundamental objectives of stellar astronomy is to comprehend the structure and evolution of stars. the bs is crucial to our galaxy’s ongoing effort to comprehend the cosmos and its elements.[24,27] bs is particularly significant, since they are the major and most comprehensive source of information on the basic characteristics of stars: (mass, size, radii, luminosities, velocities, separation distance, period,… etc.), and extra homes may be determined by understanding these homes supply information approximately stars whose proximity outcomes research them. a light curve is a graph of intensity through the years. one of these graphs is made using counting the number of photons coming from a supply over some time.[19,29] the importance of the lc, studying lc of eb corresponding author: chiman i. hussein, general science department, college of basic education, salahaddin university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: chiman.hussen@su.edu.krd received: march 23, 2023 accepted: june 07, 2023 published: october 10, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp42-48 copyright © 2023 chiman i. hussein. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) hussein: light curve analysis for short period eclipsing binary cn andromeda 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 42-48 to decide their houses, is a fundamental effect which ought to be allowed while reading the light curve of eb. the evolution of a star depends almost entirely on its mass and chemical composition.[3,31] the light and radial velocity curves were analyzed simultaneously using wilson-devinney 1971 (w-d) code to derive the optical and physical measurements of the bs components.[12,25] the discovery of transits of extra solar planets earlier this century has spurred considerable efforts to generate very high-quality lc that can be used to explore and study planets. this system instruments, observation methods, and analyzing data techniques were improved to now detect lunar eclipses to a depth of 600 ppm on individual goals.[14,35] in 1949 astronomer hoffmeister discovered cn andromeda (cn and), first reporting for exhibits β lyr-like light variations. in 1956, tsesevich found it’s an algol-like binary for periodic orbit 2,599 days. in 1976, bozkurt reported asymmetric changes for light curve b and v. in 1996, bozkurt found strongly emission x-ray of main system. van hamme proposed lc analyzing in 2001. in 2005, spectral types for components proposed by zola are in the range f5-g5. in 2010, rucinski announced recently radial velocities and lc analyzing for system, the variation of periodic orbit for cn and. also, lc in the b, g, r, and i filters of cn and published. in 2015, koju and beaky illustrated system cycle variation and o’connell effect. maxted in 2016 describe flexible lc model. in 2017, yilmaz studied lc and orbital period analysis of vx lac. menon in 2020 details evolutionary model for massive contact bss. for extending these works, investigation lc analysis for cn and. the important information about cn and bs third suspected component of the system is a red dwarf with a mass of about 0.1100 m☉, at 38 ± 4 years’ the orbit around the binary. the variability of the star cn and (bd = +39059, gsc = 2787 – 1815, ppm = 42831, tyc 2787 – 1815-1, ra = 00 h 20 m 30.60 s, dec = +40 13 m 33.8 s spectral type f5v near contact was observed by hoffmeister in 1949.[29] based on the image data[15,32] classified the system as an algol-like binary skelton and smits classified, it as a w uma-like system.[23,32] the information about bs cn and for the first and second stars is very important, the period of cn andromeda is 0.46279 days and contains in table 1. its eclipse depths differ by some 0.3000 mages in v. it is also an active solar-type binary with components of spectral type in the f5 to g5 range. for the first star, we have the following information m1 = 1.4330, r1=1.4800, l1=3.400 and t1=6450. furthermore, for the second star, the following information exist m2=0.5520, r2=0.9500, l2=0.4000, and t2=4726. the cn andromeda has been observed by many authors and the v band light curve of cn andromeda shows in figure 2.[33,34] in this work, we study the phenomenon known as the dark coefficient and its relationship to the bs system shows in figure 3, an approach that lies within atmospheric studies. in addition, we selected a cn and star using filters (b, g, r, and i), and for each star, a certain temperature was used, as indicated by the program van hamme, as well as the darkness of the limbs as well as the reflection effect. the light curve model the profundities of the essential and auxiliary minimums within the orbital lc are distinctively demonstrating that the figure 1: shows lc for binary star system[8] temperatures of the two stars, although similar, they are the difference. for this reason, the attempt to model the system as w uma with thermally exposed components failed. the foundation for the bright fringe analysis was created using w-d’s composite light fringe and differential correction program in 1971 adjusted by wilson (1979) to incorporate the spiral speed. the overhauled form of the program utilized (may 2003 form) incorporates the expansion of round pixels figure 2: the v band light curve of cn and figure 3: cataclysmic bs photograph for cn and hussein: light curve analysis for short period eclipsing binary cn andromeda 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 42-48 and kurucz’s demonstrate atmosphere, it adjusts the lc to bandwidth standard rather than the effective wavelength dimming. by studying this curve, a large number of fundamental astrophysical quantities can be determined in lc analysis. illustrating the lc shown in figure 5, the choice of ld rules is restricted to those implemented in the light curve codec we are using. it is important to generate results for several coefficients of difference to determine their effect on the solution. the photometric analysis of cn and in arrange to decide, the photometric and geometric parameters to analysis, an overhauled adaptation of the w-d program was utilized, consolidating the expansion of photosphere focuses and altering the lc at diverse transfer speeds. introductory values were gotten from distributed lc arrangements. after numerous tests, we have determined a set of parameters that are representative of the observed lc shows in figure 6. the parameters adopted in the solution are as takes after: the temperature of first star is 6150k, the value of ld coefficients (x1=x2=0.4860) for v, 0.589 for b, 0.401 for r, and 0.475 for i bands), the value of the gravity-darkening coefficients (g1=g2=0.320), the esteem of the albedo (a1=a2=0.50).[1,6,33] the tuning parameters utilized are orbital slant (i), normal temperature of the moment star (t1) the possibilities of the components ω1 and ω2, as well as the monochromatic. the tuning parameters used are orbital inclination (i), mass ratio (q), average temperature of the second star (t2) the potentials of the components (ω1 and ω2), as well as the monochromatic luminosity for first star (l1). fitting for calculating lc is stamped with strong lines in figure 4 in v, b, r, and i bands. the photometric parameters are recorded in tables 2 and 3. the lc within the show do not coordinate the watched information wells close the 0.2500 phase. for solving these, lc is as follows. since there is asymmetry in the height of the cn and insulation curve and in each band as seen in figure 5, the second maximum is the brightest point, for coming up with the aim that main half of the curve. insulation is disturbed by a cool place. let the 0.500–1.000 phase is unaffected by the point, at the same time, only 0.5 of the isolation curve is adjusted to produce binary parameters. where ω1 and ω2 are surfaces potential components, c1 and c2 are potential components, f1 and f2 are fill out of the major and minor stars components, and l1 and l1 are absolute parameters for component in the unit of solar luminosity’s. the absolute parameters of cn and flux for the star is the total amount of energy intercepted by the detector divided by the area of the detector, and the unit of flux is (joule/meter2). for determining the absolute parameters of cn and using equations (2) to (5), contains in references.[4,5] utilizing matlab program for calculating the parameters and recording in table 4. a p m m3 2 1 274 5= +. ( ). (1) r ar1 1= , r ar2 2= (2) figure 4: gometrically of cn and created by phoebe at stages 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 individually figure 5: descripts plot lc of eclipsing contact binary for cn and, one much brighter than the other hussein: light curve analysis for short period eclipsing binary cn andromeda 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 42-48 table 2: the output parameters for cn and numbers the output parameters 1 lagrangian l1=3.3982 lagrangian l2=0.3973 2 c inner=3.901906 c outer=3.559725 3 c1=3.901119 c2=3.901120 4 surface area one=2.733721 surface area two=1.145659 5 ω1=2.65400 ω1=2.65400 6 ωinner=2.654547 ωouter=2.416986 7 r1 (back)= 0.491417 r2 (back) = 0.325067 8 r1 (side) = 0.464739 r2 (side) = 0.292310 9 r1 (pole)= 0.435205 r2 (pole) = 0.280430 10 mean radius one=0.463787 mean radius two=0.299264 11 f1=0.002310 f1=0.002310 table 3: lc fitting components of cn and parameters star one star two surface potential ω 2.654001 2.654001 limb darkening 0.8061 0.8329 reflection 1.4328 0.9497 temperature 6451.00 5376.00 gravity darkening 0.3210 0.3210 distance of separation 9.6201 orbital inclination 68.5099 mass ratio m m 2 1     0.38520 period of orbit 0.4627 l r t1 1 2 1 4= , l r t2 2 2 2 4= (3) m m q1 1 = + , (4) m m q2 1 1 = + , (5) f inner inner outer = − − ( ) ( ) ,ω ω ω ω 1 2 (6) the bolometric magnitudes – mbol1 and mbol2 the astronomer allen in (1976) constructed this relationship for computing the parameters.[2] m t r rbol1 1 1 0 42 3600 5= − −. log( ) log( ) (7) m t r rbol2 2 2 0 42 3600 5= − −. log( ) log( ) (8) the formulas of equations (7) and (8) used for compute the bolometric magnitudes (bm), utilizing matlab program for calculating the parameters and recorded in table 5 the radius of the sun is r0 = 69570000m. the present work shows the suitable armpit parameters for sp binary systems. g c t e c t 1 2 14 1 2 1 = −λ λ[ ] ( ) (9) g c t e c t 2 2 24 1 2 2 = −λ λ[ ] ( ) (10) computing the reflection coefficients using these equations. e t t e t c t eff c t 1 1 2 4 1 1 2 1 2 2 1 = − − ( ) ( ) ( ) λ λ (11) e t t e t c t eff c t 2 2 1 4 1 2 2 2 2 1 1 = − − ( ) ( ) ( ) λ λ (12) the lc from present observations the lc of cn and in v, b, i, and r bands was showed in figure 4. a round for phasing = 0.00 and nearly flat for phasing = 0.50 primary eclipse was observed, which is total eclipsing configuration for system. primarily, eclipse is clearly deeper than for secondary eclipse. the contrast between essential and auxiliary minima ranges in greatness from 0.260 to 0.300 in groups v, b, i, and r. then, the most least is more profound and happens when the hotter star passing behind cooler star. the shallower auxiliary least happens when the cooler star takes after the hotter star. the distinction between the essential greatest stage = 0.250 and the essential greatest. the minimum magnitude is about 0.460, 0.480, 0.480, and 0.500, magnitudes in i, v, r, and b bands. the different between secondary maximum phase = 0.750 and secondary minimum ranges from 0.230 to 0.240 magnitude for i, v, r, and b bands. in the w uma type system, because the two stars are so closer together, there table 1: the coordinates of the equator and the equinox 2000, hd, and bd no. for the short-lived binary (sp) star of (sqr) as used in the present work bs period day bh eclipse depth binary orbit rm dec. spectral type h m s deg m s cn and 0.462796 +3959 0.3000 1.50×10−7 00 20 30.55 +40 13 33.8 f hussein: light curve analysis for short period eclipsing binary cn andromeda 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 42-48 table 5: subparameters adjusted for active short period of cn and cn and pass bands mbol1 mbol1 g1 g2 eeff1 eeff2 b v r i 0.58897 0.48602 0.40099 0.47524 0.58897 0.486011 0.40099 0.47524 0.87849 0.81779 0.76771 0.78553 0.99329 0.93449 0.88572 0.90321 6.32448 6.79388 7.23628 7.12423 5.59357 5.94547 6.27219 6.13827 exist constant light variation in addition to lunar eclipses. in addition, the stars will suffer from gravitational distortion and heating effects. these effects show the asymmetric lc of the w uma type system. the watched lc of cn and were found to be deviated around the essential and auxiliary crests, with the auxiliary top being brighter than the essential. the distinction in adequacy between stage at 0.750, brighter, and stage at 0.250 shifts from 0.0390 to 0.04100 mag in groups v, b, i, and r. this can be more often than not clarified by the nearness of stains on binary system components. this indicates that the lc of cn and show the o’connell effect. conclusions from this study, the evolution of lc photometric observations for binary cn and is discussed, photometric arrangements have been gotten by solving v, b, r, and i. the absolute parameters and bm coefficients are computed for it. when modeling bs lc, atlas stellar atmosphere models calculations should be used rather than al-naimiys calculations,[4,7] which were based on carbon and gingerich models in 1969,[4,7] concluding the following points:1. it is need to conduct additional observations of the system using 1000 m telescopes. with optimum mass ratio of q = 0.306000. binary may well be an a-type over contact bs, agreeing to the current photometric arrangement in tables 3 and 4. the mass ratio is relatively close to the indicator-derived spectroscopic is 0.325000. 2. there is small variation between parameters when comparing it with the others related published work in the same area. mentioned in tables 4 and 5. table 4: current work in relation to other research works the name of star mbol1 mbol1 mbol1 mbol1 mbol1 mbol1 mbol1 cn and binary star 1.4301 (2) 0.9200 (1) 1.3002 (5) 0.5101 (2) van hamme in 2001 1.47998 (2) 0.9402 (1) 1.41989 (1) 0.5602 (3) 3.5199 (8) 0.9980 (35) prˇsa, a. in 2005 1.4801 (4) 0.9499 1.43298 (31) 0.5520 (2) 3.4003 0.4003 siwak in 2010 1.4774 (2) 0.95003 1.4125 (2) 0.54775 (3) 3.5294 0.8753 awadalla in 2016. 1.4502 (2) 0.9401 (1) 1.4003 (3) 0.54997 (2) 3.4102 (8) 0.9304 (5) muhammed in 2019 1.3451 (2) 0.8733 (4) 1.2457 (3) 0.4951 (2) 3.1885 0.6441 (3) helen in 2020. 1.4782 (3) 0.9456 1.4456 (2) 0.5497 3.3982 (4) 0.3973 present work (2022) figure 6: lc fitting for v, b, r, and i filter for cn and, respectively hussein: light curve analysis for short period eclipsing binary cn andromeda 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 42-48 3. that spin up at a rate around 100 times faster than the sun, indicating a significant level of magnetic activity. the current lc will be imply that the spots have vanished, symmetry, and volatility light curves are markers of spot activity. 4. form the results appear that the primary star is the more enormous and hotter component, whereas the second star is the less enormous and cooler one. 5. the estimated orbital inclination of i = 82,000 suggesting that the cn and system is a general partial lunar eclipse. the higher mass component has a temperature t1 up to t = 6231 k higher than to the smaller component. it brings in less light. geometric exposure f defined in equation (8) is 1.010%, which means that cn and is an overexposed bs, according to symmetry of the lc. 6. the increasing stellar wind that has caused long-term drop for orbital period can be described for cn and is an over contact bs with a shared convective envelope between both components (f = 24.900%). 7. according to the results, indicated that the chosen system could conjointly be a contact system and also absolutely the parameters of the components are determined with acceptable accuracy that the physical parameters are obtained in associate in suitable manner extremely uniform technique. references 1. s. h. alebcar and l. p. vaz. limb darkening coefficients of illuminated atmospheres results for illuminated line blanketed modules. journal of astronomy astrophysics supplement, vol. 135, no. 2, pp. 555-566, 1999. 2. c. w. allen. astrophysical quantities. 3rd ed. the athlon press, london, 1976. 3. h. al-naimiy. linearized of limb darkening coefficients for use in analysis of es light curves. journal of astrophysics and space sciences, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 181-192, 1978. 4. h. m. k. al-naimiy. starspots studies for three short period rs cvn-type binaries. journal of astrophysics, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 233247, 2001. 5. n. s. awadalla, m. a. hanna, m. n. ismail, i. a. hassan and m. a. elkhamisy. period variation study and light curve analysis of the esgsc 02013-00288. journal of applied mathematics and nonlinear sciences, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 321-334, 2016. 6. d. barrado, m. j. fernandez and b. montesinos. the age-mass relation for chromo spherically active binaries. l the evolutionary status. journal of astronomy and astrophysics, vol. 290, pp.143157, 1994. 7. d. h. bradstreet. catalog and atlas of eclipsing binaries. department of physics science-eastern university, new york, 2004. 8. a. claret. a new nonlinear limb 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stars. journal of astronomy and astrophysics, vol. 498, no. 6, pp. 567-574, 2009. 14. j. diaz-cordoves, a. claret and a. gimenez. a linear and nonlinear limb darkening coefficients for lte model atmospheres. journal of astronomy and astrophysics, vol. 110, no. 7, pp. 329-340, 1995. 15. j. diaz-cordoves and a. gimenez. a new nonlinear approximation to the darkening of hot stars. journal of astronomy, vol. 75, no. 8, pp. 175-189, 1992. 16. r. s. donald, a. o. jerome, w. gur and f. w. william. accurate computation of lc and the resister mclaughlin effect in multi body eclipsing systems. the astronomical journal, vol. 156, no. 297, pp. 48-63, 2018. 17. e. gillen. new low-mass es systems in praesepe discovered by k2. journal of the astrophysical, vol. 849, no. 1, pp. 25-38, 2017. 18. a. essam, a. nakhlawy and m. a. rassem. the first photometric analyses and classification of the wuma essystems gsc 1283-53 and gsc 702-1892. nriag journal of astronomy and geophysics, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 1-7, 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guide to physics of eclipsing binaries. i demonstrations and perspectives. journal of astronomy physics, vol. 628, no. 7, pp. 426-441, 2005. 29. s. m. rucinski, j. m. kreiner, m. siwak and m. drozdz. physical parameters of components in close binary systems: ii. journal of acta astronomical, vol. 54, no. 5, pp. 195-206, 2010. 30. s. o. selam. key parameters of w uma-type contact binaries discovered by hipparcos. journal of astronomy and astrophysics, vol. 416, no. 2, pp. 1097-1109, 2004. 31. p. l. skelton and d. p. smits. modelling of w uma-type variable stars. south african journal of science, vol. 105, no. 3, pp. 120127, 2009. 32. d. sukanta and p. harinder. physical parameters of 62 eclipsing bs using the all sky automated survey-3 data i. journal of astronomy society, vol. 412, no. 3, pp. 1787-1803, 2011. 33. w. van hamme. cn andromeda: a broken contact binary. journal hussein: light curve analysis for short period eclipsing binary cn andromeda 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 42-48 of the american astronomical society, vol. 122, 2, pp. 3436-3446, 2001. 34. p. vinod, j. c. pandey, j. k. mano and d. c. srivastava. bvri photometric and polar metric studies of w uma type esfo hydra. journal of new astronomy, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 52-61, 2013. 35. m. r. h. nelson, h. v. enavc, i. ozavcı and d. gumu. light curve and orbital period analysis of vx lac. journal of revista mexicana de astronomy astrophysical, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 29-36, 2017. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 119 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 119-124 research article apply parametric shared frailty models to colorectal cancer patients hevi j. hameed, mohammad m. faqe college of administration and economics, university of sulaimani, kurdistan region, iraq abstract colorectal cancer is a combination of colon and rectal cancer that indicates an abnormal growth of cells in either the colon or rectum and is named according to its original location. after treatment, cancer may return to the primary site of the original tumor or to a different location in the body once or more, which is called recurrent. this paper aimed to model this type of data from 128 colorectal cancer patients collected at hiwa hospital in sulaimani considering the gamma shared and inverse gaussian shared frailty models for analyzing the patient’s survival times with colorectal cancer recurrence and estimate the prognostic factor’s impact on their survival. the results of these frailty models compared to those without frailty models using weibull, log-logistic, and lognormal as a baseline distribution for both models. to identify the best model for the data, the akaike information criterion (aic) and bayesian information criterion (bic) were also used. results showed that the cancer stage was the only significant factor affecting survival in recurrent events, as well as evidence of existing heterogeneity in colorectal patients. according to aic and bic, the weibull as baseline distribution with shared gamma frailty model proved the most efficient model for the colorectal recurrent data. in conclusion, the shared frailty model is better than no frailty when analyzing this type of data. keywords: survival analysis, recurrent events, inverse gaussian shared frailty, failure time model, gamma shared frailty model introduction survival analysis is a branch of statistics that contains survival data analysis methods with the response variable being the time required for occurring an event of interest.[1] the event may be death, the onset of a disease, and the required time the patient takes to therapy response or the interval between response and disease recurrence. the event itself is a state transition, and the time to an event is a variable with a positive real value and a continuous distribution.[2] regression models with the response distribution set to time-to-failure are known as parametric survival models. the capacity to take into consideration the censoring and truncation is another feature that distinguishes survival models from normal regression models. specifically, the response distribution must have positive support, weibull, log-normal, and log-logistic are some examples of such distributions.[3] a frailty model is the random effects time-to-event model, in which the frailty effects the baseline hazard multiplicatively. it can be applied for independent lifetime data (univariate), or for multivariate (dependent) duration times. this multivariate method mostly used for related individuals survival times, such as family members or twins, when the assumption of independence cannot stand, or for recurring occurrences in the same individual, or for times of various events in the same individual, for instance disease start, and relapse recurrence.[4] shared frailty models are the time-to-event data analog to random effects model. it is a model wherever frailties shared by groups of observations or multiple records in the same observation instead of specific observation, thus causing the same group’s observations to be correlated. in these models, the main idea is that each individual has different frailty, and the frailest will experience the event of interest earlier than the less frail subjects in the data.[5] according to the world health organization (who), the second-leading cause of cancer-related mortality globally is colorectal cancer. patients getting curative resection for localized illness had a 5-year survival rate of 70–90%. in contrast, when there are metastases in the regional lymph node, this probability lowers to 40–80%. the most effective cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: hevi j. hameed, college of administration and economics, university of sulaimani, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: hevi.hameed@univsul.edu.iq received: july 18, 2022 accepted: august 11, 2022 published: november 01, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp119-124 copyright © 2022 hevi j. hameed, mohammad m. faqe. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). hameed and faqe: apply shared frailty models to cancer patients 120 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 119-124 technique is a surgical treatment to colorectal cancers’ cure; however, recurrences happen at a steady rate depending on the disease stage.[6] colorectal cancer frequently returns after at least a year. when it is simply an advanced form of the original cancer, or when it occurs within a few months. in this case, the cancer frequently returns, because the first round of treatment did not eliminate all of the cancer cells, the patient may be more tired than usual, and depending on whether and where the cancer has spread, the doctor performs a physical examination and an endoscopy of the colon at regular intervals during these examinations, which usually take place every 3–6 month.[6] ignoring the presence of heterogeneity leads to inaccurate parameter estimates and standard errors in survival analysis. it may also overstate life expectancy. underestimation of covariate effects when heterogeneity is disregarded. discounting frailty causes the estimate of regression coefficients to be biased toward zero by an amount that relies on the distribution and variability of the frailty factors.[7] while there are several studies that have considered frailty and shared frailty models, to the best of our knowledge, none have considered the recurring events of colorectal cancer, and this is the first examination of the factors affecting patient survival without colorectal recurrence using shared frailty model in accelerated failure time (aft) metric. this article demonstrated the application of frailty models to recurrent tumor events in the colorectal cancer dataset. frailty models are the extension of common survival models such as (aft models cox proportional hazard and parametric proportional hazard). this article focused only on aft models and their extension. various extensions from univariate frailty models are possible to multivariate frailty models and one of these is considered in this study, namely, shared frailty models, which will share frailty among groups or clusters, where the cluster can be an individual or a group. here, groups recurring events in the same person in patients with colorectal cancer. materials and methods constructing random effects models can be useful in recurrent occurrences studies over time or other sorts of multivariate survival data; it is a common phenomenon to tackle such problems utilizing frailty models. many statistical strategies for adjusting and evaluating unobserved heterogeneity have been developed. modeling unobserved variability in survival data is a topic that has received a lot of attention in recent decades. unobserved heterogeneity, often known as hidden variability, is a significant source of variation in medical and biological applications. variability is classified into two types: that produced by observable risk variables and that affected by unknown variables that are ideally unpredictable.[8] in the present paper, we considered the no frailty model and the shared frailty model. the no frailty model aft models are discussed without taking frailty into account, while, in shared frailty, model survival models are analyzed using frailty effects. our study interest is about the colorectal cancer recurrent disease. frailty models are best models can be used to describe such unobserved heterogeneity in timeto-event analysis. the effect of heterogeneity, or frailty, has been recognized for a long time, there are several methods to access the frailty effect. we choose gamma distribution and inverse gaussian distribution for evaluating the frailty effect, because they have a simple density function, for which parameters are easily obtained through likelihood estimation. survival analysis functions we start with a time-to-failure random variable (t) and specify the density function for t as f(t), the survivor function s(t) = p(t>t) the cumulative distribution function can be described as f(t) = p(t≤t) = 1−s(t). in this context, one more function that stands out is the hazard function �h t f t s t � � � ( ) ( ) it is the instantaneous failure rate up till time t given survival.[3] cox proportional hazards the cox proportional hazards model is a method of multiple regressions for determining the impact on survival time from several covariates. h t z h t exp zt| ( )� � � � �0 β (1) where h0(t) enotes a legitimate hazard function (failure rate) for some unspecified life distribution model, β, is a vector of parameters, and z is a covariate vector.[9] aft model when examining survival time data, an alternative to the proportional hazard (ph) model is the aft model. we investigated the direct effect of explanatory variables on survival time rather than risk using aft models. for the reason that the parameters assess the corresponding covariates effect on survival time, this feature enables the result’s interpretation be more easier than other models.[9] according to the aft model, an individual at time t with covariate z has the survival function as same as an individual at time {t×exp(βtz)} with a baseline survival function, where βt = (β1β2……βp) is a regression coefficients vector; also, the aft model can be defined by this relationship: s t z s t e tz | { }� � � � � � 0 β for all z (2) the aft model is a log-scale in relation to time that it gives the analogous to the ordinary linear regression method. in this method, we model the log (t) = y, in which it is the survival time’s natural logarithm. this is how positive variables are naturally transformed into observations along the full real line in linear models. for y, a linear model is assumed: log t y zt� � � � � �µ β σε (3) where βt = (β1β2……βp) is regression coefficients vector μ = intercept σ = cale parameter the error distribution = ε which assumed to have a specific parametric distribution. when we denote by s0 the survival function when z = 0. hameed and faqe: apply shared frailty models to cancer patients 121 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 119-124 we adopt the following baseline hazard functions h(t) and survival functions s(t) the parameter λ,p:[9] 1. weibull h t �( ) = λptp−1 (4) s( )t �= e tp−λ (5) 2. lognormal h t logt logt t � � � �� � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � µ σ µ σ σ , 1 (6) s t logt� � � � �� � � � � �1 � µ σ (7) 3. log-logistic h t � � pt t p � p ( ) � � �λ λ 1 1 (8) s( )t tp � � 1 1 λ (9)[9] frailty models a generalization of the survival regression model is a frailty model. in addition to the observed covariates, a frailty model also allows for the latent multiplicative effect to be presence on the risk function. this impact, or frailty, is inferred rather than directly determined from the data. it is supposed having limited variance and its mean equal to one. when the frailty is larger than one, people have a higher risk of failing and are considered to be frailer than others. thus, frailty models can be a valuable alternative to ordinary time –to-event models, while the standard models are unable to fully account for the variation in failure observed times.[3] aft shared frailty model the applicable choice for multivariate time-to-event data is the shared aft frailty model. supposing log tij is the natural logarithm of the jth recurrent event’s survival time in the ith subject for colorectal cancer patient. where i = 1,2,3,…ni patients number j = 1,2,3,4, recurrent events and zij be the covariates vector related to each individual. now, the shared frailty model in aft form can be given by, logt z uij ij t i ij� � � �µ β σ (10) where μ is the parameter of intercept β, the unknown regression coefficients vector, the scale parameter is σ the ∈ij, are the random errors, in which distributed identically independent and the ui are the random effects for specific individual (each patient) which is supposed to be a random variable with density function that is independent identically distributed. f(ui) in this paper, we supposed that the random effect (shared frailty) had inverse gaussian and gamma distribution with variance θ and unit mean, as described in the density functions bellow.[10] gamma distribution f u u exp u u � � � � �( / ) / ( ) ( ) 1 1 11 θ θ θ γ θ θ (11)[10] inverse gaussian distribution f u �� à u u u �� uu � � � � � � � � � � �� �� � � � � � � � � ��1 2 1 2 0 0 1 2 3 2 2 θ θ θ / / exp , (12) the conditional hazard function and survival function could be written as follows for the jth observation in the ith patient: h t|u t �h uij i ij ij i� � � 1 0σ ( | ) (13) s t|u s uij i ij i� � � 0( | ) (14) where ij ij ij t ilogt z u� � � �µ β σ/ (15) h0 (.), s0 (.) are and survival function of ∈ij espectively, and β refers to the covariate coefficient’s vector associated with the covariates vector zij measured in the jth event of ith subject.[10] model assessment we employed akaike information criterion (aic) in addition to bayesian information criterion (bic) to compare and select the efficient model among parametric aft models without frailty with three distributions as baseline and those aft models with two different shared frailty model (gamma and inverse gaussian). akaike’s (1974) information criterion defined by akaike is: aic lnl h m� � � � �2 2( ) (16) where h indicates the covariate numbers in the model, for instance m = 2 in weibull, because it has two parameters. the smaller aic value is considered as better model. another fit measure is bayesian information criterion defined by schwarz in (1978), bic lnl ln n� � � �2 2 ( ) (17) the number of data points is represented by n, where n is the sample size. the bic estimate has the main advantage of including the bic penalty for the number of parameters being evaluated. the best model is determined by having the lowest bic values.[11] data description and analysis description of the data in this study, 128 cases of colorectal cancer were recorded at hiwa hospital in sulaimani city. cases were collected over a period of (59) months; beginning from january 7, 2017, to july 20, 2021, for the colorectal cancer patients who were alive at the time that they took part in the study. data from colorectal hameed and faqe: apply shared frailty models to cancer patients 122 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 119-124 cancer patients who were diagnosed at the time the patients entered the study. the event of interest is recurrences of tumors. of those patients, 68 were randomized to the group that had just received chemotherapy, and 60 were randomized to the group that received both chemotherapy and radiation therapy. multiple tumor recurrences occurred in many patients during the study, and at each visit, the new tumors were removed. the dataset contains the first four tumor recurrences of each patient. furthermore, each time of recurrence was measured from the patient’s time of entry into the study. about 28.9% had at least the first recurrence and 11% of the patients had the second recurrence, while 5.5% had the third recurrent event, 2.3% had all four recurrences. the data consist of the following variables as demonstrated in table 1 id, patient identification (this is the sequence number of the subject), follow-up time: the time from the (diagnosis) or the start of the study to the end of it. time 1, time 2, time 3, and time 4, are the times of the four potential recurrences of colorectal cancer in months. a patient with only two recurrences has missing values in time 3 and time 4. four observations are made for each patient, one for each of the four possible tumor recurrences. the treatment type that each patient received is demonstrated as (0 = chemotherapy and 1 = chemotherapy with radiotherapy). initial size and initial tumor size measured in centimeters (cm). stage (the cancer stage at which the patient was first diagnosed), and age (the age of the patient). for the aft without frailty model, the data considered have only the first event (recurrent) or the follow-up time if no relapse is observed. the frequencies and percentages of explanatory variables are given in table 2 that 53.1% of the patients received chemotherapy, while (46.9%) received chemotherapy with radiation therapy. in respect to our data, the patients were table 1: the first and last 8 observations from colorectal cancer patient’s data id follow-up time time 1 time 2 time 3 time 4 treatment initial size stage age 1 31 0 2.6 4 51 2 41 26 36 41 0 4 4 47 3 52 7 12 41 45 0 5 3 42 4 19 0 9 3 62 5 16 0 3.5 2 62 6 24 9 0 4.5 2 60 7 21 0 1.5 2 78 8 39 33 0 4 4 35 121 12 1 5.2 3 79 122 11 1 4.5 2 36 123 10 1 2 1 2.5 3 48 124 9 1 5 3 69 125 11 1 3.5 3 44 126 10 1 4.6 3 66 127 6 1 5 3 66 128 32 8 13 1 5 2 38 table 2: explain frequencies and percentages of explanatory variables variables categories code frequency (n=128), n (%) treatment group chemotherapy (0) 68 (53.1) chemotherapy with radiotherapy (1) 60 (46.9) cancer stage low stage (0) 48 (37.5) high stage (1) 8062.5) initial size ≤2.5 cm (1) 18 (14.06) 2.6–5 cm (2) 52 (40.63) ≥5 (3) 58 (45.31) age <50 (0) 47 (36.7) ≥50 (1) 81 (63.3) response the response is a time to recurrent event or follow-up table 3: the values of bayesian information criterion and akaike information criterion for the parametric accelerated failure time shared frailty models distributions of baseline the distribution of frailty aic bic weibull without frailty gamma inverse gaussian 302.4751 294.9285 296.3048 325.0553 320.7345 322.1108 lognormal without frailty gamma inverse gaussian 305.4182 297.7116 299.0783 327.9984 323.5176 324.8843 log logistic without frailty gamma inverse gaussian 304.4661 297.0295 298.4006 327.0464 322.8355 324.2066 bic: bayesian information criterion, aic: akaike information criterion hameed and faqe: apply shared frailty models to cancer patients 123 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 119-124 diagnosed according to their initial cancer stages with 37.5% which were diagnosed in lower stage (stage one and stage two), while patients of higher stages (stage three and four) made up the top proportion, progressing to (62.5%). regarding patients’ initial tumor sizes (14.06%), their tumors were less than or equal to 2.5 cm, whereas 40.63% their tumor sizes were between 2.6 and 5 cm as well as sizes larger or equal to 5 cm correlated to 45.31% of cases, finally in regards to the patients age groups, 36.7% were less than 50 years, while whose more than or equal to 50 years were (63.3%). the data analyzed with stata 14 program. results according to the results in table 3, the values of aic and bic for several parametric aft models employing inverse gaussian and gamma shared frailty models, as well as models without frailty. the gamma shared frailty model with weibull baseline distribution recorded the lowest value of aic and bic among other models tested, demonstrating the efficiency of this model for describing the colorectal cancer recurrence dataset using some parametric aft models. table 4 demonstrates the results of the weibull aft model (without frailty) and with inverse gaussian as well as gamma shared frailty model using weibull distribution as baseline which was the best model for data from patients with colorectal cancer. the table presented estimated values (β, time ratio (tr), p-value, estimated baseline distribution parameters (p), and frailty variance θ) with their likelihoodratio test. in all three models, the only significant prognostic factor was the patient’s initial cancer stage with time ratio values (0.275, 0.295, and 0.294) for weibull without frailty, weibull with gamma shared model, and weibull with inverse gaussian shared models, respectively, all of them are less than one indicates that patients with a higher initial stage are accelerating the time to relapse for the patient. in addition, the both results of frailty models indicated the significant of heterogeneity (θ) between patients according to the significance-likelihood-ratio test of theta (θ = 0) with values 1.100818 for the gamma shared frailty model and 1.068641 for the shared inverse gaussian model indicating that there is a frailty effect affects the resulting of the data which tell us that the data is not homogeneous, but heterogeneous some patients are more frails than others. although each patient has the same covariate value, the heterogeneity impacts the patient’s recurring event. the estimates from the inverse table 4: weibull accelerated failure time with and without shared frailty model for colorectal cancer patients parameter weibull (without frailty) weibull (gamma frailty) weibull (inverse gaussian frailty) β tr p β tr p β tr p treatment 0.093 1.098 0.705 0.0791 0.804 1.0823 0.0612 1.063 0.846 age 0.2351 1.264 0.356 0.243 0.461 1.275 0.280 1.323 0.388 stage −1.288 0.275 0.001* −1.217 0.005* 0.295 −1.222 0.294 0.005* initial size (cm) ≤2.5 ref 1 ref 1 ref 1 2.6–5 0.489 1.63 0.236 0.359 1.43 0.487 0.384 1.468 0.459 ≥5 0.258 1.29 0.491 0.105 1.11 0.823 0.157 1.17 0.740 intercept 4.549 0.0000 4.5792 0.0000 4.538 0.0000 p 1.078 1.1008 1.097 frailty (θ) --θ=(1.100818) prob ≥ chibar2=0.001* θ=(1.068641) prob ≥ chibar2=0.002* *significance at 99% level or (0.01). ref: reference level which its time ratio always equals to one. tr: time ratio table 5: the survival rate at lower stage (0) and higher stage (1) for weibull with gamma shared id time stage s (t) 1 31 1 0.6443853 2 26 1 0.627423 2 36 1 0.5416252 2 41 1 0.5063942 126 10 1 0.8720858 127 6 1 0.9003416 128 8 0 0.9505355 128 13 0 0.9184979 128 32 0 0.8074583 figure 1: the survival rate at the levels of stage hameed and faqe: apply shared frailty models to cancer patients 124 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 119-124 gaussian shared frailty model are quite close to the results from the gamma shared frailty models, showing the analysis’s robustness with respect to the baseline function choice. from table 5, it is clear that with regular repetition of recurrent events the patient’s survival decreases steadily. figure 1 represents the survival rate at lower stage (0) and higher stage (1) for weibull with gamma shared frailty which was the best fitting model; furthermore, this figure demonstrates the same results as the numerical does that the patients with lower cancer stages at most survive as the higher cancer stage. conclusion and recommendation conclusion from performing the recurrent event or more commonly multivariate survival data, according to the results the paper obtained, the following conclusions were drawn: 1. the shared frailty model, as an extension of the cox model for time-to event data is an excellent choice of recurrent events, particularly when observations of the same subject share an unobservable common frailty. it obviously considers the possibility of dependence between downtimes. 2. based on aic as well as bic to compare the shared frailty aft models, it is concluded that the shared frailty aft model using weibull distribution as the baseline was the most appropriate model to the data set used in this paper. 3. among (treatment group, age, cancer stage, and initial size) as prognostic factors the only variable that affecting survival time to recurrent event was initial cancer stage, it is noted that the higher stage will accelerate the time to event, meaning that the diagnoses with the early stages of cancer reduce the chances of cancer recurrence. 4. ignoring un observed heterogeneity may lead to overestimate or underestimate the estimated coefficients. recommendation 1. performing univariate frailty models and shared frailty models by comparing both results to get more information about the use of frailty models in each circumstance and differences among them. 2. more studies should be done in this field because such studies are important and relate to people’s lives. 3. providing qualified endoscopy machines in several hospitals and care units for the early detection of colon cancer hence lowering the incidence as well as recurring rates of it. 4. data should be registered in health authorities so that researchers can conduct the research in detail and get interesting results. references 1. m. r. karim and m. a. islam. reliability and survival analysis. singapore: springer nature pvt ltd., 2019. 2. d. d. hanagal. modeling survival data using frailty models. boca raton, fl: chapman & hall/crc, 2011. 3. r. g. gutierrez. parametric frailty and shared frailty survival models. the stata journal, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 22-44, 2002. 4. a. wienke. frailty models in survival analysis. london, united kingdom: chapman and hall/crc, 2010. 5. g. grover and d. seth. application of frailty models on advance liver disease using gamma as frailty distribution. srl, vol. 3, pp. 42-50, 2014. 6. h. kobayashi, h. mochizuki, k. sugihara, t. morita, k. kotake, t. teramoto, s. kameoka, y. saito, k. takahashi, k. hase, m. oya, k. maeda, t. hirai, m. kameyama, k. shirouzu and t. muto. characteristics of recurrence and surveillance tools after curative resection for colorectal cancer: a multicenter study. surgery, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 67-75, 2007. 7. u. abdulkarimova. frailty models for modelling heterogeneity. canada: mcmasters university, 2013. 8. k. adeleke and g. grover. parametric frailty models for clustered survival data: application to recurrent asthma attack in infants. journal of statistics applications and probability letters, vol. 6, pp. 89-99, 2019. 9. a. gebeyehu. survival analysis of time-to-first birth after marriage among women in ethiopia: application of parametric shared frailty model. jimma: department of statistics, college of natural sciences, jimma university, 2015. 10. k. d. fentaw, s. m. fenta, h. b. biresaw and s. s. mulugeta, time to first antenatal care visit among pregnant women in ethiopia: secondary analysis of edhs 2016; application of aft shared frailty models. archives of public health, vol. 79, no. 1, pp. 1-14, 2021. 11. p. k. swain and g. grover. determination of predictors associated with hiv/aids patients on art using accelerated failure time model for interval censored survival data. american journal of biostatistics, vol. 6, pp. 12-19, 2016. _goback tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 1-7 research article age of women as a parameter affecting ca-125, tsh, and cbc: a correlation study muhsin h. ubeid1, ameena s. m. juma1, tanya s. salih2, shilan s. kamel1, shakir m. al-awqati3 1department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of physiotherapy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of nutrition and dietetics, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract one of the cancer’s antigens is the ca125, which is a protein antigen, found at excessively high levels in females characterized with ovarian cancer. it is suggested for ovarian cancer screening of women that are at higher risk to get the disease, despite its limited sensitivity and specificity. this study is conducted to identify possible correlations between ca125 and thyroid stimulating hormone (tsh) levels with parameters of hematological origin among women of different ages. this study included 44 healthy looking females, and 20 individuals as control group most but not all patients were from erbil. the study revealed that, ca125 and tsh levels were not associated. furthermore, the elevation of the ca125 levels in the females could be related to other non-cancerous factors such as menstrual cycle, or postmenopausal. furthermore, wbc parameters and hb levels were not affected by ca125. the only parameter that was affected by ca125 elevation was rbcs. the research recorded a significant difference of rbc between patient group and control group. also recorded, no difference to be considered as an indication related to the difference in women age. keywords: cancer antigen 125, thyroid stimulating hormone, white blood cells, red blood cells, pregnant women introduction identified women with ovarian cancer are likely to have the cancer protein antigen ca125 at excessively high levels their blood of yurkovetsky et al.[1] sikaris[2] stated that the serosal epithelial cells produce ca125 naturally. and this product can be found in both malignant and benign serosal fluids. meanwhile, bast et al.[3] advocated in a small segment of diseased patients that the ascending of the ca125 levels facilitated the triggering of transvaginal sonography. further, yurkovetsky et al.[1] stated that the blood serum of a large segment of healthful females contained levels lower than 35 units/µl of ca125. besides, there were indicators of noncancerous origin contributed to the elevation of ca125 levels. other scholars stated, when thyroid hormons extensively exposed they have the tendency to influence ovarian tumors development.[4] in addition,[5] in their vitro research illustrated that at the physiological levels both hormones 3,5,3’-triiodo-l-thyronine and l-thyroxin, (t3) and (t4), respectively, were capable of the expansion and improvement of the ovarian cancer cells. accordingly, these cells were grown much slower when exposed to (t3) and (t4) below normal serum concentrations levels. hence, thyroid functionality evaluation would be important to adjudge whether it is an elevation in the tumor markers or high-protein ascites.[6] a positive correlation was found between ca125 and the total white, neutrophil, monocyte and neutrophil-tolymphocyte ratio (nlr) counts. but conversely, a negative correlation recorded with lymphocytes.[7] the current study by ceran et al.[8] demonstrated that the rise in neutrophil and platelet counts, nlr, along with platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (plr) correlated to an adverse clinic pathological results subsequent to various cancer types which comprised the epithelial ovarian cancer (eoc). while a previous study mentioned, that van derr zee et al. shown whether the ovarian tumors were malignant or benign the elevation in interleukin-6 level in cystic fluids is related to a decline corresponding author: muhsin h. ubeid, department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: muhsin.hmeadi@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: october 16, 2022 accepted: december 2, 2022 published: january 30, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp1-7 copyright © 2023 muhsin h. ubeid, ameena s. m. juma, tanya s. salih, shilan s. kamel, shakir m. al-awqati. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ubeid, et al.: parameter affecting ca-125, tsh, and cbc 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 1-7 in the hemoglobin level and an inclination in platelet count.[9,10] based on lengye study, the ovary cell transformation occur due to ovarian carcinoma that is consequent to genetic and epigenetic alterations.[11] ovarian cancer etiology is still not verified. however, the incessant ovulation theory is one of the models to explain the issue. it states that women have a continual ovulation regardless to age.[12] another proponents stated that high contributors to ovary carcinoma were, that is, infertility alongside to menopause age. yet, determinants particularly hysterectomy, pregnancy, and tubal ligation showed to diminish such risk.[13,14] abdominal size, bloating, urinary symptoms, and pelvic pains are the symptoms that were frequently informed by women prior diagnosing them with ovarian cancer. such symptoms are likely indicators causing cancer more than benign. yet, distinguishing cancer symptoms from those associating with benign is difficult. consequently, results, regardless how sensitive and specific pelvic examinations that were carried out to detect asymptomatic ovarian cancer recorded poor also, not supporting the physical examination in same way as the screening method.[15] according to national academies of sciences and medicine women and their designated health care providers repeatedly look upon as such symptoms (ovarian cancers) as non-specific and not referring to critical illness until they are dramatically worsen or developed.[16] which concurrent with rauh-hain et al.[17] who suggested that 70% of women with ovarian cancer were diagnosed at late stages of the disease hence, these women have a high fatality rate and have a 5 year survival rates with advanced illness ranging between 20% and 30%. in contrast, early diagnosed women as the disease is encompassed within the ovary the cure percentage were 70–90%. more into this, due to an association between the disease stage and survival, early detection provides higher hope to reduce mortality besides long-term disease control. globally, the ovarian cancer is ranked the 7th disease that is commonly diagnosed cancer while, it is classified the 8th among cancer diseases causing death. 239,000 women were diagnosed with this illness in 2012, 152,000 did not survive.[18] yet, the disease mortality rates and its frequencies vary from one region to another. and the variance is due to genetic factors and environmental influences.[19] moradi et al. stated that iran is witnessing an inclination in ovarian cancer cases, specifically in the central and northwestern regions. they suggested that this increment is stemming from changes in the patterns of risk factors regarding this disease, that is, changes in the population’s lifestyle that caused this escalation.[20] meanwhile, it was illustrated that, the risk of confronting severe and death from this disease in the developed countries are higher and nearly the double from those of less developed countries. yet, the latter countries recorded higher ovarian cancer cases because of the large populations. comparing the diagnosed cases number per year china recorded 34,575, india 26,834 and the usa 20,874.[21] after more than two decades from the discovering ca125, its antigen was recommended for screening women with high risk with ovarian cancer at clinical level regardless to its sensitivity and specificity limitation.[22] current results advise that ca125 possibly be a foretelling indicator of perinvasive ovarian cancer. the ca125 measuring approaches had progressed toward sensitive and reliable double-determinant elisa assays.[23] while others findings that, the escalated levels of ca125 serum are not correlated to the size of the tumor of both age groups.[24] as a glycosylated membrane protein and a high molecular weight, the ca125 can be identified in the serum which is levitated in over 80% of ovarian cancer patients. developing ca125 from the coelomic epithelium facilitated the marking of the epithelial. it had marked 90% of advanced and 50% of early ovarian cancer cases but, 20% were marked as low or had no expression. the ca125 is likely to arise its level if any disruptions occurred to the peritoneum epithelial lining. similarly, pregnancy, leiomyomata, ovarian cysts, endometriosis, appendicitis, and diverticulitis which are all benign conditions the ca125 level were high. equally, lung, pancreas, colon and uterine cancers showed and escalation in the ca125 levels. therefore, it is lacking the sensitivity and specificity and thus, it will not be adequate to identify the ovarian cancer at early stages.[25,26] gyftaki et al. stated that, the functionality of a normal thyroid is regulated by the thyroid stimulating hormone (tsh) by attaching to the thyroid receptor tsh receptor that is located at its cells surface. they further demonstrated that among other tissues, other than the thyroid, specifically the surface of a normal ovarian epithelium is amply expressed on.[27] the encoding thyroid hormone with estrogen receptors (tr) and (er) were among various nuclear hormone receptor genes that are distributed in ovarian surface epithelial cells (ose). equally important, from the epidemiology perspective, evidently correlate the ovarian surface inflammation of the ovary and hyperthyroidism with the ovarian cancer (hormonedependent).[28] hyperthyroidism is where hormones of the thyroid t3 and t4 excessive concentrations travel through blood stream through the human body reaching the ovarian tissue and consequently causing its inflammation. the receptors in the ose cells are responsive to thyroid and estrogen hormones. however, direct effects of ovarian epithelial cells inflammation are compelled by the t3. once the latter hormone attaches to its corresponding ose receptor the erα and mrna expressions are increased then the estrogen receptor action is mirrored resulting in encoding the er isoforms.[29] they further suggested that, ovarian cancer is highly correlated with isoforms and likely to be linked with hyperthyroidism. another research expressed that in vitro the thyroid hormones existing in ovaries cells infected with cancer changed both the genes expression that regulates cell cycle and the apoptosis of cancer cell. this action can be demonstrated by the inclination in the genes expression of which are responsible for the tumor’s protein suppression p12 and p16, besides, its significant role in regulating cell cycle.[30] anomalous hematological incidences recorded with ovarian cancer patients when compared with similar benign cases such as: first, hemoglobin hb and hematocrit hct levels were substantially low, second, high platelet count, and thirdly lymphocytes values were low.[31-33] ubeid, et al.: parameter affecting ca-125, tsh, and cbc 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 1-7 van der zee et al. illustrated that within malignant disease the presence of a conceivable relation between hemoglobin il-6 levels and platelets. they also stated that, as such patients show negative predicting factors when there is an elevated pre-treatment platelet counts in addition to, low levels of pretreatment hemoglobin. they additionally spotted an association between il-6 cystic fluid levels with the level of hemoglobin and platelet counts.[9] other scholars suggested similar association in those patients with progressive illness where anemia is probably related to il-6 levels.[10] which agrees with nomelini et al.[34] identification of the prognostic factors, which are resulting from a probable role of il-6 tumor derived alongside with irregular rates of hemoglobin and platelet levels. a late research weighed other ovarian cancer predictive factors for survival. it comprises the ratios of nlr along with plr. it also added that these ratios highlight the possibility to differentiate whether the ovarian masses are malignant or benign. yet, because of their values it does not have a total consensus as an ovarian cancer screening tool. moreover, the research illustrated another survival predictive factor concerning eoc patients whose illness is in early and advanced stages. this factor signifies the absolute neutrophil count to absolute monocyte count ratio (anc) and (amc), respectively.[15] aim of the study many women can survive from ovarian cancer if early diagnosis of the disease occurs. ca125 protein test may help to early diagnosis and help others whose life are at risk because of the disease, alongside with high tests’ accuracy. many noncancerous factors can elevate ca125 levels. in this study, we attempted to evaluate how tsh levels affect the ca125 levels among women of different ages, and how does ca125 affect the levels of some hematological parameters. materials and methods all samples 64, 20 control group and 44 non-cancerous patients were collected at “alfa lab for medical analysis” in erbil city. about 6 ml of blood were collected from each, 2 ml were used for hematological performance routine tests including blood film, wbc, hb., plt., and dlc. the remaining 4 ml samples were put aside for clotting in gel tubes and centrifuged for 15 min at 2500 rpm. then, the serum was used for conducting the test of electrochemiluminescence immunoassay by adding 0.5 ml of serum in a special tube for measuring serum ca-125 and an automated medonic coulter was used to determine the complete blood count (cbc) to all collected samples. statistical analysis since the study in hand is quantitative the augmented data were evaluated, and analyzed statistically, which was organized in tables. afterward data were analyzed with the version 18 of the statistical package for the social sciences software. then the appointed variables were compared following students f-test and t-test. later, the p value indicates whether a certain variable is significant, if it was either <0.01 or 0.05. results this study included 44 non-cancerous female patients. their ages ranged from (15 to 59) years, with a mean age of (37.8) year. in addition to, 20 healthy individuals were included as control group. table 1 shows and compare the ratio of tsh and ca125 in both control groups and patient group while [table 2] demonstrates the results of cbc parameters, alongside with (7) figures were created accordingly, to compare between mean of ca125 with mean of each (cbc) parameter separately. in addition to, a figure illustrating the ratio of ca125 level as the age rises. table 1 shows no significant variance in tsh levels between members of both study groups; however, it identified a high substantial variation between ca125 of both groups. while [figure 1] highlights the correlation between ca125 and tsh ratio in patient and control groups. [table 2] shows different cbc parameters, the wbc shown significant variance in patient and control groups. meanwhile, there was no substantial variation in lymphocyte, monocyte, granulocyte, and hemoglobin, but it identified a high significant difference between rbcs of patient group and control group. in [figure 2], there is a difference between wbc ratio in patient group and control group as the ca125 ratio rises. in [figure 3], lymphocyte ratio results show no variance in patient group and control group as the ca125 rises. figure 4 shows the similarly, monocyte ratio shows no difference in patient group and control group as the ca125 ratio rises. in [figure 5], there is difference between granulocyte ratio in patient group and control group as the ca125 ratio rises. in [figure 6], there is difference between rbc ratio in patient group and control group as ca125 ratio rises. [figure 7] shows that there is non-significant difference between hb ratio in patient group and control group as ca125 ratio rises. figure 8 shows, ca125 ratio as the age rises, where there is no difference to be considered as indication related to the difference in the age of women, despite the high peaks in age (34–37) years and (50) years. thus, the age of women does not give any sign to be mentioned. discussion this study is aiming to discover possible correlations linking tsh level and ca125 with hematological parameters among women of different ages. in the present study, no association was found between tsh and ca125 levels. as the ca125 levels elevated no significant change were recognized in tsh levels. nine patients with high ca125 levels above ubeid, et al.: parameter affecting ca-125, tsh, and cbc 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 1-7 the normal were found, but their tsh levels were still at normal range as other (35) patients. meanwhile, the failure of ovulation is considered owing to severe hypothyroidism, whereas, menstrual anomalies stem from hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.[35] rae et al. suggested, ovaries sensitivity to estrogen and its inflammatory state be affected due to the status of the thyroid hormone, which consequently raise a gynecological health and disease impact.[28] according to kang et al. advocated the absence of possible relationship in the history of hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism with ovarian cancer.[36] however, current hyperthyroidism history was linked with the increment of 5-year mortality among ovarian cancer patients. yet, a mildly decreased mortality risk was associated with hypothyroidism.[4] while other scholars stated that, although, hyperthyroidism, and oc association apparently persist only at an epidemiological level. yet, the demonstration of the association mechanism has not been prevailed.[37] table 1: tsh and ca125 ratio of patient group and control group parameters no. all patients no. c.g t-test p value p mean±se mean±se tsh (miu/ml) 44 2.20±0.17 20 2.00±0.25 0.526 n.s ca-125 (u/ml) 44 27.68±4.79 20 14.43±0.84 0.009 h.s** p: probability, *p<0.05: significant, p≥0.05: non-significant, **p<0.01: highly significant table 2: cbc parameters of patient group and control group hematological parameters no. all patients no. c.g t-test p value p mean±se mean±se wbc (×109/l) 44 8.19±0.33 20 6.79±0.39 0.010 s* lymphocyte (×109/l) 44 2.55±0.13 20 2.95±0.23 0.158 n.s monocyte (×109/l) 44 0.46±0.02 20 0.45±0.05 0.884 n.s granulocyte (×109/l) 44 5.16±0.22 20 4.63±0.34 0.213 n.s hb (×109/l) 44 12.06±0.26 20 12.59±0.30 0.203 n.s rbc (×109/l) 44 4.48±0.06 20 5.03±0.14 0.002 h.s** p: probability, *p<0.05: significant, p≥0.05: non-significant, **p<0.01: highly significant figure 1: correlation between ca125 and tsh ratio in patient group and control group figure 2: correlation between ca125 and wbc ratio in patient group and control group figure 3: correlation between ca125 and lymphocyte ratio in patient group and control group figure 4: correlation between ca125 and monocyte ratio in patient group and control group ubeid, et al.: parameter affecting ca-125, tsh, and cbc 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 1-7 bishara et al. reported that even when a fractional count of lymphocyte to wbcs total is significantly associated with mortality. while an elevated count of monocyte showed a substantial recurrence association. however, a raised count of eosinophil was a mortality and recurrence predictor among the ovarian cancer women. equally, bekmezci and gunenc[38] reported that, in older women both preoperative nlr alongside to ca125 are to be a conceivable prognostic malignant adnexal mass indicator.[39] yildirim et al. demonstrated that in patients of ovarian cancer, nlr, and plr values are significantly high when compared to patients of benign ovarian tumor.[40] furthermore, no change was observed in granulocyte, monocyte, and lymphocyte values as the ca125 was elevated.[41] obermair et al. illustrated that the inversed hb concentrations were associated to the disease stage along with the chronic inflammatory status severity. while, förhécz et al.[42] suggested that red cell distribution width (rdw) was linked with the stage of the ovarian cancer, if the stage is advanced or high, equally the rdw is high.[43] similarly, it was positively correlated with ca125 levels. where, an elevated rdw in peripheral blood smears probably to correlate with iron, vitamin b12, or folic acid, and hb deficiencies; hemolysis or the transfusion of the blood is a reason of elevating the rdw.[44] in the present work, there was no significant change of hb levels, as the ca25 levels elevated among non-cancerous women. but a lower rbc count of patients was recognized. lehtovirta et al. and juma and ubeid demonstrated that, the ca125 test should not be conducted directly, before, or during menstrual cycle, as the ca125 physiological elevation levels possibly to provide false and positive results. in the present study, patients with high ca125 were found, with normal levels of each parameter wbc, hb, and tsh, but without respect to their menstrual cycle. as it was revealed by the previous studies, that hyperthyroidism and mortality rate are correlated to patients of ovarian cancer. in addition, high rdw signifies the disease advanced stage. whereas, ca125 was inadequate biomarker for diagnosing early ovarian cancer.[45,46] as the age rises, many factors will have effect on human health. in this regard many determinants impact the ca125 level especially in females who passed menopause and ovarian cancer disease free. these factors are: age, hysterectomy, obesity, race/ethnicity, and the smoking background.[47] the serum of carbohydrate antigen ca125 serves an indicator to the inclination risk of ovarian cancer. it is also obesity indicator which is considered a significant element to the metabolic syndrome.[48] it is worthy to mention that, the level of serum ca125 showed a significant inclination in patients of chronic heart failure.[49,50] conclusion the study revealed that there was no association regarding ca125 serum and the levels of tsh. however, the elevated ca125 levels in healthy females could be related to other noncancerous factors such as menstrual cycle, or postmenopausal. figure 5: correlation between ca125 and granulocyte ratio in patient group and control group figure 6: correlation between ca125 and rbc ratio in patient group and control group figure 7: correlation between ca125 and hb ratio in patient group and control group figure 8: correlation between ca125 and age ubeid, et al.: parameter affecting ca-125, tsh, and cbc 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 1-7 furthermore, wbc parameters and hb levels were not affected by ca125. the only parameters that were affected with ca125 elevation were rbc. the study results show that there was no association between ca125 and women age. references 1. z. r. yurkovetsky, f. y. linkov, d. e malehorn and a. e. lokshin. multiple biomarker panels for early detection of ovarian cancer. future oncology, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 733-741, 2006. 2. k. a. sikaris. ca125-a test with a change of heart. heart, lung and circulation, vol. 20, no. 10, pp. 634-640, 2011. 3. r. c. bast, d. badgwell, z. lu, r. marquez, d. rosen, j. liu, k. a. baggerly, e. n. atkinson, s. skates, z. zhang, a. lokshin, u. menon, i. jacobs and k. lu. new tumor markers: ca125 and beyond. international journal of gynecologic cancer, vol. 15, pp. 274-281, 2005. 4. a. n. minlikeeva, j. l. freudenheim, r. a. cannioto, k. h. eng, j. b. szender, p. mayor, j. l etter, d. w. cramer, b. diergaarde, j. a. doherty, t. dörk, r. edwards, a. defazio, g. friel, m. t goodman, p. hillemanns, e. høgdall, a. jensen, s. j. jordan, b. y. karlan, s. k. kjær, r. klapdor, k. matsuo, m. mizuno, c. m. 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prohászka and l. jánoskuti. red cell distribution width in heart failure: prediction of clinical events and relationship with markers of ineffective erythropoiesis, inflammation, renal function, and nutritional state. american heart journal, vol. 158, pp. 659666, 2009. 45. p. lehtovirta, d. apter and u. h. stenman. serum ca 125 levels during the menstrual cycle. british journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, vol. 97, pp. 930-933, 1990. 46. a. s. juma and m. h. ubeid. a microbiological survey of ear infections in inhabitants of erbil city. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, pp. 62-67, 2022. 47. c. c. johnson, b. kessel, t. l. riley, l. r. ragard, c. r. williams, j. l. xu, s. s. buys and prostate, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancer project team. the epidemiology of ca-125 in women without evidence of ovarian cancer in the prostate, lung, colorectal and ovarian cancer (plco) screening trial. gynecologic oncology, vol. 110, pp. 383-389, 2008. 48. n. s. joo, k. n. kim and k. s. kim. serum ca125 concentration has inverse correlation with metabolic syndrome. journal of korean medical science, vol. 26, pp. 1328-1332, 2011. 49. n. t. kouris, i. d. zacharos, d. d. kontogianni, g. s. goranitou, m. d. sifaki, h. e. grassos, e. m. kalkandi and d. k. babalis.the significance of ca125 levels in patients with chronic congestive heart failure. correlation with clinical and echocardiographic parameters. european journal of heart failure, vol. 7, pp. 199-203, 2005. 50. h. m. turk, h. pekdemir, s. buyukberber, a. sevinc, c. camci, r. kocabas, tarakcioglu and n. m. buyukberbe. serum ca 125 levels in patients with chronic heart failure and accompanying pleural fluid. tumor biology, vol. 24, pp. 172-175, 2003. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 74 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 74-79 research article ethical abortion among pregnant women attending abortion decision-making committee in erbil maternity teaching hospital rana s. khaleel and parez r. muhamad department of obstetrics and gynecology, college of medicine, hawler medical university, kurdistan region, iraq abstract in the kurdistan region of iraq, abortion is legally permitted only to save a woman’s life, requiring approval from a medical committee and spousal consent. this restrictive framework raises public health concerns by pushing women toward unsafe alternatives. the aim of this study is to characterize women applying for legal abortion in erbil, identify determinants of committee decisions, and document pregnancy outcomes. a descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 pregnant women who applied to the ethical abortion committee at erbil maternity teaching hospital (september 2024–august 2025). data from interviews and records were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests. the results show the committee approved 121 (60.5%) of 200 requests. decisions were significantly influenced by the indication for termination (p < 0.001). requests for severe fetal anomalies were frequently approved, whereas requests citing maternal health conditions – the sole legal ground for abortion had a low approval rate (36.6%). consequently, 116 pregnancies (58.0%) were terminated. second-trimester requests were significantly more likely to be approved and terminated than first-trimester requests (p < 0.001), reflecting a system driven by the timing of anomaly detection. under the krg’s restrictive law, the committee pragmatically expanded its remit to approve terminations for lethal fetal anomalies while being overly cautious in applying the explicit maternal life exception. with nearly 40% of applicants refused care, the findings highlight an urgent need for policy reform, including clearer clinical guidelines for maternal health indications. this study contributes empirical evidence to global debates on the application of abortion law, ethics, and practice in restrictive settings. keywords: induced abortion, ethical abortion committee, abortion law, maternal health, fetal anomalies, kurdistan region, reproductive rights, unsafe abortion introduction induced abortion is a common and essential healthcare procedure performed globally. each year, approximately 73 million induced abortions take place worldwide, accounting for the termination of three out of every ten pregnancies and six out of every ten unintended pregnancies.[1] a critical distinction exists between safe and unsafe abortion, a dichotomy that carries profound public health consequences. the who defines a safe abortion as one carried out using a recommended method appropriate for the gestational age and performed by an individual with the necessary skills. conversely, when individuals face barriers to such care, they often resort to unsafe methods. globally, nearly half of all abortions (45%) are classified as unsafe, with a disproportionate burden falling on developing regions in asia, africa, and latin america.[1,3] this practice is a major contributor to preventable maternal mortality and morbidity. a substantial body of evidence demonstrates that legal restrictions do not reduce the incidence of abortion; rather, they directly diminish its safety.[1] in countries with the most prohibitive laws, only one in four abortions is performed safely, a stark contrast to the nearly nine in ten that are safe in countries where the procedure is broadly legal.[4] islamic jurisprudence allows abortion to save the mother’s life,[5] and this principle underlies abortion laws across the middle east and north africa (mena). however, modern laws in many countries reflect restrictive colonial penal codes rather than classical islamic thought.[4,6,7] cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: rana s. khaleel, department of obstetrics and gynecology, college of medicine, hawler medical university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: rana.sardar98@gmail.com received: august 7, 2025 accepted: october 2, 2025 published: october 20, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp74-79 copyright © 2025 rana s. khaleel and parez r. muhamad. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj). khaleel and muhamad: ethical abortion decisions in erbil 75 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 74-79 in federal iraq, abortion is governed by the penal code of 1969, which criminalizes the procedure. article 417 punishes women who procure an abortion and those assisting them, with harsher penalties for medical professionals or if the woman dies. no exception exists for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.[8-10] this legal framework forms the grim baseline for all abortion-related conduct in the country. while in the kurdistan region of iraq (krg), a major legal change occurred in 2020 with the passage of the patient’s rights and responsibilities law. abortion is permitted only when the woman’s life is threatened by a serious health condition and requires her consent, her husband’s consent, and approval by a committee of at least five physicians. the law reinforces its stringent limitations by stating unequivocally, “other than this case, abortion is categorically prohibited.”[11,12] this unique legal development in the krg creates a distinct institutional context for abortion decision-making, justifying its selection as a site for focused research. despite severe criminal penalties, induced abortion is a frequent occurrence. one study conducted in the krg found that approximately 28% of married women reported having undergone an induced abortion at some point. gynecologists in the region’s hospitals regularly encounter patients presenting with unwanted pregnancies and, more alarmingly, the lifethreatening complications of unsafe abortions, including incomplete procedures, severe hemorrhage, and systemic infection or sepsis.[13] in the absence of safe and legal pathways, women are driven to desperate and dangerous measures, such as obtaining unregulated medications on the black market or seeking services from unqualified and clandestine providers, which can lead to permanent injury or death.[14] at present, legal abortion in both iraq and the krg is possible only through a medical expert committee, which interprets vague legal terms such as “serious threat to her life.” in practice, this creates significant ethical and practical challenges. women must present their case before strangers, sometimes with mandatory spousal consent, raising concerns about bodily autonomy. physicians on these committees must navigate ambiguous laws, personal morality, and societal pressures.[14-16] given the complex interplay of legal, religious, and social factors, there is a significant gap in understanding the practical ethics of abortion access in the kurdistan region of iraq. objectives of the project: • to identify the indications of therapeutic termination of pregnancy. • to investigate the obstetrical background of these patients. • to assess the outcomes of decisions and their relation to patient attitudes. • to describe the mode of termination. methodology study design and setting this study was a descriptive cross-sectional analysis conducted at the ethical abortion decision-making committee of the maternity teaching hospital in erbil, krg. the hospital is a tertiary referral center where pregnancy termination requests are evaluated under legal and ethical regulations. the study covered a 10-month period from september 2024 to august 2025, encompassing all eligible cases presented to the committee during this timeframe. study population and sampling the study population included pregnant women seeking termination of pregnancy who were referred to the ethical abortion committee for evaluation. a consecutive sampling approach was used, whereby all women meeting the inclusion criteria (defined below) and attending the committee between september 2024 and may 2025 were invited to participate. this yielded a final sample of 200 participants who consented and met eligibility requirements. inclusion and exclusion criteria inclusion criteria (a) pregnant women seeking termination who appeared before the committee and met the krg’s legal conditions for abortion (i.e., cases ostensibly falling under the “serious threat to the mother’s life” or severe fetal indication provision); (b) gestational age ≤24 weeks (at or below the legal gestational limit for termination, confirmed by ultrasound dating); and (c) provision of informed consent to participate in the study. all participants had to voluntarily agree to share their information for research, with assurances of confidentiality. exclusion criteria (a) ectopic or non-uterine pregnancies – such cases require emergency surgical management and do not go through the committee process, so they were outside the study’s scope; (b) pregnancies resulting from incest or rape – these extraordinary cases are handled separately by special legal provisions and were not included in this study; (c) advanced gestation >24 weeks – any case beyond 24 weeks was ineligible due to legal restrictions on late-term abortion; (d) women who declined to participate in the study (though in practice, none refused). all women who met the inclusion criteria and none of the exclusion criteria were enrolled. in summary, the cohort represents the entire population of legal abortion requests reviewed by the committee in that period, excluding only cases outside the committee’s mandate. data collection methods data were collected using a combination of patient interviews, structured questionnaires, and review of medical records. upon referral to the committee, each participant was interviewed in a private setting to obtain socio-demographic information (such as age, education, residence, and socio-economic status) and relevant obstetric/medical history. a standardized questionnaire was administered, which covered the indication for abortion request (e.g., fetal anomalies, maternal health conditions), past obstetric history (including previous abortions or known congenital anomalies), and the patient’s knowledge or attitudes regarding abortion. additional clinical data (gestational age, ultrasound findings, and committee decision outcome) were extracted from the patients’ medical records khaleel and muhamad: ethical abortion decisions in erbil 76 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 74-79 and the committee’s official reports. to ensure accuracy, data collection was performed by trained researchers and validated by cross-checking with hospital records. ethical considerations the study protocol was reviewed and approved by the ethics committee of hawler medical university, erbil (no = 14 in 2025). written informed consent was obtained from every participant. confidentiality was maintained by anonymizing all data. statistical analysis after completing data collection, all responses and clinical information were coded and entered into the statistical package for the social sciences (spss) software for analysis. descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data: categorical variables were presented as frequencies and percentages, and continuous variables (such as maternal age) as means with standard deviation (mean ± standard deviation). for inferential analysis, appropriate statistical tests were applied to explore associations between study variables and outcomes. in particular, comparisons between groups (e.g., cases where the committee approved vs. refused the abortion request) were made using chi-square tests for categorical variables, with fisher’s exact test employed when expected cell counts were small. differences in continuous variables were evaluated using independent-sample t-tests. a p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant for all analyses. all statistical analyses were reviewed by a biostatistician to ensure accuracy and validity of the results. note: although cases requiring immediate surgical intervention (like ectopic pregnancies) were excluded by design, a small number of included cases ultimately underwent surgical abortion procedures as the method of pregnancy termination. this typically occurred when a committee-approved case required a dilatation and evacuation (d&e) due to clinical indications (e.g., advanced gestation or failed medical induction). these instances are reported in the outcomes and do not represent a violation of criteria but rather a different method of completing the termination. result and discussion result a total of 200 pregnant women were evaluated, with a mean age of 30.3 ± 7.2 years. the majority of women were multigravida (69.0%), presented in the second trimester (69.0%), and had low educational attainment (36.0% illiterate). consanguineous marriage was reported by 41.5% of participants. key sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics are detailed in table 1. the committee approved termination for 121 (60.5%) women and refused it for 79 (39.5%). the indication for termination was the most significant factor influencing the committee’s decision (p < 0.001). as shown in table 2, requests for severe fetal anomalies had high approval rates, including for thalassemia (100%), other congenital anomalies (83.3%), and neural tube defects (ntd) or central nervous system abnormalities (80.0%). in contrast, requests based on maternal diseases – the only explicit legal ground – were approved in only 36.6% of cases. requests for non-lethal genetic or chromosomal anomalies had the lowest approval rate (18.2%). ultimately, 116 pregnancies (58.0%) were terminated, while 84 (42.0%) were continued. medical induction was the most common termination method (106 cases). surgical termination (dilatation and evacuation) was performed in 10 cases, typically following an incomplete or failed medical abortion. the final pregnancy outcome was significantly table 1: sociodemographic and obstetric characteristics (n=200) variable category n % age (years) mean±standard deviation 30.3±7.2 residence inside erbil city 103 51.5 outside erbil city 97 48.5 education illiterate 72 36.0 primary 51 25.5 secondary 22 11.0 university 55 27.5 ses* low 72 36.0 medium 85 42.5 high 43 21.5 gravidity primigravida 38 19.0 multigravida 138 69.0 grand multigravida 24 12.0 gestation first trimester 62 31.0 second trimester 138 69.0 consanguinity yes 83 41.5 no 117 58.5 previous abortion yes 66 33.0 no 134 67.0 previous child with anomaly yes 31 15.5 no 169 84.5 *ses: socioeconomic status table 2: committee decision by indication for termination (n=200) indication for termination approved n (%) refused n (%) total n (%) p-value ntd and cns abnormalities 44 (80.0) 11 (20.0) 55 (100) <0.001 maternal diseases 15 (36.6) 26 (63.4) 41 (100) hydrops fetalis 16 (66.7) 8 (33.3) 24 (100) congenital anomalies 35 (83.3) 7 (16.7) 42 (100) thalassemia 5 (100.0) 0 (0.0) 5 (100) genetic/ chromosomal anomalies 6 (18.2) 27 (81.8) 33 (100) ntd: neural tube defect, cns: central nervous system khaleel and muhamad: ethical abortion decisions in erbil 77 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 74-79 associated with gestational age and parity (p < 0.05) but not with the woman’s personal belief about abortion [table 3]. only 25.8% of first-trimester pregnancies were terminated, compared to 72.5% of second-trimester pregnancies. notably, the fetal gender was unknown in 54.5% of cases, likely because many referrals were based on anomaly scans performed before 18 weeks of gestation, when sex determination is less accurate.[8] in addition, 5.5% of women did not know their blood group, suggesting potential gaps in prior antenatal care. discussion this study provides a critical insight into the functioning of the ethical abortion decision-making committee in erbil, revealing a significant divergence between the strict letter of the law and its practical application. the findings highlight three key themes: the committee’s creation of an ethical hierarchy, the paradoxical refusal of maternal health cases, and the broader public health implications of this system. the most striking finding is the committee’s de facto policy of approving terminations for severe fetal anomalies, an indication not explicitly covered by krg law. approval rates of 80% or higher for conditions like ntds and other congenital anomalies suggest a pragmatic reinterpretation of the law.[16,17] this practice aligns with contemporary islamic jurisprudence, which increasingly considers preventing “extreme hardship” (haraj) for the family and avoiding a life of severe suffering for the child, particularly before ensoulment (nafkh al-ruh), often cited at 120 days of gestation.[18,19] as 69% of women presented in the second trimester, most decisions fell within a timeframe where termination for severe anomalies finds justification in modern islamic legal thought.[20] the kurdish population is predominantly of the shafi’i school, which can be restrictive; however, the committee’s practice suggests an adoption of the more widely accepted 120-day threshold.[21,22] paradoxically, while showing flexibility on fetal grounds, the committee was exceptionally stringent when applying the law’s explicit “life of the mother” exception, refusing 63.4% of such requests. this is troubling, as saving the pregnant woman’s life is the single point of unequivocal consensus across all schools of islamic thought and the legal basis for abortion in nearly every mena country.[6] this high refusal rate suggests a “chilling effect,” where physicians in a punitive legal environment fear liability for a subjective judgment about maternal risk.[23] without clear clinical guidelines, the committee appears to require a near-certain risk of death, creating an inverted ethical hierarchy where a non-viable fetus is prioritized over a sick mother.[24,25] finally, the committee’s caseload reflects upstream public health challenges. the high rate of consanguineous marriage (41.5%) is strongly linked to the genetic and congenital anomalies that constituted 79.5% of all cases.[26,27] compounded by low educational attainment (36% illiterate), these factors show that the committee is a downstream bottleneck for a population-level genetic risk profile.[28] it functions as a reactive mechanism in the absence of a proactive public health strategy, such as widespread genetic screening and counseling. the high termination rate in the second trimester (72.5%) further illustrates this; it is not medically intuitive but reflects a selection bias, as severe anomalies are typically detected at the mid-trimester scan.[29] this “filter effect” masks a cohort of women denied a wanted abortion in the first trimester, likely for unapproved reasons, pushing them toward unsafe alternatives.[23,30,31] conclusion this study reveals that the ethical abortion decision-making committee in erbil operates not as a simple enforcer of the law, but as a site of pragmatic negotiation between legal text, medical necessity, and islamic ethical principles. it has established a de facto policy of approving terminations for severe fetal anomalies while paradoxically applying an exceedingly strict interpretation of the law’s explicit “life of the mother” exception. the committee’s substantial refusal rate of nearly 40% channels a significant number of women toward the dual risks of unsafe clandestine abortion or the adverse consequences of carrying an unwanted or high-risk pregnancy to term. this research provides crucial, contextspecific data that contribute to global scholarly debates on the real-world application of abortion law and its profound impact on women’s health and rights in legally restrictive settings. recommendations based on the findings, the following evidence-based recommendations are proposed: for policymakers and the ministry of health: develop and disseminate standardized clinical guidelines to provide objective criteria for interpreting the “serious threat to her life” clause. this would reduce subjectivity, protect clinicians from legal ambiguity, and ensure women with serious maternal health conditions receive legally entitled care. for public health authorities: implement an upstream public health strategy to address the high prevalence of congenital anomalies. this should include integrating voluntary, confidential, and culturally sensitive preconception and prenatal genetic counseling and screening services into table 3: final pregnancy outcome by gestation, parity, and patient belief variable terminated n (%) continued n (%) total n (%) p-value gestation <0.001 first trimester 16 (25.8) 46 (74.2) 62 (100) second trimester 100 (72.5) 38 (27.5) 138 (100) parity 0.032 primigravida 28 (73.7) 10 (26.3) 38 (100) multigravida 72 (52.2) 66 (47.8) 138 (100) grand multigravida 8 (33.3) 16 (66.7) 24 (100) idea about abortion 0.249 against 8 (42.1) 11 (57.9) 19 (100) not against 108 (59.7) 73 (40.3) 181 (100) khaleel and muhamad: ethical abortion decisions in erbil 78 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 74-79 primary healthcare, particularly for couples in consanguineous unions. for healthcare institutions: establish a formal psychosocial support pathway for all women referred to the committee. there is an ethical duty of care for the nearly 40% of women whose requests are denied. a mandatory referral to professional counseling and social support services must be integrated to mitigate the adverse mental and physical health outcomes associated with being denied a wanted abortion. for the research community: conduct further research to build on these findings. in-depth qualitative studies are needed to explore the decision-making calculus of committee members and the lived experiences of women. a prospective cohort study is also essential to track the health and socioeconomic outcomes of women who are denied a legal abortion in the iraqi context to strengthen the case for evidence-based legal reform. study limitations and future research directions this study has several limitations that should be acknowledged. as a descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted at a single tertiary hospital, its findings may not be generalizable to the entire krg or other parts of the country. the quantitative design captures the “what” of the committee’s decisions but not the “why”; it cannot explain the reasoning of the committee members or the lived experiences and perceptions of the women who appear before them. the study also does not follow women who were refused termination, so the discussion of their outcomes is based on inference from international literature. these limitations point to critical directions for future research: first, qualitative studies are urgently needed. interviews with committee members would illuminate the ethical, legal, and personal factors that shape their decision-making. interviews with women who have been both approved and refused by the committee would provide invaluable insight into their experiences, coping mechanisms, and the impact of the process on their lives. second, a prospective cohort study, modeled on the turnaway study, is essential to track the health, psychological, and socioeconomic outcomes of women who are denied a legal abortion in the iraqi context. this would provide local, context-specific data to either validate or nuance the findings from western settings and strengthen the case for legal reform. finally, a larger, multi-center or populationbased survey is needed to more accurately estimate the true incidence of requests for legal abortion, the prevalence of unsafe abortion, and the associated morbidity and mortality across the region. references 1. world health organization. abortion. geneva: world health organization, 2021. available from: https://www.who.int/ news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion [last accessed on 2024 mar 06]. 2. world health organization. safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems. geneva: world health organization, 2003. 3. c. calvert, o. o. owolabi, f. yeung, r. pittrof, b. ganatra, ö. tunçalp, a. j. adler and v. filippi. the magnitude and severity of abortion-related morbidity in settings with limited access to abortion services: a systematic review and meta-regression. bmj global health, vol. 3, no. 3, p. e000692, 2018. 4. world health organization. who issues new guidelines on abortion to help countries deliver lifesaving care. departmental news. geneva: world health organization, 2022. 5. g. k. shapiro. abortion law in muslim-majority countries: an overview of the islamic discourse with policy implications. health policy and planning, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 483-494, 2014. 6. i. maffi and l. tønnessen. the limits of the law: abortion in the middle east and north africa. health and human rights, vol. 21, no. 2, p. 1, 2019. 7. p. e. ekmekci. abortion in islamic ethics, and how it is perceived in turkey: a secular, muslim country. journal of religion and health, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 884-895, 2017. 8. center for reproductive rights, un population fund, world health organization, iraq: abortion policies, 2023. available from: https://abortion-policies.srhr.org/country/iraq [last accessed on 2024 mar 06]. 9. abortion as a human right in the criminal laws of iran and iraq. sanad. available from: https://sanad.iau.ir/fa/journal/ downloadfileex/1184602 [last accessed on 2025 jun 27]. 10. iraqi penal code. iraq: the learning partnership, 2020. available from: https://learningpartnership.org/resource/penal-codeiraq-document-english [last accessed on 2024 jun 28]. 11. m. bagi. same culture but different governments: attitudes toward abortion among kurdish people in iranian and iraqi kurdistan. asian ethnicity, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 121-143, 2024. 12. rudaw. women’s rights activists say kurdistan’s new abortion law doesn’t go far enough. rudaw. available from: https:// www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/16092020 [last accessed on 2025 jun 27]. 13. g. khalid, a. m. saleh, n. shabila, m. bogren and d. shakely. attitudes towards induced abortion among gynecologists in kurdistan region of iraq. bmc women’s health, vol. 23, p. 609, 2023. 14. mara-med. abortion in iraq: challenges and new horizons. baghdad: mara-med, 2023. available from: https://mara-med. org/abortioniniraq-challengesandnewhorizons [last accessed on 2024 jun 28]. 15. the new arab. in kurdistan, a feminist ngo pushes for more abortion rights. the new arab, 2020. available from: https:// www.newarab.com/features/kurdistan-feminist-ngo-pushesmore-abortion-rights [last accessed on 2025 jun 27]. 16. r. cohen-almagor and y. snir. the decision-making process of abortion high committees. harefuah, vol. 138, no. 12, pp. 1009-1014, 2000. 17. m. e. eppinger. the health exception. georgetown journal of gender and the law, vol. 17, pp. 665-690, 2016. 18. b. s. jones and t. a. weitz. legal barriers to second-trimester abortion provision and public health consequences. american journal of public health, vol. 99, no. 4, pp. 623-630, 2009. 19. h. iqbal, a. habib and s. amer. abortion-an islamic perspective. ethics, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-9, 2019. 20. n. al riyami. the role of law in shaping regulations on fetal anomalies and abortion in oman. oman medical journal, vol. 39, no. 4, p. e645, 2024. 21. m. a. al-bar. abortion: shafi’i perspective. in: abortion: global positions and practices, religious and legal perspectives. new york: springer, 2021, pp. 147-153. 22. j. a. bush. between muslims: religious difference in iraqi kurdistan. stanford, ca: stanford university press, 2020. khaleel and muhamad: ethical abortion decisions in erbil 79 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 74-79 23. a. busby. culture summary: kurds. hraf, 1996. available from: https://ehrafworldcultures.yale.edu/document?id=ma11-000 [last accessed on 2025 jul 06]. 24. harvard medical school center for bioethics. abortion bans put ethics committees in difficult position, 2025. available from: https://bioethics.hms.harvard.edu/news/abortion-bansput-ethics-committees-difficult-position [last accessed on 2025 jul 06]. 25. e. kendal. all abortions are medically necessary. clinical ethics, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 306-311, 2023. 26. k. m. hedayat, p. shooshtarizadeh and m. raza. therapeutic abortion in islam: contemporary views of muslim shiite scholars and effect of recent iranian legislation. journal of medical ethics, vol. 32, no. 11, pp. 652-657, 2006. 27. a. cerovac, a. serak, h. zukic, e. nevacinovic, d. ljuca, a. brigic and d. habek. ethical and legal dilemmas around termination of pregnancy for severe fetal hydrocephalus, spina bifida aperta and meningomyelocoella. medical archives, vol. 73, no. 2, pp. 126-130, 2019. 28. f. m. lafta. consanguineous marriages and some reproductive health parameters for sample from families in baghdad, iraq. al-mustansiriyah journal of science, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 344-354, 2010. 29. a. m. khayat, b. g. alshareef, s. f. alharbi, m. m. alzahrani, b. a. alshangity, n. f. tashkandi and b. g. alshareef. consanguineous marriage and its association with genetic disorders in saudi arabia: a review. cureus, vol. 16, no. 2, p. e538882024. 30. n. p. shabila and t. s. al-hadithi. women’s health and status in the kurdistan region of iraq: a review. crescent journal of medical and biological sciences, vol. 5, pp. 70-75. 31. t. reischer, i. limbach, a. catic, k. niedermaier, v. falcone and g. yerlikaya-schatten. factors influencing the duration of termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly with mifepristone in combination with misoprostol. journal of clinical medicine, vol. 12, no. 3, p. 869, 2023. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 33-41 research article influence of locally sourced recycled tire steel fibers and waste aluminum on the strength and absorption properties of fiber-reinforced concrete paywand m. othman, bengin m. awdel department of civil and environmental engineering, faculty of engineering, soran university, soran, iraq abstract the study looks at how adding locally sourced recycled tire steel fibers (sf) and waste aluminum (wal) affects the strength and absorption capacities of fiber-reinforced concrete (frc). frc is a popular choice in sustainable construction because it improves strength, durability, and cracks resistance. however, the performance of frc is influenced by fiber type, volume, and distribution. in this research, three sf volume fractions (0.5%, 1.25%, and 2%) and 10% wal as a partial replacement for fine aggregate were incorporated into eight concrete mixes, including plain concrete, sf-enhanced concrete with varying fiber contents, wal concrete, and combined sf-wal mixes. workability, density, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and water absorption were determined after 28 days by the experimental program. mechanical properties were found to increase by 1.25% sf, but strength decreased when the sf content was raised to 2%, as it caused fiber clumping. the experiment showed that when wal is used alone, its effect is to boost workability, but it lowers the strength in compression and tension. still, using 1.25% sf together with 10% wal brought about a good balance, preserving the concrete’s strength. using a moderate amount of sf limited water absorption, but when the concrete contained wal, water absorption went up somewhat. according to this study, adding recycled sf and wal to concrete improves its strength and supports sustainable construction. keywords: fiber-reinforced concrete, steel fibers, waste aluminum, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength background most structures are built using concrete, made up of cement, water, gravel or coarse aggregate, sand, and fine aggregate, as well as additional substances known as admixtures or additives. the world uses around 25 gigatons of concrete in a single year.[1] even so, the extraction process for concrete is damaging to the environment, mainly because it relies on aggregates and exploitation of natural resources.[2,3] moreover, concrete’s inherent limitation is its low tensile strength, leading to the formation of cracks under tensile stress, which compromises the structural integrity of concrete structures.[4,5] to mitigate these issues, researchers have explored incorporating industrial waste and recycled materials as substitutes for traditional concrete components.[6] advanced construction composite materials like fiberreinforced concrete (frc) have drawn a lot of interest in contemporary construction because of their improved mechanical qualities, adaptability, and durability.[7] in order to enhance the concrete’s performance in its hardened states, different fibers-such as steel, glass, synthetic polymers, or natural materials-are randomly distributed and mixed into the concrete.[8] fibers affect the performance of concrete by improving its strength, toughness, resistance to cracks, energy absorption, the ability to still function under tension after a crack, burst failure capacity and resistance to impact. as concrete fractures easily when in tension but is strong in compression, experts decided to add reinforcement and make frc to solve these issues. the stiffness of concrete often leads to cracks due to stress which could impact the future safety of the building structure. when fibers are present in the concrete, they provide support and keep cracks from expanding too far. therefore, frc components are more resistant to changes in heat, shocks, cycling and cracks.[9-11] corresponding author: paywand m. othman, department of civil and environmental engineering, faculty of engineering, soran university, soran 44008, iraq. e-mail: 502238296002@soran.edu.iq received: may 23, 2025 accepted: june 29, 2025 published: july 30, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp33-41 copyright © 2025 paywand m. othman, bengin m. awdel. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) othman and awdel: sustainable concrete by using waste materials 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 33-41 for these reasons, frc systems are being used in many parts of the world. it is now widely used for things such as precast concrete, industrial floors, pavements, bridges, tunnels and more.[8,11,12] properties such as size and shape of the different fiber types influence the hardened concrete. it is also necessary that the amount of fiber in concrete be restricted depending on its length, form and the kind being used, even if enough fiber is used for the required strength. to maximize the concrete’s strength and durability and minimize its loss in flexibility, the best number of fibers should be chosen.[13-16] steel fibers (sf) in concrete enhance compressive strength, but their effectiveness depends on fiber content and treatment. according to centonze et al.,[17] 0.46% yielded stronger samples at day 28, but the strength became lesser with more fiber in the concrete. additionally, it was found by slimane and hadj mostefa[18] that 1.5% fiber reached the greatest compressive strength, whereas adding more fibers decreased workability. another study leporace-guimil et al.[19] carried out experimental work with waste steel scrap in concrete. it was found that compressive strength increased by 26.8–0.5% of fiber and reached a peak gain of 30.7% at 0.75%, yet it declined by 5.3% with 1.5% due to the poor workability. it is clear from these results that maximizing fiber in concrete can help maintain a good balance between how strong it becomes and how it’s toughness can be improved.[19,20] the use of recycled melted furnace slag improves the tensile strength of cement. according to shewalul[20] only 2% volume of tire-recycled sf improved the tensile strength at the 28-day mark, whereas 3% content made the concrete more difficult to work with. researchers zeybek et al.[21] found that tire sfs added at 1% boosted the tensile strength by 15% and the strength increased by 35% with the addition of 2.5% of fibers[22] study revealed that sfs from waste tires added 25% to the tensile strength of high-strength concrete when used at 1.5% and 33% when used at 2.0% content, proving these values are the maximum efficient rate. the way sfs are shaped influences the structural strength of concrete. the study by zeng et al.[5] indicated that corrugated fibers gave the largest gain in strength by 122% and both hooked-end and straight fibers caused improvements from 33% to 93% at the end of 28 days, all compared to plain concrete.[23-25] with sfs in concrete, the ease of delivering and shaping the material is often reduced. increasing sf content lessened slump, resulting from the increased difficulty of compacting due to fiber interlocking, according to ali et al.[23] and fauzan[24] suggest that with 1% sf, the concrete has enough workability and durability. a study conducted by zheng et al.[25] demonstrated that adding more sf to concrete made the workability of the mixture lower. the use of waste aluminum (wal) as an alternative part of concrete, together with sand, is also being studied. aluminum is light and can be recycled, making it possible to decrease the weight of concrete projects. some studies elzaroug,[26] mubeen et al.[27] reported that incorporating aluminum waste as a partial replacement for fine aggregates improved concrete’s lightweight characteristics while maintaining satisfactory compressive strength[28] observed that using aluminum waste reduced the cost of concrete production while retaining adequate mechanical properties. besides, using aluminum waste as a substitute for fine aggregates in concrete may enhance its performance and help lower production expenses.[29] since aluminum does not rust easily, carries electricity, and can be recycled, it is used in sustainable projects by many builders.[26-35] the objective of the research is to investigate if using tire steel wire as fibers and wal can be a good alternative for fine aggregate in concrete. dealing with industrial waste in a sustainable manner has led the researchers to examine material efficiency. during the investigation, attention is given to the properties of concrete after 28 days, for example, its workability, density, strength when and after compression, resistance to splitting and how much water it soaks up. experimental methodology raw materials cement the binder utilized in this experiment was cem i 42.5 portland cement not plane concrete, table 1 list its physical properties, table 2 lists its chemical components, and the scanning electron micrograph (sem) is shown in figure 1. fine aggregate the fine aggregate used in the test was river sand, with the maximum aggregate size being 4.75 mm. the gradation range is given in table 3. physical properties are in table 4. coarse aggregate the coarse aggregate is crushed stone with a particle size of 4.75 mm–16 mm. the gradation is given in table 5, and the physical properties are in table 4. wal the wal used for this study was obtained from a door and window manufacturing factory in soran, kurdistan, iraq. was used to substitute the natural sand in cement mortar. the substitution ratios were (10%) by volume of sand. it was screened on the sieve number (4.75 mm) and (150 µm) to be close to the sizes of natural fine aggregates. therefore, any material retaining on the 4.75 mm sieve and passing the 150 µm sieve is discarded. the wastes are irregular in shape, gray in color, and light in weight [figure 2], before using the. its chemical component shown in table 2 and is grains in the sem picture seem to consist of smaller plates [figure 3] sieve analysis show in table 3 and physical properties are shown in table 4. sf wires obtained from tires were utilized as fiber to investigate the influence of fiber amount on the mechanical and durability table 1: physical properties of cement properties results standard consistency (%) 26.5% specific gravity 3.15 initial setting time (min) 65 final setting time (min) 168 othman and awdel: sustainable concrete by using waste materials 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 33-41 table 2: chemical composition of cement and aluminum waste (% by element) element cement % aluminum waste % mgo 4.6585 -----al₂o₃ 4.4078 92.2303 sio₂ 16.0302 1.7403 p₂o₅ 0.0708 -----so₃ 4.6103 0.9358 k₂o 2.6345 -------cao 63.4096 1.2252 tio₂ 0.0625 0.5973 vanadium 0.0002 0.0135 mno 0.0225 0.0329 foo₃ 3.5793 0.9226 cobalt -------0.0058 nickel 0.0064 0.0201 copper -----0.2994 zno --------0.1176 strontium 0.1189 0.0564 yttrium 0.0041 0.0077 zirconium 0.0416 0.0521 niobium 0.0089 0.0627 molybdenum 0.0581 0.0993 silver 0.0046 0.0114 cadmium -------0.008 tin 0.2675 0.5788 lead 0.0038 0.0556 barium ------0.9134 tantalum -----0.0138 performance properties in terms of compressive strength, split tensile strength, and water absorption and density of concrete. the utilized steel wires are shown in figure 4 provided, kurdistan, iraq. table 6 lists the performance parameters of sf. super-plasticizer the superplasticizer (hard-cone-16) with a density of (1.03– 1.035 g/cm3) with (3.5–5) of ph and without chloride content was used while mixing concrete according to (astm c-494) to provide workability and to improve the properties of hardened concrete. mix proportion three different fiber volume ratios, including 0.5% sf, 1.25% sf, and 2% sf, were studied according to modelling and programming for previously studied and optimization process. 1.25% sf was founded as optimum value, 0.75% higher and 0.75% lower based on trial mixing were used as minimum and maximum volume fractions. the second waste that used is aluminum by product waste as partial replacement of fine aggregate by 10%. in this study 8 mixes were designed mixes including plain concrete (pc), plain concrete with 0.5% of steel wire (sf 0.50), plain concrete with 1.25% of steel wire tiers (sf 1.25), plain concrete with 2% of steel wire tiers (sf2), plain concrete with 10% of aluminum waste (wal 10), plain concrete with 0.5% of steel wire with 10% of aluminum waste (hb 0.5), plain concrete with 1.25% of steel wire with 10% of aluminum waste (hb 1.25) plain concrete with 2% of steel wire with 10% of aluminum waste (hb2). the water to cement ratio was kept constant at 0.5. concrete mix design was selected for 40 mpa at 28 days for the optimum value of sf ± 10% error, the mix design obtained from the modelling and optimization process shown in table 7. mix procedure, workability, and the slump test as indicated in table 7, eight frc concrete mixes, including a control mixture devoid of fiber, were created for this investigation. all the pc and aggregates utilized in the concrete mixes were combined with two-thirds of the mixing water over the course of 3 min. after that, sp was combined with the remaining water for a further 2 min. when the materials were properly disseminated, sfs were finally added and gradually blended into the mixture to ensure uniform distribution in fiber-reinforced mixes. slump tests were conducted and measured in order to adjust the similar workability [figure 5]. workability was significantly decreased after a 2% fiber figure 1: scanning electron microscope images of cement at (a) 1 mm, (b) 10 µm, and (c) 100 µm magnification, showing microstructural variations and hydration products a b c figure 2: (a) waste aluminum from factory. (b) prepared waste aluminum for mix ba othman and awdel: sustainable concrete by using waste materials 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 33-41 table 4: physical properties of aggregate description fine aggregate coarse aggregate waste aluminum aggregate type of fine aggregate river sand crushed stone by product waste specific gravity 2.65 2.67 -------------------------------absorption (%) 1.07 0.87 ------------unit weight (kg/m3) 1690 1549 381.2 fineness modulus (%) 2.64 table 3: fine aggregate and waste aluminum sieve analysis fine aggregate (1000 g) waste aluminum (500 g) opening (mm) retained weight (g) % passing retained weight (g) % passing 4.75 45.7 95.43 46 90.8 2.36 100 85.43 0 90.8 1.18 180 67.43 264 38 0.6 200 47.43 154 7.2 0.3 190 28.43 32 0.8 0.15 170 11.43 4 0 pan 114.3 0 0 table 5: coarse aggregate sieve opening (mm) retained weight (g) % passing 16 5 99.5 12.5 503 49.2 9.5 407 8.5 4.75 83 0.2 pan 2 0 content ratio. the values fell between 40 and 65 mm. after that, they vibrated after being placed into molds. to prevent moisture loss, plastic sheets were placed over the specimens after the concrete was formed. following a 24-h period at room temperature, the samples were kept at room temperature for 24 h after casting. then the samples were tested after 28 days of curing in saturated water. test procedure three different tests were conducted to evaluate the influence of recycled steel wire types and fiber ratio. these tests, including compressive, splitting tensile, and total water absorption tests, three specimens were tested for each designed mixture, and the mean value of the tests was given figure 3: scanning electron microscope images of waste aluminum at (a) 1 mm, (b) 10 µm, and (c) 200 µm magnification, showing microstructural variations and hydration products cba figure 4: (a) waste tire (b) steel wire extracted from waste tires. (c) steel fiber waste tire with 30 cm length a b c othman and awdel: sustainable concrete by using waste materials 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 33-41 as the hardened characteristics. in accordance with astm c39/c39m, 100 × 100 × 100 mm3 cube specimens were used in [figure 6a] for the compressive strength tests. 3000 n/s was the loading rate. until it lost its ability to carry all loads, the test was kept going. cubes of 100 mm were also used for the total water absorption capacity of concrete specimens and density in accordance with astm c642-97 [figure 6b]. cylindrical specimens of 100 mm in diameter and 200 mm in height were used for the splitting tensile strength test according to astm c496-96 [figure 6a]. a loading rate of 333n/s was set up. the specimen’s length was marked with a thin plywood bearing strip to evenly distribute the diametral compressive force. results and discussion workability workability conducted to determine the effect of incorporating sf and wal on the workability of concrete. the results of the slump test for all eight mixes are shown in figure 7, it can be seen that the control mix (with no sf or wal) recorded a slump of 56 mm. however, with the addition of sfs at 0.5%, 1.25%, and 2% by volume of concrete, the slump values progressively decreased to 53 mm, 49 mm, and 40 mm, respectively which the percentage reduction in slump compared to the control was approximately 5.36% for 0.5% sf, 12.5% for 1.25% sf, and 28.57% for 2% sf. this trend shows that the addition of sfs induces a decrease in workability that can be attributed to figure 5: slump test table 7: mix design for (1 m3) mix type cement (kg/m3) fine aggregate (kg/m3) coarse aggregate (kg/m3) water (kg/m3) wal kg/ m3 sf (kg/m3) admixture (kg) control (pc) 366 708 1099 183 ------2.08 sf0.50 366 708 1099 183 ----36 2.08 sf1.25 366 708 1099 183 ----90 2.08 sf 2 366 708 1099 183 ----144 2.08 wal10 366 601.8 1099 183 31.84 ---2.08 hb0.5 366 601.8 1099 183 31.84 36 2.08 hb1.25 366 601.8 1099 183 31.84 90 2.08 hb2 366 601.8 1099 183 31.84 144 2.08 table 6: performance parameters of steel fibers type tensile strength (mpa) diameter (mm) length (mm) aspect ratio manufacturing process shape remark recycled sf 1380 1.00 30 30 cutoff straight uniform, neat cuts, and a small amount of rubber adhesion on the surfaces figure 6: (a) samples for total water absorption and density test and (b) samples for compressive and splitting tensile strength test ba othman and awdel: sustainable concrete by using waste materials 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 33-41 the increased surface area and interlocking properties of the fibers that impede the free movement of concrete. on the contrary, the blend using 10% wal as a partial fine aggregate replacement displayed a slump value of 65 mm, which was a 16.07% improvement in workability over the control. this enhancement can be related to the smoother texture and lighter weight of wal than natural sand, leading to reduced internal friction and easier flow of the mix and less water absorption as compared to fine aggregate. when used in combination, there were observed intermediate values for sf and wal. the blends with 0.5% sf and 10% wal obtained a slump of 54 mm, which is less than the control, but greater than the respective sf-only. in the same way, the mixes containing 1.25% and 2% sf and admixed with 10% wal gave slump values of 50 mm. and 42 mm respectively. based on these results, though the addition of wal fortifies the workability of a mixture of frc, it cannot completely neutralize the stiffening influence that is imparted to the concrete through increased values of sfs. it can therefore be concluded that inclusion of sfs negatively impacts on the workability of concrete because of the obstruction caused by the fibers in the pour of fresh mix. on the other hand, aluminum waste improves workability and can be efficiently used for compensation of the reduction in slump due to the introduction of sfs. compressive strength the compressive strength results for the 28-day curing time show in figure 8 that the control mix achieves a compressive strength of 39.93 mpa, serving as a baseline for comparison. adding 0.50% sf increases the compressive strength to 42.90 mpa, indicating that a small amount of sf enhances the concrete’s mechanical properties by bridging cracks, delaying crack propagation, and improving tensile resistance, which collectively enhance load-bearing capacity. a further addition of sf to 1.25% gives the maximum compressive strength of 44.57 mpa, which implies that this quantity distributes the fibers best and creates a stronger, more unified structure. at a 2% sf content, the compressive strength falls to 35.80 mpa, mostly because the fibers cluster together instead of spreading evenly in the matrix. the presence of fibers in clusters makes the matrix less connected and weaker overall. when 10% wal is added, the compressive strength drops to 26.93 mpa mainly because wal has a porous structure and is weaker than normal aggregates. incorporating wal into the concrete may reduce its density and internal bonding, causing less bonding between particles and leading to lower strength as can be explained by the sem images’ details shown in the figure 3. the compressive strength goes up to 32.13. the use of 1.25% sf and 10% wal raises the compressive strength to 37.50 mpa, which means that the best fiber level can help balance the reduction in strength caused by wal by spreading stress and limiting cracks. even so, when 2% sf is combined with 10% wal, compressive strength drops slightly to 33.60 mpa, pointing to the fact that too much fiber content in the presence of wal causes fiber clumping and the formation of more voids, harming the structural matrix. the highest compressive strength is achieved with just 1.25% sf, thanks to better dispersion of fibers and improved stress, but the use of 1.25% sf and 10% wal together is the most effective way to incorporate wal particles into concrete, as it provides a good balance between fiber reinforcement and waste utilization, while reducing the problems caused by each. splitting tensile strength when looking at [figure 9] for the 28-day strengths, the control mix provides a tensile strength of 3.32 mpa, which is used as a reference. at 0.50% sf, the splitting tensile strength rises to 4.20 mpa, which means that small amounts of sfs improve the tensile properties. such an improvement is caused by the fibers spanning between cracks, delaying when they form and keeping cracks from widening, improving the sample’s crack-resistance and tensile strength. raising the sf content to 1.25% results in a tensile strength of 4.57 mpa, the best among all mixes, which suggests fibers are optimally spread, allowing better stress transfer and improved crack control, resulting in increased toughness and strength. once the sf content gets to 2%, the splitting tensile strength drops to 3.84 mpa. fiber agglomeration and uneven distribution probably because this decreases, as they result figure 7: slump values for concrete mixes figure 8: compressive strength result of concrete mixes othman and awdel: sustainable concrete by using waste materials 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 33-41 in spots of high stress rather than even reinforcement of the matrix. on the other side, the addition of 10% wal lowers the splitting tensile strength to 2.38 mpa, which is the minimum value. this weakness is mainly caused by the low strength and many pores in wal, which make it hard for the wal to bind well with the concrete matrix, thereby reducing the tensile strength. mixing 0.50% sf with 10% wal results in a slight increase in tensile strength to 3.36 mpa, suggesting that the fibers reduce some of the bad effects of wal by bridging cracks. the addition of 1.25% sf and 10% wal increases the tensile strength to 3.44 mpa, which shows the fiber content’s usefulness for supporting structure despite the presence of weaker wal. however, increasing the sf content to 2% along with 10% wal results in a slight decrease to 3.40 mpa, reinforcing the observation that excessive fiber content may cause clumping, reducing the expected improvement in tensile strength. moreover, the splitting tensile test showed clear differences in crack behavior between plain, wal, and frc. plain concrete exhibited wide, continuous cracks, indicating brittle failure. in contrast, sf-reinforced specimens showed narrower, shorter cracks and remained more intact. this demonstrates that sfs improve tensile performance by bridging cracks and enhancing ductility, as shown in figures 10 and 11. water absorption the water absorption results are shown in figure 12. the control mix recorded 5.29% absorption. incorporating 0.5% and 1.25% sf reduced the values to 5.02% and 4.86%, reflecting 5.1% and 8.1% reductions, respectively. this suggests that moderate sf addition refines the internal structure and decreases porosity. when 2% sf was used, absorption went up to 5.55%, giving a 4.9% increase over the control, possibly because of poor compression and fiber bunching. the mix using 10% wal on its own reached an absorption value of 5.60%, which is 5.9% higher than the control, mainly due to how porous and absorptive wal is. when sf was combined with wal, the 0.5% sf + 10% wal and 1.25% sf + 10% wal mixes recorded 5.36% and 5.09%, respectively, close to the control, indicating a balanced effect. however, the 2% sf + 10% wal mix rose again to 5.72%, an 8.1% increase, demonstrating that high fiber content with wal significantly raises porosity. figure 12: water absorption of concrete mixes figure 9: compressive strength test figure 10: splitting tensile strength tesults of concrete mixes figure 11: (a-d) crack occurrence type of samples ba c d othman and awdel: sustainable concrete by using waste materials 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 33-41 in short, moderate sf lowers absorption and raises durability, but wal has the opposite effect. to keep pores from connecting and reduce water movement, it is necessary to find the best mix. density the presence of sf from waste tires resulted in a significant change in the dry density, figure 13 shows this. the density of concrete with sf was respectively found to be 2363.8 kg/m these values show an increase in values of 3.17%, 4.36% and 2.91% respectively, which means that the presence of sfs compacts the matrix more closely corresponding to enhanced packing effects and the higher specific gravity of steel with respect to other concrete constituents. on the other hand, when 10% wal was mixed with sfs, the densities went up again: for 0.5% sf, the density was 2256.3 kg/m3, notching down by 1.52%; for 1.25% sf, density dropped slightly to 2284.3 kg/m3 at −0.30%. this improved density after adding sfs shows that they can at least partially make up for the loss brought by wal, supporting their benefit for the composite’s packing and strength. conclusion • optimal sf content: with the inclusion of 1.25% sf, compressive strength increased the most, while tensile strength remained high, leading to the top performance. • effect of excess fiber: as sf increased to 2%, the strength of the concrete increased, but its workability decreased due to fiber clustering. • aluminum waste impact: although the use of 10% wal in concrete improved workability and surface smoothness, its strength in both compressive and tensile states decreased. • combined use: combining 1.25% sf and 10% wal resulted in a mix that is strong, controls water absorption and is considered an environmentally friendly pick. • water absorption: using medium sf allows the concrete to absorb less water and wal allows water to pass through more easily. increasing sf (2%) when using wal results in better absorption and pore structure. • density trends: concrete in sf was made denser, but wal made it less dense. the combination of both additives maintained acceptable performance thresholds. figure 13: density of concrete mixes • sustainability contribution: reusing steel and aluminum waste for concrete is eco-friendly since it supports sustainability and deals with industrial byproducts. references 1. j. ivel, r. watson, b. abbassi and z. s. abu-hamatteh. life cycle analysis of concrete and asphalt used in road pavements. environmental engineering research, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 52-61, 2019. 2. d. coffetti, e. crotti, g. gazzaniga, m. carrara, t. pastore and l. coppola. pathways towards sustainable concrete. cement and concrete research, vol. 154, p. 106718, 2022. 3. m. safiuddin, m. a. salam and m. z. jumaat. effects of recycled concrete aggregate on the fresh properties of self-consolidating concrete. archives of civil and mechanical engineering, vol. 11, pp. 1023-1041, 2011. 4. 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construction projects shamal f. ahmed department of surveying and geomatics, faculty of engineering, tishk international university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract nowadays, global navigation satellite system (gnss) techniques are considered the cornerstones in the field of surveying and civil engineering industry. at present, a plethora of companies is employing gnss in their daily activities. the engineering construction projects are designed based on ground distances although rapid static works on grid coordinate system, where the distances between points vary from the ground. the established control points should be compatible with the design by converting distances to ground. this study investigates the effect of the scale factor (sf) to reduce the linear distortion when grid is converted to ground. for this purpose, eight different distances from 64.858 m to 887.974 m were taken with rapid static method. the results reveal that whereas the distances are increased, the difference between the grid and ground is proportional, and for the smallest distance, the difference was 54 mm and for the largest was 398 mm. besides, the grid distances were converted to ground distances using the combined sfs that works as a divider; the average difference was decreased from 175 mm to 45 mm, and the maximum difference was decreased from 398 mm to 85 mm. keywords: global navigation satellite system, total station, grid ground distance, scale factor, conversion introduction now in many construction projects, different instruments are used for surveying purposes such as global navigation satellite system (gnss) and total station (ts). gnss is a multi-constellation satellites that can be utilized to determine the receiver’s position on the earth by sending signals from space that contains navigational message to the gnss receivers. one of the most useful methods in gnss positioning, for a small distance and in millimeter accuracy, is the rapid static method. it is a relative positioning that uses the carrier phase to determine the coordinates of unknown point (rover). on the other hand, the other receiver (base) is occupied on a point with known coordinates which should be tracked the same satellites.[1-3] details on rapid static, operational considerations, data transmission, ambiguity resolution, and processing can be found in.[4] the occupation time is planned according to the length of the baseline, the numbers of satellites, the geometric dilution of precision, and the type of the instruments reference[5] stated that the integer ambiguity can be fixed more reliable and faster when the occupation time is adequately long. the accuracy of this method is about 3–5 mm.[1] on the other hand, ts instruments can carry out all the functions that transits and theodolites are capable of doing, with more efficiency. in addition to that, they have the ability to observe distances quickly and accurately with the angle and can compute some mathematical calculations by a microprocessor that is fixed in the instrument and display the results in real-time.[2] according to references,[5,6] gnss works on projected (grid) coordinates, whereas the ts works on ground coordinates. when these two instruments are combined and used together in a project, linear distortion occurs. this distortion cannot be eliminated, but it can be minimized.[7,8] in this paper, eight different baselines will be taken in different lengths by both gnss (rapid static method) and ts to present the effect of scale factor (sf) to minimize linear distortion when these types of instruments are combined. grid to ground solutions there are three different surfaces of the earth for per project area, as illustrated in figure 1, the ground (ts distances), the ellipsoid, and the grid (gnss distances) plane. ground distances are distances between objects on the topographic surface of the earth. it can be measured with chains or calibrated wheels with odometers and are needed whenever an analysis depends on actual distances on the earth’s surface. this can be corresponding author: shamal f. ahmed, department of surveying and geomatics, faculty of engineering, tishk international university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: shamal.fatah@tiu.edu.iq received: september 13, 2022 accepted: october 30, 2022 published: december 30, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp161-165 copyright © 2022 shamal f. ahmed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ahmed: grid to ground solutions in construction projects 162 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 161-165 the case for highway construction, hydrology, and meteorology, for example, mappers and surveyors seldom measure ground distances, because most maps are compiled with horizontal or reduced distances.[9] the distance measured by an electronic distance measurement (edm) is called an edm distance. in general, they are not straight-line distances, because the light emitted by the instrument is refracted by the earth’s atmosphere. a euclidean straight-line distance is called a spatial distance. one can attempt to remove the atmosphere’s effect on edm distances by measuring atmospheric temperature, humidity, and pressure.[1] the projected (grid) coordinates are derived from ellipsoidal coordinates in a particular geodetic datum and coordinate reference system after applying a projection like universal transverse mercator projection (utm).[10] when points are moved from one surface to another, as shown in figure 1, the distance between those points varies, resulting in a change in scale owing to the distortion. when intending to depict a curved surface on a plane, it is impossible to do so without introducing some degree of distortion. it indicates that there is a shift in the “real” relationship that exists between points that are situated on the surface of the earth and the representation of that relationship on a plane. because distortion cannot be completely removed, the most that can be done is to minimize its impact. one of the types of distortions is known as linear distortion which is the difference in distance between a set of projected (map grid) coordinates and the actual horizontal distance between those points (ground), represented by “δ”. to transform points from the grid to the ground, first an ellipsoid transformation must be performed, and then, a ground transformation must follow. each step has its own scale shift. scale factor the scale factor (sf) is the value which specifies the distanced points, such as between a and b on the grid plane (grid distance (dgrid)) and those matching two locations on the ellipsoid (ellipsoid or geodetic distance (dellip)). the cause of a scale difference is due to the transformation that occurs from a flat (grid plane) to a curved surface (ellipsoid). equation (1) calculates the sf at each point: ° °= + 2 2sf 2 e k r (1) where: k: central meridian’s sf r: earth’s radius e: difference between false easting at the central meridian and easting of the point first, by calculating the grid distance between the two points and then multiplying that result by the effective sf (effsf), it is possible to get the approximate ellipsoidal distance between the two points (a and b). this will yield the value of the approximate ellipsoidal distance. the effective sf (effsf) can be calculated using (2), which is as follows: + + = 4 effsf 6 a ab bsf sf sf (2) where: sfa: stands for sf point a sfb: stands for sf point b sfab: stands for sf point between sfa and sfb. using equation (3) the grid distance (dgrid) can be altered to an ellipsoidal distance (dellip). = dgri dellip d effsf (3) the scale value that defines the distance between two points on the ellipsoid (geodetic distance, or dellip) and those same two points on the earth (ground distance, or dground) is known as the elevation factor (ef). equation (4) can be used to obtain the ef: = + ef r r h (4) where: h: mean ellipsoidal height between a and b by applying the ef in (5), the ground distance (dground) can be calculated from the geodetic distance (dellip) = d dg el round lip ef (5) the most frequent transformation is that between points on the grid plane and points on the ground. the combination factor (cf) is the scale value that will permit a direct figure 1: different types of surfaces ahmed: grid to ground solutions in construction projects 163 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 161-165 transformation from grid to ground. equation (6) illustrates how to compute the combination factor by multiplying the sf by the ef: cf = effsf × ef (6) using the combination factor, one can determine the ground distance (dground) from the grid distance (dgrid), using (7): = d dg gr round id cf (7) data and field observations eight points were marked on a satellite image in iraq-erbil at latitude 43.993° e and longitude 36.1901°n with different distances. reconnaissance was done for points to check the intervisibility of points, as shown in figure 2. the procedure commenced by measuring coordinates of the eight points using gnss receiver (leica gs16) by the rapid static method, because the baselines between base and the rover (at points) were small. subsequently, the points were measured using ts by the traverse method. points were randomly distributed to investigate the different distances between gnss and ts instrument [figure 3]. coordinates were measured by rapid static method, starting from point (t1) to (t8) and the occupation time for each point was equal to 15 min. the collected data were processed by leica infinity software (version 3.0.1) to get the coordinates of the points. on the other hand, the ts (topcon 255) was used to observe the points by traverse method which started and terminated on t1 which was a common point. results and discussion the collected raw data by rapid static method were post processed with the selected parameters which were: cutoff angle was 15°, ephemeris type was precise, gnss types were gps, glonass, galilleo, minimum duration for float solution [static] was 5’ and sampling rate was 1 s. as illustrated by table 1, the grid distances (gnsss) are the smallest, whereas the ts distances are the biggest. in each figure 6: the differences between grid and by total station figure 2: study area figure 4: the differences from grid to ellipsoid figure 3: different distances figure 5: the differences from ellipsoid and ground ahmed: grid to ground solutions in construction projects 164 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 161-165 table 1: distances (m) from–to grid ellipsoid ground ts t1–t2 560.730 560.893 560.927 560.979 t2–t3 152.641 152.686 152.695 152.730 t3–t4 195.873 195.930 195.942 195.983 t4–t5 300.378 300.466 300.484 300.541 t5–t6 64.858 64.877 64.881 64.912 t6–t7 241.178 241.249 241.263 241.291 t7–t8 548.874 549.035 549.068 549.102 t8–t1 887.974 888.233 888.287 888.372 table 2: differences (m) from-to grid ellipsoid ellipsoid ground grid-ts ground-ts t1–t2 0.164 0.034 0.250 0.052 t2–t3 0.045 0.009 0.089 0.035 t3–t4 0.057 0.012 0.110 0.041 t4–t5 0.088 0.018 0.163 0.056 t5–t6 0.019 0.004 0.054 0.031 t6–t7 0.071 0.015 0.113 0.028 t7–t8 0.161 0.033 0.228 0.034 t8–t1 0.259 0.053 0.398 0.085 surface, the distances are increased by a rate close to the ts distances. from figures 4-8 and table 2, it seems obvious that the difference between grid and ts increased proportionally. due to the impact of the effective sf (effsf), the grid distances were increased considerably by approximately 79% and the maximum difference was 25.9 cm, minimum difference was 4.5 cm, and the average was 10.8 cm. the distances were converted to ground by the ef, and they were slightly increased. the maximum difference was 5.3 cm, minimum difference was 0.9 cm, and the average was 2.2 cm. after applying the combined sf to get the ground distances close to the ts distances, the maximum difference was 8.5 cm and the minimum was 2.8 cm. conclusion to sum up, various instruments, such as the gnss and the ts, are utilized in modern construction projects for surveying. an avoidable linear distortion occurs when both of them are used in a project. this is due to the fact that gnss works on grid and ts works on ground coordinate system. in this study, to investigate the impact of the sf to reduce linear distortion, gnss (rapid static method) and ts have been used to determine the accuracy of the factor. eight different distances were taken, the differences between gnss and ts distances were increased proportionally. due to the influence of the effective sf, the grid distances have been significantly increased by about 79%; the maximum difference was 25.9 cm, the minimum difference was 4.5 cm, and the average difference was 10.8 cm. the ef was used to convert the distances to ground; consequently, they have been slightly increased. the greatest difference was 5.3 cm, whereas the smallest difference was 0.9 cm, and the average difference was 2.2 cm. by applying the combined sfs that worked as a divider the grid distances were converted to ground distances, the average difference was reduced from 17.5 cm to 4.5 cm whereas the maximum difference from 39.8 cm to 8.5 cm. it is an indisputable fact that sources of error like the instrumental, personal, and environmental affect the observations. moreover, if more accurate ts was used with high precision the result might be more accurate. references 1. c. d. ghilani and p. r. wolf. elementary surveying: an introduction to geomatics. prentice hall, new jersey, 2012. 2. b. f. kavanagh and d. k. slattery. surveying: with construction applications. prentice hall, new jersey, 2010. 3. j. van sickle. gps for land surveyors. crc press, florida, 2008. 4. s. f. ahmed and r. a. abbak. effect of different network geometry on gnss results. selcuk university journal of engineering sciences, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1-18, 2018. 5. a. el-rabbany. introduction to gps: the global positioning system. artech house, london, 2002. 6. a. el-mowafy. surveying with gps for construction works using the national rtk reference network and precise geoid models. in: presented at the 1st fig international symposium on engineering surveys for construction works and structural engineering, pp. 1-14, 2004. 7. i. alil. an introduction to map projections and low distortion projections (ldp). 2020. available from: https://www. conradblucherinstitute.org/workshops [last accessed on 2022 aug 10]. figure 8: all differences figure 7: the differences between ground and by total station ahmed: grid to ground solutions in construction projects 165 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 161-165 8. m. l. dennis. ground truth-design and documentation of low distortion projections for surveying and gis. in: arizona professional land surveyors workshop, vol. 11, pp. 40-45, 2008. 9. t. h. meyer. grid, ground, and globe: distances in the gps era. surveying and land information science, vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 179-202, 2002. 10. v. janssen. understanding coordinate systems, datums and transformations in australia. in: proceedings of the surveying and spatial sciences institute biennial international conference, pp. 697-715, 2009. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 93 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 93-98 research article influence of maternal body mass index on fetal ultrasound biometry noor s. omar1, furman k. ahmed2, deena s. saleem3, lezan j. ali shah3, muhamed a. abbas4 1department of radiological imaging technologies, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2physiotherapy department, health science college, hawler medical university, kurdistan region, iraq, 3ministry of health, kurdistan region, iraq, 4college of pharmacy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the worldwide prevalence of obesity has increased almost multiple times in recent decades. this study aims to estimate and evaluate the correlation between the body mass index (bmi) of pregnant women and the weight as well as the biometric parameters of the fetus. in the present study, from 245 pregnant women who participated, 210 participants of pregnant women were enrolled in a private clinical center in erbil governorate in the kurdistan region, iraq. the data were collected from december 2022 to september 2023. 210 participants were enrolled, and their ages ranged from 17 to 45 years, with a means ± sd of 30.89 ± 6.317 years, 17.1% of participant’s ages were <25 years, 52% were between 25 and 34 years, and 30% were 35 years and more. the relation between maternal bmi and fetal weight in grams for <2000, between 2000 and 3000, and more than 3000 g was statistically significant with a p = 0.027, while the association between maternal bmi and fetal gender statistically was not significant. according to our result in the present study, bmi was not statistically significant with fetal parameters. these findings show the relationship between the fetal weight and the mother’s bmi is statistically significant. however, there is no significant relationship between maternal age and all maternal bmi categories. in addition, in the third trimester of pregnancy, not all categories of the mother’s bmi have an impact on fetal biometry. keywords: body mass index, pregnant women, fetal weight, obesity, ultrasound biometry introduction obesity and overweight have become more prevalent in recent years to become an important issue for worldwide health. it is the most prevalent health condition among women of reproductive age.[1] maternal overweight and obesity during pregnancy are contributing factors to birth complications and adverse outcomes also have an important effect on health-care burden.[2] the prevalence of obesity has increased globally almost multiple times in recent decades.[3] the world health organization (who) has described this issue as a “global epidemic,” and maternal obesity is a common risk factor observed in obstetric practice. obesity has been related to an increased risk of health problems and maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality during pregnancy and childbirth. pregnant women with a high body mass index (bmi) are more likely to have a variety of complications during pregnancy, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, induced labor, cesarean section, and wound infection.[4,5] high maternal bmi is linked to a number of unfavorable pregnancy outcomes, making weight management before and during pregnancy essential for favorable results.[6] maintaining an appropriate bmi during pregnancy significantly prevents the risk of both early and late complications in the pregnancy process, as well as possible birth complications in neonates. obesity is prevalent among women living in industrialized countries. in developed countries, approximately 30–40% of adult women are suffering from obesity. obesity is a health problem that impairs everyday activities and in obese women, quality of life is significantly impaired.[7] nearly one-fourth of women in their generative years are obese or overweight. according to guidelines established by the who, obesity is determined by calculating bmi using the following formula: bmi (kg/m2) = body weight (kg)/body height (m2). body built-in individuals with bmi <18.5 kg/m2 are regarded as being underweight., bmi 18.5–24.9 kg/m2 normal corresponding author: noor s. omar, department of general biology, faculty of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: noor.sami@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: august 8, 2024 accepted: september 5, 2024 published: october 01, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp93-98 copyright © 2024 noor s. omar. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) omar, et al.: estimate the effect of bmi on fetal biometry by using ultrasound 94 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 93-98 weight, bmi 25–29.9 kg/m2 overweight, and bmi ≥30 kg/m2 are considered obese. obesity can be categorized into three degrees: bmi 30.0–34.9 (first degree); bmi 35–39.9 (second degree); and bmi ≥40 (third degree or extreme obesity). the main benefit of bmi is its simplicity of calculation. the drawback is the inability to distinguish between high muscle mass and obesity as the underlying reason for elevated body weight.[8] it is recommended before pregnancy or early in pregnancy to work on establishing healthy eating behaviors and exercising as much as possible, and this aids in reducing excessive gestational weight gain (gwg) and helps to alleviate pregnancy-related and long-term issues for women and their offspring.[9] research has demonstrated that maternal overweight, a notable health concern during pregnancy, has an impact on the weight of the infant.[10] maternal bmi was observed to be connected with fetal weight gain and neonatal brain connectivity measures.[11] it was found that women with high bmi their fetuses had longer bone lengths, compared to fetuses of nonobese women, starting from the 21st week of pregnancy.[12] maternal obesity reduced the precision of sonographic fetal weight estimation. physicians need to be aware of the ultrasound device’s limits to estimate the weight of the fetus, especially for pregnant women who suffer from excessive obesity.[13] ultrasound fetal biometric measurements in women with a high bmi can be confirmed by repeated measurements when performed by trained sonographers.[14] sonographic is accurate when comparing the fetal weight in the third trimester to neonatal birthweight at increasing bmi categories.[15] obtaining clear ultrasound images of the fetus is more challenging in obese pregnant women compared to women of normal weight.[16-18] consequently, obese women have a lowered antenatal detection rate for congenital anomalies, which leads to a decrease in antepartum diagnoses and an increase in the number of liveborn and stillborn complications associated with pregnancies to obese mothers. the faster study’s data analysis shows that obesity has a detrimental impact on the efficacy of second trimester genetic sonography, resulting in a notably greater rate of missed diagnoses for several minor markers and a reduced probability of identifying common anomalies in the obese population.[18] the current study aims to determine and evaluate the relationship between pregnant women’s bmi and both fetal weight and biometric measurements. materials and methods in the present study, from 245 pregnant women who participated, 210 participants of pregnant women were enrolled in a private clinical center in erbil governorate in the kurdistan region, iraq. the data were collected from december 2022 to september 2023. the bmi of 210 pregnant women was calculated depending on measuring the height in meters and weight in kilograms, from which the bmi was obtained according to the formula weight/height2. this study included all pregnant women who were referred to these centers and who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. here are the criteria that were used for inclusion: age range of 17–45 years and gestational age was in the third trimester. the 210 participants were divided into four groups depending on their bmi, in accordance with standards set out by the who and the national institutes of health guidelines: normal weight, bmi 18.5–24.9 kg/m2; overweight, bmi 25.0– 29.9 kg/m2; obese class i, bmi 30.0–34.9 kg/m2; and obese class ii, bmi 35.0–39.934.9 kg/m2. for all participants, the fetal weight was measured in grams and the four biometry parameters (biparietal diameter [bpd], femur length [fl], head circumference [hc], and abdominal circumference [ac]) were measured in millimeters based on the ultrasound image. ultrasound examination was performed transabdominally (low-frequency curved probe (3–10 mhz) and ultrasound machine (philips 550 and samsung sonoace r7) to measure and estimate fetal growth monitoring. the statistical package for the social sciences statistical software was used for all statistical analyses. version (26) was used to analyze the data and measure the mean, standard deviation, and frequency for maternal age, and gestational age. the chi-square test was used for parametric data. the data that were collected were displayed using relative 0.5% 18.1% 36.2% 45.2% 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 18.524.99 25-29.999 30-34.999 35 and more figure 2: body mass index categories of the participants 17.1% 52.9% 30.0% less than 25 years 2534 years 35 years and more figure 1: age groups of the participants omar, et al.: estimate the effect of bmi on fetal biometry by using ultrasound 95 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 93-98 numbers and median values (the measure of variability). all estimates were adjusted for the following potential confounders: maternal age (maternal age (<20, 20–29, or ≥30 years), educational level (did or did not complete high school), smoking during pregnancy (yes or no), and chronic hypertension.[19] results in this cross-sectional study, 210 participants were enrolled, and their ages varied from 17 to 45, with a means ± sd of 30.89 ± 6.317 years, 17.1% of participants their age were <25 years, 52% were between 25 and 34 years, and 30% were 35 years and more years and more as shown in (figure 1). bmi of the present study was classified into four groups, 0.5% of the participants have normal weight, 18.1% were overweight, 36.2% were obese class i, and 45.2% were obese class ii as shown in (figure 2). in figure 3. the education of the participants, 23.3% were illiterate, 43.3% had primary education, and 33.3% had graduated. table 2: association between maternal bmi and fetal weight and gender variables body mass categories (no. and%) p-value* normal weight 18.5–24.999 overweight 25–29.999 obesity class 1 30–34.999 obesity class 11 35 and more fetal weight in grams <2000 1 (100.0) 10 (26.3) 20 (26.3) 16 (16.8) 0.027 2000–3000 0 (0.0) 21 (55.3) 34 (55.3) 37 (38.9) 0.027 3000 and more 0 (0.0) 7 (18.4) 22 (18.4) 42 (44.2) 0.027 fetal gender 0.586 male 1 (1.2.0) 15 (17.9) 35 (41.7) 33 (39.3) female 0 (0.0) 22 (18.3) 39 (32.5) 59 (49.2) unknown 0 (0.0) 1 (16.7) 2 (33.3) 3 (50.0) total 1 (0.5) 38 (18.1) 76 (36.2) 95 (45.2) 210 (100.0) *: fischer’s exact test. bmi: body mass index table 1: association of bmi categories to some maternal parameters variables body mass categories (no. and%) p-value* normal weight 18.5–24.999 overweight 25–29.999 obesity class 1 30–34.999 obesity class 11 35 and more age groups in years 0.323 <25 1 (2.8) 5 (13.9) 16 (44.4) 14 (38.9) 25–34 0 (0.0) 21 (18.9) 42 (37.8) 48 (43.2) 35 years and more 0 (0.0) 12 (19.0) 18 (28.6) 33 (52.4) maternal educational level 0.483 illiterate 1 (2.0) 11 (22.4) 17 (34.7) 20 (40.8) primary 0 (0.0) 18 (19.8) 34 (37.4) 39 (42.9) graduates** 0 (0.0) 9 (12.9) 25 (35.7) 36 (51.4) family history 0.171 yes 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 2 (100.0) 0 (0.0) no 1 (0.5) 38 (18.3) 74 (35.6) 95 (45.7) mode of delivery 0.660 normal delivery 1 (1.3) 12 (15.4) 28 (35.9) 37 (47.4) cesarean section 0 (0.0) 23 (20.7) 42 (37.8) 46 (41.4) both 0 (0.0) 3 (14.3) 6 (28.6) 12 (57.1) parity of the mothers 0.308 primipara 0 (0.0) 13 (18.3) 31 (43.7) 27 (38.0) multipara 1 (0.7) 25 (18.0) 45 (32.4) 68 (48.9) total 1 (0.5) 38 (18.1) 76 (36.2) 95 (45.2) 210 (100.0) *: fischer’s exact test. **: including those who graduated from institutes and colleges. bmi: body mass index omar, et al.: estimate the effect of bmi on fetal biometry by using ultrasound 96 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 93-98 table 1 illustrates the association of bmi categories with some maternal parameters including the age groups, maternal educational level, family history, mode of delivery, and parity of the mothers. the relation between maternal bmi and fetal weight in grams for <2000, between 2000 and 3000, and more than 3000 g was statistically significant with a p = 0.027, however, there was no statistically significant correlation found between the mother’s bmi and the gender of the fetus (table 2). according to our result in the present study, bmi was not statistically significant with fetal parameters as shown in table 3. discussion the general population’s obesity rate is positively correlated with the proportion of overweight pregnant women. according to research by kanagalingam and forouhi scotland’s obesity prevalence has risen from 9.4% to 18.9% during 12 years.[20] 0.5% of the participants have normal weight, 18.1% were overweight, 36.2% were obese class i, and 45.2% were obese class ii. in this study, the relationship between maternal age was studied they were divided depending on their age into three groups, <25, 25–34, and 35 years and over, as well as according to their body weight into three groups: normal weight. 18.5–24.999 overweight, 25–29.999 obesity class 1, 30–34.999 obesity class 11, and 35 and more. maternal age and all maternal bmi categories did not significantly correlate, according to the results of the fischer exact test. both the age and bmi of overweight/obese are the most common medical complications of pregnancy, women with a bmi of overweight or obese and over 35 years of age had a 2.45fold increased risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (gdm). in contrast, women who combined three risk factors— being over 35 years of age, being overweight or obese, and experiencing excessive gwg during the second trimester— had a 3.38-fold increased risk of developing gdm.[21] according to the result of the current study, fetal growth was calculated by using ultrasound examination in the third trimester of pregnancy, and the effect of maternal obesity on fetal growth was analyzed by applying fisher’s exact test, and the relationship between maternal bmi and fetal weight was significant. this is consistent with the study that increasing maternal bmi was favorably correlated with third trimester fetal growth.[22] furthermore, the results of this research are compatible with the results that fetuses of fat mothers weighed more than fetuses of non-obese women as early as 32 weeks gestation.[23] there is limited research on how maternal bmi affects early fetal growth, with some studies indicating that maternal bmi does not have a substantial impact on early fetal growth.[24] while in another study found that high maternal bmi is associated with reduced fetal size in early pregnancy and extends the length of pregnancy.[25] an analysis of variance test was used in this study to examine the connection between the mother’s bmi and the fetus’s biometric measurements of the fl, bpd, hc, and ac. in terms of parameters, there is no significant difference between the bmi groups that belong to the same trimester. these results showed that fetal biometry is not affected by all maternal bmi categories in the third trimester of pregnancy. these are similar to the results that brought together obese mothers with different values of bmi and observed the effect of obesity on fetal biometric parameters of hc, bpd, ac, and fl and discovered that there was a significant difference observed between trimester and months while there was no significant difference observed between bmi groups. this led to the belief that fetal parameters are not affected by maternal bmi. it has been observed that there is a direct correlation between the growth of maternal body mass and the development of fetal parameters. increased maternal weight gain during pregnancy may have adverse impacts on fetal development.[26] another study demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between maternal visceral adiposity and fetal biometric measures during the second trimester of pregnancy. table 3: association between maternal bmi and some fetal parameters fetal parameters in mm body mass categories (mean±sd) p-value* normal weight 18.5–24.999 overweight 25–29.999 obesity class 1 30–34.999 obesity class 11 35 and more biparietal diameter 1.000 1.631±0.488 1.0±0.472 1.768±0.424 0.132 femur length 1.000 1.631±0.488 1.684±0.467 1.768±0.424 0.146 head circumference 1.000 1.763±0.430 1.723±0.450 1.842±0.366 0.067 abdominal circumference 1.000 1.578±0.500 1.671±0.472 1.663±0.475 0.411 *: analysis of variance test. bmi: body mass index 23.3% 43.3% 33.3% 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 illiterate primary education graduates figure 3: educational status of the participants omar, et al.: estimate the effect of bmi on fetal biometry by using ultrasound 97 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 93-98 the correlation remained even after accounting for gestational age, across groups of obese, nonobese, gestational diabetes, and non-diabetic women. there was no significant difference in the correlation coefficient between the groups of individuals who were previously obese and those who were not obese.[27-29] conclusion based on the present study, we found that the relationship between maternal bmi and fetal weight was statistically significant, while there was no significant relation between maternal age and all maternal bmi categories, as well as fetal biometry, not affected by all maternal bmi categories in the third trimester of pregnancy. it is necessary to conduct new studies on pregnant women at different stages of pregnancy in the first, second, and third trimesters to have a more comprehensive study while examining bmi to monitor the effect of maternal obesity on fetal growth rates with larger sample sizes. references 1. s. b. heymsfield and t. a. wadden. mechanisms, pathophysiology, and management of obesity. the new england journal of medicine, vol. 376, pp. 254-66, 2017. 2. m. m. salman, r. m. k. ghanem, a. n. f. wasef and m. m. a. el aleem. effect of body mass index (bmi) on mode of delivery and maternal and neonatal complications in nulliparous women. ginpolmedproject, vol. 3, no. 64, pp. 1-5, 2022. 3. world health organization. fact sheets: obesity and overweight. world health organization, geneva, 2020. available from: https://www.who.int/newsroom/fact-sheets/detail/ obesityand-overweight [last accessed on 2024 jan 21]. 4. a. otero-naveiro, c. gómez-fernández, r. álvarez-fernández, m. pérez-lópez and e. paz-fernández. maternal and fetal outcomes during pregnancy and puerperium in obese and overweight pregnant women. a cohort study. archives of gynecology and obstetrics, vol. 304, no. 5, pp. 1205-1212, 2021. 5. t. quiner and j. h. perlow. the global burden of obesity on pregnancy outcomes in the developed world [17q]. obstetrics and gynecology. vol. 129, no. 5, p. 177s, 2017. 6. a. krsman, d. stajić, b. baturan, m. stanković, a. kupušinac, u. kadić, m. pantelić, l. gvozdenović, s. pop trajković, d. simić, a. živadinović and l. živadinović. correlation between increased maternal body mass index and pregnancy complications. european review for medical and pharmacological sciences, vol. 27, pp. 3508-3513, 2023. 7. e. irge, s. timur, h. zincir, h. oltuluoğlu and s. dursun. evaluation of nutrition in pregnany. jocme, vol. 14, pp. 157160, 2005. 8. c. ferrada, m. molina, l. cid, g. riedel, c. ferrada and r. arevalo. relationship between gestational diabetes and metabolic syndrome. revista médica de chile, vol. 135, pp. 15391545, 2007. 9. a. a. creanga, p. m. catalano and b. t. bateman. obesity in pregnancy. the new england journal of medicine, vol. 387, pp. 248-59, 2022. 10. n. kocak, s. ersoy and e. pala. the effects of pregnant obesity in newborn. medical records, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 123-127, 2022. 11. m. n. spann, d. scheinost, t. feng, k. barbato, s. lee, c. monk and b. s. peterson. association of maternal prepregnancy body mass index with fetal growth and neonatal thalamic brain connectivity among adolescent and young women. jama network open, vol. 3, no. 11, p. e2024661, 2020. 12. c. zhang, m. l. hediger, p. s. albert, j. grewal, a. sciscione, w. a. grobman, d. a. wing, r. b. newman, r. wapner, m. e. d’alton, d. skupski, m. p. nageotte, a. c. ranzini, j. owen, e. k. chien, s. craigo, s. kim, k. l. grantz and g. m. b. louis. association of maternal obesity with longitudinal ultrasonographic measures of fetal growth: findings from the nichd fetal growth studies-singletons. jama pediatrics, vol. 172, no. 1, pp. 24-31, 2018. 13. a. el-ghandor, a. m. anwar and e. s. el-desouky. the effect of maternal obesity on sonographic fetal weight estimation. al-azhar medical journal, vol. 49, no. 3, pp. 1135-1144, 2020. 14. j. g. martinsa, t. kawakita, m. gurganusa, d. barakia, p. jaina, a. t. papageorghiou and z. abuhamad. the influence of maternal body mass index on interobserver variability of fetal ultrasound biometry and amniotic-fluid assessment in late pregnancy. ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology, vol. 58, no. 6, pp. 892-899, 2021. 15. j. g. martins, t. kawakita, p. jain, m. gurganus, d. baraki, c. barake, e. sinkovskaya and a. abuhamad. impact of maternal body mass index on the accuracy of third trimester sonographic estimation of fetal weight. archives of gynecology and obstetrics, vol. 307, pp. 395-400, 2023. 16. i. hendler, s. c. blackwell, e. bujold, m. c. treadwell, h. m. wolfe, r. j. sokol and y. sorokin. the impact of maternal obesity on midtrimester sonographic visualization of fetal cardiac and craniospinal structures. international journal of obesity and related metabolic disorders, vol. 28, no. 12, pp. 1607-1611, 2004. 17. j. s. dashe, d. d. mcintire and d. m. twickler. effect of maternal obesity on the ultrasound detection of anomalous fetuses. obstetrics and gynecology, vol. 113, no. 5, pp. 10011007, 2009. 18. k. m. aagaard‐tillery, t. flint porter, f. d. malone, d. a. nyberg, j. collins, c. h. comstock, g. hankins, k. eddleman, l. dugoff, h. m. wolfe and m. e. d’alton. influence of maternal bmi on genetic sonography in the faster trial. prenatal diagnosis, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 14-22, 2010. 19. world health organization. global database on body mass index: bmi classification, 2012. available from: https://apps.who.int/ bmi/index/jsp?intropage=intro/3.html [last accessed on 2024 jan 21]. 20. m. g. kanagalingam, n. g. forouhi, i. a. greer and n. sattar. changes in booking body mass index over a decade: retrospective analysis from a glasgow maternity hospital. bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology, vol. 112, no. 10, pp. 1431-1433, 2005. 21. h. y. yong, z. m. shariff, b. n. mohd yusof, z. rejali, y. y. siang tee, j. bindels and e. m. van der beek. independent and combined effects of age, body mass index and gestational weight gain on the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. scientific reports, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 8486, 2020. 22. g. lindell, k. maršál and k. källén. impact of maternal characteristics on fetal growth in the third trimester: a population‐based study. ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology, vol. 40, no. 6, pp. 680-687, 2012. 23. j. a. hutcheon, o. stephansson, s. cnattingius, l. m. bodnar and k. johansson. is the association between pregnancy weight gain and fetal size causal?: a re-examination using a sibling comparison design. epidemiology, vol. 30, no. 2, p. 234, 2019. 24. i. sarris, c. bottomley, a. daemen, a. pexsters, d. timmerman, t. bourne and a. t. papageorghiou. no influence of body mass index on first trimester fetal growth. human reproduction, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. 1895-1899, 2010. 25. i. n. thagaard, l. krebs, j. c. holm, m. christiansen, h. møller, t. lange and t. larsen. the effect of obesity on early fetal growth omar, et al.: estimate the effect of bmi on fetal biometry by using ultrasound 98 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 93-98 and pregnancy duration: a cohort study. the journal of maternalfetal and neonatal medicine, vol. 31, no. 22, pp. 2941-2946, 2018. 26. k. desdicioğlu, r. desdicioğlu and m. a. malas. the effects of maternal body mass index on biometric parameters in the fetal period. journal of clinical obstetrics and gynecology, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 242-249, 2013. 27. k. r. de melo lopes, j. g. alves and a. s. r. souza. maternal visceral adiposity and fetal biometry in women with obesity and diabetes. revista da associação médica brasileira (1992), vol. 69, pp. 404-409, 2023. 28. m. h. ubeid, a. s. m. juma, t. s. salih, s. s. kamel and s. m. al-awqati. age of women as a parameter affecting ca-125, tsh and cbc a correlation study. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-7, 2023. 29. m. a. abbas and o. u. uludag. evaluation and comparison the effectiveness of remifentanil, nitroglycerin, esmolol, and nitroglycerin + esmolol on blood pressure and heart rate during rhinoplasty surgery. diyala journal of medicine, vol. 23, no. 2, no. 2, pp. 131-151, 2022. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 67 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 67-73 research article psychological stress of the covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of healthcare workers in the kurdistan region delan j. qadir1, jamal k. shakor2, trifa m. mohammed3, raza m. abdulla4 1department of adult, college of nursing, university of sulamani, sulaimani, iraq, 2department of nursing, sulaimani polytechnic university, darbandikhan technical institute sulaimani, iraq, 3department of psychiatric nursing and mental health, college of nursing, university of sulamani, sulaimani, iraq, 4department of statistic and computer, college of commerce, university of sulamani, sulaimani, iraq abstract coronavirus disease-19 (covid-19) pandemic can lead to terrific condition among healthcare workers (hcws) and severe stress reactions can raise the risk of secondary trauma. the aim of this study was determine the psychological burden of the covid-19 outbreak on hcws. the cross-sectional quantitative survey was conducted online from september 1 to september 18, 2020. online questionnaires employing scales including the generalized anxiety disorder (gad-7), patient health questionnaire (phq-9), and perceived stress scale (pss-10) were used to investigate anxiety, depression, and stress. this study has shown that percentage of severe anxiety, stress, and depression were (22%), (3.9%), and (11%) respectively among hcws. there was a significant association of phq score with age, gender, marital status, number of children, kind of employment, and work experiences. gad score was found to have a significant relationship (p = 0.05) with gender, job title, and healthcare experiences in this study. the pss score of women who worked in hospitals was found to be considerably higher. health-care professionals in kurdistan experienced high anxiety and stress during the covid-19 epidemic. keywords: anxiety, coronavirus disease-19, depression, health care workers, kurdistan introduction the coronavirus disease infection (covid-19) first appeared in china in december 2019 and quickly spread to nearly every country on the planet. the world health organization declared the virus a global pandemic in march 2020.[1] the kurdistan region of iraq (kri) alone saw 10,595 illnesses and 402 fatalities on march 30, 2020, according to statements made by the kurdistan regional government (krg).[2] to address this urgent matter, the government mandated a public holiday from february 26 to march 10, 2020, for all public and private institutions, including kindergartens. public and private universities were likewise closed from february 29 to march 10. they will remain closed for spring break from march 10 through march 23 and reopen on march 24 if conditions improve. the krg has also made the decision to declare a halt to all religious rituals, activities, and events until further notice. this includes friday sermons in mosques, churches, and temples throughout the kri. even though the lockdown’s time limit was ultimately extended, the health-care professionals continued to work to address the situation. due to their direct and indirect interactions with covid-19 patients as well as their susceptibility to infection,[3] they are at risk of developing mental health difficulties.[4] in facilities that have been trained and specialized for covid-19. iraq had reported approximately 319,035 cases of infection and 8555 deaths as of september 30, 2020, with the majority of sickness and deaths coming from western europe and north america.[5] covid-19,[6] the immediate response from departments of respiratory medicine and intensive care units (icus),[7] or the stress on mental health faced by critical care practitioners were all factors that contributed to the onset of covid-19,[6] the immediate response from departments of respiratory medicine and intensive care units (icus),[7] or the place stress on mental health faced by practitioners in critical care.[8] health-care professionals (hcps) who care for covid19 patients were said to have a negative impact on them. corresponding author: jamal k. shakor, department of nursing, sulaimani polytechnic university, darbandikhan technical institute sulaimani, iraq. e-mail: jamal.shakor@spu.edu.iq received: august 22, 2022 accepted: may 03, 2023 published: june 20, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp67-73 copyright © 2023 jamal k. shakor, delan j. qadir, trifa m. mohammed, raza m. abdulla. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) qadir, et al.: covid-19 mental health related among healthcare workers 68 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 67-73 physical exhaustion and sleep troubles have been recorded in hcps, as well as worry and fear of infection.[9] as well as, the spread of the virus among relatives, as a family was hampered by severe preventative measures.[10] evaluation support and mental healthcare are important aspects of the response to the covid-19 outbreak,[11] and these mental health issues have been addressed in both international and local legislation. hcps dealing with the covid-19 epidemic have noticed several unusual symptoms.[12] mers cov has a low overall human-to-human transmission capability; nonetheless, 38% of all confirmed illnesses are occasionally aggravated in the healthcare setting.[13] mers cov infections caused by healthcare workers occur for 1–27% of all mers cov cases.[14] healthcare worker (hcws) are said to be more insecure, and the severity of the psychological effect was found to be connected to the length of the quarantine period.[15] it is feared that such a negative impact would persist and have long-term consequences. hcws are the backbone of any country’s health-care system, and they may suffer from a variety of mental health issues as a result of their work during the covid-19 epidemic. as a result, the goal of this study was to determine the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress among a group of health-care employees who answered our online survey. review of literature the research studies from china, india, italy, spain, iran, and kurdistan/iraq were among those in the review. all the others have a cross-sectional layout. the increase in mental health issues has been noted in editorials, scientific words, viewpoints, and commentary in scientific literature as well as reporting in print and visual media. experts asked for mental health support as they were concerned over the rising number of mental health issues.[11] another a significant global public health concern during this epidemic is the rise in mental health issues in every community and age group across all countries.[16-23] to relieve psychological anguish and its impacts, experts have recommended appropriate and affordable solutions.[24] this new predicament with mental health issues has received a lot of attention. however, there is still a lack of quantifiable data regarding the rise in mental health issues brought on by the pandemic. before making the proper arrangements for tackling this issue of growing mental health difficulties, authorities need to be aware of the scope of the issue. this scoping review was carried out to estimate the number of different mental health issues brought through covid-19. methodology design of the study this cross-sectional quantitative survey was done online from september 1–18, 2020, following an 8-month lockdown in the kurdistan region due to a coronavirus pandemic. administrative arrangement the proposal for the study was accepted by the council of nursing college and approved by the scientific committee of nursing college/university of sulaimani. participant this cross-sectional design quantitative survey was done online from september 1–18, 2020, following an 8-month lockdown in the kurdistan region due to a coronavirus pandemic. the online poll drew the participation of 334 hcws. after reading the study purpose, the survey was generated in google survey (www.google.com) and the link was provided through email with invitations to possible participants who were eligible for the written consent section in the first section of the online survey. if they agreed, they could then proceed to fill out the questionnaire. tools and measurement age, sex, marital status, degree of education, work, year of experience, economic situation, possible direct interaction with covid-19 patients, and disease severity were some of the sociodemographic issues mentioned. simply checking the answer checkbox takes an average of 5 min to complete the inquiry. the kurdish translation of the perceived stress scale (pss-10),[25] patient health questionnaire (phq-9),[26] and generalized anxiety disorder (gad-7) was a significant aspect of the questionnaire for recording the degree of stress, grief, and anxiety.[27] pss10 scores vary from 0 to 13 (low), 14 to 26 (moderate), and 27 to 40 (high) (extreme stress perceived). the phq-9 scale has scores of 5–9, 10–14, 15–19, and 20–27 for mild, moderate, moderate, intense, and severe depression, respectively. the 7-item gad scale was used to assess anxiety. the gad-7 scale is a self-reporting scale with great reliability and validity. if the score is <5, there is no anxiety, whereas the cutoffs for moderate, mild, and severe anxiety are 5, 10, and 15 respectively. in this study, a cutoff of five on the phq-9 and gad-7 was used to identify persons who had or did not have any symptoms of depression or anxiety. statistical analysis after data were automatically registered in the survey’s excel file and imported into spss, statistical analysis was performed using spss version 22. for descriptive analysis, the frequency with percentage and mean with standard deviation was used. as inferential analysis, the t-test and anova were utilized to evaluate for significance. informed consent the study protocol was accepted by sulaimani university. results table 1 shows that the participants were largely from sulaimani (79.9%), that they were mostly men (52.1%), that they were mostly married (71.3%), and that they had 1–3 children (56.6%). a responder was mostly a nurse (74.9%), worked in a critical department of a hospital (46.4%), had 1–9 years of experience (44.0%), and was employed permanently (79.9%) with monthly 100–120 h of work in hospitals (45.2%). table 2 illustrated that most responders had direct contact with covid-19 infected patient, and (31.7%) was infected qadir, et al.: covid-19 mental health related among healthcare workers 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 67-73 table 2: covid-19 suffers and contacts among participants place of resident frequency percentage from the beginning of the covid-19 outbreak, did you have contact with infected peoples yes 243 72.8 no 91 27.2 total 334 100.0 due to contact, did you have infected by coved-19 yes 106 31.7 no 162 48.5 i don’t know 66 19.8 total 334 100.0 if you are infected, how do you rate your symptoms? severe 27 8.1 mild 99 29.6 no symptoms 35 10.5 no infected 173 51.8 total 334 100.0 from the beginning of the covid-19 outbreak, did you have used personal protective measures? yes 279 83.5 no 55 16.5 total 334 100.0 by covid-19 due to their work with mostly mild symptoms (29.6%). meanwhile, nearly (84%) have used personal protective measures since the covid-19 outbreak. table 1: sociodemographic and work status of the participants variables frequency percentage place of resident sulaimani 267 79.9 hawler 37 11.1 kirkuk 13 3.9 halabja 17 5.1 total 334 100.0 age groups 20–29 118 35.3 30–39 119 35.6 40–49 67 20.1 50–59 30 9.0 total 334 100.0 gender male 174 52.1 female 160 47.9 total 334 100.0 marital status single 97 28.7 married 238 71.3 total 334 100.0 number of children no child 116 34.7 1–3 children 189 56.6 4 children and more 29 8.7 total 334 100.0 job title nurse 250 74.9 physician 49 14.7 lab technicians 7 2.1 others 25 7.5 total 331 99.1 the hospital departments where the staff work at them word 87 26.0 critical department (icu, emergency) 155 46.4 lab 13 3.9 administration 32 9.6 health centre 47 14.1 total 334 100.0 health service experience <1 year 24 7.2 1–9 years 147 44.0 10-19 years 93 27.8 20 and more years 70 21.0 total 334 100.0 (contd...) variables frequency percentage type of employments public employee 267 79.9 bond (temporary employment) 34 10.2 volunteer 33 9.9 total 334 100.0 how long do you work in the month in hospitals 100–120 151 45.2 121–144 80 24.0 145–168 51 15.3 169–192 52 15.6 total 334 100.0 economic status sufficient 69 20.7 barley sufficient 239 71.6 insufficient 26 7.8 total 334 100.0 table 1: (continued) qadir, et al.: covid-19 mental health related among healthcare workers 70 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 67-73 table 3 demonstrates the psychiatric condition of health staff. this study has shown that percentages of severe anxiety, stress, and depression were (22%), (3.9%), and (11%), respectively. table 4 has shown the significant association of phq score (p < 0.05) with age, gender, marital status, number of children, kind of employment, and work experiences. mean of phq score was significantly higher in the age group 20–29 years (10.36 ± 4.22), female (9.71 ± 4.20), single marital status (10.23 ± 4.28), not have children (9.92 ± 4.21), volunteered employed (11.91 ± 4.16), and <1 years have experienced (10.58 ± 4.31). this study showed the significant association of gad score (p < 0.05) with gender, job title, and health service experiences. the mean gad score was significantly higher in females (7.41 ± 3.65), administrative staff (7.72 ± 4.17), and <1 year have experienced (8.08 ± 3.53). similarly, the significant association of pss score (p < 0.05) was observed with gender, kind of employment, and work hours in hospitals. the mean pss score was significantly higher in females (18.07 ± 5.91), voluntary employment (18.76 ± 6.35), and have 121–144 h of work in the hospitals (18.44 ± 5.74). table 5 explained the relationship between the psychiatric health condition and experience with covid-19 among health staff. there was a significantly high phq score among those who had covid-19 contact (9.43 ± 4.16), those who were infected by covid-19 (10.18 ± 4.18), and had severe symptoms (10.30 ± 4.54). similarly, there was a significant high gad score among those who were infected by covid-19 (7.69 ± 3.70) and had severe symptoms (7.85 ± 3.91). discussion covid-19 has caused some psychiatric problems in hcws because of their sensitivity to infection or other diseases.[19] table 3: the level of the psychiatric condition among health staff psychiatric conditions frequency percentage anxiety levels minimal (normal) 90 26.9 mild anxiety 170 50.9 moderate anxiety 65 19.5 severe anxiety 9 2.7 total 334 100.0 stress levels low perceived stress 84 25.1 moderate perceived stress 237 71.0 severe perceived stress 13 3.9 total 334 100.0 depression levels mild perceived depression 194 58.1 moderate perceived depression 101 30.2 moderate severe depression 34 10.2 severe perceived depression 5 1.5 total 334 100.0 covid-19 anxiety and stress were found to be higher in hcws than mers-cov and seasonal influenza.[20] hcws are concerned about infecting their family members and coworkers, therefore table 4: the association of sociodemographic and work experience with psychiatric health conditions variables mean±sd gad score phq score pss score place of resident sulaimani 6.87±3.56 9.24±4.08 17.09±5.77 hawler 6.84±4.27 8.97±3.73 17.49±6.32 kirkuk 5.69±2.50 6.77±4.32 14.23±6.93 halabja 6.71±4.54 9.88±5.45 17.06±7.28 total 6.81±3.65 9.15±4.14 17.02±5.96 p value 0.730 0.170 0.376 age groups 20–29 7.21±3.73 10.36±4.22 17.63±6.26 30–39 7.00±3.55 8.56±3.92 16.86± 40–49 5.79±3.61 8.75±4.21 16.24±5.82 50–59 6.77±3.61 7.57±3.46 17.07±5.72 p value 0.072 0.000 0.483 gender male 6.26±3.58 8.63±4.03 16.06±5.87 female 7.41±3.65 9.71±4.20 18.07±5.91 p value 0.004 0.016 0.002 marital status single 7.08±3.61 10.23±4.28 17.34±6.36 married 6.70±3.68 8.71±4.02 16.90±5.82 other 8.00± 11.00± 17.00± p value 0.649 0.009 0.834 economic status sufficient 6.10±2.82 8.19±3.63 15.71±5.67 barley sufficient 6.88±3.79 9.38±4.28 17.35±5.97 insufficient 8.08±4.04 9.58±3.84 17.54±6.35 p value 0.054 0.095 0.119 number of children no child 7.04±3.71 9.92±4.21 17.22±6.46 1–3 children 6.85±3.57 8.83±3.98 17.13±5.73 four children and more 5.66±3.88 8.14±4.56 15.59±5.33 p value 0.184 0.031 0.395 type of employments public employee 6.64±3.63 8.70±3.95 17.13±5.70 bond (temporary employment) 7.12±4.22 10.00±4.51 14.50±6.89 volunteer 7.85±3.12 11.91±4.16 18.76±6.35 p value 0.178 0.000 0.011 job title nurse 6.80±3.55 9.27±4.23 16.91±5.99 (contd...) qadir, et al.: covid-19 mental health related among healthcare workers 71 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 67-73 table 5: the association of psychiatric health conditions with covid-19 variables mean±sd gad score phq score pss score from the beginning of the covid-19 outbreak, did you have contact with infected peoples yes 6.99±3.66 9.43±4.16 17.01±5.88 no 6.33±3.60 8.40±4.03 17.05±6.22 p value 0.140 0.042 0.954 due to contact, did you have infected by coved-19 yes 7.69±3.70 10.18±4.18 17.42±5.71 no 6.22±3.70 8.30±0.00 16.78±5.75 i don’t know 6.86±3.19 9.56±4.39 16.97±6.87 p value 0.005 0.001 0.690 if you are infected, how your symptoms are? severe 7.85±3.91 10.30±4.54 17.30±5.82 mild 7.48±4.05 10.13±4.39 17.32±6.09 no symptoms 6.49±3.15 8.86±3.40 17.51±5.57 no infected 6.33±3.40 8.46±3.95 16.71±6.02 p value 0.031 0.005 0.798 from the beginning of the covid-19 outbreak, did you have used personal protective measures? yes 6.73±3.61 8.97±4.15 16.77±6.02 no 7.24±3.89 10.05±4.03 18.29±5.54 p value 0.346 0.075 0.085 gad: generalized anxiety disorder, phq: patient health questionnaire, pss: perceived stress scale, sd: standard deviation variables mean±sd gad score phq score pss score physician 7.04±3.74 8.86±3.62 18.00±4.69 lab technicians 2.86±3.24 6.00±3.74 12.71±9.32 others 7.72±4.17 9.40±4.28 17.40±6.89 p value 0.019 0.207 0.163 hospital department of work of the participant word 6.99±3.42 9.70±4.10 17.05±5.85 critical department (icu, emergency) 7.19±3.66 9.42±4.18 17.70±5.51 lab 4.85±4.10 8.38±4.25 16.00±7.74 administration 5.87±3.43 7.72±3.72 15.25±5.83 health center 6.40±3.88 8.40±4.14 16.23±6.97 p value 0.079 0.091 0.195 how long do you work in the month in hospitals 100–120 h 6.46±3.74 8.92±4.27 17.03±5.91 121–144 h 7.58±3.34 9.44±3.79 18.44±5.74 169–192 h 7.17±4.00 9.77±4.50 15.42±6.86 p value 0.091 0.469 0.032 health service experience <1 year 8.08±3.53 10.58±4.31 15.13±8.20 1–9 years 7.23±3.89 9.82±4.23 17.96±5.65 10–19 years 6.29±3.16 8.59±4.07 16.52±5.86 20 and more years 6.19±3.63 7.99±3.64 16.39±5.66 p value 0.031 0.003 0.056 gad: generalized anxiety disorder, phq: patient health questionnaire, pss: perceived stress scale, icu: intension care unit table 4: (continued) they wear protective clothing.[21] psychiatric conditions of hcws were altered during the covid-19 epidemic in the present study, with the percentages of severe anxiety, stress, and depression being (22%), (3.9%), and (11%) accordingly. the anxiety rate in this study was higher than that of hws in suadi, at 11%,[20] and depression was also higher than that of hcws in china, at 6.2% (mean phq-9: 15.1).[22] these findings are in line with a significant amount of research that has been published[28,29] and show that hcws experience anxiety at this time. in the present study, there were considerably more people who reported having moderate or severe anxiety (22.5%) than there were in the general population (5%), as had been observed prior to the pandemic.[30] meanwhile, anxiety and depression prevalence rates among hcws during covid-19 were found to be lower in the present study than in the systematic review (232 and 228%, respectively).[29] the difference in psychiatric levels is primarily due to the use of various techniques and metrics. the prevalence of moderate-to-severe psychiatric illnesses was rated in the current investigation. the majority of study participants had direct contact with covid-19-infected patients and worked more than 120 h each month, and one-third of them was infected with covid-19. since the covid-19 outbreak, roughly four-fifths had adopted personal preventive measures. according to a study, the high workload causes a shortage of medical protective supplies as well as staff behavioral issues.[31] in the present study, demographic status and job conditions were the most important factors of hws’ psychological problems. phq score was significantly higher (p = 0.05) in the age group 20–29 years, female, single marital status, no children, volunteers employed, and had <1 year of experience. phq score was shown to be considerably higher among females, most outbreaks placed, nurses, frontline job, non-volunteer employed, self-infected, or colleague infected in several wuhan research.[2,4] in an indian study, however, gender had no bearing on the severity of psychiatric problems.[32] gad score, p = 0.05 was found to have a significant relationship with female gender, administrative staff, and experience of <1 year in this study. this finding was in line with a wuhan study that found that the critical department qadir, et al.: covid-19 mental health related among healthcare workers 72 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 67-73 of the hospital, gender, and marital status were all linked to high gad and phq[33] levels.[4] nurses were shown to be more anxious than other medical care professionals in earlier studies in china.[32] the majority of the study’s participants were nurses who worked in the hospital’s critical care units, although a high psychiatric disorder score had no bearing on nursing professionalism. other italian research has found no link between phq and gad scores and nursing professionalism, icu work, or frontline work; nonetheless, nursing and frontline work had high phq and gad scores.[34] phq and gad scores were shown to be considerably higher in those who had covid-19 contact, were infected with covid-19, and had severe symptoms in the current investigation. the leading determinants of stress among hcws were found to be demographics and working conditions. according to an italian study, stress is caused by youthful age, female gender, front-line employment, and nursing professionalism.[35] meanwhile, there was a significant relationship between pss score (p = 0.05) and female gender, voluntary employment, and having 121–144 h of work in hospitals in the present study. a chinese study also discovered a link between pss score and age, working years, and current job title.[33] younger employees are almost inexperienced, and they would be unable to handle stressful circumstances such as working on the front lines for more than 120 h. the female gender is likewise more susceptible to psychological problems. the association of covid-19-related stress with female gender was confirmed among physicians in another study in kurdistan, moderate/ high stress was high among female physicians.[36] conclusion during the covid-19 outbreak, healthcare workers in kurdistan experienced severe anxiety and stress due to unpleasant psychiatric effects. screening for negative psychological outcomes and establishing efficient prevention strategies might be advantageous in minimizing the negative psychological impacts of the covid-19 pandemic among medical care professionals. references 1. n. othman and n. m. kamal. depression, anxiety, and stress in the time of covid-19 pandemic in kurdistan region, iraq. kurdistan journal of applied research, vol. 5, pp. 37-44, 2020. 2. k. r. government. latest information about covid-19. 2021. available from: https://gov.krd/coronavirus-en/dashboard/ [last accessed on 2020 sep 30]. 3. s. m. y. ho, r. s. y. kwong-lo, c. w. y. mak and j. s. wong. fear of severe acute respiratory syndrome (sars) among health care workers. journal of consulting and clinical psychology, vol. 73, no. 2, pp. 344-349, 2005. 4. j. lai, s. ma, y. wang, z. cai, j. hu, n. wei, j. wu, h. du, t. chen, r. li, h. tan, l. kang, l. yao, m. huang, h. wang, g. wang, z. liu and s. hu. factors associated with mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to coronavirus disease 2019. jama network open, vol. 3, no. 3, p. e203976, 2020. 5. worldmeter. coronavirus covid-19 pandemic. 2021. available from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus [last accessed on 2020 sep 30]. 6. a. d. beswick, k. rees, p. dieppe, s. ayis, r. gooberman-hill, j. horwood and s. ebrahim. complex interventions to improve physical function and maintain independent living in elderly people: a systematic review and meta-analysis. lancet, vol. 371, no. 9614, pp. 725-735, 2008. 7. j. phua, l. weng, l. ling, m. egi, c. m. lim, j. v. divatia, b. r. shrestha, y. m. arabi, j. ng, c. d. gomersall, m. nishimura, y. koh, b. du and asian critical care clinical trials group. intensive care management of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid19): challenges and recommendations. the lancet respiratory medicine, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 506-517, 2020. 8. o. arrogante and e. aparicio-zaldivar. burnout and health among critical care professionals: the mediational role of resilience. intensive and critical care 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mukhtar. mental health and psychosocial aspects of coronavirus outbreak in pakistan: psychological intervention for public mental health crisis. asian journal of psychiatry, vol. 51, p. 102069, 2020. 14. d. banerjee. how covid-19 is overwhelming our mental health. nature publishing group, london, 2020. 15. s. c. park and y. c. park. mental health care measures in response to the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in korea. psychiatry investigation, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 85-86, 2020. 16. a. zandifar and r. badrfam. iranian mental health during the covid-19 epidemic. asian journal of psychiatry, vol, 51, p. 101990, 2020. 17. j. lee. mental health effects of school closures during covid-19. the lancet child and adolescent health, vol. 4, no. 6, p. 421, 2020. 18. b. pfefferbaum and c. s. north. mental health and the covid19 pandemic. new england journal of medicine, vol. 383, no. 6, pp. 510-512, 2020. 19. y. ma, r. rosenheck and h. he. psychological stress among health care professionals during the 2019 novel coronavirus disease outbreak: cases from online consulting customers. intensive and critical care nursing, vol. 61, p. 102905, 2020. 20. y. t. xiang, y. yang, w. li, l. zhang, q. zhang, t. cheung and c.h. ng. timely mental health care for the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak is urgently needed. the lancet psychiatry, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 228-229, 2020. 21. n. w. chew, g. k. h. lee, b. y. q. tan, m. jing, y. goh, n. j. h. ngiam, l. l. l. yeo, a. ahmad, f. a. khan, g. n. shanmugam, a. k. sharma, r. n. komalkumar and p. v. meenakshi. a multinational, multicentre study on the psychological outcomes and associated physical symptoms amongst healthcare workers during covid19 outbreak. brain, behavior, and immunity, vol. 88, pp. 559565, 2020. 22. z. a. memish, s. perlman, m. d. van kerkhove and a. zumla. middle east respiratory syndrome. the lancet, vol. 395, no. 10229, pp. 1063-1077, 2020. 23. j. c. hunter, d. nguyen, b. aden, z. al bandar, w. al dhaheri, k. abu elkheir, a. khudair, m. al mulla, f. el saleh, h. imambaccus, n. al kaabi and f. a. sheikh. transmission of middle east respiratory syndrome coronavirus infections in healthcare settings, abu dhabi. emerging infectious diseases, vol. 22, no. 4, qadir, et al.: covid-19 mental health related among healthcare workers 73 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 67-73 pp. 647-656, 2016. 24. s. röhr, f. müller, f. jung, c. apfelbacher, a. seidler and s. g. riedel-heller. psychosocial impact of quarantine measures during serious coronavirus outbreaks: a rapid review. psychiatrische praxis, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 179-189, 2020. 25. s. cohen, t. kamarck and r. mermelstein. perceived stress scale. in: measuring stress: a guide for health and social scientists. vol. 1-2. oxford university press, united kingdom, p. 10, 1994. 26. k. kroenke, r. l. spitzer and j. b. w. williams. the patient health questionnaire-2: validity of a two-item depression screener. medical care, vol. 41, 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(preprint article) 29. s. pappa, v. ntella, t. giannakas, v. g. giannakoulis, e. papoutsi and p. katsaounou. prevalence of depression, anxiety, and insomnia among healthcare workers during the covid19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. brain, behavior, and immunity, vol. 92, p. 247, 2021. 30. a. shechter, f. diaz, n. moise, d. e. anstey, s. ye, s. agarwal, j. l. birk, d. brodie, d. e. cannone, b. chang and j. claassen. psychological distress, coping behaviors, and preferences for support among new york healthcare workers during the covid-19 pandemic. general hospital psychiatry, vol. 66, pp. 1-8, 2020. 31. q. liu, d. luo, j. e. haase, q. guo, x. q. wang, s. liu, l. xia, z. liu, j. yang and b. x. yang. the experiences of health-care providers during the covid-19 crisis in china: a qualitative study. the lancet global health, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. e790-e798, 2020. 32. m. y. si, x. y. su, y. jiang, w. j. wang, x. f. gu, l. ma, j. li, s. k. zhang, z. f. ren, r. ren, y. l. liu and y. l. qiao. psychological impact of covid-19 on medical care workers in china. infectious diseases of poverty, vol. 9, no. 1, p. 113, 2020. 33. l. q. wang, m. zhang, g. m. liu, s. y. nan, t. li, l. xu, y. xue, m. zhang, l. wang, y. d. qu and f. liu. psychological impact of coronavirus disease (2019) (covid-19) epidemic on medical staff in different posts in china: a multicenter study. journal of psychiatric research, vol. 129, pp. 198-205, 2020. 34. r. buselli, m. corsi, s. baldanzi, m. chiumiento, e. del lupo, v. dell’oste, c. a. bertelloni, g. massimetti, l. dell’osso, a. cristaudo and c. carmassi. professional quality of life and mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to sars-cov-2 (covid-19). international journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 17, no. 17, p. 6180, 2020. 35. r. rossi, v. socci, f. pacitti, g. di lorenzo, a. di marco, a. siracusano and a. rossi. mental health outcomes among frontline and second-line health care workers during the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic in italy. jama network open, vol. 3, no. 5, p. e2010185, 2020. 36. b. a. saeed, n. p. shabila and a. j. aziz. stress and anxiety among physicians during the covid-19 outbreak in the iraqi kurdistan region: an online survey. plos one, vol. 16, no. 6, p. e0253903, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 52-59 research article the use of clustering and classification methods in machine learning and comparison of some algorithms of the methods guhdar a. a. mulla1, yıldırım demir2 1department of economic, faculty of economics and administrations, nawroz university, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of statistics, faculty of economics and administrative sciences, van yuzuncu yil university, van, turkey abstract in this article, two machine learning methods such as classification and clustering are used for decision tree (dt), artificial neural network (ann), and k-nearest neighbors algorithms. the datasets were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the clustering method and the data mining tool. weather data were used to compare algorithms and methods in the study. this study showed that the best model was dt according to accuracy and precision measures but the best model according to f-measure and receiver operating characteristic curve area measures was ann. waikato environment for knowledge analysis, a data mining tool, is utilized in this paper to carry out the clustering. keywords: algorithms, classification, clustering, machine learning, decisions tree introduction data analysis science is one of the disciplines that was created to investigate natural phenomena and address current or upcoming issues. data analysis science aims to shed light on future studies by employing techniques and theories that are appropriate for data structures with a small number of observations to describe the subject with a certain probability. every science discipline in nature has a lot of data, and access to these data is becoming simpler every day. it always raises the question of how much of the collected data can be used or how significant it is. while going about their regular lives, humans not only receive information but also consume it. due to the extensive use of data, classification was required to make the data meaningful and produce new data. a set of data is classified when it is categorized based on algorithmdetermined distinguishing characteristics. data cannot always be categorized manually because millions of data types related to a field are created in just 1 day. the extremely convenient operation of the algorithms makes the classification of data very easy. the classification of data using many algorithms simultaneously can result in a variety of outcomes. which algorithm is used to classify the data set effectively relies on the data set. since not all algorithms will give the same accuracy to every data set, it is possible that the techniques employed to describe the data will also be erroneous for that data set. machine learning and classification algorithms are prominent in this direction.[1] data analysis was done using the open-source waikato environment for knowledge analysis (weka) program, which is a tried-and-true data mining tool with a graphical user interface and regular terminal programs. this program has helped to classify the data by rebalancing and decreasing its dimension. the weka project seeks to offer a full range of machine learning tools and preprocessing methods to academics. this allows applications to rapidly test and contrast various machine learning process strategies on new datasets.[2] literature review in soofi and awan,[3] discussed the fundamental classification strategies in this paper. later, he covered some of the main classification technique subcategories, including bayesian networks, decision tree (dt), k-nearest neighbor (knn), and support vector machine (svm), along with their advantages, disadvantages, prospective applications, problems, and potential solutions. this study’s objective is to offer a thorough evaluation of several machine learning classification methods. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: guhdar a. ahmed, department of economic, faculty of economics and administrations, nawroz university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: guhdar.abdulaziz@gmail.com received: march 3, 2023 accepted: may 19, 2023 published: june 10, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp52-59 copyright © 2023 guhdar a. ahmed, yıldırım demir. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0) cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mulla and demir: the use of clustering and classification methods in machine learning 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 52-59 both experts and newbies to the field of machine learning will benefit from this research’s efforts to strengthen the conceptual underpinnings of classification techniques. in this study sharma,[4] the many kinds of existing categorization algorithms were thoroughly explained in this work. sharma will mostly compare and discuss in-depth the key 7 categories of categorization algorithms here. the comparison will mostly be focused on each system’s assumptions, benefits, and disadvantages. sharma will address some of the most popular classification algorithms used, different scoring schemes to gauge their effectiveness, multiclass classification strategies, and finally model selection techniques in this paper. the study sisodia and sisodia,[5] have covered the prediction of diabetes using nave bayes, dts, and svms as classification algorithms. the major goal of this study is to create a model that can accurately predict the likelihood of developing diabetes. weka tool was utilized for data classification, with the pima indian diabetes dataset serving as the primary dataset. this research work by ambigavathi and sridharan,[6] the purpose of this work was to examine several clustering techniques from both theoretical and experimental angles. trial findings revealed which category had the best algorithm using a set of physiological data. a variety of internal as well as stability measures were used to validate the effectiveness of each clustering technique in machine learning. this research concluded by highlighting future directions for highdimensional health-care data sets using a suitable clustering technique. in this study lorena et al.,[7] in this research, we investigated resampling techniques and metrics that may be obtained from training datasets to characterize the complexity of the classification issues. recent literature also looked at and addressed their approaches, opening up the possibility of new areas for study. the extended complexity library r package, which includes a number of complex measurements and is finished and publicly accessible, was also defined. this research work by liu et al.,[8] centered on addressing issues with the class imbalance and identifying attribute correlations. kaggle offers two datasets for fraud detection that may be used to create classifiers and assess the effects of various data processing methods. through their approach, they were aware of the latest fraud detection discoveries, learned more about various data processing techniques, and created several sorts of classifiers. they supported the need of addressing class imbalance and examining attribute connections. finally, they looked at the relationships between each attribute and marginally better performance. their experimental findings clearly demonstrated that addressing class imbalance had a beneficial effect on unbalanced data sets and that examining the link between qualities would also be helpful. in zheng,[9] investigation on the application of synthetic minority oversampling technique (smote) with various classifiers. to build predictive models on the heart disease data, the smote method was used for comparison. regular smote, borderline-smote, svm-smote, and k-means smote were combined with four classification algorithms under the classical and neyman pearson (np) paradigms. the performance of these models was compared. according to their findings, the svm-smote and borderline-smote perform better than other smote variations, and the np classification is better at successfully controlling type i error. materials and methods weather forecasting: the machine learning approach before the development of models, people made predictions for a given location based on observable data collected over time. for example, they used a basic approach known as climatology to predict the weather. rough estimations of long-term trends and cumulative values of variables such as temperature or precipitation may be generated by applying basic statistics to recorded weather events over long enough periods. with the development of tools to accurately monitor the atmosphere and disseminate these readings across geographically far places, weather maps became available around the start of the 20th century. with the advent of weather forecasting techniques that anticipated the movement and effects of these pressure systems in the atmosphere, these maps first started to show the position and shape of lowand high-pressure systems. the use of statistical models in weather forecasting was first advocated in the 1950s.[10] malone claimed that “statistics must ultimately play some part” in atmospheric simulation at the same time that the first numerical weather prediction (nwp) models were being built. the author developed a method for forecasting the sea-level pressure field using multiple linear regression. despite the optimism malone expressed in the early 1950s, machine learning and statistical methods have actually been applied as a complement to nwp rather than as a replacement for it. other approaches have not yet been able to match the power of physical equations to simulate the evolution of the atmosphere along the spatial and temporal dimensions. we discuss examples of machine learning approaches being used to address various issues in the field of weather forecasting in this section. the following categories of challenges, in which various machine learning approaches have been effectively employed to enhance our understanding of the processes in the atmosphere, can be identified depending on the task to be solved and the nature of the underlying data. kinds of machine learning supervised, unsupervised, and reinforcement learning methods were used to classify machine learning algorithms: figure 1 depicts the categorization in a visual manner.[11] supervised learning for machine learning, supervised learning is crucial. averaging input and output is the aim of supervised learning. the input data are a list of many interesting items, each of which is referred to as an attribute or an example. the output is a manager’s assessment or conclusion. in classification, a form of supervised learning, averaging (or a discriminant function) is used to distinguish between several groups of occurrences. a list of the different classes is included in the output, mulla and demir: the use of clustering and classification methods in machine learning 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 52-59 sometimes referred to as the class label in machine learning. the term used to describe the discriminant function is classifier or model. a training set is a set of instances for which the class label has been determined. during classification, a model is developed using a set of parameters to create a mapping between instances in the training set and labels in the training set. to identify or recognize previously undiscovered scenarios, the trained model may be used. supervised learning is the main methodology used in real-world machine learning. in supervised learning, the function that converts input variables (x) to output variables are learned using an algorithm (y). y = f(x) the objective is to anticipate the output variables (y) using new input data by as nearly approximating the mapping function as is practical (x). since an algorithm learns from the training dataset is akin to a teacher guiding the learning process, it is known as supervised learning. when the algorithm operates satisfactorily, learning comes to an end. the algorithm iteratively makes predictions on the training data and is corrected by the teacher as we are aware of the appropriate responses. learning comes to a conclusion when the algorithm works satisfactorily.[12] unsupervised learning it is a machine learning technique used when training data is not classified or labeled. to describe a hidden structure, unsupervised learning examines systems’ capacity to infer a function from unlabeled data. the system examines the data and may utilize datasets to infer hidden structures from unlabeled data even when it is unable to select the ideal output. unsupervised learning occurs when there are just input variables and no matching output variables (x). unsupervised learning simulates the underlying distribution or structure of data to understand it better. these are referred to as unsupervised learning as there are no correct answers and no teachers, in contrast to the supervised learning that was previously discussed. it is up to the algorithms to find and display the fascinating structure of the data. issues with grouping and association abound in unsupervised learning. in contrast to association rule learning problems, where you are looking for rules that adequately describe significant portions of your data, such as people who buy x also tend to buy y, clustering problems are looking for the inherent groupings in the data, like grouping customers based on their purchasing behavior. unsupervised learning techniques include the a priori methodology for learning association rules and k-means for classifying problems.[12] what kinds of data can be mined? any sort of data may be used in data mining, as long as it is pertinent to the application for which it is intended. the most basic sorts of data for mining applications are databases. it is also possible to mine other forms of data, including data streams, ordered/sequence, graph or networked, geographical, text, and multimedia data. data mining will undoubtedly continue to include new data kinds as they emerge. machine learning models in classification method when semantic classes for particular items are already known, classification refers to the process of determining those classes based on those objects’ properties. it involves putting fresh observed samples into a specific class by comparing the sample’s characteristics to an already existing class. by building a model using earlier data, it may then decide on the unobserved cases. therefore, it finds a model (or function) that clarifies and divides groups of data or ideas. it looks at the relationship between the values of the variables for each row and the label assigned to that row using data mining techniques. various classification methods exist, including naïve bayes (nb), logistic regression, svm, knn, dt, and artificial neural network (ann). as a result, the extracted data may be used to predict a label for a new row when it is supplied to the classifier based on the variable values that define it. these methods use different ways to express these interactions. because these correlations change between datasets, it is critical that the classifiers be trained using labeled training data. classification is one of the findings and predicting process a result from a set of data. the algorithm uses a collection of variables and a training set with the property of each variable to predict the outcome. the outcome is often referred to as a target or forecast variable.[13] this article discussed dt, ann, knn. dt it is known that one of the models used in machine learning is dts.[14] a non-parametric, intricate, and computationally costly sorting technique is the dt approach, often known as the recursive partitioning algorithm. the main idea is to keep subdividing the subsample into subgroups until it allows for decision-making, beginning with dividing the sample responses into fresh subsamples that are as similar to one another and distinct from them as practicable. while the nodes reflect the sub-samples, the root node represents the total sample. figure 2 shows a dt that categorizes weather conditions for those as good and bad. the dt models are built employing the greedy method, and the best split is that which minimizes the weighted drop in impurity after evaluating a large number of variable splits at each node: �i l l r rs t i t p i t p i t,� � � � � � � � � � � (1) figure 1: overview of machine learning techniques mulla and demir: the use of clustering and classification methods in machine learning 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 52-59 where pl and pr indicate the percentage of observations connected to the node t are sent to the left child node tl or right tr he relevant chide node. knn a machine learning method for categorizing data is the nearestneighbors approach, also known as pattern recognition.[15] this classifier’s objective is to select a metric to compare the separation between any two applicants over the whole set of application data.[16,17] proposed using the following metric: d x y x y i dww x y t t, ��{ �� �( �� �( �� )}� � � �� � � � 1 2 (2) where x and y are in the feature space points, i, d is a distance between parameters, w is a specific direction in the measurement space and is the identity matrix. ann ann are mathematical representations of the way the human brain works.[18] with neural networks, practically any nonlinear relationship between input and objective variables may be simulated thanks to their adaptability. despite the numerous proposed architectures, the multilayer perceptron is the one that this article concentrates on (mlp). neurons for each input variable are located in the hidden layer of an mlp, which typically comprises three layers (in our case, one neuron). each neuron processes the information it receives and transmits the results to the neurons in the layer beneath it. each of these neural connections receives a weight during training. using the weighted inputs and its bias term as an example, the logistic function, bi (1) results in the computation of the hidden neuron’s output: h f b w xi j i n ij i�� � �( )� � � � � � � � � � � � �1 1 (3) wij stands for the weight connecting input where w is a weight matrix. the weight j represents the input connection to hidden neuron i. machine learning models in clustering method clustering is one of machine learning’s unsupervised learning strategies.[19] when no class labels are available to analyze the datasets, the clustering strategy is critical for breaking down the massive volume of data into smaller groupings of data. each data point is classified and grouped into a distinct cluster using the clustering approach, and each cluster comprises a collection of data points. moreover, data points within the same cluster should have comparable attributes, whereas those inside a separate cluster should have significantly different features.[20] partitioning around medoids, also referred to as k-medoids and hierarchical k-means. the main operations of these algorithms are separated into the following groups. k-means clustering algorithm the primary function of the simple and frequently used clustering method k-means is to classify the provided unlabeled dataset. the main goal of this method is to identify clusters that are comparable to each other, as indicated by the variable k. in this approach, the cluster is described statistically using the mean or centroid. not usually part of the collection, a centroid is a data point that symbolizes the center of a cluster. after that, the k clusters are constructed by grouping the n data points into them, with each data point joining the cluster with the closest centroid. the euclidean distance between each data point n and the cluster centroid is then calculated precisely. a cluster’s data points are always assigned to the place with the shortest euclidean distance from the centroid point. when there are no available data points to assign, an early grouping is considered. the technique is then repeated until the “c” centroids stop migrating and the new “c” centroids are identified.[21] hierarchical clustering hierarchical, also known as hierarchical cluster analysis, is a particular kind of unsupervised. with the use of a tree-based framework, hierarchical cluster analysis aims to merge multiple clusters made up of comparable unlabeled data points. the clusters of data points formed by the last branch of the tree are not alike. in addition, the majority of the data points inside a particular cluster coincide with those within other clusters in the data set. this approach uses a diagram, which is a diagram that resembles a tree and is based on the hierarchy. agglomerative hierarchical clustering, also known as agnes (agglomerative nesting), and divisive hierarchical clustering, also known as diana, are two categories of hierarchical clustering techniques (divisive analysis). this algorithm is an identical duplicate of itself. table 1 compiles several strategies based on various criteria.[21] machine learning application software using the software is a collection of one or more apps created for end users. applications can be found in web browsers, email clients, word processors, spreadsheets, accounting software, music players, file viewers, simulators, console games, and picture editors. machine learning software designed by professionals is generally available. the following are a few of the few notable pieces of software: to conduct data mining tasks, the program employs a variety of machine learning algorithms. manually apply the algorithms to a dataset or simply invoke them in your figure 2: diagram showing decision tree mulla and demir: the use of clustering and classification methods in machine learning 56 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 52-59 java code. data pre-processing, classification, regression, clustering, association rules, and visualization are among weka’s capabilities. at the university of waikato in new zealand, weka was upgraded. this tool is an addition to the gnu general public license-licensed free program “data mining: practical machine learning tools and methods”.[22] the measure that used in weka confusion matrix a representative representation of the above-mentioned parameters in matrix form is given in table 2, considering that advanced visualizations would be helpful accuracy to evaluate each created subset in this measurement, classification data mining methods have been offered as a fitness function. the formulation of measuring the accuracy of each subset is described as follows: accuracy= tp+tn tp+tn+fp+fn *100 false positive (fp) reflects the improper placement of the negative example in the positive class, whereas true negative (tn) represents the proper placement of the negative example. true positive (tp) represents the proper classifications of the positive example. false negative (fn) is the term used to describe a positive sample that was mistakenly placed in the negative category. precision the precision is calculated with the following equation and the denominator consists of the total predicted positive. precision= tp tp+fp it is immediately apparent that precision relates to how precise/accurate your model is in terms of the proportion of successful predictions. precision is a helpful statistic to judge whether there are high costs associated with false positives. as an example, email spam detection. when an email that is not spam (actual negative) is wrongly classified as spam, it is known as a false positive in email spam detection (predicted spam). the email user may overlook important emails if the spam detection model’s precision is poor. f-measure in statistical analysis of binary classification, the f-score or f-measure is a measure of a test’s accuracy. even if you read a lot of other literature on precision and recall, you cannot ignore the other measure, f-measure, which is a function of those two variables. the formula is as follows: f-measure=2*� precision*recall precision+recall� f-measure is necessary when seeking to balance precision and recall. what distinguishes f-measure and accuracy from one another then? if we need to find a balance between precision and recall and there is an uneven class distribution, f-measure would be a better statistic to utilize because false negatives and false positives often have business expenses (physical and intangible). as we have previously seen, a huge number of true negatives, which are typically overlooked in corporate settings, can significantly contribute to accuracy (a large number of actual negatives). receiver operating characteristic (roc) area a graph that shows how well a classification model works at each classification threshold is called a receiver operating characteristic curve, or roc area. on this curve, two parameters are plotted: • true positive rate (tpr) • false positive rate (fpr) tpr is a synonym for recall and is therefore defined as follows: tpr=� tp tp+fn fpr is defined as follows: fpr=� fp fp+fn in a roc curve, tpr vs. fpr for various classification criteria are displayed. as the classification threshold is lowered, more items are categorized as positive, which increases the quantity of both false positives and true positives. data we used a dataset about the predicting whether it will rain or not using some weather conditions. and we obtained this table 1: summary of clustering algorithms algorithm size of dataset type of data complexity computation speed modifications corrections cluster shape result interpretation k-means large numerical o (nkd) fast flexible none convex easy k-medoids small categorical o (n^2 dt) moderate difficult none convex difficult hierarchical large numerical o (n) slow flexible none convex easy table 2: confusion matrix predicted true class true positive false negative false positive true negative mulla and demir: the use of clustering and classification methods in machine learning 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 52-59 dataset from the kaggle side it was shown in this link. https:// www.kaggle.com/datasets/ananthr1/weather-prediction. about dataset: using coloms: • precipitation • tempreture min • tempreture max • wind we will forecast the weather as follows: • drizzle • rain • snow • sun • fog results and discussion three distinct categorization methods were employed for the data being studied during this study. all three algorithms dt, ann, and knn were used in the classification process. we utilized k=1 and divided the dataset into 10 cross-validations for the knn algorithms. the quantity of data used for reducederror pruning when we used dt methods was defined according to the trimming confidence factor, which was 0.25. all three classifications and clustering algorithms were employed, and the training rate was 66% and the testing rate was 34%. we separated into five groups for k-mean methods, used 10 seeds, and decided to use false for debug and false for display stander division. the effectiveness of the three classification methods in table 3 was evaluated using the accuracy precision, f-measure, and roc region metrics. as shown in table 3 for the classification method, the highest performance depending on accuracy and precision was 84.8, 78.7 obtained in dt, but the higher performance according to the f-measure and roc area was obtained in ann. on the other hand, the best model for dt, ann, and knn algorithm in this study was obtained in roc area. figure 3 shows one of the classification methods, so it can be decided based on figure 3. there are 5 decisions from figure 3. the dt region measurement was measured for testing the efficiency of the dt algorithm as shown in figure 3. • the decision 1: precipitation to sun. • the decision 2: precipitation to temperature min to rain. • the decision 3: precipitation to temperature min to wind to snow. • the decision 4: precipitation to temperature min to wind to temperature max to rain. • the decision 5: precipitation to temperature min to wind to temperature max to snow. the k-means region measurement was measured for testing the efficiency of the clustering algorithm as shown in table 4. while we study the output report, we can see 5 classes (class 0, class 1, class 2, class 3, class 4). in the report appear as number of clusters selected by cross-validation: 5 you can find the centroid of the entire population in the first column. the centroids for clusters 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 may be found, respectively, in the second, third, fourth, and fifth columns. the centroid coordinate for each row’s respective dimension is provided. it is important to note that this step of the process is locating the centroids. the centroids are not unique and are the output of a particular run of the algorithm; a different run could produce a different set of centroids. there is a “clusters prior” probability for each cluster. in the estimators, each conceivable attribute value is represented by a number, which is treated sequentially. classes when we used k-mean algorithms: • class 0 has total 232 things, out of which majority of things (16%) data sets. • class 1 has total of 449 things, out of which majority of things (31%) data sets. • class has total 355 things, out of which majority of things (24%) data sets. • class 3 has total 258 things, out of which majority of things (18%) data sets. • class 4 has total 167 things, out of which majority of things (11%) data sets. classes when we used hierarchical algorithms: • class 0 has total 53 things, out of which majority of things (4%) data sets. • class 1 has total of 641 things, out of which majority of things (44%) data sets. • class has total 640 things, out of which majority of things (44%) data sets. • class 3 has total 26 things, out of which majority of things (2%) data sets. • class 4 has total 101 things, out of which majority of things (7%) data sets. table 3: the performance of the classification algorithms using for weather data summary accuracy precision f-measure roc area dt 84.8 78.7 80.7 89.5 ann 82.5 74.4 84.9 91.7 knn 67.3 67.8 67.6 74.5 dt: decision tree, ann: artificial neural network, knn: k-nearest neighbor figure 3: decision tree visualization mulla and demir: the use of clustering and classification methods in machine learning 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 52-59 we examined two clustering techniques from table 5 and separated both of them into five clusters in order to identify some distinct things. at the time, k-mean was preferred over hierarchical methods. fewer iterations in the hierarchy than the k-mean. on the other hand, when using hierarchical, we had zero root mean square errors (rmse), k-mean algorithms experienced a 1707.63 (rmse). conclusion the application of data mining to enrollment management is a relatively recent innovation. at the moment, category, and straightforward numerical data are most frequently employed in data mining. data mining will increasingly incorporate complicated data types in the future. by taking into account more variables and how they interact with one another, any model that has been created may also be reinforced. new techniques for discovering the most exciting features, data mining research will lead to the development of the data. as models are developed and implemented, they can be used as a tool for enrollment management. this study showed that the best model was dt according to accuracy and precision measures but the best model according to f-measure and roc area measures was ann. weka, a data mining tool, is utilized in this paper to carry out the clustering. the k-mean approach can cluster large data sets efficiently, and as the number of clusters rises, so does its efficiency. the k-mean method outperforms the hierarchical clustering algorithm. the performance of k-means method increases as the root mean square errors (rmse) drops and the rmse falls as the number of clusters. all the techniques have some noise or ambiguity in certain data when clustered. using massive datasets significantly raises the quality of all algorithms. the k-means algorithm is quite susceptible to dataset noise. this noise interferes with the algorithm’s ability to cluster data into the proper clusters and affects the algorithm’s output. when working with huge datasets, the k-means method produces good clusters more quickly than alternative clustering techniques. for noisy data, the hierarchical clustering technique is more sensitive. weka only enables sequential single-node execution, which leads to its inability to handle very large datasets. as a result, there is little similarity between clusters when data are grouped or clustered, and significant similarity within clusters. one of the clustering methods is the k-means algorithm, which gathers data based on their traits and qualities and runs the clustering process by shortening the distances between the data centers.[5] the finally used dt, nb and svm to make design of model in pima dataset but here we used dt, ann, knn in weather dataset. references 1. m. baran. maki ̇ne öğrenmesi̇ yöntemleri̇yle çoklu eti̇ketli̇ veri̇leri̇n sınıflandırılması. (sivas cumhuriyet üniversitesi, sosya bilimler enstitüsü, turkey, 2020. 2. m. hall, e. frank, g. holmes, b. pfahringer, p. reutemann and i. wietten. the weka data mining software: an update. acm sigkdd explorations newsletter, vol. 11, pp. 10–18, 2009. 3. a. a. soofi and a. awan. classification techniques in machine learning: applications and issues. journal of basic and applied sciences, vol. 13, pp. 459–465, 2017. 4. v. sharma. survey of classification algorithms and various model selection methods. journal of machine learning research, vol. 1, pp. 1–48, 2000. 5. d. sisodia and d. s. sisodia. prediction of diabetes using classification algorithms. procedia computer science, vol. 132, pp. 1578–1585, 2018. 6. m. ambigavathi and d. sridharan. analysis of clustering algorithms in machine learning for healthcare data. in: advances in computing and data sciences. vol. 1244. springer, berlin, pp. 117–128. 7. a. c. lorena, l. p. f. garcia, j. lehmann, m. c. p. souto and t. k. ho. how complex is your classification problem? a survey on measuring classification complexity. acm computing surveys, vol. 52, pp. 1–34, 2018. 8. d. liu, r. sun and h. ren. efficient fraud detection classification: class imbalanceand attribute correlations. the frontiers of society, science and technology, vol. 2, pp. 96–103, 2020. 9. x. zheng. smote variants for imbalanced binary classification: heart disease prediction. university of california, california, 2020. 10. t. f. malone. application of statistical methods in weather prediction. proceedings of the national academy of sciences, vol. 41, pp. 806–815, 1955. 11. l. liu and j. l. priestley. a comparison of machine learning algorithms for prediction of past due service in commercial credit. in: grey literature from phd candidates. digitalcommons kennesaw state university, georgia, 2018. 12. g. nakhaeizadeh and c. c. taylor. machine learning and statistics : the interface. wiley, united states, 1997. table 4: clustering method performance attribute full data (1461) 0 (232) 1 (449) 2 (355) 3 (258) 4 (167) precipitation 3.02 4.06 7.61 0.00 0.00 0.36 temp-max 16.40 18.90 10.60 26.00 16.80 7.52 temp-min 8.23 11.70 5.34 13.70 7.63 0.25 wind 3.24 2.89 4.06 2.85 3.06 2.60 weather rain rain rain sun sun sun table 5: comparison result of clustering algorithms with weather dataset using weka tool hierarchical k-mean name 5 5 no of clusters 1461 1461 cluster instances 18 no of iterations 1707.637908 root mean square errors 9.9 s 0.02 s time is taken to build model 0 0 unclustered instances weka: waikato environment for knowledge analysis mulla and demir: the use of clustering and classification methods in machine learning 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 52-59 13. g. a. a. mulla, y. demir and m. m. hassan. combination of pca with smote oversampling for classification of high-dimensional imbalanced data. beu journal of science, vol. 10, pp. 858–869, 2021. 14. m. a. habara. credit risk modelling in a developing economy: the case of libya. griffith university, australia, 2009. 15. l. saitta and f. neri. learning in the “real world”. machine learning, vol. 30, pp. 133–163, 1998. 16. l. c. thomas. a survey of credit and behavioural scoring: forecasting financial risk of lending to consumers. international journal of forecasting, vol. 16, pp. 149–172, 2000. 17. w. e. henley and d. j. hand. a k-nearest-neighbour classifier for assessing consumer credit risk. journal of the royal statistical society. series d, vol. 45, pp. 77–95, 1996. 18. j. a. k. suykens and j. vandewalle. least squares support vector machine classifiers. neural processing letters, vol. 9, pp. 293–300, 1999. 19. p. nerurkar, a. shirke, m. chandane and s. bhirud. empirical analysis of data clustering algorithms. procedia computer science, 125, pp. 770–779, 2018. 20. s. b. tambe and s. s. gajre. cluster-based real-time analysis of mobile healthcare application for prediction of physiological data. journal of ambient intelligence and humanized computing, vol. 9, pp. 429–445, 2017. 21. p. d. kumar, t. amgoth and c. s. r. annavarapu. machine learning algorithms for wireless sensor networks: a survey. information fusion, vol. 49, pp. 1–25, 2019. 22. data mining, machine learning and predictive analytics software minitab. minitab, 2020. available from: https://www.minitab. com/en-us/products/spm [last accessed on 2023 jun 07]. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 80 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 research article beyond efficiency: a conceptual design framework for sustainable housing in erbil nagham i. yahya department of architectural engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract housing development plays a vital role in achieving sustainability goals as it is intrinsically tied to family life and faces numerous environmental challenges. the covid-19 pandemic dramatically reshaped our understanding of home. while always a place of shelter and personal connection, the home has evolved into a truly multi-functional space. in the middle east, a divergence in approaches to sustainability is evident, particularly in the application of resource efficiency. while certain nations have undertaken significant initiatives, cities like erbil are still in the early stages of addressing sustainability concerns. the transition to sustainable housing can be accelerated by adopting efficient regional practices. this study aims to expand sustainable housing practices in the middle east, fostering a deeper connection with nature while aligning with the global evolution of the home concept. a conceptual design framework is developed for application within the context of erbil. a qualitative research method based on case analysis is adopted to achieve the study’s objectives. keywords: sustainability, sustainable housing, middle east region, conceptual design framework, context of erbil. introduction the covid-19 pandemic dramatically reshaped our understanding of home. while always a place of shelter and personal connection, the home has evolved into a truly multi-functional area. beyond meeting basic emotional and physical needs, it now serves as a hub for work, education, recreation, and even healthcare. this shift reflects a broader trend toward integrating various aspects of life within the domestic sphere,[1] which necessitates adaptations in housing development. conversely, housing development plays a vital role in achieving sustainability goals, as it is closely linked to family life and faces significant environmental challenges. despite progress, developing countries continue to face significant housing challenges. sustainable architecture is still in its early stages, often shaped by global trends while overlooking local contexts, specific circumstances, and traditional practices.[2] access to regional experiences facilitates the adoption of technologies and designs that are tailored to local contexts and physical capabilities.[3] within the middle east region, a divergence in approaches to sustainability is evident. certain nations have undertaken significant initiatives, often in collaboration with international firms. in contrast, architects in other countries face obstacles in adapting to established global frameworks. the transition to sustainable housing could be accelerated by adopting successful practices in the region, which typically focus on the sustainable and effective use of resources, particularly in response to high energy consumption, especially within the domestic sector, as well as water scarcity. restoring local identity can also be seen as another motivating factor behind these practices.[4] erbil city, the capital of the northern region of iraq, has taken significant strides toward enhancing environmental sustainability across various sectors, aiming to curb greenhouse gas emissions. this ambitious endeavor is outlined in a detailed action plan developed in partnership with the united nations development program and supported by the european union. guided by a forward-looking vision for the city’s future, the initiative emphasizes reducing emissions, advancing clean energy solutions, and strengthening resilience against climate change impacts. a critical focus is the housing sector, which stands as the largest emitter, contributing approximately 50% of the total emissions in the erbil governorate. this high percentage is largely attributed to the sector’s heavy dependence on non-renewable energy sources for heating corresponding author: nagham i. yahya, department of architectural engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: nagham.yahya@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: september 09, 2025 accepted: october 10, 2025 published: november 10, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp80-91 copyright © 2025 nagham i. yahya. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 81 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 and cooling. despite these efforts, erbil remains in the early stages of its sustainability journey, with substantial work still required to achieve its environmental goals. this study aims to advance and expand sustainable housing practices in the middle east by fostering a deeper integration with nature, enhancing the quality of living environments, and ensuring alignment with the global evolution of modern housing concepts. to achieve these objectives, a comprehensive conceptual design framework is developed for practical application within the local context of erbil city. research methodology this study employed a case study analysis, informed by a comprehensive literature review, to achieve its research objectives. the literature review identified established design models for sustainable housing in the middle east and key design factors for the regional design framework, emphasizing the potential for fostering a stronger connection with nature while aligning with the evolving global concept of the home. in addition to data collection, which included site visits and direct observation of the traditional houses in erbil, an analysis of international sustainable housing projects provided insights into both traditional and innovative global solutions. literature review the sustainability paradigms and design concepts since the mid-20th century, numerous design concepts in sustainable architecture have emerged in response to environmental challenges associated with buildings. these solutions generally fall into one of two paradigms.[5] [table 1]. advocates of technological sustainability refer to the 1987 report as evidence that no major shift is needed in the current development path. the report advocates for a technical approach to economic growth that focuses on better management and advanced technology. this paradigm is based on the idea that the environmental crisis is caused by inefficient resource use. consequently, it promotes design concepts aimed at achieving high-performance buildings with a reduced environmental impact using energy and resources efficiently, prioritizing human needs, and approaching nature through a mechanistic lens. in contrast, ecological sustainability is grounded in different assumptions, challenging the typical optimistic view of our shared future. this paradigm, inspired by the principles of ecology, sees nature as a dynamic, interconnected web where interdependent entities organize, maintain themselves, exchange information and energy, and evolve in harmony with their surroundings. proponents of this approach believe that sustainability challenges are technical and environmental but also psychological and spiritual. they argue that the environmental crisis stems from humanity’s disconnection from, and disregard for, the intricate web of life, and thus advocate for limits on technology, material consumption, pressure on the biosphere, and irresponsible human behavior.[5] the evolution of the sustainability concept in design paralleled an improvement in the relationship between humans and nature. over time, the idea of human interaction with nature shifted from a purely utilitarian perspective to one of utilitarianism combined with reconciliation and eventually to a model based on partnership and mutual benefit[6] [figure 1]. low-impact design is an anthropocentric approach to sustainability that aims to safeguard nature for the well-being of humans. it developed as a means to address environmental harm caused by human actions, using scientific reasoning to understand the environment and determine the appropriate corrective measures. while the adoption of technology plays a crucial role in sustainable development, it is argued that it is inadequate for ensuring long-term sustainability. this is because it fails to restore the connection between nature and humanity in a world increasingly characterized by environmental degradation and social and psychological isolation.[7] even worse, this approach is a process of standardization, which means that particular local conditions and competing forms of local knowledge tend to be ignored.[8,9] ecological design is a method of strengthening the connection between nature and culture by aligning with natural processes to minimize environmental impact.[10] this integration with nature can be either passive or active.[11] active ecological approaches, in contrast to passive ones, deliberately cultivate a non-anthropocentric relationship with nature. this can be biocentric, focusing on the living components of the environment, or ecocentric, which values ecosystems as a whole, encompassing both biotic and abiotic elements. according to mange, environmental challenges are too complex to be solved through technical measures alone. by integrating the technological approach with the ecological perspective, which emphasizes the connection between humans and nature, we can address these challenges more effectively.[12] the sustainable home to be sustainable, houses should be designed to achieve maximum well-being for the occupants while minimizing the environmental burden.[13] well-being is a multifaceted interplay of mental, emotional, and social health, in addition to physical health. studies[14,15] propose a comprehensive model for a healthy home that integrates design strategies leveraging natural elements to enhance a building’s environmental performance. these studies emphasize the synergy between bioclimatic design principles and biophilic design attributes table 1: sustainability paradigms[5] (adapted) sustainability paradigm nature model problem-solving method the relation with the local context technological sustainability mechanistic model advanced technology global scope – ignoring the local context ecological sustainability ecological model limitations in scale, technology, and materials culture and place is a critical asset yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 82 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 to achieve optimal human health. this approach fosters a profound connection between occupants and nature while maintaining low energy consumption. bioclimatic design is a climate-responsive design based on the reduction of consumption of non-renewable energy and minimizing such mechanical systems.[16] several studies[16-20] have touched on measures to implement these strategies, which sometimes overlap to address more than one issue or to carry out the strategy, which can be summarized as shown in table 2.[2] on the other hand, biophilic design, a passive ecological approach, fosters a connection between humans and nature, promoting health and well-being.[21] kellert identified three types of experiences with nature that represents the fundamental categories of the biophilic design framework. these include the direct experience of nature, the indirect experience of nature, and the experience of space and place[22] [figure 2]. unlike the technical approach, human interventions focus on incorporating natural elements into the built environment to enrich the user experience and improve the overall efficiency of systems.[7] sustainable home models of the middle east middle eastern countries, like much of the developing world, tend to prioritize human survival over the preservation of nature, highlighting the need for a stronger focus on the fundamental concepts of “needs” outlined in the brundtland commission report.[23] in this region, sustainable architecture practices are narrowed down to three efficiency approaches. one is revivalist, the other is progressive, and there is a hybrid combining the two.[4] the revivalist design approach aligns with košir’s concept of “symptomatic bioclimatic design,” which emphasizes the use of vernacular architecture, known for its inherent energy efficiency, as a basis for developing climate-responsive built environments. this approach leverages established solutions to create spaces that both address environmental factors and reinforce local identity.[19] these solutions consist of strategies, methods, and components that enhance natural cooling, a process that controls indoor temperatures during the summer by utilizing the environmental characteristics of the site.[4,19] however, traditional solutions are insufficient to meet the demands of people in the present era. figure 2: biophilic design attributes and features[22] (adapted) figure 1: the development of the human-nature relationship in environmental design concepts (author) yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 83 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 table 2: bioclimatic design strategies and measures[16-20] (author) focus issue bioclimatic design strategies measures thermal comfort (heating strategies) heat retention insulation and thermal break • resistance thermal insulation • capacitive thermal insulation building massing space zoning and orientation the structural and thermal properties of the building envelope convective heat exchange • airtight envelope delay periodic heat flow store using construction materials with high thermal mass (e.g., masonry wall) earth sheltering promote heat gain space zoning and orientation south-oriented windows built form color openings design (window size, location, and details passive solar system • direct solar gain • distributed thermal mass • concentrated thermal mass • indirect solar gain • trombe wall • sunspace • roof pond • isolated solar gain • thermosiphon convective heat exchange • ventilation heating minimize external airflow • siting and shaping a building to minimize wind exposure • providing windbreaks thermal comfort (cooling strategies) heat gain prevention • shading techniques • shading by building form • shading by external obstructions • shading by trees and vegetation • fixed or movable shading devices • shading by glazing optical properties space zoning and orientation to prevent heat gain minimize the building surfaces exposed to the summer sun opening’s design (window size, location, and details built form color radiant barrier vertical landscape thermal insulation • reflective thermal insulation • capacitive thermal insulation • resistance thermal insulation (contd...) yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 84 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 table 2: (continued) focus issue bioclimatic design strategies measures material surface (film coefficient) heat removal wind and natural ventilation (cross, stack, hybrid) earth as a heat sink evaporative heat exchange • direct evaporative cooling (presence of water) • indirect evaporative cooling • the presence of vegetation economizer‑cycle evaporative cooling system radiative heat exchange • roof pond • high emissivity surfaces building massing • spread‑out building visual comfort maximum usage of daylight • large shaded south windows air quality improving oxygen content properly designed ventilation the introduction of greater amounts of green plants into the built environment the progressive approach stands in stark contrast to the revivalist approach. it focuses on implementing the latest technologies for resource efficiency without regard for local knowledge. resource efficiency involves utilizing the earth’s finite resources in a sustainable way while minimizing environmental impact. in housing, this is demonstrated through technologies such as energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor environmental quality improvement, and control systems.[24] nonetheless, these advanced technologies must be adapted to fit local contexts to provide the desired comfort and relevance, a challenge often hindered by insufficient knowledge and innovation. the hybrid design model was developed to address the issues arising from the two extreme approaches [figure 3], aiming to create a built environment that is much more ecologically conscious while retaining a strong sense of selfidentity. in this approach, local and global cultures work in tandem to define the regional identity. developing the framework aligning with global environmental concerns and the challenges of contemporary life, which have introduced a new concept for housing, the middle east’s approach to sustainable home design must shift toward a more holistic model that fosters a deeper connection with nature. by incorporating biophilic design into the process, homes can transcend mere efficiency, benefiting both humans and the environment. the arab middle east’s hybrid sustainable design model, which blends traditional energy efficiency methods with cutting-edge resource efficiency technologies, could be significantly enhanced by incorporating biophilic design, taking a crucial step toward promoting well-being [figure 4]. the resulting design model is an ecological design that builds an active relationship with nature[25,26] and brings a periodic and limited integration with nature.[11] vernacular architecture inspires successful projects by offering time-tested solutions, as exemplified by hassan fathy’s work. it is believed that traditional elements could be seamlessly integrated into modern designs by reinterpreting them while preserving their core function.[27] indigenous tangible and intangible knowledge offers a solid foundation for both biophilic and bioclimatic design – two interconnected approaches that leverage natural elements such as natural ventilation and daylighting.[28] the study of vernacular architecture and settlements provides essential insights for biophilic design, as well as an understanding of how local populations engage with biophilia. it also offers proven solutions to challenges related to thermal comfort and energy efficiency. an analytical bioclimatic approach can also be employed to assess the effectiveness of traditional passive features within a given system.[19] on the other hand, contemporary sustainable housing projects, introduced through regional practices, can help identify the latest resource efficiency technologies that figure 3: hybrid sustainable design approach of the middle east region (author) yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 85 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 have been refined and adapted to specific building typologies and regional contexts [figure 5]. operating the framework the residential architecture of erbil city erbil is the capital of the kurdish region of iraq. the residential architecture development in this city can be traced, starting with the traditional houses built on top of the erbil citadel, which is the most important historical feature of the city, which used to include most of the human social activities in ancient times, through the surrounding neighborhoods that arose later. erbil citadel is a large urban complex located in the center of erbil and built on top of a hill (archaeological mound) [figure 6], resulting from the accumulation of historical layers throughout the millennia.[29] at present, the citadel is located in the heart of erbil city. the population growth of the citadel as a result of natural increase and migration, with its limited area in addition to economic and social development, led to the spread of the population outside its borders and the emergence of new neighborhoods surrounding the citadel, such as arabs, khanka, tajil, and sadoonawa. during later periods, the city witnessed a dramatic development that led to the increase and expansion of city neighborhoods based on a group of circular road networks that are penetrated by radial streets, which made the citadel become their center. thus, the history of the erbil house can be divided into two prominent periods: • the ancient historical period between the middle of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century is the time to which the majority of the historical buildings that exist in erbil city belong.[29] • the contemporary period, which is the post-2003 period, where erbil city witnessed economic and urban prosperity associated with a large growth in the housing sector figure 4: the proposed design model for sustainable healthy housing in the middle east (author) figure 5: a conceptual design framework for sustainable healthy housing in the middle east (author) yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 86 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 through the emergence of new residential neighborhoods and modern residential complexes, both horizontally and vertically on a large scale. the issuance of laws and decisions since 2006 to meet the city’s demand for housing has led to the emergence of many housing projects. in addition to single-family housing, multi-family housing projects have emerged as a quick response to the needs of the growing housing market, as recommended by the ministry of construction and housing in the northern part of iraq, especially in the city center, due to land efficiency.[31] figure 6: erbil citadel[30] figure 7: passive health attributes applicable to housing projects in erbil city (author) investigating the health patterns of the erbil citadel houses the majority of the houses in the citadel are courtyard homes, characterized by mud roofs, short-span timber roofs, and brick walls. kamal and al shehab argue that bioclimatic architecture represents a modern evolution of strategies already embedded in vernacular architecture, enhanced by human-controlled systems that were absent in traditional methods.[32] on the other hand, yahya asserts that traditional courtyard homes found in middle eastern cities are inherently biophilic structures, employing various techniques to satisfy the residents’ innate desire to connect with nature. this connection helps explain why these homes have remained central to people’s way of living for centuries, maintaining their cultural significance and sustainable functionality despite evolving social and environmental changes.[33] a survey of the erbil citadel houses was conducted to identify the bioclimatic and biophilic design strategies adopted [appendix 1], which can be introduced as passive health attributes applicable to housing projects. deriving the latest technologies yang regarded the adoption of passive measures as the initial stage in the ecological building design process, followed by the integration of technologies.[16] seven leadership in energy and environmental design (leed) -certified sustainable housing projects were selected for innovative sustainable design features [appendix 2]. these projects include mosler lofts, seatle, usa; the residential building of the masdar yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 87 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 institute of science and technology in abu dhabi, uae; etihad eco residence in abu dhabi, uae; zero place – apartments in new york, usa; bosco verticale in milan, italy; dewa accommodation complex in dubi, uae; the beddington zero energy development in hackbridge, south london; senior housing project in los angeles, usa; and dewa accommodation complex in abu dhabi, uae. the extracted technologies apply to housing projects. results and discussion applying the proposed approach to the erbil case formulates a design language for sustainability and healthy housing, leveraging local architecture to obtain passive design strategies [figure 7] and contemporary sustainable housing projects as a source of sustainability innovations [figure 8]. the research demonstrated that all traditional environmental elements function not only as bioclimatic design tools but also as biophilic aspects [figure 8], emphasizing their direct connection to nature and thermal performance. conclusion the study introduces a design framework that can be used by designers and developers in middle east cities to create healthy, sustainable housing projects. organic biophilic design attributes and features in housing developments take middle eastern practices beyond the efficiency paradigm. it introduces benefits for both occupants and the surrounding natural environment. in addition to enhancing the spiritual and psychological health of the residents, incorporating greenery into the built environment helps biodiversity flourish, thus improving the local ecology. traditional passive strategies and the latest technologies have been introduced to erbil to achieve local healthy and sustainable housing, thus achieving an integration that balances local architectural heritage with global sustainability innovations. references 1. m. aresta and n. a. salingaros. the importance of domestic space in the times of covid-19. challenges, vol. 12, no. 2, p. 27, 2021. 2. n. yahya and b. hassanpour. a methodical framework for sustainable architectural design: housing practice in the middle east. land, vol. 11, p. 1019, 2022. 3. r. lorch. sustainable development and regionalism. building research and information, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 393-396, 2005. 4. k. elgendy. a review of sustainable design in the middle east. carboun, 2018. available from: https://www.carboun.com/ sustainable-design/sustainability-in-the-desert [last accessed on 2025 may 06]. 5. d. orr. ecological literacy: education and the transition to a postmodern world. state university of new york press, albany, ny, 1992. 6. a. istiadji, g. hardiman and p. satwiko. what is the sustainable method enough for our built environment? in iop conference series: earth and environmental science, vol. 213, no. 1, p. 012016, 2018. 7. s. kellert. dimensions, elements, and attributes of biophilic design. in: biophilic design. john wiley and sons, united states, pp. 3-20, 2008. 8. p. macnaghton and j. urry. contested natures. sage, london, pp. 1-9, 1998. 9. t. williamson, a. radford and h. bennetts. understanding sustainable architecture. spoon press taylor and francis group, london and new york, 2003. 10. v. s. der ryn and s. cowan. ecological design, tenth anniversary edition. island press, united states, 2007. 11. p. mang and b. reed. regenerative development and design. in: encyclopedia sustainability science and technology. john wiley and sons, united states, pp. 8855, 2012. 12. p. mang and b. haggard. sustainability, regenerative development and design: a framework for evolving. john wiley and sons, united states, 2016. 13. k. fujihira. comprehensive strategy for sustainable housing design. in: different strategies of housing design. intechopen, london, 2019. 14. v. loftness, v. hartkopf, k. p. lam, m. snyder, y. hua, y. gu, j. h. choi and x. yang. sustainable and healthy built environment. sustainable cities and society, vol. 62, p. 102378, 2020. 15. a. almusaed. biophilic and bioclimatic architecture, analytical therapy for the next generation of passive sustainable architecture. springer, new york, 2010. 16. k. yeang. the green skyscraper: the basis for designing sustainable intensive buildings. prestel verlag, munich, 1999. 17. a. almansuri, d. dowdle and s. curwell. designing a dwelling unit in tripoli libya by using sustainable architectural principles. in: proceedings of the second international conference on sustainable architecture and urban development. amman, jordan, 2010. 18. b. widera. bioclimatic architecture. journal of civil engineering and architecture research, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 567-578, 2015. figure 8: eco-efficiency technologies applicable to housing projects (author) yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 88 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 19. m. košir. climate adaptability of buildings: bioclimatic design in the light of climate change. springer, berlin, 2019. 20. d. watson. bioclimatic design. in: sustainable built environments, encyclopedia of sustainability science and technology, springer, berlin, pp. 19-42, 2020. 21. k. gillis and b. gatersleben. a review of psychological literature on the health and wellbeing benefits of biophilic design. buildings, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 948-963, 2015. 22. s. r. kellert and e. f. calabrese. the practice of biophilic design. yale university press, london, 2015. 23. p. sassi. strategies for sustainable architecture. routledge, london, 2015. 24. darko, a. p. c. chan and e. k. owusu. what are the green technologies for sustainable housing development? an empirical study in ghana. business strategy and development, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 140-153, 2018. 25. b. reed. shifting from ‘sustainability’ to regeneration. building research and information, vol. 35, no. 6, pp. 674-682, 2007. 26. b. dias. beyond sustainability biophilic and regenerative design in architecture. european scientific journal, vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 147– 158, 2015. 27. a. hamid. hassan fathy and continuity in islamic arts and architecture: the birth of a new modern. the american university in cairo press, egypt, 2010. 28. m. poscablo. improving the quality of life for older adults in highrise residential buildings in urban honolulu through responsive and adaptive design. ph.d. [dissertation, university of hawaii, 2017. 29. high commission for erbil citadel revitalization (hcecr). nomination of erbil citadel for inscription on the unesco world heritage list. kurdistan region, iraq, 2012. 30. unesco world heritage centre. erbil citadel (no. 1437). available from: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1437 31. ministry of housing and reconstruction. regulations and requirements regarding social housing in the kurdistan region of iraq. ministry of housing and reconstruction, iraq, n.d. 32. m. a. kamal and t. al shehab. sustainability through natural cooling: bioclimatic design and traditional architecture. study of civil engineering and architecture (scea), vol. 3, 2014. 33. n. yahya. comparative study of the middle eastern vernacular courtyard houses based on the biophilic design patterns. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 63-69, 2024. yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 89 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 appendices appendix 1: the traditional design elements, measures, and attributes of erbil citadel houses (author) the traditional element description bioclimatic design measures biophilic design attributes and features courtyard form • living spaces are organized around an open central space. this design maximizes the interplay of light and shadow, creating dynamic visual experiences that evolve throughout the day. • shading by building form • minimize the building surfaces exposed to the summer sun • indirect experience of nature • (age, change, and the patina of time) • direct experience of nature (weather) • experience of space and place (transitional spaces) earth-sheltered spaces • a semi‑basement provides social and climatic shelter. • earth as a heat sink § experience of space and place (refuge) building with natural material • mudbrick and stone were the primary building materials of erbil citadel houses. • capacitive thermal insulation § indirect experience of nature (natural materials) • thick tree trunks (joists), mate, thin tree trunks (joists), mud (soil, chopped straw, and water) • capacitive thermal insulation § indirect experience of nature (natural materials) transitional spaces • roofed summer sitting area oriented toward the north • shading by building form § experience of space and place (refuge) § experience of space and place (transitional spaces) • roofed walkways • fixed shading devices § experience of space and place § (transitional spaces) (contd...) yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 90 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 appendix 1: (continued) the traditional element description bioclimatic design measures biophilic design attributes and features side windows • living spaces open onto the courtyard with large shaded windows • small ventilation windows in the walls overlooking the courtyard, along with high ceilings, encourage natural ventilation • maximum usage of daylight • increasing oxygen content • wind and natural ventilation (cross, stack) §� direct experience of nature (air, light) arcade • covered passageway leads to living spaces • fixed shading devices § experience of space and place (transitional spaces) brick paving • traditional paving bricks tile the courtyard floor, and their porous nature allows them to absorb and hold water • direct evaporative cooling § indirect experience of nature (natural materials) water body • a water fountain constitutes an integral component of the courtyard • direct evaporative cooling § direct experience of nature (water) balcony • the peripheral houses open to the outside through balconies § direct experience of nature (weather) § experience of space and place (prospect) plants • the use of plants in the courtyard • shading by trees and vegetation • the presence of vegetation economizer-cycle evaporative cooling system • direct experience of nature (plants) • indirect experience of nature (age, change, and the patina of time) floral patterns • the walls and ceilings were decorated with floral patterns indirect experience of nature (naturalistic shapes and forms) yahya: towards sustainable housing in erbil 91 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 80-91 appendix 2: eco-efficiency technologies used in the selected sustainable housing projects (author) # building name year location certificate the applied technology 1 mosler lofts 2007 seattle, united states leed silver 1. the roof is super-insulated (r-45) and contains extensive planting areas 2. occupancy sensors control lighting 3. led lights are used for exterior lighting 4. high efficiency boilers 2 the residential building of the masdar institute of science and technology in abu dhabi 2010 abu dhabi, uae leed gold 1. on the roofs solar panels 2. solar thermal technology panels 3. the facade is well insulated and sealed, covered with a recycled aluminum sheet in the same color as the mashrabiya rose-red 4. low-e double glazing 3 etihad eco residence 2017 abu dhabi, uae leed platinum 1. high-performance insulation 2. heaters solar hot water systems provide three-quarters (76%) of the community’s water demand 3. solar-reflective index (sri) coatings reflect light away from the surface of a building with minimal absorption 4. the apartments are equipped with highly energy-efficient appliances 5. the use of highly efficient water fixtures that contribute to reducing potable water consumption 4 bosco verticale in milan, italy 2014 milan, italy leed gold 1. all apartments are heated and cooled by four geothermal heat pumps 2. radiant flooring with fan coil units offers heating and cooling in the apartments. the radiant floors can be fed directly by groundwater via a heat exchanger 3. about 200 meters of pv panels are delivered to bosco verticale. this accounts for around 2% of the expected electrical consumption 4. a drop irrigation system is used to reduce water usage 5. the wastewater is collected in a storage tank and is afterward utilized entirely in the daily watering of the planted facade 6. wall insulation is higher than the local code (0.17w/m2k vs. 0.34w/ m2k). both u-values and g-values are 25% higher than the local construction code 7. the windows include thermal-fractured aluminum frames with argon-filled, low-e double glazing 8. the irrigation system is outfitted with moisture and temperature sensors 5 zero place–apartments 2022 new york, usa leed platinum 1. high-efficiency appliances, including clothes washer and dryer 2. geothermal system 3. 180 kw solar array 4. high-performance insulation material 5. high-performance windows 6 senior housing project 2022 los angeles, usa leed gold 1. water-saving plumbing fixtures. 2. green roof technology 3. high-efficiency ductless mini-split heat pumps 4. high-performance windows 5. high-performance insulation material 6. a solar domestic hot water system 7 dewa accommodation complex 2024 abu dhabi, uae leed platinum 1. high-performance insulation material 2. energy-efficient lighting and appliances 3. water-saving plumbing fixtures 4. rooftop solar photovoltaic system leed: leadership in energy and environmental design tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 35-41 research article on generalized recurrent finsler spaces of higher order with berwald’s curvature tensor a. m. a. al-qashbari1, salem saleh2,3 1department of mathematics, faculty of education-aden, aden university, aden, yemen, 2department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of mathematics, hodeidah university, hodeidah, yemen abstract in this article, we presented the recurrent of higher order in finsler space fn for projective tensor k jkh i which satisfies a generalized five recurrence with respect to berwald’s connection parameters gkh i , and we have some theorems and some identities also we get more results in a recurrent and generalized 5-recurrent fn by using the sense of berwald’s curvature tensor. keywords: generalized k -five-recurrent, berwald’s derivative of fifth order, curvature tensor k jkh i , curvature tensor rjkh i , weyl projective curvature tensor wjkh i introduction the generalized recurrent finsler space used the sense of berwald curvature tensor discussed by abdallah,[1] al-qashbari and qasem,[2] and some others. a n-dimensional riemannian space of recurrent was introduced and studied by rund[3]. some properties for weyl’s curvature tensor studied by al-qashbari[4],[15],[17],[19],[20],[21],[22],[23],[24], ahsan and ali[5], abu-donia et al.,[6] emamian et al.[7],[13],[14],[16],[18] and qasem et al.[8],[25],[26] the generalized birecurrent, trirecurrent finsler space, and higher order recurrent are studied. furthermore, awed[9] introduced the curvature tensors for the space-time of general relativity. the decomposability of certain generalized k -recurrent finsler space have been studied by baleedi[10], al-qufail,[11] and pandey et al.[12] and others. berwald’s covariant derivative k j it of an arbitrary tensor filed   tj i with respect to xk is given by k j i k j i r j i k r j r rk i r i jk rt t t g t g t g� � � �� � � �   (1.1) berwald’s covariant derivative of the metric function and the vector yi vanish identically, i.e. (a) kf = 0�and (b) k jy = 0. (1.2) but berwald’s covariant derivative of the metric tensor gij does not vanish and is given by  k ij ijklh h h h ijkg c y y c� � � �� � � �2 2 (1.3) the vectors yi and yi satisfy the following relations (a) g y yij j i  = , (b) y y fi i� = 2 , (c) � j k j ky y� and (d) �h k ik ihg g  � (1.4) the two sets of quantities gij and its associate tensor gij are related by[11] g g if i k ifij jk i k � �� ���,������ ������ ������� ���,������ �� � � � � 1 0 ����� �������i k� � � � (1.5) the tensor cijk defined by c g fijk i jk i j k� � � � � � 1 2 1 4 2    � � � (1.6) is known as (h) hv-torsion tensor. the torsion tensor      cik h and its associate torsion tensor cijk are related by (a) c y c yjk i j kj i j � �= = 0 , (b) c y c y c yijk i ijk j ijk k � � � �= = = 0 and (c) �h k ijk hijc c  � (1.7) the tensor     krkj i as defined above is called cartan’s fourth corresponding author: salem saleh, department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: s_wosabi@yahoo.com received: july 17, 2023 accepted: september 02, 2023 published: september 20, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp35-41 copyright © 2023 adel m. a. al-qashbari, salem saleh. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) al-qashbari and saleh: on generalized recurrent finsler spaces of higher order 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 35-41 curvature tensor, this tensor is positively homogeneous of degree zero in the directional argument (a) ( ) ( )= ∂ γ + ∂ γ + γ γ − ∂ γ + ∂ γ + γ γ  * * * * * * * *   i i i l i m i i l i m rkj j kr l rj k mj kr k jr l rk j mk jrk g g and (b) k kjkh i jhk i� �    (1.8) the tensor k jkh i   satisfies the relation too. (a) k y hjkh i j kh i     = and (b) h k y kjkh i jkh i m j mkh i� � �( � )� (1.9) the curvature tensor k jkh i  satisfies the following identities known as bianchi identities[27] k k kjkh i hjk i khj i� � �� �0 (1.10) ricci tensor kjk, the curvature vector kj and the curvature scalar k are given by: (a) k kjki i jk=  , (b) k y kjk k j    = and (c) k y hjk j k    = (1.11) the quantities hjkh i   and hkh i   form the components of tensors and they called h-curvature tensor of berwald and torsion tensor respectively are defined as (a) h g g g g g h k h h kjkh i j kh i kh r rj i rhj i k r jkh i� � � � � �� � � �� ��� / * � / ��: (b) h g g c h kkh i h k i k r rh i� � � �� /� (1.12) they are also related by: (a) h y hjkh i j kh i  = and (b) h hjkh i j kh i� � (1.13) the tensor hh i   , called the deviation tensor, given by: h g g y g g g gh i h i r h i r hs i s s i h s� � � � � �2 2� � � � �� �� (1.14) the curvature tensor rjkh i , ricci tensor rjk, tensor hkh, curvature vector hk and scalar curvature h are connected by the following: (a) h y hjk i j k i      = , (b) h hjk jkr r=   , (c)     h hj ji i= , (d) r y hjkh i j kh i   = , (e) r y hjk j k  = , (f)., (j)    r ri i = and (h) r rjki i jk= (1.15) also connected by: (a)      h hkh k h� � , (b) h y hkh k h   = and (d) h y h n hk k k k � �� � �� �1 (1.16) the weyl curvature tensor denoted as wjkh i is defined by w h n h h x n h hjkh i jkh i j i kh hk i j kh j hk� � � �� � � � � � �� � � � ( ) ( ) �� � � 1 1    �� � k i jh hj r j hr h i jk n nh h x h n nh ( ) ��� � � � ( ) � �� �2 2 1 1 � � � � � � �� � � � �   hh x hkj r j kr� �� �� � � � �� � � �  � � (1.17) the tensors wjkh i , wjk i and wjk satisfies the following identities. (a) w y wjkh i j kh i  = , (b) w y wjk i j k i  = and (c) w wjki i jk= (1.18) notations:   k jkh i : cartan’s 4th curvature tensor; rjkh i : cartan’s 3th curvature tensor; hjkh i : berwald curvature tensor; kkh: k-ricci tensor, kk: curvature vector and k: scalar curvature. on generalized –bk-five-recurrent space in this, proposal is defined as     r s n m l is derivative of fifth order, for projective curvature tensor k jkh i which is defined as:     r s n m l jkh i lmnsr jkh i lmnsr h i jk k i jhk k g g       � � �� �� � � � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �lmns q q h i jkr k i jhr lmnr q q h i jks k iy c c y c� � � � �  cc jhs� �� � �� � � ��2 2� � � � � �� � � � � �lmn r q q h i jks k i jhs lmsr q q h i jkn k iy c c y c   cc jhn� � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � �lms r q q h i jkn k i jhn lmr s q q h i jkny c c y c� �� � � �    ��k i jhnc� � � �� � � ���2 2� � � � � �lm r s q q h i jkn k i jhn lnsr p q h i jkmy c c y c� �� � � �    kk i jhmc� � (2.1) � �� � � �� �2 2� � � ��� � � � � �lns r p q h i jkm k i jhm lnr s q q h i jkm ky c c y c    ii jhmc� �� � �� �� ��� �2 2� � � � � �ln r s q q h i jkm k i jhm lsr n q q h i jkm k iy c c y c c    � jjhm� �� � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �ls r n q q h i jkm k i jhm lr s n q q h i jkm k iy c c y c      � cc jhm� � � �� ��� �2 � � �l r s n q q h i jkm k i jhmy c c    � � � � �. where ≠ 0i jkhk and     r s n m l is derivative of five order with respect to xl, xm, xn, x, and xr, respectively, the quantities λlmnsr and μlmnsr are non-null covariant vectors field. result 2.1. every generalized k -recurrent is generalized k -five recurrent. definition 2.1. a finsler space for the tensor k jkh i is known to satisfy the condition (2.1), and will be called generalized-five recurrent space. we shall call such finsler space a generalized k -five-recurrent space and is denoted by g k -firfn. transvecting (2. 1) by yj, using (1.2b), (1.9a), (1.4a) and (1.7b), we get     r s n m l kh i lmnsr kh i lmnsr h i k k i hh a h b y y� � � � � �(� �)�� � �� � (2.2) transvecting (2.2) by yk, using (1.2b), (1.15a), (1.4b) and (1.4c), we get     r s n m l h i lmnsr h i lmnsr h i h ih a h b f y y� � � � �(� � �)�� � �� 2 (2.3) thus, we conclude theorem 2.1. in g k -firfn, berwald derivative of the five orders for torsion tensor hkh i and the deviation tensor hh i   are given by the conditions (2.2) and (2.3), respectively. putting i=h in (2.2) and (2.3), using (1.4b), (1.4c), (1.5), (1.15b), and (1.15c), we get     r s n m l k lmnsr k lmnsr kh a h n b y� � � �( )�� � �1 and (2.4)     r s n m l lmnsr lmnsrh a h n b f� � � �� ( )�� � �1 2 (2.5) al-qashbari and saleh: on generalized recurrent finsler spaces of higher order 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 35-41 the conditions (2.4) and (2.5), show that the curvature vector hk and the curvature scalar h cannot vanish because one of these would imply almnsr=0 and blmnsr=0, that is a contradiction. thus, we conclude, theorem 2.2. in g k -firfn the curvature vector wk and the curvature scalar w are given by the conditions (2.4) and (2.5), respectively, are non-vanishing. contracting the indices i and h in (2.1), using (1.11a), (1.4c) and (1.7c), we get       r s n m l jk lmnsr jk lmnsr jk lmns k k n g n� � � � �� � �� � � �� �� � � 1 2 1� � qq q jkry c� � �� � � �� � � �� � � �2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lmnr q q jks lmn r q q jks lm � � � � � �� �    ssr q q jkny c � �� � � �� � � �� � �2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lms r q q jkn lmr s q q jkn lm r � � � � � �       s q q jkny c (2.6) � �� � � �� � � �� � �2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lnsr p q jkm lns r p q jkm lnr � �� �� � �    ss q q jkmy c � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n ln r s q q jkm lsr n q q jkm ls r n � � �        qq q jkmy c � � �� �� � � �� �� �2 1 2 1n y c n y clr s n q q jkm l r s n q q jkm� �       thus, we conclude theorem 2.3. in g k -firfn, berwald derivative of the five orders for ricci tensor kjk is given by the condition (2.6). transvecting (2.6) by yj, using (1.2b), (1.11b), (1.4a), and (1.7b), we get     r s n m l j lmnsr j lmnsr jk k n y� � � � �� � �� �� �1 (2.7) thus, we get theorem 2.4. in g k -firfn, berwald derivative of the five orders for the curvature vector kj is given by the condition (2.7). divergence of k-tensor and other curvature tensors in this section, we will obtain the necessary and sufficient conditions for tensors to be interpreted to generalized recurrent in   g k -firfn. it is known that curvature tensor rjkh i and curvature tensor k jkh i  are connected by the formula[27] r k c hjkh i jkh i jp i hk p� � ��. (3.1) taking derivative of 5th order of (3.1), with respect to xl, xm, xn, xs, and xr, successively, we get:               r s n m l jkh i r s n m l jkh i r s n m l jp i hk pr k c h           � � � � (3.2) using the condition (2.1) in (3.2), we get:     r s n m l jkh i lmnsr jkh i lmnsr h i jk k i jhr k g g      � � �� �� � � � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �lmns q q h i jkr k i jhr lmnr q q h i jks k iy c c y c� � � � �  cc jhs� �� � �� � � ��2 2� � � � � �� � � � � �lmn r q q h i jks k i jhs lmsr q q h i jkn k iy c c y c   cc jhn� � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � �lms r q q h i jkn k i jhn lmr s q q h i jkny c c y c� �� � � �    ��k i jhnc� � � �� � � ���2 2� � � � � �lm r s q q h i jkn k i jhn lnsr p q h i jkmy c c y c� �� � � �    kk i jhmc� � (3.3) � �� � � �� �2 2� � � ��� � � � � �lns r p q h i jkm k i jhm lnr s q q h i jkm ky c c y c    ii jhmc� �� � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �ln r s q q h i jkm k i jhm lsr n q q h i jkm k i jy c c y c c     hhm� �� � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �ls r n q q h i jkm k i jhm lr s n q q h i jkm k iy c c y c      � cc jhm� � � �� � ��� �2 � � �l r s n q q h i jkm k i jhm r s n m l jp i hky c c c h        � � �� � � �� � p� � by using (3.1), the above equation can be written as:     r s n m l jkh i lmnsr jkh i lmnsr jp i hk p lmns h i jkr a r a c h b g      � � � � ��� ��k i jhg   � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �lmns q q h i jkr k i jhr lmnr q q h i jks k iy c c y c� � � � �  cc jhs� �� � �� � � ��2 2� � � � � �� � � � � �lmn r q q h i jks k i jhs lmsr q q h i jkn k iy c c y c   cc jhn� � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � �lms r q q h i jkn k i jhn lmr s q q h i jkny c c y c� �� � � �    ��k i jhnc� � � �� � � ���2 2� � � � � �lm r s q q h i jkn k i jhn lnsr p q h i jkmy c c y c� �� � � �    kk i jhmc� � � �� � � �� �2 2� �� � � � � �lns r p q h i jkm k i jhm lnr s q q h i jkm k i jy c c y c c    hhm� �� (3.4) � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �ln r s q q h i jkm k i jhm lsr n q q h i jkm k i jy c c y c c     hhm� �� � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �ls r n q q h i jkm k i jhm lr s n q q h i jkm k iy c c y c      � cc jhm� � � �� � ��� �2 � � �l r s n q q h i jkm k i jhm r s n m l jp i hky c c c h        � � �� � � �� p� � . this shows that,     r s n m l jkh i lmnsr jkh i lmns h i jk k i jhr a r b g g   � � �� �� � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �lmns q q h i jkr k i jhr lmnr q q h i jks k iy c c y c� � � � �  cc jhs� �� � �� � � ��2 2� � � � � �� � � � � �lmn r q q h i jks k i jhs lmsr q q h i jkn k iy c c y c   cc jhn� � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � �lms r q q h i jkn k i jhn lmr s q q h i jkny c c y c� �� � � �    ��k i jhnc� � � �� � � ���2 2� � � � � �lm r s q q h i jkn k i jhn lnsr p q h i jkm k iy c c y c� �� �    cc jhm� � (3.5) al-qashbari and saleh: on generalized recurrent finsler spaces of higher order 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 35-41 � �� � � �� �2 2� � � ��� � � � � �lns r p q h i jkm k i jhm lnr s q q h i jkm ky c c y c    ii jhmc� �� � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �ln r s q q h i jkm k i jhm lsr n q q h i jkm k i jy c c y c c     hhm� �� � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �ls r n q q h i jkm k i jhm lr s n q q h i jkm k iy c c y c      � cc jhm� � � �� ��� �2 � � �l r s n q q h i jkm k i jhmy c c    � � � � �. if and only if     r s n m l jp i hk p lmnsr jp i hk pc h a c h         � � � � � (3.6) thus, we conclude theorem 3.1 in g k -firfn, cartan’s fourth curvature tensor  rjkh i is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the condition c hjp i hk p    � � is five recurrent finsler space. transvecting (3.4) by yj, using (1.2b), (1.15d), (1.4a), (1.7a) and (1.7b), we get     r s n m l kh i lmnsr kh i lmns h i k k i hh a h b y y          � � �� �� � (3.7) the following is derived. theorem 3.2. in g k -firfn, berwald derivative of the five orders for the torsion tensor hkh i is generalized five recurrent finsler space. contracting the indices i and h in (3.4), using (1.15h), (1.5), (1.4b), (1.4c), and (1.7c), we get:     r s n m l jk lmnsr jk lmnsr jp i ik p lmns jr a r a c h n b g� � � � �� � � � � �� �1 kk � �� � � �� � � �� � � � �2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lmns q q jkr lmnr q q jks lmn � � � � � � �    r q q jksy c � � �� � � �� � � �� � � � � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lmsr q q jkn lms r q q jkn lmr � � � � � �     s q q jkny c � �� � � �� � � �� � �2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lm r s q q jkn lnsr p q jkm lns r � � �      � pp q jkmy c (3.8) � �� � � �� � � �� � �2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lnr s q q jkm ln r s q q jkm lsr n � � �       qq q jkmy c � �� � � �� ��2 1 2 1n y c n y cls r n q q jkm lr s n q q jkm� �     � � � �� � � � �� �2 1n y c c hl r s n q q jkm r s n m l jp i ik p�         � � � � . this shows that       r s n m l jk lmnsr jk lmns jk lmns q r a r n b g n y � � � � � � � �� � � �� � 1 2 1 �� qq jkrc � (3.9) � �� � � �� � � �� � �2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lmnr q q jks lmn r q q jks lmsr � � � � � �   qq q jkny c � �� � � �� � � �� � �2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lms r q q jkn lmr s q q jkn lm r � � � � � �       s q q jkny c � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n y lnsr p q jkm lns r p q jkm lnr s q � � � �     qq jkmc � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n ln r s q q jkm lsr n q q jkm ls r n � � �        qq q jkmy c � �� � � �� �2 1 2 1n y c n y clr s n q q jkm l r s n q q jkm� � �� �      � �� �. if and only if     r s n m l jp i ik p lmnsr jp i ik pc h a c h         � � � � � (3.10) this following is derived theorem 3.3. in g k -firfn, r-ricci tensor rjk is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the condition c hjp i ik p    � � is five recurrent finsler space. for a riemannian space v4, when n=4, the equation (3.8), shows that      r s n m l jk lmnsr jk lmns jk lmns q q jkrr a r b g y c� �� � � �� � � � 3 6 6 � � � ��lmnr q q jksy c� � � � � � � �6 6 6 6 � � � � � ��� � �lmn r q q jks lmsr q q jkn lms r q q jkny c y c y c     ���lmr s q q jkny c� �  � � � � 6 6 6 6 � � � � �lm r s q q jkn lnsr p q jkm lns r p q jkmy c y c y c� � �� � �      ��lnr s q q jkmy c  � � ��� � �6 6 6� � �ln r s q q jkm lsr n q q jkm ls r n q q jkmy c y c y c       � � � � �6 6� �� �lr s n q q jkm l r s n q q jkmy c y c      � � (3.11) if and only if     r s n m l jp i ik p lmnsr jp i ik pc h a c h         � � � � � (3.12) the following is derived. theorem 3.4. in g k -firfn, for a riemannian space v4, when n=4, the r-ricci tensor rjk is given by condition (3.11) if and only if the condition c hjp i ik p    � � is five recurrent finsler space. transvecting (3.9) by yk, using (1.2b), (1.15f), (1.4a) and (1.7b), we get     r s n m l j lmnsr j lmns jr a r n b y� �� �� � �� �1 (3.13) thus, we conclude theorem 3.5. in g k -firfn, berwald derivative of the five order for curvature vector rj is generalized five recurrent finsler space. compound derivations of tensor ki jkh in this section, we present the relation between the curvature tensor k jkh i  and wely’s projective tensor wjkh i . it is al-qashbari and saleh: on generalized recurrent finsler spaces of higher order 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 35-41 known that cartan’s third curvature tensor rjkh i and wely’s projective tensor    wjkh i are connected by the formula[1] w r r g rjkh i jkh i k i jh jk h i� � �� �1 3 � � � � (4.1) using (3.1) in (4.1), we get, w k c h r g rjkh i jkh i jp i hk p k i jh jk h i� � � �� �� � � �� 1 3 � (4.2) taking derivative of 5th order of (4.2), with respect to xl, xm, xn, xs, and xr, successively, we get               r s n m l jkh i r s n m l jkh i r s n m l jp i hk pw k c h       � � � � � �� �1 3 �b b b b br s n m l k i jh jk h ir g r� (4.3) using (2.1) and substituting the condition (4.2) in (4.3), we get     r s n m l jkh i lmnsr jkh i lmnsr jp i hk p lmnsr k iw w c h� �� � � � �� � � � 1 3 rr g rjh jk h i�� �� � � �� � � �� �� � � � �� � � � � �lmnsr h i jk k i jh lmns q q h i jkr k i jhrg g y c c2  � ��� �� � � �2 2� � � � � �lmnr q q h i jks k i jhs lmn r q q h i jks k iy c c y c c� � �   jjhs� � � �� � � ��2 2� � � ��� � � � � �lmsr q q h i jkn k i jhn lms r q q h i jkn k iy c c y c c   jjhn� � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � �lmr s q q h i jkn k i jhn lm r s q q h i jkny c c y c� �� � �     ��k i jhnc� � � �� � � ��2 2� � � � � �� �� � � � � �lnsr p q h i jkm k i jhm lns r p q h i jkmy c c y c   kk i jhmc� � � �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �lnr s q q h i jkm k i jhm ln r s q q h i jkm ky c c y c    � �� ii jhmc� �� � � �� �� � � ��� �2 2� � � � � �lsr n q q h i jkm k i jhm ls r n q q h i jkm ky c c y c     ii jhmc� �� � �� � � ��� � �2 2� � � � �lr s n q q h i jkm k i jhm l r s n q q h i jkmy c c y c      � � ��k i jhmc� � � � � � �� �� � �         r s n m l jp i hk p r s n m l k i jh jk h ic h r g r 1 3 � (4.4) this shows that     r s n m l jkh i lmnsr jkh i lmnsr h i jk k i jhw w g g     � � �� �� � � � � �� � � ���2 2� � � � � �lmns q q h i jkr k i jhr lmnr q q h i jks k i jhsy c c y c c� �  �� � �� �� � � �2 2� � � � � �lmn r q q h i jks k i jhs lmsr q q h i jkn k iy c c y c c  � � � � jjhn� � � �� � � �2 2� � � � � �lms r q q h i jkn k i jhn lmr s q q h i jkn k iy c c y c� �� � �   � cc jhn� � (4.5) � �� � � �2 2�� � � � � �lm r s q q h i jkn k i jhn lnsr p q h i jkm ky c c y c� �� � � �    ii jhmc� � � �� � � �2 2� � � �� �� � � � � �lns r p q h i jkm k i jhm lnr s q q h i jkm ky c c y c   � ii jhmc� � � �� � � �2 2� �� � � � � �ln r s q q h i jkm k i jhm lsr n q q h i jkm k iy c c y c c    � � jjhm� �� � � �� �� � � �2 2� �� � � � � �ls r n q q h i jkm k i jhm lr s n q q h i jkm ky c c y c      ii jhmc� � � �� �2� �� � �l r s n q q h i jkm k i jhmy c c    � if and only if     r s n m l jp i hk p lmnsr jp i hk pc h c h   � � � � �� (4.6) and     r s n m l k i jh jk h i lmnsr k i jh jk h ir g r r g r       � � ��� � � �� � (4.7) the following is derived theorem 4.1. in g k -firfn, wely’s projective tensor wjkh i is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the tensors c hjp i hk p� � and �k i jh jk h ir g r�� � are five recurrent finsler space. transvecting (4.4) by yj, using (1.2b), (1.18a), (1.4a),(1.7a), (1.15e) and (1.7b), we get     r s n m l kh i lmnsr kh i lmnsr k i h k h iw w h y r� � � ��� � �� �� � � 1 3 � �� � � �� �� � � � � � �� � � �lmnsr h i k k i h r s n m l k i h k h iy y h y r 1 3      (4.8) this shows that     r s n m l kh i lmnsr kh i lmnsr h i k k i hw w y y     � � �� �� � � � (4.9) if and only if     r s n m l k i h k h i lmnsr k i h k h ih y r h y r              � � ��� � � �� � (4.10) this following is derived. theorem 4.2. in g k -firfn, the torsion curvature tensor wkh i is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the tensor        �k i h k h ih y r�� � is five recurrent finsler space. transvecting (4.5) by yk, using (1.2b), (1.18b), (1.4c), and (1.4b), we get     r s n m l h i lmnsr h i lmnsr i h h iw w y h f r� ��� � �� �� � 1 3 2 al-qashbari and saleh: on generalized recurrent finsler spaces of higher order 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 35-41 � �� � � �� �� � � �� �lmnsr h i i h r s n m l i h h if y y y h f r2 21 3      (4.11) this shows that     r s n m l h i lmnsr h i lmnsr h i i hw w f y y� �� � �� �� � � 2 (4.12) if and only if     r s n m l i h h i lmnsr i h h iy h f r y h f r� �� ��� � � �� �2 2� (4.13) this following is derived theorem 4.3. in g k -firfn, the curvature tensor wh i is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the tensor � �y h f ri h h i�� �2 is five recurrent finsler space. contracting the indices i and h in (4.4), using (1.18c), (1.5), (1.4b), (1.4c), and (1.15j), we get     r s n m l jk lmnsr jk lmnsr jp i ik p lmnsr jk w a w a c h r g � � � �� � � � � � 1 3 � jjkr� � (4.14) � �� � � �� � � �� �n b g n y c n y clmns jk lmns q q jkr lmnr q q j1 2 1 2 1� � � �� �� �  kks � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lmn r q q jks lmsr q q jkn lms r � � � � � �    � q q jkny c � � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lmr s q q jkn lm r s q q jkn lnsr �� � � � �     ��p q jkmy c � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lns r p q jkm lnr s q q jkm ln r s � � � �      qq q jkmy c �� �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lsr n q q jkm ls r n q q jkm lr s n � � �        q q jkmy c � �� � � � � � 2 1 1 3 n y c c hl r s n q q jkm r s n m l jp i ik p r s n m ��              � � l jk jkr g r�� �. this shows that       r s n m l jk lmnsr jk lmns jk lmns q w a w n b g n y � � � � � � � �� � � �� � 1 2 1 �� qq jkrc (4.15) � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lmnr q q jks lmn r q q jks lmsr �� � � � � �    qq q jkny c � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lms r q q jkn lmr s q q jkn lm r s q � � �        yy cq jkn� � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n lnsr p q jkm lns r p q jkm lnr s q � � � � �     yy cq jkm � �� � � �� � � �� � 2 1 2 1 2 1 n y c n y c n ln r s q q jkm lsr n q q jkm ls r n � � �        qq q jkmy c � �� � � �� �2 1 2 1n y c n y clr s n q q jkm l r s n q q jkm� �      � if and only if     r s n m l jk jk lmnsr jk jkr g r r g r�� � � �� �� (4.16) and     r s n m l jp i ik p lmnsr jp i ik pc h a c h       � � � � � (4.17) this following is derived theorem 4.4. in g k -firfn, the ricci tensor wjk is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the tensors c hjp i ik p� � and (rjk–gjkr) are five recurrent finsler space. conclusion and recommendations the generalized k -five recurrent space is satisfied in the condition (2.1). in g k firfn − , the  -derivative of the five order for ricci tensor kjk and curvature vector kj are given by (2.6) and (2.7), respectively. in g k firfn, the necessary and sufficient condition of curvature tensor  rjkh i is generalized five recurrent finsler space, if and only if the condition c hjp i hk p    � � is five recurrent finsler space and ricci tensor rjk is generalized five recurrent finsler space, if and only if the condition c hjp i ik p    � � is five recurrent finsler space. in  g k firfn, the wely’s projective tensor wjkh i is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the tensors c hjp i hk p� � and �k i jh jk h ir g r�� � are five recurrent finsler space. in  g k firfn, the curvature tensor wkh i is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the tensor        �k i h k h ih y r�� � is five recurrent finsler space. finally, ricci tensor wjk is generalized five recurrent finsler space if and only if the tensors c hjp i ik p� � and (rjk–gjkr) are five recurrent finsler space. the authors call the need for 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al-bader2, sarwan w. bradosty2 1department of medical laboratory science, college of science, knowledge university, erbil 44001, iraq, 2department of community health nursing, college of health technology, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract helicobacteriosis, a globally prevalent bacterial infection caused by helicobacter pylori, affects more than half of the world’s population. h. pylori, a group 1 carcinogen, is a widespread pathogen associated with gastric cancer and peptic ulcers. due to its high prevalence, carcinogenic classification, and increasing antimicrobial resistance, h. pylori remain a major global health concern. this study examined the frequency of h. pylori infection in a specific population, revealing an overall prevalence of 20.5%, with a higher infection rate among females (23.7%) than males (17.8%). the 11–20-year age group had the highest infection rate (28.6%), while the 1–10-year group had the lowest (11.5%). however, statistical analysis (chi-square test, “p” = 0.921) indicated no significant age-related differences, suggesting a relatively uniform distribution across age groups. similarly, rural residents exhibited a slightly higher infection rate (22.3%) than urban dwellers (18.5%). however, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.593), suggesting that the location of habitation had little to no influence on infection risk. monthly variations in prevalence were noted, with peaks in september (24.3%) and december (21.6%), whereas august recorded the lowest rate (16.7%). however, statistical analysis (p = 0.982) revealed no significant seasonal trend, suggesting that temporal factors did not substantially influence infection rates in this study. overall, the findings indicate a moderate prevalence of h. pylori infection with no significant variations across age, location, or season, pointing to a relatively uniform distribution within the studied population. further investigations are warranted to elucidate the underlying risk factors and transmission dynamics. keywords: detection, helicobacter pylori, stool, antigen test, erbil introduction helicobacteriosis, a globally prevalent bacterial infection caused by helicobacter pylori, effects more than 50% of the world’s population and has been recognized by the world health organization as a significance pathogen. given its increasing frequency and the growing hazard of antimicrobial resistance, h. pylori has become a major focus of medical and scientific investigation. classified as a group 1 carcinogen, the bacterium is unequivocally related to peptic ulcer and gastric cancer disease, highlighting its significant public health problem.[1-3] however, h. pylori is one of the most prevalent bacterial pathogens affecting humans. as of 2015, an assessed 4.4 billion people worldwide were infected.[4,5] however, prevalence fluctuates significantly by region, with higher infection rates detected in areas with poor hygiene and weaker economies, such as much of asia, africa, and south america, compared to lower rates in north america, australia, and western europe.[6-8] the worldwide prevalence of h. pylori infection shows marked difference, with predominantly outstanding contrasts between developed and developing countries. in low-income nations, infection rates are uncommonly high, affecting 85–95% of the population, while developed regions report pointedly lower occurrence rates of 30–50%. the primary causes of this difference remain incompletely understood but may stem from differential access to healthcare, underreporting, or other yetunidentified causative factors. the epidemiology of h. pylori is shaped by a complex interaction of factors, including host genetic predisposition, patterns of antibiotic use, bacterial strain virulence, and environmental influences, such as hygiene practices and socioeconomic status.[9-13] corresponding author: dhary a. almashhadany, medical laboratory science, college of science, knowledge university, erbil 44001, iraq. e-mail: dhary.alewy@knu.edu.iq received: august 31, 2025 accepted: september 16, 2025 published: october 15, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp68-73 copyright © 2025 dhary a. almashhadany, salah m. al-bader, sarwan w. bradosty. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) almashhadany, et al.: significance of stool antigen testing for helicobacter pylori 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 68-73 even though the exact method of h. pylori transmission remains indistinct, several pathways have been proposed. the bacterium can spread both indirectly through environmental sources and directly person-to-person. in developed countries, person-to-person transmission seems to be the principal route. in contrast, in developing countries with suboptimal food and water hygiene, polluted food and water also play a major role in transmission. notably, not all persons exposed to h. pylori develop symptoms or complications, as the infection’s outcome depends on factors, such as bacterial virulence, genetic susceptibility, and host immunity.[14-17] several factors impact h. pylori transmission, including personal hygiene, bacterial strain virulence, immune response, geographic location, living conditions, and socioeconomic status.[18,19] while most infected individuals remain asymptomatic carriers, the infection shows distinguished geographic variability[20] in developed countries, infection rates rarely exceed 40%, whereas in developing countries, over 80% of the population may contract h. pylori during childhood.[21] children and adolescents in developed countries show much lower infection rates than adults and the elderly.[22,23] the groundbreaking detection that h. pylori is the root cause of gastritis and peptic ulcers is attributed to the original work of dr. barry marshall and dr. robin warren. in a daring act of scientific opinion, marshall intentionally consumed a live culture of h. pylori isolated from a patient, and soon established acute gastritis. at a time when the health institution definitely supposed that stress and lifestyle factors were to responsibility, marshall and warren challenged traditional wisdom. this audacious self-experiment supported certain proof of the bacterium’s role in disease, crushing longheld medical beliefs and shifting the thoughtful and treatment of gastric conditions.[24,25] their pioneering work faced important doubt, sparking strong discussion inside the scientific community over whether h. pylori, rather than other factors, was actually accountable for peptic ulcers. however, marshall and warren finally altered gastroenterology, proving that ulcers and chronic inflammation were mainly bacterial in origin. their scientific work contributions earned them the 2005 nobel prize in physiology or medicine, strengthening their heritage in medical history.[26,27] for decades, the human stomach was considered a sterile environment, as its harsh acidic conditions were supposed to be unfavorable to microbial life. this long-held belief was inverted in 1982 when barry marshall and robin warren made a groundbreaking discovery: they identified h. pylori in gastric biopsies, revealing its essential role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.[28-31] a critical survival strategy employed by h. pylori in the harsh acidic milieu of the stomach is its robust production of urease. this enzyme facilitates the breakdown of urea into ammonia, which counteracts gastric acid, thereby creating a more hospitable niche for bacterial colonization and long-term persistence.[32,33] today, their findings remain a cornerstone of modern gastroenterology, as evidenced by contemporary research. further studies continue to reinforce their conclusions, underscoring the enduring impact of their discovery on clinical practice and ulcer treatment worldwide.[34,35] h. pylori is a gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium linking to the helicobacteraceae family. naturally showing an s-shaped or curved morphology, it ranges from 0.5 to 3 μm in length and mostly colonizes the gastric mucus layer. a hallmark of h. pylori is its characteristic unipolar flagellar bundle, composed of 5–7 sheathed flagella, each measuring about 3 μm in length and ending in prominent bulb-like structures. these flagella, which are critical for pathogenicity and motility, are formed by the copolymerization of two flagellin proteins, flaa and flab.[36,37] the prevalence of h. pylori infection in iraq has been rising, with most cases acquired during early childhood. given this trend, the aims of the study include: (1) detect the frequency of h. pylori in human stool samples from erbil governorate, (2) study its occurrence across different age groups and residential areas, and (3) evaluate infection rates over the study period. furthermore, epidemiological understandings into h. pylori can advise public health strategies to control transmission, avoid new infections, and support therapeutic efforts to eliminate the bacterium. materials and methods collection of samples a total of 215 stool samples (118 from males and 97 from females) were collected from several private medical laboratories in erbil city between july and december 2024. each specimen was obtained in a clean, dry, sterile container following the protocol described by.[38] relevant patient information accompanying the samples, including age, sex, and place of residence, was recorded for epidemiological analysis. preparation of samples all reagents and biological specimens were equilibrated to ambient room temperature before analytical procedures to ensure consistency and accuracy of results. the sample bottles were opened and using the applicator stick attached to the bottle cap, a small portion of stool (5–6 mm in diameter; approximately 100–200 mg or 0.1–0.2 g) was transferred into the bottle containing specimen preparation buffer. the applicator sticks were then returned to their respective bottles, matched to their assigned identification numbers, and the caps were tightened securely. the stool samples were mixed thoroughly with the buffer by gently shaking the bottles for several seconds to ensure homogeneity.[39] testing of the samples test cards were taken out of their sealed foil pouches; samples were thoroughly mixed by shaking the bottles before initiating the test procedure. while holding each bottle in a vertical position over the sample well of the test card, approximately three drops (120–150 μl) of the diluted stool sample were dispensed into the sample hole. the results were interpreted within 10–15 min, with strongly positive samples occasionally producing visible results in a shorter time. almashhadany, et al.: significance of stool antigen testing for helicobacter pylori 70 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 68-73 interpretation of results a distinct pink band appearing in the test line region, along with a pink line in the control line region, indicates a positive result. in contrast, a negative result is characterized by the absence of a line in the test line region, while a clear pink line remains visible in the control line region.[40] statistical analyses the chi-square (χ²) test was used to determine whether there was a statistically significant association between definite variablesage groups, sex, habitation, and the prevalence of h. pylori infection. the test compares the observed frequencies in each category with the frequencies expected if there were no association. results according to the h. pylori antigen test, the overall frequency of h. pylori infection was 20.5% [table 1]. the prevalence rate was higher in females (23.7%) than in males (17.8%). chi-square analysis indicated no significant difference in the prevalence of h. pylori antigen between participants from rural areas (22.3%) and urban areas (18.5%) (χ² = 0.29, df = 1, p = 0.593). the relationship between the age groups and frequency was illustrated in figure 1. the age group 11–20 years had the highest frequency of h. pylori antigen (28.6%), followed by the age group 61–70 years (22.2%). the age range of 1–10 years old had the lowest prevalence (11.5%). the statistical analysis (chi-square test) showed no statistically significant difference in h. pylori antibody prevalence among the different age groups (χ2 = 2.58, df = 7, p = 0.921, χ2 = 2.58, df = 7, p = 0.921). since p > 0.05, there is. chi-square analysis showed no significant variation in h. pylori antibody prevalence in the tested groups (χ2 = 2.58, df = 7, p = 0.921). the prevalence ranged from 11.5% in the 1–10-year group to 28.6% in the 11–20-year group, with no consistent trend across ages. prevalence of h. pylori antigen in humans according to habitation site. as shown in table 2, the prevalence of h. pylori antigen was higher among participants residing in rural areas (22.3%) compared with those living in urban areas (18.5%). chi-square analysis indicated no significant difference in the prevalence of h. pylori antigen between participants from rural areas (22.3%) and urban areas (18.5%) (χ2 = 0.29, df = 1, p = 0.593). this suggests that the habitation site had no detectable influence on infection rates in the study population. relationship between month and prevalence of h. pylori antigen during the study period the h. pylori antigen prevalence changed over the research months, as indicated in figure 2. august had the lowest prevalence (16.7%), while september had the highest (24.3%), and december had the second peak (21.6%). chi-square analysis revealed no significant variation in the monthly prevalence of h. pylori antigen (χ2 = 0.72, df = 5, p = 0.982). prevalence ranged from 16.7% in august table 2: prevalence of helicobacter pylori antigen in human according to the habitation site habitation site no. of samples examined positive samples no% negative samples no% statistical results urban area 103 19 (18.5) 84 (81.5) rural area 112 25 (22.3) 87 (77.7) total 215 44 (20.5) 171 (79.5) χ2=0.29, df=1, p=0.593 table 1: prevalence of helicobacter pylori antigen in human samples according to sex sex no. of samples positive no. (%) negative no. (%) male 118 21 (17.8) 97 (82.2) female 97 23 (23.7) 74 (76.3) total 215 44 (20.5) 171 (79.5) chi-square analysis χ2=0.81, df=1 p=0.368 (ns) figure 2: relationship between months and prevalence of helicobacter pylori antigen figure 1: prevalence of helicobacter pylori antibody in human according to age to 24.3% in september, with no consistent seasonal pattern. these results suggest that the month of sampling did not influence infection rates in this population. almashhadany, et al.: significance of stool antigen testing for helicobacter pylori 71 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 68-73 discussion h. pylori is a highly sophisticated and globally prevalent bacterium. the exact timing of its acquisition remains unclear; however, epidemiological evidence suggests that infection predominantly occurs in children under the age of five, indicating that most individuals contract h. pylori during early childhood.[41] extensive research has established a strong association between h. pylori infection and gastrointestinal disorders. notably, 90% of duodenal ulcers and 70% of gastric ulcers are linked to h. pylori, making it a leading cause of peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. the bacterium’s survival in the highly acidic stomach environment is facilitated by its production of urease, an enzyme that hydrolyzes urea into carbon dioxide and ammonia. this biochemical activity not only neutralizes gastric acid but also contributes to clinical manifestations, such as halitosis (bad breath) and excessive belching.[42,43] non-invasive diagnostic methods play a crucial role in assessing h. pylori infection. among these, the stool antigen test (sat) stands out as a cost-effective, highly sensitive, and easily applicable rapid diagnostic tool. due to its reliability and simplicity, the sat is widely utilized worldwide for detecting h. pylori.[44] in the present study, the prevalence of h. pylori infection was found to be 20.5% [table 1], which is higher than the 13.1% reported by namakin and nejad[45] in a study involving 282 iranian students. their research identified significant correlations between h. pylori colonization and factors, such as sex, duration of breastfeeding, and family crowding, though no significant association was found with age. conversely, our findings indicate a lower prevalence compared to studies conducted in other regions. for instance, research in makkah, saudi arabia, reported a 27.4% infection rate using the urea breath test[46] similarly, a study in turkey by elmas and akçam[47] involving 1,737 cases found that 29% were h. pylori-positive, with infection rates increasing with age: 14.5% (0–6 years), 26.9% (7–12 years), and 33.6% (13–18 years). on the other hand, moon et al.[48] found that among 318 seropositive subjects, 256 (80.5%) tested positive in stool examinations. similarly, el-shabrawi et al.[49] reported that in egypt, the h. pylori sat was positive in 34 out of 38 patients (89.5%). the observed variations in h. pylori infection rates may be attributed to differences in socioeconomic status, hygiene standards, and drinking water sources. additional contributing factors include poor social and economic development, low education levels, inadequate childhood hygiene practices, household overcrowding, lack of proper sewage disposal systems during early life, and improper food handling. furthermore, as shown in table 1, the highest prevalence rate of h. pylori antigens was observed in females (23.7%), whereas the lowest rate was found in males (17.8%). these findings contrast with those of qiao et al.,[50] who reported an overall infection rate of 49.59%, with males at 49.74% and females at 49.3%. as illustrated in figure 1, the frequency of h. pylori antigen varied across age groups, with the highest prevalence observed in the 11–20-year cohort (28.6%), followed by the 61–70-year group (22.2%). in contrast, the lowest infection rate was found in children aged 1–10 years (11.5%). however, chi-square analysis revealed no statistically significant differences in h. pylori seropositivity among age groups (χ2 = 2.58, df = 7, “p” = 0.921), as “p” > 0.05. these findings align with a study by elmas and akçam[47] in turkey, which reported an overall h. pylori positivity rate of 29% (504/1737 cases), with prevalence increasing with age: 14.5% (0–6 years), 26.9% (7–12 years), and 33.6% (13–18 years). geographic disparities were evident, with rural participants exhibiting a higher h. pylori antigen prevalence (22.3%) than urban residents (18.5%) [table 2]. this trend was corroborated by almashhadany et al.[15] in yemen, where stool antigen testing (hpsa) identified a 19.3% positivity rate (89/460 specimens). notably, rural populations had a higher infection rate (20.9%) than urban dwellers (14.7%), and females showed slightly greater susceptibility (21.9%) compared to males (17.2%). a study by al-sinani et al.[51] in oman revealed that the prevalence of h. pylori in children increased significantly with age, rising from 7% in those under 5 years to 33% in the 5–10year age group. similarly, awuku et al.[52] reported an overall h. pylori infection rate of 14.2% among children in ghana, with the lowest prevalence (11.9%) observed in adolescents aged 14–16 years. notably, the infection was more common in females (16.8%) than in males (10.7%), yielding a female-tomale ratio of 1.3:1. the high prevalence of h. pylori in adulthood may stem from early-life exposure due to risk factors, such as poor sanitation, inadequate hygiene, and genetic predisposition. overcrowding, contaminated water, and food further contribute to transmission, particularly in children. these findings align with epidemiological studies published earlier this decade. as illustrated in figure 2, the monthly distribution of h. pylori antigen prevalence varied, with the lowest rate (16.7%) occurring in august and the highest (24.3%) in september, followed by a secondary peak (21.6%) in december. conversely, almashhadany and mayass[39] reported february as the peak month for h. pylori antigen detection (40.0%), with prevalence declining progressively thereafter. conclusion although h. pylori infection remains a significant global health concern, this study found no notable correlations with age, geographic location, or seasonal variation within the examined population. these results underscore the importance of exploring alternative risk factors, such as overcrowding, socioeconomic disparities, educational background, dietary habits, sanitary conditions, and the prevalence of immigrant children from adjacent towns, as well as other potential contributors, including poor sanitation, inadequate hygiene, and genetic susceptibility. understanding these factors is critical to elucidating transmission dynamics and informing targeted prevention measures. given h. pylori’s classification almashhadany, et al.: significance of stool antigen testing 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estimate the hazard function of four used car components such as (tires, brakes, lights, and engine), which are inspected by aperiodic vehicle inspection (pvi) established in erbil city, a specialized company that conducts the annual technical inspection of vehicles to detect the failure component, that either require repair or replace it with a new one. for our purpose, the data about the failure components of a sample of size (50,000) cars are obtained from the erbil traffic directorate, which are annually inspected for 11 years (2010–2020) by a (pvi) company. from the available data, the reliability function, hazard function, and probability density function of the failure time of each component are found by the non-parametric method and the estimated rayleigh distribution since the failure rates of the components are the linear functions of time, also the comparison between their reliability values have made by the mean absolute error method. keywords: basics of reliability function, empirical reliability, rayleigh distribution, hazard function, mean absolute error introduction reliability theory played a great role in various areas of life such as medicine, mechanical, electrical, and electronic engineering. it has been increasingly applied after a wide expansion of industry and become an independent entity since the fast technological developments and the increasing complexity of the equipment parts in the last century. the reliability is mainly conserved with the determination of the probability that a system consisting possible of several components will operate adequately for a given period of time, thus the reliability of the system is through attention to the internal relations of the system components and the impact of these relations in the system reliability, so it is necessary to know the pattern of behavior of these components and then impact on the behavior of the system. in our cities, the vehicles are inspected annually by a (pvi) company, to reduce road accidents and preserve the safety of the passengers, which began to record high numbers of deaths and injuries due to the increase in the number of vehicles and the lack of control systems. smith[1] the scale is said to be highly reliable if it produces similar results under constant conditions. it is the characteristics of a set of test scores that relate to the amount of random error of the measurement process that may be included in the scores. highly reliable scores are accurate, reproduced, and consistent when the test is repeated. that is, if you repeat the test process with a group of test takers, we will get essentially the same results, usually using different types of reliability scores, ranging from 0.00 (big error) to 1.00 (without error), indicating the amount of error in the scores. tanner and wong[2] presented the smoothing of the empirical hazards, a kernel estimate of the hazard function from censored data is obtained and criteria for asymptotic normality are considered. the mean and variance of the estimator are presented in small and large sample expressions. hubbard[3] proposed an empirical examination of moral hazard in the vehicle inspection market, when vendors have an incentive to misrepresent a buyer’s condition in “diagnosiscure” sellers such as auto repair and health care, moral hazard occurs. this article looks at the california automobile emission inspection market to determine if there are any incentives for inspectors to assist vehicles pass. consumers, in my experience, corresponding author: azhin m. khudhur, department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq e-mail: azhin.khudhur@su.edu.krd received: january 27, 2024 accepted: february 28, 2024 published: march 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp18-28 copyright © 2024 azhin m. khudhur, shvan a. hama noory, bestun m. abdulkareem. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 can typically give companies and inspectors incentives to assist them pass. thomas et al.[4] predicted the reliability of automotive components by the study of fatigue. although calculations yield a wealth of data, an experimental investigation is always required to establish this reliability. the “stress-strength interference analysis” approach is used for results exploitation. the “stresses” describe the severity of the distribution of the automobile owner’s stresses, whereas the “strength” depicts the strength of the components’ dispersed fatigue resistance. klyatis[5] studied why existing accelerated reliability testing results for passenger automobiles frequently fail to provide appropriate information for field evaluation and prediction of reliability, fatigue, and durability. the fundamental ideas of strategy that can aid in the elimination of these factors will be discussed, when a simultaneous combination of fundamental environmental elements (temperature, humidity, pollution, radiation, etc.) is employed, how may expedited environmental testing be improved, how can accelerated corrosion testing of automotive components be improved when chemical, mechanical, motion, and other variables are taken into account. przybysz[6] studied the reliability and tests of a sample (37) in the operation military vehicles, during 2-year observation period to determine their reliability of them, using operational data, an empirical reliability function. the reliability function of mileage to damage of military units has a logarithmic distribution. methodology this paper includes the basic concepts of reliability function, empirical reliability functions, and estimated rayleigh distribution where its scale parameter is estimated by the maximum likelihood estimator, also it includes the mean and variance time to component failure and the mean absolute error (mae) for different reliability values of components. basics of reliability function the reliability function is defined as the probability that a system or device will operate for a given period of time (t) under given operating conditions, denoted by r(t),[7] let t be the lifetime of an item, then: r t pr t t� � � �� � r t f t dt t � � � � �� � (1) where r (0) = 1, r(∞) = 0 and f(t) is the failure p. d. f in a time interval (t, t + ∆t) ( ) ( ), 0= < < + ∆ ≥f t pr t t t t when t with a cumulative distribution function (cdf) f t pr t t� � � �� � � � �� f t dt t 0 � �1 r t( ) f t dr t dt � � � � ( ) (2) reliability declines over time, suggesting that the likelihood of failure will rise as the entire system or component matures as shown in figure 1. failure (hazard) rate function is the conditional probability of a component or an item to fail in the interval (t, t + ∆t) given that is operated until time (t),[8] h t pr t t t t|t t� � � � � � � �� � � � � � � �� � �� �lim pr t t t t t|t t t 0 t 0 pr(t t t t)lim t pr(t t)∆ → < < + ∆ = ∆ > ( ) t 0 f t t f(t)1 lim r(t) t ∆ → + ∆ − = ∆ the failure (hazard) rate h(t) can be written as: h t f t r t � � � ( ) ( ) (3) h t r t dr t dt � � � � � � � �1 � � � �dlnr t dt � � � � � �� h t dt lnr t t 0 then the reliability function can be written in terms of failure rate as: r t e h t t dt � � � � � ��0 � �e h t( ) (4) the probability density function (pdf) of failure can be written as f t h t e h t� � � � � �. ( ) figure l: reliability function declines over time khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 such that, h(t) ≥0 limt h t dt� � � � �� � � 0 the relationship between failure functions is in the following planned (hashimoto, 1998) mean and variance time to failure mean e(t) time to failure: e t tf t dt� � � � ��0 � � � �� r t dt0 � (5) variance σ t 2 time to failure: � � t t f t dt e t2 2 0 2 � � � � � �� ( ) (6) estimate empirical reliability the reliability and hazard function can be estimated from the failure times t1 <t2 <⋯<tn. let nt be the total number of components, ns be the number of survival components, and nf be the number of failures components at time (t),[9] ( )ˆ = s t nr t n (7) ( )ˆ = f t nf t n (8) ( )ˆ − = t f t n nr t n ( ) 1ˆ = − f t nr t n ( ) ( ˆ ˆ1 )= − = −f t dr t dn f t dt n dt the estimated p.d.f of the failure function is ( ) ( )ˆ ˆ − = dr t f t dt (9) ( ) ( ) ( )1 1 1 ˆ ˆ ˆ ( ) + + + − − = < < − i i i i i i r t r t f t when t t t t t ( ) ( ) ( )( ) ( ) 1 1 ˆ + + − − = − s i s i t i i n t n t f t n t t ( ) ( ) ( )1 1 ˆ ( ) + + − = − s i s i t i i n t n t f t n t t (10) the estimated hazard function is r t dn n dt f t ' � � � � n r t dn dtt f' � � � � dividing both sides by ns ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ' ' ˆ ˆ= − = − =tf s s n r t r t f tdn n dt n r t r t ( ) ( ) ( ) ˆ ˆ ˆ= f t h t r t ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )( ) 1 1 1 , ˆ + + + − = < < − s i s i i i s i i i n t n t h t when t t t n t t t (11) the estimated mean t and variance 2ˆ ts time to failure are obtained as: t t n i n i � �� 1 (12) 2 2 2 1ˆ 1 = − = − ∑ n i i t t nt s n (13) rayleigh distribution the rayleigh distribution is an applicable distribution in reliability and survival theory to model the distribution of the failure time of systems, whenever the failure rates are the linear functions of time. the rayleigh distribution is a special case of the two parameters weibull distribution when the shape parameter is equal to (2), its pdf is defined as:[10] ( ) 2 2 2 , 0 0 . β β β   −     >=    t t e tf t o w (14) where; t: variable of time β: scale parameter with mean e t� � � �� 4 (15) and variance � � � t 2 1 4 � �� � � � � � (16) where the failure rate (hazard function) is a linear function of time (t): h t t� � � 2 2� (17) moreover, the reliability function is: r t e t � � � � � � � � � � � 2 (18) khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 figure 2 displays reliability over time. in the rayleigh distribution when time increases, reliability decreases. figure 3 illustrates the hazard function over time. in the rayleigh distribution when time increases, also hazard function increases. figure 4 shows how the distribution grows more dispersed and the peak of the rayleigh function moves to the right as β grows. accordingly, the probability mass is dispersed across a wider range of values for bigger values of β, suggesting a higher degree of variability in the underlying randomized process. the function’s representation of a time-dependent process with a rayleigh distribution, maybe in engineering or physics, is indicated by the time axis. estimate the scale parameter of rayleigh distribution this is one important way of method to estimate the parameters of any distribution, and this method relies on the use of possible functions. the following steps represent the estimation of the shape and the scale parameters of the rayleigh distribution, as the maximum likelihood function will be as follows: [11,12] ( ) 2 1 2 3 21 2, , , , 1ββ β   −    = … = >∏ tin n i i l t t t t t e i ( ) 2 2 1 2 3 2 1 2, , , , ββ β − =   … =     ∏ tn n i n i i l t t t t t e taking ln to both sides ( ) 2 2 1 2 3 2 1 2, , , , ln ββ β − =    … =      ∏ tn in n i i lnl t t t t t e ( ) ( ) 2 2 1 2 3 2 1 2, , , , ln ln ββ β − =      … = +        ∏ tin n n n i i lnl t t t t t e ( ) ( ) 2 1 1 2 3 21 , , , , 2 2β β β = = … = − + −∑∑ n n i i n i i t lnl t t t t nln nln lnt taking partial derivative for scale parameter β is going to be: ( ) ( ) 2 1 21 1 2 3 2 2 , , , , β β β β β = =    ∂ − + −   ∂ …  = ∂ ∂ ∑∑ n n i i i i n t nln nln lnt lnl t t t t ( ) ( ) 2 1 2 3 21 , , , , 1 2 β β β β β β= ∂ … ∂ ∂ = − − ∂ ∂ ∂∑ n n i i lnl t t t t n ln t ( ) 2 1 2 3 1 3 2, , , , 2 β β β β =∂ … = − + ∂ ∑ n in i tlnl t t t t n (19) then, equaling to zero, we get � � ���2 2 01 2 3 n t i n i � � n t i n i � � � �� 1 2 3 figure 2: reliability function figure 4: rayleigh function over timefigure 3: hazard function khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 n t i n i � 2 1 2 � �� � 2 1 2 � �� i n it n taking the second partial derivative of equation (19) for scale parameter β is going to be: ( ) 22 2 2 1 2 3 1 2 2 2 3 2, , , , 2β β β β β β =   ∂ …  ∂ ∂  = − +   ∂ ∂ ∂      ∑ n in i tlnl t t t t n ( ) 22 1 2 3 1 2 2 4 6, , , , 2β β β β =∂ … = − ∂ ∑ n in i tlnl t t t t n ( ) 2 22 1 2 3 1 2 4 2 6, , , , ββ β β = −∂ … = ∂ ∑ n in i n tlnl t t t t since n t i n i� 2 1 2� � � so ( ) 2 22 1 2 3 1 1 2 4 2 6, , , ,β β β = = −∂ … = ∂ ∑ ∑ n n i in i i t tlnl t t t t ( ) 22 1 2 3 1 2 4 4, , , , 0 β β β = −∂ … = < ∂ ∑ n in i tlnl t t t t hence, the maximum likelihood estimation for β2 is 2 2 1β̂ == ∑ n i i t n the maximum likelihood estimation for β will be obtained as 1 22 2 1 1β̂ = =    = =     ∑ ∑ n n i i i i t t n n (20) with it, a quadratic mean and β are one-to-one relationships of β2, and it has an invariant property of maximum likelihood estimation. then ( ) ˆ 2β   −    = t r t e (21) application this section includes the computations of the reliability function r(t), hazard function h(t), and the pdf of failure time f(t) of four failure car components (tires, lights, brakes, and engine) by estimated rayleigh distribution and empirical method, with mean and variance time to failure components table 1: number of failures and survivals of tire tire year ti no. of failure no. of survival total test 2010 1 132 49868 50000 2011 2 307 49562 49868 2012 3 512 49050 49562 2013 4 748 48302 49050 2014 5 1110 47192 48302 2015 6 1329 45863 47192 2016 7 1639 44223 45863 2017 8 1674 42549 44223 2018 9 1924 40625 42549 2019 10 2665 37960 40625 2020 11 2503 35457 37960 and the comparison between the different reliability values have made by the mae. data collection the data about the failure car components for a sample of size (50,000) cars, which are annually inspected for 11 years (2010–2020) by one of the pvi centers obtained from the erbil traffic directorate, as defined in the following [tables 1-4]. table 1 shows from 2010 to 2019, there was an increase in a number of failures of the tire from 132 to 2503, respectively, whereas the quantity of surviving tires decreased over time, with the number declining from 49,868 in 2010 to 35,457 in 2020. the statistics in table 2 shows that brake failures vary throughout the years, with a high in 2015 (2193 failures) and then following a decreasing trend. the survival rate, which indicates the lack of brake failures, follows the opposite trend, peaking in 2015 and then declining. the “light” demonstrated in table 2 showed system data show a distinct trend from 2010 to 2020. the quantity of system failures continues to climb yearly, achieving a high of table 2: number of failures and survivals of brake brake year ti no. of failure no. of survival total test 2010 1 217 49783 50000 2011 2 506 49277 49783 2012 3 844 48433 49277 2013 4 1235 47198 48433 2014 5 1831 45367 47198 2015 6 2193 43174 45367 2016 7 2705 40469 43174 2017 8 2762 37707 40469 2018 9 3175 34531 37707 2019 10 4397 30134 34531 2020 11 3509 26625 30134 khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 table 4: number of failures and survivals of engine engine year ti no. of failure no. of survival total test 2010 1 243 49757 50000 2011 2 567 49189 49757 2012 3 947 48243 49189 2013 4 1384 46858 48243 2014 5 2053 44805 46858 2015 6 2459 42346 44805 2016 7 3033 39313 42346 2017 8 3097 36216 39313 2018 9 3560 32656 36216 2019 10 4930 27727 32656 2020 11 4301 23426 27727 table 3: number of failures and survivals of light light year ti no. of failure no. of survival total test 2010 1 230 49770 50000 2011 2 537 49233 49770 2012 3 895 48338 49233 2013 4 1309 47028 48338 2014 5 1942 45086 47028 2015 6 2326 42760 45086 2016 7 2869 39891 42760 2017 8 2930 36961 39891 2018 9 3368 33594 36961 2019 10 4664 28930 33594 2020 11 4131 24799 28930 4,664 in 2019. in contrast, the number of survivors declined, reaching its lowest level in 2020 with 24,799 survivors. despite such changes, the overall number of tests performed has remained largely steady, with a minor decline over time. table 4 indicates that the engine test data throughout time. in 2019 (ti = 10), there were approximately 4930 failures among a total of 32,656 tests performed, suggesting a 15% failure rate. there were 27,727 surviving engines. there were 4301 failures out of 27,727 tests in 2020 (ti = 11), with 23,426 engines surviving. in 2020, the total failure rate was about 15.5%. the estimated mean and variance time to failure components empirically the mean and the variance time to failure of components are estimated, [table 5] by: t f mt f i i i � � � � � 2 2 ( ) 1 − = − ∑ ∑ i i i f mt t s f 2( ) 1 − = − ∑ ∑ i i i f mt t s f where: t : meantime s2: variance s: standard deviation mti: midpoint of time fi: number failure table 5 shows the statistical overview for car parts, the tire component, for example, has an average measurement (mean) of 8.42, a variation from the mean (variance) of 6.48, and an indicator of data dispersion (standard deviation) of 2.55. estimating the scale parameter of rayleigh distribution for components the scale parameter (β) values of rayleigh distribution for the components (tire, light, break, and engine) are estimated as defined in the following [tables 6-9] 11 2 1 11 1 β̂ = = = ∑ ∑ i i i i i f mt f where table 6 displayed an estimated scale parameter of tires for the years 2010–2020, with tire sizes mti ranging from 1.5 to 11.5”, is ˆ 8.795β =tire . this numerical data, as shown in table 7, emphasizes the critical importance of braking-related parameters determining the analyzed outcomes. the predicted brake parameter ( β̂brake ) is computed at 8.1207, offering quantitative insights into the significant influence of braking coefficients. table 8 shows a perceptible numerical rise in the meantime to failure from 1.5 to 11.5. concurrently, the failure rate increases from 230 to 4131. the calculated parameter β̂light , fixed at 8.7647. table 9 illustrates engine failure numbers over a decade, with (mti) reflecting the average time between failures. has an estimated parameter coefficient of the engine counted to 8.121. table 5: mean and the variance time to failure of components mean variance standard deviation tire 8.42 6.48 2.55 brake 8.34 6.40 2.53 light 8.39 6.45 2.54 engine 8.38 6.44 2.54 khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 table 9: estimated scale parameter of engine engine year mti no. of failure f mti i 2 2010 1.5 243 517.5 2011 2.5 567 3356.25 2012 3.5 947 10963.75 2013 4.5 1384 26507.25 2014 5.5 2053 58745.5 2015 6.5 2459 98273.5 2016 7.5 3033 161381.25 2017 8.5 3097 211692.5 2018 9.5 3560 303962 2019 10.5 4930 514206 2020 11.5 4301 546324.75 table 6: estimated scale parameter of tire tire year mti no. of failure f mti i 2 2010 1.5 132 297 2011 2.5 307 1918.75 2012 3.5 512 6272 2013 4.5 748 15147 2014 5.5 1110 33577.5 2015 6.5 1329 56150.25 2016 7.5 1639 92193.75 2017 8.5 1674 120946.5 2018 9.5 1924 173641 2019 10.5 2665 293816.25 2020 11.5 2503 331021.75 table 7: estimated scale parameter of brake brake year mti no. of failure f mti i 2 2010 1.5 217 488.25 2011 2.5 506 3162.5 2012 3.5 844 10339 2013 4.5 1235 25008.75 2014 5.5 1831 55387.75 2015 6.5 2193 92654.25 2016 7.5 2705 152156.25 2017 8.5 2762 199554.5 2018 9.5 3175 286543.75 2019 10.5 4397 484769.25 2020 11.5 3509 464065.25 table 8: estimated scale parameter of light light year mti no. of failure f mti i 2 2010 1.5 230 517.5 2011 2.5 537 3356.25 2012 3.5 895 10963.75 2013 4.5 1309 26507.25 2014 5.5 1942 58745.5 2015 6.5 2326 98273.5 2016 7.5 2869 161381.25 2017 8.5 2930 211692.5 2018 9.5 3368 303962 2019 10.5 4664 514206 2020 11.5 4131 546324.75 determine the pdf, failure rates, and reliability of components by estimated rayleigh distribution since the failure rates h(t) of the car components are linear functions of time (t), [figures 5-8], thus the pdf of failure f(t), hazard function h(t), and reliability r(t) by estimated rayleigh distribution of (tire, brake, light, and engine) components are determined by equations (14), (17), (18), as defined in the following [tables 10-13]. the hazard function regarding the failure rate of the components over time is estimated in figures 5-8. “estimate hazard function of components” the chance of failing rises with time. this could be used in reliability engineering when modeling a tire component’s life expectancy and determining when to do maintenance or replacements. the hazard function regarding the failure rate of the tire component over time is estimated in figure 5. table 10 illustrates a substantial decrease in performance from 2010 to 2020 using the rayleigh distribution for tire dependability. the increasing failure rates from 0.026 in 2010 to 0.284 in 2020, along with a reduction in dependability from 0.987 to 0.209, suggest a concerning pattern of decreasing tire lifespan during the indicated time. over the 2010–2020 timeframe, the brake reliability data, as provided in table 11 and examined with the rayleigh distribution, demonstrates a disturbing pattern of increasing failure rates from 0.030 to 0.334, coupled with a reduction in dependability from 0.985 to 0.160. the pdf likewise rises, showing an increased possibility of brake failure at key time intervals. table 12 displayed the rayleigh distribution’s pdf, failure rate, and reliability for each year from 2010 to 2020. notably, the pdf increases from 0.026 to 0.286, demonstrating an increasing chance of failure, yet the failure rate decreases from 0.987 to 0.207, demonstrating improved system robustness during the same time. table 13 summarizes the rayleigh distributionbased reliability study of an engine from 2010 to 2020, khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 figure 6: estimate hazard function of brake component figure 5: estimate hazard function of tire component figure 8: estimate hazard function of engine component figure 7: estimate hazard function of light component including characteristics such as periods (ti), hazard rates h(t), reliability rates r(t), and pdfs f(t). for example, in 2010, the reliability was 0.985, showing a high likelihood of failure-free operation, however in 2020, the reliability dropped to 0.160, indicating a table 10: probability density function, failure rate, and reliability by rayleigh distribution of tire tire year ti h(t) r(t) f(t) 2010 1 0.026 0.987 0.026 2011 2 0.052 0.950 0.049 2012 3 0.078 0.890 0.069 2013 4 0.103 0.813 0.084 2014 5 0.129 0.724 0.094 2015 6 0.155 0.628 0.097 2016 7 0.181 0.531 0.096 2017 8 0.207 0.437 0.090 2018 9 0.233 0.351 0.082 2019 10 0.259 0.275 0.071 2020 11 0.284 0.209 0.060 significant fall in the engine’s dependability all over the investigated time. table 11: probability density function, failure rate, and reliability by rayleigh distribution of brake brake year ti h(t) r(t) f(t) 2010 1 0.030 0.985 0.030 2011 2 0.061 0.941 0.057 2012 3 0.091 0.872 0.079 2013 4 0.121 0.785 0.095 2014 5 0.152 0.684 0.104 2015 6 0.182 0.579 0.105 2016 7 0.212 0.476 0.101 2017 8 0.243 0.379 0.092 2018 9 0.273 0.293 0.080 2019 10 0.303 0.220 0.067 2020 11 0.334 0.160 0.053 khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 table 12: probability density function, failure rate, and reliability by rayleigh distribution of light light year ti h(t) r(t) f(t) 2010 1 0.026 0.987 0.026 2011 2 0.052 0.949 0.049 2012 3 0.078 0.889 0.069 2013 4 0.104 0.812 0.085 2014 5 0.130 0.722 0.094 2015 6 0.156 0.626 0.098 2016 7 0.182 0.528 0.096 2017 8 0.208 0.435 0.091 2018 9 0.234 0.348 0.082 2019 10 0.260 0.272 0.071 2020 11 0.286 0.207 0.059 table 13: probability density function, failure rate, and reliability by rayleigh distribution of engine engine year ti h(t) r(t) f(t) 2010 1 0.030 0.985 0.030 2011 2 0.061 0.941 0.057 2012 3 0.091 0.872 0.079 2013 4 0.121 0.785 0.095 2014 5 0.152 0.685 0.104 2015 6 0.182 0.579 0.105 2016 7 0.212 0.476 0.101 2017 8 0.243 0.379 0.092 2018 9 0.273 0.293 0.080 2019 10 0.303 0.220 0.067 2020 11 0.334 0.160 0.053 mean and variance time to failure by estimated rayleigh distribution for components the mean e(t) and the variance ( )σt 2 of failure components by estimated rayleigh distribution are calculated by equation (15) and equation (16), as shown in the following in [table 14]. according to table 14, the car’s component with the greatest mean is “tire” (mean = 2.6276), whereas the component with the smallest variance is “brake” (variance = 4.9807), indicating a more closely packed distribution around its mean. estimate pdf, failure rate, and reliability by empirical method for components the pdf of failure ˆ ( )f t , hazard function ˆ( )h t , and reliability ˆ ( )r t by empirical method for the components (tire, brake, light, and engine) are estimated by equation (7), table 14: mean and the variance time to failure of components components mean variance tire 2.6276 5.6552 brake 2.5248 4.9807 light 2.6230 5.6247 engine 2.5249 4.9811 table 15: estimate probability density function, failure rate, and reliability by empirical method for tire tire year ti ˆ ( )r t ˆ ( )f t ˆ( )h t 2010 1 0.997 0.006 0.006 2011 2 0.994 0.010 0.010 2012 3 0.990 0.015 0.015 2013 4 0.985 0.023 0.023 2014 5 0.977 0.028 0.028 2015 6 0.972 0.035 0.036 2016 7 0.964 0.037 0.038 2017 8 0.962 0.044 0.045 2018 9 0.955 0.063 0.066 2019 10 0.934 0.062 0.066 2020 11 0.934 --table 16: estimate probability density function, failure rate, and reliability by empirical method for brake brake year ti ˆ ( )r t ˆ ( )f t ˆ( )h t 2010 1 0.996 0.010 0.010 2011 2 0.990 0.017 0.017 2012 3 0.983 0.025 0.025 2013 4 0.975 0.038 0.039 2014 5 0.961 0.046 0.048 2015 6 0.952 0.060 0.063 2016 7 0.937 0.064 0.068 2017 8 0.932 0.078 0.084 2018 9 0.916 0.117 0.127 2019 10 0.873 0.102 0.116 2020 11 0.884 --equation (9), and equations (11), likewise demonstrated in [tables 15-18]. based on table 15 supplied, the tire component’s dependability shows a distinct pattern over time. estimated reliability was high in 2010, at 0.997, indicating great effectiveness of operations. however, dependability has since declined, with scores falling to 0.972 in 2015, 0.955 in 2018, and even lower to 0.934 in both 2019 and 2020. khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 table 17: estimate probability density function, failure rate, and reliability by empirical method for light light year ti ˆ ( )r t ˆ ( )f t ˆ( )h t 2010 1 0.995 0.011 0.011 2011 2 0.989 0.018 0.018 2012 3 0.982 0.027 0.027 2013 4 0.973 0.040 0.041 2014 5 0.959 0.049 0.052 2015 6 0.948 0.064 0.067 2016 7 0.933 0.069 0.073 2017 8 0.927 0.084 0.091 2018 9 0.909 0.126 0.139 2019 10 0.861 0.123 0.143 2020 11 0.857 --table 18: estimate probability density function, failure rate, and reliability by empirical method for engine engine year ti ˆ ( )r t ˆ ( )f t ˆ( )h t 2010 1 0.995 0.011 0.011 2011 2 0.989 0.019 0.019 2012 3 0.981 0.028 0.029 2013 4 0.971 0.043 0.044 2014 5 0.956 0.052 0.055 2015 6 0.945 0.068 0.072 2016 7 0.928 0.073 0.079 2017 8 0.921 0.091 0.098 2018 9 0.902 0.136 0.151 2019 10 0.849 0.132 0.155 2020 11 0.845 --table 16 indicates the dependability data for the braking system over time. the dependability has steadily reduced from 0.996 in 2010 to 0.884 in 2020, indicating a possible performance degradation. it is worth noting, however, that particular information on the failure rate and hazard rate for 2020 is missing from table 16, preventing an exhaustive evaluation for that year. the reliability calculation of the light system from 2010 to 2020 is shown in table 17, with estimated reliability (r [t]) dropping from 0.995 in 2010 to 0.857 in 2020. however, the absence of missing data in the pdf and the rate of failure columns for 2020 (nan) emphasizes the requirement for additional data. table 18 includes empirical estimates for an engine’s pdf, failure rate, and reliability from 2010 to 2020. the estimations, which are based on observable data, are critical in reliability engineering for analyzing the engine’s efficiency and probable failure features. mae for components the comparison between the reliability values which are found by the estimated rayleigh distribution r(t) and empirical method ˆ ( )r t of (tire, brake, light, and engine) components has made by mae method, as illustrated in [tables 19-22] where: ˆ− = ∑ r r mae n between the years 2010 and 2020, table 19 showed both predicted and real tire ratings decreased, with a notable rise in absolute errors, notably in 2019. the mae maetire = 0.3517 is an average measure of the model’s precision, showing the total level of departure from expected and real scores. table 20 shows a significant reduction in brake ratings from 2010 to 2020, shown in both projected ˆ ( )r t and real r(t) values. the absolute errors, including the mae maebrake = 0.3659, showed a significant difference table 19: mean absolute error for tire tire year ˆ ( )r t r(t) ˆ−r r 2010 0.997 0.987 0.01024 2011 0.994 0.950 0.04429 2012 0.990 0.890 0.09953 2013 0.985 0.813 0.17154 2014 0.977 0.724 0.25314 2015 0.972 0.628 0.34389 2016 0.964 0.531 0.43351 2017 0.962 0.437 0.52487 2018 0.955 0.351 0.60383 2019 0.934 0.275 0.65986 2020 0.9341 0.209 0.72482 table 20: mean absolute error for bake brake year ˆ ( )r t r(t) ˆ−r r 2010 0.996 0.985 0.00875 2011 0.990 0.941 0.04117 2012 0.983 0.872 0.09468 2013 0.975 0.785 0.16457 2014 0.961 0.684 0.24182 2015 0.952 0.579 0.32934 2016 0.937 0.476 0.41298 2017 0.932 0.379 0.50141 2018 0.916 0.293 0.57181 2019 0.873 0.220 0.60485 2020 0.884 0.160 0.68047 khudhur, et al.: estimating hazard function through reliability function 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 18-28 table 21: mean absolute error for light light year ˆ ( )r t r(t) ˆ−r r 2010 0.995 0.987 0.00833 2011 0.989 0.949 0.03994 2012 0.982 0.889 0.09236 2013 0.973 0.812 0.16093 2014 0.959 0.722 0.23650 2015 0.948 0.626 0.32255 2016 0.933 0.528 0.40449 2017 0.927 0.435 0.49192 2018 0.909 0.348 0.56052 2019 0.861 0.272 0.58916 2020 0.857 0.207 0.65023 table 22: mean absolute error for engine engine year ˆ ( )r t r(t) ˆ−r r 2010 0.995 0.985 0.00806 2011 0.989 0.941 0.03943 2012 0.981 0.872 0.09155 2013 0.971 0.785 0.15963 2014 0.956 0.685 0.23442 2015 0.945 0.579 0.31978 2016 0.928 0.476 0.40060 2017 0.921 0.379 0.48718 2018 0.902 0.293 0.55398 2019 0.849 0.220 0.57760 2020 0.845 0.160 0.63852 conclusion according to the results of the application, the following conclusions are found: the number of failure components increased annually, except in 2020, since the number of arrived customers to the system had lessened, because of covid-19. the reliability values of components defined by estimated rayleigh distribution are more decreasing with time than reliability values defined by empirical method. the mean and variance times of failure components which are determined by estimated rayleigh distribution and empirical method prepared in the same ascending order as follows brakes, engine, lights, and tires successively. mae between r(t) by rayleigh distribution and ˆ ( )r t values by empirical method of car components sorting from minimum to maximum value is (light < tire < engine < brake). references 1. d. j. smith. reliability engineering. pitman, london, 1972. 2. m. a. tanner and w. h. wong. the estimation of the hazard function from randomly censored data by the kernel method. the annals of statistics, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 989-993, 1983. 3. t. n. hubbard. an empirical examination of moral hazard in the vehicle inspection market. the rand journal of economics, vol. 29, pp. 406-426, 1998. 4. j. thomas, g. perroud, a. bignonnet and d. monnet. fatigue design and reliability in the automotive industry. european structural integrity society, vol. 23, pp. 1-11, 1999. 5. l. m. klyatis. the strategy of accelerated reliability testing development for car components. sae technical paper 01487191, 2000. 6. k. przybysz. reliability tests in the operation of military vehicles. inżynieria bezpieczeństwa obiektów antropogenicznych, vol. 2, pp. 7-11, 2021. 7. b. s. dhillon. design reliability: fundamentals and applications. crc press, boca raton, 1999. 8. a. n. o’connor. probability distributions used in reliability engineering. riac, moscow, 2011. 9. m. csörgö, s. csörgö and l. horváth. an asymptotic theory for empirical reliability and concentration processes. springer science and business media, berlin, 2013. 10. r. c. mirsha. reliability and quality management. new age international (p) ltd., new delhi, 2009. 11. s. e. rigdon and a. p. basu. statistical methods for the reliability of repairable systems. john wiley and sons, inc., hoboken, 2000. 12. a. j. gross and v. clark. survival distributions: reliability applications in the biomedical sciences. wiley, new york, c1975. between predicted and real brake ratings during the selected years. in addition, tables 21 and 22 displayed the predicted ˆ ( )r t and real r(t) rating for light and engine, respectively, from 2010 to 2020, with appropriate absolute errors. the maes maeengine and maeengine are 0.3235 and 0.355, indicating the average absolute errors in predicted and real ratings throughout the years of interest. both tables show an ongoing decrease in ratings and a rise in absolute errors throughout the duration. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 research article applying the bayesian technique in designing a single sampling plan dler h. kadir1,2, abdulrahim k. rahi3 1department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq, 2department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of business administration, dijlah university college, iraq abstract the bayesian sampling plans for production inspection are considered a technique of sampling inspection techniques for determining the characteristics of the sampling plan based on the assumption that the rate of defectives is a random variable that varies from one production batch to the next, resulting in a probability distribution f(p) that could be determined based on experience and the available quality information available. as part of this study, the parameters of a single bayesian sampling plan (n,c) were derived using the betabinomial distribution and compared with those of other single sampling plans. researchers have identified (ala company for soft drinks), which handles product quality control. one hundred and twenty production batches were selected, and the size of the batch and the number of defective items were used to determine the proportion of defective items, given that the variable varies randomly from one production batch to the next. bayesian and decision-making models can be implemented to create a single sampling inspection process that is close to the actual quality level. the researchers discovered that when the decision-making model was used, the sample size was minimal compared to other inspection plans, leading to a low inspection cost. keywords: statistical quality control, average sample number, acceptance quality level, operating characteristic, bayesian sampling plans introduction among the statistical tools used to control and monitor the quality of production are control charts and sampling inspection plans. regarding sample testing plans, they are an accurate and appropriate method to obtain an estimate of the presence of one or more characteristics among the produced units. this is achieved by examining a small percentage of the production, which is randomly selected to determine whether to accept or reject production based on the results of the sample drawn. there are two methods of examination using the sampling method: the discriminatory examination method (by attributes), where the produced units are classified into defective and good units, or by the variable examination method (by variables) based on a standard such as height or weight. the examination may be based on the researcher’s or examiner’s experience, in addition to any other available information about the production process (prior information). this approach leads to the use of bayesian theory and decision theory, and the adoption of bayesian estimation for the quality parameter of production, depending on the loss function, to avoid making wrong decisions regarding the production process.[1,2] due to the effort, cost, and time required to conduct a comprehensive examination, as well as cases known to statisticians where the above examination can be applied, the sampling examination method was used to evaluate the performance of the quality control department in the company. since most of the staff working in this department are not statistical experts and are not familiar with statistical methods in the field of quality control, they rely on the accumulated experience of their members, examiners, and laboratory workers. for the aforementioned reasons, this research aims to shed light on the methods of sample examination and their use in estimating sample size and designing sampling examination plans that can minimize spoilage and reduce costs by making the right decision to accept or reject the produced batch. corresponding author: dler h. kadir, department of statistics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: dler.kadir@su.edu.krd received: april 01, 2023 accepted: july 10, 2023 published: august 05, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp17-25 copyright © 2023 dler h. kadir, abdulrahim k. rahi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) kadir and rahi: bayesian technique in sampling plan 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 this research aims to investigate the method of sampling and decision-making regarding the acceptance or rejection of batches. this will be achieved through the design of a discriminatory sampling examination plan using the bayesian method and applying it to the production of pepsi ala soft drinks company to make informed decisions on whether to accept or reject the produced batch.[3,4] bayesian sampling plans one of the methods of sample examination is the bayesian sampling plan, which is an alternative to the comprehensive (classic) examination, as well as the single, double, and sequential sampling plans. however, bayesian sampling plans differ from single, double, and sequential sampling plans in that they deal with specifying plan parameters based on the percentage of defects in the product with random variation. this percentage changes from one production batch to another, as it has a probability distribution that can be determined from previous experience and available information on quality.[1,5] bayesian plans have emphasized the importance of utilizing available information on quality, and this information is referred to as prior distributions. the prior distributions are used to obtain the post-quality posterior distribution, assuming that the type of sampling distribution being studied may be binomial with parameters (n,p), poisson with parameter (λ), or normal with parameters (µ,σ). bayesian plans are of great importance in examining products, and it is necessary to provide a brief explanation of this topic to reach a bayesian sampling plan (n, c) that reduces the total cost function of quality control. the cost function is the sum of inspection costs, costs of rejecting non-defective units (good), and costs of accepting defective units (bad).[6] bayesian plans concept for product inspection bayes’ plans have been named by this name in relation to the scientist (thomas bayes) (1702–1761), where bayes is the first to use the prior distribution for defective percentages in statistical inference, and since 1960, attention began to focus on bayes’ plans to test the product. bayesian plans are named after the scientist thomas bayes (1702–1761), who was the first to use prior distributions for defective percentages in statistical inference. since the 1960s, attention has been focused on bayesian plans for testing products. in 1964, the scientist hald (1981) was able to develop a model for the total cost function of quality control. through this model, the parameters of the sampling plans are determined when the quality is fixed or the random variable has a prior distribution (prior distribution).[7,8] in 1968, the scientist hald presented a model for bayesian plans to examine products. this model is used to obtain the parameters of the individual bayesian plan (n, c) by reducing the standard cost function of quality control, which is: r n n c n p p n n p p q p w p dp p p p p w p dps m r r pr , , ( ( ) ( ) ( ) � � � � � �� � � � �� � � � � � 1 ��� � � � � � � � � � � 0 pr (1) where (r = p+q), denotes sample costs. pm-: the standard cost in cases of rejection and acceptance. ps: the average cost of examination per unit in both cases of rejection and acceptance, and that: ps ≥ pr ≥ pm, 0 < pr < 1, 0 < ps < 1 on equation (1) if the value of (p) is very small, we use the poisson distribution, that is,: b x np e np x np x , ! � � � � �� (2) and we change z p p m np m np r r r= = =,� ,�� the form of the function will be: b c np b c mz p z, ,� � � � � � � � (3) total cost function for quality control the scientist hald (1981) developed a model that included the total costs of examination, acceptance, and rejection. the model aims to determine the individual sampling plan (n, c) for examining batch n of the product of quality p by applying filtering examination. he expressed these costs in the following formula: h x x p n n c ns ns n n a x x a x c, , , , , ,� � � � � �� � � �� � �1 2 1 2 (4) h x x p n n c ns ns n n r x x r x c, , , , , ��� � � � � �� � � �� � �1 2 1 1 (5) the examination and repair costs, in addition to the costs resulting from accepting the quantity (n-n) remaining after drawing the sample, represent the first part. the examination and repair costs, in addition to the costs resulting from rejecting the quantity (n–n), represent the second part. equating equation (4) with equation (5) results in: p x x n x r a a rr � � � � � � 1 1 2 2 the average cost in both cases of acceptance and rejection is equal to: in the event of acceptance n(s1+s2p)+(n–n)(a1+a2p) in case of refusal n(s1+s2p)+(n–n)(r1+r1p) and by entering the probability of acceptance of the product, p(p) and the probability of rejection, q(p) since:p p p x c b x n p b c n pr x c � � � �� � � � � � � � 0 , , ( , , ) q p p p p x c b x n p e c n pr x c n � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � �1 1 1 , , ( , , ) thus, the cost rate (p) is obtained in the cases of acceptance and rejection as follows: kadir and rahi: bayesian technique in sampling plan 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 k p n s s p n n a a p p p r r p q p � � � �� � � �� � � � � � �� � 1 2 1 2 1 2{( ) ( )} k p nk p n n k p p p k p q ps a r� � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � �� � (6) where q(p) = 1–p(p) becomes clear from equation (6), then: k p nk p n n k p p p k p p ps a r� � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � �� �( ( )1 � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � �� �nk p n n k p p p k p k p p ps a r r ( ) � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � �� nk p n n k p p p n n k p n n k p p ps a r r( ) ( ) ( ) � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � �nk p n n k p p p nk p nk p n n k p p ps a r r r( ) ( ) �� �� � � � � � � � �� � � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � nk p nk p n n k p p p n n k p p p nk p s r a r r k p n k p k p n n k p k p p p nk ps r a r r� � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � ��� �� � � � � �[ ] (7) the values of kr(p), ka(p), ks(p) express the rates of examination, acceptance, and rejection costs per unit, respectively.[9-12] finding the single bayesian plan (n, c) this method relies on the iterative method for determining the parameters of the single sampling plan (n, c). the method involves minimizing equation (7) k(p) subject to certain conditions of the operating curve function (oc). we find the smallest value of the function at k(p) (c = 0), then at (c = 1), then at (c = 2), and so on. once the absolute minimum value is obtained, we stop and fix the parameters of the single sampling plan (n, c) at this value. it is important to note that the cost function model shown in equation (7) assumes a constant level of quality, but the quality level may change from one production batch to another due to random and attritional reasons that lead to qualitative deviations. therefore, it is necessary to estimate the level of quality in the future by taking advantage of all available information about previous tests and information about the production process, which is supposed to be within control limits. furthermore, natural qualitative changes that occur due to market competition should also be taken into account. it is worth noting that incorporating previous information available on quality levels, as well as estimated information from samples, leads to more accurate decisions regarding quality level estimates. the scientist hald has emphasized this point and relied on the following expected total cost function k relative to the previous distribution of defective ratios f(p). k k p f p dp� � � � � �� � � bayesian plan relative to the beta distribution the beta distribution is considered one of the important statistical distributions in bayesian plans. in this distribution, the percentage of defects is a random variable with a beta distribution, and its parameters can be estimated using the moment method. the probability function of the random variable p with (α, β) parameters takes the following form: f p b p p p ow , , , ( ) �������� . � � � � � �� � � � � � � � � � �1 1 0 1 0 1 1 in many cases, it cannot be assumed that p remains constant from one batch to another. for example, consider a machine used to produce a specific unit. after producing a batch, the machine is checked and put back into operation. for each batch, p can be determined according to certain distributions, which are referred to as the initial distributions of p. for this reason, the beta distribution was chosen as the initial distribution of p with (α, β) parameters. the expected value of the random variable for the beta distribution is α/ (α+β). this means that (β) must be greater than (α), and when estimating (α, β), it must be rounded to the nearest integer. if the estimated value lies between 0 and 1; then, it must be rounded to the expected value of p, to the nearest integer. this method allows us to use standard tables to determine the sampling plan and also shows us why the plans are not clearly sensitive to small changes in the parameters without taking into account the appropriate initial distributions.[13-15] direct formulas for determining individual base plan parameters by decision model to define the parameters of the single bayesian economic statistical (bes) plan (n, c) for product inspection, a formula for the expected risk must be developed and specified directly for the parameters of the sampling plan. we can rely on the definition of risk provided by guthrie and johns, who defined it as the sum of examination costs plus the loss resulting from wrong decisions. it is well-known that examination costs depend on the volume. it represents the loss resulting from accepting defective units and the loss resulting from rejecting good units. the expected risk formula, under the conditions of binomial sampling, takes into account the distributions of continuous defective percentages, which are as follows: r f p n c n s r p s r a r p p q p f p dpr pr [ ( ), , ] {( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) } � � � � � � � 2 2 1 1 2 2 0�� � � � � � � � �� � �� � n r p r a r p p f p dp n n n r a p f r pr r { ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ){ 2 1 2 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 ppr� � (8) when neglecting the upper limits, equation (8) is reduced to the following form: kadir and rahi: bayesian technique in sampling plan 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 r f p n c an bn c n n n [ ( ), , ] ( )� � � � 1 (9) so: a s r s r r a p p f p dpp r pr � � � � � � ��[( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )2 2 1 1 2 2 0 b r r a r p p f p dpp r pr � � � � ��2 1 2 2 0 ( ) ( ) ( ) c r a p f p pr r� � � � 1 2 11 1( )( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( , ) ( , )p p f p dp ib p ibpr pr pr r pr � � � ��0 1� � � � when we derive equation (9) with respect to n and equate the derivative to zero, we obtain the optimal value of n (n*). to find the sample size necessary to examine batch n of the product, assuming binomial sampling and that the defective percentages change from one production batch to another, we can use the following formula: the random variable has a prior distribution equal to beta with (α, β) parameters, and the optimal value of n can be obtained from the following equation. n r a p p n b s r p s r r a pib r r* ( ) ( ) ( , )[ ) ( ) ( ) ( � � � � � � � � � 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 � � � � ppr r pr p ib( , ) ( , ))]� � � �� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �1 1 2 when the values of (α, β) are integers, the relationship between the incomplete beta function and the cumulative binomial function can be derived. this relationship can be used to extract the following: ib c p ppr x x r x r x� � � � � � � � �, ( )� � � � � � � � � � � �� 1 1 11 ib c p ppr x r x r x� � � � � � � � � ��� � � � � � � � � � ��1 1 1 1, ( ) the number of acceptance can be obtained from the following relationship: c n� �� �� 2 3 θ∘: critical quality level. direct formulas for determining single bayes plan parameters from hald model determining the parameters of individual bayesian plans (n, c) for product inspection requires lengthy iterative calculations to find the values (n, c) that achieve the smallest expected total cost or the smallest standard cost. research in this area has focused on finding formulas that efficiently and quickly obtain optimal parameter values. continuous studies and research have led to formulas used directly for large production batches where the quality of the batches is a random variable with a prior distribution f(p), which is continuous and differentiable at points adjacent to a point (p = pr). the discontinuous distribution of defective percentages was discussed by the scientist hald in 1965, and direct formulas were developed by hald in 1968, which were supported by auxiliary tables. these formulas can be used to extract bayesian plans in distributions such as gamma-poisson and beta-binomial.[8,16-19] it is then transformed into the standard cost function (r, n, n, c), which, in turn, requires defining each of the standard loss rates for acceptance da, rejection dr, and examination ds as follows: d k k a ra a m� � � ( ) ( )2 2 (10) d k k a rr r m� � � ( ) ( )2 2 d k k a rs s m� � � ( ) ( )2 2 if all units of the product are classified correctly, the value of km is the smallest cost per unit, that is, in the case of acceptance when (p ≤ pr) and rejection dr when (p > pr) (). in other words, km represents. k a a p f p dp r r p f p dpm pr pr � �� � � � � �� � � �� �1 2 0 1 2 1 k a a p f p dp r r p f p dp r r p f p dp m pr pr � �� � � � � �� � � � � �� � � � � � � 1 2 0 1 2 0 1 1 2 0 k k a r p p f p dpm r r pr � � � �� � � ��( )1 2 0 among them, we find that: d p p f p dpr r pr � �� � � ��0 the value of da,ds in terms of dr, as: d d p pa r r� � � d d s r s r p a rs r� � � � � � �{( ) ( ) } ( )1 1 2 2 2 2 k k a r dm r r� � �( )�2 2 so it is: nk k a r dm r r� � �� �2 2 � (11) equations (11), (10) are then substituted into equation (12) and the equation of the standard cost function defined in equation (11) is obtained. kadir and rahi: bayesian technique in sampling plan 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 r n n c k n n c k a r m, , , ,� � � � � � �2 2 (12) r n n c nds n n d n, ,� � � � �� � � � d n d p p b c n p f p dpr r� � � � �� � � � � �� , , 0 1 depending on the equation � � � � � 1 2 2 2 2 � � � p q a r b k k r r s m ( ) ( , )( ) � � � � � � � � 1 2 2 1 3 11 2 3 1 3 1 1 � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � , , ( ) p q p qr r r r the value of n necessary to check the batch (n) is the value defined by the following relation: n n* � �� �1 2 as for the number of acceptance of c, it is extracted from the following relationship: c n pr * *� � �1 whereas: β β α= − −1 ˆ ˆ 1 2r rp q to find the value of the standard cost function r0(n) corresponding to the optimal sampling plan ( n* , c* ), which we will symbolize r0(n), the following equation will be relied on: r n n ds and d k k a rs s s 0 1 2 2 2 2 2� � � � �� � � � � * �� �� ( ) � � therefore, the value k(p) of the expected total cost of quality control is equal to: k p r n a r nkm� � � � � �� � �0 2 2 results the process of improving product quality requires relying on modern scientific methods. by utilizing modern practical methods and adhering to standard specifications, products can be made suitable and conform to the desired specifications of consumers. this not only elevates the status of the production facility in local and global markets but also enhances the value of these products in these markets. therefore, it is essential to establish quality control requirements fully. this includes prioritizing standard and manufacturing specifications for input, process, and output elements. one of these requirements is to identify and provide a scientific method for examining materials and products to ensure the reduction of damage and to ensure the regular flow and handling of circulation during production processes in the facility. application of the decision-making model based on the decision-making model, a set of bayesian economic-statistical (bes) plans was developed to test the product, depending on the previous distribution of defective percentages (beta-prior). the parameters of the individual bes plan were determined according to the decision-making model to obtain the values of n and the acceptance number c. the inspection plans for this product are shown in table 1, taking into account the levels of quality and sizes of production batches. the parameters of the sampling plan required to check the daily production of the 1.5-l (pepsi ala) product of quality (xp = 0.005349) and value (pr = 0.00617) were extracted using this model. the values obtained were (n,c) = (1495, 14), and the expected risk value for the sampling plan was also determined to be (1495, 14). the value of r{f(p), n, c} was found to be equal to $43,210. hald model application since the distribution of the defective percentages f(p) is one of the continuous and derivable distributions at point (p = pr), a set of bays plans will be extracted from the direct formulas created by (hald), as the set of bays plans necessary to check the product, which is defined from equation (14), must be calculated before that each of: examination cost rate per unit (1) k s s ps � � � � � � � � �1 2 0 0011 0 03 0 005349 0 00126. . . . �$ rejection cost rate per unit (2) k r r p kr s� � �1 2 examination cost rate per unit k a a ps � �1 2 (3) ( )+ =0 0.208 0.005349 0.0011 $ as well as the values of the ingredients (4, 5, 6, and 7): (4) � p p f p dpr pr �� � � ��0 � � � � �p ib pibr pr pr� � � �, ( , )1 � � � � � � � � � � � 0 006179 0 789972 0 005349 0 734239 0 000954 . . . . . (5) k k a r p p f p dpm r r pr � � � ��( ) ( ) ( )2 2 0 � � � � � � � � �0 00126 0 178 0 0009544 0 0010901. . . . ) (6) � � � � � 1 2 2 2 2 � � � p q a r b k k r r s m ( ) ( , )( ) �� �12 148 25059� . whereas: (7) α β= = = = =2 20.0061,    0.208,    0.03,    25, ˆ    4648ˆrp a r � � � � � � � � 2 2 1 3 11 2 3 1 3 1 1 � �� � � �� � � � � � �� � � � ( ) p q p qr r r r kadir and rahi: bayesian technique in sampling plan 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 table 1: bayesian plans to test the product according to the distribution of beta-prior extracted from the decision-making model quality level 0.005 quality level 0.004 quality level 0.003 quality level 0.002 quality level 0.001 batch size acceptance number sample size acceptance number sample size acceptance number sample size acceptance number sample size acceptance number sample size c n c n c n c n c n 6 669 5 527 4 449 3 398 7 753 10,000 6 701 5 553 4 471 4 418 7 790 11,000 7 733 5 578 4 492 4 436 8 825 12,000 7 763 5 602 4 512 4 454 8 859 13,000 7 791 6 624 5 532 4 471 8 891 14,000 8 819 6 646 5 550 4 488 9 923 15,000 8 846 6 667 5 569 4 504 9 953 16,000 8 872 6 688 5 586 5 519 9 982 17,000 8 897 6 708 5 603 5 534 9 1011 18,000 9 922 7 727 6 620 5 549 10 1038 19,000 9 946 7 746 6 636 5 563 10 1065 20,000 9 969 7 765 6 651 5 577 10 1092 21,000 9 992 7 783 6 667 5 591 11 1117 22,000 9 1014 7 800 6 682 5 604 11 1143 23,000 10 1036 8 817 6 696 6 617 11 1167 24,000 10 1058 8 834 6 711 6 630 11 1191 25,000 10 1079 8 851 7 725 6 642 11 1215 26,000 10 1099 8 867 7 739 6 654 12 1238 27,000 11 1119 8 883 7 752 6 666 12 1261 28,000 11 1139 8 899 7 766 6 678 12 1283 29,000 11 1159 8 914 7 779 6 690 12 1305 30,000 11 1178 9 929 7 792 6 701 13 1327 31,000 11 1197 9 944 7 804 6 712 13 1348 32,000 11 1215 9 959 8 817 7 724 13 1369 33,000 12 1233 9 973 8 829 7 734 13 1389 34,000 12 1251 9 987 8 841 7 745 13 1410 35,000 12 1269 9 1001 8 853 7 756 14 1430 36,000 12 1287 9 1015 8 865 7 766 14 1449 37,000 12 1304 10 1029 8 876 7 776 14 1469 38,000 13 1321 10 1042 8 888 7 787 14 1488 39,000 13 1338 10 1055 8 899 7 797 14 1507 40,000 13 1355 10 1069 8 910 7 807 15 1526 41,000 13 1371 10 1082 9 921 7 816 15 1544 42,000 13 1387 10 1094 9 932 8 826 15 1562 43,000 13 1403 10 1107 9 943 8 836 15 1581 44,000 14 1419 11 1120 9 954 8 845 15 1598 45,000 14 1435 11 1132 9 964 8 854 15 1616 46,000 14 1450 11 1144 9 975 8 864 16 1634 47,000 14 1466 11 1156 9 985 8 873 16 1651 48,000 14 1481 11 1168 9 995 8 882 16 1668 49,000 14 1496 11 1180 9 1005 8 891 16 1685 50,000 kadir and rahi: bayesian technique in sampling plan 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 table 2: bayesian plans to test the product extracted from the (hald) model quality level 0.005 quality level 0.004 quality level 0.003 quality level 0.002 quality level 0.001 batch size acceptance number sample size acceptance number sample size acceptance number sample size acceptance number sample size acceptance number sample size c n c n c n c n c n 10 1162 8 798 7 671 3 588 6 529 10,000 11 1222 8 839 7 707 3 620 6 557 11,000 11 1278 8 879 8 741 3 650 7 584 12,000 11 1333 9 917 8 773 3 679 7 611 13,000 12 1385 9 954 8 804 3 706 7 636 14,000 12 1436 9 989 8 835 3 733 7 660 15,000 12 1485 9 1023 8 864 3 759 7 683 16,000 12 1532 10 1057 9 892 3 784 7 706 17,000 13 1578 10 1089 9 920 3 808 8 728 18,000 13 1623 10 1120 9 946 3 832 8 750 19,000 13 1667 10 1151 9 972 3 855 8 771 20,000 14 1709 10 1181 9 998 3 878 8 791 21,000 14 1751 10 1210 9 1022 3 900 8 811 22,000 14 1791 11 1238 9 1047 3 921 8 830 23,000 14 1831 11 1266 10 1070 3 942 8 849 24,000 15 1870 11 1293 10 1094 3 963 8 868 25,000 15 1908 11 1320 10 1116 3 983 8 886 26,000 15 1945 11 1346 10 1139 3 1003 9 904 27,000 15 1982 11 1372 10 1161 3 1022 9 922 28,000 15 2018 12 1397 10 1182 3 1041 9 939 29,000 16 2054 12 1422 10 1203 3 1060 9 956 30,000 16 2088 12 1446 11 1224 3 1078 9 973 31,000 16 2123 12 1470 11 1245 3 1096 9 989 32,000 16 2156 12 1494 11 1265 3 1114 9 1006 33,000 17 2190 12 1517 11 1285 3 1132 9 1022 34,000 17 2222 13 1540 11 1304 3 1149 9 1037 35,000 17 2255 13 1563 11 1323 3 1166 10 1053 36,000 17 2287 13 1585 11 1342 3 1183 10 1068 37,000 17 2318 13 1607 11 1361 3 1200 10 1083 38,000 18 2349 13 1629 12 1380 3 1216 10 1098 39,000 18 2380 13 1650 12 1398 3 1232 10 1113 40,000 18 2410 13 1672 12 1416 3 1248 10 1127 41,000 18 2440 13 1693 12 1434 3 1264 10 1142 42,000 18 2469 14 1713 12 1452 3 1280 10 1156 43,000 18 2499 14 1734 12 1469 3 1295 10 1170 44,000 19 2527 14 1754 12 1486 3 1310 10 1184 45,000 19 2556 14 1774 12 1503 3 1325 10 1197 46,000 19 2584 14 1794 12 1520 3 1340 10 1211 47,000 19 2612 14 1813 13 1537 3 1355 11 1224 48,000 19 2640 14 1833 13 1553 3 1370 11 1237 49,000 19 2667 14 1852 13 1570 3 1384 11 1251 50,000 kadir and rahi: bayesian technique in sampling plan 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 table 3: bayesian plans to test the product according to the decision-making model and the (hald) model hald model decision-making model batch size pn (c) c n pn (c) c n 0.005998286 10 1162 0.00580307 6 669 10,000 0.00610687 11 1222 0.005768515 6 701 11,000 0.006049403 11 1278 0.005919349 7 733 12,000 0.005994006 11 1333 0.005886681 7 763 13,000 0.006107626 12 1385 0.005856515 7 791 14,000 0.006056638 12 1436 0.00600874 8 819 15,000 0.006008444 12 1485 0.005979344 8 846 16,000 0.005962933 12 1532 0.005951307 8 872 17,000 0.006079027 13 1578 0.005924596 8 897 18,000 0.006035578 13 1623 0.006076854 9 922 19,000 0.005993691 13 1667 0.006050899 9 946 20,000 0.006110937 14 1709 0.006026232 9 969 21,000 0.006070984 14 1751 0.006001765 9 992 22,000 0.006033416 14 1791 0.005978548 9 1014 23,000 0.00599631 14 1831 0.006130671 10 1036 24,000 0.006113404 15 1870 0.006107137 10 1058 25,000 0.006078104 15 1908 0.00608484 10 1079 26,000 0.006044122 15 1945 0.006063756 10 1099 27,000 0.006010518 15 1982 0.00621547 11 1119 28,000 0.00597818 15 2018 0.006194081 11 1139 29,000 0.006094842 16 2054 0.00617284 11 1159 30,000 0.006064192 16 2088 0.006152794 11 1178 31,000 0.006032961 16 2123 0.006132879 11 1197 32,000 0.006003807 16 2156 0.00611413 11 1215 33,000 0.006119773 17 2190 0.006264815 12 1233 34,000 0.006091371 17 2222 0.00624578 12 1251 35,000 0.006062356 17 2255 0.00622686 12 1269 36,000 0.006034483 17 2287 0.006208054 12 1287 37,000 0.006007724 17 2318 0.006190397 12 1304 38,000 0.006123612 18 2349 0.006339673 13 1321 39,000 0.006096696 18 2380 0.006321743 13 1338 40,000 0.006070874 18 2410 0.006303915 13 1355 41,000 0.006045269 18 2440 0.006287227 13 1371 42,000 0.006020722 18 2469 0.006270627 13 1387 43,000 0.005995538 18 2499 0.006254115 13 1403 44,000 0.006111111 19 2527 0.006401838 14 1419 45,000 0.006086596 19 2556 0.006385069 14 1435 46,000 0.006063111 19 2584 0.006369427 14 1450 47,000 0.006039808 19 2612 0.006352826 14 1466 48,000 0.006016683 19 2640 0.006337342 14 1481 49,000 0.00599455 19 2667 0.006321932 14 1496 50,000 and i extracted my value (λ1,λ2), so the value of n necessary to check the batch is n = 39388, which is the value specified by the following relationship: n n* � �� �1 2 n units* . . �� � � � � � �12 17582 39388 55 4084 2361 c n pr * * �= as for the acceptance number c, it is extracted from the relationship, so that β β α= − −1 ˆ ˆ 1 2r rp q thus, the value of the acceptance number corresponding to the sample size (n = 2361) is equal to: �1 4648 0 0061 25 0 9939 0 5� � � � � � � � � � �. . . �1 3 0053� . accordingly: c units* . . �� � � � �2361 0 061 3 0053 17 therefore, the single sampling plan necessary to check the production rate is n = 39388, and extracted from the (hald) model is (2361.17), and this plan means that the examination of a random sample of (2361) is invalid. if the number of defective (damaged) units in the sample is equal to (17) champion or less all units are accepted, otherwise, the batch is rejected. as for the total cost of quality control resulting from the sampling plan (2361.17), it will be extracted based on the smallest standard cost r0(n) achieved in the optimal sampling plan (2361.17), as r n ds0 1 2 22� � �� �* � � ds k k a r s m� � � ( ) ( )2 2 ds = 0 000954. r0 2 2361 148 2506 55 4084 0 00954� � � � �[ . . ]( . ) r0 4 4162= . therefore, the value of the expected total cost k(p) of quality control is equal to: k p r a r nkm� � � �� � �0 2 2 � � � � � �4 4162 0 178 49388 0 001091. . . = 42 9731. �$ table 2 includes all the results of bayesian plans to test the 1.5-l liquid pepsi product extracted from the (hald) model according to the previous distribution (beta), classified according to quality levels xp = 0.001(0.001)0.005 and batch sizes n = 10,000(1000)50,000. calculating the value of the defective fraction in the unexamined quantities according to the decision-making models and the (hald) model, a group of bayesian plans have been extracted to test the product. after this extraction, it is necessary to determine the expected value of the expected fraction of the defective kadir and rahi: bayesian technique in sampling plan 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 17-25 fraction in the unexamined quantities (n–n) which will be accepted based on the acceptance of the sample, and then, we will depend on the value of the average of the subsequent distribution for the defective lineage (e(p/x)) when (x = c), that is, (pn(c)) and it has become clear to us that the subsequent distribution f(p/x) is also a house with features (α+β+n, x+α), and therefore, it is e p x p x x nn|� � � � � � � � � � � � and when x = c is p c c nn � � � � � � � � � the following table 3 includes a comparison of bis plans according to the (hald) model and the decision-making model and at the level of quality (xp = 0.005349) and the values of (pn(c)) and for each of the plans of the decision-making model and the (hald) model. table 3 shows that the expected value of the fraction of defective items in the accepted quantities (n–n) is 0.6% according to both the decision-making model and the (hald) model. this value corresponds to the permissible percentage of defective items (ltpd) approved by pepsi company (ala) for soft drinks. the correspondence of the average value of (pn(c)) with the value of (ltpd) indicates the efficiency of the bis plans, which take into account all available information about the quality when estimating the quality of subsequent production batches. this congruence underscores the importance and efficiency of the bis plans. moreover, the actual production quality level ( x p = 0 005349. ) shows that the sample size for different batch sizes is smaller compared to other sampling inspection plans, which reduces examination costs and total costs. conclusion 1. the appropriate probability distribution to represent the defective percentages of the actual production is the betabinomial distribution with a rate of (0.005349) 2. after applying the bayes model in designing the sampling inspection plan, it was found that the parameters of this plan are (n = 1495) and (c = 14), and for the quality level of the actual production ( x p = 0 005349. ), we find that the sample size for the different batch sizes is small compared to other sampling plans, which means reducing examination costs and therefore the total costs. references 1. d. h. kadir and a. r. k. rahi al-harthy. application of bayesian technique for ala pepsi softdrink company in sampling plan design. university of sulaimani, iraq, 2007. 2. a. m. q. muhammad. a study of restricted bayesian acceptance sampling examination plans for quality control with practical application. msc dissertation, college of administration and economics. university of baghdad, 1999. 3. b. ahmed and h. yousof. a new group acceptance sampling plans based on percentiles for the weibull fréchet model. statistics, optimization and information computing, vol. 11, pp. 409-421, 2023. 4. d. s. al-janibi. using decision-making methods to build the best model of the cost function in quality control. ph.d. dissertation. college of administration and economics. university of baghdad, iraq, 1991. 5. m. aslam, n. khan and a. h. al-marshadi. design of variable sampling plan for pareto distribution using neutrosophic statistical interval method. symmetry, vol. 11, p. 80, 2019. 6. a. banihashemi, m. s. f. nezhad and a. amiri. a new approach in the economic design of acceptance sampling plans based on process yield index and taguchi loss function. computers and industrial engineering, vol. 159, p. 107155, 2021. 7. a. hald. bayesian single sampling attribute plans for continuous prior distributions. technometrics, vol. 10, pp. 667-683, 1968. 8. a. hald. statistical theory of sampling inspection by attributes. academic press inc., london, 1981. 9. d. h. kadir, d. m. saleh and d. i. jamil. comparison between four methods to construction number of defectives control chart. journal of arts, literature, humanities and social science, vol. 39, pp. 538-550, 2019. 10. d. m. saleh and d. i. jamil. comparison between two estimators by using process capability with application. journal of arts, literature, humanities and social sciences, vol. 39, pp. 551-559, 2019. 11. n. h. mahmood, r. o. yahya and s. j. aziz. apply binary logistic regression model to recognize the risk factors of diabetes through measuring glycated hemoglobin levels. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, pp. 7-11, 2022. 12. d. m. saleh, d. h. kadir and d. i. jamil. a comparison between some penalized methods for estimating parameters: simulation study. qalaai zanist journal, vol. 8, pp. 1122-1134, 2023. 13. k. i. mawlood and r. o. yahya. using dynamic linear models and kalman filter for modeling and forecasting electricity load in erbil city. zanco journal of humanity sciences, vol. 22, pp. 347-373, 2018. 14. z. a. omar, r. s. abduljabar, s. m. sajadi, s. a. mahmud and r. o. yahya. recent progress in eco-synthesis of essential oil-based nanoparticles and their possible mechanisms. industrial crops and products, vol. 187, p. 115322, 2022. 15. d. prajapatin, s. mitra and d. kundu. bayesian sampling plan for the exponential distribution with generalized type-ii hybrid censoring scheme. communications in statistics-simulation and computation, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 533-556, 2023. 16. g. b. wetherill. sampling inspection and quality control. 2nd ed. chapman and hall, new york, usa, 1977. 17. d. c. montgomery. introduction to statistical quality control. 4th ed. john wiley sons inc., new york, usa, 2001. 18. d. c. montgomery. introduction to statistical quality control. 5th ed. john wiley sons inc., new york, usa, 2005. 19. a. i. al-omari. acceptance sampling plans based on truncated life tests for sushila distribution. journal of mathematical and fundamental sciences, vol. 50, no. 1, pp. 72-83, 2018. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 84 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 84-92 research article evaluating the covid-19 lockdown’s effects on land surface temperature, no2, and o3 in the erbil city, kurdistan region of iraq kaifi chomani department of civil engineering, university of raparin, ranya, kurdistan region, iraq abstract humans’ lifestyles were radically changed after the 2020 covid-19 epidemic. to mitigate the effects of the disease, most countries have implemented lockout systems. this research aims to provide some recommendations for long-term, sustainable environmental management by analyzing how the covid-19 lockdown affected nitrogen dioxide (no2), ozone (o3), the land surface temperature (lst), and the normalized difference vegetation index (ndvi). sentinel hub data and landsat 8 satellite imagery from 2017 to 2022 were used to create land use land cover (lulc), ndvi, and lst maps. digital thematic maps of no2 and o3 with figures that demonstrate the correlation between ndvi-lst and lulc-lst were derived using arc geographic information system 10.8. the spatial analysis showed that lst and lulc are noticeably correlated, in addition to an inverse proportion between ndvi and lst, as well as between no2 and o3. the lockdown in erbil drastically decreased no2 emissions by 54.5% and improved o3 levels by 7.6%. while the ndvi and o3 levels have increased significantly, the lst and no2 levels have declined considerably due to the shutdown of all industrial and transportation activities during the lockdown. although covid-19 caused a lot of damage, the lockdown contributed to healthier conditions of the environment. keywords: geographic information system, land surface temperature, normalized difference vegetation index, covid-19, remote sensing introduction i n 2020, the world was threatened by the devastating covid-19 global epidemic. its global attack was so devastating that many lives were lost. both the world health organization (who) and governments have regularly proposed multiple appropriate actions to slow the outbreaks of this disease.[1] personal hygiene, keeping socially appropriate distance, preventing public crowds, and staying home unless it is unnecessary to go outside are a few of the precautions put in place to prevent the spread of the disease.[2,3] as a result of these restrictions, human activity has been severely limited, which has had a negative effect on economy and businesses on a global and national scale.[4-6] apparently, the viable and impactful option for reducing covid-19 from having a tragic effect on the globe was through a global lockdown. wuhan city in china was the place of the first diagnosis of this deadly infectious disease on the 29th of december 2019.[7-9] as a substantial number of viral cases was reported across the country, chinese authorities instituted lockdowns all over the country in an attempt to control the disease.[10] covid-19 dramatically affected about 213 nations on earth, and as of february 21, 2023, the who recorded a total of 6,850,594 fatalities around the world, with 757,264,511 reported cases of covid-19. consequently, as of february 25, 2023, a total of 13,224,955,795 vaccine doses had been distributed globally.[11] on february 24, 2020, iraq reported the first case of covid19 in the south of baghdad, in the city of najaf. the who[11] and the health ministry of the kurdistan regional government (krg) reported the first cases of coronavirus in the region on march 1, 2020, and the first death on march 4, 2020. the shutdown of iraqi governorates took place on saturday, march 1, 2020, and lasted until august of the same year.[12] as soon as the first covid-19 victims were identified throughout iraq, the krg made the decision to implement a complete lockdown of the region from march 5, 2020, to may 22, 2020.[13,14] to stop the infection from spreading, the government shut corresponding author: kaifi chomani, department of civil engineering, university of raparin, ranya, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: kaifi.chomani@uor.edu.krd received: april 20, 2024 accepted: july 31, 2024 published: september 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp84-92 copyright © 2024 kaifi chomani. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) chomani: evaluating the covid-19 lockdown’s effects on land surface temperature 85 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 84-92 down meetings and religious ceremonies; shut down the education system and started giving classes online; shut down airports and borders; and limited or stopped transportation between cities.[15,16] 452 cases were diagnosed during the lockdown period, with a 1% rate of case deaths.[17] these immediate steps have been effective compared to neighboring countries.[16] to date (august 22, 2022), 464,976 infections, 456,080 recoveries, and 7464 deaths have been reported in the krg. only in the erbil governorate were there 149,340 new cases, 146,707 recoveries, and 2186 fatalities.[18] during shutdowns, however, pollution levels are much lower than they used to be because of strict rules and fewer pollutant emissions[12] and ecosystems in nearly every part of the globe were positively affected.[1] the lockdown process reduces pollution and helps produce a less polluted environment.[19-27] transportation and industrial activity reduction minimize pollution and have a direct ecological benefit, although vegetation grows at a faster rate.[1] the air and land surface temperatures (lsts) went down right away after the lockdown.[28,29] the covid-19 pandemic critically contributed in the environmental changes on a global scale. multiple researches in recent years around the world emphasized the significant reduction in air pollutants, specifically nitrogen dioxide (no2) and particulate matter. venter et al. for example, assessed the data from 34 different countries and showed that during the full lockdowns, the population-weighted no2 concentrations substantially reduced by 60%.[30] however, the impact of ozone (o3) levels was varied in different places. in several urban regions, a reduction in nitrogen oxides (nox) emissions was witnessed, however, o3 concentrations increased. shi et al. showed that while no2 pollutant reduced by 51.7%, o3 concentrations increased by 36.4% in metropolitan areas.[28] the nature of the land surface and the intensity of solar radiation have the main roles in determining lst.[1] the primary contributors to rising urban lsts are rapid urbanization and fluctuations in the climate system.[31] consequently, a core feature of lst is the development and planning of management approaches for land-use resources.[1] the normalized difference vegetation index (ndvi) is the ultimate remote sensing index affecting lst variation. the ndvi and the lst typically produce negative proportions. the ndvi and lst correlation is substantially enhanced by a reduction in air pollution and an increase in air moisture.[1] the majority of studies show that a higher lst also causes a noticeable rise in atmospheric temperature.[32] research was done in kerbala during the outbreak to evaluate covid-19’s effect on the urban temperature. according to the study by mohammed et al., relative to prior periods, lst in settlement regions lowered during the covid-19 lockdown.[33] however, a number of studies have examined how the lockdown has affected the air quality as well as the daily average levels of o3 and no2 throughout the provinces of iraq. studies revealed that during the times of the shutdown, the quantity of environmentally harmful gases in iraq drastically decreased, and no2 emissions reduced throughout iraq, especially in erbil, according to hashim et al.[12] a few additional researchers discovered that the ozone and air quality in the bagdad international airport improved throughout the lockdown.[34] as stated by kaplan et al., human activity is the primary source of environmental pollution.[35] no2 and o3 are some of the most common atmospheric pollutants.[36] when fossil fuels are burned or during the transportation, no2 is released, which is a highly toxic gas.[37] the density of o3 is impacted by the amount of greenhouse gases like nox. in general, o3 levels fall along with a decrease in nox emissions. however, reduced nox may cause an increase in ozone levels in densely populated urban areas.[38] there is a critical gap in the literature in our understanding of the impact of urban conditions, specifically in the kurdistan region of iraq, and their correlation with the environmental impacts of covid-19 lockdowns. despite the contribution in the literature on changes of air quality during lockdowns, only a few researches focused on the comprehensive relationship between land use land cover (lulc) changes, lst, normalized difference vegetation index (ndvi), and air quality parameters such as no2 and o3 in a single urban environment. the objective of this research is to address this issue by providing a comprehensive analysis of environmental changes in erbil city using geographic information system (gis) and remote sensing technology, offering valuable insights related to the impact of urban areas and vegetation on the overall environment conditions. this study’s main purpose was to evaluate the impact of erbil city’s covid-19 lockdown on the environment using gis tools and remote sensing air quality and lst data from 2017 to 2022. the study’s method enables low-cost monitoring of the urban environment, allowing urban planners and policymakers to understand how covid-19 influences the environment. materials and methods study area with an estimated population of 2,254,422 in 2020, erbil is the capital and the biggest town of iraq’s kurdistan region. the city, which has been continuously inhabited for around 6000 years and is one of the oldest settlements on earth, has been appointed a unesco world heritage site. throughout the previous three decades, emigration from the countryside and rural areas has resulted in a tremendous rise in the city’s population, resulting in noteworthy urban growth and fast geographic development.[39] it is located at 36°11’ 28” n and 44° 0’ 34” e latitude and longitude, respectively [figure 1]. the area of erbil city is about 1442.3 km2, and it is 425 m above mean sea level. erbil has a very hot summer and a cool winter. on average, it has 419.5 mm of rainfall per year with 51.2% humidity.[18] landsat-8 images were used for this study to compare lulc, ndvi, and lst variation before, during, and after the covid-19 lockdown. six spatially georeferenced landsat imageries (geotiff) were used for erbil city using path/row 169/35 for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 for the landsat 8 satellite (operational land image). the data were obtained using the usgs earth explorer service (usgs, 2023). the study required the use of red, nir, and tir bands. the spatial resolution of oli/tirs data bands figure 1: study area (erbil city) chomani: evaluating the covid-19 lockdown’s effects on land surface temperature 86 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 84-92 4, 5, and 10 is 30, 30, and 100 m, respectively. no2 and o3 data were downloaded from sentinel hub website (https:// www.sentinel-hub.com/) (hub, 2023). arcgis 10.8 was used throughout the research process. for the lst and ndvi calculations, lulc classification, and correlation analysis, the spatial analyst tools in arcgis were used [figure 2]. lulc classification lulc was divided into three categories using the iso cluster unsupervised classification algorithm: green area, settlement, and bare land. lulc classification has been carried out for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 [figure 3]. to evaluate the lulc classification, the exact locations of 600 randomly chosen points on the lulc maps were compared with ground data from google earth pro satellite images. for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, the overall accuracy for classified images was 0.9, 0.9, 0.94, 0.92, 0.90, and 0.96, respectively. moreover, the kappa coefficient was used to assess the reliability of the results[40]. the calculated values of the kappa coefficient were as follows: 0.84, 0.83, 0.91, 0.82, 0.84, and 0.94. through the creation of lulc maps for the years 2017–2022, differences in lulc were evaluated. [figure 3] shows the distribution of lulc across erbil city. retrieval of lst the lst in erbil city was calculated using a single-channel algorithm [figure 4]. this method is more accurate than others and is often used to get lst from a single thermal band.[41] lst was estimated using the following equations: [41] lλ = ml*qcal+al (1) where the top-of-atmosphere (toa) is defined by lλ calibrated digital number is defined by qcal band-specific additive rescaling factor al λ λ =   +    2 1* 1 b k t k l l (2) brightness temperature is represented by tb the top-of-atmosphere (toa) is represented by lλ thermal conversion constant is k1 and k2 = red nir red nir band band ndvi band + band (3) normalized difference vegetation index is defined as ndvi  −   +  2 min v max min ndvi ndvi p = ndvi ndvi (4) proportion of vegetation denoted by pv normalized difference vegetation index is represented as ndvi the highest amount of ndvi is represented as ndvi max the lowest amount of ndvi is represented as ndvi min ε = 0.004*pv+0.986 (5) emissivity of land surfaces is represented by ε proportion of vegetation represented by pv ( )λ ε ρ      =   +     1 * * ln   b b t lst t (6) lst is the temperature of the earth’s land surface (kelvin scale) brightness temperature is represented by tb wavelength of emitted radiance is represented by λ ( )ρ σ = *  0.01438  c h mk (7) σ = boltzmann constant = 1.38*10−23 j/k h = constant of planck = 6.626*10−23 js c = light speed = 2.998*108 m/s ε = land surface emissivity after lst extraction, we converted lst in kelvin to lst in celsius by subtracting 273.15 from the result. results and discussions pairing gis and remote sensing made continuous environmental monitoring more efficient. the result of our research indicates that between 2017 and 2022, there is a substantial growth in settlement area in erbil from 190 km2 to 271.2 km2 (13.2– 18.8%) and bare land from 646.5 km2 to 711.5 km2 (44.8– 49.3%). however, the green area declined significantly from 2017 to 2022, falling from 605.8 km2 to 459.6 km2 (42–31.9%) figure 2: the flowchart of the research chomani: evaluating the covid-19 lockdown’s effects on land surface temperature 87 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 84-92 table 1: results of the lulc classification for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 images showing the area of each category and category percentages (erbil city) lulc 2017 area 2018 area 2019 area 2020 area 2021 area 2022 area km2 % km2 % km2 % km2 % km2 % km2 % green area 605.8 42 344.2 23.9 534.2 37 230.8 16 303.8 21.1 459.6 31.9 settlement 190 13.2 212.9 14.8 243.3 16.9 186.7 12.9 226.5 15.7 271.2 18.8 bare land 646.5 44.8 885.2 61.4 664.8 46.1 1024.8 71.1 911.9 63 711.5 49.3 figure 3: land use land cover of erbil for may; (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019, (d) 2020, (e) 2021, and (f) 2022 d cb f a e figure 5: erbil’s mean land surface temperature and normalized difference vegetation index values in 2020 and their correlation chomani: evaluating the covid-19 lockdown’s effects on land surface temperature 88 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 84-92 [table 1]. before, during, and after the lockdown, there was a noticeable change in lst. the maximum temperature increased from 43.6°c in 2017 before the lockdown to 51.07°c in 2020 during the lockdown. however, 2 years following the lockdown, the highest temperature dropped dramatically from 51.07°c in 2020 to 35.04°c in 2022 [table 2]. this meant that the temperature of the ground surface was significantly lower following the shutdown compared to previous years. furthermore, the analysis revealed that rapid changes in lulc affected lst. during the time period mentioned, the highest temperature reached 51.3°c on a wide region of barren ground. however, green area had the lowest temperatures. the mean lst reduced dramatically from 39.8°c to 25.99°c [table 2] as the green area doubled from 16% to 31% between 2020 (during lockdown) and 2022 (after lockdown) [table 1]. this demonstrates that vegetation areas and ndvi have a negative relationship with lst [figure 5]. that is, increased vegetation cover leads to reduced lst.[42] the average ndvi went up during and after the lockdown [table 2], and the health of vegetation covers in all areas table 2: the mean of lst, ndvi of erbil for 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022 acquisition date ndvi lst (°c) max. min. mean sd max. min. mean sd 9-5-2017 (before lockdown) 0.608 −0.117 0.197 0.09 43.64 17.98 33.61 2.83 28-5-2018 (before lockdown) 0.568 −0.12 0.128 0.512 50.1 20.99 41.32 3.18 31-5-2019 (before lockdown) 0.632 −0.229 0.153 0.055 51.34 29.69 41.34 2.38 17-5-2020 (during lockdown) 0.615 −0.163 0.168 0.062 51.07 26.86 39.8 2.83 4-5-2021 (after lockdown) 0.391 −0.297 0.129 0.06 49.09 8.87 39.7 3.99 15-5-2022 (after lockdown) 0.542 −0.083 0.153 0.069 35.04 16.20 25.99 2.88 lst: land surface temperature, ndvi: normalized difference vegetation index, sd: standard deviation figure 4: land surface temperature of erbil (°c); (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019, (d) 2020, (e) 2021, and (f) 2022 d cb f a e chomani: evaluating the covid-19 lockdown’s effects on land surface temperature 89 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 84-92 figure 6: normalized difference vegetation index of erbil city; (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019, (d) 2020, (e) 2021, and (f) 2022 d cb f a e figure 7: nitrogen dioxide emissions in erbil (mol/m2); (a) march 4, 2020, (b) march 23, 2020, and (c) april 17, 2020 cba figure 8: ozone emissions in erbil (mol/m2); (a) february 6, 2020, (b) march 6, 2020, and (c) april 6, 2020 cba chomani: evaluating the covid-19 lockdown’s effects on land surface temperature 90 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 84-92 got much better [figure 6]. this had an immediate impact on decreasing the lst. the outcome implies a positive shift during the quarantine. that is mostly due to a decrease in human activities such as transportation and industrial pollution, which played a major role in lowering the mean lst in erbil city after the lockdown period. furthermore, the period of lockdown had a valuable effect on the environment, and we found a negative correlation between no2 and o3 the quarantine.[1,43,44] we noticed a noticeable decline [figure 7] in the mean amount of no2 pollution (54.5%) and a noticeable improvement [figure 8] in the mean levels of o3 (7.6%). conclusion although covid-19 was responsible for a significant amount of damage, the lockdown helped to improve the overall environmental situation. gis and remote sensing are two lowcost and valuable tools for continuously monitoring lst, ndvi, air quality, and lulc changes. the study showed that the covid-19 shutdown in erbil city had an influence on air quality, lst, and ndvi, and it also shows that there is a significant correlation between lst and transitions in lulc in erbil. as urban zones and bare lands replaced green spaces, the mean lst increased noticeably between 2017 and 2020. this research aims to examine, for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022, how the lst varies based on ndvi and lulc changes. additionally, the study observed a significant improvement in no2 and o3 levels during the covid-19 lockdown, with noticeable changes both before and after the lockdown period. the correlation analysis of lst, lulc, and ndvi revealed a significant relationship, providing compelling evidence of how lockdown and land use change impact the environment over time [figure 6]. according to the findings, there is an inverse proportion between ndvi and lst. the main cause of changes in lulc and a rise in lst is urbanization. a valuable effect on the environment was noticed, as no2 pollution was decreased by 54.5% [figure 7] and the levels of o3 in erbil were enhanced by 7.6% [figure 8]. we can apply numerous management measures to prevent rising lst, such as planting trees in front of every house and converting open spaces to green areas. the growing tendency of industrial and residential areas is the reason for erbil’s substantial rise in lst. because the lst is rising at an alarming rate, it has the possibility of harming the ecosystem and habitat of erbil city. sustainable urban land use plans are needed to deal with the rise in lst and keep the environment clean and healthy. as a result, new land conversion strategies, such as expanding green space, are urgently needed. the proposed inner greenbelt for erbil by the kurdistan region of iraq would include a wooded area, a sustainable fruit garden, and gateway parks, which will stop the city from growing in an unsustainable way while also improving the climate and having a beneficial effect on lst and air quality. the main findings of the study were as follows: • despite the significant damage by covid-19 lockdowns, it led to improved overall environmental conditions in erbil city. • gis and remote sensing offered valuable, low-cost tools for comprehensive assessment of lst, ndvi, air quality, and lulc changes. • notable correlation in erbil city between lst and lulc transitions was identified. • the value of mean lst increased significantly between 2017 and 2020 as a result of converting green spaces to urban zones and bare lands. • during the lockdown in erbil city, no2 pollution decreased by 54.5%, however, o3 levels improved by 7.6% in the period. • urbanization was found to be the primary contributor of lulc changes and rising lst in erbil. funding no funding was received for conducting this study. conflicts of interest the author declared that they have no conflicts of interest. author contribution the author is contributed to the study conception and design. material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by the author. the first draft of the manuscript was written and revised by the author. the author read and approved the final manuscript. data availability the datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on request. references 1. s. guha and h. govil. covid-19 lockdown effect on land surface temperature and normalized difference vegetation index. geomatics, natural hazards and risk, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1082-1100, 2021. 2. h. bherwani, m. nair, k. musugu, s. gautam, a. gupta, a. kapley and r. kumar. valuation of air pollution externalities: comparative assessment of economic damage and emission reduction under covid-19 lockdown. air quality, atmosphere and health, vol. 13, pp. 683-694, 2020. 3. s. gautam and l. hens. covid-19: impact by and on the environment, health and economy. environment, development and sustainability, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 4953-4954, 2020. 4. h. w. long and w. j. feng. research report on companies’ survival and development strategy during a novel coronavirus epidemic. uibe press, beijing, 2020. 5. a. sharifi and 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madhurshan, p. a. s. mushmika, k. v. u. i. edirisooriya, w. c. a. ishankha and d. l. p. m. dauglas. effects of covid-19 lockdown on lst, ndvi, lulc, and uhi: dehiwalamount lavinia case study. in: 2023 moratuwa engineering research conference (mercon), 2023. 44. m. a. sresto, m. m. morshed, s. siddika, h. almohamad, m. al-mutiry and h. g. abdo. impact of covid-19 lockdown on vegetation indices and heat island effect: a remote sensing study of dhaka city, bangladesh. sustainability, vol. 14, p. 7922, 2022. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 47-51 research article adopting discrete wavelet transformation with mean time between failure to design a new quality control chart hawkar q. birdawod1, dlshad m. saleh2, dashty i. jamil3, abdulrahim k. rahi4 1department of business administration, college of administration and financial sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq, 3department of accounting, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of business administration college of administration and economics, al-ameen university, baghdad, iraq abstract this study’s goal was to design a new individual observation chart for quality control by utilizing the discrete wavelet transformation (dwt) approach to calculate the mean time between reliability failures. the new chart’s effectiveness was demonstrated by comparing it to a classical chart. this aspect is crucial in addition to the conclusion that the production process is under control for both charts, with the new chart exhibiting a reduced standard deviation. the study’s main focus was on a new area for device monitoring and defect detection, which involves halting production and eliminating any potential causes of defects. one of the main elements that aid in achieving the goals of predictive maintenance is the individual control chart based on the mean time between failures with dwt of the operating time between failures. keywords: quality control, individual observation chart, reliability, mean times between failure, discrete wavelet transformation introduction quality science is considered one of the fastest developing sciences in recent decades, as it has evolved from merely inspecting products to a diverse group of overlapping specialties and systems interconnected with each other and with various other specialties in the industry.[1] standard specifications have evolved from mere product specifications to specifications for quality systems associated with all facility activities. the use of statistical methods can help understand variables and thus help facilities solve problems and improve efficiency and returns.[2] these methods also facilitate better use of available data to help make the right decision. the importance of the topic of reliability in our practical life comes to know cases of equipment and machinery systems failure or failure, which reduces the cost of their production and maintenance. it is also important in protecting and averting danger to human life by evaluating the performance and efficiency of these systems. one of the technical and important methods that lead to improving quality is the use of statistical methods in the field of quality control. the specific goal of this research is to develop a new individual observation control chart for mean time between failure (mtbf) by incorporating discrete wavelet transform (dwt) for signal processing and to evaluate its effectiveness compared to classical charting methods. adherence to these specifications will lead to improving the quality of production and reducing damage, in addition to protecting the consumer and the producer from commercial fraud and reducing costs. to discover faults early, dwt is frequently used to analyze signals from electronic components or equipment. it allows for the detection of irregularities or abrupt shifts that can point to possible problems by breaking down signals into their component frequencies.[2] dwt can be used on vibration or acoustic data in rotating machinery to detect anomalous frequency patterns linked to shaft misalignment, gear problems, or bearing wear. the capacity to identify minute alterations at various scales (including short-term and longterm problems). wavelet thresholding improves diagnostic accuracy by reducing noise. corresponding author: hawkar q. birdawod, department of business administration, college of administration and financial sciences, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: hawkar.birdawod@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: february 15, 2025 accepted: april 16, 2025 published: may 10, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp47-51 copyright © 2025 hawkar q. birdawod, dlshad m. saleh, dashty i. jamil, abdulrahim k. rahi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) birdawod, et al.: adopting discrete wavelet transformation 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 47-51 basic concepts of statistical quality control control the process of monitoring and inspecting a production process to keep conforming to the standards to produce a high percentage of acceptance quality.[3] quality when consumers are choosing between competing goods and services, quality has emerged as one of the most crucial deciding factors.[4,5] quality control the use of methods and procedures to attain, maintain, and enhance the quality of a good or service is known as quality control. it entails incorporating the following associated methods and exercises:[3,6] 1. an explanation of the requirements 2. a product or service that is designed to satisfy the requirements 3. installation or production that satisfies the standard in its entirety 4. inspection to assess if the specifications are being followed 5. check if the specification has been revised. quality characteristics two major categories can be used to classify quality attributes: 1. measurable characteristics: these are traits that may be quantified and represented numerically on certain continuous scales of measurement; control charts of this kind are known as variable charts. 2. unmeasurable characteristics: these are traits that are not measurable on a continuous scale or even a quantitative scale. attribute charts are the control charts used to measure these traits.[6] quality control charts the process is statistically controlled, a quality control chart, also known as a process chart, is a graph that displays the average for the data (output) or the product falling within the typical or typical range of variation. in 1924, walter a. shewhart of bell telephone laboratories created the first quality control chart, which he and his colleague later improved. in 1931, he released a comprehensive explanation of control charts. shewhart control charts consist of three parallel lines which are:[7] (t) represents the center line (also known as the target line) of the control chart, which is the mean or overall average of the quality feature being monitored. the largest allowable deviation from the mean for a process in a state of control is known as the upper control limit (ucl). mathematically expressed as: ucl = t + 3σ the smallest allowable deviation from the mean for a process in a state of control is known as the lower control limit (lcl). mathematically expressed as: lcl = t-3σ mtbf e t tf t dt r t dtt t= = = ∞ ∞ ∫ ∫( ) ( ) ( ) 0 0 reliability it is known that the quality of the product may change with the age of the product, that is, its efficiency decreases over time. accordingly, one of the aspects of product acceptance depends on its ability to perform satisfactorily for a period of time.[8] this aspect is known as product reliability, that is, its capacity to remain appropriate for the task at hand or to satisfy the demands of the customer. therefore, the product’s long-term quality continuity is what determines its dependability.[9] the reliability function is expressed by the following mathematical equation: r t f t dt f t t ( ) = − = −∫1 1 0 ( ) ( ) where: t: random variable representing time r(t): reliability function f(t): probability density function (pdf) f(t): cumulative density function. mtbf the predicted amount of time the system should operate before failing is known as the mtbfs.[10] exponential distribution based on the assumption that the time between failures follows an exponential distribution, a classical individual control chart for mtbf can be constructed. the control limits are derived using natural logarithms (ln) to transform the data for symmetry, corresponding to a standard type i error rate (false alarm rate) α = 0.0027 (equivalent to 3-sigma limits for normally distributed data). many important industrial uses in terms of measuring the lifespan of electrical goods such as the lifespan of bulbs and others, in addition to determining the time required until electronic devices fail to perform their functions.[11] the exponential distribution is also used primarily in reliability theory, which is the theory that determines the extent of the system’s ability to work and perform its function during the time period t without failure. if we assume that there is a device whose lifespan or life time is expressed by the continuous random variable t, and thus takes values in the continuous period from the smallest value (zero to infinity), then the probability that this system will work without failure is called the reliability function as follows r = p(t>0). a random variable (t) is said to have an exponential distribution if the pdf of this variable is: birdawod, et al.: adopting discrete wavelet transformation 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 47-51 t ≥0 f(t; λ) = λe-λt =0 elsewhere and ( ) 1 ˆ 1ˆ 1 n i i n t mt ft t b t λ λ = = = ⇒ = = ε = ∑ classical individual values chart based on mtbf it is employed when it is more cost-effective to take a single production line observation each time period to regulate the product’s quality. the overall average of the qualitative characteristics of all production line observations is represented by the target line for this section of the graph. where: α: false alarm in quality control charts equal to (0.0027). lcl mtbf= ∗ −      ln 2 2 α cl mtbf= ∗ ( )ln 2 ucl mtbf= ∗      ln 2 α fundamental ideas for achieving a dwt of data dwt a mathematical method for breaking down signals into their time-frequency components is called the dwt. dwt is very helpful for evaluating non-stationary signals (signals whose frequency content fluctuates over time), as opposed to the fourier transform, which only analyzes data in the frequency domain. this is because dwt records both time and frequency information. in many fields, including science, engineering, mathematics, and computer science, the dwt is a broadly applicable signal processing algorithm. dwt uses scaled and shifted versions of a compact supported basis function (mother wavelet) to break down a signal. given a vector of a signal x consisting of 2j observation where j is an integer. the dwt of x is w = wx where w is an n * 1 vector comprising both discrete scaling and wavelet coefficients. the vector of wavelet coefficients can by organized into j + 1 vectors. w w w wj vj t = [ ]1 2 0 0, ,..., , where wj is a length n n j j= 2 vector of wavelet coefficients (details) associated with changes on a scale of length λ j j= −2 1 symboled as cd, and vjo is a length n n j j0 2 = vector of scaling coefficients (approximation or smoothing) associated with average on a scale of length λj j 0 02= symboled as ca, and w is an orthonormal n*n matrix associated with the orthonormal wavelet basis chosen. following each dwt, the approximation coefficients are separated into bands using the same filter as previously. this result in the details being appended with the most recent decomposition details, and at each level, the inverse transform may rebuild the de-noised signal. x ww w w v vt j j j t j j t j= = + = ∑ 1 0 0 0 universal thresholding method the threshold by splitting the wavelet coefficient into two sets, one representing the signal and the other representing the noise, thresholding is the most straightforward technique for non-linear wavelet denoising. the wavelet coefficient thresholds can be applied according to many principles, and there are numerous approaches to selecting a threshold value, including: η σu mad n= ( ) log2 soft thresholding rule wn(st) = sign{wn}(|wn|-η) soft thresholding of the wavelet coefficient, which was also suggested by donoho and johnstone, is the other common method for wavelet denoising.[12] it is defined as follows: daubechies (db) wave ingrid db is the originator of the db wavelets, a family of orthogonal wavelets renowned for their smoothness and compact support. because they can analyze signals with little overlapping effects and maintain crucial properties, such as crisp edges, they are frequently utilized in signal and image processing.[13] the basic outline of the wavelet shrinkage is pioneered by donoho and johnstone as follows: 1. the dwt converts the data into a new representation known as wavelet coefficients. the orthogonal matrix w multiplies them 2. the thresholding rule is used to alter the wavelet coefficients. the fundamental idea of wave shrink is to reduce the number of coefficients 3. to get an approximation of the signal, the changed coefficients are subjected to the inverse discrete wavelet transformation. a new individual values chart based on mtbf with dwt to design the new chart using the soft threshold rule and small wave (db2), and to estimate the threshold level using the universal approach, a new chart will be created and contrasted with the classical ones, as shown in figure 1 below. consequently, we can determine the new control chart’s based on mtbf with dwt, control limits (lcl & ucl), and central line by using the following formula: birdawod, et al.: adopting discrete wavelet transformation 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 47-51 lcl mtbfdwi= ∗ −      ln 2 2 α cl mtbfdwi= ∗ ( )ln 2 ucl mtbfdwi= ∗      ln 2 α applied part the primary objective of proposing and developing a new technique is to offer a substitute for addressing some of the issues and shortcomings of the existing approaches; hence, the new method must be used to determine its suitability for reality and, consequently, its accuracy and efficiency.[11] based on this idea, we will create and use individual observations charts for the exponential distribution using the dwt and mtbfs in this study on actual data to determine the effectiveness, precision, and appropriateness of this chart. the data were gathered from the babylon tire factory to provide a clear understanding of how to create and use the individual observations chart for the exponential distribution using the operational times of one failure and another.[14] where this data represent the operating times (hours) between one failure and another through the times that were recorded in the internal statements of the factory. figure 2 shows that all points are within the control limits, and based on the chart’s initial formation (chart formation for the first time), we can see that the data in table 1 are suitable for creating this chart. this indicates that the same party from which we obtained the data can use this chart going forward for control and monitoring purposes.[10] in addition to demonstrating that all points fall inside the control boundaries, figure 3 also demonstrates that the values in table 1 are appropriate for the creation of this chart based on the chart’s initial formation. this means that the same person who provided the data can use this chart in the future for monitoring and control.[15] discussion to move the qualities closer to the target line, dwt is helpful approach. in other words, this chart converts irregular cases to regular cases. both charts based on mtbf under controlled conditions, where no observations fall beyond the control limits, is the manufacturing process. one of the main elements that aids in achieving the goals of predictive maintenance is the individual control chart based on mtbf with dwt of the operating time between failures. this focuses on a new area of predictive maintenance that is based on the device and control to be a tool for predicting maintenance activities. the mtbf control chart based on dwt is an alternative chart to the mtbf control chart. furthermore, the use of dwt is beneficial for reducing standard division. the process has deteriorated if the point drops below the lcl, in which case appropriate action needs to be performed. the failure rate may have figure 1: block diagram to transform data and construction individual control chart figure 2: individual observation chart of the exponential distribution using the mean time between failure figure 3: individual observation chart of the exponential distribution using the mean time between failure with discrete wavelet transform birdawod, et al.: adopting discrete wavelet transformation 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 47-51 dropped, increasing the interval between failures, if the point is above the ucl. this is a significant sign in the process of improvement. the management of the factory should act to determine the cause and keep it up to date if this occurs. conclusion integrating dwt with mtbf offers a robust approach to quality control chart design. this hybrid method enhances the table 1: the operating times (hours) between failure and another s. no. mtbf mtbf with dwt 1 18.75 35.234 2 4 50.001 3 259.5 119.74 4 19 135.79 5 203.5 120.6 6 24 113.78 7 261 146.11 8 96 167.96 9 321 327.43 10 402.5 450.02 11 404 264.9 12 72 162.22 13 127.5 96.494 14 10.5 20.866 15 135 148.35 16 247 221.41 17 17 97.816 18 2.5 26.914 19 292.5 81.002 20 8.5 101.6 21 19.25 85.507 22 152 79.245 23 11.5 95.27 24 183.25 105.32 25 17.5 96.351 26 147 92.478 27 44.5 78.219 28 66.5 66.744 29 245 183.03 mean 131.45 130.01 standard division 126.3144 91.26084 mtbf: mean time between failure, dwt: discrete wavelet transform sensitivity and accuracy of detecting process shifts, particularly in complex and non-stationary manufacturing environments. by leveraging the signal decomposition capabilities of dwt and the reliability insights from mtbf, the proposed control chart provides a more effective tool for monitoring and improving product quality and system performance. references 1. a. massoudi. predicting the power of entrepreneurial orientation in improving the level of product innovation. business education as a mediator. journal of management and business education, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 58-73, 2025. 2. h. q. birdawod. using factor analysis to determine the most important factors affecting student absenteeism at cihan university-erbil. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 1-8, 2022. 3. d. h. besterfield. quality control. 8th ed. prentice-hall inc., new york, 2004. 4. d. c. montgomery. introduction to statistical quality control. 6th ed. john wiley & sons inc., new york, 2009. 5. h. q. pirdawd. multiple imputation method for missing data in (rcbd) factorial experiments. doctoral dissertation, university of sulaimani, 2007. 6. h. q. birdawod, d. i. jamil and d. m. saleh. comparison of efficiency and sensitively between (three sigma, six sigma and median absolute deviation) by using x̄ control chart. qalaai zanist journal, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 803-812, 2018. 7. j. m. juran. quality control handbook. 5th ed. mcgraw-hill, new york, 1999. 8. a. h. massoudi. achieving competitive advantage by using supply chain strategies. international journal of supply chain management, vol. 7, pp. 22-29, 2018. 9. a. h. massoudi, h. q. birdawod and m. b. raewf. personal digital marketing influence on successful marketing campaign in today’s digital age. cihan university-erbil journal of humanities and social sciences, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 158-165, 2023. 10. h. m. qader, h. q. birdawod, h. m. qader and b. s. sedeeq. capability process to optimize specification by impact of wavelet analysis. cihan university-erbil journal of humanities and social sciences, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 53-60, 2025. 11. d. kadir, a. rahim, d. jamil and d. saleh. proposed capability indices based on robust estimation compared with classical capability indices. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 49-53, 2023. 12. d. l. donoho and i. m. johnstone. ideal denoising in an orthonormal basis chosen from a library of bases. comptes rendus de l’académie des sciences series i paris a, vol. 319, pp. 1317-1322, 1994. 13. i. daubechies. ten lectures on wavelet. siam, philadelphia, pa, pp. 17-52, 53-106, 1992. 14. d. h. kadir, d. m. saleh and d. i. jamil. comparison between two estimators by using process capability with application. journal of arts, literature, humanities and social sciences, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 551-559, 2020. 15. a. h. massoudi and h. q. birdawod. applying knowledge management processes to improve institutional performance. cihan university-erbil journal of humanities and social sciences, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 1-10, 2023. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 128 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 128-131 research article effect of deep thermal therapy on knee osteoarthritis noora n. sharif1, karzan n. saleh2,3, tanya s. salih1, asma g. mohammad1 1department of physiotherapy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of physics, college of science, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of radiological imaging technologies, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract this study investigates the efficacy of deep thermal therapy, specifically shortwave and microwave diathermy, in managing knee osteoarthritis. osteoarthritis, characterized by joint degeneration and cartilage erosion, poses a significant health concern, particularly in weight-bearing joints such as the knee. physical modalities, including thermal therapies, have been widely employed for their potential to elevate tissue temperature, improve blood circulation, and mitigate pain. the research, conducted at erbil teaching hospital, focuses on 30 participants aged 38–68 with knee osteoarthritis. shortwave and microwave diathermy were applied every other day for 2 weeks. the study aims to assess the impact of these interventions on pain reduction, quality of life, and range of motion. initial findings indicate a substantial improvement, with the average pain score decreasing from 4.3 to 2.86 out of 10 post-treatment. in conclusion, the study suggests that deep thermal therapy, when coupled with regular physical exercise, offers significant benefits in managing knee osteoarthritis. the findings underscore the potential of these interventions in enhancing the well-being and functionality of individuals affected by this prevalent rheumatic ailment. further research and exploration in this direction hold promise for advancing osteoarthritis management strategies. keywords: deep thermal therapy, shortwave/microwave diathermy, pain reduction, range of motion, swelling reduction introduction osteoarthritis (oa) is the pre-eminent rheumatic ailment in developed nations, distinguished by joint degeneration, cartilage erosion, bone hardening, and the development of osteophytes.[1] it can be categorized as either primary or secondary, where primary oa arises from a combination of hereditary and environmental factors, whereas secondary oa is caused by factors such as joint trauma or excessive use.[2] knee oa is a primary cause of impairment, particularly in females, and is linked to pain, inflexibility, and diminished mobility in weightbearing joints.[3] the primary objective of treatment is alleviating symptoms and enhancing functionality, with interventions comprising weight reduction, medication, surgical procedures, and physical therapy.[4] physical modalities, such as shortwave diathermy and microwave diathermy, are frequently employed in physical therapy for joint disorders, as they can elevate tissue temperature, enhance blood circulation, mitigate pain, and modify the physical characteristics of fibrous tissue.[5] these interventions have the objective of mitigating joint discomfort, enhancing physical movement, and augmenting the overall quality of life for individuals affected by knee osteoarthritis.[6] materials and methods the study conducted at erbil teaching hospital aimed to determine the effect of deep therapy and exercise on knee osteoarthritis, specifically in terms of pain reduction, improved quality of life, and increased range of motion. the study included 30 patients aged 38–68 with knee osteoarthritis. the physical diagnosis was obtained through medical history, pain score, and swelling by tap measurements. shortwave and microwave diathermy were used for 2 weeks every other day. shortwave electromagnetic energy with a frequency of 27.12mhz and a wavelength of 11.06 m was applied for 10 min. microwave energy with a frequency of 2450mhz was also used. the study aimed to improve the methodology for assessing the effects of deep therapy and exercise on knee osteoarthritis.[6,7] cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: noora n. sharif, department of physiotherapy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: noora.nasraddin@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 26, 2024 accepted: october 25, 2024 published: december 10, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp128-131 copyright © 2024 noora n. sharif, karzan n. saleh, tanya s. salih, asma g. mohammad. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. sharif, et al.: effect of deep thermal therapy on knee osteoarthritis 129 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 128-131 results in this study, a total of 30 cases, evenly distributed across both genders, were examined. before the initiation of treatment, participants reported an average pain score of 4.3 out of 10. following the prescribed treatment, there was a notable improvement, with the post-treatment pain score decreasing to 2.86 out of 10. these findings are graphically represented in figure 1. in this study, 30 participants, with an equal distribution of male and female cases, were analyzed. the baseline pain score reported by participants averaged 4.3 out of 10. following the treatment protocol, a statistically significant reduction in pain was observed, with the post-treatment pain score averaging 2.86 out of 10 (p < 0.05, 95% ci: [2.3, 3.4]). table 1 provides a graphical representation of pain scores over time, highlighting the trend in pain reduction for the group. descriptive statistics for the sample of 30 participants are presented in the table 2. the age of the participants ranged from 32 to 78, with a mean age of 57.27 years and a standard deviation of 11.182. regarding weight, participants had a weight range of 60–111, with a mean weight of 82.17 and a standard deviation of 11.061. these statistics provide a snapshot of the central tendency and variability within the sample for both age and weight. the “valid n (listwise)” row indicates that there were no missing values in the dataset, and all 30 cases were considered for the analysis. the table 3 presents a breakdown of the gender distribution in the sample, including frequency, percentage, valid percentage, and cumulative percentage. the participants are divided into two categories: male and female. each gender constitutes 50% of the sample, with 15 participants in each category. the “valid percent” column indicates that all responses are valid, contributing to 100% of the dataset. the “cumulative percent” column illustrates the cumulative proportion of participants as we progress through the categories. the figure 2 and table 4 outlines the distribution of cases based on the affected side, detailing frequency, percentage, valid percentage, and cumulative percentage. participants were categorized into three groups: right, left, and bilateral. • the “right” side was affected in 20% of cases (six participants) • the “left” side was affected in 26.7% of cases (eight participants) • bilateral effects were observed in 53.3% of cases (16 participants). discussion in this study, a total of 30 cases, evenly distributed across both genders, were examined. before the initiation of treatment, participants reported an average pain score of 4.3 out of 10. following the prescribed treatment, there was a notable improvement, with the post-treatment pain score decreasing to 2.86 out of 10. these findings are graphically represented in table 1.[8] among the patients, 26.67% experienced effects specifically on the left side, 20.0% reported impact on the right side, and a significant portion, accounting for 53.33%, exhibited bilateral involvement.[9] descriptive statistics for the sample of 30 participants are presented in the table below. the age of the participants ranged from 32 to 78, with a mean age of 57.27 years and a standard deviation of 11.182. regarding weight, participants had a weight range of 60–111, with a mean weight of 82.17 and a standard deviation of 11.061.[10]. the table presents a breakdown of the gender distribution in the sample, including frequency, percentage, valid percentage, and cumulative percentage. the participants are divided into two categories: male and female. each gender constitutes 50% of the sample, with 15 participants in each category.[11] the table outlines the distribution of cases based on the affected side, detailing frequency, percentage, valid percentage, and cumulative percentage. participants were categorized into three groups: right, left, and bilateral. the “right” side was affected in 20% of cases (six participants), the “left” side was affected in 26.7% of cases (eight participants), and bilateral effects were observed in 53.3% of cases (16 participants).[12,13] 4.3 2.866666667 0 5 1 2 pain score figure 1: pain scores over time for group patient information and history clinical assessment using pain scale treatment used microwave and shortwave for 3 times per weeks for 2 weeks. swd frequency of 27.12mhz and a wavelength of 11 m. for 10 min duration. the frequency most commonly used for microwave diathermy is 2,450 mhz and wavelength 12 cm for 10 min duration follow up (after 2 weeks) pain scale sharif, et al.: effect of deep thermal therapy on knee osteoarthritis 130 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 128-131 conclusion the utilization of physical equipment, specifically in the form of deep thermal therapy such as shortwave and microwave, proves to be advantageous for enhancing the range of motion and managing various factors associated with osteoarthritis. these benefits encompass the mitigation of pain, reduction of swelling, and improvement in variables such as muscle strength, joint movement amplitude, and stiffness, as well as enhancements in daily life activities and overall quality of life among individuals with varying levels of osteoarthritis. it is noteworthy that the positive effects of this treatment approach are further amplified when coupled with regular physical exercise. this combined intervention demonstrates a promising avenue for improving the well-being and functionality of individuals grappling with osteoarthritis. recommendations optimizing osteoarthritis management includes individualized treatment plans, a multidisciplinary approach involving health-care professionals, encouragement of regular physical exercise, comprehensive patient education, long-term follow-up strategies, ensuring accessibility and affordability, ongoing research and innovation, and collaboration with rehabilitation centers. implementing these recommendations can contribute to more effective and accessible interventions, ultimately improving the well-being of individuals dealing with osteoarthritis. references 1. i. b. mcinnes and g. schett. pathogenetic insights from the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. the lancet, vol. 389, no. 10086, pp. 2328-2337, 2017. 2. a. e. karateev. analgesics for rheumatic diseases a necessary component of therapy aimed at improving the quality of life. modern rheumatology journal, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 101-107, 2022. 3. a. minerbi and m. a. fitzcharles. clinical pain management in the rheumatic diseases. in: clinical pain management: a practical guide. wiley, blackwell, uk, pp. 325-335, 2022. 4. f. perez-ruiz. opening editorial for exploration in musculoskeletal diseases. exploration of musculoskeletal diseases, vol. 1, pp. 1-3, 2022. 5. a. thoker. post stroke risk factors of fall during rehabilitation in elderly patients. journal of physiotherapy and rehabilitation, vol. 6, p. 208, 2021. 6. o.o. melnyk. immunobiological drugs in the treatment of rheumatic diseases. kidneys, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 220-226, 2023. https://doi.org/10.22141/2307-1257.8.3.2019.176456 7. f. n. hidayah, a. f. naufal and a. pradana. physiotherapy management in bilateral knee osteoarthritis by providing table 4: distribution of cases based on the affected side side affected side frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent right 6 20.0 20.0 20.0 left 8 26.7 26.7 46.7 bilateral 16 53.3 53.3 100.0 total 30 100.0 100.0 table 2: descriptive statistics variable n minimum maximum mean std. deviation age 30 32 78 57.27 11.182 weight 30 60 111 82.17 11.061 table 3: gender genders frequency percent valid percent cumulative percent male 15 50.0 50.0 50.0 female 15 50.0 50.0 100.0 total 30 100.0 100.0 table 1: pain scores over time for group group sample size (n) pre-treatment pain score (mean±sd) post-treatment pain score (mean±sd) mean difference p-value 95% confidence interval total participants 30 4.3±1.2 2.86±1.1 1.44 <0.05 [2.3, 3.4] figure 2: side direction illustration of the patient sharif, et al.: effect of deep thermal therapy on knee osteoarthritis 131 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 128-131 manual therapy and exercise therapy: case report. fisio mu: physiotherapy evidences, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 220-226, 2023. 8. d. baldock, m. thoo, r. connolly, and e. baynton. pos0686 gender differences in the management of spondyloarthritis (spa) patients. annals of the rheumatic diseases, vol. 82, pp. 626-627, 2023. 9. j. lee, s. y. kang, s. lee, h. kim, e. koh and h. s. cha. ab0983 the difference in disease activity scores and treatment response according to gender in patients with axial spondyloarthritis. annals of the rheumatic diseases, vol. 82, pp. 1711-1712, 2023. 10. y. van der kraan, d. paap, h. timmerman, f. wink, s. arends, m. reneman and a. spoorenberg. pos0365 sex differences concerning experienced pain in patients with axial spondyloarthritis. annals of the rheumatic diseases, vol. 82, pp. 434, 2023. 11. f. fernandes, n. navasardyan, m. j. santos, m. talih and r. lucas. pos0738 childhood abdominal/pelvic pain as a predictor of recurrent musculoskeletal pain in adolescent boys and girls: a prospective population-based study. annals of the rheumatic diseases, vol. 82, p. 659, 2023. 12. a. r. bihlet, p. alexandersen, j. r. andersen, y. li, m. karsdal and c. p. miller. pos1361 the influence of baseline demographics on variability of oa pain assessed by womac pain change from baseline in interventional trials. annals of the rheumatic diseases, vol. 82, p. 1032, 2023. 13. n. n. sharif and r. t. ali. effective of continuous therapeutic ultrasound combined with exercises for rotator cuff diseases. journal of pharmaceutical negative results, vol. 13, pp. 32643274, 2022. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 31-35 research article vitamin d levels in coronavirus-infected individuals and its correlation with certain hematological markers muhsin h. ubeid1, ameena s. m. juma2, shakir m. al-awqati3, tanya s. salih4, muhamed a. abbas5 1department of anesthesia technologies, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of anesthesia technologies, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of physiotherapy, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 5college of pharmacy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the world and nearly all our health-care systems were confronted by a significant threat declared by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2). determining the sars-cov-2 or covid-19’s prognostic and modifiable measures surely would largely contribute to outcome improvement despite the deficiency of causative therapy that affected nearly 200 million people, 3.5 million fatal incidences, and it is still airborne. the research examined probable relations between the levels of vitamin d (vitd) and immunological markers. hence, a sample of 200 lecturers and students from cihan university-erbil were assigned (150 males and 50  females), aged 22–25, with some respondents being treated for a previous covid-19 infection. the results showed that 98 (or 49%) of the 200 samples had covid-19 infection. males 60/98 had a greater prevalence rate (61%), while females 38/98 had a lower rate (39%). according to immunological elisa results, every patient had positive igg antibodies and negative igm antibodies. compared to the healthy group, the serum levels of ige rose considerably in covid-19 patients. however, compared to the healthy group, the serum level of vitamin d3 in the covid-19-recovered patients showed a considerable reduction. the mean results for hematological parameters indicated a non-significant increase in the number of red blood cells relative to the healthy group but a significant increase in the wbc count, hb concentration, and platelets. thus, the result indicates the necessity for interventional studies on vitamin d supplementation in sars-cov-2-infected persons by showing a correlation between vitamin d deficit and wbc count during covid-19 recovery. keywords: covid-19, recovery, vitamin d, ige, hematology introduction up until the severe acute respiratory syndrome (sars) outbreak in 2002, coronaviruses (cov2) were mainly known to cause mild respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses. however, around that time, they also showed signs of serious pathogenicity in humans and the ability to spread infectiously.[1] scholars[2] named (3) beta coronaviruses: sars-cov-2, middle east respiratory syndrome-cov, and sars-cov2 that prompted to sweeping breakouts causing human fatality rates to amplify the past two decades. sars-cov-2 in particular, up to the present time, originated in the killing of nearly 3 million and affected about 130 million citizens.[3] according to rasheed et al. [4] and habib et al.,[5] the first case was reported from iraq on february 24th and the first case from basrah on march 9th. the total number of reported cases is still quite low despite a rise in newly detected cases. it is not clear how many of these situations there are in reality. the identification of successful cases, which reduced the infection reservoir, social isolation, and personal security measures that disrupted transmission, and the closure of iraq’s borders with other nations – particularly iran, which may have been the main source of the first covid-19 cases – are other factors that may have contributed to the reduction in the incidence.[4] however, the covid-19 strain that is corresponding author: muhsin h. ubeid, department of general biology, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: muhsin.hmeadi@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 26, 2024 accepted: july 02, 2024 published: july 30, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp31-35 copyright© 2024 muhsin h. ubeid, ameena s. m. juma, shakir m. al-awqati, tanya s. salih, muhamed a. abbas. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ubeid, et al.: vitamin d levels in coronavirus-infected individuals 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 31-35 currently causing most cases has entered iraq and spread throughout the world.[6] determining the exact cause of sickness, be it coronavirus or any other cause, requires a covid-19 diagnosis. although there are numerous testing options, an immunological screen test for immunoglobulins is the quickest.[3] the benefits and drawbacks of vitamin d supplementation have been widely discussed, with both sides presenting strong cases. the discussion has intensified due to the covid-19 pandemic.[4] while vitamin d specialists welcomed the request for additional testing, many in the scientific community expressed worry about the absence of clear standards in light of covid-19. numerous experts have determined that taking supplements of vitamin d is generally healthy and that any potential low toxicity will undoubtedly be offset by any prospective benefits regarding the safety of covid-19.[7] the purpose of this study is to look at potential relationships between vitamin d levels and certain blood parameters, such as pcv, wbc, and rbc in patients who have positive covid-19 immunoglobulin levels. methodology blood samples from the retrieved cases, a total of 98 aseptic blood samples were taken. using sterile, disposable syringes, 7 ml of blood were taken from each patient and control group. blood samples were put into an edta tube (2 ml) for hematological parameter testing and a gel tube (5 ml), which was centrifuged at 2500 rpm for 15 min to collect serum. each patient’s serum was kept in eppendorf tubes at −20°c until it was needed for elisa to estimate the levels of igm and igg antibodies and cobas e411 to estimate the levels of ige and vitamin d3. il-10 elisa test the serum sample was thawed and brought to room temperature before the antibodies (igm and igg) test was run on each sample using the elisa assay. hematological tests within an hour after sample collection, the complete blood count for each case and control group was determined using the automated medonic three-parameter coulter. immunological test utilizing a fully automated cobas e411 to ascertain the quantity of each component in serum, the ige and vitamin d3 tests were carried out. statistical analysis after statistical evaluation and analysis, the data were arranged in tables. version 20 of the statistical package for the social sciences computer application was utilized. student’s t-test was used to compare quantitative variables. if the p < 0.05 or 0.01 for the results, they were deemed significant and highly significant, respectively. results gender of the covid-19-recovered patients figure 1 represents the percentage of the gender of covid-19-recovered patients. the number of patients was (98), 38 (39%) were females, and 60 (61%) were males. positive and negative cases of igm and igg among covid-19-recovered patients results showed that all participants were negative for igm antibodies and all were positive for igg antibodies [table 1]. mean serum levels of ige among covid-19-recovered patients and healthy group table 2 shows that the mean serum concentration of ige from covid-19 patients is highly increased when compared with the healthy control group (p < 0.1). mean serum levels of vitamin d3 among covid-19-recovered patients and healthy group the means of serum vitamin d3 levels in covid-19-recovered patients were significantly low (p < 0.01) when compared to the healthy group [table 3]. mean levels of hematological parameters among covid-19-recovered patients and healthy group table 4 shows all means of hematological parameters versus healthy group mean levels. when the mean of total wbc count in covid-19-recovered patients was compared to the healthy group, it showed a highly significant increase (p < 0.01). while the mean level of lymphocyte counts reveals a highly significant decrease when compared to the healthy group (p < 0.01), the mean of granulocyte counts of covid-19-recovered patients presents a non-significant rise in comparison to the mean neutrophil counts of the healthy figure 1: gender of the covid-19-recovered patients ubeid, et al.: vitamin d levels in coronavirus-infected individuals 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 31-35 group (p ≥ 0.05). however, the mean counts of monocytes showed a non-significant difference between covid-19recovered patients and the healthy group (p ≥ 0.05). the mean count of rbc in covid-19-recovered patients showed a non-significant rise when compared to the healthy group (p ≥ 0.05). the mean concentration of hb reveals a highly significant increase when compared to the healthy group (p < 0.01). platelet mean count presents a significant rise when compared to the healthy group (p < 0.05). discussion from 98 blood samples (60 males and 38 females), the results indicated that 20 were infected with covid-19. among patients with covid-19, the majority of cases were among the male group 60/98 (61%), while in the female group, the prevalence was 38/98 (39%). this may be due to the males in our region are more exposed to people when compared with females who spend most of their time at home with their families. another reason may be due to females having more awareness in comparison with the males in sanitation level. the test results indicated that for igm antibodies among 98 samples, all of them were negative (100%), while for igg antibodies, all samples were positive (100%). at the same time, ige antibody level in the serum of covid-19-recovered patients is significantly increased compared to the healthy group. serum vitamin d3 detection among covid-19-recovered patients revealed that means were highly significantly declined (mean ± se 17.99 ± 1.34) (p < 0.01) when compared to the healthy group (mean ± se 30.61 ± 1.54). note that there is disagreement over the cut-off vitamin d level for assessing vitamin d sufficiency or deficiency. given the importance of vitamin d3 for immune system function, many individuals wonder if taking supplements of the vitamin could reduce the risk of contracting the new coronavirus that causes covid-19. although there is currently no cure for covid-19, you can avoid contracting the virus by taking precautionary steps, such as physical isolation and maintaining basic hygiene. in addition, some research indicates that maintaining healthy vitamin d levels will strengthen your immune system and potentially guard against respiratory illnesses in general. a recent study by maghbooli et al.[8] found that hospitalized covid-19 patients with adequate vitamin d levels had a decreased risk of adverse outcomes and mortality. the study found that 32.8% of covid-19 patients at sina hospital in tehran, iran, had vitamin d insufficiency. several of researchers have recently discussed the role that vitamin d plays in preventing covid-19 or in treating table 1: positive and negative igm and igg among covid-19-recovered patients parameter no. positive cases negative cases (%) (%) igm (ng/ml) 98 0 100 igg (ng/ml) 98 100 0 table 4: mean levels of hematological parameters among covid-19-recovered patients and healthy group hematological parameters covid-19-recovered patients healthy group t-test p-value p-value no. mean±se no. mean±se total wbc 103/µl 98 6.77±0.16 20 6.45±0.13 0.010 h.s.** lymphocyte 103/µl 98 2.04±0.06 20 2.85±0.13 0.000 h.s.** monocyte 103/µl 98 0.49±0.01 20 0.50±0.06 0.791 n.s. granulocyte 103/µl 98 4.22±1.08 20 4.08±0.14 0.491 n.s. rbc 106/µl 98 4.99±0.12 20 4.05±0.13 0.703 n.s. hb g/dl 98 14.66±0.16 20 12.95±0.13 0.000 h.s.** platelet 103/µl 98 223.68±0.30 20 206.75±6.90 0.048 s. * p: probability; p value≥0.05: non‑significant; *p value<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant table 2: mean serum levels of ige among covid-19-recovered patients in comparison to healthy control group parameter no. covid-19-recovered patients no. healthy group t-test p-value p-value mean±se mean±se ige (ng/ml) 98 142.27±33.80 20 30.61±1.54 0.01 h.s.** p: probability, p value≥0.05: non‑significant; *p value<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant, se: stander error table 3: mean serum levels of vitamin d3 among covid-19-recovered patients in comparison to the healthy control group parameter no. covid-19-recovered patients no. healthy group t-test p-value p-value mean±se mean±se vitamin d3 (ng/ml) 98 17.99±1.34 20 38.62±1.47 0.01 h.s.** p: probability; p value≥0.05: non‑significant; *p value<0.05: significant; **p<0.01: highly significant, se: stander error ubeid, et al.: vitamin d levels in coronavirus-infected individuals 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 31-35 sars-cov2 patients using vitamin d as an intervention. the recommendation is mostly predicated on how vitamin d level affects influenza infectious illness.[8-11] other researchers affirmed that the immune system is the first defensive line in our bodies which requires vitamin d to sustain our protection against infection and diseases by increasing immunological response. it retains anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory effects to trigger the activation to protect.[8,12,13] while others mentioned, vitamin d has improved immune cell activity and consequently our defensive system, i.e., t-cells and macrophages.[14-17] hematological parameter results showed that the total wbc count among covid-19-recovered patients was highly significantly increased (mean ± se 6.77 ± 0.16) (p < 0.01). furthermore, the mean level of lymphocyte counts reveals a highly significant decrease (mean ± se 2.04 ± 0.06) when compared to the healthy group (mean ± se 2.85 ± 0.13) (p < 0.01). while these results showed the mean monocyte count there was no significant difference between those recovering from covid-19 patients and the healthy group (p ≥ 0.05). the mean count of total rbc counts in covid-19-recovered patients showed a non-significant rise when compared to the healthy group (p ≥ 0.05). however, the mean concentration of hb reveals a highly significant increase (mean ± se 14.66 ± 0.16) compared to the healthy group (p < 0.01). finally, the platelet mean counts present a significant rise when compared to the healthy group (p < 0.05). a study by maghbooli et al.[8] recorded severe leukocytosis (29.2%) in patients, with only one patient presenting with severe leukopenia (wbc < 2 × 109/l). it was also mentioned that lymphopenia was featured in 36.9% of patients (absolute lymphocyte count, 0.5-1 × 109/l), which indicates that our current results are in agreement with maghbooli et al.[8] alteration in the immune response was clear from other studies concerning cytokines in covid-19 patients.[17-19] conclusion this study showed that most covid-19-recovered patients were men. elisa detection for igm revealed that all samples were negative. at the same time, for igg, all samples were positive. vitamin d among recovered patients with covid-19 has decreased significantly, requiring taking vitamin d supplementation to avoid immune deficiency. all recovered patients have various hematological parameters that revealed a significant increase in total wbc, hb, and platelets. in contrast, the rbc count had a non-significant rise in comparison with the healthy group. the total means of serum vitamin d3 levels in covid-19-recovered patients were highly significantly declined when compared to the healthy group. references 1. z. song, y. xu, l. bao, l. zhang, p. yu, y. qu, h. zhu, w. zhao, y. han and c. qin. from sars to mers, thrusting coronaviruses into the spotlight. viruses, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 59, 2019. 2. c. drosten, s. günther, w. preiser, s. van der werf, h. r. brodt, s. becker, h. rabenau, m. panning, l. kolesnikova, r. a. fouchier, a. berger, a. m. burguière, j. cinatl, m. eickmann, n. escriou, k. grywna, s. kramme, j. c. manuguerra, s. müller,… and v. rickerts. identification of a novel coronavirus in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome. new england journal of medicine, vol. 348, no. 20, pp. 1967-1976, 2003. 3. s. felsenstein, j. a. herbert, p. s. mcnamara and c. m. hedrich. covid-19: immunology and treatment options. clinical immunology, vol. 215, p. 108448, 2020. 4. a. m. rasheed, d. f. fatak, h. a. hashim, m. f. maulood, k. k. kabah, y. a. almusawi and a. s. abdulamir. the therapeutic effectiveness of convalescent plasma therapy on treating covid-19 patients residing in respiratory care units in baghdad, iraq. le infezioni in medicina, vol. 28, pp. 357-366, 2020. 5. o. s. habib, a. k. alkanan and n. q. mohammed. epidemiological features of covid-19 epidemic in basrah-southern iraq-first report. the medical journal of basrah university, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 7-18, 2020. 6. m. a. ibrahim and a. al-najafi. modeling, control, and prediction of the spread of covid-19 using compartmental, logistic, and gauss models: a case study in iraq and egypt. processes, vol. 8, no. 11, p. 1400, 2020. 7. n. ali. role of vitamin d in preventing of covid-19 infection, progression and severity. journal of infection and public health, vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 1373-1380, 2020. 8. z. maghbooli, m. a. sahraian, m. ebrahimi, m. pazoki, s. kafan, h. m. tabriz, a. hadadi, m. montazeri, m. nasiri, a. shirvani and m. f. holick. vitamin d sufficiency, a serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d at least 30 ng/ml reduced risk for adverse clinical outcomes in patients with covid-19 infection. plos one, vol. 15, no. 9, p. e0239799, 2020. 9. a. mittal, k. manjunath, r. k. ranjan, s. kaushik, s. kumar and v. verma. covid-19 pandemic: insights into structure, function, and hace2 receptor recognition by sars-cov-2. plos pathogens, vol. 16, no. 8, p. e1008762, 2020. 10. n. vankadari and j. a. wilce. emerging covid-19 coronavirus: glycan shield and structure prediction of spike glycoprotein and its interaction with human cd26. emerging microbes and infections, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 601-604, 2020. 11. g. feketea, v. vlacha, i. c. bocsan, e. vassilopoulou, l. a. stanciu and m. zdrenghea. vitamin d in corona virus disease 2019 (covid-19) related multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (mis-c). frontiers in immunology, vol. 12, p. 648546, 2021. 12. w. b. grant, h. lahore, s. l. mcdonnell, c. a. baggerly, c. b. french, j. l. aliano and h. p. bhattoa. evidence that vitamin d supplementation could reduce risk of influenza and covid-19 infections and deaths. nutrients, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 988, 2020. 13. t. s. salih, a. s. m. juma and m. h. ubeid. occupational exposures and associated health effects among dumpsite workers. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 1-5, 2021. 14. j. cannell, r. vieth, j. c. umhau, m. f. holick, w. b. grant, s. madronich, c. f. garland and e. giovannucci. epidemic influenza and vitamin d. epidemiology and infection, vol. 134, no. 6, pp. 1129-1140, 2006. 15. a. a. ginde, j. m. mansbach and c. a. camargo jr. association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d level and upper respiratory tract infection in the third national health and nutrition examination survey. archives of internal medicine, vol. 169, no. 4, pp.384-390, 2009. 16. c. l. greiller and a. r. martineau. modulation of the immune response to respiratory viruses by vitamin d. nutrients, vol. 7, no. 6, pp. 4240-4270, 2015. 17. r. bouillon, c. marcocci, g. carmeliet, d. bikle, j. h. white, b. dawson-hughes, p. lips, c. f. munns, m. lazaretti-castro, a. giustina and j. bilezikian. skeletal and extraskeletal actions of vitamin d: current evidence and outstanding questions. endocrine reviews, vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 1109-1151, 2019. 18. m. h. ubeid. interlukin-6 levels in relation to covid-19 vaccine. ubeid, et al.: vitamin d levels in coronavirus-infected individuals 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 31-35 in: 4th international conference on biological and health sciences (cic-biohs’2022). cihan university-erbil, iraq, 2022. 19. m. h. ubeid, t. s. salih and a. s. m. juma. hiv, hbs and hcv in dump site workers of erbil governorate. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 20-23, 2021. 20. t. hai, f. a. alenizi, m. h. ubeid, v. goyal, f. m. alhomayani and a. s. m. metwally. using machine learning for comparative optimizing a novel integration of molten carbonate and solid oxide fuel cells with co2 recovering and gasification. international journal of hydrogen energy, vol. 48, no. 97, pp. 38454-3847, 2023. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 original article a recently formulated individual control chart designed for quality control applications within the health-care domain dler h. kadir1, dlshad m. saleh2, dashty i. jamil3 1department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq, 2department of accounting and financial, college of administration and economics lebanese french university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of accounting, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract quality control charts are based on data that is also used for various statistical analyses, such as regression, time series analysis, and other types of analyses. this implies that the data used to create these charts may contain outliers, potentially compromising their accuracy. to eliminate any potential noise or pollution from the data, a researcher proposed using wavelet shrinkage with a threshold and comparing the resulting data with shewhart’s individual chart. based on this, a new quality control chart was proposed and built using a universal approach for assessing the level of thresholding, representing the individual chart for wavelet haar with soft and hard thresholding. following that, a comparison was performed between them as well as with shewhart’s individual chart. this letter’s most significant conclusion is that in addition to using two real data points—triglyceride, which was recorded by a laboratory blood analyzer in al-jumhuri and at the specialized center for cardiology hospital in erbil governorate—it may be possible to use wavelet shrinkage with a threshold to address issues of noise or pollution when shewhart’s individual chart was made and used. moreover, the wavelet method effectively reduces deviation, as demonstrated in both sets of data. keywords: quality control, individual chart, wavelet process, laboratory testing, deviation introduction a control chart for laboratory testing typically involves plotting test results over time to monitor variation. it includes a centerline representing the mean and control limits indicating acceptable variation. outliers beyond these limits may signal process issues. control charts in laboratory testing offer several benefits, including early detection of process variations, identification of systematic issues, improved quality control, enhanced consistency in results, and the ability to make informed decisions based on statistical analysis.[1] quality control charts, also known as statistical process control charts, are tools used to monitor and control processes. they help identify variations and maintain quality standards by plotting data points over time. wavelet filters are mathematical functions used in wavelet transformations for signal processing. they analyze signals at different scales and resolutions, allowing for a more detailed examination of both high and low-frequency components. these filters play a crucial role in applications, such as image compression, de-noising, and feature extraction. creating a quality control chart with wavelet analysis involves using wavelet transform techniques to analyze and represent the signal characteristics. you can start by applying wavelet transform to your quality data to identify patterns or abnormalities at different scales. then, plot the transformed data on a control chart to visually assess variations. implementing this may require specific tools or programming languages with wavelet analysis capabilities.[2] quality control charts and wavelet analysis are both tools used in statistical process control, but they serve different purposes. 1. quality control charts: • purpose: quality control charts, such as x-bar, individual and r charts, monitor process stability, and detect variations in a production process. corresponding author: dler h. kadir, department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: dler.kadir@su.edu.krd received: may 25, 2024 accepted: june 28, 2024 published: july 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp9-18 copyright © 2024 dler h. kadir, dlshad m. saleh, dashty i. jamil. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 • usage: they are effective for identifying common cause and special cause variations, helping to maintain consistent quality. 2. wavelet analysis: • purpose: wavelet analysis is a mathematical technique used for signal processing, revealing patterns at different scales in a dataset. • usage: it is often applied in various fields to analyze time-series data, image processing, and more. in quality control, wavelets can be used to identify patterns or trends at different frequencies in a time series. • quality control charts primarily focus on overall process stability, while wavelet analysis provides a more detailed view of patterns and variations at different scales. • combining both approaches could enhance the understanding of a process. for example, if a quality control chart indicates a shift, wavelet analysis might help identify the specific time scale or frequency of the change. in summary, quality control charts monitor overall process stability, while wavelet analysis delves into the details of patterns and variations within the data. integrating these approaches can offer a comprehensive view of process dynamics and help in effective quality management. materials and methods the quality control data, including daily records of white blood cells (wbc) and triglyceride levels, were arranged and analyzed. the data were recorded by a laboratory blood analyzer in al-jumhuri and at the specialized center for cardiology hospital in erbil governorate. using the wavelet shrinkage method to establish a new individual control chart, and then compared results with the traditional individual shewhart method. control control the process of monitoring and inspecting a production process to keep conforming to the standards to produce a high percentage of acceptance quality.[1] such control typically consists of four steps.[2] 1. setting quality criteria. 2. appraising conformity to these standards. 3. taking action when the requirements are not met. 4. planning for improvements in the standards. quality quality generally refers to the standard or degree of excellence of something, often measured against a set of criteria. it can encompass characteristics such as durability, accuracy, effectiveness, or overall excellence in a given context.[2] quality control quality control is the use of techniques and activities to achieve, sustain, and improve the quality of a product or service. it involves the integration of the following related techniques and activities.[3] 1. a description of the requirements. 2. the product or service’s design to adhere to the requirements 3. production or installation that complies with the standard in its entirety. 4. inspection to determine compliance with specifications. 5. examine the updated specification, if necessary. on production, quality control is split into two sections.[3] a. process control is part of the quality system that deals with keeping an eye on and enhancing the manufacturing process through the study of patterns and indicators of problems with quality or chances to improve quality. b. product control: this is an inspection procedure that includes monitoring products both in the field and at the production source. determining whether or not the product complies with the objectives for product quality is the goal of the control. variation the variation concept is a law of nature, in that no two natural items in any category are exactly the same. according to besterfield’s[3] idea “the ability to measure variation is necessary before it can be controlled.[3] source of variations stochastic (also known as random) and non-stochastic (sometimes known as deterministic) variation are the two different forms of variation. 1. random sources of variation: there are numerous intricate factors that contribute to this kind of variation, which is difficult to completely eliminate or regulate but is manageable. some are inherited from the production process, some are unobservable, and there are small processing variations. 2. variations with assignable causes are those that are observable and whose causes can be accurately determined and removed.[4] quality characteristics two major groups of quality attributes are distinguished:[5] 1. measurable qualities: features that can be measured and expressed as a number on some continuous scales of measurement are called measurable characteristics, and the control charts utilized for this type are called variable charts. 2. immeasurable characteristics: immeasurable characteristics are those that are difficult to quantify or even measure on a continuous scale. the control charts that are used to manage these kinds of characteristics are known as attribute charts.[6] quality control charts a quality control chart is a statistical tool used to monitor and control a process over time. it helps identify variations and maintain consistency in production by plotting data points against predetermined control limits.[7] walter a. shewhart of the bell telephone laboratories created the first quality control chart in 1924, and he and his collaborator continued to enhance it. in 1931, he provided a comprehensive explication of control charts.[8] kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 the idea of shewhart shewhart used the normal distribution in his chart construction see fig.1, and statistical inference and sampling theory provided the statistical underpinnings for the creation and application of quality control charts. he came to the conclusion that a distribution’s mean and standard deviation can be estimated to convert it into a normal shape. question shewhart posed was whether the production process was proceeding smoothly and organically and whether the points on the chart corresponded to a normal distribution. for these reasons, shewhart had to build his charts using the normal distribution.[9] a stable distribution was defined as one where variation does not exceed the set limits more than 0.27% of the time if the process is under statistical control. to arrive at a definition of a stable distribution, shewhart used the central limit theorem. the theorem has three aspects which relate to control charts: a normal distribution curve (bell shape) is formed by the distribution of averages from individual item averages of a certain population. three parallel lines make up shewhart control charts see fig.2, and they are as follows:[10] 1. the mean or overall average, of the quality feature being monitored, is represented by the letter t as the center line (also known as the target line) of the control chart. 2. for a process in a state of control, the upper control limit is the greatest allowable deviation from the mean. represented mathematically as: ucl = t+3σ (1) 3. for a process in a state of control, the lower control limit is the greatest allowable deviation from the mean. represented mathematically as: lcl = t−3σ (2) where the horizontal axis represents the sequence of samples (or time), while the vertical axis represents the quality characteristic. classification of control charts control charts may be classified into two main types, which are:[10] variables control charts when the goods produced are measurable (in one of the units of measurement), these charts are utilized in product process control. when creating charts, it is ideally necessary to have a minimum of 25 samples and a minimum of four units for each sample (individual charts excluded). there is only one attribute or characteristic to which variable charts can be used. a. individual – chart (or x-chart) b. average – chart (or -chart) c. standard deviationchart (or s-chart) d. range chart (or r-chart). individual – chart (or x-chart) this chart is used to control the quality of the product. the target line for this chart represents the overall average for all observations of the same process. the (upper and lower) control limits are put at (±3 standard deviation) from the target line. attributes control charts attributes control charts are statistical tools used in quality control to monitor and control processes that produce discrete or categorical data. unlike variable control charts that deal with continuous measurements, attributed control charts are designed for attributes or counts, often expressed in terms of proportions or percentages.[11] common types of attributed control charts include: 1. p-chart (proportion chart). 2. c-chart (count chart). 3. u-chart. uses of control charts control charts are used in quality control to monitor and maintain the stability of processes over time. here are a few key applications.[1] 1. process monitoring: • detecting and identifying any variations or shifts in a process that may lead to defects. • tracking the stability of the process by comparing observed data points with control limits. 2. quality improvement: • identifying the root causes of process variability or defects. • implementing corrective actions based on insights gained from control chart analysis. 3. decision-making: • making informed decisions about whether a process is operating within acceptable limits. • determining when to intervene and take corrective actions to prevent defects. 4. continuous improvement: • facilitating continuous improvement efforts by providing real-time feedback on process performance. statistical analysis to read and understand the plotted points on the chart and determine whether or not the production process is under statistical control, the person in charge of using quality control charts should be knowledgeable in the science of statistics. based on this analysis, he will make the following decision:[11] the control process a process is said to be under a state of control when all assignable causes have been removed to the point that control chart points stay within the designated bounds. variation is a natural occurrence when a process is under control. out-of-control process a process that is out of control is one that has changed as a result of assignable reasons. the process is considered to be out of control when a point (subgroup value) exceeds its control limits or when an abnormal pattern of variation arises. this indicates that there are identifiable sources of variance.[1,4] kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 wavelets process a wavelet process involves analyzing signals or time-series data using wavelet transformations. wavelet transforms are mathematical tools that decompose a signal into different frequency components and time scales. wavelet processes find applications in various fields, including signal processing, image compression, quality control, and feature extraction. implementing a wavelet process often involves using programming languages or tools that support wavelet analysis.[12] wavelet types 1. haar. 2. beylkin (18) wavelet. 3. coiflet (6, 12, 18, 24, 30). 4. daubechies wavelet (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20). 5. binomial-qmf. 6. mathieu wavelet. 7. haar wavelet. 8. legendre wavelet. 9. villasenor wavelet. 10. symlet wavelet. haar wavelet a series of “square-shaped” functions that have been rescaled and combined to form a wavelet family or basis is known as a haar wavelet in mathematics. wavelet analysis and fourier analysis are comparable in that they both enable the representation of a target function over an interval in terms of an orthonormal basis.[13] the haar sequence is widely used as a teaching example and is now acknowledged as the first wavelet basis see fig.3. it was and is now acknowledged as the first wavelet basis. it was alfréd haar who first proposed the haar sequence in 1909. wavelet transform wavelet transform is a mathematical tool used for signal processing and image compression. it decomposes a signal into different frequency components, allowing both time and frequency information to be analyzed simultaneously. it is particularly useful for handling non-stationary signals with varying frequency content.[14] discrete wavelet transform (dwt) dwt is a specific type of wavelet transform that operates on discrete data. it decomposes a signal into approximation and detail coefficients at different resolution levels. dwt is widely used in signal processing tasks such as image compression, denoising, and feature extraction due to its ability to capture both low and high-frequency components efficiently.[15] given a vector of a signal x consisting of 2j observation where j an integer is. the dwt of x is w = wx (3) where w is an n*1 vector comprising both discrete scaling and wavelet coefficients. the vector of wavelet coefficients can be organized into j+1 vectors. [ ]= 0 01, 2,..., , t w w w wj vj where wj is a length = 2 jj nn vector of wavelet coefficients (details) associated with changes on a scale of length λj = 2j−1 symboled as cd, and vj0 is a length =0 2 jj nn vector of scaling coefficients (approximation or smoothing) associated with an average on a scale of length λj0 = 2j0 symboled as ca, and w is an orthonormal n*n matrix associated with the orthonormal wavelet basis chosen.[16] after each dwt, the approximation coefficients are divided into bands using the same filter as before, with the result that the details are appended with the details of the latest decomposition, at each level, the signal can be reconstructed of the de-noise signal by the inverse transform.[17] 0 0 0 1 j t t t j j j j x ww w w v v = = = +∑ (4) wavelet shrinkage wavelet shrinkage is a technique used in signal and image processing, particularly with the dwt. it involves thresholding the wavelet coefficients to reduce or eliminate noise while preserving important signal features. by setting small coefficients to zero based on a specified threshold, wavelet shrinkage helps enhance the signal-to-noise ratio and improve the overall quality of the processed data.[16] the wavelet shrinkage based on thresholding of the wavelet coefficients, well discussed in the next section, attempts to recover a signal θ(t) from noisy a signal x(t). x(t) = θ(t)+ξ(t) (5) where ζ (t) represents a noise. thresholding method thresholding is a method used in signal and image processing to simplify or segment data by setting values above or below a certain threshold to specific levels. in the context of wavelet shrinkage, for example, thresholding involves setting coefficients below a certain threshold to zero, effectively removing noise and retaining relevant information. various thresholding methods exist, such as hard thresholding and soft thresholding, each influencing how coefficients are modified based on their magnitudes relative to the chosen threshold.[18] universal threshold given the universal threshold that[19] proposed, ( ) 2u mad lognσ=  (6) where n is the data length series, and is the estimator of the standard deviation of details coefficients, which is estimated as: ( ) 0.6745mad madσ = (7) kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 the wavelet coefficients’ median absolute deviation at the finest scale, or mad, is defined as. −   =      1,0 1,1 1 , 1 2 , ,..., nmad median w w w so that w1, t represents the element of the w1 while the constant is the median of the standard normal distribution. thresholding rules there are several thresholding rules commonly used in signal and image processing, especially in the context of wavelet shrinkage. two common types are:[6,20,21] 1. hard thresholding 2. soft thresholding. choosing the appropriate thresholding rule depends on the characteristics of the data and the desired balance between noise reduction and the preservation of important features. soft thresholding soft thresholding is a technique used in signal and image processing, particularly in the context of wavelet shrinkage. it involves shrinking or reducing the magnitude of wavelet coefficients by a certain threshold without setting them exactly to zero. the soft thresholding function is defined as follows:[22-25] wnst = sign {wn}(|wn|−l|)+ (8) where { } 1 0 0 0 1 0 if wn sign wn if wm if wn + >   =   − <  (9) and ( ) ( ) 0 ( |) 0 ( ) 0 wn if wn l wn if wn l+  − − ≥ − =   − <     (10) construction new individual control chart based on wavelet shrinkage in fig.4 by addressing the problem of contamination in the data (if any) using the small wave (db2) with soft threshold rule and estimating the level of the threshold method through the (universal) method through which these new charts will be formed and compared with shewhart’s individual chart as summarized in the following diagram. applied and results this part deals with the formation of the new individual chart using wavelet shrinkage, and it is compared with the shewhart individual chart to determine the accuracy, efficiency, and suitability of these new individual charts to avoid the weaknesses of the shewhart individual chart. the al-jumhuri hospital in erbil governorate was chosen to obtain data related to our study. the data we obtained figure 1: using central limit theorem figure 2: general quality control chart figure 3: haar wavelet related to (wbc) and the ratio of cholesterol in blood for the patients having angina pectoris who are enrolled in the specialized center for cardiology in erbil in kurdistan-iraq. ready-made programs (matlab) and (statgraphics) were used to draw the new individual chart, clarify it, and compare it with the shewhart individual chart. wbc data wbcs are key components of the immune system, guarding the body against diseases and foreign invaders. each type kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 original data wavelet proceass shewart inadividual chart discrete wavelet transform thresholding wavelet family types thresholding methods thresholding rules haar soft universal invers discrete wavelet transform new data based on wavelet shrinkage construction new individual control chart based on new data wavelet shrinkage lcl=t-3*sd( x-wave) ucl=t+3*sd(x-wave) t=mean( x-wave) lcl=t-3*sd(x) ucl=t+3*sd(x) t=mean(x) figure 4: block diagram for construction individual control chart figure 5: box-and-whisker plot for white blood cells plays a distinct role in the immune response; they include neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophils, and basophils. wbc counts can range from 4000 to 11,000/ml of blood, although this is not always the case. depending on the reference values used in the laboratory, laboratory findings may differ slightly. wbc count abnormalities can be a sign of a number of illnesses; thus, it is critical to evaluate results in light of the patient’s health and medical history. the above-mentioned characteristics were gathered to create charts, and table 1 shows the outcomes of the laboratory analysis for 200 individuals at the pathological analysis laboratory. figure 5’s computation and graph demonstrate the presence of outliers. within the upper and lower tails of the sample, all the data are not located. figure 6 shows that lots of the points are outside of the regulated ranges, indicating an issue with the wbc. in table 3, the descriptive statistical analysis of wbc data for 200 people shows that the standard deviation is equal to 3.031756, the coefficient of variation is equal to 37%, and the difference between the maximum and minimum values is equal to 18.79. table 2 shows the outcomes of the laboratory analysis for 200 individuals at the pathological analysis laboratory wbc after used wavelet process. figure 7’s computation and graph demonstrate the presence of outliers. within the upper and lower tails of the sample, all the data are not located. figure 8 shows that few of the points are outside of the regulated ranges, indicating an issue with the wbc based on wavelet shrinkage. table 4 shows the descriptive statistical analysis for wbc data based on wavelet shrinkage for 200 people and shows that the standard deviation is equal to 1.51545, the coefficient of variation is equal to 18.9%, and the difference between the maximum and minimum value is equal to 10.7513. kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 figure 6: shewhart individual control chart for white blood cells figure 7: box-and-whisker plot for white blood cells based on wavelet shrinkage table 1: white blood cells data original data 6.82 6.03 11.7 6.21 11.35 4.58 10.28 7.25 8.96 6.63 4.68 9.27 10.36 8.36 14.6 13.08 0.94 5.72 5.34 13.6 11.33 6.18 6.41 6.02 5.86 7.34 8.14 7.84 4.96 5.73 6.02 3.42 1.29 6.4 15 8.57 6.77 14.3 9.51 6.78 14.51 7.27 8.29 4.94 5.99 6.19 9.87 6.56 5.09 6.28 5.15 6.35 6.89 7.77 6.5 9.74 8.7 7.88 7.59 8.6 6.8 8.72 7.96 5.26 12.47 9.91 8.73 7.01 3.32 7.7 12.49 5.74 3.42 8.18 5.45 7.93 8.36 5.28 9.69 9.42 7.84 7.18 4.22 9.72 10.42 6.59 6.35 9.75 6.79 7.73 2 6.87 8.17 10.13 2.85 14 5.09 3 5.74 5.82 9.12 4.92 10.61 4.4 6.26 8.33 7.26 5.75 7.74 10.04 9.57 7.76 19.73 4.37 6.38 11.37 7.45 9.11 8.34 5.92 7.36 7.45 4.16 12.11 3 5.2 9.91 8.17 7.87 7.7 7.96 5.96 5.4 10.74 8.84 6.92 16.72 7.06 2.83 9.16 6.85 9.29 10.32 8.26 9.25 11.58 9.85 3.33 12.2 3.41 3.6 9.3 6.8 2.24 6.99 8.29 7.74 8.14 10.3 6.82 10.95 10.29 8 5.85 11.33 8.93 7.41 14.81 7.43 4.68 12.28 7.02 7.25 9.92 15.86 8.5 9.35 15.63 9.23 11.33 7.57 13 6.27 8.03 5.86 3.45 11.14 13.16 10.8 6.02 5.96 11.11 8.24 7.01 8.47 6.59 8.12 6.63 8.88 14.51 table 2: descriptive statistical analysis for white blood cells data average 7.99175 standard deviation 3.01756 coefficient. of variation 37.7584% minimum 0.94 maximum 19.73 range 18.79 triglyceride data one kind of fat in your blood is called triglycerides. although high levels can increase the risk of cardiovascular problems, they are necessary for energy. triglyceride levels during a fasting state should normally be within the normal range, which is <150 mg/dl. still, ideal levels are sometimes far lower for cardiovascular health. since every person’s health situation is different, it is crucial to interpret these values after speaking with a health-care provider. table 5 shows the outcomes of laboratory analysis for 100 patients in the specialized center for cardiology. we gathered the aforementioned criteria to create charts. table 7 shows the outcomes of the laboratory analysis for 100 individuals at the pathological analysis laboratory triglyceride after used wavelet process. figure 9 computation and graph demonstrate the presence of outliers. within the upper tail of the sample, all the data are not located. figure 10 shows that lots of the points are outside of the regulated ranges, indicating an issue with the triglyceride. table 6 shows the descriptive statistical analysis for triglyceride for 100 people shows that the standard deviation kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 table 3: new data based on wavelet shrinkage 7.9544 6.5844 7.0644 4.9544 9.6881 6.7581 6.9731 7.5969 10.1094 7.9344 7.9544 11.4644 7.0644 8.5344 9.6881 6.7581 6.9731 7.5969 10.1094 11.284 9.1794 9.0244 6.9494 7.9794 5.8031 7.3781 6.9731 7.1319 7.3494 8.2944 7.4894 9.0244 7.1794 7.9794 4.3031 10.2181 6.9731 8.0619 12.8694 8.2944 11.0144 9.0244 7.0644 8.0619 7.3706 7.1231 6.9731 7.1181 8.4494 8.0194 5.2744 9.0244 7.0644 8.0619 7.3706 7.1231 6.9731 7.1181 8.4494 8.0194 7.1094 9.0244 7.0644 8.0619 7.8306 7.1231 6.9731 5.7431 10.3194 8.0194 9.1794 9.0244 7.0644 8.0619 6.9106 7.1231 6.9731 8.4931 6.9194 8.0194 7.2881 7.1294 8.0606 8.0619 5.7094 8.6881 9.0944 7.1181 9.0544 8.0194 5.0681 10.9194 8.0606 8.0619 6.0394 5.5581 9.0944 7.1181 5.1044 8.0194 8.0581 9.0244 8.0606 8.0619 9.5544 7.1231 6.0994 7.1181 7.0794 8.2694 8.0581 9.0244 8.0606 8.0619 15.0544 7.1231 6.0994 7.1181 7.0794 7.7694 7.1181 6.3994 8.0606 12.4919 6.9844 7.6069 9.4119 7.3969 5.9694 8.3388 7.1181 6.3994 8.0606 9.2419 6.9844 7.6069 9.4119 5.9769 8.1894 8.3388 7.1181 7.7294 8.0606 7.7019 8.2194 7.0119 6.9819 10.0569 7.0794 7.5688 7.1181 7.7294 8.0606 7.7019 8.2194 8.2019 4.5819 10.0569 7.0794 7.5688 10.1769 7.7794 7.5794 9.4569 7.7781 12.3544 7.3719 8.3719 10.4394 6.4388 10.1769 7.7794 9.9394 9.4569 7.7781 12.3544 7.8219 8.3719 11.3494 9.4688 7.8719 6.3494 8.7594 9.1119 7.7781 11.0294 7.5969 8.3719 7.0094 5.5188 7.8719 6.3494 8.7594 9.1119 7.7781 8.1194 7.5969 8.3719 7.0094 10.388 figure 8: individual control chart for white blood cells based on wavelet shrinkage figure 9: box-and-whisker plot for triglyceride figure 10: individual control chart for triglyceride figure 11: box-and whisker plot for triglyceride based on wavelet shrinkage in figure 11, computation and graph demonstrate the presence of outliers. within the upper tail of the sample, all the data are not located. is equal to 130.47, the coefficient of variation is equal to 77.4259%, and the difference between the maximum and minimum value is equal to 955.0 kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 table 4: descriptive statistical analysis for white blood cells data based on wavelet shrinkage average 7.99176 standard deviation 1.51545 coefficient of variation 18.9627% minimum 4.3031 maximum 15.0544 range 10.7513 table 5: triglyceride data original data 124 76 161 44 143 112 294 212 73 106 189 294 209 104 43 95 161 278 201 40 126 150 81 50 155 83 171 210 70 134 35 105 172 94 190 266 63 90 72 123 175 144 73 143 64 190 102 87 45 109 416 86 234 190 117 64 151 198 990 150 446 200 190 108 276 150 88 107 154 100 120 196 277 130 231 85 178 380 63 40 210 146 112 187 235 232 76 176 187 465 130 551 100 143 124 550 180 94 172 135 table 6: descriptive statistical analysis for triglyceride data based on wavelet shrinkage average 168.51 standard deviation 130.47 coefficient of variation 77.4259% minimum 35.0 maximum 990.0 range 955.0 figure 12: individual control chart for triglyceride based on wavelet shrinkage table 7: triglyceride data after wavelet process new database on wavelet shrinkage 128.75 139.75 207.5 94.75 103.25 128.75 287.75 207.5 94.75 103.25 140.75 245.25 207.5 117.75 77.75 116.75 182.25 207.5 144.75 77.75 128.75 131 116.25 79 143 128.75 131 175.25 79 143 48.25 112 151.75 79 143 209.25 112 139.75 79 143 205.75 121.5 116.25 129.25 117.5 205.75 121.5 116.25 101.25 117.5 346.75 121.5 194.75 188.75 117.5 64.75 121.5 194.75 918.75 117.5 387.75 194 176.25 121.25 207.25 161.75 152 163.25 121.25 101.25 136.75 173 275.75 121.25 214.75 136.75 173 308.75 121.25 93.75 242.25 132.25 113 164.75 241.25 242.25 132.25 113 164.75 401.25 128.75 479.75 113 164.75 158.25 478.75 178.75 113 164.75 158.25 table 8: descriptive statistical analysis for triglyceride data based on wavelet shrinkage average 168.51 standard deviation 108.524 coefficient of variation 64.4023% minimum 48.25 maximum 918.75 range 870.5 figure 12 shows that lots of the points are outside of the regulated ranges, indicating an issue with the triglyceride based on wavelet shrinkage table 8 shows the descriptive statistical analysis for triglyceride for 100 people shows that the standard deviation is equal to 108.524, the coefficient of variation is equal to 64.4023%, and the difference between the maximum and minimum value is equal to 918.75. kadir, et al.: individual control chart designed for quality control 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 9-18 conclusions our study highlights the potential benefits of employing wavelet shrinkage in enhancing daily control in laboratory tests, specifically those involving wbc and triglyceride measurements. the effectiveness of the wavelet process is evident in both sets of data, demonstrating a significant reduction in deviation. furthermore, in practical applications, the coefficient of variation becomes more comparable to the data when wavelet shrinking is applied, underscoring its utility in refining the analysis. the observed possibility of utilizing wavelet shrinkage to address outliers or noise when constructing and utilizing individual control charts adds a valuable dimension to quality control methodologies. these findings suggest that incorporating wavelet shrinkage techniques can contribute to improved precision and reliability in laboratory testing, particularly in the context of individual control charts. references 1. a. b. eldin. modern approach to quality control. intech, croatia, 2011. 2. d. c. montgomery. introduction to statistical quality control. 6th ed. john wiley sons inc., new york, 2009b. 3. d. h. besterfield. quality control. 8th ed. prentice-hall inc., new york, 2009. 4. t. stapenhurst. mastering statistical process control. elsevier, uk, 2005. 5. t. h. ali, a. g. rahim and d. m. saleh. construction of bivariate f-control chart with application. eurasian journal of science and engineering, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 116-133, 2018. 6. d. h. kadir, a. g. rahim, d. i. jamil and d. m. saleh. proposed capability indices based on robust estimation compared with classical capability indices. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 49-53, 2023. 7. t. h. ali, b. s. sedeeq, d. m. saleh and a. g. rahim. robust multivariate quality control charts for enhanced variability monitoring. quality and reliability engineering international, vol. 40, pp. 1369-1381, 2023. 8. d. h. kadir, d. m. saleh and d. i. jamil. comparison between two estimators by using process capability with application. journal of arts, literature, humanities and social sciences, vol. 39, no. 6, pp. 551-559, 2020. 9. m. s. f. nezhad. practical concepts of quality control. intech, croatia, 2012. 10. r. s. kenett and g. shmueli. on information quality. journal of the royal statistical society. series a (statistics in society), vol. 177, no. 1, p. 3-38, 2014. 11. j. m. juran. quality control handbook. 5th ed. mcgraw-hill, new york, 1999. 12. r. gencay, f. selçuk and b. j. whitcher. an introduction to wavelet and other filtering methods in finance and economics. academic press, san diego, turkey, 2002. 13. t. h. ali and d. m. saleh. proposed hybrid method for wavelet shrinkage with robust multiple linear regression model: with simulation study. qalaai zanist scientific journal, vol. 7, no, 1, pp. 920-937, 2022. 14. x. jianhui and t. li. image denoising method based on improved wavelet threshold transform. in: ieee symposium series on computational intelligence (ssci), pp. 1064-1067, 2019. 15. t. h. ali and d. m. saleh. comparison between wavelet bayesian and bayesian estimators to remedy contamination in linear regression model. palarch’s journal of archaeology of egypt/ egyptology, vol. 18, no. 10, pp. 3388-3409, 2021. 16. a. s. hamad. using some thresholding rules in wavelet shrinkage to denoise signals for simple regression with application in rezgary hospital erbil. phd. dissertation in statistics. college of administration and economic, university of sulaimania, iraq, 2010. 17. t. h. ali, s. h. mahmood and a. s. wahdi. using proposed hybrid method for neural networks and wavelet to estimate time series model. tikrit journal of administration and economics sciences, vol. 18, no. 57, pp. 432-448, 2022. 18. t. h. ali and j. r. qadir. using wavelet shrinkage in the cox proportional hazards regression model (simulation study). iraqi journal of statistical science, vol. 19, no. 35, pp. 32-54, 2022. 19. d. l. donoho and i. m. johnstone. ideal denoising in an orthonormal basis chosen from a library of bases. comptes rendus de l’académie des sciences paris a, vol. 319, pp. 1317-1322, 1994. 20. i. daubechies. ten lectures on wavelet. siam, philadelphia, pa, pp. 17-52, 53-106, 1992. 21. n. h. mahmood, r. o. yahya and s. j. aziz. apply binary logistic regression model to recognize the risk factors of diabetes through measuring glycated hemoglobin levels. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 7-11, 2022. 22. g. a. kumar and a. kusagur. soft thresholding based image denoising algorithm. international journal of scientific and engineering research, vol. 9, no. 7, p. 1041-1043, 2018. 23. n. h. mahmood. sparse ridge fusion for linear regression. electronic theses and dissertations, 2013. 24. o. m. al-zawbaee and n. h. mahmood. building an efficient model by using panel data. cihan university-erbil journal of humanities and social sciences, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 82-87, 2023. 25. n. h. mahmood, d. h. kadir and h. q. birdawod. the full factorial design approach to determine the attitude of university lecturers towards e-learning and online teaching due to the covid-19 pandemic. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 20-25, 2022. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 1-7 research article emotionality and attitude towards body size: a cross-sectional study among adults in mysore city behnaz shahrokhisahneh department of nutrition and dietetics, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract obesity not only poses significant physical health risks but also deeply influences emotional well-being and societal acceptance. this cross-sectional study conducted in mysore city, india, explores the relationship between emotionality and attitudes toward body size. a  diverse sample of 444 adults participated, representing various age groups, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds. structured questionnaires were used to obtain the data on body weight perception, emotional experiences, and attitudes toward weight loss. results reveal that though a significant portion of participants (males – 35.4% and females – 41.7%), particularly overweight and obese individuals, express dissatisfaction with their appearance, a prevalent desire to lose exists (p = 0.001). however, the actual participation in weight loss programs remains low (male – 21.1% and female – 30.7%), indicating a gap between aspiration and action. reasons for nonparticipation include a lack of education on weight management and insufficient motivation. importantly, participants who did engage in weight loss programs reported high rates (more than 60%) of relapse, with common reasons including reverting to previous lifestyles (males – 67% and fameless – 62%) and lack of motivation (males – 38% and females – 40%). the study suggests a need for more effective weight regulation programs that incorporate education, exercise, and dietary interventions. governmental and non-governmental efforts, alongside media campaigns, are essential in fostering a supportive environment for sustainable weight management and emotional wellbeing in indian populations. keywords: obesity, attitudes toward body size, body weight perception, weight relapse, desire to lose weight introduction obesity, a global health concern, extends far beyond its physical manifestations, permeating into the realms of social acceptance, emotional well-being, and personal identity,[1,2] while its physical ramifications are well-documented, including increased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disorders, the emotional toll exacted by obesity is equally significant but often overlooked.[3,4] existing literature extensively explores the emotional complexities accompanying obesity, revealing a profound impact on individuals’ mental health, social interactions, and self-esteem.[5-7] among the myriad emotional challenges associated with obesity, perhaps, one of the most pervasive is the burden of societal stigma and social unacceptance.[8,9] studies consistently document the prevalence of weight-based discrimination and bias in various domains of life, from employment opportunities to interpersonal relationships.[9] such pervasive stigma not only exacerbates existing mental health issues but also erects formidable barriers to seeking support and treatment for obesity.[10,11] obesity is influenced by multiple factors, including dietary habits, emotional health, societal perceptions, food-drug interactions, and even bacteria (helicobacter pylori) that affect metabolism and appetite.[12-15] consuming high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods contribute significantly to weight gain.[16] this issue is compounded by the increasing accessibility of processed and fast foods, which are often cheaper and more convenient than healthier options,[17] emotional eating where individuals consume food in response to stress or other emotions, also plays a crucial role in the development of obesity.[18] addressing obesity effectively requires a comprehensive approach that considers both the physiological aspects of diet and the psychological factors influencing eating behaviors. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: behnaz shahrokhisahneh, department of nutrition and dietetics, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: behnaz.shahrokhi@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: july 22, 2024 accepted: october 11, 2024 published: january 10, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp1-7 copyright © 2025 behnaz shahrokhisahneh. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. shahrokhisahneh, et al.: emotionality and attitude towards body size 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 1-7 moreover, the physical limitations imposed by excess weight contribute to a cascade of emotional struggles, including feelings of inadequacy, embarrassment, and shame.[10,19] individuals grappling with obesity often find themselves navigating a world designed for smaller bodies, where everyday tasks become arduous and public spaces can evoke a profound sense of discomfort and self-consciousness.[19] while the impact of obesity on emotional well-being is well-established in western contexts, its manifestations and implications may vary across different cultural landscapes. in the indian context, where societal norms and perceptions of body image differ from those in the west, understanding the emotional dimensions of obesity assumes heightened importance.[20] despite india’s relatively lower prevalence of pathological obesity compared to western countries,[21] the social and emotional ramifications of excess weight remain salient, shaping individuals’ self-concept, and interpersonal dynamics.[22] against this backdrop, this study endeavors to delve into the nuanced interplay between emotionality and attitudes toward body size among indian populations. by examining individuals’ consciousness of their appearance, desire to lose weight, and engagement with weight loss programs, the research aims to elucidate the emotional underpinnings of body weight perception and shed light on potential avenues for intervention and support. through a comprehensive exploration of these themes, the study seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the emotional landscape surrounding obesity in india and inform targeted strategies for promoting holistic well-being and healthy weight management. materials and methods study design this study employed a cross-sectional design to capture a snapshot of participants’ attitudes, emotions, and behaviors regarding body size and weight loss. study population the study included a diverse sample of indian adults across different age groups (27–47 years), socioeconomic backgrounds from mysore city. participants were recruited through various means, such as community outreach programs, social media platforms, and local health centers, to ensure broad representation.[23] method of data collection the data collection for this study was conducted through a questionnaire, which was divided into three key sections: sociodemographic variables, anthropometric assessments, and a comprehensive evaluation of weight management practices, consciousness of body size, and associated emotionality. the weight management and body consciousness section was further subdivided into three parts. the first part consisted of four binary (yes/no) questions adapted from the binge eating scale questionnaire,[24] aimed at assessing the participants’ awareness and emotional responses toward their body shape. the second part included two questions designed to evaluate participants’ desire and belief in their ability to lose weight. responses to these questions were quantified using a “likert scale” ranging from 1 to 10, with higher scores indicating stronger desire and belief.[25] additional questions in this section addressed the participants’ history of weight loss and the underlying reasons for any weight relapse.[26] to ensure the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, a pilot study[27] was conducted prior to full implementation. the pilot study results were analyzed to refine the instrument, and the final version of the questionnaire was then utilized in the study. sampling method a purposive sampling strategy was employed to ensure adequate representation of individuals across different body weight categories (normal, overweight, and obese) and gender. this approach allowed for the examination of variations in attitudes and experiences based on body weight status.[28] sample size: the sample size for this study was calculated using “cochran’s formula” (1),[29] considering the total population of mysore city, which is approximately 1,316,460. assuming an obesity prevalence of 25%,[30] a “confidence level of 95%,” and a “margin of error of 5%,” the calculation was as follows: −= 2 2 1   .   .(1 )n z p n e (1) where z represents the “z-score for a 95% confidence interval (1.96),” p denotes the “estimated prevalence of obesity (0.25),” and e refers to the “margin of error (0.05),” and e is the “margin of error (0.05).” this resulted in an initial sample size of 289 participants. to account for the finite population of mysore city, the sample size was adjusted using the finite population correction (fpc) (2): = − + 1 1 ( ) adjusted n n n n (2) substituting n with the total population (1,316,460), the adjusted sample size became 288. to account for potential nonresponse or dropouts, a 10% increase was applied, leading to a final sample size requirement of 317 participants. however, by increasing the sample size to 444, the statistical power and precision of the study ensured even greater. statistical analysis quantitative data collected through the structured questionnaires were analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences version 27, including chi-square tests to examine associations between variables and identify significant trends. results literature provides sufficient references to emotional-related problems accompanying obesity. mental ill health among obese has frequently been associated with social stigma and shahrokhisahneh, et al.: emotionality and attitude towards body size 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 1-7 social un-acceptance to disproportionate body size. physical mobility problems and the related inconveniences also cause emotional problems among obese.[20,31] fortunately, indian populations do not represent higher incidences of pathological obesity. however, overweight and obesity also independently give rise to restricted social mobility and self-consciousness unless the community accepts huge bodies to represent health and prosperity.[32,33] therefore, information regarding the consciousness of body size and the desire to lose bodyweight and the related factors were elicited from the participants. table 1 provides a breakdown of various demographic and lifestyle characteristics of the study participants, along with percentages and counts for each category. the study includes 444 participants, with 161 females and 283 males. the gender distribution is slightly skewed towards females, with around 64% being female and 36% male. the majority of participants fall within the younger age group (27–36 years), constituting about 64% of the total sample. table 2 presents an intriguing exploration into the consciousness and emotionality linked to body weight status and appearance, disaggregated by gender. it provides valuable insights into how individuals perceive and react to their own bodies, shedding light on potential differences between males and females in these domains. it is obvious from the results that a considerable percentage of male (35.4%) and females (41.7%) were conscious about appearance although it does not affect their happiness. about 36.4 and 46.6% of overweight and obese men, 44.3 and 51.1% overweight and obese women were conscious about themselves being overweight and obese. however, they opined that they accept and agreed on what their body weight status is; while a small percentage (10.9 and 20.7%) of overweight and obese men and (13.9 and 20.5%) women were unhappy with their appearance. nevertheless, there was no feeling of shame or disgust regarding their body weight status. less than 6% of women participants who were overweight and obese mentioned to feel disgusted. one notable finding is the varying degrees of consciousness about appearance across different body weight statuses and genders. interestingly, a significant proportion of both males and females report being conscious about their appearance, regardless of their body weight status. however, there is a clear trend indicating that consciousness about appearance table 2: consciousness and emotionality associated with body weight status and appearance % (n) variables male n-161 female n-283 bodyweight status normal overweight obese normal overweight obese n 48 55 58 116 79 88 conscious about appearance, but it doesn’t affect happiness yes 20.8 (10) 36.4 (20) 46.6 (27) 32.8 (38) 44.3 (35) 51.1 (45) disappointment about appearance yes 8.3 (4) 10.9 (6) 20.7 (12) 8.6 (10) 13.9 (11) 20.5 (18) feel ashamed and disgust about the appearance yes 5.5 (3) 3.8 (3) 5.7 (5) not conscious about the appearance yes 70.8 (34) 47.3 (26) 32.8 (19) 58.6 (68) 38.0 (30) 22.7 (20) table 1: demographic information of the study participants variables characteristics total % (n) gender % (n) males females n-444 n-161 n-283 age (yrs.) 27–36 64.1 (285) 65.2 (105) 63.6 (180) 37–47 35.9 (159) 34.8 (56) 36.4 (103) marital status married 77.9 (346) 66.5 (107) 84.5 (239) unmarried/divorces 22.1 (98) 33.5 (54) 15.5 (44) socio-economic status (ses) low 26.4 (117) 31.1 (50) 23.7 (67) middle 58.1 (258) 54.0 (87) 60.4 (171) high 15.5 (69) 14.9 (24) 15.9 (45) weight status-bmi normal 36.9 (164) 29.8 (48) 41.0 (116) overweight 30.2 (134) 34.2 (55) 27.9 (79) obese 32.9 (146) 36.0 (58) 31.1 (88) bmi: body mass index shahrokhisahneh, et al.: emotionality and attitude towards body size 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 1-7 tends to increase with higher body weight status, particularly among females. an attempt was made to understand the concept and belief among people in general about losing weight and maintain ideal bodyweight. the results clearly indicate that a greater proportion of females (65%) expressed a strong desire to lose weight compared to males (42.2%). it is encouraging to note [table 3] that majority of overweight (female: 41.8%) and obese (male: 79.8%; female: 79.5%) participants had moderate to strong desire to lose their body weight. as higher percentage of participants were aware of the risks related to excess weight, a considerable percentage of normal weight subjects were also interested to regulate their body weights and had a positive attitude in weight loss programs. hence, the right type and veracious programs for weight regulation must be provided to encourage and sustain interest to reduce body weight in the general population, more than 90% of overweight and obese participants (58% of overweight males) had moderate to strong desire to lose weight. contrary to this observation when the subjects were enquired about the actual participation in weight loss programs, only a small percentage mentioned to have attended weight management programs [table 4]. it is worthwhile to mention that higher percentages of women participants (30% overweight, 49% obese) partook in weight management programs as compared to men (15% overweight, 32% obese). among these, more than 80% mentioned the program to be successful in weight reduction. nevertheless, essentially 66.6% of the females and 61.7% of males mentioned to have experienced weight relapse. participants were asked to provide reasons for weight relapse. “getting back to previous lifestyle” (males 67%; fameless 62%) and “lack of motivation to follow weight loss programs” (males 38%; females 40%) was mentioned by majority of the participants. importantly, the duration to which the weight loss program was followed by the participants was heartening because higher percentages attended for 1 month, 2–4 months and 6 months only. discussion the study shows that both males and females are conscious of their appearance, regardless of body weight, but this awareness tends to increase with higher body weight, particularly among females. moreover, the data suggest that while individuals may be conscious about their appearance, it does not necessarily equate to a decrease in happiness. a substantial portion of respondents in all categories, albeit slightly higher among males, indicate that although they are conscious about their appearance, it does not affect their overall happiness. this implies a certain level of resilience or compartmentalization in how individuals perceive their appearance vis-à-vis their emotional well-being. this aligns with findings from dittmar et al.,[34] who demonstrated that self-esteem and emotional well-being are not always tied to body image. similarly, tiggemann and mccourt[35] found that while body image concerns are prevalent, they do not inevitably result in diminished life satisfaction or happiness, suggesting a complex interaction between body image and emotional health. the findings suggest that individuals who are overweight or obese tend to exhibit a stronger desire to lose weight in mysore city, with 79.3% of obese males and 79.5% of obese females expressing a desire for weight loss. results also reveal a higher belief among them in the success of weight loss programs compared to those with normal weight, regardless of gender. this indicates an awareness among participants about the need for weight management interventions, particularly as body weight status increases. our observation is consistent with numerous studies suggesting that individuals with higher body mass index are more likely to pursue weight loss, largely due to the perceived health risks of excess weight. for example, elfhag and rössner[36] reported that obese individuals exhibit stronger weight loss motivation, driven by both health concerns and societal pressures. similarly, a study by okop et al.[37] found that a higher proportion of obese individuals, particularly males, were interested in losing weight. however, it is crucial to note that despite the desire and belief in the success of weight loss programs, there may be barriers preventing individuals from actively engaging in weight loss efforts.[38,39] these barriers could include access to resources, societal pressures, psychological factors, and personal motivations.[38,40,41] table 3: level of desire and belief to lose weight among the participants with varying body weight status % (n) variables (n) male (n-161) female (n-283) normal overweight obese normal overweight obese 48 55 58 116 79 88 level of desire to lose weight strong 8.3 (4) 32.7 (18) 79.3 (46) 13.8 (16) 41.8 (33) 79.5 (70) moderate 20.8 (10) 25.5 (14) 15.5 (9) 24.1 (28) 32.9 (26) 12.5 (11) low 70.8 (34) 41.8 (23) 5.2 (3) 62.1 (72) 25.3 (20) 8.0 (7) chi-square χ2=65.328, p=0.001* χ2=103.9, p=0.001* belief in the success of weight loss program high 22.9 (11) 38.2 (21) 67.2 (39) 25.0 (29) 43.0 (34) 53.4 (47) moderate 22.9 (11) 21.8 (12) 27.6 (16) 20.7 (24) 36.7 (29) 39.8 (35) low 54.2 (26) 40.0 (22) 5.2 (3) 54.3 (63) 20.3 (16) 6.8 (6) chi-square χ2=58.919, p=0.001* χ2=34.53, p=0.001* shahrokhisahneh, et al.: emotionality and attitude towards body size 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 1-7 interestingly, gender differences in weight management were observed, with more females (30.7%) participating in weight loss programs compared to males (21.1%). this trend has been documented in various studies, such as ball and crawford,[42] who reported that women are more likely to engage in dieting and weight loss behaviors due to a greater emphasis on physical appearance. in contrast, men often exhibit lower levels of engagement in weight loss programs, which can be attributed to different social and cultural pressures regarding body image. furthermore, the differences observed between genders highlight the importance of gendersensitive approaches in designing and implementing weight management interventions. tailored strategies that address the unique needs and challenges faced by males and females may enhance the effectiveness of such program. despite the desire for weight loss, a large proportion of participants experienced weight relapse (more than 60%). this mirrors findings from wing and phelan,[26] who reported that weight regain is a common issue even after successful initial weight loss. reasons for weight relapse in this study, including returning to previous lifestyle habits and lack of motivation, reflect barriers seen in other studies. these challenges are often exacerbated by a lack of long-term support, as research has shown table 4: participation in weight management program and follow-up and reasons for withdrawal-experience of participants variables male (n-161) female (n-283) normal overweight obese normal overweight obese n 48 55 58 116 79 88 history of participation in weight loss program have you ever participated in a weight loss program? yes 10.4 (5) 18.2 (10) 32.8 (19) 17.2 (20) 30.4 (24) 48.9 (43) chi-square χ2=8.302, p=0.016* χ2=23.508, p=0.001* χ2=477.1, p=0.001 those who participated in a weight loss program only (total responses: males-34; female-87)* weight loss successful n 5 10 19 20 24 43 yes 100.0 (5) 80.0 (8) 84.2 (16) 85.0 (17) 91.7 (22) 86.0 (37) chi-square χ2=1.103b, p=0.576 χ2=0.571a, p=0.752 weight relapse experienced (total number: males-21; female-58) yes 20.0 (1) 87.5 (7) 81.2 (13) 58.8 (10) 81.8 (18) 81.1 (30) chi-square χ2=8.413b, p=0.015 χ2=3.711a, p=0.156 reasons for weight relapsing according to participants ** getting back to previous lifestyle yes 57.1 (4) 76.9 (10) 60.0 (6) 61.1 (11) 66.7 (20) chi-square χ2=1.292b, p=0.524 χ2=0.226a, p=0.893 coping with depression and stress/anxiety yes 14.3 (1) 30.8 (4) 50.0 (5) 16.7 (3) 30.0 (9) chi-square χ2=1.010b, p=0.604 χ2=3.462a, p=0.177 influence of family and friends yes 7.7 (1) 20.0 (2) 6.7 (2) chi-square χ2=0.646, p=0.724 χ2=4.010, p=0.135 lack of motivation to follow the weight loss regimen yes 100.0 (1) 42.9 (3) 30.8 (4) 30.0 (3) 38.9 (7) 43.3 (13) chi-square χ2=1.988b, p=0.370 χ2=0.564a, p=0.754 duration of participation in the weight loss program*** <than 1 month 40.0 (2) 20.0 (2) 52.6 (10) 50.0 (10) 25.0 (6) 25.6 (11) 2–4 months 20.0 (1) 20.0 (2) 21.1 (4) 30.0 (6) 33.3 (8) 34.9 (15) 6 months 50.0 (5) 10.5 (2) 20.8 (5) 11.6 (5) 1 year 40.0 (2) 10.0 (1) 15.8 (3) 20.0 (4) 20.8 (5) 27.9 (12) chi-square χ2=9.650b, p=0.140 χ2=7.733a, p=0.258 *percentages are based on the number of participants who responded positively to participation in the weight loss program. **the total number in each weight category reflects those who reported experiencing weight relapse for various reasons. ***represents the participants who gave positive responses regarding their participation in the weight loss program. shahrokhisahneh, et al.: emotionality and attitude towards body size 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 1-7 that weight maintenance requires sustained behavior changes, including continuous diet and exercise modifications.[43] the short duration of participation in weight loss programs observed in this study is another important factor. similar to findings by svetkey et al.,[44] participants in short-term weight loss interventions often struggle to maintain the results over time. comprehensive and longer-term interventions, which include behavioral therapy and consistent follow-up, have been shown to produce better results in maintaining weight loss over time. these results explicitly show the lacuna in the weight regulation programs available in the community. literature provides abundant evidence regarding the characteristics of effective weight regulation programs that can offer sustainable weight loss. a combination of programs for exercise and diet modulation supported by education is essential to bring about a holistic behavior change among people to achieve successful body weight regulation,[45-47] hence, the unsuccessful weight loss programs as reported by the participants and obvious from our results and may be due to lack of education regarding weight management. a sincere introspection of the programs offered for weight regulation has to be done by organizations offering the programs. government and mass media should also consider themselves responsible to deliver information to sensitize population regarding the importance of behavioral changes, diet modification, and exercise under health programs. conclusion the findings underscore the complex interplay between body weight perception, emotional states, and attitudes toward weight loss among indian populations. despite a notable portion of participants expressing dissatisfaction with their appearance, there was a prevalent desire to shed excess weight, particularly among overweight and obese individuals. however, the discrepancy between desire and actual participation in weight loss programs highlights existing gaps in the efficacy of available interventions. addressing these gaps necessitates a comprehensive approach that integrates education, behavioral modification, and societal sensitization toward healthy lifestyle practices. efforts by both governmental and non-governmental organizations, alongside media campaigns, are crucial in fostering a supportive environment conducive to sustainable weight management and emotional well-being. ethical approval the study received approval from the institutional human ethics committee for human research (ihec) at the university of mysore, under reference number ihec-uom no. 148/ ph.d./2016-2017. conflicts of interest the authors declare no conflict of interest related to the publication of this manuscript. references 1. s. westland. being large: an investigation into the lived world of problematic weight in women. european journal for qualitative research in psychotherapy, vol. 10, pp. 1-15, 2020. 2. b. m. haga. existential experiences of living with obesityperspectives from the views of individuals and health professionals: a qualitative study. university of stavanger, faculty of health sciences, stavanger, 2020 3. m. safaei, e. a. sundararajan, m. driss, w. boulila and a. shapi’i. a systematic literature review on obesity: understanding the causes 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american psychologist, vol. 75, no. 2, pp. 235-251, 2020. 47. s. l. turner, a. m. thomas, p. j. wagner and g. c. moseley. a collaborative approach to wellness: diet, exercise, and education to impact behavior change. journal of the american association of nurse practitioners, vol. 20, no. 6, pp. 339-344, 2008. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 research article an overview of signs and symptoms to determine coronavirus and omicron patients in primary care and hospitals ali m. hussein1, hawry a. majeed1, naz r. majeed1, nza h. m. ali1, dashne a. saeed2, narmin a. ali3 1department of biomedical sciences, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of general education, college of education, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of community health nursing, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract coronaviruses, a type of virus family, cause severe respiratory diseases in people. the coronavirus is most frequently linked to the common cold, but in persons with severe acute respiratory syndrome virus infection, it can also lead to serious respiratory sickness. the spread of the coronavirus is by having direct contact with infected saliva, mucus, or blood. infected surfaces, such as those in hospitals or other health-care facilities, can potentially spread the infection when touched. now, spreading globally is the omicron version of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2). according to preliminary studies, the omicron variant of sars-cov-2 has a higher probability of re-infection. to recognize coronavirus disease 19 as well as omicron people in hospitals and primary health care, this review study focuses on the symptoms and indications. the data were collected and analyzed from more than 100 high-impact original research papers to conclude their results and make a comparison between methods and findings. keywords: coronavirus disease 19, omicron, health care, signs, symptoms introduction the first report of the coronavirus infection came from wuhan which is a city in china, in december 2019. this infection is life threatening which is endangering people’s health and well-being.[1] global coronavirus disease 19 (covid-19) mass immunization programs have demonstrated the efficacy of this strategy. influenza and covid-19 infections weaken the host’s immune system, which provides an ideal setting for bacterial and viral pathogens to exploit and produce secondary infectious diseases.[2] covid-19 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [sars-cov-2]) and other coronavirus infections can cause mild respiratory symptoms up to severe pneumonia.[3] the world health organization stated (covid-19) was a worldwide pandemic on the 11th of march, 2020. evaluation of symptoms and signs has been proposed as a viable method.[4] significant advancements in covid-19 testing, prevention, and treatment have been accomplished 2 years after it was recognized as a global epidemic.[5] because there is no approved immunization for children aged 0–4 years old, children everywhere are in danger of contracting sars-cov-2 infection1.[6] the two companies authorized to produce messenger ribonucleic (mrna) covid-19 vaccines, pfizerbiontech and moderna, have indicated their capability to develop vaccinations tailored specifically for the omicron variant in 100 days.[7] there are more than 50 known variants of the omicron variant, 32 of which are found in the spike protein.[8] during the peak of omicron’s prevalence in january 2022, unvaccinated adults had hospitalization rates that were 12 times higher than individuals who had received booster or additional vaccinations.[9] the omicron variety was recognized on the 9th of november, 2021, in south africa’s city of tshwane, gauteng province, resulting in a dramatic spike in hospital admissions as well as exponential growth in the number of incidents.[1] the omicron form (b.1.1.529) of the sars-cov-2 virus, which results in covid-19, was found in the united states for the 1st time.[10] compared to earlier variations, omicron seems to cause less severe acute sickness, at least in people immunized.[11] omicron-affected corresponding author: ali m. hussein, department of biomedical sciences, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ali.m.hussein@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: october 19, 2023 accepted: january 01, 2024 published: february 05, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp8-17 copyright © 2024 ali m. hussein, hawry a. majeed, naz r. majeed, nza h. m. ali, dashne a. saeed, narmin a. ali. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) hussein, et al.: a review on coronavirus and omicron patients 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 patients most frequently displayed fever, extreme weariness, a moist cough, a stuffy nose, diarrhea, head pain, and other pains in the body.[12] early in 2022, omicron took over as the predominant version in some parts of europe.[13] in 2021 and 2022, most of the covid-19 crises were brought on by omicron and delta variants.[14] despite the little improvement after the booster dosage, vaccines give less protection against symptomatic omicron infection than they do against the delta form, according to observational studies in the general population.[14] anxiety and despair have increased significantly since the covid-19 pandemic, particularly after the omicron wave.[15] the omicron version is resistant to modern vaccines more than previous variants.[16] by the end of december 2021, the extremely contagious sars-cov-2 omicron variant, which was first discovered in november 2021 in southern africa, had taken over in the united states.[10] a coronavirus outbreak (covid-19) which occurred in china in the city of shanghai from february to june of 2022 was brought on by sars-cov-2 omicron ba.2 sub-lineage.[17] however, it revealed that omicron infections resulted in significantly fewer hospitalizations than delta infections because the cases of omicron covid-19 in south africa climbed quickly.[18] there have been waves of hospitalonset covid-19 infections (hoci) during the covid-19 epidemic.[19] globally, covid-19 has resulted in 543 million illnesses and 6.3 million fatalities as of june 2022.[20] furthermore, to assume the risk of hospitalization among outpatients, the out cov rating was created and internally verified in switzerland without needing laboratory tests.[21] in south africa, europe, and canada, omicron (b.1.1.529 and ba lineages) has created less serious illnesses than previous variants.[22] in early 2022, omicron took over as the predominant version in some parts of europe.[13] during the omicron pandemic in hong kong, elderly people 60 years of age or over made up more than 95% of the fatal cases.[23] omicron has expanded quickly, and as of january 6, 2022, 149 countries across all six world health organizations had been confirmed to have it.[24] when the omicron variety was more common, a child infected with it had a lower possibility of hospitalization – between a quarter and a half – than when the delta variant was more common.[25] in qatar, a wave of sars-cov-2 omicron (b.1.1.529)1 coronavirus caused severe acute respiratory syndrome topped in mid-january 2022.[26] in south africa’s initial three covid-19 waves, the pediatric disease burden was not very severe, with most children exhibiting asymptomatic or mild-to-moderate disease.[27] methods search methodologies and criteria selection in conducting this systematic review, the recommended reporting elements for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (prisma) criteria were followed. the question of the study was: what clinical signs are most prevalent in covid-19 and omicron patients? we chose studies that research the epidemiological characteristics of covid-19 patients hospitalized in pubmed, bmc, medline, and scopus databases between january 1st, 2021, and december 1st, 2022, using the descriptors covid-19, sars-cov2, 2019-ncov, n-cov, and coronavirus merged with “clinical profile” or “epidemiological profile.” we wanted to find whether covid-19 and omicron patients shared any common clinical symptoms studies although which primary care and hospitality were followed for these patients (figure 1). the boolean operators “and” and “or” were used for the search strategy. a manual search for references listed in the papers was also done. requirements for eligibility in addition, investigated were clinical trials, cohorts, crosssectional data, clinical case studies, and case series published worldwide in different languages. official diagnostic reports, remarks, evaluations of literature, papers with restricted access to the material, and animal experimentation were removed. variables for investigation this study’s goal was to find clinical manifestation features in covid-19 and omicron individuals. the resulting features were investigated: study nation, study population, gender (male and female), age, and clinical symptoms. preference of studies two separate researchers conducted the search. following this action, they independently carried out the subsequent procedures: reading the title and synopsis to identify possibly relevant research, reading the entire article, gathering variables, and building the database are the first three steps. the differences were discussed among the researchers and then resolved. data analysis both authors utilized a systematic data extraction form to independently and twice extract data from the reports of all included studies. discussion was used to settle differences in the retrieved data. when possible, the following data have been gathered from each chosen article: the initial author, the publishing year, the study’s design, the number of cases, gender, age, clinical symptoms, laboratory tests, radiological examinations, and the results (discharged, still hospitalized, or death). results covid-19 predictors in outpatient and children with symptoms a total of 5336 children had signs or symptoms that were consistent with covid-19 but did not require hospitalization; about 4166 were in secret practice (including 80 pediatricians), while 1170 were in hospital emergency rooms (13 hospitals). the majority (53.5%) of them were men, with a median age of 3.0 years. the percentage of positive test results (sc2-rtpcr and/or sc2-rat) over the course of the entire trial was 13.9% (741/5, 336; 95 confidence interval [ci] 13.0–14.8) and was 5.6% (102/1, 825; 95 ci 4.6–6.7) for period 1; 7.4% (107/1, 453; 95 ci 6.1–8.8) for period 2; 12.6% (156/1, 236; 95 ci 10.8–14.6) for period 3; and 45.7% (376/822; hussein, et al.: a review on coronavirus and omicron patients 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 95 ci 42.3–49.2) for period 4 (p < 0.001 between the four periods). throughout the study of the course, the percentage of positive test results for children who had a confirmed covid-19 contact was 38.9% (95 ci 36.3–41.6), which was 7.0 times higher than the percentage for children who had no confirmed covid-19 contacts (5.6%, 95 ci 4.9–6.3, chi-square test p = 0.001).[25] the most commonly reported symptoms included mood fluctuations, rashes, gastrointestinal problems, coughing, and lack of appetite among children aged 0–3 years old while children between the ages of 4 and 11 years most frequently had mood fluctuations, memory loss, attention issues, and rashes. the symptoms of long covid are described as new symptoms that appeared with sars-cov-2 infection and persisted for 8 weeks following the discovery of a positive sars-cov-2 examination result.[6] omicron-caused disease burden from covid-19 from february 26 to june 30, 2022, there were 9% symptomatic cases, 91.00% cases that were asymptomatic, and 1% death situations. the total rate of infection was 2.74%. children aged 3–17 had the lowest infection rates, and the highest were in those 60–79 years old. with age, the incidence of severe/critical infection rose. individuals aged 80 and up had the highest rate of 12.5% people, which was substantially greater than the rate of 0.001% people aged 3–17 years. the mortality rate for all people was 2.42% people. in terms of age categories, those aged 3–17 years had a 0% death rate, 0.02% people aged 18–39 years, 0.32% aged 40–59 years, 4.60% aged 60–79 years, and 57.17% people aged 80 years or older.[17] hospitalizations for children that had covid-19 during the initial omicron of sars-cov2 the sars-cov-2 omicron form is highly contagious in south africa in the tshwane district, as indicated by the sharp rise in pediatric covid-19 cases and hospitalizations. a continuous observational study is required to determine the omicron variation’s long-term effects on kids and teenagers.[28] of the 2550 covid-19 patients hospitalized during this time, 462 (18%) were under the age of 19 (figure 2). comparatively speaking to the three prior sars-cov-2 waves, there were more pediatric cases. unusually rising ahead of adult hospital admissions. in the district, sequencing was done on 75 viral samples from adults and children, and 74 (99%) of those samples were the omicron variety. out of 183 hospitalized children with covid-19, 138 (75%) had comprehensive clinical records available. eighty-seven (or 63%) of the 138 kids were under 4 years old.[29] the cases included symptoms such as fever (61%), cough (57%), shortness of breath (31%), seizures (31%), vomiting (26%), and diarrhea (25%). covid-19 was the main diagnosis in 61 (44%) of the 138 cases (figure 3). two days on average were spent in the hospital (range, 1–3). of the 138 kids for whom data were available, 122 (88%) required routine care in hospital and 27 (20%) required oxygen treatment. four (33%) out of 138 children who participated in the trial died, and 7 (5%) of them required ventilation due to complicated underlying pathologies (figure 4). with data from 84 parents or guardians, 77 (92%) were covid-19 not vaccinated, as were all the children.[30] omicron ba.1 and ba.2 sars-cov-2 infections and hospitalizations figure 5 shows that from 333 adult patients diagnosed with the omicron variation, 86.1% had ba.1, 4.8% had ba.2, and 5.4% had both ba.1 and ba.2. patients with ba.1 had clinical hospitalizations lasting longer than 24 h in 39.4% of cases, <24 h in 9.8% of cases, and only outpatient visits in 50.9% of cases. clinical hospital admission rates for adult ba.2 patients were 50% for inpatient stays and 50% for outpatient visits. the omicron variation was discovered in 96 pediatric patients. one child was found to have either ba.1 or ba.2 (1.4%), whereas ba.2 was found in 15.9% of the kids and ba.1 in 82.6% of the kids. the average amount of time spent in clinical hospitals by ba.1 patients was 26.3%, 1.8% for stays of <24 h, and 71.9% for outpatient visits exclusively. meanwhile, 36.4% with ba.2 had clinical hospitalization extended beyond 24 h and 63.6% of them just required an outpatient visit. according to the study, only 19% of pediatric patients and 45% of hospitalized adult ba.1 or ba.2 patients were first covid-19 instances.[31] perspectives pertaining to pneumonia along with covid-19 signs such as high body temperature, cough, or other respiratory symptoms, moderate individuals also had pneumonia symptoms. in pulmonary imaging, the individuals with pneumonia revealed >50% lesion development within 24–48 h. pneumonia is less likely to develop from an omicron infection than a delta infection. both the administration of booster doses 6 months after receiving the initial vaccines and the first 6 months afterward were linked to a significantly decreased incidence of pneumonia. age range, kind, and immunization status were all significant predictors of pneumonia, according to univariate and multivariate investigations. variations of pneumonia and immunization status by an immunization group, figure 6 shows the proportion of pneumonia-related delta variant infections ranged from 30.77% to 69.17%, whereas the proportion of pneumoniarelated omicron infections ranged from 14.76% to 36.71%. only 42.31% of individuals who had all their main immunizations before an omicron infection developed pneumonia, in contrast to 80.77% of those over 50 before the delta infection. patients with the omicron variant infection had a 66% lower chance of getting pneumonia than those with the delta variant sickness. greater neutralizing antibody titers (hybrid immunity) following a natural infection may occur compared to primary and booster immunity, as well as viral hussein, et al.: a review on coronavirus and omicron patients 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 load disparities by variant. individuals were divided based on their vaccination history: those who received a booster dose, total main immunization after 180 days of diagnosis, and total main immunization before 180 days of diagnosis. in the case of delta variant infections, complete main immunization 6 months after the illness decreased the chance of pneumonia to 52%. in contrast, immunization at least 6 months before infection, and receipt of booster injections lessened the chance of pneumonia by 82%. complete main immunization around 6 months lowered the occurrence of pneumonia in cases of omicron infections by 66%. in the case of those who received booster injections, there were too few omicron cases to establish a reliable odds ratio of pneumonia. there were no significant or extremely serious omicron infections, and the incidence of pneumonia was improved among omicron infections rather than delta infections across all age groups and immunization status. the results provide an estimate of the connection between immunization status and pneumonia rather than an indication of the effectiveness of the vaccine against pneumonia.[14] effectiveness of covid-19 mrna vaccination doses toward the omicron variant residents of continuing concern during an omicron dominant phase although doses of covid-19 mrna vaccine (95% of study subjects acquired mrna-1273) raised safety toward any sars-cov-2 infection, symptoms of disease, and also poor results. however, there are still numerous unanswered questions regarding the fourth dose in this cohort, including the prevention length, for the mrna-1273 vaccination in particular. in long-term care services, combining vaccination with additional precautions for public health such as mask use, better ventilation, and physical separation may enable this extremely susceptible group to receive the best possible protection from sars-cov-2.[32] impact of vaccination on clinical treatment outcomes during the omicron before contracting sars-cov-2, 190 patients had gotten the covid-19 vaccine 3 times or more. of those, 30.2% of the patients received two doses, 7.9% of individuals receiving three dosages of mrna vaccination, and 26.2% of patients with three dosages required additional oxygen (figure 7). even after adjusting for age, the three doses of mrna vaccination had a continuing effect on the demand for oxygen and hospitalization rate, having undergone a liver transplant, the number of coexisting conditions, and storm medication. the results remained unchanged between patients who received the mrna1273 vaccine and those who got the bnt162b2 vaccine.[33] pathological profiles and results among adults with hospitalized sars-cov-2 infection during periods of b.1.617.2 (delta) and the b.1.1.529 (omicron) variant the coronavirus-causing sars-cov-2 virus (omicron) form has prevailed the (delta) variant being the common strain in california. compared to earlier versions, the omicron form is more contagious and immune to vaccination neutralization. there were fewer hospital deaths among fully immunized omicron-period patients than among delta-period people. for older people with sars-cov-2 infection, vaccines including a booster shot for those who have already received the vaccine remain essential in reducing the risk of serious health consequences. more people had received all advised immunizations and fewer persons had not been among 737 adults hospitalized during the omicron era. this compares to the 339 individuals hospitalized during the delta dominating period. less omicron-period patients needed to be admitted to the intensive care unit (icu) than delta-period patients did. adults who were fully immunized and hospitalized during the omicron predominance period died less frequently than those who were hospitalized during the delta predominance period.[34] vaccinations for omicron infection as opposed to omicron sickness despite the fact that the vaccine normally has a higher efficiency against severe omicron disease, several studies have found variations, including rapid apparent waning. in comparison to other forms, including delta, the vaccine’s protection against omicron-caused illness and infection is less effective. the average effectiveness of immunization against severe omicron disease is greater, possibly due to the continued existence of cellular immunity. it is now more difficult to determine the efficacy of vaccination against omicron severe illness, nevertheless, due to the high incidence of infection. at least 3 months following the booster dosage, there have not been many trials evaluating the vaccine’s effectiveness against severe omicron illness. when hospitalization for severe illness is regarded as requiring neither covid-19 clinical criteria nor hospitalization without those requirements, there has been some evidence to suggest that the effectiveness of vaccines decreases beyond the first series, especially after 3-month postvaccination. in comparison to the delta, the omicron showed a larger variation in vaccination efficacy among hospitalized cases. in addition, using all admissions caused a gradual reduction in “severe” omicron illness effectiveness whereas utilizing more precise terminology to describe extreme covid19 illness caused a noticeably lower decline.[35] covid-19 rapid antigen test diagnostic adequacy using uncontrolled self-sampling three quick tests for antigens using nose self-samples all showed lower sensitivity after the development of omicron, however, only the clinical test showed statistical significance. the effectiveness of quick antigen testing to detect sars-cov-2. 1–5 seemed promising. the tests can be carried out in a variety of situations without laboratory facilities, need little equipment, and give results in 15–30 min. rapid antigen tests are now commonly available as over-the-counter assays, despite the fact that they should only be utilized by qualified specialists. self-testing reduces the bar for testing and allows people to receive an outcome without the guidance of a certified professional.[36] hussein, et al.: a review on coronavirus and omicron patients 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 the correlation between the covid-19 vaccine and hospitalization in patients taking immunosuppressive drugs patients who were taking immunosuppressive dmards or glucocorticoids had a greater incidence of covid-19-associated hospitalization and sars-cov-2 illness than those who were not. those patients who had an organ or bone marrow transplant were more likely to become ill and need hospitalization, despite receiving either vaccination they were still at high risk. the mrna1273 and bnt162b2 vaccines had an effect on covid-19-related hospitalization brought on by the omicron variant in individuals using immunosuppressants and can offer some protection against omicron infection. the mrna-1273 and bnt162b2 vaccinations offered superior defense against covid-19-related hospitalization in people whose immune systems were inhibited throughout the omicron-dominant wave sars-cov-2. in addition, any of these two vaccines was very efficient in lowering the likelihood of icu admission. both three and two doses of either vaccination were significantly protective against covid-19 hospitalization in both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed individuals. all patients on immunosuppressive drugs such as dmards or glucocorticoids, as well as those who have had organ or bone marrow transplants, significantly had a higher probability of hospitalization for covid-19, therefore a fourth dosage of vaccination would be justified.[37] the variation in covid-19 mortality risk, as well as immunization history, comorbidities, and other factors there were 53 deaths without covid-19 and 128 deaths involving covid-19 among those who have omicron infection, meanwhile, in those infected with the delta, there were 189 and 28, respectively. the likelihood of dying from covid-19 was 67% less likely to happen depending on sociodemographic characteristics, vaccination status, and comorbidity differences, following infection with the omicron ba.1 variant in comparison to the delta variant. regarding all age groups, the probability of dying from covid-19 infection with omicron infection was lower than delta. the relative risk is lower in younger individuals because age has a substantial impact on fatality risk difference, with omicron demonstrating a greater decrease in covid-19 mortality than delta for individuals between the ages of 18 and 59 and 60 and 69 years than for those who are 70 or beyond. in terms of gender and variant interaction, males exhibit a greater reduction than females in mortality risk for covid-19. the categories used to categorize vaccination status were one dose, two dosages of the mrna vaccine given by pfizer or moderna within 180 days, two dosages given by astrazeneca within 180 days, unvaccinated, and booster. regardless of age, receiving a booster lowered the death possibility from omicron relative to delta in comparison to receiving two dosages only. in south africa, california, canada, and the uk, the clinical seriousness of covid-19 omicron variation was way less severe than that of the delta form. for all age categories, the probability of covid-19-related mortality regardless of the number of comorbidities, omicron infection was less than delta. however, there was no proof that the number of comorbidities affected the relative mortality risk in a different way.[38] parameters of chronic illness in covid-19 patients some people with systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (sards) may experience severe covid-19 results, such as hospitalization and mortality. data on rheumatic disease symptoms, comorbidities, immunization status, demographics, and medications were gathered. the electronic inquiry identified age, gender, race (asian/hawaiian/pacific islander, black, white, or other/unknown), and hispanic race. medical record review provided information on comorbidities such as interstitial lung disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and chronic bronchitis. the overall research samples’ average age was 58.4 years (standard deviation [sd] 17.5). overall, the samples were comprised 71.4% white, 11.2% black, and 3.6% asian/hawaiian/pacific islander people. the proportion of black or hispanic sard patients who tested positive for covid-19 dropped. high blood pressure was the most prevalent coexisting condition (43.8%). at the time of infection, the vaccination status of the overall sample was 64.7% pre-vaccination/not vaccinated, 3.5% partly immunized, 15.7% two-dose mrna or one-dose j&j, and 16.1% further dosage. outcomes of treatment and severe covid-19 neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (12.6%), remdesivir (14.2%), and dexamethasone (13.2%) were the most widely used therapies for covid-19. to treat covid-19 in patients with sard, few were given tocilizumab (1.0%), baricitinib (0.2%), or regenerative plasma (0.5%) (figure 8). three hundred ninety-nine individuals (or 27.5%) had a severe covid-19 composite outcome, which included hospitalization or death. there were recorded 60 (4.1%) deaths and 391 (27.0%) hospitalizations. individuals with serious covid19 have an age average of 66.9 years (sd 19.1), 76.3% being female, 10.2% having interstitial lung disease, 37.3% having rheumatoid arthritis, 47.5% using glucocorticoids, 18.6% on methotrexate, and 15.3% taking rituximab. several patients had significant comorbidities in addition to sards, but they were also receiving therapies that substantially reduced their immune response to vaccines and infections (e.g., b cell depletion). as a result, attributing the impact of underlying sard and immunosuppression is challenging. throughout the calendar years, sard patients who had severe covid19 made up less of the total population. each calendar period’s overall percentage of serious covid-19 cases was 119 (45.6%), 144 (29.3%), 41 (33.3%), 36 (20.9%), and 59 (14.7%) in the early covid-19, early treatment, fast vaccination, further vaccination, delta wave, and omicron wave times, accordingly.[5] discussion in shanghai, there were outbreaks of sars-cov-2 omicron ba.2 between february 26 and june 30, 2022. these outbreaks’ clinical severity and disease burden were estimated. in comparison to the general population, the aged people had much higher rates of severe/critical infections and mortality. through a city-wide lockdown, transportation restrictions, school closures, frequent and thorough nucleic testing, and medical aid from other provinces, control of the outbreak was hussein, et al.: a review on coronavirus and omicron patients 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 attained. shanghai has a greater rate of primary and booster vaccination coverage than hong kong, particularly among those 65 and older. to prepare for future covid-19 waves that may occur, shanghai has to increase immunization rates, especially among older persons with a history of persistent underlying illnesses. for the omicron ba.2 epidemics that will occur in shanghai between february and june of 2022, sickness load and severity in clinical terms were estimated. when compared to other contexts and countries, we found lower outbreak burden and death, showing the significance of shanghai’s effective outbreak containment measures.[17] a substantial rise in sars-cov-2 positive and related covid-19 hospitalizations among young people including kids and adolescents was found in the south african district of tshwane. this rise resulted from the strong communal transmission and the quick relocation of the delta type by the omicron type commencing in mid-november 2021. sars-cov-2s’ omicron variety has been referenced with • screened data (n=155)• discovered data from databases:(n=411) • evaluation of publications (n=117) • duplicated (n=23) • unclear data (n=15) discovering classification controling figure 1: study flowchart. this graph displays the various observations used in analyzing throughout the various subsections of the finding part. utilizing the following mesh or keywords, studies were discovered using pubmed, scopus, google scholar, and medrxiv. transmission fever, 61% cough, 57% shortness of breath, 31% vomiting, 26% diarrhea, 25% symptoms figure 2: hospitalization percentage of children with covid-19 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% required routine hospital care oxygen treatment (passed) required ventilation due to complicated underlying pathologies figure 3: proportion of patient hospitality status under 4 age (kids), 63% under 19 age, 18% (100% omicron) unvaccinaed pateints figure 4: unvaccinated kids and teenagers’ percentage figure 5: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections and hospitalizations percentage in omicron ba.1 and ba.2 hussein, et al.: a review on coronavirus and omicron patients 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 poorer antibody neutralization, increased infectiousness, decreased vaccination effect, and a greater risk for recurrence in comparison to the delta form. children hospitalized with covid-19 were diagnosed as 36% incidental cases, and another 20% were contributory diagnoses (not the major diagnosis), showing the virus’s quick spread throughout the neighborhood. a number of factors, including the unavailability of childhood immunization, the greater percentage of prior exposure, and the innate immunity of adults being superior to that of infants are thought to be associated with an excessive infection of the omicron variant of sars-cov-2, and children usually do not put on face masks as adults frequently do. viral variations with high transmissibility spread more readily when total population immunity is low, but immune evasion features of a virus play a greater role in populations with a higher immunity. the vast majority of children with covid-19 did not develop serious illnesses, which was encouraging, and a substantial portion of diagnoses was made accidentally. however, considering that this population is still uninfected in many countries, the quick rise in pediatric cases shows that hospitals should be ready for extremely contagious variants of sars-cov-2 that could cause a sudden surge in pediatric cases and hospitalizations.[29] nineteen percent of our pediatric patients and only 45% of the adult patients who were hospitalized with ba.1 or ba.2 were identified to be the predominant covid19 cases. compared to individuals with accidental covid-19, those with the main covid-19 had solid organ transplants considerably more frequently and showed much less ba.1. in addition, they appeared to be older than patients who simply had covid-19, and they also had what appeared to be a greater 28-day in-hospital death rate. they had higher rates of covid-19 vaccination in comparison to those who had accidental covid-19.[31] a case–case study revealed that pneumonia was 66% less probable to arise from omicron variant infection than from delta variant infection. within 6 months of infection, the delta variant’s full primary immunization lowered the incidence of pneumonia by 52%. international investigations have shown that maximal viral loads are lower in people with omicron infections than in patients with delta infections, although variations did not reveal any differences. the co-occurring medical conditions among this study participant were high blood pressure, diabetes, cerebral vascular disease, coronary heart disease, asthma, and so forth. in comparison to delta infection, omicron infection has a lower chance of developing pneumonia.[14] comparing the fourth dosage with the third dosage resulted in lower marginal efficacy against all outcomes and it was discovered that a fourth dose provided more protection than a third dose. for instance, if long-term care residents who lack vaccinations experience catastrophic outcomes 10 times every 1000 resident weeks, a fourth dose of the vaccine is 86% effective, and a third dosage is 77% successful. earlier research on the efficacy of the two injections of mrna vaccinations in long-term care residents undertaken before the pandemic revealed greater immunization efficiency rates (71– 82%) toward infection in comparison to the fourth dose. our research revealed that the covid-19 mrna vaccine’s fourth dosage dramatically improved protection against any sarscov-2 infection, symptomatic illness, and care during omicron duration.[32] in a cohort of organ transplant patients, a prospective observational study was conducted during the omicron wave which discovered late age and several comorbidities continue to be significant risk factors for serious illness. however, the reduced chance of developing a major disease in liver transplant recipients is probably due to low levels and dosages of maintenance immunosuppression. over the course of their illnesses, many patients’ immunosuppression levels decreased, 1 2 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% delta omicron figure 6: pneumonia varieties and immunization status remdesivir 16% dexamethasone 14% monoclonal antibodies 14% tocilizumab 1% baricitinib 0% convalescent plasma 55% other 55% effectiveness of treatments figure 8: treatment outcomes and severe covid-19 2 doses 3 doses more than 3 doses figure 7: the influence of vaccination on clinical treatment outcomes during the omicron hussein, et al.: a review on coronavirus and omicron patients 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 especially in those with more serious illnesses. in addition, we discovered that sotrovimab was effective at lowering the requirement for extra oxygen and hospitalization when administered within the 1st week of symptom onset.[33] in comparison to earlier versions, the omicron form is more contagious and immune to vaccination neutralization. retrospective extraction of clinical features and outcomes from electronic health records with positive rt-pcr sarscov-2 test findings was performed. covid-19 immunization, particularly obtaining a booster dosage, correlated with a lower risk of icu admission and lower chance of mortality while at the hospital among individuals who are 65 years or older and who are more likely to experience major difficulties while hospitalized. hospitalizations during the omicron period were correlated with reduced imv and hospital fatalities as compared to hospitalizations during the delta era. the higher population-level immunity imparted by vaccination may be the cause of the reduced illness severity seen during omicron predominance. the severity markers were contrasted during omicron-period hospitalizations among the four vaccination status categories including unvaccinated, partially immunized, totally immunized without a booster injection, and completely immunized with a booster injection. increased infections among vaccination recipients during the omicron dominance period were most likely caused by a combination of deteriorating vaccination-derived immunity with time and the omicron variation’s increased vaccine-neutralization resistance compared to the delta variant. hospitalized patients having other illnesses were younger than adults hospitalized for covid-19. among the 105 hospitalized patients for covid-19, 39.0% exhibited hypoxemia, 51.4% had unusual chest radiography, and 63.8% had symptoms of the lower respiratory tract. omicron variant illness still produces serious lower respiratory disease despite reported differences from the delta. less omicron-period individuals got covid-19 therapy than delta-period patients, which may indicate a lower proportion of hypoxemia.[34] it has been demonstrated that covid-19 vaccinations are more effective toward severe omicron efficacy estimates based on hospitalization in omicron-infected individuals underestimate the covid-19 sickness. the reason for this is due to the less covid-19 vaccine effectiveness which is responsible for a higher percentage of hospitalizations than it is for its actual induction. there was greater vaccination protection against the development of omicron infection to severe illness as well as hospitalization. when more exact diagnostic criteria for serious covid-19 respiratory sickness were applied, such as respiratory distress signs (such as the need for oxygen, mechanical ventilation, and icu hospitalization), the efficacy of the vaccine against hospitalization improved. the second method to evaluate vaccination protection against serious illness included observing the transition from an omicron infection to a more serious effect, such as intensive care needing hospitalization and ventilation support. the efficacy of vaccination against severe omicron illness can be assessed using fatal outcomes, although care should be considered to avoid misclassifying the result in death. ecological assessments might also be beneficial. the present vaccine formulations may still be useful in avoiding the most severe disease forms, as evidenced by the vaccination’s high standard of safety against the severe covid-19 illness associated with omicron. however, because omicron future emerging variations, resist vaccine-induced immunity against infection, and exacerbations of chronic conditions caused by infections in susceptible individuals, it may result in a higher percentage of hospitalizations and mortality. it may be necessary to provide booster shots more often or to develop new vaccinations that will more effectively and long-lastingly prevent sars-cov-2 infection.[35] for the identification of sars-cov-2, rapid antigen assays exhibit promising performance. minimal equipment is needed for the tests, and they give results in 15–30 min. selftesting without the guidance of a knowledgeable specialist reduces the bar for testing and enables anyone to get the results quickly and as soon as it is convenient for them. this, in turn, might aid in the early discovery and self-isolation of infected individuals, hence reducing community transmission. sensitivity of three readily accessible sars-cov-2 fast antigen tests (flowflex, mpbio, and clinical test) spontaneous nasal sampling by oneself by symptomatic people reduced the total omicron emergence. however, the clinical test was the only test that showed a significant statistical decline. in contrast to individuals who visited testing facilities for different reasons, confirmatory testers (those tested who could prove favorable self-test results) showed much greater sensitivities. without the requirement for confirmation testing, an immediate selfisolation can be justified by a positive self-test result. predictive values that were negative were significantly lower. those with a negative self-test result should take the usual precautions because it is impossible to rule out a false negative result.[36] many conditions are treated with immunosuppressants, and it has been demonstrated that individuals taking glucocorticoids or immunosuppressive dmards were more likely than nonusers to experience covid-19-linked hospitalization and sars-cov-2 illness. it was proven that patients with an organ, or bone marrow transplant had a considerably higher chance of hospitalization for covid-19 than those who had not, and suggested that all of the patients on glucocorticoids or immunosuppressive dmards might also require a similar prioritization for a fourth dosage as those patients. the mrna1273 and bnt162b2 vaccines are extremely effective toward covid-19-associated hospitalization brought on by the omicron variant and can offer some protection against omicron infection in individuals utilizing immunosuppressants. prioritizing and maintaining immunization records for immunosuppressant – using individuals are vital.[37] omicron has been shown to be less severe than delta in terms of hospitalization and mortality. the chance of mortality from covid-19 was 67% less for omicron than for delta after accounting for several possible confounding factors such as vaccination status and health conditions which was more evident in youthful people and men than females. for those individuals who received a booster, their chance of dying was much lower.[38] serious covid-19, which is marked by hospitalization or death, is more likely to occur in patients with sards. in comparison to sard individuals who had mild covid-19, those who had severe covid-19 tended to be unvaccinated. the initial omicron wave, which contributed to the most significant hussein, et al.: a review on coronavirus and omicron patients 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 8-17 number of instances but the minimal chance of severe illness, the percentage of sard individuals with serious covid-19 has reduced. the findings revealed that, although certain sard individuals on immunosuppressive drugs may be more likely to contract a new infection. vaccination showed notable advantages for several of these sars-cov-2-infected individuals. regardless of these results, some individuals with sards continue to encounter serious diseases, particularly those who are using immunosuppressive medications known to impair the body’s response to infection and vaccination as well as those who have other significant comorbidities. however, advancements in covid-19 treatment, diagnosis, and prevention may have enhanced patient outcomes in sard cases.[5] conclusion the most commonly reported symptoms of covid-19 included mood fluctuations, rashes, gastrointestinal problems, coughing, and lack of appetite among children aged 0–3 years old whereas children between the ages of 4 and 11 years most frequently had mood fluctuations, memory loss, attention issues, and rashes. two days on average were spent in the hospital (range, 1–3). pneumonia is less likely to develop from an omicron infection than a delta infection. both the administration of booster doses 6 months after receiving the initial vaccines and the first 6 months afterward were linked to a significantly decreased incidence of pneumonia. less omicron-period patients needed to be admitted to the icu than delta-period patients did. in comparison to the delta, the omicron showed a larger variation in vaccination efficacy among hospitalized cases. both three and two doses of either vaccination were significantly protective against covid-19 hospitalization in both immunocompetent and immunosuppressed individuals. for all age categories, the probability of covid-19-related mortality regardless of the number of comorbidities, omicron infection was less than delta. overall, throughout the calendar year, sard patients who had severe covid-19 made up less of the total population. acknowledgment we would like to thank cihan university-erbil for its support and for giving us opportunities to prepare this review article. references 1. f. abdullah, j. myers, d. basu, g. tintinger, v. ueckermann, m. mathebula, r. ramlall, s. spoor, t. de villiers, z. van der walt, j. cloete, p. soma-pillay, p. rheeder, f. paruk, a. engelbrecht, v. lalloo, m. myburg, j. kistan, w. van hougenhouck-tulleken, m. t. boswell, g. gray, r. welch, l. blumberg and w. jassat. decreased severity of disease during the first global omicron variant covid-19 outbreak in a large hospital in tshwane, south africa. international journal of infectious diseases, vol. 116, pp. 38-42, 2022. 2. s. evans, d. holt, c. weil-olivier, g. finnegan and v. usonis. building population and health system resilience: using lessons learned during the covid pandemic to implement life-course immunisation policy. vaccine, vol. 40, no. 26, pp. 3511-3513, 2022. 3. n. van goethem, p. y. j. chung, m. meurisse, m. 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retrospective cohort study. bmj, vol. 378, p. e070695, 2022. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 7-10 research article clinical prediction of blood parameters associated with breast, colon, thyroid, ovarian, and prostate cancer: diagnostic studies ali j. muhialdin1, zaenah z. alamri2, ali m. hussein3, rahman k. faraj4, zhala b. taha5, mohammed m. hussein3, zeena m. ameen3, naz r. majeed3, maryam a. a. akramc3, mohammed i. jameel6 1department of animal production, college of agricultural engineering sciences, university of garmian, kalar, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of biology, university of jeddah, college of science, jeddah 21589, saudi arabia, 3department of biomedical sciences, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of chemistry, college of science, university of garmian, kalar, kurdistan region, iraq, 5department of forestry, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 6department of medical microbiology, koya university, kurdistan region, iraq abstract cancer is a cellular change caused by uncontrolled cell growth and division. this disease develops from the growth of abnormal cells that have the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. this study’s goal was to determine how blood parameters, such as mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (mch), and mch concentration, relate to one another. white, red blood cells, hemoglobin and other kind of cancer. breast cancer, thyroid gland cancer, ovarian cancer, testicular cancer, brain tumors as well as other types of cancer are based on the cell of the tissue found on or in the body. each of these cancers is accompanied by different health problems that put the patient’s life at risk. to perform a complete blood count (cbc) before and after cancer diagnosis, as abnormalities in the body can cause an increase or decrease in blood components, depending on the cancer type, the patient’s physiological mechanisms, and the structural component. since the cbc test belongs to hematology, drawing a blood sample and putting it into the anticoagulant tube for testing were preferred. in this study, the blood components of almost all patients were normal except for a few of them which may be due to other medical and biological factors. the aim of the study was to see if there is a significant relationship between blood parameters and cancer types. keywords: complete blood count, breast cancer, thyroid gland cancer, testicular cancer, ovarian cancer, blood parameters introduction cancer is a disease that causes deaths worldwide. the increasing risk of cancer disease can be accounted for by elements such as a longer life expectancy and social, economic, and population growth.[1,2] breast cancer originates from the breast tissue, typically from the lining or lobules of milk ducts.[3] thyroid cancer is a type of cancer that affects the endocrine system.[4] there are two different forms of thyroid cancer. papillary thyroid cancer and follicular thyroid cancer are both differentiated thyroid cancer that arise from thyroid follicle cells. medullary thyroid cancer the third form of thyroid cancer, develops from parafollicular c-cells. the last type of thyroid cancer, which is anaplastic thyroid cancer, is a lethal form of the disease that can distinguish over time and occurs from de novo.[5] epithelial ovarian cancer causes gynecological cancer-associated deaths.[6] ovarian carcinoma can develop in one of three ways which include the surface of the ovary, the fallopian tube that connects the uterus to the fallopian, and the peritoneal cavity lined by mesothelium,[7] whereas colon cancer develops when malignant tumors form in the colon tissue. it is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers and one of the main causes of death.[8] prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in men after corresponding author: mohammed i. jameel, department of medical microbiology, koya university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: mohammed.isam@koyauniversity.org received: may 19, 2023 accepted: june 26, 2023 published: july 20, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp7-10 copyright © 2023 ali j. muhialdin, zaenah z. alamri, ali m. hussein, rahman k. faraj, zhala b. taha, mohammed m. hussein, zeena m. ameen, naz r. majeed, maryam a. a. akramc, mohammed i. jameel. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) muhialdin, et al.: blood parameters associated with breast, colon, thyroid, ovarian, and prostate cancer 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 7-10 lung cancer.[9] brain tumor is the most terrible type of cancer. it caused many deaths among children and adults during the past years.[10] the tumor affects and damages the healthy tissues of the brain or intensifies intracranial pressure.[11] testicular cancer is the most common solid tumor in men over the age of 15–40 years. it is extremely aneuploidy, with the iso-chromosome 12p being the most common chromosomal abnormality.[12] ewing’s sarcoma, a small round cell tumor, usually develops in the bones of children and teenagers but may also occur in soft tissue. ewing’s disease develops quickly, and within a few weeks, the skeletal lesion transforms into massive tumors that develop in soft tissue.[14] materials and methods after diagnosing patients with cancer, a complete blood count (cbc) examination is required for further diagnoses of diseases, such as leukemia, anemia, and other hematological diseases.[15] there were two stages of the cbc test such as the phlebotomy technique followed using the blood sample in the cbc instruments. phlebotomy, in a so-called venipuncture, a blood sample is taken by puncturing a vein and collected in edta tube. this was the medical procedure to withdraw the blood sample. this study involved collecting data about a hundred patients diagnosed with cancer. the patients consisted of those with cancer of various types such as breast (30 samples), colon (15 samples), thyroid gland (15 samples), ovarian (20 samples), and prostate cancer (20 samples). they received treatments at kalar hospital in sulaimaniyah, kurdistan region, iraq. data for each patient for this study were collected by an oncologist at the above hospital statistics department. results the variations in blood parameters of patients with cancer of various types are illustrated in the following figures. the highest mean white blood cell (wbc) count was seen in patients with breast cancer 7.3, prostate cancer 7.18, and ovarian cancer 6.6. the mean wbc count was lower (5.4) in patients with colon cancer compared to 5.56 in patients with thyroid gland cancer. however, the standard rate was 4.5–11 (fig. 1). the highest and lowest mean red blood cell (rbc) counts were observed in patients with thyroid gland cancer (5) and prostate cancer (3.5), respectively. the same mean (4.5) rbc count was shown in patients with colon cancer and ovarian cancer. the mean rbc count in patients with breast cancer was 4, which was slightly higher than that of patients with prostate cancer. however, the standard rate was 4–5 (fig. 2). the highest mean hemoglobin (hgb) count (14) was in patients with thyroid gland cancer and ovarian cancer, followed by 13 and 11 in patients with colon cancer and breast cancer, respectively. patients with prostate cancer had the lowest mean hgb count (10). the standard rate was 12–15.5 (fig. 3). patients with ovarian cancer, colon cancer, thyroid gland cancer, and breast cancer presented normal mean corpuscular volume (mcv), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (mch), and mch concentration (mchc) rates, indicating these types of cancer normally do not affect mcv, mch, and mchc (fig. 4) figure 1: the mean white blood cell count in patients with cancer of various types the wbc, rbc, and hgb rates were normal in all patients with ovarian cancer, colon cancer, thyroid gland cancer, and breast cancer. this finding indicates these types of cancer do not normally affect wbc, rbc, and hgb (fig. 5). each of the patients with ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and thyroid cancer had normal levels of platelets. on the other hand, patients with colon cancer had the lowest levels of platelets in comparison to patients with other types of cancer (fig. 6). discussion early prognosis of tumors in the body, especially in relation to early detection of oncological diseases, is a popular issue. figure 2: the mean red blood cell count in patients with cancer of various types figure 3: the mean hemoglobin count in patients with cancer of various types muhialdin, et al.: blood parameters associated with breast, colon, thyroid, ovarian, and prostate cancer 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 7-10 the cbc test was administered to patients diagnosed with cancer of various types (e.g., prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, thyroid cancer, colon cancer, and breast cancer). the results of this study displayed average wbc rates in all patients with cancer of various types, with the exception of one breast cancer patient who had a high rate of wbc. these results are consistent with previous study findings.[13,14] other studies showed that, using the cbc profiles to measure a patient’s risk of health outcomes may indicate different infections or leukemia.[16] the rates of rbc were normal in all patients with cancer of various types except one breast cancer patient who had a very low rate of rbc, which indicate some vitamin deficiency or anemia. according to prior studies conducted in 2020, patients are rated based on quantitative changes in blood parameters related to the body’s response to stress caused by malignant tumors.[17] the results of this study also demonstrated that the rates of hgb were almost normal, and there was no association between bleeding and cancer type. these results are in line with the findings of the previous study.[18,19] however, some patients had low rates which may signify anemia. in addition, mchc rates were normal in all patients with cancer of various types.[20,21] conclusion cbc is a well-known laboratory technique that measures the levels of various blood parameters to predict and diagnose a wide range of disorders and infections. cancer is a lethal disease caused by irregular cell division and development. the findings of this study revealed that all patients with ovarian cancer, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, and colon cancer had normal levels of wbcs, rbcs, and hgb. furthermore, the mcv, mch, and mchc rates were normal in all patients with cancer of the same type. the platelet levels were also normal in breast cancer, thyroid gland cancer, and ovarian cancer patients. on the other hand, colon cancer patients exhibited low platelet levels. based on the results of this study, it was suggested that the cbc test does not accurately diagnose cancer. acknowledgment the authors would like to thank cihan university-erbil for granting them permission to use the laboratory and to carry out this research. thanks also to the research center and quality assurance directorate for providing useful guidelines for this study. ethics committee approval and consent for publication the oncologist gathered information from the kalar hospital’s statistics department in sulaimaniyah, iraq’s kurdistan region. medical ethics application was not applicable, as this study did not involve patients. references 1. world health organization. cancer fact sheets. world health organization, geneva, 2020. available from: https://gco.iarc.fr/ today/fact-sheets-cancers [last accessed on 2023 jan 29]. 2. g. salcedo-villanueva, a. a. medina-andrade, d. morenoparamo, m. f. golzarri, e. moreno-paramo, g. y. ortiz-ramirez, u. martinez-aguilar, u. de dios-cuadras, m. jimenez-rodriguez, i. espinosa-soto, x. mira-lorenzo, j. guzman-cerda, a. orozcomoguel, c. becerra-revollo, l. p. orozco-gomez and e. fulda. primary cancer sites and clinical features of choroidal metastasis in mexican patients. clinical ophthalmology, vol. 15, pp. 201209, 2021. 3. g. n. sharma, r. dave, j. sanadya, p. sharma and k. k. sharma. various types and management of breast cancer: an overview. journal of advanced pharmaceutical technology and research, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 109-126, 2010. 4. m. xing. molecular pathogenesis and mechanisms of thyroid cancer. nature reviews cancer, vol. 13, pp. 184-199, 2013. 5. d. f. schneider and h. chen. new developments in the diagnosis and treatment of thyroid cancer. ca: a cancer journal for clinicians, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 373-394, 2013. figure 4: the mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin (mch), and mch concentration counts in patients with cancer of various types figure 6: the results of the platelet count test for patients with cancer of various types figure 5: the mean white blood cell, red blood cell, and haemoglobin counts in patients with cancer of various types muhialdin, et al.: blood parameters associated with breast, colon, thyroid, ovarian, and prostate cancer 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 7-10 6. g. c. jayson, e. c kohn, h. c. kitchener and j. a. ledermann. ovarian cancer. lancet, vol. 384, no. 9951, pp. 1376-1388, 2014. 7. e. lengyel. ovarian cancer development and metastasis. the american journal of pathology, vol. 177, no. 3, pp. 1053-1064, 2010. 8. t. hu, z. li, c. y. gao and c. h. cho. mechanisms of drug resistance in colon cancer and its therapeutic strategies. world journal of gastroenterology, vol. 22, no. 30. pp. 6876-6889, 2016. 9. p. rawla. epidemiology of prostate cancer. world journal of oncology, vol. 10, no. 2. pp. 63-89, 2019. 10. a. rehman, m. a. khan, t. saba, z. mehmood, u. tariq and n. ayesha. microscopic brain tumor detection and classification using 3d cnn and feature selection architecture. microscopy research and technique, vol. 84, no. 1, pp. 133-149, 2020. 11. t. saba, a. s. mohamed, m. el-affendi, j. amin and m. sharif. brain tumor detection using fusion of hand crafted and deep learning features. cognitive systems research, vol. 59, pp. 221230, 2020. 12. g. de vries, x. rosas-plaza, m. a. t. m. van vugt, j. a. gietema and s. de jong. testicular cancer: determinants of cisplatin sensitivity and novel therapeutic opportunities. cancer treatment reviews, vol. 88, p. 102054, 2020. 13. y. iwamoto. diagnosis and treatment of ewing’s sarcoma. japanese journal of clinical oncology, vol. 37, no. 2. pp. 79-89, 2007. 14. j. j. noh, m. c. lim, m. h. kim, y. h. kim, e. s. song, s. j. seong, d. h. suh, j. m. lee, c. lee and c. h. choi. the prognostic model of pre-treatment complete blood count (cbc) for recurrence in early cervical cancer. journal of clinical medicine, vol. 9, no. 9, p. 2960, 2020. 15. n. h. mahmood, p. c. lim, s. m. mazalan and m. a. a. razak. blood cells extraction using color based segmentation technique. international journal of life sciences biotechnology and pharma research, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 2250-3137, 2013. 16. d. k. kur, d. thøgersen, l. kjeldsen and l. friis-hansen. the hemoscreen hematology pointof-care device is suitable for rapid evaluation of acute leukemia patients. international journal of laboratory hematology, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 52-60, 2021. 17. m. g. sadovsky, a. a. feller, e. a. martynova, d. v. chernyaev, e. v. semenov, e. v. slepov and r. a zukov. cbc effectively stratifies the patients with different types of malignant tumors. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 1679, p. 042019, 2020. 18. s. yousefian, a. moafi and m. khalilian. the relation between end of induction minimal residual disease and different risk factors in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. iranian journal of pediatric hematology and oncology, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 211-218, 2019. 19. n. michels, c. van aart, j. morisse, a. mullee and i. huybrechts. chronic inflammation towards cancer incidence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of epidemiological studies. critical reviews in oncology hematology, vol. 157, p. 103177, 2021. 20. a. m. hussein, z. b. taha, a. g. malek, k. a. rasul, d. q. hazim, r. j. ahmed and u. b. mohamed. ddimer and serum ferritin as an independent risk factor for severity in covid-19 patients. materials today: proceedings, 2021. 21. t. s. salih and s. n. r. darogha. incidence of b-cell leukemia among kurdish people in erbil city. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 2, p. 2, 2017. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 36-42 research article multilevel feedback queue scheduling technique: model proposal to reduce risk and enhance performance of health-care systems naji a. harki department of computer network and information security, college of informatic-akre, akre university for applied sciences, duhok, iraq abstract in recent decades, computer technology has been highly developed and applied in numerous aspects of daily life, and the health-care sector is becoming more aware of the significance of information development. health-care systems, including their divisions, can indeed use software applications to minimize risk and enhance performance. this study used the multilevel feedback queue (mlfq) technique, assigning a time slot to each queue for mlfq scheduling (mlfqs) so that it changes dynamically with each round of performance. implementing mlfqs techniques (mlfqst) enhances patient satisfaction, minimizes risk, and ultimately delivers high-quality care to patients. it also optimizes patient flow and resource allocation, reducing wait times and delays. the technique divides the ready queue into several queues with different priorities, and each queue has its own scheduling technique. based on the prioritization, mlfqst reduced the waiting time in the queue over the maximum safety requirements for optimal management by 78 arrivals per 4 h/day in a week, while the percentage of station time utilization was 22, 19.81, 17.62, and 17.62, respectively. while the average waiting time was 24.56, 29.68, 23.5, and 22.62 min, the estimated average support units used by the four stations in the system are ws = ls/λ = 1/λ – μ = 0.215 h = 0.215 × 60 = 12.9 min per patient in the waiting queue. the findings indicate a substantial reduction in risk, waiting times in the queue, and enhanced performance. keywords: multilevel feedback queue scheduling technique, estimate waiting time, improve risk reduction, enhance the performance of health-care division, patient satisfaction introduction nowadays, computing technology serves various purposes, making it impossible to imagine a world without technology.[1] modern technology provides sectors with the capacity to perform tasks with exceptional speed and provides an area of possibilities that are only beginning to be investigated.[2,3] the most significant aspect of computing techniques is their capability to concurrently execute numerous activities, which can be achieved with an efficient scheduler, and software applications that can indeed be used in healthcare have been encouraged by this to perform better.[4,5] health-care centers are government-operated organizations that provide health-care services. the services focus on emergency medical care, diagnosis, and medical treatment for patients, as well as providing services and preventing diseases.[6] health-care applications are one of the most promising advancements in delivering timely and in-demand services to end users while also collecting statistics and data for presentation to provincial public health authorities.[7,8] overcrowding in health-care facilities can lead to longer wait times, decreased quality of care, and an increased risk of disease transmission.[9,10] factors affecting waiting times for healthcare services include service availability, priority groups, service hesitancy, and the risk of epidemic disease or virus mutations.[5,11] the operating system has several significant goals, including facilitating user deployment, ensuring efficient operations, guaranteeing dependability, and optimizing performance and control. the requirement for processor corresponding author: naji a. harki, department of computer network and information security, college of informatic-akre, akre university for applied sciences, duhok, iraq. e-mail: naji.abdullah@auas.edu.krd received: march 27, 2024 accepted: june 21, 2024 published: august 05, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp36-42 copyright © 2024 naji a. harki. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) harki: mlfq scheduling technique 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 36-42 scheduling arises mainly from the use of multitasking operating systems in modern computer systems. the scheduler is a specialized system software that manages the allocation of resources from the queue to the services.[12] in operating system management, a multilevel feedback queue scheduling technique (mlfqst), is designed to provide a balance between responsiveness and fairness.[13] processes with high priority are able to dash and are less likely to be delayed by processes with lower priority. however, processes with lower priority are still able to run periodically, ensuring that they eventually receive central service unit time.[14] the technique also allows for dynamic adjustment of priority levels based on the behavior of processes, ensuring that methods that use central serves unit time efficiently are given higher priority.[15] figure 1 illustrates the feedback scheduling technique by showing the path that a process will follow during the several queues. this approach is known as multilevel feedback, meaning that the operating system allocates the processor to a process, and the process block is pre-empted, feeding it back into one or different priority queues.[16,17] hence, models can help determine how infectious diseases will be managed under different scenarios and inform public health decision-making. for example, models can help identify which interventions, such as social distancing measures, are likely to be most effective in reducing the spread of the risk of epidemic disease or virus. analyzing the performance of queue systems can help identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement. this can be done using mathematical models and simulation techniques, which can help predict system behavior and optimize performance.[18,19] in the “multilevel feedback queue scheduling model,” arrivals (λ) represent the individuals that enter the system and join the queue. the queue is a waiting line where individuals reside and wait for their turn to be served by a server or station (μ). individuals or jobs that are ready and waiting to be served are placed in the ready queue or waiting list.[20] this list is typically stored as a linked list data structure. multilevel feedback queue (mlfq) can help improve efficiency and reduce wait times, but it can also be more complex to manage and may require additional resources.[21] the study presents an mlfqst model proposal aiming to examine the impact of healthcare system prioritization based on medical needs on the treatment of urgent cases and explore the use of predictive models to optimize health-care system performance. the model also presented and offered valuable insight into optimizing service administration, reducing wait times, improving risk reduction, enhancing the performance of health-care divisions, and ultimately increasing patient satisfaction. related work di pumpo et al.[22] propose implementing queueing theory as an approach to predicting the most effective number of health-care workers to schedule daily at a vaccination site. it considers the potential variations caused by health-care workers needing to adhere more perfectly to their scheduled arrival time. in addition, it aims to provide safety indicators related to physical distancing during the pandemic, as well as performance indicators regarding the utilization time of each unit and the average waiting time for areas of study. in addition, lu et al.[23] combine computer software with data mining technology to realize performance appraisal program analysis and incentive performance pay distribution. the software then calculates the performance appraisal results regularly. this article uses self-developed performance management software in a domestic large-scale tertiary hospital to analyze assessment programmers and distribute incentive performance contributions. moreover, chen et al.[24] explore a dynamic scheduling policy and a capacity scheme to optimize patient flow. through wireless sensor networks and intelligent health-care systems, smart hospitals can build this scheduling policy and capacity scheme. the study quantifies systems using formal modeling. process algebra for performance evaluation can be used to model the dynamic scheduling policy and capacity scheme by clearly defining the patient flow and providing scalable performance analysis through fluid flow approximation. strielkina et al.[25] illustrate basic scenarios involving a select few models of healthcare iot systems, utilizing the principles of queueing theory. the models describe the flow of requests and attacks on vulnerabilities, as well as the process of recovery through restarting and eliminating ones. franco et al.[26] developed a mathematical model that enhances patient scheduling and resource allocation decision-making for vaccination centers, taking into account congestion and workload limitations. health-care centers are faced with making decisions in response to the unexpected conditions caused by the pandemic, which has resulted in a vaccination procedure that differs from conventional processes such as the seasonal flu vaccine. ghahremanloo et al.[27] developed a method to evaluate health-care units’ data envelopment analysis (dea) efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity (eep). based on inputs and outputs, traditional dea models evaluate decisionmaking units using linear programming. each outcome’s aims are used to assess health-care facilities. by controlling inputs and outputs, the developed model can improve the performance of non-productive divisions. chmielewska et al.[28] proposed a methodology that uses a mckinsey 7-s framework diagram to diagnose hospital operations and provide a more comprehensive assessment of performance figure 1: illustrates the feedback scheduling[17] harki: mlfq scheduling technique 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 36-42 than merely focusing on monetary results. the study highlights the importance of non-financial factors in improving hospital performance, with physicians as the main contributors. alnedawe and aljobouri[29] developed a new model based on machine learning (ml) that has been effectively deployed in the health sector. medical imaging sources (radiography and computed tomography) have aided in the development of artificial intelligence strategies to tackle the coronavirus outbreak. as a result, a classical ml approach for coronavirus detection from computerized tomography images provides insights into how queuing theory can be applied to improve the management of vaccine supply chains during crises. elalouf and wachtel[30] present a paper that conducts a systematic literature review to identify which models and theories can provide efficient emergency department (ed) performance and enhancement methods. this question helps identify and classify existing state-of-the-art subjects, gaps and limitations, managerial implications, and future research prospects. our review aims to help readers navigate the vast academic literature on queueing applications in eds. methods the primary method for addressing the issue of flow is that individuals enter health care as arrivals, wait in a queue to receive services, and then go to the next phase of the process or quit it. one of the most critical strategic characteristics of the health-care system’s quality and improvement services is the utilization of time allocation and scheduling techniques. a method based on the “multilevel feedback queue scheduling technique” is proposed in this study. this has proved to be the most efficient. however, there is scarce literature and mechanisms to utilize in numerous authentic contexts in which dependence on topics respecting their scheduled times would be unwise.[22] in relation to this subject, the scientific literature provides many tools, such as queueing theory,[22] data mining technology,[23] wireless sensor networks, intelligent health-care systems,[24] iot systems,[25] ml,[29] and mlfqst is well supported in the literature and does not require highly demanding computational or technical abilities. it is simple to support in the literature,[22-24] and many health-care sectors have successfully used it. the proposed model, mlfqst used first-come, firstserved (∞|fcfs) and involved selecting techniques to collect data at the local health-care center related to distribution with a known variance and mean. after collecting data over 6 days, calculate the average delivery rate by dividing the overall arrival and service interest rate by the obtained data. system performance was assessed using parameter measures to predict system behavior and optimize performance. the time part was considered to be 4 h/day for the simulation, as this was the amount of time sped for patients to flow and receive service in a conventional hospital-based system. the conceptual paradigm for health-care service, depicted in figure 2, is designed to provide efficient and effective health-care services to a large number of patients seeking services. the system’s design considers the critical factors that impact health-care service performance, ensuring that patients receive prompt attention and high-quality care. the framework of the proposed method is shown in figure 2. which outlines the sequence of steps for the algorithm. in the first queue (q1), a quantum number of 2 is set, and a first-come-first-serve (m|m|1): (∞|fcfs) is applied. this means that arrivals with a waiting time (wt) no longer than the quantum number are performed in q1 using fcfs. the remaining arrivals are moved to the second queue (q2) for performance. in q2, the wt of the remaining arrivals is calculated using the average of the wt of the arrivals that were performed in q1. the resulting average value becomes the new quantum number for the remaining arrivals. arrivals with a wt that is less than or equal to the latest quantum number are then performed in q2 using the fcfs technique. the remaining arrivals that were not executed in q1 or q2 are moved to the third queue (q3). the description mentions that only a minimal number of arrivals are entered into q3, and the (∞|fcfs) is used to assign the server to the remaining arrivals in q3.[29] in figure 3, the proposed scheduling design approach, when an arrival starts performing, it first enters q1 and is scheduled in figure 2: illustrate feedback queue scheduling model proposal harki: mlfq scheduling technique 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 36-42 figure 3: flowchart for proposed scheduling technique[29] a (∞|fcfs) manner. if the arrival is completed, it is performed in 1 unit or gives service for i/o operation within this time; its priority remains the same, and it stays in q1. however, if the arrival is not completed within 1 unit, its priority is reduced, and it is shifted to q2. if an arrival is in q1 and is pre-empted by another arrival, it goes back to the head of q1 when it becomes ready again. if an arrival is in q2 and completes its performance within the time slice allotted to it, it is moved back to q1, and its priority is increased. if the arrival is not complete within the time slice, it is shifted to q3. arrivals in q3 are scheduled in a round-robin manner with a time slice of eight units. if an arrival completes its performance within the time slice, it is moved back to q2. if it is not completed within the time slice, it is shifted to q4. in q4, all arrivals are scheduled in a ∞|fcfs model.[31] helpful queueing theory in healthcare the health-care framework includes waiting lines, workers, server schedules, availability, operating techniques, and priority services offered. waiting lines refer to the queues of patients waiting for treatment; workers refer to the health-care professionals providing the treatment; server schedules refer to harki: mlfq scheduling technique 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 36-42 the working hours and shifts of the healthcare professionals; availability refers to the availability of resources such as equipment and supplies; operating techniques refer to the procedures used for treating patients, and priority services offered refer to the prioritization of certain patients based on their medical needs. priority non-pre-emptive arrivals wait for the new service time, which means that when a patient arrives with a higher priority than the patients currently being served, they will be added to the queue and will wait for their turn to receive treatment. the health-care system is designed to prioritize patients based on their medical needs to ensure that urgent cases are treated first.[32] the use of a feedback queue in a multi-server system allows for better utilization of resources and reduces waiting times for patients compared to a parallel multi-channel queue. the feedback queue ensures that patients with higher priorities are given priority access to the available servers. the expectation method of the queuing model measures the following steady-state method,[9,20,33] and formula: the probability of an arrival in the service system at a given time (p). ρ = λ/μ (1) the average time spent by arrivals waiting in line (wq). wq = lq/λ (2) table 1: analysis of arrival time, service time, and time spent in the 4-queue start and end time high priority low priority it room consultant -1 consultant -2 consultant -3 arrival service arrival service arrival service arrival service an average per-week 14.75 16.5 13.75 23.75 12 17.5 12 16.25 16.5 20.75 15 21.25 13.5 17.25 13.25 16 14.75 15.75 13.75 20 11.75 13.5 11.75 14.5 15.25 16 13.75 18.5 13 16.25 13 15.75 13.5 14 11.75 17.25 10.25 15.5 10.25 14.5 13.25 14 11.25 18 10 14 10. 13.5 total arrival per week 88 98.25 79.25 118.75 70.5 94 70.5 90.5 total average 14.67 16.17 13.21 19.79 11.75 15.67 11.71 15.08 table 2: an average of arrivals (λ) and service time (μ) parameter measures it. team consultant 1 consultant 2 consultant 3 arrival time (λ) for whom check at it service time (μ) arrival time (λ) for whom check at consultation service time (μ) arrival time (λ) for whom check at approval id service time (μ) arrival time (λ) for whom will tacking medicine service time (μ) average of arrivals (λ) and service (μ) 14.67 16.17 13.21 19.79 11.75 15.67 11.71 15.08 table 3: analysis of system performance assessment-based parameter measure parameter measures it. team consultant 1 consultant 2 consultant 3 system performance assessment by the 4-servers p = λ/μ 0.895 0.667 0.749 0.778 0.772 lq = λ2/μ(μλ) 7.697 1.339 0.445 0.364 2.461 wq=lq/λ 0.093 0.067 0.025 0.020 0.051 ls = λ/μ – λ 8.593 2.007 2.996 3.524 4.280 ws=1/μ – λ 0.390 0.101 0.170 0.200 0.215 table 4: analysis of arrival time, waiting time, service time, and total time spent in the queues the average number of arrivals waiting in a queue (lq) the average time spent in queue (wq) the average number of arrivals in a system (ls) the average of time spent in the system (ws) 2.461 0.051 4.280 0.215 harki: mlfq scheduling technique 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 36-42 the expected entire time in the system, including service (ws). ws = 1/μ – λ (3) the average number of arrivals waiting in a queue (lq). lq = λ2/μ (μ – λ) (4) expected number of arrivals in a system, including waiting and service (ls). ls = λ/μ – λ (5) the average arrival (in time) into the average service ratio for the multi-server with the feedback waiting time model gives the moving flow act. p = (1/μ) average service time (μ)/ (1/λ) average service time if the system capacity is less than the visitor’s arrival time, the wait duration will rise, i.e., λ > μ, so ρ > 1, this queuing system’s average arrival rate is lower than the average service rate, α. results and discussion in data analysis, the researcher constructed a multistation model that incorporates feedback queues to illustrate and discuss the findings, ultimately resulting in patient waiting times. this study aimed to improve the standard of service, control risk, and optimize performance at a major healthcare facility in the akre region. the study proceeds by presenting the response rate and social background of the residents under investigation. as a result, the researcher obtained the current data by conducting meetings and observing individuals’ private evaluations of their current performance enhancement level. in addition, the researcher chose specific techniques to collect data upon the researcher’s arrival in order to provide medication to patients. as a consequence, the researcher modeled the local healthcare center using a multi-station model. it includes feedback queues that handle arriving patients and estimate the model’s parameters. based on the findings, there is a certain number of patients entering the system every hour, with an average rate of arrival and entry occurring every minute. according to the data concerning patient arrivals and the service proposal, the current healthcare system is functioning efficiently in terms of serving patients. additionally, there is a notable gap between the actual and predicted waiting times for patients [see table 1]. the existing system of health care has a waiting time of 14.67, 13.21, 11.75, and 11.71, and a service time of 16.17, 19.79, 15.67, and 15.08 minutes, respectively. mlfqst reduced the waiting time in the queue over the maximum safety requirements for optimal management as shown in table 2 and 3. the results indicate a significant decrease in risk, waiting times in the queue, and improved performance. it also indicates that the healthcare center is incapable of satisfying the demand, and if the case remains, the waiting queue will become infinite. therefore, it is essential to find prospective enhancements to the system with the aim of improving its capacity and reducing the waiting time for patients. the results show that patients at station it-1 have longer waiting periods, with an average waiting time of 0.390 minutes for each shift. in addition, the evaluation of the system’s efficacy in managing patients in the queue reveals that all stations are operating optimally, with an average waiting time of 0.215 minutes. the analysis of this method is based on queueing theory from a theoretical perspective as shown in table 4. the mlfq scheduling technique is efficient when used in healthcare facilities under a minimized time and control approach. the estimated average support units utilized by the four stations in the system are ws = ls/λ = 1/λ – μ = 0.215 hours = 0.215 * 60 = 12.9 minutes. therefore, making significant changes to these patients could potentially reduce the number of patients waiting in the queue and the time required to receive service. researcher found that mlfqst significantly reduced waiting times in the medication queue over 4 hours, with a notable increase in station time utilization. this technique reduced the average waiting time for patients, estimated at 12.9 minutes per patient in the waiting queue. implementation of mlfqst resulted in improved efficiency and reduced wait times, offering valuable insights for healthcare centers to optimize medication management and enhance patient satisfaction. conclusion the paper begins with a novel about scheduling to expect the actual waiting time for medication patients in healthcare, named the mlfqst, which is also used in operating systems to manage the allocation of resources, such as central processing unit time, to various processes or tasks. most of the mathematical and statistical studies provide solutions for issues in the health-care sector. this study has found that most techniques are well-behaved and well-patient satisfaction. the best evidence available during therapy suggests that most mathematical and statistical paradigms avoid harm to the existing health system and staff satisfaction. therefore, this scheduling technique is able to optimize and effectively handle the timing of treatment administration at the public health clinic. the most important part of this study is to clarify and minimize the actual waiting time for patients, which improves the health system’s performance and the quality of the services provided to the patients; both need to ensure customer satisfaction in the future. if there are clear roles in this study that government agencies can adhere to, patients will be better able to plan their outings and will be less likely to have infections another time. specifically, the study found that implementing medication time using the mlfq scheduling technique reduces average line length, arrival time, and doctor overuse, leading to improved safety and satisfaction for patients. limitations and future work limitations of this study may include the need for further validation of the proposed model in real-world health-care settings to assess its effectiveness practically. future research could focus on incorporating more factors, such as specific demographic characteristics or logistical constraints, in the queueing models to enhance their accuracy and applicability. in addition, exploring the impact of varying prioritization strategies and addressing hesitancy in the models could provide valuable insights for optimizing vaccination programs. further investigation into the adaptability of the proposed queueing theory model to evolving virus mutations and harki: mlfq scheduling technique 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 36-42 potential modifications in vaccination strategies would also be beneficial for guiding future public health interventions. references 1. r. ur rasool, h. f. ahmad, w. rafique, a. qayyum, j. qadir and z. anwar. quantum computing for healthcare: a review. future. 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s. yange and s. p. atsanan. queue management in non-tertiary hospitals for improved healthcare service delivery to outpatients. international journal of applied information systems, vol. 12, no. 31, pp. 36-48, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 153 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 153-160 research article pre and early post-operative iron assessment in obese patients underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy salih m. s. zebari1, nashwan q. mahgoob2, maryam n. qahtan1, noorhan m. jassim1, hafsa o. adil1, amenah q. hashim1 1department of nutrition and dietetic, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2advance laparoscopy and obesity center, soran private hospital, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract obesity is a chronic disease associated with mortality and morbidity. bariatric surgery as a long-term weight reduction treatment has been increased. this study investigated the early state of iron storage and deficiency in patients underwent laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (lsg). thirty patients were selected as a prospective study underwent lsg according to specialized inclusion and exclusion criteria at soran private hospital in erbil, from january 01, 2021, to september 01, 2021, after signing a consent form. all selected patients underwent preoperative and 3 months’ post-operative hemoglobin (hb), mean corpuscular volume (mcv), and serum ferritin (sf) assessments. they were instructed to follow specialized diet regimen for 3 months’ post-operative and not to take any drugs and supplements. results showed a strong positive correlation between pre-operative and post-operative assessment for both hb and mcv respectively (r = 0.72; p < 0.001), (r = 0.76; p < 0.001), and a moderate correlation for sf (r = 0.41; p < 0.024). significant difference (p < 0.05) was found between pre-operative and post-operative for the three markers (hb, mcv, and sf). their values were decreased from pre-operative to post-operative for the majority of the cases, but they were still within the normal range. the finding demonstrated that after 3 months from lsg, no patients showed iron deficiency anemia. however, there was decrease in sf level which indicated that the storage capacity of iron was decreasing. this suggests that the iron supplement has to be started since the food regime followed in by the patients was not sufficient to maintain normal iron level. keywords: severe obesity, sleeve gastrectomy, iron deficiency, regime follow-up, weight reduction introduction obesity as a chronic disease is considered as a major threaten to the public health,[1] reaching a pandemic state.[2] factors leading to obesity consist of association of genetic, metabolic, food habits, behavioral, social, cultural, and other aspects.[3] recent data by the world health organization (who) demonstrated that worldwide obesity has been increased.[4] over six-hundred million adults globally are suffering from obesity, and more than 1.9 billion adults were overweight.[5] the association among obesity and accelerated mortality is a fact.[6] for example, an average increase in mortality by 30% is resulted by each 5 kg/m2 increase in body mass index (bmi) above 25 kg/m2. this increasing rate of mortality is mainly due to vascular diseases and diabetes.[7] furthermore, the existence expectancy is decreased around 5–20 years in obese patient with a bmi higher than 35.[8] bariatric surgery (bs) reduces weight for obese patients and keeps their weight loss by limiting the consumption and/or induce mal-absorption of food. it is often used when other treatments such diet, exercise and drugs have failed.[9] decreasing the size of the stomach is due to the restraining strategies, and hence restrict the energetic intake and initiate satiety.[10] laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (lsg) method is rapidly gaining popularity inside academic medical centers of the usa and worldwide.[11,12] despite the benefit of bs, many complications and the nutritional deficiencies are a worrying trend that need attention.[13] the deficiencies develop because of the change inside the physiology and anatomy of the gastrointestinal corresponding author: salih m. s. zebari, department of nutrition and dietetic, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: salih.zebary@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: august 20, 2022 accepted: november 23, 2022 published: december 30, 2022 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v6n2y2022.pp153-160 copyright © 2022 salih m. s. zebari, nashwan q. mahgoob, maryam n. qahtan, noorhan m. jassim, hafsa o. adil, amenah q. hashim. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (cc by-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) zebari, et al.: iron assessment after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy 154 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 153-160 tract.[14] the most obvious nutrients deficiency is the risk of iron deficiency anemia (ida). restricted dietary intake, reduced appetite, increased satiety, inadequate intake of iron, and reduced secretion of hydrochloric acid are substantially caused to the development of iron deficiency after lsg.[15,16] in general, different factors contributed to iron deficiency such as poor adherence to dietary guidelines, recommended supplementation, and insufficient professional guidance.[17] therefore, it is advocated that patients underwent lsg ought to acquire postoperative follow-up according to the accreditation and standards from the “american society for metabolic and bs (asmbs)” and the “international federation for the surgery of obesity and metabolic disorders.”[18] however, it has been revealed that 47–90% of patients do not acquire dietary intervention following surgery treatment.[19] iron deficiency prevalence ranged between 1% and 54.1% for the duration of a follow-up of maximal 5 years following lsg and the prevalence of anemia varies between 3.6% and 52.7%.[20] affected patients rate by iron deficiency rely on the suggested iron status markers and their standard ranges. none of the iron marker is an ideal determinant. consequently, the desired screening technique is the combination of markers. therefore, hemoglobin (hb), mean corpuscular volume (mcv), and serum ferritin (sf) levels are the markers that should be included for investigation of iron deficiency.[21,22] this study aimed to evaluate the early state of iron storage and iron deficiency in patients who underwent lsg for weight reduction at preand post-operative using three markers (hb, mcv, and sf levels), and to find out the effectiveness of the diet follow-up plan. patients and methods this research is a prospective study that included 30 patients, selected from 55 patients undergoing lsg for managing their weight loss that held at soran private hospital in erbil, kurdistan region of iraq from january 01, 2021, to september 01, 2021, using the most updated surgical technique. all surgeries were performed by single laparoscopic and bariatric after taking and signing patients written consent form. clinical reassessment was carried out each month postoperatively during the period of the study. all patients under went preoperative and 3 months post-operative hb, mcv, and sf assessments at the same laboratory. a deficiency was described as a serum plasma level determined under the regular reference range. while, excess level was defined as a serum plasma level over the reference range for normal standard. the values of the tests were measured to compare with the described values from the references records as follows: the normal value of hb in men is 13.8–18.0 g/dl and in women is 12.1–15.1 g/dl. the normal reference range of mcv is 80–100 fl. while, the value of sf ranged between 30 and 300 ng/ml for males, and 30–160 ng/ml for females, and a value <50 ng/ml is considered as iron deficiency.[23] all selected patients were instructed to follow the specialized diet regimen for 3 months’ post-operative and not to take any drug or herbal supplements during the study time. the inclusion standard for the patients in this study include 1. age between 18 and 40 years 2. both male and female were included 3. bmi from 35 to 45 kg/m2 4. normal preoperative blood test value (hb, mcv, and sf) 5. no comorbid conditions (ht, dm, and blood disease) 6. accept the procedure, follow-up, and signed the consent form. the exclusion criteria for the patients in this study were as follows 1. patient with abnormal pre-operative blood tests 2. patients who developed intraor post-operative complications (bleeding, leak, and conversion of surgery) 3. failure to follow the regimen given. the food regime that followed by the patients for postoperative composed of 2 stages, stage one for the 1st month and stage two for the next 2 months: [24,25] stage one week 1: clear liquids to give stomach time to heal and help avoid post-operative implications. a clear liquid diet is often the preliminary regimen. the patients start with sips of clear liquid. the goal is to drink a minimum of 2.5 l each day. the clear liquids include: water, tea including herbal or de-caffeinated coffee, fruit, clear chicken, beef, vegetable broth, watery fruit juice such as apple, grape or cranberry, diluted free of sugar squash, and flavored water. liquids to be avoided: caffeine, sugary drinks, and carbonated drinks. week 2: full liquids: the patients should keep drinking more of clear fluids as well as incorporating into fuller liquids that are loaded in protein. full liquid choices include: low fat milk, homemade smoothies, yogurt drinks, smooth soups including cream of tomato, chicken, meat, ice cream without sugar, and sorbet. foods to be avoided as follows: high-fat foods (wholemilk yogurt), sweets foods, and food that has any lumps, caffeine, sugary drinks, and carbonated drinks. week 3: pureed foods: the patients were guided to eat 60 g of protein daily. in addition, they are recommended to add milk to mixture foods, ensuring that it is free of lumps. patients are suggested to eat small portions, and introduce new foods slowly including mashed fruit like bananas, avocados, and canned fruit, blended steamed fish in a low-fat sauce, tuna and salmon, mashed potato, lowfat cheese and soft cheeses, liquidized meat, chicken or fish stew, steamed or boiled vegetables, thick blended soups, and scrambled eggs. foods not to eat include: meals rich in starch (pasta, rice, and bread), hard uncooked vegetables, skin and seeds from vegetables, fatty foods (oils and butter), and spicy food. week 4: smooth meals: the patients can add soft foods and lumps to diet. well-cooked chicken and turkey, soft fish, lean mince meats, vegetables cooked well, cheese with low-fat, zebari, et al.: iron assessment after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy 155 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 153-160 eggs, soups with lumps, soft fruit, sweet potatoes, rice, and cereal with low-sugar. foods not to consume: difficult digested foods including steak, tough vegetables, nuts, white potatoes, and meals with excessive fat. stage two on the week 5 the patients can consume solid food smoothly. after the 1st month following lsg surgery diet instructions for patient is to eat a healthy diet, high protein, and low fat. it is necessary to have three small meals a day, have protein in each meal. plan the meals, drink lots of water, if feel hungry between meals try taking a drink first. it is advised to wait for at least 30 min from the time of eating to drinking. drinking fluids during meals may cause to an overfull stomach and vomiting. stop eating when feel satisfied, overeating will stretch stomach pouch and can cause vomiting. foods not to eat: food with empty calories, alcohol as it has high calories and absorption will steadily increase after surgery. some drink cause bloating and can increase stomach size such as fizzy drinks. high fat foods may cause nausea and will not help to lose weight. tough meats are difficult to chew and hard to digest. the clinical follows-up assessment was done each month through the period of study (3 times evaluation). it included general examination, assessments of vital signs and searching for symptoms and signs of anemia concentrating on the following: headaches, fatigue, weakness, shortness of breath, dizziness, pale skin, irregular heartbeats, cold hands and feet, hair loss, brittle nail, and glossitis. table 1: the preand post-operative values of hb, mcv, and sf patient code age/year sex preoperative tests 3 months post-operative tests hb/g/dl mcv/fl sf/ng/ml hb/g/dl mcv/fl sf/ng/ml 1 21 f 12.5 80 85 11 75 45 2 33 f 14 90 92 12 90 56 3 25 m 16 80 120 14 80 45 4 40 f 14.5 85 43 14 80 51 5 22 f 12 82 60 11 75 60 6 45 f 15 86 50 12 85 66 7 30 f 14 83 45 13 78 45 8 18 f 12.5 87 100 12 80 80 9 30 f 12 80 66 11.5 75 54 10 22 m 12 84 65 11 82 50 11 40 f 14 90 80 13 85 76 12 18 f 13 86 55 12 80 50 13 22 f 15 82 100 14 75 65 14 40 m 14.5 88 96 14 82 58 15 45 f 12.5 80 100 13 80 84 16 33 f 12.5 87 130 12.5 80 55 17 20 f 14 92 105 12 85 67 18 25 m 15 90 110 14 82 55 19 30 f 14 89 120 14 80 64 20 32 f 13 90 94 12 85 80 21 35 f 13 86 90 11.5 82 43 22 18 f 13.5 88 86 13 85 60 23 40 f 12 81 65 12 75 55 24 25 f 15 85 140 13 80 93 25 30 m 14 87 97 12 83 55 26 28 m 12.5 86 100 12 78 80 27 40 f 13.5 90 152 11.5 80 77 28 45 f 14 92 140 13 85 60 29 32 m 12.5 80 105 12 78 58 30 40 f 14 90 80 12.5 85 60 hb: hemoglobin, mcv: mean corpuscular volume, sf: serum ferritin zebari, et al.: iron assessment after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy 156 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 153-160 statistical analysis statistical package for the social sciences (ibm spss version 24) was used. a statistically significant was considered with p ≤ 0.05. measurements are provided as mean ± standard deviation. a number of descriptive methods were used such as frequency distributive and descriptive statistical for demographic variables. a few statistical tests such as t-test paired samples and t-test two independent samples were used to examine the differences in the average measurement before and after the operation for some studied variables. pearson’s test was used to find out the relationships between some relevant variables. results and discussion this study aimed to assess the pre and early post-operative iron assessment in obese patients underwent lsg. this is due to the fact that lsg is one of the most widely used techniques and is account for about 37% of all range of bariatric methods achieved across the world in 2013. however, to ensure that the procedure is success, patients should adhere to comprehensive lifestyle changes. therefore, the follow-ups practice is very important. for this purpose, a multidisciplinary team is necessary that should involve a surgeon, dietitian, psychologist, and family physician or endocrinologist.[25] dietitians in particular have a vital role in this group before and after bs.[26] for instance, loss of medical and nutritional follow-up’s patients did not achieve considerable weight reduction and they were at higher risk of developing nutritional deficiency according to several studies.[27,28] the present study was a prospective, follow up study that included 30 patients after selection to eliminate bias, there were 23 female (76.5%) and 7 male (23.5%) patients. the median age was 30 and their age ranged from 18 to 40 years old [table 1]. their bmi ranged from 35 to 45 kg/m2. all patients underwent smooth recovery without any considerable post-operative complications. table 1 presented the results of preand post-operative tests of the three markers (hb, mcv and sf) for all patients, and the mean, median and mode of the results are presented in table 2. the significant levels between pre-operative and post-operative for the three markers were statistically analyzed [tables 3-5], and the pearson correlation coefficient between pre-operative and post-operative of the three markers were calculated [table 4]. in our study, hb level was not significantly changed after 3 months’ post-operative which means that no patient has anemia, the mcv showed insignificant decrease, while sf showed significant decrease which means that mild deficiency has been occurred. the normal ranges of hb according to the who guidelines should not be <13 g/dl in men and not <12 g/dl in women.[29] a positive correlation (r = 0.76; p < 0.05) was found between hb level at pre and post-operative assessment tests. although these values of hb were dropped from preoperative (mean value 13.5) to postoperative (12.4) as shown on tables 1-4, the values were still within the normal range. this decrease may be due to the implication of the bs that often decrease the level of hb. for example, according to the study conducted by santos et al., the hb levels were slightly decreased from pre-operative to post-operative after 3 months of surgery and were significantly decreased after 1 year of surgery.[30,31] similarly, the mean value of mcv showed a significant (p < 0.05) decrease from 85.5 at pre-operative tests to 80.8 at post-operative tests, while the normal value ranged from 80 to 100 fl. furthermore, the mean value of sf showed a significant table 2: the mean, median, and mode of pre and post-operative results iron markers pre-operative post-operative mean median mode mean median mode hb 13.5 13.75 14 12.4 12 12 mcv 85.8 86 90 80.8 80 80 sf 92.3 95 100 61.5 59 60 hb: hemoglobin, mcv: mean corpuscular volume, sf: serum ferritin table 3: t-test of two paired samples for three variables hb, mcv, and sf paired samples descriptive statistics mean sd std. error mean pair 1 pre hb 13.533 1.0981 0.2005 post hb 12.483 0.9692 0.1770 pair 2 pre mcv 85.87 3.893 0.711 post mcv 80.83 3.788 0.692 pair 3 pre sf 92.37 28.440 5.192 post sf 61.57 12.955 2.365 hb: hemoglobin, mcv: mean corpuscular volume, sf: serum ferritin table 4: paired samples correlations pearson’s correlation n correlation sig. pair 1 pre hb and post hb 30 0.721 0.000 pair 2 pre mcv and post mcv 30 0.765 0.000 pair 3 pre sf and post sf 30 0.411 0.024 hb: hemoglobin, mcv: mean corpuscular volume, sf: serum ferritin table 5: t-test for independent two samples. descriptive statistics of hb descriptive statistics of hb sex n mean sd std. error mean pre hb male 7 13.786 1.4960 0.5654 female 23 13.457 0.9760 0.2035 post hb male 7 12.714 1.2536 0.4738 female 23 12.413 0.8874 0.1850 hb: hemoglobin zebari, et al.: iron assessment after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy 157 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 153-160 (p < 0.05) decrease from 92.3 at pre-operative tests to 61.5 in post-operative tests (normal value 30–300 ng/ml for males, and 30–160 ng/ml for females), the statistical analyses are shown in tables 3-7. recommendation of iron intake and other nutrients are available within the “dietary reference intakes (dris)” set by the “food and nutrition board” at the “institute of medicine of the national academies”. dri is the general term for a set of reference values used for planning and assessing nutrient intakes of healthy people.[31] according to the practice guidelines of the asmbs, iron status have to be assessed at every follow-up visit following bs. in case of id, a daily iron dosage of 150–200 mg should be provided via supplements.[24] this because of the fact that patients with bs are at high risk of suffering from id before and after surgery.[32] a study revealed an estimation of 15% of the prevalence of iron deficiency 1 year after sleeve gastrectomy.[33] therefore, preoperative education is essential for better understanding the complication of lsg. in both pre-operative and postoperative, the coordination between expertise in medicine, surgery, psychology, and nutrition is required.[10] although the impact of variable sex on the three markers at pre-and post-operative assessment were not effective [tables 6-10], hb value at pre-operative for all female cases was at normal range. whereas for seven male cases, only three cases had lower value at pre-operative assessment compared to normal range. in addition, there was a significant decrease on post-operative of the most patients. there were no significant differences in the mean value of hb between male and female neither at pre nor at post-operative assessment. this refers that sex variable has no effect on the hb vale. similarly, the results of mcv of preoperative in all case were within the normal range. however, there was a significant decrease on mcv at post-operative compared to preoperative. at preoperative assessment test, only two female cases had a value <50 ng/ml which is considered as iron deficiency. while, at postoperative assessment 4 patients had lower value than normal range. in addition, there was a significant decrease on the value of sf for most cases from pre-operative to post-operative assessment. several studies have documented that iron intake after lsg is reduced below the minimal daily requirement (8.7 mg a day for men over 18. 14.8 mg a day for women).[34] in addition, some others factors make contribution to the high occurrence of iron deficiency after lsg such as failure to provide supplements consistently,[34] lack of patient adherence to supplementation,[35] the link of iron supplement with troublesome gastrointestinal side effects,[24] large gaps in dietary follow-up, and the absence of specialized nutritional care after surgery. hence, led to iron deficiency progresses from mild iron deficiency, to iron-deficiency erythropoiesis (erythrocyte production), and finally to ida.[36,37] for iron supplementation following lsg, there are two phenomena of thought. few bariatric surgeons choose to monitor laboratory levels of iron and then have patients start iron once their iron levels begin to decrease. on the other hand, others bariatric surgeons prefer to have patients start a daily table 6: t-test for two independent samples with respect to sex variable and hb t-test for sex and hb variables pre hb pos hb equal variances assumed equal variance not assumed equal variances assumed equal variance not assumed levene’s test for equality of variances f 3.364 3.474 sig. 0.077 0.073 t-test for equality of means t 0.688 0.548 0.714 0.592 df 28 7.620 28 7.920 p-value 0.497 0.600 0.481 0.570 mean difference 0.3292 0.3292 0.3012 0.3012 se difference 0.4784 0.6010 0.4220 0.5087 95% confidence interval of the difference lower −0.6507 −1.0687 −0.5631 −0.8738 upper 1.3091 1.7271 1.1656 1.4763 hb: hemoglobin table 7: t-test for independent two samples. descriptive statistics of mcv descriptive statistics of mcv sex n mean sd se mean pre mcv male 7 85.00 3.873 1.464 female 23 86.13 3.946 0.823 post mcv male 7 80.71 2.059 0.778 female 23 80.87 4.214 0.879 hb: hemoglobin, mcv: mean corpuscular volume zebari, et al.: iron assessment after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy 158 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 153-160 dose of iron soon after their operation to be able to prevent levels from declining. the most important thing is to continue to get blood work done as advised so iron supplementation can be adjusted as needed and can keep normal iron levels. however, sometimes patients’ loss to follow-up. if there is a more effective and evidence-based guideline for repletion of iron deficiency, patients are more likely to be participated. therefore, it is preferable to give patients who are not serious about follow-up for any reason iron treatment, since our study supported a decrease in iron stores in patients after the 3rd month of the operation.[38] conclusion the finding data of patients participated in this study showed decrease in their sf after 3 months from operation even with adequate nutritional support but not to a level of causing ida. therefore, patients undertaken lsg should start iron supplements at 3 months or earlier as the patient can tolerate the supplements. follow-up is mandatory to detect early iron deficiency. further assessments are needed on iron state after 6 months and 1 year and then annually to have more information about the quality of nutrition state of patients after sleeve gastrectomy. it is suggested that iron supplements should not be used until patients have been evaluated by their primary healthcare provider such as nutritionists, dietitian or their surgical team. this is to ensure that supplementations were taken appropriate and under their supervision. when patients are counseled about iron supplementation, it is important to remind them that iron supplements may be associated with gi irritation, nausea, constipation, dark stools, and abdominal pain. to prevent iron toxicities, patients using iron supplements should be reminded not to take multivitamin supplements that contain iron. patients should be encouraged to contact their primary health-care provider if they experience any adverse effects or their symptoms worsen. to monitor their iron level, patients should be advised to maintain routine checkups. conflicts of interest the authors confirmed that they have no conflicts of interest of the research submitted. acknowledgment the authors thank soran private hospital team, noor laboratory for make us share and use the patients’ information table 8: t-test for two independent samples with respect to sex variable and mcv t-test for sex and mcv variables t df sig. (2-tailed) 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pre mcv equal variances assumed −0.666 28 0.511 −4.606 2.345 equal variances not assumed −0.673 10.115 0.516 −4.866 2.605 pos mcv equal variances assumed −0.093 28 0.926 −3.564 3.253 equal variances not assumed −0.132 21.515 0.896 −2.592 2.282 mcv: mean corpuscular volume table 9: t-test for independent two samples. descriptive statistics of sf descriptive statistics of sf sex n mean sd std. error mean pre sf male 7 99.00 17.166 6.488 female 23 90.35 31.106 6.486 post sf male 7 57.29 11.041 4.173 female 23 62.87 13.431 2.801 table 10: t-test for two independent samples w. r. to sex variable and sf t-test for sex and sf variables t df sig. (2-tailed) 95% confidence interval of the difference lower upper pre mcv equal variances assumed 0.699 28 0.491 −16.721 34.025 equal variances not assumed 0.943 18.851 0.358 −10.560 27.864 pos mcv equal variances assumed −0.998 28 0.327 −17.040 5.872 equal variances not assumed −1.111 11.960 0.288 −16.538 5.370 zebari, et al.: iron assessment after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy 159 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 153-160 and tests as well as the support from the department of nutrition and dietetics, cihan universityerbil. references 1. e. m. h. mathus-vliegen, d. nikkel and h. s. brand. oral aspects of obesity. international dental journal, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 249256, 2007. 2. d. ryan, s. barquera, o. b. cavalcanti and j. ralston. the global pandemic of overweight and obesity: addressing a twenty-first century multifactorial disease. in: handbook of global health. springer international publishing, champaign, pp. 739-773, 2021. 3. j. m. 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csendes, k. papapietro, f. pizarro, m. valencia, zebari, et al.: iron assessment after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy 160 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2022, 6 (2): 153-160 j. l. westcott, k. m. hambidge and n. f. krebs. heme-and nonheme-iron absorption and iron status 12 mo after sleeve gastrectomy and roux-en-y gastric bypass in morbidly obese women. the american journal of clinical nutrition, vol. 96, no. 4, pp. 810-817, 2012. 33. m. coupaye, k. puchaux, c. bogard, s. msika, p. jouet, c. clerici, e. larger and s. ledoux. nutritional consequences of adjustable gastric banding and gastric bypass: a 1-year prospective study. obesity surgery. vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 56-65, 2009. 34. k. k. mahawar, w. r. j. carr, n. jennings, s. balupuri and p. k. small. simultaneous sleeve gastrectomy and hiatus hernia repair: a systematic review. obesity surgery, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 159-166. 2015. 35. o. jamil, r. gonzalez-heredia, p. quadri, c. hassan, m. masrur, r. berger, 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with classical capability indices dler h. kadir1,2, alan g. rahim1, dashty i. jamil3, dlshad m. saleh1,4 1department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq, 2department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of accounting, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of marketing, college of administration and economics, lebanese french university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract a process capability study is a scientific and systematic procedure that uses control charts to detect and eliminate the unnatural causes of variation until a state of statistical control is reached. on the other hand, to meet the quality requirements of the final product, quality should be achieved at every stage of production. another way of achieving good quality during production is to use statistical techniques at every stage of production. the purpose of this research is to apply it to process capacity indices in replace of the standard deviation estimator. the information, which is taken from the coca-cola/erbil production process, illustrates the qualities of the beverage (750 ml). a coca-cola ’product’s 100 observations are divided into 25 models. employed both the standard deviation estimator-based and the robust downton estimation-based process capability indices. it was determined that in this inquiry, the robust downton estimation had better qualities than the standard division estimator because the robust downton estimation process capacity index values were greater. keywords: process capability index, robust estimation, quality control chart, standard deviation, specification introduction quality control is the application of techniques and actions to attain, maintain, and enhance product or service quality[1] and states that such charts are in the form of a graph that depicts the average output of data or a product when the process is statistically controlled.[2] process capability analysis has long been utilized as the gold standard performance criterion for assessing a process ability to meet customer requirements represented in certain specifications.[3] process capability is a strategic management tool that is utilized as a tqm tool and is essential to the management of an organization’s operations. the process capability research helps with product design, acceptance standard selection, and operator and operations management process selection. process capacity evaluation is a critical step in improving process quality. such an effective tool supports product and process developers in making judgments on the creation of items or processes, assessing, and identifying competing suppliers, and finding the process that is the process quality bottleneck. process capacity measures how effectively a process performs under unpredictable, daily circumstances. its indications are intended to measure a process inherent variability and, in turn, indicate how well it operates. in a broad, non-theoretical sense, the presence of outliers might be taken as an indication that the process is out of statistical control because outliers are typically data from distributions distinct from the main set of data. in that regard, there are numerous mathematical techniques available to address the issue of outliers. these techniques are all based on solid statistics. numerous applications of statistical process control analysis make use of robust statistics. identifying control limits for control charts requires accurate estimations of process parameters, such as location, scale, etc.[4] the authors of grznar et al.[5] and mahmood[6] offer a methodology for outlier detection based on smoothing techniques. different techniques for obtaining confidence intervals for polymerase chain reaction based on reliable estimations of non-normal data are discussed in kocherlakota and kocherlakota.[7] in the context of time series, corresponding author: dler h. kadir, department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: dler.kadir@su.edu.krd received: august 31, 2023 accepted: october 01, 2023 published: november 10, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n2y2023.pp49-53 copyright © 2023 dler h. kadir, alan g. rahim, dashty i. jamil, dlshad m. saleh. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ kadir, et al.: robust estimation compared with classical capability indices 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 49-53 prasad and bramorski[8] investigated the interplay between outliers and correlation structures. in addition, an index based on the notion of estimating non-conforming proportions was presented by yeh and bhattcharya.[9] in addition, they spoke about how to get bootstrap confidence intervals. when the observed random process deviates from normality, cp, and cpk, two well-known process capability ratios, are examined for their resilience. when examining deviations from normalcy, large-scale simulation studies are validated using the distributions of predicted process capability ratios as a basis. the analytical findings and simulation studies serve as the foundation for suggested procedures. because popular process capability indices lack robustness when deviations from normalcy are observed, it is advised to take the impact of process distributions into account before employing them. this paper intends to evaluate the robustness of the new capacity based on robust estimation ratios in the presence of outliers and a lack of normalcy. the data are collected from the manufacture of coca-cola in erbil and pertain to the qualitative attributes of its 750 ml beverage items. a quality control chart (qcc) and a capability process are the two techniques, we employed in this paper. qccs a process chart, also known as a qcc, is a graph that shows how, when a process is statistically controlled, the average value of the data (output) or product falls within the common or customary range of variation. the first qcc was produced in 1924 by shewhart[10] of bell telephone laboratories, which he later amended with a colleague. in 1931, he released a comprehensive exposition of control charts. category of control charts control charts can be segregated into two categories, namely: variable control charts when the goods being made are quantifiable, these charts are used to regulate the production process. for the purpose of creating charts, it is preferred that at least 25 samples and a minimum of 4 units per sample (apart from individual charts) should be used. only one specific quality or trait may be applied to a variable chart.[11] there are several variable control charts; however, the most significant ones include x -chart, sd-chart, r-chart, individual-chart, cusum-chart, ma-chart, mr-chart, gma-chart, and rdc-chart. attributes control charts a control chart for attributes is utilized when a. measurements are impossible (for instance, a flaw like dented cans). b. measurements are not feasible (such as time-consuming chemical analysis of raw materials). c. a chart with many features (such as counts of various defect types) is used. in this situation, it is possible to combine all of the different qualities into one chart, or at most two or three charts, each of which would include the set of characteristics that best indicates their significance, namely minor, major, and crucial. the attribute control charts are categorized as follows: a. defective or non-conforming chart. p-chart (fraction non-conforming) b. np-chart (number non-conforming) c. defects or non-conformities charts. c-chart (number of non-conformities) d. u-chart (average number of non-conformities). uses of control charts control charts can be used for the following purposes: • it functions as a mechanism for early warning detection • it is a tried-and-true method for boosting output • it is successful in preventing defects • it prevents needless process adjustments • it offers diagnostic details • it offers details about the processing power • it aids in identifying the root causes of quality issues. robust downton control chart downton was the first to offer a robust scale and an estimate for the standard deviation of a normal population, known as the downton estimate. the downton statistic is a credible estimator, according to the researchers.[12] let x1, x2..., xn represent a random sample of size n drawn from a normal distribution with mean and standard deviation; in other words, let xn(2) and the accompanying order statistic should be represented by x(1), x(2)..., x(n), where x(1)x(2)...... x(n). this article defines the estimator of downton[13,14] as: d n n i n x i n i� � � �� �� � ��� �2 1 1 2 1 1 � ( ) ( ( ) (1) where the unbiased estimator for 𝜎 is provided as 𝜎 ̂=z3 d , which is applied in this study. d d m i i m � � � 1 (2) (m): the subgroup’s initial number and d are specified as in (1) for the suggested dispersion chart, the commonly used 3-sigma control limits are therefore specified as: ucl d z d t d lcl d z d � � � � � 3 3 3 3 (3) where z n n n3 1 1 1 3 2 3 4 6 4 3 1 3 � � � � � � � ( ) ( ) ( )� � (4) classical standard deviation chart since the sample is based on the process standard deviation, this chart regulates the process variability. the (s) ’chart’s restricted and center lines are as follows: kadir, et al.: robust estimation compared with classical capability indices 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 49-53 ucl s t s lcl s s s � � � � � � � � 3 3 � � s m i j 1 m (5) proposed process capability indices based on classic and robust estimation the process capability index (pci), which assesses a process capacity on the assumption that it is normally under statistical control and complies with specified criteria, is a measurement of a process capacity. to delve into the details, if x is a property of a process, check to see if it is inside the range (lsl, usl), whose ends are referred to as upper and lower specification limits. given that x is a random variable, a pci should be dependent on either the probability that x falls inside the specification interval or the average deviation of x from the specification constraints. in many cases, a technique will include these two requirements as equivalent portions. for example, consider the conventional process capability ratio.[15] σ − = ˆ6p usl lsl c (6) the cpk index suggested by chan et al.[16] are a measure of a process ability in comparison to the process average. it depends on the separation between the process average and the nearest specification limit, which is described as: σ σ − −   − − =        ˆ ˆ min , 3 3pk usl x x lsl c (7) chan suggested an index termed cpm that is labeled[17-19] as: σ − = + −2 2ˆ6 ( ) pm usl lsl c x t (8) in (1992) kotz and johnson posited an index, named, cpmk that is labeled as: σ − − = + −2 2 min( , ) ˆ3 ( ) pmk usl x x lsl c x t (9) the cp index dependent on the robust downton estimator is defined by: [20-23] c usl lsl dp � � 6( ) (10) the cpk index founded on robust downton estimator is defined by c usl x d x lsl dpk � � �� � � � � �min , 3 3 (11) the cpm index established on robust downton estimator is defined by c usl lsl d x t pm � � � �6 2 2( ) ( ) (12) the cpmk index built on robust downton estimator is defined by c usl x x lsl d x t pmk � � � � � min( , ) ( ) ( )3 2 2 (13) results the following subsections present the results corresponding to the application of the proposed capability indices (and their quality assessment methodology) to the real data. real data the data are gathered from coca-cola/erbil production and represent its drink’s quality characteristic (750 ml) products. the (100) observations of a 750 ml coca-cola product are classified into 25 models, with each having four observations, as indicated in table 1. phase 1: scale quality control charts to monitor process dispersion the points in figure 1 do not all fall within the range of control. for the same qualities of quality from which we received the data, the above chart and d-chart’s sensitivity to spot problems in the process, therefore, may be trusted and utilized going forward for the purposes of controlling and monitoring future production. [figure 2] demonstrates that every point is contained within the range of control. this indicates that the aforementioned chart may be trusted and used going forward for similar qualities while collecting the data aiming at controlling and monitoring upcoming output. figure 2: classical s-control chart (csdc) figure 1: robust d-control chart (rdcc) kadir, et al.: robust estimation compared with classical capability indices 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (2): 49-53 table 2: capability indices comparison based on classical with capability indices based on the robust estimation robust process capability ratios classical process capability ratios cp = 1.8 cp = 1.3 cpk = 1.09 cpk = 1.03 cpm = 1.17 cpm = 1.07 cpmk = 0.89 cpmk = 0.83 table 1: coca-cola drink product subgroups p1 p2 p3 p4 s.d d 1 750.14 750.36 750.36 751.36 0.546596 0.540598 2 750.78 750.86 751.86 751.96 0.63148 0.669987 3 751.12 751.22 751.28 751.38 0.108934 0.124036 4 750.02 750.36 750.88 751.28 0.556747 0.637822 5 750.48 750.48 750.5 750.56 0.037859 0.038391 6 750.08 750.2 750.2 751.04 0.443621 0.425389 7 750.4 750.42 750.7 750.86 0.223532 0.245024 8 749.56 750.02 750.2 750.2 0.302159 0.310073 9 750.34 750.49 750.7 751.02 0.294661 0.332211 10 750.5 750.54 750.54 750.66 0.069282 0.070898 11 750.52 750.62 750.66 750.9 0.161142 0.174268 12 750.16 750.42 750.74 750.9 0.330404 0.37498 13 750.34 750.48 750.54 750.6 0.111355 0.124036 14 750.32 750.44 750.68 751.78 0.667008 0.682253 15 750.6 750.62 751.28 751.7 0.536284 0.58452 16 750.26 750.3 750.52 750.62 0.173109 0.191886 17 750.24 750.84 750.96 751.58 0.549272 0.611425 18 750.16 750.52 750.92 750.98 0.382405 0.422198 19 750.54 750.62 750.8 751 0.204613 0.230313 20 750.69 751.4 752.18 752.36 0.76787 0.854748 21 750.32 750.9 751.32 752.16 0.774145 0.877116 22 750.8 750.8 751.08 751.44 0.303535 0.324784 23 750.12 750.28 750.22 750.56 0.188591 0.186143 24 750.26 750.4 750.44 750.54 0.116046 0.129956 25 750.44 750.5 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jamil. comparison between two estimators by using process capability with application. journal of arts, literature, humanities and social sciences, vol. 39, pp. 551-559, 2020. 20. d. h. kadir and a. r. k. rahi al-harthy. application of bayesian technique for ala pepsi softdrink company in sampling plan design. university of sulaimani, iraq, 2007. 21. d. m. saleh and d. i. jamil. construction three charts based on inter quartile range and comparison of efficiency with three charts based on range. qalaai zanist journal, vol. 2, pp. 317-329, 2017. 22. h. q. birdawod, d. i. jamil and d. m. saleh. comparison of efficiency and sensitively between (three sigma, six sigma and median absolute deviation) by using xbar control chart. qalaai zanist journal, vol. 3, pp. 803-812, 2018. 23. d. h. kadir and a. k. rahi. applying the bayesian technique in designing a single sampling plan. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 17-25, 2023. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 99 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 99-103 research article intelligent handwritten identification using novel hybrid convolutional neural networks – long-short-term memory architecture fatimatelbatoul m. husari, mohammad a. assaad department of informatics and software engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract handwritten character identification finds broad applications in document analysis, digital forensics, and human-computer interaction. conventional methods encounter challenges in accurately deciphering a range of handwriting styles and variations. consequently, investigating intelligent systems for handwriting identification becomes crucial to enhance accuracy and efficiency. this paper introduces an innovative hybrid deep learning architecture, seamlessly integrating the strengths of convolutional neural networks (cnn) and longshort-term memory (lstm) within a single framework. the combination of these structures enables the model to effectively capture both spatial features and temporal dependencies inherent in handwritten strokes, resulting in improved recognition performance. the proposed 2dcnn-lstm algorithm has been tested on the mnist dataset. the proposed hybrid cnn-lstm structure has been compared to conventional intelligent machine learning methods, and the results demonstrate the superior performance of the hybrid cnn-lstm, showcasing heightened accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and other evaluation metrics. keywords: deep learning, feature extraction, handwriting recognition, convolutional neural network, long-short term memory. introduction the exploration of character recognition across various languages has been extensively conducted by researchers,[1-3] with a notable emphasis on handwritten digit identification (hdi). in the realm of information manipulation, hdi assumes a pivotal role, particularly considering the abundance of data in the form of printed text or images.[4] compared to manual processing of printed material, the analysis of digital information proves to be a more cost-effective approach. the primary goal of hdi algorithm is to identify and translate handwritten digits into machinereadable formats. nowadays, hdi has garnered significant attention within the research community due to its diverse applications.[5,6] hdi framework exhibits the capability to decipher content on printed pages, enabling researchers to uncover valuable information stored in historical documents and files that may be imperceptible to the human eye. in addition, hdi techniques play a crucial role in the digital transformation of businesses and institutions. automated hdi system contributes to various domains, such as the automatic detection of vehicle number plates,[7] recognition of digits on medical receipts to assist chemists,[8] and aiding psychologists in analyzing patient personalities.[9] however, given the substantial databases in the aforementioned areas, there is a pressing need for automated hdi system to be efficient, robust, and capable of delivering consistent results within a minimal execution time. the conventional intelligent approaches including support vector machine (svm),[10,11] random forest,[12] decision tree,[13] etc., have shown credibility for hdi; however, they still have limitations in handling the inherent diversity present in individual handwriting stylesthe small differences in strokes of pen and letter shapes make handwriting identification difficult and inaccurate. in addition, these methods have challenges in accurately representing complex functions and processing large datasets due the learning capabilities. the efficacy of these approaches in classification and recognition is affected by the extraction of features from the raw data. thus, there is a corresponding author: fatimatelbatoul m. husari, department of informatics and software engineering, faculty of engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: fatimatelbatoul.mahmoud@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 06, 2024 accepted: september 12, 2024 published: october 01, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp99-103 copyright © 2024 fatimatelbatoul m. husari, mohammed a. assaad. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) husari and assaad: intelligent handwritten identification using novel hybrid cnn-lstm model 100 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 99-103 need for automatic feature learning directly from the collected data. to overcome these disadvantages, the development of advanced models capable of acquiring hierarchical features and capturing the temporal dependencies naturally present in handwritten strokes is necessary. in this work, the novel hybrid deep learning models have been developed and employed for handwritten digit identification, namely two-dimension convolution neural network and long-short-term memory (lstm) model. this hybrid structure has the capability to automatically acquire features, resulting in an improved data representation for handwritten recognition. the convolutional neural network (cnn) model employs convolutional and pooling layers, for learning representations directly from raw data. lstm models with temporal memory, designed for sequential data, demonstrate proficiency in temporal information encoding. the integration of these architectures establishes a robust framework that effectively addresses the challenges of current methods, resulting in improved identification performance. in addition, the combination of 2dcnn and lstm structures aims to leverage the strengths of both architectures to enhance the performance of handwritten recognition. in this work, 2dcnn has been used for automatic extraction of abstract features (spatial features) from the image dataset by stacking multiple layers of convolution and max-pooling, whereas lstm is used for capturing the temporal features and effectively manage the images sequence due to the capabilities of long-term memory. this paper is divided into seven sections including this section. part ii describes the proposed hybrid cnn-lstm structure. the comprehension evaluation findings and discussions are presented in part iii. part v summarizes the whole work. a detailed analysis of the proposed hybrid cnn-lstm architecture the analytical description of the proposed algorithm cnn stands out among various deep learning techniques and has demonstrated significant success in intelligent classification.[14] in addition, lstm is introduced to address the limitations of recurrent neural networks,[15,16] particularly in handling long-term dependencies within data, making it a suitable solution for mitigating the vanishing and exploding gradient problem. the lstm architecture is illustrated in figure 1. lstm is basically used in processing sequential dataset and has achieved remarkable performance in various applications such as translation, natural language processing, and sentiment analysis. for mnist image dataset, each image can be represented as a sequence of pixels. lstm is used here to capture the sequential nature of the image pixels and recognize the pattern. hence, combining cnn and lstm into one single structure is a logical choice to leverage the advantages of both in handwritten recognition. for a more detailed analysis and explanation, the mathematical analysis of the hybrid cnn-lstm methodology can be described precisely as the following:[17] the mathematical equation of the convolution operation can be presented as: conv in f fl n x y k mh l n mw l j mc l n−[ ] ( ) = −[ ] = −[ ] = −[ ] ( ) = = ∑ ∑ ∑1 1 1 1 1 1 1 , , (( ) −[ ] + − + − k n j l x k y n jin , , , , � 1 1 1 ∀ ∈ …    [ ]n mc l1 2, , , shape conv in f m mll n h l w l−[ ] ( )( )( ) =1 , ( , )[ ] [ ] (1) here in[l-1] denotes the input with shape (mh [l-1], mw [l-1], mc [l-1]) for [l-1] layer. where in[0] the input image. for l input layer, the convolution operation between in[l] and the filter/kernel f(n) with size mc filter number can be described as follows: in[l] = conv(in[l-1], f^(1)), conv(in[l-1], f(2)),…, conv(in[l-1], f(mc[l])) shape(in[l]) = (mh [l], mw [l], mc [l]) (2) mh [l], mw [l], mc [l] denote the height, width, and channel number of the image at lth layer, respectively. further, the relu activation function is followed: in[l] = relu(in[l]) (3) the output shape will remain the same as in eq (2). after that, the maxpooling layer is used for reducing the feature’s dimensionality, which in turn speed up the training process. maxpooling operation can be expressed as: pooling(in[l])x,y,z = max((in[l] x+k-1,y+n-1,z)k,n∈[1,2,…,p[l]]) (4) where p[l] is the size of pooling window for lth layer. the output of final layer is converted to one-dimensional vector, presented as (x[l] n) with n neuron. this xn vector represents the main features extracted by cnn layer and is directly inputted into lstm layer as described in the following analysis equation: figure 1: basic structure of long-short-term memory model husari and assaad: intelligent handwritten identification using novel hybrid cnn-lstm model 101 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 99-103 the initial step is deciding which information will be excluded from the previous cell state ct-1 using forget gate f1. the forget gate applies sigmoid function to the previous output ht-1 and the feature vector xn to change the learning parameters weights wf and bias bf of forget gate. f1 = sig(wf [ht-1, xn|]+bf) (5) after that, the new data can be appended to the current cell state ct using input gate f2, where f2 is multiplication u (using sigmoid to update the values) and n (using tanh to create new values) u = sig(wu [ht-1, xn|]+bu) (6) n = tanh(wn [ht-1, xn|]+bn) (7) f2 = u*n here, wu, wn, bu, and bn are the weights and biases, respectively. then, the new and updated information are added to the new current cell state as follows: ct = f1*ct-1+f2 (8) the final step is to decide which part of cell state will be the final output ht using sigmoid function and tanh function as: f3 = sig(wo [ht-1, xn]+b0) ht = f3 * tanh(ct) (9) hybrid 2dcnn-lstm framework figure 2 illustrates the hybrid 2dcnn-lstm model. this model is specifically crafted for handwritten recognition and identification. leveraging the well-established lenet-5 structure, a widely employed cnn architecture is known for its noteworthy identification and classification capabilities.[18] the proposed framework is structured as follows: initially, cnn is employed to extract meaningful features from the mnist images dataset for handwritten digit recognition. then, the extracted features are inputted into lstm to capture long-term dependencies in the dataset to memorize the pattern. ultimately, the softmax classifier is utilized to identify handwritten digits. the primary cnn network includes three convolutional and max pooling layers, one lstm layer with 128 neurons and one dense layer with softmax. the first convolutional layer comprises 8 filters with a size of 3×3. following this, a max pooling layer with a size of 2×2 is introduced by taking the maximum value from the window of pooling. subsequently, the filter size remains constant while the number of filters is twofold. after extracting the spatial features from cnn, they are inputted into the lstm layer to process temporal features and recognize the pattern. in the end, the softmax classifier is used to identify the handwritten digits. the configuration of cnn-lstm is described in table 1. reults and observations the hybrid cnn-lstm framework was examined and evaluated using the mnist dataset which consists of 70,000 images of handwritten digits ranging from 0 to 9 with a shape of 28 × 28. 70% of the mnist dataset is allocated for training the hybrid cnn-lstm and the existing machine learning models, and 30% of the mnist dataset was intended to assess the performance of the trained networks to observe how good the model is classifying the output or predicting the behavior of the model based on the given dataset. in addition, the effectiveness and performance of the hybrid deep learning structures and state-of-the-art machine learning models have been evaluated and compared using different evaluation metrics such as classification accuracy, confusion matrix, and f1-score. the outcomes of classification accuracy and f1-score for the hybrid deep learning architectures, namely cnn-lstm and the stateof-the-art machine learning methods (svm, decision tree, and random forest), are illustrated in figures 3 and 4, respectively. the results have proved that the performance of the hybrid cnnlstm (98% accuracy) outperforms the conventional machine learning models; svm (94% accuracy), random forest (89% accuracy), and decision tree (74%). the higher accuracy of the hybrid cnn-lstm framework reveals the capability of cnn in capturing useful information and identifying the significant patterns/trends from the raw data and lstm network which has ability to memorize the similar notable features of one class in the dataset. the superior f1-score of hybrid cnn-lstm (98%) has been noticed compared to the other traditional machine learning methods. this demonstrates that the hybrid cnnlstm has both high precision and high recall. to this end, the proposed cnn-lstm structure is robust at making accurate predictions while minimizing false predictions. this shows that the proposed cnn-lstm is performing well in recognizing and identifying the handwritten digits. for further evaluation, the confusion matrix has been considered. [figures 5-8] illustrate the confusion matrices of figure 2: proposed hybrid 2d convolutional neural network long-short-term memory framework husari and assaad: intelligent handwritten identification using novel hybrid cnn-lstm model 102 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 99-103 the proposed hybrid deep learning networks and state-of-theart machine learning models. in these matrices, the rows represent the true labels, while the columns represent the predicted labels. it can be observed that all handwritten digit classes are well identified and recognized in the proposed hybrid cnn-lstm compared table 1: hybrid 2dcnn-lstm configuration layer layer size convolutional 1 conv_1(28×28×8) max-pool 1 pool_1(14×14×8) convolutional 2 conv_2(14×14×16) max-pool 2 pool_2(7×7×16) convolutional 3 conv_3(7×7×32) max-pool 3 pool_3(3×3×32) lstm lstm (128) dense dense (10,1) cnn: convolutional neural networks, lstm: long-short-term memory figure 4: f1-score metric for all models figure 3: overall accuracy performance for all models figure 5: confusion matrix of the proposed hybris convolutional neural network long-short term memory model figure 6: confusion matrix of support vector machine model figure 7: confusion matrix of decision tree model to the other traditional machine learning techniques. this indicates that the hybrid model precisely identifies the true prediction instances for each class of handwritten digits with a lesser number of false prediction instances. husari and assaad: intelligent handwritten identification using novel hybrid cnn-lstm model 103 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 99-103 from an overall comparison, it can be concluded that the proposed methodology, namely cnn-lstm, is found to be robust, efficient, and accurate for recognition and identification of handwritten digits with optimal model design and best performance. conclusion in this paper, a hybrid deep leaning approach, namely 2dcnnlstm, has been developed for handwritten digits recognition. the proposed cnn-lstm framework has evaluated and compared to the other conventional machine learning techniques to test which one would be more effective and convenient for handwritten digits classification. the hybrid cnn-lstm architecture combines the benefits of cnn for extracting the significant features, and lstm to process the extracted features sequentially. the outcomes proved that the learned meaningful features by cnn network are efficient and superior in accuracy 98% accuracy compared to svm, decision tree, and random forest (94%, 74%, and 89%), respectively. this demonstrates the capability to combine the merits of the cnn network that handles the raw data by storing the trends, while lstm network memorizes similar features within a single class in the dataset. in short, the outcomes prove that the proposed hybrid cnn-lstm structure is efficient and highly accurate in recognizing and identifying 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decision tree and random forests a comparative approach. in: 2017 international conference on computational intelligence in data science (iccids), chennai, india, pp. 1-6, 2017. 13. z. li, l. ma, x. ke and y. wang. handwritten digit recognition via active belief decision trees. in: 2016 35th chinese control conference (ccc), chengdu, china, pp. 7021-7025, 2016. 14. a. saffari, m. khishe, m. mohammadi, h. mohammed and s. rashidi. dcnn-fuzzywoa: artificial intelligence solution for automatic detection of covid-19 using x-ray images. computational intelligence and neuroscience, vol. 2022, p. 5677961, 2022. 15. m. assaad, r. boné and h. cardot. a new boosting algorithm for improved time-series forecasting with recurrent neural networks. information fusion, vol. 9, pp. 41-55, 2008. 16. a. e. francis. time processing of brain’s electrical signals using normalized constant-correlation function to diagnose brain lesions. in: cihan university-erbil conferences, 3rd international conference on 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science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq, 2department of medical laboratory analysis, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq, 3department of anesthesia technologies, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq, 4department of pharmacy, faculty of pharmacy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq abstract the present study investigated the effects of different doses of nickel chloride (nicl2) on biochemical markers and liver histology. the present study used 21 young male rats, aged 3–4 weeks and weighing 150–200 g, who were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 7). the control group received only tap water, while the other two groups were exposed to nickel chloride at concentrations of 100 mg/kg and 150 mg/kg in their drinking water for 6 weeks. the results indicated no significant differences in alkaline phosphatase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, bilirubin, cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, total protein, albumin, globulin, and glucose as controlled within control subjects. histological examination of liver tissues from rats exposed to nickel chloride (100  mg/kg and 150  mg/kg) revealed significant pathological changes. observed abnormalities included cellular swelling, nuclear pyknosis, degeneration, necrosis, and blood vessel congestion, with higher doses leading to more pronounced damage. these findings suggest that nickel chloride poses a potential risk to liver health even at low concentrations and short exposure durations. keywords: rat, nickel, liver, apoptosis, degeneration introduction exposure to heavy metals, particularly nickel, leads to both critical biochemical and histological alterations in various organisms. in particular, nickel has emerged as a significant environmental concern since the 20th century, primarily due to the continually increasing levels of this metal in our surroundings, which has led to great harmful effects of these pollutants on the health of humans and animals.[1,2] nickel chloride is a light-green inorganic compound with moderate water solubility. it exhibits notable reactivity and industrial applications in textiles, steel, glass, and galvanizing. moreover, exposure to nickel chloride, especially without proper protective gear like gloves, poses significant health risks due to its potential release of carcinogenic nickel.[3] the most prevalent nickel compounds are nickel oxide (nio), nickel carbonate (nico3), nickel sulfate (niso4), and nickel chloride (nicl2). there is a strong correlation between the toxicity of nickel in the body and the concentration of dissolved metal ions.[4] nickel naturally exists as a silvery-white metallic element, is corrosion-resistant, and accumulates in organisms. humans are exposed to nickel primarily through the skin, inhalation, lips, and digestive system from water, dust, gases, food, and dietary sources such as legumes, spinach, nuts, cocoa, and acidic beverages. less than 10% of soluble nickel salts are absorbed by the digestive system, while lung absorption depends on particle size and solubility. therefore, prolonged exposure to nickel disrupts organ function, enzyme activity, and metal ion balance, leading to dermatitis, allergic reactions, teratogenic effects, and severe conditions such as chronic bronchitis, lung fibrosis, liver, brain, kidney, respiratory damage, gastrointestinal issues, and cancer.[5] the toxicity effects of nickel are influenced by its component form and interactions with ligands; therefore, it seems further research is necessary to investigate the environmental and biological effects.[6,7] the liver is the largest internal organ, constitutes approximately 2–5% of total body weight, and contains around 13% of the body’s blood supply at any given time. it plays a crucial role in metabolism, protein synthesis, corresponding author: merza h. homady, department of biomedical sciences, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region-iraq. e-mail: merza.homady@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 11, 2025 accepted: october 9, 2025 published: november 10, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp92-99 copyright © 2025 merza h. homady, huda s. bilal, mirzan m. omer, sarah l. alnuaimy, hawta s. khalid. this is an open access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) homady, et al.: impact of nickel chloride on histopathological changes in the liver of rats 93 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 92-99 micronutrient storage, bile production, and the detoxification of xenobiotics.[8,9] research has established that the liver serves as the primary organ of the mononuclear phagocyte system, capturing and retaining approximately 30–99% of administered nanoparticles from the bloodstream. as these nanomaterials infiltrate the liver, their flow rate decreases by a factor of 1,000, while their accumulation increases 7.5-fold due to uptake by kupffer cells, immune b cells, and hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells.[10,11] nickel binds to albumin in the blood, and is metabolized in the liver into various forms. moreover, it accumulates mainly in the kidneys but also deposits in the pancreas, brain, and lungs.[12] both acute and chronic poising in the workplace often lead to hypersensitivity. moreover, nephrotoxicity, immunotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, neurotoxicity, genotoxicity, reproductive, pulmonary issues, and carcinogenicity are the other serious complications of nickel toxicity. nickel exposure led to a dose-dependent increase in the expression of heme oxygenase-1 and heat shock protein 70, with their levels rising after 60 weeks of treatment with 45 mg/kg.[13] nickel exposure in rats has been shown to cause significant biochemical disturbances that interfere with several cellular functions, including transport, metabolism, signal transduction, oxidative balance, and ion regulation. it also disrupts vital processes such as cell cycle control, dna synthesis and repair, and apoptosis, which are associated with disease progression.[14] moreover, prolonged exposure to nickel for over 120 weeks markedly elevates blood concentrations of essential trace elements such as iron, copper, and manganese.[15-17] the current study is designed to comprehensively assess the toxic effects of nickel chloride administered at doses of 100 and 150 mg/kg on the liver of male rats, with particular attention to both structural and functional changes. biochemical and histological analyses are performed to provide deeper insight into the compound’s hepatotoxic mechanisms. experimental design laboratory rats (rattus norvegicus) aged 3–4 weeks and weighing between 150 and 200 g were utilized in the present study. the rats were housed in plastic cages measuring 30 × 12 × 11 cm. animals were grown in the animal house of applied sciences college, cihan universityerbil, kurdistan region, iraq, at a controlled temperature of 22 ± 2°c. with 12 h of light and 12 h of darkness. the total numbers of animals used in this study were (21) males, that are divided into three categories: • group i (control): seven intact male rats received only tap water and served as the control group (n = 7). • group ii (nicl2 100 mg/kg): seven intact male rats were administered nickel chloride at 100 mg/kg body weight (n = 7). • group iii (nicl2 150 mg/kg): seven intact male rats were administered nickel chloride at 150 mg/kg body weight (n = 7). to estimate the concentration and median lethal dose (ld50) of nickel chloride (nicl2), standard toxicological evaluation procedures are performed using laboratory rats. various doses (such as 10, 50, 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg body weight) are administered to determine the toxicity threshold. the ld50 value, representing the dose that results in 50% mortality of the test animals, is then determined through statistical analysis using karber’s method. the experiment was conducted over 6 weeks. in the end, animals were anesthetized with chloroform, and blood was obtained directly through heart puncture and placed in a yellow tube to measure various physiological parameters. serum separation procedure for terminal blood collection through cardiac puncture under anesthesia, approximately 3–6 ml of blood was obtained from each rat (weighing 150–200 g), yielding about 1.5–3 ml of serum (equivalent to 40–60% of total blood volume). the samples were transferred into serum separator tubes (sst, yellow-top) or plain tubes and kept upright to prevent agitation. to minimize hemolysis, blood was collected gently using an appropriate needle size. the samples were then left to clot for 30 min at room temperature (20–25°c). following clot formation, tubes were centrifuged at 1,000–2,000 × g for 10 min—commonly achieved by running the centrifuge at approximately 3,000 rpm for 10 min in small clinical rotors, corresponding to about 1,500–2,500 × g, depending on the rotor radius. after centrifugation, the clear serum layer was carefully aspirated without disturbing the gel or red blood cell (rbc) layer and transferred into labeled cryovials. in sst tubes, the gel served as a physical barrier separating serum from the clot. the separated serum was stored at 4°c for shortterm use (up to 24 h) or frozen at −20°c for several weeks and −80°c for long-term preservation. liver organs for both control and treated groups were removed, dissected, and immediately kept in 10% formalin for 24 h, and then processed for routine histological examinations.[18] the following parameters were measured: 1. biochemical assessments encompassed liver enzyme activity and lipid profile analysis 2. a histopathological examination was performed to evaluate structural changes in the liver. the histological method used has been processed according to bancroft and stevens (1982).[18]. statistical analysis the software sas program. usa/version 9 (2004) was used to analyze the data of the present work using a complete random design, and then compared the differences between the averages using the test of least significant difference.[19] results biochemical tests analysis of various biochemical parameters in liver tissue revealed no statistically significant differences between the experimental groups and the control group [tables 1-4 and figures 1-3]. histological results histological examination of the liver slices from the intact control group [figures 4 and 5] revealed a normal appearance. several hexagonal hepatic lobules are separated from one another by a skinny layer of connective tissue known as homady, et al.: impact of nickel chloride on histopathological changes in the liver of rats 94 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 92-99 table 4: glucose levels in the different experimental groups showed no significant differences parameters treated mean±sd glucose mg/dl control 214.9+27.51 100 mg/kg of nicl2 199.57+15.96 150 mg/kg of nicl2 186.7+17.54 sd: standard deviation table 2: the lipid profile levels (cholesterol, triglycerides [tri], ldl, and hdl) in the experimental groups showed no significant differences between groups. all values are expressed as mean±sd parameters treated mean±sd cholesterol mmol/l triglyceride mmol/l ldl mmol/l hdl mmol/l control 44.29±3.03 53.86±2.67 26.33±0.97 29.29±1.11 100 mg/kg of nicl2 52.83±0.41 49.33±4.07 29.89±8.77 32.34±0.37 150 mg/kg of nicl2 56.57±1.7 47.43±13.3 19.58±0.38 37.43±4.75 ldl: low-density lipoprotein, hdl: high-density lipoprotein, sd: standard deviation table 3: the levels of total protein, albumin, and globulin in different experimental groups parameters treated mean±sd total protein g/l albumin g/l globulin g/l control 5.58±0.7 3.4±0.08 3.14±0.22 100 mg/kg of nicl2 6.32±0.28 3.55±0.21 2.94±0.25 150 mg/kg of nicl2 5.77±0.07 3.2±0.08 2.46±0.11 sd: standard deviation table 1: the effects of different doses of nickel chloride on liver enzymes (alt, ast, alp, and bilirubin) in various experimental groups of male rats. all values are mean±sd parameters treated mean±sd alt (u/l) ast (u/l) alp (u/l) bilirubin (u mol/l) control 55.57±7.93 150.86±28.33 217.57±25.08 0.34±0.07 100 mg/kg of nicl2 74.71±9.71 181.29±12.28 248.57±106.20 0.25±0.06 150 mg/kg of nicl2 71.49±0.43 178.64±15.92 254.86±21.64 0.26±0.05 alt: alkaline phosphatase, ast: aspartate aminotransferase, alp: alkaline phosphatase, sd: standard deviation interlobular septa, with each lobule containing a central vein surrounded by hepatic cords and sinusoids. the shape of hepatocytes is polyhedral with basophilic granules that contain vesicular, rounded central nuclei. sections of liver tissue from the treated group with 100 mg/kg nicl₂ showed considerable modifications, including widespread vacuolation inside the hepatocytes and the formation of certain characteristic globular forms, which could be infiltrated lipids [figures 6 and 7]. a few hepatocytes lost their polygonal form as they became hypertrophied. hepatic cell membranes were observed to be thicker. sinusoids were found to have deteriorated, resulting in bleeding within intercellular spaces. hepatic cell degeneration was visible with some cells exhibited enlargement, disarray, and a lack of cytoplasmic components. furthermore, congestion has been observed in some central veins and hemorrhage in some interstitial tissues. some liver cells became distorted with pyknotic nuclei and lost cytoplasmic density. figure 1: the levels of enzymes and other physiological parameter in liver tissue figure 2: levels of protein and other biochemical parameters in liver tissue are presented homady, et al.: impact of nickel chloride on histopathological changes in the liver of rats 95 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 92-99 examination of liver tissue from rats treated with 150 mg/kg of nicl₂ [figures 8, 9, and 10] revealed extensive hepatic damage, where the liver parenchyma appeared as a necrotic, spongy mass with marked sinusoidal degeneration. most hepatocytes exhibited loss of cellular boundaries, cytoplasmic condensation, and disruption of hepatic cords. moreover, widespread degeneration was observed, with many hepatocytes showing focal necrosis, lateralized nuclei, pyknosis, and cytoplasmic disintegration. some cells appeared nearly devoid of cytoplasmic contents. the lesions were also characterized by vascular elongation, necrosis, and degeneration. discussion several studies have demonstrated the toxic impact of this heavy metal; however, information remains scarce regarding its tissue bioaccumulation and the cellular or molecular disturbances caused by nickel (ni) exposure in living organisms. due to its widespread industrial use, nickel has been extensively released into the environment, leading to notable pollution.[20] the findings of the current study align with those of previous researchers,[2] who observed that liver tissues of male mice exposed to different concentrations of nickel chloride and potassium dichromate exhibited marked hepatic lesions, such as vascular congestion, nuclear shrinkage (pyknosis), cellular degeneration, and necrosis. the detected alterations could be due to the buildup of chemical pollutants such as nickel (ni) and chromium (cr), which are well-documented for their detrimental effects on the liver’s histological architecture and figure 3: levels of total bilirubin and creatinine are presented. all values are expressed as mean±standard deviation figures 4: histological sections of liver tissue from control rats showing normal hepatic architecture, with intact hepatocytes exhibiting prominent nuclei (arrow) and a distinct central vein (arrow) (h&e stain, ×100) figures 5: histological sections of liver tissue from control rats showing normal hepatic architecture, with intact hepatocytes exhibiting prominent nuclei (arrow) and a distinct central vein (arrow) (h&e stain, ×400) figures 6: photomicrograph showing degeneration of hepatic cells, with some cells exhibiting swelling, disorganization, and loss of cytoplasmic contents in the 100 mg/kg nicl₂-treated group (×100) figures 7: photomicrograph showing degeneration of hepatic cells, with some cells exhibiting swelling, disorganization, and loss of cytoplasmic contents in the 100 mg/kg nicl₂-treated group (×400) homady, et al.: impact of nickel chloride on histopathological changes in the liver of rats 96 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 92-99 physiological performance. these heavy metals function as powerful toxicants that interfere with the normal biological activities of animals.[21] the findings of the current study are in agreement with those of shati,[22] who demonstrated that male rats receiving 8 mg/kg of potassium dichromate (k2cr2o7) through drinking water developed pronounced hepatic lesions, including focal necrosis, vascular congestion, marked lymphocytic infiltration surrounding blood vessels, nuclear degeneration (karyolysis and pyknosis), and activation of kupffer cells. such pathological alterations may result from oxidative stress, particularly affecting the plasma membrane, or through suppression of oxidative phosphorylation, which subsequently reduces the cellular energy required for protein synthesis. chromium and nickel are essential trace elements, but also represent common occupational and environmental toxicants. with the extensive expansion of cr and ni mining activities, their environmental and health-related impacts have become increasingly alarming.[23] exposure to either or both metals can exert wide-ranging adverse effects on ecological systems and human health. histopathological examination of liver sections from male mice exposed to varying doses of nickel chloride and potassium dichromate revealed severe hepatic damage, including vascular congestion, nuclear pyknosis, cellular degeneration, and necrotic lesions. these alterations may be attributed to the accumulation of chemical pollutants such as nickel (ni) and chromium (cr), which are known to adversely affect liver histology and function, as heavy metals act as potent toxic agents that disrupt the normal physiological processes of animals.[24] the current findings are consistent with those reported by ho and leung,[25] who observed that male rats administered 8 mg/kg of potassium dichromate (k2cr2o7) through drinking water exhibited marked hepatic injuries, including focal necrosis, blood vessel congestion, intense lymphocytic infiltration around blood vessels, nuclear karyolysis and pyknosis, and proliferation of kupffer cells. these pathological alterations may result from oxidative stress, particularly targeting the plasma membrane, or from inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation, leading to reduced energy availability for protein synthesis. in this experiment, administration of nicl2 at doses of 100 mg/kg and 150 mg/kg did not produce any significant changes in biochemical indicators (alkaline phosphatase [alt], aspartate aminotransferase [ast], alkaline phosphatase [alp], bilirubin) or lipid profile components (cholesterol, triglycerides, lowdensity lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein) in rats. these findings are consistent with previous research suggesting that the physiological and toxicological responses to heavy metals depend on several factors, including dose and duration of exposure.[26,27] the stable levels of total protein, albumin, and globulin across all experimental groups suggest that hepatic protein synthesis remained unaffected by nickel chloride treatment throughout the study. the observed stability highlights the need for further research on the long-term impacts of heavy metals, especially nickel chloride, on liver function and overall biochemical balance. in contrast, extended exposure to nickel has been shown to cause renal tubular injury, structural alterations in hepatic tissue, and adverse figure 9: photomicrograph showing the entire liver tissue as a necrotic, spongy mass with degeneration of sinusoids, loss of cell borders, accompanied by cytoplasmic condensation (mononuclear inflammatory cells infiltration predominantly lymphocytes) (×400) figure 8: photomicrograph showing the entire liver tissue as a necrotic, spongy mass with degeneration of sinusoids, loss of cell borders, accompanied by cytoplasmic condensation (mononuclear inflammatory cells infiltration predominantly lymphocytes) (×100) figures 10: photomicrograph showing the entire liver tissue as a necrotic, spongy mass with degeneration of sinusoids, loss of cell borders, accompanied by cytoplasmic condensation (mononuclear inflammatory cells infiltration predominantly lymphocytes) (×1000) homady, et al.: impact of nickel chloride on histopathological changes in the liver of rats 97 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 92-99 effects on the reproductive system. nickel accumulation in the kidneys has also been linked to decreased urine output and glucose concentration, accompanied by elevated β2-microglobulin levels.[28,29] exposure to nickel chloride (nicl2) has been linked to toxic effects on both the blood and liver of rats. studies suggest that nicl2 induces liver injury through several mechanisms, including increased oxidative stress, apoptosis, inflammatory responses, and disruption of normal hepatic structure and function.[30] moreover, nickel exposure caused dose-dependent changes in serum albumin, glucose, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. alterations in plasma protein patterns indicated compromised liver function, while elevated urea and creatinine concentrations pointed to potential renal impairment. the stability of these biomarkers indicates that the administered doses did not induce significant biochemical disturbances during the experimental period.[31-33] this absence of marked changes may be attributed to factors such as limited metal absorption, suppression of erythropoiesis, damage to bone marrow stem cells, or the destruction of erythrocytes. in support of this topić popović et al.,[34] reported reductions in white blood cells, rbcs, hemoglobin, and packed cell volume in male rats exposed to chromium and nickel, suggesting that ni-cr toxicity may result from impaired hematopoietic stem cell function. furthermore, zhang et al.,[35] demonstrated that elevated levels of mn, cd, fe, and ni in the livers of newborn mice from contaminated environments were associated with pronounced toxic effects. these observations are consistent with those of yildiz deniz et al.,[36] who found that prolonged exposure to high concentrations of heavy metals compromises antioxidant defense systems – such as metallothionein and superoxide dismutase – thereby promoting metal accumulation in tissues. histological examination of liver sections from male rats treated with different concentrations of nickel chloride revealed pronounced hepatic alterations. the observed changes included necrotic lesions, vascular congestion, and nuclear degeneration characterized by pyknosis. additional findings comprised ballooning degeneration of hepatocytes, marked lipid accumulation indicative of macrovesicular steatosis, and prominent lobular inflammation. moreover, evidence of hepatocyte apoptosis, hydropic degeneration consistent with microvesicular steatosis, infiltration of inflammatory lymphocytes, and the presence of councilman bodies were also observed.[37] in agreement with the observations of yu et al.,[38] osman,[39] and abed,[40] histopathological examination in the current study demonstrated marked hepatic injury following nickel chloride administration. liver sections from the control group displayed normal histological organization with well-preserved hepatocytes, whereas those from rats exposed to 100 mg/kg of nicl2 revealed distinct pathological changes. these alterations were characterized by cytoplasmic vacuolation, hypertrophy of hepatocytes, lipid accumulation suggestive of steatosis, and distortion of sinusoidal architecture, occasionally accompanied by hemorrhagic areas. at a higher dose (150 mg/kg), the hepatic injury became markedly pronounced, showing widespread necrosis, cytoplasmic condensation, pyknotic nuclei, and complete disorganization of the normal hepatic cord pattern—indicative of a clear dose-dependent hepatotoxic effect of nickel chloride. these observations emphasize the liver’s heightened vulnerability to nicl2-induced damage. notably, current literature provides limited insight into the mechanistic aspects of nicl2 toxicity, particularly its influence on apoptosis and oxidative stress in vital organs such as the liver, kidneys, and testes of both animals and humans. the current results are consistent with those of akinwumi et al.,[41] who reported significant hepatic injury in mice exposed to 2 mg/kg of nickel chloride through drinking water. these pathological alterations were attributed to oxidative stress, primarily impacting the plasma membrane, and potentially to interference with oxidative phosphorylation, which may redirect cellular energy toward compensatory protein synthesis. conclusion and recommendation the present findings suggest that while exposure to various doses of nickel chloride did not cause significant changes in alt, ast, alp, creatinine, or urea serum levels, higher doses did lead to notable histopathological alterations in liver tissue. these changes included vascular dilation, extensive fatty degeneration of hepatocytes, lobular disorganization, and necrosis, indicating localized tissue damage despite stable biochemical markers. these results underscore the potential systemic toxicity of nickel chloride. future studies should investigate its biological mechanisms, long-term health risks, environmental effects, and potential sex-related differences in metabolism and nephrotoxicity. the present study recommends studying how nickel chloride affects the body: look deeper into how nickel chloride harms liver cells, such as whether it causes stress, cell death, or damage to cell energy centers. also, to explore new markers in the body that can show liver damage earlier than current blood tests, as well as to compare tissue damage with blood markers: find early warning signs in blood or tissues that match the damage seen in the liver, which could help in early detection. references 1. j. deng, h. guo, h. cui, j. fang, z. zuo, j. deng, x. wang and l. zhao. oxidative stress and inflammatory responses involved in dietary nickel chloride (nicl2)-induced pulmonary toxicity in broiler chickens. toxicology research, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 1421-1433, 2016. 2. h. j. kehiosh and a. c. al-fatlawi. histopathological changes of heavy metals nickel chloride (ii) and potassium dichromate (vi) 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(in eng). aging (albany ny), vol. 8, no. 11, pp. 3009-3027, 2016. 30. d. suljević, p. karlsson, m. fočak, m. m. brulić, j. sulejmanović, e. šehović, e. särndahl, m. engwall and a. alijagic. microplastics and nanoplastics co-exposure modulates chromium bioaccumulation and physiological responses in rats. environment international, vol. 198, p. 109421, 2025. 31. a. apiamu, o. j. avwioroko, u. f. evuen, h. e. kadiri, e. d. kpomah, a. a. anigboro, g. ugbebor and s. o. asagba. exposure to nickelcadmium contamination of drinking water culminates in liver cirrhosis, renal azotemia, and metabolic stress in rats. biological trace element research, vol. 202, no. 4, pp. 1628-1643, 2024. 32. w. wang, a. dernst, b. martin, l. lorenzi, m. cadefau-fabregat, k. phulphagar, a. wagener, c. budden, n. stair, t. wagner, h. färber, a. jaensch, r. stahl, f. duthie, s. v. schmidt, r. c. coll, f. meissner, s. cuartero, e. latz, m. s. j. mangan. butyrate and propionate are microbial danger signals that 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altun. the regulatory effects of pomiferin dietary on nickel-induced hepatic injury in spraguedawley rats; action mechanisms and signaling pathways. toxicology mechanisms and methods, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 484-494, 2024. 37. h. yin, z. zuo, z. yang, h. guo, j. fang, h. cui, p. ouyang, x. chen, j. chen, y. geng, z. chen, c. huang and y. zhu. nickel induces autophagy via pi3k/akt/mtor and ampk pathways in mouse kidney. ecotoxicology and environmental safety, vol. 223, p. 112583, 2021. homady, et al.: impact of nickel chloride on histopathological changes in the liver of rats 99 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 92-99 38. s. yu, f. liu, c. wang, j. zhang, a. zhu, l. zou, a. han, j. li, x. chang and y. sun. role of oxidative stress in liver toxicity induced by nickel oxide nanoparticles in rats. molecular medicine reports, vol. 17, no. 2, pp. 3133-3139, 2018. 39. h. j. i. osman. role of l-histidine in preventing the toxicological effects induced by chromium or nickel metals in male rats. vol. 44. international atomic energy agency, vienna, 2012. 40. n. j. abed. protective effect of propolis extract against nickel chloride and/or carbon tetrachloride induced alterations in physiological and endocrine functions in adult male rats. journal of animal health and production, vol. 12, no. s1, pp. 99-106, 2024. 41. k. a. akinwumi, a. j. jubril, o. o. olaniyan and y. y. umar. ethanol extract of nigella sativa has antioxidant and ameliorative effect against nickel chloride-induced hepato-renal injury in rats. clinical phytoscience, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 64, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 39-47 research article the protective rolls of taraxacum officinale against carbon tetrachloride infarction in the liver farhang a. mustafa, khabat a. ali department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, 44002, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract carbon tetrachloride (ccl4) is a liquid that is colorless, transparent, inflammable, and volatile. its central carbon atom is surrounded by four cl- atoms. as a result, the objective of this effort was to estimate the anti-oxidant properties of silver nanoparticles (agnps) made utilizing aqueous plant extracts from taraxacum officinale leaves. a green synthesis of agnps using a synergistic aqueous extract from t. officinale leaves was tested against liver damage in rats caused by ccl4. the rats were randomly distributed into seven groups: group 1: control group, group 2: olive oil group, group 3: agnps-treated group (100 mg/kg bw.), group 4: agnps-treated group (200 mg/kg bw.), group 5: ccl4 + olive oil group, group 6: (ccl4 + olive oil) + 100 mg/kg of agnps-treated group, and group 7: (ccl4 + olive oil) + 200 mg/kg of agnpstreated group one a week for 6 weeks. this study demonstrated a sustainable method for synthesizing agnps utilizing t. officinale leaf (tol) extract. to characterize the synthesized t. officinale leaf-silver nanoparticles (tol-agnps), various microscopic and spectroscopic methods were used. the effectiveness of the biosynthesized tol-agnps against ccl4 was tested to assess their antioxidant potential. the antioxidant properties of synthetic tol-agnps were also evaluated. histopathological research showed that all groups treated with nanoextract had less severe inflammatory responses. our findings demonstrated that agnps synthesized using the leaves of t. officinale possess a potential anti-oxidant activity against ccl4-induced liver injury in rats. keywords: carbon tetrachloride, hepatoprotictive effect, oxidative stress, silver nanoparticles, taraxacum officinale introduction carbon tetrachloride (ccl4) is a liquid that is colorless, transparent, inflammable, and volatile. it features four clatoms surrounding the carbon atom at its center. in addition to happening naturally, it may also occur as a result of a variety of chemical reactions. it has an atmospheric halflife of between 30 and 100 years due to its chemical stability.[1] ccl4 is quickly absorbed by the body by inhalation, ingestion, and cutaneous absorption.[2] according to estimates, the typical adult daily ccl4 intake is 0.1 ml. this poisonous substance distributes throughout the body, with maximum concentrations through the hepatic, kidney, brain, fat, muscle, and blood after exposure throguh ingestion, inhalation, or dermal absorption.[3] to establish the acute toxicity of ccl4, several animal tests have been conducted. for example, studies on rats have demonstrated that the fatal dosage (ld50) is reach after severe oral ingestion, and that the body weight varies from 4.7 to 14.7 ml/kg based on dietary circumstances and supplements that are supplied.[4] a well-known example of a chemical liver injury is ccl4induced liver damage. a powerful liver toxin called ccl4 has been linked to cell death, inflammation, and oxidative stress in histopathological studies.[5] medications used to treat liver problems have inadequate therapeutic efficacy and may have negative effects.[6] as a result, interest in alternative or complementary therapies as well as research into novel drugs has surged.[7] with its distinctive properties and wide-ranging uses in industries including agriculture, food, and medicine, nanotechnology has become one of the most important and appealing areas of research.[8] nanoparticles have well-known uses in the biomedical sector as antibacterial, antioxidant, and antitumor agents due to characteristics including their tiny size, high surface area to volume ratio, visual, magnetic, chemical, and physical capabilities.[9] corresponding author: farhang a. mustafa, department of biology, college of education, salahuddin universityerbil, 44002, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: farhang.mustafa@student.su.edu.krd received: january 14, 2022 accepted: march 28 2023 published: may 20, 2023 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v7n1y2023.pp39-47 copyright © 2023 farhang a. mustafa, khabat a. ali. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license (ccby-nc-nd 4.0). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mustafa and ali: rolls of taraxacum officinale against liver infarction 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 39-47 due to their versatile theranostic properties, nanoparticles of noble metals: including (silver, gold, platinum, copper, zinc, titanium, and magnesium) have attracted a lot of attention for use in biomedical applications.[10] however, although physical and chemical processes are employed to make nanoparticles, they are linked to injurious substances that are dangerous to handle. as an alternative, attention is being drawn to plantmediated production of metal nanoparticles because of their quick time requirements, low cost, and environmental friendliness.[11] proteins, polysaccharides, flavonoids, terpenoids, tannins, alkaloids, amines, ketones, and aldehydes are examples of bioactive secondary metabolites that are found in plants. these substances are also used as lowering, stabilizing, and capping agents in the alteration of metal ions to metallic nanoparticles, producing desired nanoparticles with specific properties.[12] silver nanoparticles (agnps) have overtaken other biosynthesized metal nanoparticles in the past 20 years due to their distinctive biological, chemical, and physical properties.[13] numerous studies have demonstrated that a lower concentration of agno3 has improved chemical stability, catalytic activity, biocompatibility, and other desirable properties as well as inherent therapeutic potential despite the fact that silver is lethal at higher concentrations.[14] according to reports, agnps may have antioxidant, anticancer, and antibacterial properties.[15] an especially noteworthy benefit of agnps over bulk metals and their salts is their controlled, delayed release of silver.[16] the new-age bionanoformulations’ guiding principle is the integration of traditional medicine with nanotechnology. the perennial plant taraxacum officinale, sometimes known as dandelion, is a member of the asteraceae family, according to classification of t. officinale.[17] kingdom : plantae phylum : magnoliophyta class : magnoliopsida subclass : asteridae order : asterales family : asteraceae subfamily : cichorioideae genus : taraxacum species : officinale subject : taraxacum officinale it is interesting that this herb has a lengthy history of usage as a medicine. medicinal uses for the root and young tips predominate.[18] liver, pancreas, and stomach functions are all enhanced by dandelion. it is employed to treat rheumatism, hepatitis, anemia, and liver cirrhosis,[19] prebiotic, analgesic, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-oxidative, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-inflammatory properties.[20] materials and methods collection of plant and leaf extract preparation the dried t. officinale leaf (tol), weighing 500 g, was obtained from erbil’s (pirmam roads) in september 2021 and was dried at room temperature in the shade. the plant was identified by professor dr. abdulla shakur of salahaddin university-college erbil’s of education. in the department of biology, distilled water was combined with 25 g of the powdered plant material (1:10, sample to solvent ratio) and sonicated for 60 min (power sonic 405/lab tech) while maintaining a temperature of 40 c. the resulting extract was then concentrated using a rotating evaporator with a regulated vacuum after being filtered using whatman no. 1 filter paper with a buchner funnel. the concentrated extract was kept at 4°c in an airtight container after being air-dried. silver nanoparticle synthesis 300 ml of warmed distal water was added to 10 g of the dried plant powder to make the nanoparticle. after 10 min of cooking using a magnetic stirrer, this mixture was filtered through whatman no.1 filter paper and kept at 4°c for storage. then, using a magnetic stirrer, 100 ml of the obtained extract was to be added to 1000 ml of 1 mm aqueous agno2 and heated for 60 min at 40°c. ultraviolet-visible (uv-vis) spectra were used to identify the production of agnps following centrifugation of the reduced mixture at 5000 rpm for 30 min. the resulting particle was then dissolved in deionized water and the supernatant was thrown away. to get rid of any materials that were adsorbs on the surface of the agnps, the same washing procedure was carried out 2–3 times with deionized water and ethanol.[21] characterization of agnps the most crucial, straight forward, and fundamental method to validate the creation of synthesized nanoparticles is uv-vis spectroscopy. uv-vis spectra between 200 and 800 nm were captured using (agilent technologies, santa clara, ca, usa). an fourier transform-infrared (ft-ir) spectrophotometer was used to conduct the analysis to analyze the functional group that the surface of the generated agnps included (perkin elmer spectrum 100 ft-ir, 710 bridgeport, ct, usa). the ft-ir spectra were scanned in the transmittance mode at a resolution of 4 cm-1 with wave numbers ranging from 4000 to 400 cm-1.[22] an x-ray diffractometer used 2 scans from 30 to 80° at 0.04°/min with a constant value of 2 s to capture the x-ray diffraction (xrd) patterns of the agnps (rigaku, japan). sigma 300 (carl zeiss, germany) was employed together with edx analysis to evaluate the cell surface characteristics and identify the elemental structure of produced agnps. on a fresh coverslip, a modest quantity of agnps (10 l) was drop-cast before being dried. following a gold sputter, the samples were examined using an scanning electron microscopy (sem) and an energy dispersive x-ray (edx).[23] animal housing and breeding the albino rats were kept in a room with a temperature of 22 ± 2°c and a 12/12-h light/dark cycle. each rat weighed between 160 and 200 g, in the animal house of education college/salahaddin university, the rats were kept 1 week for acclimatization. experimental design fifty-six female wistar albino rats (weighing 160–200 g) are used in the present study. the animals have been housed in mustafa and ali: rolls of taraxacum officinale against liver infarction 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 39-47 conventional conditions (22 ± 2°c, 45 ± 5% moisture, and 12 h light-dark cycles). throughout the trial of the experiment, the rats received conventional rat feed and had an unlimited access to tap water and libitum. rats were divided into seven groups at random (n = 8). group 1: rats in the control group received distilled water and a regular meal. group 2: rats received weekly intraperitoneal injections of 1 ml/kg bw olive oil for a period of 6 weeks. group 3: for 6 weeks, rats in the agnps-treated group received daily oral gavage doses of 100 mg/kg bw of agnps. group 4: for 6 weeks, rats in the agnps-treated group received 200 mg/kg bw of agnps orally. group 5: for 6 weeks, rats in the ccl4 + olive oil group received a single subcutaneous injection of the mixture (1:1) mg/kg. bw of ccl4 and olive oil. group 6: ccl4 + olive oil + agnps-treated group: rats were given a single dose of the mixture (ccl4 + olive oil) subcutaneously once per week at a dose of (1:1) mg/kg.bw for 6 weeks, followed by the administration of agnps daily administered by oral gavage in a dose of 100 mg.kg b. for 6 weeks. group 7: ccl4+olive oil + agnps-treated group: rats were given a single dose of the mixture (ccl4 + olive oil) subcutaneously once per week at a dose of (1:1) mg/kg. bw for 6 weeks, followed by the administration of agnps daily by oral gavage at a dose of 200 mg.kg body weight for 6 weeks. collection of tissues and blood samples at the end of the study period, rats were given general anesthesia before being decapitated and slaughtered. blood samples were then taken by heart puncture and drawn for biochemical analysis. a little amount of blood — about 5 ml — was collected in a gel tube, left to remain at room temperature for 30 min, and then gently centrifuged for 15 min at 3000 rpm. additionally, liver tissues were gathered, removed, and cleaned in sterile saline. all of the obtained liver tissues underwent autopsy and were divided into pieces. then, until the histological investigation, the tissue was promptly preserved in 10% formalin saline. determination of liver function test using kits and an enzymatic-colorimetric approach with an auto-analyzer, the liver function tests alanine aminotransferase (alt), aspartate aminotransferase (ast), and alkaline phosphatase (alp) were conducted (cobas kenza 450 tx fully automated biochemical analyzer, france). oxidative stress evaluation with the use of solarbio kits from china, malondialdehyde (mda), superoxide dismutase (sod), and glutathione (gsh) were measured. the variance seen among absorbance at 532 nm, 450 nm, and 600 nm is used to compute the mda content.[24] an absorption at 560 nm shows that sod activity declines as the interaction solution’s blue color deepens. sod can eliminate oxygen and prevent the synthesis of methionine.[25] gsh will interact with 2,5-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) to create 2-nitro-5-mercaptobenzoic acid and glutathione disulfide (gssg). the highest absorbance of the 2-nitro-5mercaptobenzoic acid in the yellow material is 412 nm.[25] all absorbencies identified by a microplate reader.[25] histopathological examination liver tissue samples from various groups were autopsied and afterward histopathologically analyzed.[26] all samples were immediately placed in 10% buffered formalin for 24 h, rinsed in ordinary saline, and then dehydrated using successively diluted alcohol solutions (70%, 95%, 100%). the paraffin wax was then used to embed tissue pieces that had been cleared in xylene. using a microtome, pieces of paraffin blocks with a thickness of 6 microns were cut, the tissue slices were placed on glass slides, deparaffinized with xylene, stained with hematoxylin and eosin (h and e), cleared with xylene, and mounted with dpx. scores were given to the histological alterations.[27] statistical analysis the normality and lognormality tests were run after the one-way analysis of variance test (one-way anova) using the graphpad prism (version 8.0). the findings were represented by the mean and standard deviation (sd). the differences between the groups were considered statistically significant when “p” < 0.05. results and discussion uv-vis spectroscopy synthesized agnps’ uv-visible spectroscopic profile and color change. figure 1 shows that after 30 min of incubation at room temperature in the dark, the color of the reaction mixture seemed to shift from light brown to dark brown. in actuality, under the same conditions, the agno3 solution without plant extract remained colorless. the shift in hue was seen as proof that agnps were forming as a result of the reduction of ag+ ions.[28,29] agnps are present because the absorbance of agnps from 200 to 800 nm displays a maximum between 440 and 450 nm. the surface plasmon resonance features of spherical and aggregate agnp generation are illustrated by the prominent absorption peak at 434 nm.[30] after 1 day and 60 days, uv-vis spectroscopy was used to determine the agnps’ temporal stability. the presence of the distinctive at 434 nm peak in the produced agnps confirms their stability [figure 1]. as a consequence of this finding, we may conclude that the produced agnps exhibited great water stability because a little decrease in absorbance was noted at figure 1: the results of ultraviolet/visible spectra of taraxacum officinale leaf-silver nanoparticles mustafa and ali: rolls of taraxacum officinale against liver infarction 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 39-47 434 nm. recent studies on the green synthesis of agnps using plant extracts from salvia hispanica and pomegranate leaves, among others, yielded findings that were almost identical to those of this kind of study.[29,31-33] this indicates that t. officinale leaves contain phytochemicals that can function as capping and reducing agents when effectively extracted. ft-ir spectroscopy analysis using ft-ir spectroscopy, it was possible to identify the functional group that took part in the green synthesis of agnps as reduction and coating agents from tol extract. figure 2 shows the tol extract’s ft-ir spectral bands and manufactured agnps made from the leaf extract. the produced agnps showed sharp transmittance maxima at 3439, 1762, 1384, 1136, 875, and 825 cm-1 [figure 2]. with a little variation in peak positions, the ft-ir spectra of t. officinale aqueous leaf extracts and synthetic agnps were quite comparable. this blatant resemblance shows that some of the remaining phytochemical moieties that are present in the tol extract are present on the surface of the produced agnps. the peaks in the ft-ir spectra clearly show that t. officinale aqueous leaf extracts function as decreasing and steadying agents. strong peaks at 3439 cm-1 were indicative of the hydroxyl and amine (n-h) functional groups’ o-h stretching vibration type. the stretching vibrations of the hydroxyl (o-h) and amine (n-h) groups were thought to be responsible for the absorbance maxima between 3000 and 3600 cm-1. while proteins, peptides, and amino acids are assumed to create n-h stretching, polyphenols display o-h stretching vibration instead.[34] the phenolic group of compounds included in leaf extract acts as strong capping and reducing agents when silver nitrate is reduced, resulting in the formation of agnps. due to the high concentration of secondary metabolites that dissolved in the sample, two additional strong peaks at 2088 and 2078 cm-1 were seen. these peaks indicated the existence of alkynes with triple bond c≡c stretched vibration. the peaks at 1762 cm-1 are caused by the amide i band and the -c=cstretching vibration band. the 1384 cm-1 peak was assumed to be caused by the -c-nstretching band and the amide i band of proteins in the leaf extract.[35] the band of amide i connected to the carbonyl group’s (c=o) stretch mode when it was joined to the amide linkage. the ch out of plane bending vibrations was attributed to the maxima at 1136 and 875 cm-1. for stability and to avoid agglomeration, the proteins may be coated or encapsulated around the produced agnps.[36] thus, it became clear from the ft-ir analysis that proteins and bioactive substances, including polyphenols, found in the tol extracts play a significant role in the production of agnps.[32,36,37] xrd analysis t. officinale leaf-silver nanoparticles (tol-agnps) crystal structure was ascertained by powder xrd, as demonstrated in [figure 3]. the planes (111), (200), (220), and (311) are correspondingly represented by ѳ2 = 34°, 38.1°, 44.2°, 64.5°, and 77.6°, where bragg’s reflections were discovered. x-ray diffractograms were used to identify four diffraction peaks (111), (200), (220), and (311) to determine the composition of the created agnps. these peaks fit ag planes according to the typical face-centered cubic structures of ag (joint committee on powder diffraction standards; jcpds no. 04-0783). the formed agnps’ crystalline arrangement was further sustained by the (111) reflection peak’s high intensity in comparison to the other reflections. the findings confirm those of earlier studies, which showed identical agnp diffraction peaks.[38,39] sem and edx analysis using sem methods, the morphological properties of greenly synthesized agnps were identified. the majority of the spherical shape in sem images of produced agnps, with an average size of 50 nm, was observed [figure 4]. the results obviously showed that the synthetic agnps substantially figure 2: the results of fourier transform-infrared spectrum of taraxacum officinale leaf-silver nanoparticles mustafa and ali: rolls of taraxacum officinale against liver infarction 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 39-47 comprise tiny grains of material that have clumped together to form crystals with almost uniform spherical shapes and smooth surfaces. similar findings have already been published.[34,37,40] the elemental analysis of the material has been shown in figure 4 by the edx spectrum of the produced agnps. silver peaks can be detected in the spectrum, indicating that silver ions are one of the ingredients used to make synthetic agnps. the weight percentage and atomic percentage of the ag peak were 41 and 3.21, respectively. au, na, and cu, among other peaks, were seen. these components were derived from the tol extract biomolecules that were attached to the surface of the agnps.[35,41,42] examination of biochemical analysis the injection of ccl4 markedly (p = 0.05) improved the activity of the ast and alp a liver blood marker enzymes as matched to the control group. although there has been a little rise in the alt level, it is not statistically significant. table 1 showed that when tol-agnps were used in comparison to the ccl4 group, increases in the production of these enzymes were considerably reduced (p = 0.05) by 100 mg/kg bw and 200 mg/kg bw, respectively. the results of the present study showed that ccl4 -induction in rats considerably raised the levels of ast and alp and marginally but insignificantly raised the levels of alt. as a result of the acute hepatocyte damage and impaired membrane integrity brought on by ccl4, the hepatocytes’ enzymes leak out.[43] the abnormal elevations in alt, ast, and alp were, however, dramatically reduced following treatment with tol-agnps, coming to those in the control. these findings support prior research in that tol-agnps have the capacity to defend against ccl4-induced hepatocyte damage.[44] that reported the protective consequences of polyphenolic compounds in tolagnps against ccl4-induced liver cirrhosis. estimation of oxidative stress biomarkers table 2 provides mda levels. the findings showed that the mda levels in the ccl4 group were substantially higher (p = 0.05) than those in the control group. in comparison to the ccl4 group, the t. officinale agnps treated groups at doses of 100 mg/kg bw and 200 mg/kg bw considerably (p = 0.05) lowered the mda level. rats treated with ccl4 had considerably lower (p = 0.05) sod activity and marginally higher (statistically nonsignificant) gsh levels than the control group. administration of 100 mg/kg bw and 200 mg/kg bw of t. officinale agnps in comparison to ccl4 rats resulted in a rise in lipid peroxidation, a decrease in the activities of antioxidant enzymes, and a substantial increase (p = 0.05) in gsh levels.[43] throughout their lives, both humans and animals are exposed to hepatotoxic substances. unfortunately, there is no effective medication for liver disease prevention or therapy. consequently, academics, owners of domestic animals, and the general public are becoming more interested in complementary and supportive treatments.[45] free radicals and oxidative stress from hazardous chemicals that cause lipid peroxidation, such as ccl4, lead to liver damage.[26] mda is a significant biomarker of lipid peroxidation.[6] the findings of this investigation confirm the harmful effects of ccl4. [46] it was corroborated by histopathological findings, an elevated figure 4: the photos of the scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive x-ray of the taraxacum officinale leaf-silver nanoparticles figure 3: x-ray diffraction analysis of the taraxacum officinale leafsilver nanoparticles mustafa and ali: rolls of taraxacum officinale against liver infarction 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 39-47 mda level, and a declining gsh level. similar to the findings of the research by gad et al.[47] groups 6 and 7 dramatically reduced mda levels, comparable to the outcomes shown in group 5.[48] sod and gsh levels were higher than in the ccl4 group. it was discovered that groups 6 and 7 were effective for hepatoprotection. compared to the ccl4 group, the gsh and sod levels in this group rose. these findings align with the body of literature.[26] compared to the ccl4 group, the la group’s mda levels dropped while sod and gsh levels rose, which is consistent with the literature.[49] the findings confirm the effectiveness of several t. officinale agnps as antioxidants.[50] histopathological examination the histopathologic results of the liver tissue of the animals in the control group revealed usual liver architecture with normal central vein and normal arrangement of hepatocytes [figure 5a and b]. tissue sections from the tol-agnp-treated group alone showed a normal structure equivalent to the control to the control groups [figure 5c and d]. in the ccl4-treatment groups, many changes are occurs like (vein wall disruption, necrosis around the vein), cholestasis (bile out in channel), inflammatory cells infiltration, hepatocyte necrosis, fatty liver changes, arteria sclerosis, sinusoid wideness (dilatation), as shown in [figure 5e-h]. however, the histological sections of the concurrently treated groups with tol-agnps at an oral dosage of 100 mg/kg revealed that tol-agnps maintained hepatocyte arrangement, no fatty liver changes and mild perivascular hepatocytic infiltration were seen, as well as a noticeable decline in penetration of the inflammatory cells., as shown in [figure 5g-j], respectively. liver damage is a major health issue and a global public health burden.[51] the assertion was substantiated by necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration discovered during the histological investigation of microphotographs of liver sections.[52] in this investigation, ccl4 injection led to considerable inflammatory cell infiltration, passive hyperemia, hepatocyte degradation, and the emergence of fat vacuoles across the whole liver. the liver damage generated by ccl4 was reduced by protecting the hepatocyte basal membrane and reducing inflammatory cell infiltration with a fat accumulation of agnps, as in earlier studies.[52] in our investigation, administering agnps decreased inflammation and hepatocellular disintegration while maintaining the structure of the remark cords. histopathological data revealed that tol was the most effective hepatoprotective species, as previously reported by karkos et al.[53] when compared to normal control rats, animal given ccl4 had higher blood levels of alt, ast, and alp (p = 0.05), according to the study’s findings. a sudden increase in serum transaminases indicated that ccl4 caused serious toxicity. necrosis and inflammatory cell infiltration seen during the histological analysis of microphotographs of liver sections supported the claim.[52] in this work, rats who were drunk table 2: the effect of ccl4 and tol-agnps on assessment of oxidative stress groups experimental parameters mda gsh sod control 1.19±0.38b 71.02±9.64a 72.32±5.14a olive oil 1.32±0.37b 76.86±62.64a 78.42±6.86b agnps 100 mg/kg 1.36±0.72b 79.71±28.14a 89.16±2.76bc agnps 200 mg/kg 1.29±0.64b 81.86±9.29a 84.51±1.46a ccl4+olive oil 2.76±0.83a 59.63±11.96a 63.58±5.33a ccl4+olive oil+agnps 100 mg/kg 1.25±0.64b 70.70±13.47a 79.22±14.30b ccl4+olive oil+agnps 200 mg/kg 2.08±0.78a 66.66±23.07a 82.40±6.21b the same letter in the columns means a non-significant differences among parameters at p<0.05a, b, c. tol-agnps: taraxacum officinale leaf-silver nanoparticles, ccl4: carbon tetrachloride, mda: malondialdehyde, gsh: glutathione, sod: superoxide dismutase table 1: the effect of ccl4 and tol-agnps on indices of hepatotoxicity groups experimental parameters ast (u/l) alt (u/l) alp (u/l) control 88.02±7.724b 28.36±4.893a 106.8±7.155b olive oil 108.12±24.456a 30.04±9.371a 101.38±10.164b agnps 100 mg/kg 101.76±14.285a 29.58±10.262a 110.2±27.797b agnps 200 mg/kg 126.32±45.265a 25.5±10.321a 111.2±20.104b ccl4+olive oil 149.92±8.320a 33.82±4.223a 155.8±33.789a ccl4+olive oil+agnps 100 mg/kg 101.56±17.928a 24.72±2.192a 95.6±10.502b ccl4+olive oil+agnps 200 mg/kg 93.42±28.241b 26.98±7.487a 82±25.700b the same letter in the columns means a non-significant differences among parameters at p<0.05a, b, c. ast: aspartate aminotransferase, alt: alanine aminotransferase, alp: alkaline phosphatase, tol-agnps: taraxacum officinale leaf-silver nanoparticles, ccl4: carbon tetrachloride mustafa and ali: rolls of taraxacum officinale against liver infarction 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2023, 7 (1): 39-47 with ccl4 had their raised liver function levels brought back to normal levels by administering agnps of t. officinale at a dosage of 100 mg/kg b.w. the findings of this investigation confirm the harmful effects of ccl4 [46] were verified by elevated mda levels, declining gsh levels, enzyme activity, and histopathological results. similar to the findings of the gad et al.[47] mda levels were dramatically reduced in the agnps group. these findings align with the body of literature.[26] the results support the antioxidant efficiency of selected plant species. conclusion in this study, green biosynthesized agnps, tol-agnps, were found to have an antioxidant potential on rat liver injury. one of the greatest methods of understanding the underlying structure of hepatotoxicity and development, in addition to, complete therapeutic options, is to use a rodent model for liver injury. according to the present study, such antioxidants, antiinflammation, and enhanced potency of tol-agnps against ccl4 toxicity were achieved through the lowering amounts of the biochemical parameters as well as restoring their amounts to standard levels across all nano-extract treatment groups. in addition, the decrement in damages caused by ccl4 in animals treated was revealed by microscopic proofs that showed considerable antioxidant activity. references 1. v. unsal, m. cicek and i̇. sabancilar. toxicity of carbon tetrachloride, free radicals and role of antioxidants. reviews on environmental health, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 279-295, 2021. 2. l. w. d. weber, m. boll and a. stampfl. hepatotoxicity and mechanism of action of haloalkanes: carbon tetrachloride as a toxicological model. critical reviews in toxicology, vol. 33, no. 2, pp. 105-136, 2003. 3. m. srinivasan, r. rukkumani, a. r. sudheer and v. p. menon. ferulic acid, a natural protector against carbon tetrachlorideinduced toxicity. fundamental and clinical pharmacology, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 491-496, 2005. 4. d. scholten, j. trebicka, c. liedtke and r. weiskirchen. the carbon tetrachloride model in mice. laboratory animals, vol. 49, no. 1 suppl, pp. 4-11, 2015. 5. x. liang, k. wu, m. liu and b. yang. adverse impact of carbon tetrachloride on metabolic function in mice. journal of cellular biochemistry, vol. 120, no. 7, pp. 11973-11980, 2019. 6. f. altinok-yipel, i. o. tekeli, s. ozsoy, m. guvenc, s. sayin and m. yipel. investigation of hepatoprotective effect of some algae species on carbon tetrachloride-induced liver injury in rats. archives of physiology and biochemistry, vol. 126, no. 5, pp. 463467, 2020. 7. m. a. toori, b. joodi, h. sadeghi, h. sadeghi, m. jafari, m. s. talebianpoor, f. mehraban, m. mostafazadeh and m. ghavamizadeh. hepatoprotective activity of aerial parts of otostegia persica against carbon tetrachloride-induced liver damage in rats. avicenna journal of phytomedicine, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 238-246, 2015. 8. f. erci, r. cakir-koc and i. isildak. green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using thymbra spicata l. var. spicata (zahter) aqueous leaf extract and evaluation of their morphologydependent antibacterial and cytotoxic activity. artificial cells, nanomedicine, and biotechnology, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 150-158, 2018. 9. c. tanase, l. berta, n. a. coman, i. roșca, a. man, f. toma, a. mocan, l. jakab-farkas, d. biró and a. mare. investigation of in vitro antioxidant and antibacterial potential of silver nanoparticles obtained by biosynthesis using beech bark extract. figure 5: histopathological examination demonstrating the effects of taraxacum officinale leaf-silver nanoparticles (tol-agnps) against ccl4 on rat’s liver tissues following addition of (agnps). (a and b) the control group: showed normal histological structure: central vein (red arrow), hepatocytes and sinusoids (white arrow), normal nucleus (blue arrow), normal kupffer cells (green arrow), (h and e, ×10, ×40, respectively); (c and d) the tol-agnps -treated group: the section through the liver of tol-agnps alone group showed, maintained normal liver architecture, no significant histopathological changes were seen in which: normal central vein (red arrow), normal sinusoids (white arrow), normal hepatocytes (blue arrow), and normal binuclear (green arrow), (h and e, ×10, ×40, respectively); (e and f) ccl4 + olive oil group: the liver section through the ccl4 group showed: fatty changes (red arrow), vein wall disruption (white arrow), necrosis around the vein (blue arrow): sinusoid wideness, sinusoidal cell hypertrophy, and apoptosis (green arrow), (h and e, ×10 and ×40 respectively); (g and h) ccl4 + olive oil group showed epithelia cell pyknosis of bile duct (red arrow), waste nuclement in the bile duct (white arrow), mild perivascular inflammation, periductal inflammatory cells infiltration (blue arrow), fatty liver changes (green arrow), (h) showed fatty liver changes (red arrow), inflammatory cell infiltration (white arrow), arteria sclerosis, vascular congestion and vascular hyaline changes (blue arrow), and sinusoid (dilatation) (green arrow), (h and e, ×10, ×40, respectively); (i and j) ccl4 and olive oil + agnps of t. officinale treated group showed maintained hepatocyte arrangement: mild sinusoid dilation (red arrow), normal sinusoid (white arrow), vascular congestion (blue arrow), vascular dilation (green arrow), mild portal chronic inflammation (black arrow), normal sinusoid (white arrow), mild sinusoid dilation (blue arrow), karyomegally, mild periductal chronic inflammation, and vascular dilation (green arrow) (h and e, ×10, ×40, respectively) d jh c ig b f a e mustafa and ali: rolls of taraxacum officinale against liver infarction 46 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42-46, 2004. 51. l. pimpin, h. cortez-pinto, f. negro, e. corbould, j. v. lazarus, l. webber and n. sheron and easl hepahealth steering committee. burden of liver disease in europe: epidemiology and analysis of risk factors to identify prevention policies. journal of hepatology, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 718-735, 2018. 52. w. jiang, m. h. guo and x. hai. hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects of lycopene on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rat. world journal of gastroenterology, vol. 22, no. 46, p. 1018010188, 2016. 53. p. karkos, s. c. leong, c. d. karkos, n. sivaji and d. a. assimakopoulos. spirulina in clinical practice: evidencebased human applications. evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine, vol. 2011, p. 531053, 2011. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 29-31 research article evaluation of pineal gland in patients with schizophrenia amani a. elfaki1, ahmed m. a. elhaj2, meltem a. gudek3, mert nahir4, amira m. haroun5, bunyamin sahin6 1department of anatomy, college of dentistry, cihan university-erbiliraq, 2neurosurgery department, faculty of medicine, university of khartoum, khartoum, sudan, 3department of anatomy, faculty of medicine, samsun university, samsun, turkey, 4department of anatomy, faculty of medicine, gaziosmanpasa university, tokat, turkey, 5psychiatric hospital (ksamc), almadina, saudi arabia, 6department of anatomy, faculty of medicine, ondokuz mayıs university, samsun, turkey abstract recent advancements in neuroimaging techniques have facilitated the identification of numerous structural brain alterations associated with schizophrenia, potentially serving as valuable biomarkers. this study aimed to explore the volumetric changes in the pineal gland correlated with schizophrenia symptoms, employing standard brain segmentation methodologies. the study encompassed 135 participants, comprising 82 controls and 53 patients, all of whom provided voluntary consent. magnetic resonance imaging (mri) of the brain was conducted using the magnetization prepared rapid acquisition protocol, and the acquired images were processed through brainsuite software. statistical analysis was done to determine the significance of volumetric differences in the pineal gland between patients and controls. in addition, it assessed any correlations with demographic variables, such as age and sex. the control group’s mean age was 29.28 ± 6.03, while the patient group was 31.32 ± 6.44. no significant differences were observed between the groups in terms of sex or age distribution, with p = 0.583 and 0.064, respectively. the average pineal gland volume in patients with schizophrenia was 48.82 ± 20.39 cm3, markedly lower than the 64.23 ± 26.51 cm3 observed in controls. the findings indicate that individuals with schizophrenia possess smaller pineal glands compared to the general population. it is concluded that mri is a viable tool for assessing structural brain changes linked to schizophrenia, and the pineal gland may play a contributory role in the disease’s pathogenesis. keywords: schizophrenia, brain suite, volumetric changes, pineal gland, magnetic resonance images introduction schizophrenia is a chronic psychotic illness characterized by myriads of positive and negative psychotic symptoms.[1] it is often progressive and disabling disease that is associated with great social stigma.[2] moreover, despite of the huge advances neuroscience and psychiatry that culminate in major developments in the diagnosis and management of all psychiatric illnesses, the schizophrenia remains of unknown and doubtful pathophysiological mechanism and natural history.[3] since very early on when schizophrenia was first reported in 1908, it was hypothesized to be associated with brain structural changes.[4] this waited for a very long period of time till the recent tremendous advances in structural and functional neuroimaging techniques have opened the door for the researchers to study the detailed structural and functional alterations in the brain that are found in patients with schizophrenia. many studies addressed the issue of structural brain changes in schizophrenia. elfaki et al. reported that patients with schizophrenia have significantly smaller brains than their matching controls and they have bigger mean volume of white matter and larger volume of ventricular system.[4] interestingly, these changes were found to affect not only patients with schizophrenia but also their first-degree family members when compared to controls with no family history of schizophrenia.[1] recent research focuses more on melatonin’s potential role in schizophrenia. melatonin is a hormone, similar to indole, produced by the pineal gland. it is crucial for regulating our sleep-wake cycle. in addition, it acts as a strong antioxidant, helping to remove harmful substances. it also corresponding author: amani a. elfaki, department of anatomy, college of dentistry, cihan university-erbiliraq. e-mail: amani.abdelrazag@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: november 27, 2024 accepted: december 26, 2024 published: february 10, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp29-31 copyright © 2025 amani a. elfaki, ahmed m.a. elhaj, meltem a. gudek, mert nahir, amira m. haroun, bunyamin sahin. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) elfaki, et al.: evaluation of pineal gland in schizophrenia 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 29-31 plays a role in the immune system and in fighting cancer.[2] people with schizophrenia often experience sleep and daily rhythm problems. since melatonin helps control these cycles and sleep patterns, it might be involved in the development of schizophrenia. furthermore, serotonin is another chemical produced by the pineal gland. it is important for mood regulation. many mental health medications target serotonin. the pineal gland is a small pinecone shaped gland located in the epithalamus weighs about 10 g and measures about 8x4 mm in normal adults.[3,4] research into the volume changes of the pineal gland in schizophrenic patients is relatively limited, and the findings have been mixed. some studies have suggested that there may be volume changes in the pineal gland in schizophrenia, but the results are not consistent. in the current study is addressing the issue of the volumetric changes that occur in the pineal gland of patients with schizophrenia comparing them with normal controls using standard conventional brain segmentation techniques. patients and methods this study involved 82 control subjects (47 males and 35 females) and 53 patients (27 males and 26 females), totaling 155 volunteers. it received approval from the ethical committee of gezira university, sudan. informed consent was obtained from all participants or their relatives in the case of patients. the patient group consisted of adult sudanese individuals clinically diagnosed with schizophrenia, all of whom met the icd/10 criteria and were under regular antipsychotic treatment. these patients were recruited from professor abdelaal alidresi psychiatric hospital, tigani almahi psychiatric hospital, and various private psychiatric clinics across sudan. the control group comprised sudanese volunteers without any psychiatric disorders or medication history, carefully matched with the patient group in terms of gender and age. both groups were screened to exclude individuals with a history of head trauma, drug abuse, or central neurological disorders. magnetic resonance imaging (mri) acquisition structural mri scans were performed on both patients and controls at the department of radiology, national ribat university. the equipment used was a siemens 1.5 tesla magnetom avanto vision system. for imaging, we employed a three-dimensional t1-weighted sequence using magnetization prepared rapid acquisition (mp-ra), which is known for its efficient grey/white matter contrast and brief acquisition time. the settings were as follows: slice thickness of 1.0 mm, field of view of 250 mm (read) by 192 mm (phase), repetition time of 1657 ms, echo time of 2.95 ms, bandwidth of 180 hz/pixel, flip angle of 15°, echo spacing of 7.5 ms, phase resolution at 100%, slice resolution at 50%, and a total acquisition time of 5 min and 18 s. images were captured in the coronal plane. this t1-weighted imaging sequence is routinely included in clinical protocols for both qualitative and quantitative brain analysis, particularly in patients with epilepsy. automatic segmentation of the mri the dicom images from the study participants were analyzed using brainsuite software, with the analysts blinded to the clinical data. these images were directly uploaded into brainsuite, a comprehensive suite of tools designed for neuroimaging data analysis. brainsuite facilitates the quantification of the human brain’s functional, connectional, and structural attributes through a series of advanced algorithms. originally developed to produce surface representations of the cerebral cortex, brainsuite has evolved to automatically generate models of most macroscopically visible brain structures from any suitable t1-weighted mri scan. the volume of the pineal gland was automatically calculated by brainsuite. following a quality control process, these measurements were directly utilized in statistical analyses. results we included 135 subjects (82 controls and 53 schizophrenic patients) in our study. in the control group, there were 47 (57.3%) males and 35 (42.7%) females while there were 27 (50.9%) male patients and 26 (49.1%) female patients in the schizophrenic patients’ group. there was no difference between our groups regarding sex distribution (p = 0.583). in the control group, the mean age was 29.28 ± 6.03 and in the schizophrenic, in the patients group, the mean age was 31.32 ± 6.44. there was no difference between our groups regarding age (p = 0.064). in schizophrenic group, 16 (30.2%) patients were using typical antipsychotic and 37 (69.8%) patients were using atypical antipsychotic. the comparison between control and patients with schizophrenia groups regarding the mean volume of the pineal gland showed significant difference between the groups. the mean volume of the pineal gland of patients with schizophrenia (64.23 cm3 ± 26.51) was lower than that of the controls (64.23 cm3 ± 26.51). however, there was no significant difference for the mean volume of the pineal gland between sex (p = 0.480). pineal gland volume (mm3) case n mean (cm3) ± std deviation controls male 47 64.89±27,90 female 35 63.34±24.90 total 82 64.23±26.51 patients with schizophrenia male 27 51.06±23.40 female 26 46.49±16.84 total 53 48.82±20.39 discussion this structural mri-based study is comparing the volume of the pineal gland between 82 healthy controls and 53 patients with schizophrenia. our major findings in this study are that elfaki, et al.: evaluation of pineal gland in schizophrenia 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 29-31 patients with schizophrenia have a statistically significant smaller total intracranial volume and pineal gland volume. this may suggest a possible pathogenetic involvement of the pineal gland in schizophrenia and other psychotic spectrum disorder. these findings are supporting the findings of findikli et al. who reported that patients with schizophrenia have a significantly smaller pineal gland not only when compared to healthy controls but also in comparison to patients of unipolar depression and bipolar mood disorder.[5] similar results were obtained by bersani et al.[6] in a study by rajarethinam et al., they reported contradicting results that there is no volumetric difference between patients with schizophrenia and controls.[7] despite their very large sample size in this study but they did their measurements using a locally developed software and there was no information about the duration of illness or the medications used by their patients. pineal gland changes were also reported in many studies for example pineal gland calcification is well known to occur in patients with schizophrenia.[8] when compared with the study by takahashi et al. (2019), the pineal volume of the chronic patients with schizophrenia is similar to the data in our study when compared to healthy controls.[9] changes in the pineal gland observed in patients with schizophrenia can be understood through the lens of either the neurodevelopmental or neurodegenerative theories of schizophrenia pathogenesis. it is proposed that the development of certain brain regions, including the pineal gland, may be delayed early in life, while neurodegenerative processes could alter the molecular structure of the pineal gland, leading to a reduction in its size.[6] this hypothesis is bolstered by studies reporting the presence of pineal calcifications in patients with schizophrenia.[10] in a systematic review and meta-analysis study by bastos et al. for pineal gland and schizophrenia, imaging studies showed that enlarged calcifications (>1 cm) were more common in the pg (computed tomography) and smaller pg (mri) volume compared with healthy controls. the anatomical and functional abnormalities of pg are not related to the duration of the disease or treatment factors, which may suggest that these are primary features of the disease and are genetically based. this meta-analysis study supports our study.[11] these structural changes are of course associated with functional consequences as many studies have shown that serum melatonin and serotonin levels are significantly lower among patients with schizophrenia[10] this part need more details and many example studies. our results strongly suggest that pineal gland has important role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. more studies are needed to evaluate the histological and molecular abnormalities in pineal gland in association of schizophrenia and the possible relation between these changes and the natural history and prognosis of schizophrenia. conclusion our results indicate that patients with schizophrenia have a smaller pineal gland than healthy controls. mri is an invaluable tool for studying structural brain changes in schizophrenia. this suggests that the pineal gland may play a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. references 1. j. a. lieberman, s. a. small and r. r. girgis. early detection and preventive intervention in schizophrenia: from fantasy to reality. the american journal of psychiatry, vol. 176, no. 10, pp. 794-810, 2019. 2. v. peralta and m. j. cuesta. eugen bleuler and the schizophrenias: 100 years after. schizophrenia bulletin, vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 11181120, 2011. 3. a. messina, g. cuccì, c. crescimanno and m. salvina signorelli. clinical anatomy of the precuneus and pathogenesis of the schizophrenia. anatomical science international, vol. 98, no. 6, pp. 473-481, 2023. 4. a. elfaki, a. elfaki, t. osman, b. sahin, a. elsheikh, a. mohamed, a. hamdoun and a. mohammed. stereological evaluation of brain magnetic resonance images of schizophrenic patients. image anal stereol, vol. 32, pp. 145-153, 2013. 5. e. fındıklı, m. f. inci, m. gökçe, h. a. fındıklı, h. altun and m. f. karaaslan. pineal gland volume in schizophrenia and mood disorders. psychiatria danubina, vol 27, no. 2, pp.153-158, 2015. 6. g. bersani, a. garavini, a. iannitelli, a. quartini, m. nordio, c. di biasi, p. pancheri.reduced pineal volume in male patients with schizophrenia: no relationship to clinical features of the illness. neuroscience letters, vol. 329, no. 2, pp. 246-248, 2002. 7. r. rajarethinam, s. gupta and n. c. andreasen. volume of the pineal gland in schizophrenia; an mri study. schizophrenia research, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 253-255, 1995. 8. r. sandyk and s. r. kay. the relationship of pineal calcification to cortical atrophy in schizophrenia. international journal of neuroscience, vol. 57, no. 3-4, pp. 179-191, 1991. 9. t. takahashi, m. nakamura, d. sasabayashi, y. nishikawa, y. takayanagi, s. nishiyama, y. higuchi, a. furuichi, m. kido, k. noguchi and m. suzuki. reduced pineal gland volume across the stages of schizophrenia. schizophrenia research, vol. 206, pp. 163-170, 2019. 10. r. sandyk. the pineal gland and the mode of onset of schizophrenia. international journal of neuroscience, vol. 67, no. 1-4, pp. 9-17, 1992. 11. m. a. v. bastos jr., p. r. h. de oliveira bastos, r. b. portella, l. f. g. soares, r. b. conde, p. m. f. jr., and g. lucchetti. pineal gland and schizophrenia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. psychoneuroendocrinology, vol. 104, pp. 100-114, 2019. 12. p. monteleone, m. natale, a. la rocca and m. maj. decreased nocturnal secretion of melatonin in drug-free schizophrenics: no change after subchronic treatment with antipsychotics. neuropsychobiology, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 159-163, 1997. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 research article revolutionizing pharmaceutical care: toward a unified pharmacy management system for northern iraq alyaa a. mahdi1, hasan r. najm1, hasan f. hasan1, reem j. ismail1, mustafa f. hasan2, mustafa m. alrawi3 1department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of construction and materials technology engineering, erbil technology college, erbil polytechnic university, erbil, iraq, 3clv group, ottawa, k1l6v6, canada abstract this paper presents a novel project that aims to transform pharmacy operations by creating a unified advanced information system that is specifically customized to meet the demands of pharmacies in the northern region of iraq. the suggested system offers a wide range of comprehensive features. enabling smooth information exchange between various parts of the healthcare system is its main objective. we achieve this seamless exchange. the main aim of this paper is effectively integrated pharmaceutical management platform. the system is precisely engineered and consists of 28 classes, each carefully designed to meet particular operational needs, with intuitive relationships and clearly defined responsibilities distributed among them as illustrated in our comprehensive uml diagrams. by utilizing a sql xampp database and the java programming language, it combines a strong architecture with an easy-to-use interface that was developed through multiple rounds of user testing with actual pharmacists and staff members from various pharmacy settings across northern iraq. its diverse range of functions includes but is not limited to, managing medicine sales, optimizing obtaining, monitoring expiration dates, managing personnel data, and supervising financial transactions. with built role-based access controls, and full compliance with relevant data protection regulations to safeguard sensitive patient and prescription information. to ensure the system truly meets the needs of pharmacy operations clearly defined success metrics that measure tangible improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and patient care. keywords: information management system, healthcare integration, pharmacy management, decision making, and modular system, data security, user-centered design, system scalability introduction in today’s globalized world, both public and private sectors prioritize globalization and innovation. information systems (is) are now vital tools, driving organizational and business workflow improvements across various sectors like higher education, healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and retail. these systems not only boost efficiency but also help managers across industries make more informed decisions by reducing uncertainty.[1-3] moreover, technological and scientific advancements have revolutionized traditional medicine, shifting towards digitization with biotechnology at its core. this has led to the emergence of smart healthcare, combining information technology with traditional medicine under biotechnology’s guidance. healthcare practice relies heavily on evidence-based decisions and requires the use of quality healthcare data. health management is (hmis) are among the core elements of health system building blocks. however, setting reveals a lack of adequate information regarding the quality of health information data.[4] one of the major technologies that aid contemporary healthcare solutions is smart and connected wearables.[5] smart healthcare heralds a multilevel transformation in the medical industry, encompassing shifts in the medical model from disease-centric to patientcentered care, the construction of informatization from clinical to regional medical sectors, and a paradigm shift in medical management from general to personalized approaches. the profound impact of information technologies since the mid1990s extends beyond academia to shape global economic growth. corresponding author: alyaa a. mahdi, department of computer science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: alyaa.asaad@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 05, 2024 accepted: august 29, 2024 published: july 01, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp7-17 copyright © 2025 alyaa a. mahdi, hasan r. najm, hasan f. hasan, reem. ismail, mustafa f. hasan, mustafa m. alrawi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 in various industries, including pharmacy, these technologies have been recognized as pivotal drivers of progress. the integration of technology and the internet into pharmacy practice marks a significant milestone, with technology and automation playing instrumental roles in streamlining business processes. information technologies have permeated diverse aspects of pharmacy practice, from oncology to pharmacokinetics, facilitated by the widespread availability of the internet and the proliferation of healthcare-specific smartphone applications. this pervasive adoption of it in pharmaceutical practices underscores its growing significance and relevance in optimizing pharmacy operations and enhancing patient care. improving the performance of inventory control systems of healthcare items minimizes inventory-related costs, potentially leading to a reduction in the cost of treatment and providing overall satisfaction to patients.[6] the hmis is made up of numerous subsystems, including the pharmaceutical management information system, laboratory information system, and nursing information system. in is, information is collected irregularly and randomly, and data is incomplete and improperly analysed. therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive information system.[7] pharmacies, as integral components of the healthcare landscape, heavily rely on information technology to bolster productivity, streamline operations, and simplify day-to-day tasks. this study delves into the development of a sophisticated information system tailored for pharmacists, emphasizing its modular architecture and sophisticated capabilities. rooted in the concept of shared material among various healthcare facets, this system promises to revolutionize pharmacy management by providing a comprehensive suite of features designed to optimize operational efficiency and promote seamless information sharing. advances in information technology have made it easier to determine decision-making strategies outside of the traditional domains. one technique to apply inventory control to drugstore management is to create a database that allows for numerous demand-supply adjustments. it also simplifies the many aspects of pharmacy management in general, particularly the requirement for demanding medications. especially in terms of predicting the duration of a drug’s use based on the pharmacy environment.[8] in contrast to traditional paper-based systems, a conventional pharmacy typically relies on manual methods for inventory management, supplier coordination, and sales tracking, supplemented by a basic point-of-sale system for customer transactions. however, these conventional pointof-sale methods often only provide limited functionality for tracking sales and generating invoices. a more efficient and effective approach to maximizing profitability involves transitioning from manual processes to automated systems. computerized pharmacy management systems (pms) offer a myriad of benefits, significantly enhancing efficiency and effectiveness in management tasks. these systems streamline routine activities, improving accuracy, reducing errors, and providing valuable insights for informed decision-making.[9] in addition to the numerous advantages of computerized pms, there is a compelling case for the adoption of a unified system across all pharmacies in the north of iraq. moving towards a unified system would facilitate seamless integration and information sharing among pharmacies, ultimately enhancing the overall efficiency and effectiveness of pharmacy operations in the region. by standardizing processes and data management practices, a unified system would not only optimize workflow but also improve patient care and safety through enhanced coordination and communication among healthcare providers. furthermore, a unified system would enable centralized monitoring and analysis of pharmacy data, allowing for better resource allocation, inventory management, and strategic decision-making at both the local and regional levels. this centralized approach would also facilitate compliance with regulatory requirements and quality standards, ensuring consistency and accountability across all pharmacies. overall, the implementation of a unified pms in the north of iraq holds the potential to revolutionize pharmacy practice, improve healthcare outcomes, and contribute to the advancement of the healthcare system in the region. the “digital revolution,” or the move from analog to digital technology, has changed our lives and opened up new opportunities in a variety of societal activities.[10] the pharmaceutical business in northern iraq confronts issues due to fragmented management systems, which impede efficient coordination and jeopardize patient care. to remedy this, a unified pms is proposed, which uses modern is technology to streamline operations and improve patient care. this system integrates a variety of capabilities, including inventory and prescription management, and provides real-time data to help user make informed decisions. the implementation of this system intends to transform pharmaceutical care delivery by promoting collaboration and improving patient outcomes. background information and communication technology plays a pivotal role as an indispensable component of modern life. it has significantly elevated and fortified various aspects of human existence, encompassing advancements in healthcare, and educational methodologies, as well as ensuring safety and security measures.[11] the literature review offers a comprehensive exploration of the development and impact of pms and is in healthcare contexts, health is offer many potential benefits for healthcare, including financial benefits and for improving the quality of patient care.[12] delve into the challenges and strategies associated with implementing pms in resourcelimited settings, illuminating effective system deployment techniques. in the context of increasing deployments of unified pms and the merging of hospitals into single health systems, pharmacy informatics (pi) teams face growing opportunities and challenges. pharmacy leaders must carefully consider the impact of technology utilization within multihospital health systems, taking into account organizational structures and their mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 effects on technology implementations and dedicated support teams. common challenges in implementing electronic medical records and other technologies in multihospital systems include harmonizing practices, addressing platform compatibility, and ensuring interoperability. collaboration between pi and information technology teams is crucial to develop practical strategies for implementing pharmacy automation and software, thereby facilitating safe and effective patient care. key areas of focus include organizational structures impacting informatics teams, pharmacy integration and standardization, formulary management, data analytics, and clinical decision support systems. addressing these challenges is essential for ensuring the successful implementation and utilization of pms in the evolving healthcare landscape.[13] current landscape of pms in recent years, the global healthcare landscape has witnessed significant advancements in pms, aimed at optimizing pharmacy operations and enhancing patient care. the revolution in the digital economy is forcing the retail pharmacy industry to develop new business models to achieve operational excellence.[14] highlight the prevalence and diversity of pms solutions across different regions of the world, showcasing a wide range of functionalities tailored to meet the unique needs of pharmacies in various settings. these systems encompass features such as inventory management, prescription processing, patient records management, and billing functionalities, providing comprehensive support for pharmacy workflow automation, every pharmacy strives to reach out to its most valued clients; therefore, this industry uses new technologies in this respect to match the correct sales method and improve consumer satisfaction.[15] however, despite the widespread availability of pms globally, access to advanced solutions remains limited in certain regions, particularly in resource-constrained settings such as the north of iraq. several challenges faced in implementing of pms in developing countries, citing issues related to infrastructure, funding constraints, and workforce capacity as significant barriers to adoption. emphasize the need for tailored solutions that address the specific needs and challenges faced by pharmacies in regions with limited resources.[16-18] in the north of iraq specifically, the availability and adoption of pms vary depending on factors such as geographical location, healthcare infrastructure, and economic conditions, providing insights into the current landscape of pms in the region, highlighting both the progress made and the remaining challenges. while some pharmacies in urban centers may have access to advanced pms solutions, pharmacies in rural areas often rely on manual processes or basic software applications due to limited resources and infrastructure. the impact of system factors such as compatibility, complexity, security, and privacy on pharmacists’ confirmation and behavioral control in utilizing is within healthcare services in iraq. the studies found that factors like system compatibility, complexity, secure medical information sharing, and information privacy positively influence pharmacists’ confirmation and behavior in using health is.[19] the literature highlights the critical need to address the unique challenges and requirements faced by pms, particularly in regions like the north of iraq. with ongoing advancements in technology, it becomes increasingly vital to enhance access to and usability of pms solutions, especially in resource-constrained settings. by improving the availability and usability of pms solutions, pharmacy operations can be optimized, ultimately leading to better patient care outcomes. in the context of this research, drug information resources play a crucial role in medication discovery, utilization, and management. however, there is a lack of comprehensive information about the types of resources utilized by iraqi community pharmacists.[20] therefore, this research objectives include identifying the types of drug information resources used by pharmacists and understanding the common drug information questions they encounter in their work within community pharmacies. addressing these objectives will provide valuable insights into improving drug information access and utilization within iraqi community pharmacy settings, thereby enhancing overall pharmacy operations and patient care outcomes. proposed innovations in pms in recent years, the global healthcare landscape has seen remarkable advancements in pms, aimed at optimizing pharmacy operations and improving patient care. these systems offer a wide array of functionalities tailored to meet the unique needs of pharmacies worldwide, including inventory management, prescription processing, patient records management, and billing functionalities. the implementation of a unified and efficient pms across all pharmacies in the north of iraq would revolutionize healthcare delivery and patient outcomes in the region. by standardizing is, pharmacies would experience streamlined operations and workflows, minimizing errors and ensuring consistent quality of care. enhanced communication and collaboration among healthcare providers would facilitate seamless continuity of care and improve patient safety. the system’s robust data analysis capabilities would support evidence-based decisionmaking, proactive medication management, and targeted interventions to enhance patient health outcomes. in addition, centralized monitoring and auditing would ensure regulatory compliance and accountability in pharmacy operations. overall, this standardized approach to pharmacy management would optimize resource utilization, reduce costs, and ultimately improve the quality and accessibility of pharmaceutical care in the north of iraq. proposed system and methodology the methodology of this research centers on the development of a comprehensive pms, focusing on essential functionalities such as sales, purchases, drug introduction, and accounting calculations for discounts, staff management, and profit tracking. the system is designed to streamline operations and minimize the need for additional staff, with a single user managing all aspects of the system. developed using java programming language and xampp sql database, the system mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 integrates these languages to create an efficient pharmacy application. java eclipse was utilized for program creation, while phpadmin xampp application server was employed for database development. the system comprises 28 classes, each dedicated to specific tasks. for instance, the “introduce drug” class facilitates drug introduction to establish company presence and reputation among pharmacists, while the “buying drug” and “selling drug” classes enable barcode scanning for quick data retrieval and insertion into the database. the system ensures accurate differentiation between buying and selling drugs by utilizing distinct barcode identifiers. overall, the methodology outlines the technical aspects and functionalities of the proposed pms, highlighting its efficacy in optimizing pharmacy operations and facilitating efficient drug management processes. collecting system requirements to ensure the proposed pms is well-designed and aligned with project goals, a thoughtful and thorough approach was taken to gather system requirements. this included reviewing relevant research and expert materials, closely examining the existing system’s structure and performance, and analyzing how data flows in and out of the current setup. these steps helped uncover key insights, identify gaps, and clearly define what the new system needs – paving the way for a more efficient and effective solution. system design strategies the proposed system offers robust security, including strong password protection and secure messaging. it accommodates multiple user roles – managers, administrators, and regular users – each with tailored access and permissions. this includes detailed records such as drug name, type, barcode, dosage, cost and selling prices, manufacturing and expiry dates, source, import quantities, and current stock. in addition, the system tracks sales and purchases comprehensively, capturing prices, quantities, dates, and vendor details to support efficient monitoring and decision-making, as illustrated in figure 1. system architecture and design our proposed unified pms follows a thoughtfully designed modular architecture that prioritizes flexibility, maintainability, and scalability to meet the diverse needs of pharmacies across northern iraq. figure 2 presents a comprehensive system architecture diagram illustrating how the various components interact across multiple layers, from the user interface through to external system integrations. the system consists of 28 interconnected classes organized into logical modules, each responsible for specific functionality within the pharmacy management ecosystem. these classes work together seamlessly while maintaining a clear separation of concerns. key classes include. • user management: handles user authentication, authorization, and profile management with granular figure 1: the relationships between the classes of the proposed system mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 figure 2: architecture diagram of the unified pharmacy management system role-based access control (rbac) that ensures staff members can only access information relevant to their specific job functions. • inventory controller: manages medication stock levels with intelligent reordering suggestions, tracks warehouse operations, and provides real-time visibility into inventory status across multiple locations. • prescription processor: processes and validates prescriptions, performs automatic checks for drug interactions and contraindications, and maintains comprehensive prescription histories. • patient records: securely maintains comprehensive patient information and medication history while ensuring privacy compliance and providing quick access to critical health information. • financial transactions: manages all aspects of billing, payments, and insurance claims processing and generates detailed financial reports for business analysis. • report generator: creates customizable reports for inventory, sales, and business analytics with flexible filtering options and visual data representations. • integration manager: facilitates seamless data exchange with external healthcare systems through standardized apis, ensuring consistent and reliable information flow. system implementation and results system deployment and integration the proposed pms provides flexible deployment options, functioning as a standalone solution for individual pharmacies and a fully integrated component within hospital management systems providing the popularity of pharmacies in hospital settings. integration with existing hospital management systems can improve operational efficiency and collaboration, as shown in the figure 3. user authentication and access control the login page acts as the entrance to the proposed system’s secure login feature, which provides distinct user roles and functionalities. managers have the authority to establish admin accounts, and admins can in turn create user accounts. this page allows users to register for new accounts or log in if they already have an account, as shown in figure 4. the proposed system offers a user-friendly interface for creating new accounts, capturing all essential user details with clarity and ease. to enhance user convenience and security, it also includes features for password recovery and reset. these functionalities are illustrated in figure 5 demonstrating the system’s focus on providing a smooth and supportive user experience. the “change password” feature updates user passwords and allows the generation of new passwords. this feature improves security by allowing users to periodically reset their passwords, lowering the danger of illegal access and protecting data. furthermore, the option to change passwords allows users to keep control over their account security, resulting in a safer and more secure user experience within the system, as shown in the figure 6. mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 figure 3: integration of proposed system within hospital management systems dashboard and core functionalities after a successful login, users are directed to the dashboard – the main hub of the system – featuring 28 essential components. this central page is tailored to each user’s role, whether administrator or manager, delivering relevant tools and information accordingly. the system streamlines user and medication tracking, including automatic barcode generation for each medicine. it also ensures accurate financial recordkeeping, managing payments received, pending payments, and outstanding balances. a key feature is its reliable expiration tracking for medications, helping prevent stock issues. additionally, users can generate excel reports at any time, empowering administrators and managers to make informed decisions through timely, data-driven insights, as illustrated in figure 7. the dashboard of the proposed system supports three languages—english, arabic, and kurdish—making it accessible and user-friendly for a diverse audience. this multilingual functionality ensures users can comfortably navigate and interact with the system in their preferred language, enhancing usability and satisfaction. this feature is particularly valuable in linguistically diverse regions like northern iraq, where it fosters smooth communication and engagement among users from various cultural backgrounds. by accommodating different language preferences, the system figure 4: proposed system login functionality figure 5: proposed system registration process figure 6: proposed system change password page mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 promotes wider adoption and long-term success, as illustrated in figure 8. the proposed system also includes a human resource management embedded system, which is critical for smoothly managing employees or users within the system. this feature gives full information about employees, including their job titles, contact information, and salary, streamlining hr processes and improving workforce management efficiency, as shown in the figure 9. medication management features the proposed system includes automated barcode generation for each medication, which simplifies the process of organize medications at the pharmacy and tracking them within the system. this function not only increases speed and efficiency, but it also ensures accuracy, allowing for exact tracking and control of medication inventories. furthermore, the use of barcodes results in cost savings by optimizing inventory management operations and minimizing the possibility of errors, as shown in the figure 10. the proposed system will provide a catalog for medication details obtained from multiple sources, as shown in the figure 11. this feature allows the users to import information such as the medication’s name, type, barcode, production, and expiry dates, as well as a graphic picture of the medication. furthermore, the system collects data about the manufacturing company and defines buying and selling figure 7: proposed system dashboard page figure 8: proposed system multilingual feature figure 9: hr embedded system mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 prices, resulting in a comprehensive catalog of medicationrelated information. furthermore, the system includes a tool that allows the user to add picture of the medicine information table. this feature allows users to contribute visual representations of medications with their corresponding details, improving the system’s usability and efficiency. pharmacists and administrators can identify pharmaceuticals more quickly and accurately by putting medication photos into the database. this visual aid not only improves the user experience, but it also adds to better medication safety and patient outcomes, as shown in the figure 11. the proposed system calculates profits such as medicine types, purchasing data, and selling pricing depending on predetermined amounts for a certain medication. the system provides management with an efficient and effective tool for assessing the profit of each medicine in the pharmacy. this aids in the decision-making processes, allowing management to strategize effectively and optimize inventory management procedures, as shown in the figure 12. the proposed system has an efficient expiration tracking system for medications, which visually distinguishes expired, near-expiry (within 10 days), and non-expired medications through color-coding – red, yellow, and green, respectively. this in-built color scheme enhances visibility and facilitates quick identification of medications nearing expiration, thereby minimizing losses due to expired medications, as shown in the figure 13. the proposed system is designed with reliability in mind, offering robust data backup and restore capabilities that enhance overall security. these features ensure that critical pharmacy data remains protected and recoverable in case of system failures or data loss. by safeguarding the integrity of essential information, the system minimizes operational disruptions and supports smooth, uninterrupted management processes. this level of dependability not only boosts user confidence but also contributes to more efficient and streamlined pharmacy operations, as illustrated in figure 14. system reliability and data safety user-centered design and usability the unified pms was built and designed focusing on the real needs of pharmacy professionals. instead of simply introducing new technology, we collaborated closely with the people who would actually use the system. through interviews and observations with 25 pharmacists and 15 technicians in pharmacies across northern iraq, we gained a deep understanding of their daily routines and challenges. their feedback directly shaped the system’s features and interface for instance, after many users highlighted the difficulty of managing partially filled prescriptions, we created a dedicated tracking feature to address that need. scalability and performance considerations the system has been designed with scalability in mind, ensuring it can meet the needs of pharmacies of various sizes today while allowing for future growth. in the future, mobile app and web app versions of the system are under construction and will be added to enhance accessibility and usability. these apps will allow users to access the system from anywhere at any time, further increasing the flexibility of the system and figure 10: barcode generation figure 11: importing the medication details to system mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 supporting continuous service improvement. the system’s architecture is designed to scale seamlessly as pharmacy operations grow or as additional locations are added to a network. this flexible approach ensures that pharmacies only pay for the resources they need while maintaining consistent performance regardless of size or growth stage. security and data privacy the unified pms handles highly sensitive personal data, including patient medical histories, prescriptions, and financial details. to ensure this information is protected, we’ve implemented several security and privacy measures: • rbac: access to data is restricted based on user roles, ensuring individuals only see what they need for their job. • multi-factor authentication: administrative access requires both a password and an additional verification method, like a one-time password (totp). • audit logging: all activities in the system are logged with details such as user, timestamp, and actions, providing a traceable record for security and accountability. database optimization and management the database forms the foundation of our unified pms, storing everything from inventory records to patient information. we’ve carefully optimized its design for performance, data integrity, and long-term maintainability: • database design: our system utilizes a relational mysql database with the following optimizations: figure 12: importing the medication pictures feature figure 13: expire feature mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 well-defined relationships with referential integrity constraints enforced at the database level to prevent orphaned records and maintain data consistency planned indexing strategy based on actual query patterns identified during performance testing, ensuring fast data retrieval without excessive storage overhead table partitioning for large datasets (particularly transaction history and audit logs) to improve query performance and simplify maintenance operations like backups and archiving • backup and recovery: we’ve implemented a comprehensive data protection strategy to prevent information loss: automated incremental backups are performed hourly with minimal performance impact, capturing only changes since the previous backup to reduce storage requirements and processing time complete database backups conducted daily during configured off-peak hours when system usage is typically lowest. evaluation and validation to ensure the unified pms delivers meaningful improvements to pharmacy operations and patient care, we’ve developed a comprehensive evaluation framework that measures realworld impact rather than just technical specifications: pilot implementation: we’ve designed a phased rollout approach to validate the system in authentic pharmacy environments: • phase 1: initial deployment in 3 carefully selected urban pharmacies with varying sizes and customer volumes to test core functionality in controlled environments with good technical infrastructure • phase 2: expansion to 5 additional pharmacies including rural locations with more challenging infrastructure conditions to validate system performance in diverse settings • phase 3: implementation in 2 hospital pharmacies to thoroughly test integration capabilities with hospital systems and validate specialized workflows unique to institutional settings each implementation phase includes a structured 3-month evaluation period with systematic data collection through system logs, staff interviews, and patient feedback to provide a comprehensive view of system performance we’ve established multiple feedback channels for pharmacists, technicians, and administrators to report issues, suggest improvements, and share success stories throughout the pilot process success metrics: we’ve defined specific, measurable key performance indicators to objectively evaluate the system’s impact across multiple dimensions: category metric target improvement operational efficiency average time to process prescriptions 40% reduction operational efficiency staff time spent on inventory management tasks 50% reduction operational efficiency time required to generate management reports 75% reduction financial performance inventory carrying costs 25% reduction financial performance average revenue per transaction 10% increase financial performance losses from expired medications 80% reduction user experience system usability score from staff surveys score above 80/100 user experience training time for new staff members 30% reduction patient care prescription error rate 90% reduction patient care average patient wait time 35% reduction finding discussion the findings of this study highlight the crucial need of reinventing pharmaceutical treatment in northern iraq by implementing a unified pms. significant benefits can be obtained for managers, users, and patients by utilizing an updated and professional management system designed to meet the demands of modern medicine marketing. this system should focus on improving management processes to make error detection and prevention easier, as well as fulfilling with the current marketing expectations to streamline operations. furthermore, the system should prioritize effective decision-making capabilities to improve pharmacy performance and patients’ satisfaction, resulting in increasing the sales income, and decreasing marketing costs. furthermore, by maximizing the utility of computers and systems in supplying, managing, and utilizing information effectively, the unified pms enables administrative levels within businesses to make informed decisions, overcoming the constraints of manual systems. overall, the implementation of such a system has the potential to significantly improve pharmaceutical care in northern iraq, ultimately improving service quality and patient outcomes. figure 14: backup feature mahdi, et al.: toward unified pharmacy management system in northern iraq 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 7-17 conclusion and future works in conclusion, this research emphasizes the importance of creating a modernized management system adapted to the region’s pharmaceutical demands. the proposed unified pms promises major benefits to managers, users, and patients, with a focus on improved management procedures, efficient decision-making skills, and increased customer satisfaction. the system has many features such as: easy to use since it has a visual interface that make human interaction flexible, easy to update by adding or deleting information, and generating different reports such as profit and debt. the future work will focus on developing a mobile application to supplement the system, allowing for easy access and management anytime and anywhere. this application will have in-built dashboards with numbers displaying visual indicators such as the quantity of drugs sold and available, providing real-time information for informed decisionmaking. by incorporating mobile technology into the system, stakeholders should expect increased accessibility and efficiency in pharmaceutical management, hence improving the quality of pharmaceutical treatment in northern iraq. references 1. h. f. hasan, a. a. mahdi and m. nat. a recommendation of information system implementation to support decision-making process of top management. in: proceedings of the international conference on bioinformatics and computational intelligence. pp. 55-61, 2017. 2. a. a. mahdi. educational data mining to improve the academic performance in higher education. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 13-18, 2020. 3. t. hussein, m. nat, h. f. hasan and a. a. mahdi. development and evaluation of an online gamified assessment environment. cihan university, erbil, 2020. 4. m. kebede, e. adeba and m. chego. evaluation of quality and use of health management information system in primary health care units of east wollega zone, oromia regional state, ethiopia. bmc medical informatics and decision making, vol. 20, p. 107, 2020. 5. w. li, y. chai, c. f. khan, s. r. u. jan, s. verma, v. g. menon and k. x. li. a comprehensive survey on machine learning-based big data analytics for iot-enabled smart healthcare system. mobile networks and applications, vol. 26, pp. 234-252, 2021. 6. e. saha and p. k. ray. modelling and analysis of inventory management systems in healthcare: a review and reflections. computers and industrial engineering, vol. 137, p. 106051, 2019. 7. a. gholami and m. mohammadi. a framework for designing pharmaceutical management information system. international journal on information technologies and security, vol. 10, no. 2, 2018, 47-56. 8. j. i. teleron. efficient management of pharmacy operations through operations research techniques. engineering and technology journal, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 2462-2472, 2023. 9. m. k. m. nasution, s. a. m. noah and u. harahap. overview of the pharmacy management system in a hospital. systematic reviews in pharmacy, vol. 11, no. 11, pp. 650-655, 2020. 10. i. k. chathuranga. smart computerized pharmacy management system. [ph.d. dissertation], 2021. 11. m. h. shukur, r. j. ismail and l. r. flaih. empower e-wallets payment system by using secured hybrid approach of online and offline services. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 23-27, 2022. 12. a. a. nahi, l. r. flaih, k. jasim and r. hossian. review of iot and robotics application (special case study in iraq and kurdistan region). in: 4th international conference on communication engineering and computer science (cic-cocos’2022), 2022. 13. r. dehnavieh, a. haghdoost, a. khosravi, f. hoseinabadi, h. rahimi, a. poursheikhali, n. khajehpour, z. khajeh, n. mirshekari, m. hasani, s. radmerikhi, h. haghighi, m. h. mehrolhassani, e. kazemi and s. aghamohamadi s. the district health information system (dhis2): a literature review and meta-synthesis of its strengths and operational challenges based on the experiences of 11 countries. health information management, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 62-75, 2019. 14. j. chalmers, m. siska, t. le and s. knoer. pharmacy informatics in multihospital health systems: opportunities and challenges. american journal of health-system pharmacy, vol. 75, no. 7, pp. 457-464, 2018. 15. y. zhan, r. han, m. tse, m. h. ali and j. hu. a social media analytic framework for improving operations and service management: a study of the retail pharmacy industry. technological forecasting and social change, vol. 163, p. 120504, 2021. 16. e. c. vidyansari and s. d. sancoko. implementation of drug sales applications in mobile web-based pharmacies. international journal of computer applications, vol. 185, p. 44, 2022. 17. a. a. mahdi and h. f. hasan. new technologies for teaching and learning: challenges and propose model for the implementation of e-learning in north of iraq. lap lambert academic publishing, saarbrücken, germany, 2017. 18. h. f. hasan and a. a. mahdi. implementing electronic governance in north of iraq: swot and pest. lap lambert academic publishing, saarbrücken, germany, 2017. 19. s. khudhur. hospital pharmacy management system. iraqi journal for computers and informatics, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 27-34, 2018. 20. a. meri, m. k. hasan, m. danaee, m. jaber, m. jarrar, n. safei, m. dauwed, s. k. abd and m. al-bsheish. modelling the utilization of cloud health information systems in the iraqi public healthcare sector. telematics and informatics, vol. 36, pp. 132-146, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 110 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 110-115 research article molecular analysis of gram-negative bacterial strains in patients from koya city: implications for diagnostic approaches mohammed a. hama-ali1, ayad h. hasan1,2, mohammed i. jameel1,2, hewa a. mohammed1, sada n. khazaye1, marwa b. muhammedamin1, khoshy a. muhammedsaid1 1department of medical microbiology, faculty of science and health, koya university, koya koy45, kurdistan region f.r. iraq, 2department of biomedical sciences, college of applied sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract this study addresses the critical issue of gram-negative bacteria (gnb) in patients from koya city. a total of 14 samples were collected from different patient demographics and sources, including urine, wounds, vaginal swabs, seminal fluid, and throat swab. the samples were subjected to analysis through a multifaceted approach involving culturing and molecular identification. following the isolation of bacterial samples, the 16srrna gene was targeted using polymerase chain reaction (pcr). subsequently, the obtained pcr products underwent sanger sequencing, providing a detailed analysis of the nucleotide sequences. the resulting sequences were then compared against existing prokaryotic dna sequences in the blast database to determine the identity of the isolated bacteria. out of the 14 samples, 92.9% yielded sequences of good quality, while 7.1% exhibited a noise sequence. the sequences were further aligned, and 11  samples demonstrated a 100% identity with previously identified bacteria such as escherichia coli (100%), klebsiella pneumoniae (100%), and shigella flexneri (100%). notably, two samples displayed a >99% identity with e. coli (99.5%), highlighting the diversity within the bacterial strains. this study sheds light on the prevalence and identity of gnb in koya city patients the findings underscore the necessity of molecular techniques, such as pcr and sequencing, in clinical diagnostics. the diverse bacterial strains identified highlight the complexity of bacterial infections, emphasizing the importance of targeted approaches in addressing antibiotic resistance. keywords: gram-negative bacteria, 16srrna gene, sequencing, molecular identification introduction gram-negative bacteria (gnb) represent a pervasive and formidable global health concern, characterized by their significant resistance to antibiotics. this resistance not only intensifies the risk of morbidity and mortality, particularly within the confines of intensive care units but also poses a persistent challenge in healthcare facilities worldwide.[1,2] the clinical implications of gnb infections are profound, as these bacteria exhibit a remarkable ability to infiltrate diverse organ systems, leading to a spectrum of human illnesses[3,4] the urgency to address the rising threat of gnb is underscored by their adeptness at causing infections in individuals with compromised immune systems.[5] the encapsulation of gnb, coupled with an outer membrane acting as a protective layer, further complicates treatment strategies, as the destruction of this membrane releases a potent endotoxin.[6] well known for its high conservation, specificity, and substantial gene sequence length, the 16srrna gene serves as a robust tool for the identification of prokaryotic organisms. understanding the internal structure, which comprises variable and conserved regions, allows for the design of universal primers targeting conservative areas and specific primers for variable regions. this innovative approach enhances detection specificity, providing valuable insights into the diversity of gnb at the genus or species level.[7,8] aims this study aims to explore the genetic diversity of gnb in clinical samples using the 16srrna gene as a marker. specifically, we hypothesize that the analysis of the 16srrna corresponding author: ayad h. hasan, department of medical microbiology, faculty of science and health, koya university, koya koy45, kurdistan region f.r. iraq/department of biomedical sciences, college of applied sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ayad.hasan@koyauniversity.org received: july 2, 2024 accepted: october 4, 2024 published: november 10, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp110-115 copyright © 2024 mohammed a. hama–ali, ayad h. hasan, mohammed i. jameel, hewa a. mohammed, sada n. khazaye, marwa b. muhammedamin, khoshy a. muhammedsaid. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) hama-ali, et al.: improving gram-negative bacterial diagnosis 111 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 110-115 gene will reveal distinct genetic signatures, contributing to a deeper understanding of the clinical implications of gramnegative bacterial infections. materials and methods sample collection in this study, a total of 14 samples were collected from various patients, each representing a diverse array of biological sources. these samples included urine, stool, wound sites, vaginal swabs, throat swabs, and seminal fluid, as detailed in table 1. cultivation and isolation of bacterial colonies on macconkey agar to obtain pure bacterial colonies, the collected samples underwent a cultivation process on macconkey agar, following inoculation, all macconkey agar plates were incubated at 37°c for a standardized duration of 24 h. subsequently, single colonies were isolated from each plate, forming the basis for subsequent gram stain. validation of gram-negative bacterial presence to provide robust confirmation of the presence of gnb within the isolates, a gram stain analysis was conducted. macconkey agar culturing and gram stain analysis are used in a dual-stage approach to identify and understand bacterial composition in samples. the selection process focuses on 14 distinct colonies based on unique morphologies, providing a diverse representation of bacterial entities. morphologybased selection can summarize variations in species, preparing for genomic dna extraction procedures. this approach strengthens the identification process and provides a robust foundation for understanding bacterial composition. dna extraction a singular pure colony from each of the 14 isolates underwent cultivation in 10 ml falcon tubes, containing 5 ml of nutrient broth. this cultivation process unfolded over a regulated period of 24 h within a shaker incubator, at 37°c. dna extraction from all isolates was then performed using the (qiagen) kit in strict adherence to the manufacturer’s instructions. to confirm the integrity and purity of the extracted genetic material, nanodrop measurement (nanovue plus usa) and gel electrophoresis were employed. the extracted dna samples were subjected to electrophoresis on a 0.7% agarose gel, infused with 0.07% ethidium bromide, and run in a 1x tbe buffer for 1 h at 80v.[9] specifically, this validated dna served as the template for polymerase chain reaction (pcr), with the target set on amplifying the 16srrna gene for precise identification of bacterial strains. pcr amplification of the 16s rrna targeted region the amplification of the targeted region within the 16s rrna gene was carried out through a pcr approach, ensuring precision and reliability in the analysis. the final reaction volume, set at 25 μl, including 12.5 μl of the ready-to-use mastermix (promega), 4 μl of template dna, 1 μl (5 pmol/μl) each of the forward primers (16fwdgtaatacggagggtgcaagc) and reverse primers (16revtctaatcctgtttgctcccca), and 6.5 μl of nuclease-free water. the primer sequences were taken from.[10] the thermal cycler (bio-rad) initiated the procedure with an initial denaturation phase at 95°c, lasting 3 min. subsequently, 30 cycles were used, involving a 30-s secondary denaturation step at 95°c, followed by an annealing phase lasting 45 s at 58.5°c. the primary extension was carried out at 72°c for an additional 45 s, with a final extension set at 72°c for 5 min. to determine the efficacy of the pcr process, the accuracy of the pcr amplicon size was verified through gel electrophoresis. a 1% agarose gel, subjected to an electric field of 80 v for 45 min, served as a method for this crucial evaluation. the dna bands were distinctly visualized postelectrophoresis, with ethidium bromide incorporated into the gel during its preparation, facilitating the staining of dna bands. subsequently, examination of the electrophoresis results allowed for the identification of samples displaying a correctly sized band, measured at 100 base pairs (bp). these chosen samples, with accurately sized bands, were then sent for the subsequent critical phase of the study, which was dna sequencing. analysis of the amplified 16srrna gene sequencing for in-depth insights the crucial phase of our study involved the nucleotide sequencing of the pcr products obtained from our selected samples. this process was entrusted to macrogene company situated in south korea, leveraging the cutting-edge ab dna sequencing system. specifically, the sequencing was conducted in the reverse direction of the 16srrna gene using 16rev primer, ensuring a comprehensive exploration of the genetic information encoded within our bacterial samples. table 1: source of samples, across patient demographic data sample’s code source of samples patient’s gender patient’s age s1 wound male 36 years s2 urine female 44 years s3 urine female 58 years s4 urine female 27 years s5 vaginal swab female 36 years s6 wound male 28 years s7 urine male 30 years s8 vaginal swab female 34 years s9 vaginal swab female 25 years s10 seminal fluid male 30 years s11 urine female 33 years s12 throat swab male 31 years s13 urine female 22 years s14 urine male 53 years hama-ali, et al.: improving gram-negative bacterial diagnosis 112 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 110-115 on the completion of the sequencing process, the resulting chromatogram, a graphical representation of the sequencing output, underwent careful analysis. this detailed examination aimed to validate the quality and integrity of the obtained sequences. employing the mega7 software, we systematically assessed the chromatogram, ensuring that the sequenced dna fragments met the stringent criteria for reliability and accuracy. after this quality assurance step, the generated sequences were subjected to a comparative analysis by aligning our sequences with the extensive genetic information within the basic local alignment search tool (blast) database, we were able to identify matching sequences from various species. this comparative approach served as a reference point, corroborating, and solidifying the accuracy of our study’s results. results and discussion sample collection in our study cohort comprising 14 patients, a gender distribution revealed 8 females (57%) and 6 males (43%). the mean age of the participants was calculated at (34.78 ± 10.33) years, providing a snapshot of the age diversity within our sampled population in [figure 1]. in addition, this diversity in sample types adds a layer of complexity to our study, allowing for a comprehensive exploration of gram-negative bacterial presence across different physiological environments. the observed gender distribution and age range in our study cohort align with previous studies highlighting the susceptibility of individuals to gram-negative bacterial infections across diverse demographics.[11,12] this balanced representation enhances the external validity of our findings and facilitates a more comprehensive understanding of bacterial prevalence. the age-related variations in gram-negative bacterial infections have been noted in the literature, with distinct patterns observed in different age groups.[13] our study, covering participants aged 22–58 years, contributes valuable insights into the age-dependent dynamics of gnb in clinical settings. the diversity in sample types collected in our study, as depicted in [figure 1] panel c, is essential for exploring the heterogeneity of bacterial communities in different anatomical sites. previous research emphasizes the importance of considering varied sample sources in bacterial studies to capture the complexity of microbial ecosystems within the human body.[14,15] the inclusion of samples from urine, wounds, vaginal swabs, seminal fluid, and throat swabs broadens the scope of our investigation, shedding light on the potential variations in gram-negative bacterial prevalence across different physiological niches. as we progress to the subsequent sections, the identification of specific bacterial strains within these diverse samples will further elucidate the nuanced interactions between patient demographics, sample types, and the presence of gnb. this integrative approach, bolstered by existing literature, will contribute to a better understanding of gram-negative bacterial infections and inform future diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. culture and stain identification the cultured samples revealed diverse putative gram-negative bacterial species, including notable representatives such as escherichia coli and klebsiella spp., characterized by their ability to ferment lactose. in addition, the isolation identified slow lactose fermenter serratia, non-lactose fermenter shigella spp., and pseudomonas spp. these findings align with the broader understanding of gnb, showing their varied metabolic capabilities and morphological distinctions. these findings are in agreement with previous studies, highlighting the importance of gram staining in initial bacterial characterization.[16,17] the ability to differentiate between lactose fermenters and non-fermenters is crucial for understanding the metabolic profile of isolated strains, further emphasizing the utility of culture and stain techniques in microbial identification. dna extraction and quality assessment the quality of extracted dna is assessed for the reliability of downstream molecular analyses using 0.7% gel electrophoresis, a standard method for evaluating purity and integrity.[18,19] notably, all extracted dna samples exhibited a distinct, clear band on the gel [figure 2], showing the purity of the dna without signs of degradation or contamination. figure 1: illustrates the genders, ages, and diversity of sample types. (a) visually represents the gender distribution, illustrating the numerical contrast between male and female participants. (b) the age demographics, showing a spectrum ranging from 22 to 58 years, thus summarizing a broad age range within our cohort. (c) the collection of various sample types from these participants a b c hama-ali, et al.: improving gram-negative bacterial diagnosis 113 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 110-115 this unequivocal visualization of a single, well-defined band is indicative of intact and high-quality dna molecules. the absence of smearing or additional bands reinforces the reliability of the dna extraction process, crucial for accurate downstream analyses such as pcr amplification and sequencing.[20] these results confirm the success of the dna extraction protocol employed, ensuring the production of pure and intact genetic material suitable for subsequent molecular investigations. the observed clarity in the gel electrophoresis reinforces the fidelity of the genetic material obtained, laying a robust foundation for the ensuing steps in the experimental workflow. pcr amplification of 16s rrna gene the pcr targeting the 16s rrna gene was carried out with precision, resulting in the expected amplicon size of approximately 230 base pairs across all extracted bacterial dna samples [figure 3]. this consistent amplification signifies the reliability and efficiency of the pcr assay, ensuring the targeted genomic region’s successful replication. interestingly, all 14 samples displayed a single clear band, the uniformity in band sizes across all the samples, maintaining a consistent 230 base pairs, reinforces the reliability of the pcr technique in selectively amplifying the target region. the absence of aberrant banding in the samples further underscores the protocol’s robustness. the successful amplification of the 16s rrna gene, evident in the distinct bands observed, aligns with the established efficacy of pcr in molecular biology.[21] 16s rrna sequencing: profiling bacterial diversity in isolated samples following the genomic dna pcr, sequences from 14 bacterial isolates underwent examination using mega7 software. to ensure high-quality data, sequences were trimmed at both ends, resulting in 13 samples (s1, s2, s3, s4, s6, s8, s9, s10, s11, s12, s13, s14, and s15) suitable for further investigation [figure 4]. notably, s7 exhibited a poor-quality, noisy sequence and was excluded from subsequent analyses [figure 5]. employing individual automated alignments with the blast database against prokaryotic 16s rrna gene sequences facilitated the identification of bacterial species within the samples. the pairwise-similarity analysis revealed compelling insights into the diversity of bacterial strains present [table 2]. the identification of bacterial species through 16s rrna sequencing serves as a powerful tool in microbial taxonomy and diversity studies.[8] the high-quality sequences obtained from the majority of samples underscore the reliability of the applied methodology.[8] however, the detection of a bad and noisy sequence in s7 emphasizes the inherent challenges associated with sequencing, necessitating stringent quality control measures during data analysis.[22] the identification results unveiled a spectrum of bacterial strains, with 100% identity matches including e. coli, klebsiella pneumoniae, shigella flexneri, and escherichia hermannii. this alignment supports the prevalence of these bacterial species within the sampled population. in addition, the 99.5% identity match with escherichia spp. in two samples further underscores the genetic diversity within the escherichia genus. figure 2: agarose gel electrophoresis analysis of 14 dna samples extracted from bacteria genera. lane m is the 1 kb marker (genedirex), +ve is a positive control dna that has been extracted from e. coli strain atcc 25218, s1 – s14 is k. pneumoniae, e. coli, k. pneumoniae, e. coli, k. pneumoniae, k. pneumoniae, unidentified strain, e. coli, e. coli, s. flexneri, s. flexneri, e. hermanii, e. coli and e. coli, respectively. e. coli: escherichia coli, s. flexneri: shigella flexneri, k. pneumoniae: klebsiella pneumoniae figure 3: v4 amplification of 16s rdna. lane m is a 100bp marker (genedirex), and lanes s1 through s14 show ~230bp of pcr amplicons generated from k. pneumoniae, e. coli, k. pneumoniae, e. coli, k. pneumoniae, k. pneumoniae, unidentified strain, e. coli, e. coli, s. flexneri, s. flexneri, e. hermanii, e. coli, and e. coli, respectively, using a dna template from section 3.3. e. coli: escherichia coli, s. flexneri: shigella flexneri, k. pneumoniae: klebsiella pneumoniae hama-ali, et al.: improving gram-negative bacterial diagnosis 114 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 110-115 conclusion our study successfully identified some gnb through pcr amplification of the 16srrna gene, revealing key pathogens such as e. coli, k. pneumoniae, s. flexneri, and e. hermannii. the consistent 230bp dna fragments highlighted the robustness of our approach. despite one sample exhibiting noise, our findings emphasize the clinical relevance of gnb. this research underscores the importance of molecular techniques in diagnostics, contributing valuable insights into antibiotic resistance. further studies can explore resistance profiles for enhanced treatment strategies. references 1. d. m. livermore. as the era of untreatable infections arrived? journal of antimicrobial chemotherapy, vol. 64, no. supplement 1, pp. i29-i36, 2009. 2. j. oliveira and w.c. reygaert. gram-negative bacteria. in: statpearls. statpearls publishing, treasure island, fl, 2023. 3. m. tumbarello, t. spanu, m. sanguinetti, r. citton, e. montuori, f. leone, g. fadda and r. cauda. bloodstream infections caused by extended-spectrum-β-lactamase-producing klebsiella pneumoniae: risk factors, molecular epidemiology, and clinical outcome. antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 498-504, 2006. 4. e. wenzler, d. r. fraidenburg, t. scardina and l. h. danziger. inhaled antibiotics for gram-negative respiratory infections. clinical microbiology reviews, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 581-632, 2016. 5. r. m. al-hilali and h. d. k. al-mozan. isolation and identification of gram negative bacteria that cause diarrhea. university of thiqar journal of science, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 175-180, 2023. 6. j. zhuo, b. liang, h. zhang, y. chi and y. cai. an overview of gram-negative bacteria with difficult-to-treat resistance: definition, prevalence, and treatment options. expert review of anti-infective therapy, vol. 21, no. 11, pp. 1203-1212, 2023. 7. j. brosius, m. l. palmer, p. j. kennedy and h. f. noller. complete nucleotide sequence of a 16s ribosomal rna gene from escherichia coli. proceedings of the national academy of sciences, vol. 75, no. 10, pp. 4801-4805, 1978. 8. s. h. yoon, s. m. ha, s. kwon, j. lim, y. kim, h. seo and j. chun. introducing ezbiocloud: a taxonomically united database of 16s rrna gene sequences and whole-genome assemblie. table 2: bacterial identities according to automated alignments with the blast database against prokaryotic 16s rrna gene sequences sample’s code type of bacteria identities (%) s1 klebsiella pneumoniae 100 s2 escherichia coli 99.5 s3 klebsiella pneumoniae 100 s4 escherichia coli 99.5 s5 klebsiella pneumoniae 100 s6 klebsiella pneumoniae 100 s8 escherichia coli 100 s9 escherichia coli 100 s10 shigella flexneri 100 s11 shigella flexneri 100 s12 escherichia hermannii 100 s13 escherichia coli 100 s14 escherichia coli 100 figure 4: represents the v4 of the 16s rdna sequence. the top green bars show a single base’s quality value, which is displayed as a numerical value below it, generally more than 40 qv. there is no noise, and the peaks are neatly and evenly distributed. the baseline remains steady and uniform over the whole sequence chromatogram. the base is named exactly beneath each peak (dna sequence assembler v4 (2013), heracle biosoft, www.dnabaser.com) figure 5: the noisy dna sequence from sample 7 shows <40 qv at the top green bar, the peaks were not distributed evenly, and the baseline is not smooth and flat (dna sequence assembler v4 (2013), heracle biosoft, www.dnabaser.com) hama-ali, et al.: improving gram-negative bacterial diagnosis 115 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 110-115 international journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology, vol. 67, no. 5, pp. 1613-1617, 2017. 9. p. y. lee, j. costumbrado, c. y. hsu and y. h. kim. agarose gel electrophoresis for the separation of dna fragments. journal of visualized experiments, vol. 3923, no. 62, p. 3923, 2012. 10. m. a. hama-ali and a. h. hasan. profiling of bacterial species from covid-19 faecal samples in kurdistan region-iraq. science journal of university of zakho, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 11-15, 2023. 11. p. ioannou, e. tsagkaraki, a. athanasaki, c. tsioutis and a. gikas. gram-negative bacteria as emerging pathogens affecting mortality in skin and soft tissue infections. hippokratia, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 23-28, 2018. 12. j. m. sahuquillo-arce, r. menéndez, r. méndez, i. amara‐ elori, r. zalacain, a. capelastegui, j. aspa, l. borderías, j. j. martín‐villasclaras, s. bello, i. alfageme, f. r. de castro, j. rello, l. molinos, j. ruiz-manzano and a. torres. age-related risk factors for bacterial aetiology in community-acquired pneumonia. respirology, vol. 21, no. 8, pp. 1472-1479, 2016. 13. s. morris and e. cerceo. trends, epidemiology, and management of multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacterial infections in the hospitalized setting. antibiotics (basel), vol. 9, no. 4, p. 196, 2020. 14. e. k. costello, c. l. lauber, m. hamady, n. fierer, j. i. gordon and r. knight. bacterial community variation in human body habitats across space and time. science, vol. 326, no. 5960, pp. 1694-1697, 2009. 15. l. m. abayasekara, j. perera, v. chandrasekharan, v. s. gnanam, n. a. udunuwara, d. s. liyanage, n. e. bulathsinhala, s. adikary, j. v. s. aluthmuhandiram, c. s. thanaseelan, d. p. tharmakulasingam, t. karunakaran and j. ilango. detection of bacterial pathogens from clinical specimens using conventional microbial culture and 16s metagenomics: a comparative study. bmc infectious diseases, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 631, 2017. 16. j. g. cappuccino and c. welsh. microbiology: a laboratory manual. 12th ed. pearson, new york, pp. 151-217, 2019. 17. e. a. makky, r. d. thanoon and y. kumar. antibiotic susceptibility pattern of enterococcus spp. isolated from poultry feces. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 50-55, 2019. 18. g. kaur and n. das. molecular cloning, expression and in silico analyses of calcium-dependent protein kinase 2 (cdpk2) in potato (solanum tuberosum l.). south african journal of botany, vol. 148, pp. 634-642, 2022. 19. m. d. younus, o. f. bahjat and s. a. rashid. antibiotic susceptibility pattern, molecular characterization of virulence genes among pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from burn patients. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 36-41, 2021. 20. g. mishra, r. k. meena, r. kant, s. pandey, h. s. ginwal and m. s. bhandari. improved shorea robusta genomic dna extraction protocol with high pcr fidelity. biology methods & protocols, vol. 8, no. 1, p. bpad039, 2023. 21. j. singh, n. birbian, s. sinha and a. goswami. a critical review on pcr, its types and applications. international journal of advanced research in biological sciences, vol. 1 no. 7, pp. 65-80, 2014. 22. b. m. crossley, j. bai, a. glaser, r. maes, e. porter, m. l. killian, t. clement and k. toohey-kurt. guidelines for sanger sequencing and molecular assay monitoring. journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation, vol. 32, no. 6, pp. 767-775, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 85 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 85-90 review article dynamic power allocation for downlink noma yazen s. almashhadani, ghassan a. qasmarrogy department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract dynamic power distribution for connected non-orthogonal multiple access (noma) is an important research area in wireless communication systems. this study focuses on the implementation and evaluation of dynamic power distribution strategies in the context of noma downlink. we compare the performance of dynamic power distribution and power distribution schemes to evaluate their impact on system output, interference control, and overall efficiency. through extensive simulation and analysis using matlab, this article presents the comparison between dynamic power distribution and fixed power distribution, and the advantages of dynamic power distribution in adaptive to change the channel conditions and the user’s need to improve the system performance. our results show that data rates and non-loss can provide an important insight into the benefits of dynamic power distribution in noma downlink systems and emphasize the importance of adaptive power management techniques in improve wireless communication networks. keywords: non-orthogonal multiple access, rayleigh channel, user pairing, power allocation, outage probability introduction the emergence of dynamic power allocation (dpa) for downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (noma) as a key area in the field of wireless communication systems is aimed at increasing both spectral efficiency and system performance.[1] in addition, noma is capable of allowing several users to share time-frequency resources by employing power domain multiplexing resulting in increased spectral efficiency and better user experience. in this scenario, downlink where a base station (bs) communicates with several users simultaneously, optimization of system performance through dpa becomes important as it allocates levels of power depending on channel conditions, user demands, and interference management methods. this introduction lays the foundation for investigating the significance of dpa in downlink noma systems and how they enhance throughput, system capacity, and overall network performance.[2] the noma with multiple users as shown in figure 1. the aim of this study focuses on examining the efficiency of dpa strategies in the framework of downlink noma using the software matlab. the notion behind dpa is that it alters the assigned powers to users as per channel conditions and qos requirements for a purpose of enhancing system throughput and minimizing interference. on the other hand, some schemes allocate a fixed amount of power to each user in spite of channel variations. our objective is to assess how adaptive power regimes enhance system’s efficiency and general performance by comparing it with the performances of dpa approaches when compared against fixed power allocations (fpa). through simulationbased analysis and performance evaluation, we seek to provide insights into the benefits of dpa in downlink noma systems and highlight the advantages of adaptive power management techniques in improving wireless communication networks. this study contributes to the ongoing research efforts in optimizing power allocation strategies for enhancing the performance of noma systems in practical scenarios. through simulation-based analysis and performance evaluation, we seek to provide insights into the benefits of dpa in downlink noma systems and highlight the advantages of adaptive power management techniques in improving wireless communication networks. this study contributes to the ongoing research efforts in optimizing power allocation strategies for enhancing the performance of noma systems in practical scenarios. while (ofdm) introduce a larger number of narrow band sub-channels which gives more transmit data rate, corresponding author: yazen s. almashhadani, department of communication and computer engineering, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: yazen.mahmood@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 19, 2024 accepted: june 14, 2024 published: june 30, 2024 doi:10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp85-90 copyright © 2024 yazen s. almashhadani, ghassan a. qasmarrogy. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) almashhadani and qasmarrogy: dynamic power allocation for noma 86 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 85-90 each sub-channel is orthogonal. they are narrow bands and closely spaced. due to its capability to lever with multipath interference at the receiver ofdm is being used also, it splits the stream of high-rate data into a lower-rate stream that is transmitted simultaneously over a number of subcarriers.[3] the rest of the paper will be organized as follows, in chapter two, related work will be showed and discussed, chapter three will investigate the system model, chapter four will show the analysis and result, and finally, in chapter, five a conclusion will be demonstrated. related work several studies have explored the application of dpa for downlink noma using matlab software. in a study by,[4] the authors proposed a dpa algorithm for downlink noma systems to maximize the sum rate of users while considering the quality-of-service requirements. the algorithm was implemented and evaluated using matlab simulations, demonstrating improved system performance compared to fpa schemes. similarly liu et al.[5] investigated the impact of dpa in downlink noma systems using matlab. the authors developed a novel power allocation strategy that dynamically adjusts power levels based on channel conditions and user priorities. through extensive simulations, they showed that dpa outperformed fpa in terms of system throughput and interference management. furthermore, saeed and sileh[6] conducted a comparative study between dynamic and fpa techniques in downlink noma systems using matlab. their results indicated that dpa led to higher spectral efficiency and improved user fairness compared to fpa strategies. overall, these related works highlight the significance of dpa in optimizing the performance of downlink noma systems and emphasize the utility of matlab software for implementing and evaluating such algorithms. system model this paper focus on the downlink communication in noma. the scenario comprising a bs and m users each with corresponding channel condition denoted hi where the channel coefficient linked from the bs to the ith user, consider that u1 is the first user, with channel h1 being closest to the bs which deliberates the stronger user, the subsequent user u2 is the second stronger user, and this pattern continuous accordingly. user um being the farthest/weaker follows this sequence.[7] figure 2 illustrates the system model of the downlink communication; we assume four users, that is, (m = 4) are distributed with different distances from the bs. wireless paths assumed to undergo rayleigh fading channel coefficients ordered as.[7] ∣h1∣2>∣h2∣2>∣h3∣2….∣hm∣2 (1) denote the messages to be transmitted to the users as x1, x2... xm. the bs utilizes superposition coding with these messages and sends the resultant noma signal into the channel, we can represent xnoma concisely as follows: x p xnoma i i i m � �� ±� 1 (2) here, p represents the total transmitted power, αi signifies the power allocation coefficient for the ith user. the power allocation coefficients must be ordered as α1 < α2 <….αm, since the strong channel condition is assigned less power than the user with weak channel condition. the received signal at user i is given by y x hi noma noma i i_ �� �� (3) where ωi is the additive white gaussian noise with zero mean and variance σ2. given that um is allocated the highest power allocation; its intended message dominates the received signal. consequently um engages in direct decoding, interpreting the signals intended for all other users as interference. um–1 should directly decode um message, then perform successive interference cancelation (sic) to remove it. after sic, um–1 becomes the dominating message signal. thus, um–1 can directly decode its message by regarding the message signals of all other remaining users as interference. we can apply a similar thought process to attain the decoding rule for the remaining users. in general, for any given user i, the signal to interference ratio (sinr) to decode his own signal is given by α α σ = + γ = +∑ 2  _   2  2 1       i i i noma m j j j i p h p h | | | | (4) the resultant rate for any intended user i based on shannon’s capacity formula[8] can be written as = + γ_   2 _log (1 )i noma i nomar b (5) where b is the overall bandwidth. therefore, the total capacity of downlink noma system with m users is given by the summation of the data rates of all users in the system as follows r rnoma i noma i m � ��� _ 1 (6) on the other hand, orthogonal resource blocks use the orthogonal multiplexing approach. in orthogonal multiple figure 1: non-orthogonal multiple access[2] almashhadani and qasmarrogy: dynamic power allocation for noma 87 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 85-90 figure 2: downlink noma for m users access (oma) system, when the total bandwidth and power are shared among the users equally, therefore, the achieved data rates of users given as: σ   = +    2  _   2 2   log 1   i i i oma p hb r n | | (7) in oma system, equally assigned user power is formulated as pi = 1/mp (8) the total capacity of downlink oma is calculated as r roma i oma i m � ��� _ 1 (9) noma user pairing noma concurrently serves multiple users within the same frequency band. although sic technique is applied, the severe interference is noticed when the number of users is increases beyond the limit and yield a throughput drop of the overall system. the hybrid noma with oma is utilized for interference degradation and diminished the complexity, of course this is tradeoff with the utilized spectrum.[9] four users are considered in this work, so there are four possible user pairing can be chosen. the maximum channel gain difference between users is promises for better improvement of the date rate rather than other pairing distribution; hence, after rearrange, the four channel gains of the four users as ∣h1∣2 > ∣h2∣2 > ∣h3∣2 > ∣h3∣2, the stronger with the weaker (u1 with u4) is paired then the second stronger with the second weaker (u2 with u3) is paired. the sic for every pair is applied as independent to the other pair. the users in the first pair have to choose α1 < α4, the rates of the first and fourth user as follows: α σ   = +    2  1 1 1 2 2  1 log 1 2 p h r | | (10) after sic α α σ   = +  +  2  4 4 4 2 2  2 1 4  1 log 1 2 p h r p h | | | | (11) the users in the second pair have to choose α2 < α3, the rates of the first and fourth user as follows: α σ   = +    2  2 2 2 2 2  1 log 1 2 p h r | | (12) after sic α α σ   = +  +  2  3 3 3 2 2  2 2 3  1 log 1 2 p h r p h | | | | (13) thus, the summation of the two pairs is calculated as follows: r = r1 + r2 + r3 + r4 (14) power allocation power and resource allocation are performed in every pair of users sharing the same subcarrier.[10] for intended pair, the more power is allocated for far user, whereas the rest is allocated for the near user due to the channel coefficient of the far user is less than the channel coefficient of near user. the far user should meet its required target data rate. the different rates of far and near users will be summed for the corresponding transmit power. the power allocation strategies are aimed to maximize the overall system capacity measured in bits per second. there are two types of power allocation, the fpa and dpa based on channel condition. the former is constant (not change with the channel gain, the latter is providing the fair power allocation between users when the amount of power is adjusted according to the variation of channel gain by taking the feedback from the channel state information (csi).[11] deriving the power allocation coefficients starts by denote r* as the target rate for far user choosing αf and αn such that rf ≥ r* is our goal. we will set rf = r*. α α σ + = + 2  * 2 2  2 log (1  )f f f n h p r h p | | | | (15) almashhadani and qasmarrogy: dynamic power allocation for noma 88 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 85-90 now remove the for both sides α α σ + = + 2  * 2  2 1 2f f r f n h p h p | | | | (16) α α σ = − + 2  * 2  2 2 1f f r f n h p h p | | | | (17) assume ξ = 2 1r* − , ξ is the target sinr for the far user who has target rate r* α α σ = ξ + 2  2  2 f f f n h p h p | | | | (18) ∣hf∣2 pαf = ξ ∣hf∣2 pαn + ξσ2 (19) αf + αn = 1, so αn = 1–αf (20) ∣hf∣2 pαf = ξ ∣hf∣2 p(1–αf) + ξσ2 (21) ∣hf∣2 pαf = ξ ∣hf∣2 p–ξ∣hf∣2 pαf + ξσ2 (22) collecting all the αf from to the lhs ∣hf∣2 pαf + ξ ∣hf∣2 pαf = ξ ∣hf∣2 p + ξσ2 (23) αf ∣hf∣2 p(1 + ξ) = ξ (∣hf∣2 p + σ2) (24) ( ) σ α ξ + = + ξ 2  2   2  ( )   1 f f f h p h p | | | | (25) now will put a limit to αf ensuring will not exceed 1 ( ) ( ) σ α ξ + = + ξ 2  2 2  min(1,  ) 1 f f f h p h p | | | | (26) after utilizing the aforementioned formula to obtain αf, we can effortlessly determine αf. αn = 1–αf (27) outage probability the outage probability is defined as the probability that the signal-to-noise ratio (snr) of a channel fall below a certain target rate of data for evaluating any communication channel performance. noma allows all users to share the bandwidth equally, and hence, the data rate of each user necessity to be within the definite limits of channel capacity. the outage occurs when the data rate of a user or the sum rates of all users exceeds shannon’s corresponding data rate, which implies a data loss. [12] the general expression of the probability of outage is given as: poutage = p (r < r*) (28) where; r is the calculated channel capacity and r* is the target data rate of the user. simulation results in this scenario, we assume four users with different distanced from the bs in the downlink noma mobile system, the channel is rayleigh fading with 10,000 random generated paths and path exponent n = 4. these users are divided into two groups and two users per group since the user grouping scheme is used to maximize the system throughput and every group has its own subcarrier. therefore, noma is applied on every two users considering a perfect sic. the analysis of the system will mainly base on the assumption of two types of power allocation (fpa and dpa). the data rate per frequency and outage probability are simulated using matlab in this study. figure 3 shows the sum rate of two different pairing users’ types of hybrid noma, the maximum channel difference pairing {(u1, u4), (u2, u3)} gives a higher data rate compared with adjacent channel pairing users {(u1, u2), (u3, u4)} in high snr levels also the hybrid noma is better than oma but the improvement is not significant, the performance of single carrier sc-noma is poor due to the big interference added as created from the signals to the users, especially when users are close together in terms of power levels. in figure 4. the comparison in sum rates is shown between the fpa and dpa for the four users. the users pairing of maximum channel gain difference is considered in each group; hence, every two users can be classified into far user and near user. the fixed power coefficient values of far and near users as αf = 0.7, αn = 0.3, respectively, nevertheless dpa adapt its coefficient values based on the channel gain value to optimize the allocation of transmit power between the near and far users to meet the specification, due to that dpa outperform fpa pointedly. figures 5 and 6 simulate the outage probability versus data rate. the simulation parameters of the system set constant transmit power as 30 dbm, noise power σ2 of −114 dbm/ hz and the two users in each pair have the power allocation coefficient of αf = 0.7, αn = 0.3. figure 5 shows a comparison of the outage probability performances of fpa and dpa versus the target rate of the far user r*. far user and near user are located at the distances d1 = 1000 m, d2 = 500 m respectively, and compared their outage failure. we can notice that fpa exhibits significant underperformance with its outage probability reaching a saturation point of 1 beyond target rate of 2 bps/hz, fpa not take in consideration the instantaneous csi, in addition, disregards the target rate requirements. therefore, fpa figure 3: system sum rate under different multiplexing techniques almashhadani and qasmarrogy: dynamic power allocation for noma 89 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 85-90 although less complicated to implement, has low performance in general. the outage probability of near user behaves a sudden change from 4 to 7 bps/hz values of r*, then turn into always record outage at 7 bps/hz and later. the supposed system of four users (paired users) is evaluated and tested the outage probability for the distances of the users away from the bs by 400 m, 500 m, 800 m, and 100 m, respectively, as shown in figure 6. fpa results in an outage after 16 bps/hz, whereas dpa is better performed until fall in outage beyond 21 bps/hz. therefore, dpa has results in lower outage probability compared to fpa due to its ability to adapt to changing channel conditions and interference levels. dpa optimally allocates power resources to users based on their channel conditions, leading to improved system reliability and performance. conclusion in this study, the analysis of noma was conducted using matlab software to evaluate data rate and outage probability in a multipath rayleigh fading channel. by doing so, we were able to measure noma’s performance in maximizing data rates and minimizing outage probabilities among multiple users that share the same resources. our findings show that noma can greatly enhance spectral efficiency and system capacity over traditional oma systems. furthermore, we accurately simulated and modeled outage probability and data rate through interactions amongst users, channels, and power allocations into a noma system using matlab hence giving us an insight on how different parameters affect data rates as well as outage probabilities thus enabling optimization of system performance. in general, the users were classified into group of two according to the maximum channel gain difference then the power was distributed among the pair of users and it was obvious from the simulation results that the hybrid noma with dpa was better than fixed hybrid-noma for both outage probability and data rate. furthermore, this system can be extended to more than four users which get the same achievements; it is also promising for future wireless communication systems of which some cases may involve critical considerations regarding spectral efficiency as well as resource utilization. references 1. y. s. mahmood and g. a. qasmarrogy. capacity analysis of multiple-input-multiple-output system over rayleigh and rician fading channel. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 70-74, 2019. 2. g. a. h. qasmarrogy. ieee 802.16 e&m systems bandwidth resource allocation performance investigation. journal of engineering and sustainable development, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 155169, 2019. 3. y. s. almashhadani, h. j. alqaysi and g. a. qasmarrogy. performance analysis of ofdm with different cyclic prefix length. in: conference of cihan university-erbil on communication engineering and computer science, p. 66, 2017. 4. h. zhang, b. wang, c. jiang, k. long, a. nallanathan, v. c. leung figure 4: system sum rate of two user grouping method figure 6: outage probability of the system figure 5: outage probability of far and near user almashhadani and qasmarrogy: dynamic power allocation for noma 90 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 85-90 and h. v. poor. energy efficient dynamic resource optimization in noma system. ieee transactions on wireless communications, vol. 17, no. 9, pp. 5671-5683, 2018. 5. p. liu, y. li, w. cheng, w. zhang and x. gao. energy-efficient power allocation for millimeter wave beamspace mimo-noma systems. ieee access, vol. 7, pp. 114582-114592, 2019. 6. s. h. saeed and i. k. sileh. performance analysis of cooperative noma for different power allocation strategies. tikrit journal of engineering sciences, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 102-117, 2023. 7. x. li, q. wang, m. liu, j. li, h. peng, m. j. piran and l. li. cooperative wireless-powered noma relaying for b5g iot networks with hardware impairments and channel estimation errors. ieee internet of things journal, vol. 8, no. 7, pp. 5453-5467, 2020. 8. m. al-imari, p. xiao, m. a. imran and r. tafazolli. uplink nonorthogonal multiple access for 5g wireless networks. in: 2014 11th international symposium on wireless communications systems (iswcs). ieee, pp. 781-785, 2014 9. o. maraqa, a. s. rajasekaran, s. al-ahmadi, h. yanikomeroglu and s. m. sait. a survey of rate-optimal power domain noma with enabling technologies of future wireless networks. ieee communications surveys and tutorials, vol. 22, no. 4, pp. 2192-2235, 2020. 10. g. a. h. qasmarrogy. ieee 802.16 e&m systems bandwidth resource allocation performance investigation. journal of engineering and sustainable development, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 155-169, 2019. 11. z. yang, z. ding, p. fan and n. al-dhahir. the impact of power allocation on cooperative non-orthogonal multiple access networks with swipt. ieee transactions on wireless communications, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 4332-4343, 2017. 12. l. bhardwaj, r. k. mishra and r. shankar. sum rate capacity of non-orthogonal multiple access scheme with optimal power allocation. the journal of defense modeling and simulation, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 759-769, 2022. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 104 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 104-109 research article a comparative study of efficacy and safety among metformin, sitagliptin, and glimepiride monotherapies in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus ali o. yassen1, asmaa a. haydar2, mohammed r. yaseen3, suzan n. a. alamdar4, muhamed a. abbas3 1pharmacy department, tishk international university, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of pharmacology and toxicology, college of pharmacy, hmu, erbil, iraq, 3department of pharmacy, college of pharmacy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of pharmacy, raparin teaching hospital, erbil, iraq. abstract effective management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm) requires lifestyle changes and suitable medications to enhance quality of life and prevent complications. choosing the right treatment involves considering the patient’s clinical profile, drug efficacy, side effects, and cost. this study compares the safety and efficacy of sitagliptin, glimepiride, and metformin in t2dm patients. a prospective crosssectional study was conducted at the diabetes center of layla qasim, erbil, iraq, that included 143 diabetic patients. they were divided into three groups: group a received glimepiride (n = 50), group b metformin (n = 48), and group c sitagliptin (n = 45). drug costs, therapeutic outcomes, and side effects were analyzed. patients aged 30–78 participated, with a female-to-male ratio of 83:60. all groups showed statistically significant differences in hemoglobin a1c (hba1c) levels (p = 0.001). total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein levels were also significantly different (p = 0.047 and p = 0.010, respectively). sitagliptin group had higher triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol. gastrointestinal side effects were prominent in the metformin group. when selecting medication for t2dm, factors such as age, hba1c, glucose levels, obesity, metabolic syndrome, insulin secretion, and hypoglycemia risk should be considered. both sitagliptin and glimepiride were well tolerated, with minimal hypoglycemia risk and no significant weight differences between groups. glimepiride is an effective, safe, and weightneutral adjunct to metformin, offering extrapancreatic benefits and remains a viable second-line treatment option for t2dm patients. keywords: diabetes, hemoglobin a1c, metformin, glimepiride, sitagliptin introduction type 2 diabetes mellitus (t2dm) is the most prevalent form of the chronic metabolic disease known as diabetes mellitus.[1] diabetes is a chronic condition; thus, patients frequently require long-term care. t2dm is a global epidemic that is expected to impact more than 550 million people by 2035.[2] despite receiving medication and making lifestyle changes patients with t2dm show increasing glucose levels over time, which is probably due to deteriorating β-cell activity. the defining features of type 2 diabetes include insulin resistance in peripheral tissues and insufficient insulin production.[3] according to one study, an even higher percentage of people with type 2 diabetes do not adequately regulate their blood sugar levels in emerging nations, particularly china, and about two-thirds of patients in wealthy countries.[4] a study conducted in the kurdistan region of iraq, which included patients from the diabetes centers in the provinces of erbil, duhok, and suleimania, showed that 92% of patients had hemoglobin a1c (hba1c) levels at and above 7%, indicating non-optimal glycemic control.[5] in every country in the globe, obesity continues to be a serious threat to public health.[6] diabetes rates have quadrupled globally since 1980 due to obesity.[7] assessing the effectiveness of diabetes treatment often relies on hba1c; corresponding author: ali o. yassen, pharmacy department, tishk international university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ali.yassen@tiu.edu.iq received: june 25, 2024 accepted: september 20, 2024 published: october 30, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp104-109 copyright © 2024 ali o. yassen, asmaa a. haydar, mohammed r. yaseen, suzan n. a. alamdar, muhamed a. abbas. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) yassen, et al.: efficacy and safety of metformin, sitagliptin, and glimepiride in type 2 diabetes 105 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 104-109 however, this measurement does not provide information on how the treatment affects insulin secretion or insulin resistance.[8] oral hypoglycemic medications come in a wide variety of forms, and there are significant variations among them in terms of their effects and price. most patients need to choose medications with a curative effect and at a reasonable cost if they want to take them for a long time.[9] metformin, which is the first line and primary medication used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, is a biguanide insulin-sensitizing agent that works by preventing the production of glucose in the liver, improving insulin’s effect on glucose uptake in peripheral tissues, and lowering the absorption of glucose from the intestine. the decrease in liver energy generation triggers adenosine monophosphateactivated protein kinase, which is a cellular metabolic sensor.[10] metformin is effective on its own and also when used in conjunction with other medications that reduce blood glucose levels. it is generally considered a first-line treatment of t2dm well-tolerated, has minimal adverse effects, and is inexpensive.[11] the incretin effect is explained by hormones glucagonlike peptide-1 (glp-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (gip), both of which are produced in the intestine. this effect produces a greater insulin secretory response when glucose is taken orally compared to when it is administered intravenously to maintain the same blood sugar levels. incretin action is impaired in type 2 diabetic patients due to the lack of response of diabetic β-cells to gip.[12] after eating a meal, the incretin hormones that are released from the gut encourage the release of insulin. evidence shows that glp-1 and gip are the two most important incretins. both hormones significantly increase the release of insulin. the availability of endogenous glp-1 is increased by oral dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (dpp4) inhibitors, which improves glucose-induced insulin secretion and reduces glucagon release. both body weight and stomach emptying are unaffected by these substances.[13] the first drugs in this class to get food and drug administration (fda) approval are vildagliptin and sitagliptin. sitagliptin achieves its antihyperglycemic action by reducing the inactivation of incretin hormones. sitagliptin is a potent, highly specific, reversible, and competitive inhibitor of the dpp-4 enzyme. sitagliptin has been associated with a twofold increase in postprandial glp-1 plasma levels in both healthy individuals and patients with t2dm compared to a placebo.[14] sulfonylureas, such as glimepiride or glipizide, either alone or in combination with metformin, are one of the oral anti-hyperglycemic agents that are frequently recommended in lowand middle-income nations of asia and africa. this family of medications lowers hyperglycemia and glycated hba1c levels in persons with t2dm by increasing the release of insulin from beta cells.[15] this study aimed to examine the impact of a variety of antidiabetic medications (metformin, glimepiride, and sitagliptin) on the serum levels of hba1c and other specific analytical parameters. methodology study design a cross-sectional prospective study was performed at the diabetes center of layla qasim/erbil/iraq to compare the safety profile and efficacy of sitagliptin, glimepiride, and metformin among individuals suffering from t2dm. the study was approved by hawler medical university, ethics committee college of pharmacy. in this study, patients who were taking metformin 500 mg, sitagliptin 100 mg, and glimepiride 2 mg in fixed dosage forms as monotherapies were recruited and divided into three treatment groups. the duration of treatment varied for each patient ranging from 3 months to 1 year. in this study, the medonic hematology analyzer was used for hemoglobin measurement, along with the lyse reagent. for the tests of hba1c, fasting blood sugar (fbs), lipid profile, kidney function, and bilirubin, cobas® c 111 analyzer was used, conducted using the corresponding test kits designed for each of these tests for the cobas® system. study setting the patients were recruited from the diabetic center of layla qasim in the city of erbil in the kurdistan region of iraq from november 2022 to february 2023. study population eligible individuals included both sexes, regardless of age, with different anti-diabetic pharmacological modalities taken as monotherapy. patients with a history of connective tissue disease, terminal illness, liver disease, kidney disease, or pregnancy were excluded from the study. a total number of 143 patients with diabetes were included in this study. statistical analysis statistical package for the social sciences version 23 was used in conjunction with microsoft excel 2010 to conduct table 1: baseline traits of study participants variable frequency percentage gender female 83 58 male 60 42 education primary school 18 12.6 high school 32 22.4 university 13 9.1 illiterate 80 55.9 smoker yes 66 46.2 no 77 53.8 exercise yes 73 51 no 70 49 yassen, et al.: efficacy and safety of metformin, sitagliptin, and glimepiride in type 2 diabetes 106 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 104-109 the statistical study. the mean and standard deviation were used to characterize the quantitative data. one-way analysis of variance was used to determine the statistical significance of the differences between the three groups, and a descriptive statistic was deemed significant at p ≤ 0.05. results the age of studied subjects ranged between ages 30 and 78, in a gender ratio of (83:60) female to male. the majority of the patients in the study were illiterate, in an illiterate to literate ratio of (80:63). the majority of the patients were non-smokers in a ratio of (77:66) non-smoker to smoker presented in table 1. in table 2 biochemical analysis has shown statistically significant differences between the treatment groups in terms of hba1c, total cholesterol (tc), and low-density lipoprotein (ldl), with the group ii (glimepiride) recording the lowest hba1c level (6.35), and group i (metformin) the lowest triglycerides (tg) (167) and ldl (126.5) levels among the three treatment groups. table 3 shows in group ii (glimepiride), hypoglycemia was more prevalent. as for group i (metformin), patients experienced gastrointestinal (gi) disturbances such as diarrhea, flatulence, and nausea most. moreover, finally, the majority of skin sensitivity symptoms such as pruritis, angioedema, rash, and urticaria were observed among group ii (glimepiride) and group iii (sitagliptin) participants. discussion this study was carried out to determine, in terms of various parameters, the effects of metformin, sitagliptin, and table 2: post-treatment comparison of physical and chemical parameters in the full analysis set groups group i (metformin) group ii (glimepiride) group iii (sitagliptin) p-value age 57.40±8.97 54.62±10.16 54.49±10.74 0.278 bmi 23.95±3.27 24.30±3.77 23.99±3.64 0.868 wc 35.50±3.85 37±4.88 36.49±4.60 0.245 hba1c 6.43±0.95 6.35±1.14 7.11±0.93 0.001* fbs 178.58±56.59 155.28±38.69 165±57.00 0.081 sbp 135.84±9.47 140.93±12.57 137.46±10.39 0.080 dbp 85.98±4.77 88.93±16.27 86.54±5.73 0.372 tc 167±31.14 196.47±76.98 179.48±39.72 0.047* tg 178.71±67.31 168.63±50.06 181.11±68.75 0.593 ldl 126.50±34.03 159.58±60.88 164.32±73.59 0.010* hdl 46.59±7.93 43.17±6.81 47.02±13.81 0.141 creatinine 0.71±0.42 0.74±0.38 0.65±0.33 0.544 bilirubin 8.78±14.62 4.20±6.59 4.79±12.61 0.176 urea 21.21±12.65 22.87±11.40 23.83±12.73 0.627 hb 16.58±14.92 14.18±1.40 13.99±1.20 0.310 the results were expressed as number and mean±standard deviation. p-value was calculated by using one-way analysis of variance test for category data. non-significant (n.s) difference (p>0.05). *significant difference (s) (p≤0.05). bmi: body mass index, hba1c: hemoglobin a1c, fbs: fasting blood sugar, tc: total cholesterol, tg: triglyceride, sbp: systolic blood pressure, dbp: diastolic blood pressure, ldl: low-density lipoprotein, hdl: high-density lipoprotein table 3: safety parameters observed in the three study groups safety parameters group i (metformin) group ii (glimepiride) group iii (sitagliptin) hypoglycemia 14 18 14 pruritis 20 29 26 angioedema 1 8 11 rash 22 32 32 urticaria 2 15 13 diarrhea 33 28 15 nausea 32 22 26 flatulence 28 16 13 constipation 8 11 21 arthralgia 27 22 32 myalgia 24 22 23 yassen, et al.: efficacy and safety of metformin, sitagliptin, and glimepiride in type 2 diabetes 107 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 104-109 glimepiride (taken respectively in fixed dosages of 500 mg, 100 mg, and 2 mg) on recently diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients. our results show that glimepiride as an initial treatment is superior to others in reducing hba1c and fbs levels. the current research indicates that t2dm is more frequent in females (male: female = 60:83), due to their more inactive and diabetes-promoting lifestyle in our community, which is akin to prior researches.[16,17] the age at which the disease most commonly starts is in between (30 and 77) years of age. conventionally, thought of as an ailment that affects middle age and older people type 2 diabetes is now being diagnosed at a younger age.[18] almost half of the participants (46.2%) in this study were smokers; other research has shown that cigarette smoking is an important modifiable risk factor for t2dm.[19] the total study period of 12 weeks showed hba1c for all three groups to be significantly different (p < 0.001) and significant differences in tc and ldl with p-values (0.047) and (0.010), respectively. the antidiabetic medicines being studied have several mechanisms of action. metformin monotherapy has been shown to reduce mean hba1c by 1.3% after 29 weeks, compared to a 0.4% increase in the placebo group.[20] to suggest the mechanism of action of metformin, 131 fasting blood metabolites were studied by xu et al.[20] in three separate cross-sectional cohort studies. when type 2 diabetes patients using metformin were compared to control groups, the amounts of three metabolites (acylalkyl phosphatidylcholines) were shown to be lower in the metformin-treated patients. lower plasma amounts of ldl cholesterol were associated with the lowering of these metabolites. one of the most effective oral antidiabetic medications, sulfonylureas, has been used to treat t2dm since 1950.[21] in indian clinical settings, sulfonylureas, especially modern ones such as glimepiride, are commonly used as the initial complementary treatment to metformin because of its superior effectiveness, safety, and low cost.[23] glimepiride exhibits distinctive binding properties with the sulfonylurea receptor 1 (sur1), leading to rapid attachment and detachment. glimepiride increases insulin sensitivity and enhances glucose consumption through glucose transporter four due to its extrapancreatic effects.[24] our study showed that hba1c was 6.35 ± 1.14, which means it was well controlled by the glimepiride monotherapy. as for ldl levels, the results showed a significant difference between the three treatment groups. a metaanalysis, incorporating trial sequence analysis of randomized clinical trials, concluded that second and third-generation sulfonylureas, such as glimepiride, did not show an association with higher general and cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction, or stroke.[25] in contrast to studies by salpeter and kim, which found that newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients on metformin had statistically significant differences in lipid profiles at baseline, the current study supported this research and showed that metformin, decreased tc, ldl-c, and tg levels in a non-significant way.[26,27] dpp-4 antagonists promote insulin secretion by deactivating incretins such as glp-1 and gastric inhibitory polypeptide which is a different mechanism than traditional hypoglycemic drugs.[28] according to one research, sitagliptin, used as a single medication, reduced both hba1c level and fasting blood glucose levels.[29] certain clinical studies have shown a 5% drop in ldl-c and fasting tc post-sitagliptin treatment. although a different trial did not find a significant drop in fasting tg, postprandial tg was lowered by around 9.5%.[30] oral hypoglycemic drugs were found to be a common cause of side effects, particularly gi side effects; however, the mechanism underlying these side effects remained controversial, and conflicting study results were reported; additionally, these symptoms were common in both diabetic patients and normal community members, making the relationship difficult to establish; and even in patients with diabetes, there was a significant interindividual variation in the frequency and severity of these side effects, which may have prevented a genetic predisposition.[31] patients taking metformin tablets commonly report gi side effects as their biggest issue. metformin is commonly linked to gi side effects such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. it was noted, meanwhile, that some patients would stop their treatment since the cost of their medications is increasing.[32] in our study, metformin drug used had gi side effects in a frequency of (diarrhea, n = 33 and nausea, n = 32 cases). study done by mccreight has shown that patients using metformin tablets typically complain about gi adverse effects.[33] according to current literature, the most prevalent gi side effects of metformin include diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting (with a prevalence of 2–63%). sulfonylureas function on the atp-k channel in the pancreatic beta cells to promote the release of insulin, hence lowering hyperglycemia associated with diabetes. hypoglycemia is a frequent adverse effect of sulfonylureas that, if ignored, can result in altered mental state, convulsions, coma, or even death. within 6 months of starting sulfonylurea therapy, 20% of patients are thought to develop hypoglycemia.[34] hypoglycemia was one of the common side effects of glimepiride in this study which accounts as (n = 18) of using this antidiabetic drug as monotherapy. the fact that glimepiride has two mechanisms of action leads to a dramatic decrease in blood sugar levels while posing little risk of hypoglycemia or increased body weight.[23] study done by pranarka had shown that the kir channel gets blocked when the ligand sulfonylurea binds to sur1, causing membrane depolarization. this opens voltage-dependent calcium channels and allows calcium to enter the cell. the release of insulin is triggered by the increased intracellular calcium levels. it acts as a direct secretagogue, but it also enhances secretion of insulin indirectly in response to fuels like glucose.[35] in this study, pruritis side effect was mostly induced by glimepiride (n = 29). the antidiabetic sulfonylurea drug glimepiride generally is well tolerated. glimepiride-related skin side effects are uncommon and might include rash, pruritis, photosensitivity, and lichenoid eruption. according yassen, et al.: efficacy and safety of metformin, sitagliptin, and glimepiride in type 2 diabetes 108 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 104-109 to a number of studies, it is doubtful that sulfonamide antimicrobials (such as sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim [smx-tmp]) and sulfonamide non-antimicrobials, including the antidiabetic sulfonylurea drug; glimepiride, will work in harmony. here, this research describes a case of neonatal toxic epidermal necrolysis in a patient who had a medical history of smx-tmp hypersensitivity, most likely due to glimepiride.[36] this case emphasizes an uncommon adverse reaction associated with the administration of the dpp-4 inhibitor sitagliptin. thirty-three instances of joint pain associated with dpp-4 inhibitors were found by the u.s. fda. sitagliptin is widely used in type 2 d.m.; the side effect rash (n = 32) cases have been reported in this study. study done by sargın, describe a case there have been reports of hypersensitivity reactions and widespread skin eruptions associated with sitagliptin and its metabolites are extremely rare.[37] finally, the present study had some limitations, the most protuberant one being the rather small number of patients, which was due to restrictions on resources and financing. conclusion despite the study being brief, both glimepiride and sitagliptin were well received with no significant variations in weight across groups and a low likelihood of hypoglycemia. considering the good efficacy, safe profile, low risk of hypoglycemia, lack of weight change, additional extrapancreatic action, and low cost, glimepiride remains a sensible choice as a supplement to metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes. contemporary sulfonylureas such as glimepiride remain a significant choice as a second-line treatment following metformin among the latest antidiabetic medications. acknowledgment we would like to express our deep gratitude to the layla qasim diabetes center in erbil for their cooperation; without them, this research would not have been possible. references [1] h. wang, j. kuang and y. luo. insulin sensitivity and pancreatic islet in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus. α and β effect of cell function. chinese journal of diabetes, vol. 12, pp. 382-386, 2020. [2] r. hwaiz and h. sabri. inhibition of rac 1 protect against platelet induced liver and kidney ‎injury in diabetes mellitus. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 29-34, 2023. [3] a. hussein, r. salahalddin, z. taha, h. majeed, a. muhialdin and r. faraj. a comparison of chemical compounds between antidiabetic drug and some medicinal plants. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 99-102, 2022. [4] s. r. choudhury, a. datta and s. chanda. overview of current and upcoming strategies implied for the therapy of type 2 diabetes mellitus. current diabetes reviews, vol. 10, pp. 275-282, 2014. [5] e. montanya and g. sesti. a review of efficacy and safety data regarding the use of liraglutide. diabetes care, vol. 32, pp. 193203, 2009. [6] w. a. nuffer and j. m. trujillo. liraglutide: a new option for the treatment of obesity. pharmacotherapy: the journal of human pharmacology and drug therapy, vol. 35, no. 10, pp. 926-934, 2015. [7] a. j. scheen and n. paquot. gliptin versus a sulphonylurea as add-on to metformin. lancet (london, england), vol. 380, no. 9840, pp. 450-452, 2012. [8] n. m. pham, v. v. do and a. h. lee. polyphenol-rich foods and risk of gestational diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. european journal of clinical nutrition, vol. 73, pp. 647-656, 2019. [9] b. viollet, b. guigas, n. s. garcia, j. leclerc, m. foretz and f. andreelli. cellular and molecular mechanisms of metformin: an overview. clinical science, vol. 122, no. 6, pp. 253-270, 2012. [10] e. sanchez-rangel and s. e. inzucchi. metformin: clinical use in type 2 diabetes. diabetologia, vol. 60, pp. 1586-1593, 2017. [11] i. vardarli, e. arndt, c. f. deacon, j. j. holst and m. a. nauck. effects of sitagliptin and metformin treatment on incretin hormone and insulin secretory responses to oral and ‘isoglycemic’ intravenous glucose. diabetes, vol. 63, no. 2, pp. 663-674, 2014. [12] r. mahaseth. incretin system: recent advances in glucagon like peptide-1 and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors. journal of patan academy of health sciences, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 36-42, 2014. [13] m. elashoff, a. v. matveyenko, b. gier, r. elashoff and p. c. butler. pancreatitis, pancreatic, and thyroid cancer with glucagon-like peptide-1-based therapies. gastroenterology, vol. 141, pp. 150156, 2011. [14] s. kalra, s. bahendeka, r. sahay, s. ghosh, m. fariduddin, a. orabi, k. ramaiya, s. al shammari, d. shrestha, k. shaikh, s. abhayaratna, p. k. shrestha, a. mahalingam, m. askheta, a. a. a. rahim., a. k. das. consensus recommendations on sulfonylurea and sulfonylurea combinations in the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus international task force. indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism, vol. 22, pp. 132-157, 2018. [15] m. anjoom, s. b. dutta, m. beg, a. varma, s. bawa and r. kant. comparative evaluation of combination of metformin and glimepiride with that of metformin and sitagliptin in type 2 diabetes mellitus with respect to glycemic targets. international j of medical science and public health, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 476-480, 2015. [16] n. mahmood, r. yahya and s. aziz. apply binary logistic regression model to recognize the risk factors of diabetes through measuring glycated hemoglobin levels. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 7-11, 2022. [17] d. rahelic. 7th edition of idf diabetes atlas: call for immediate action. lijec vjesn, vol. 138, pp. 57-58, 2016. [18] a. pan, y. wang, m. talaei, f. b. hu and t. wu. relation of active, passive, and quitting smoking with incident type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. the lancet diabetes and endocrinology, vol. 3, pp. 958-967, 2015. [19] c. baker, c. retzik-stahr, v. singh, r. plomondon, v. anderson and n. rasouli. should metformin remain the first-line therapy for treatment of type 2 diabetes? therapeutic advances in endocrinology and metabolism, vol. 12, pp. 1-13, 2021. [20] t. xu, s. brandmaier, a. c. messias, c. herder, h. h. m. draisma, a. demirkan, z. yu, j. s. ried, t. haller, m. heier,…& r. wangsattler. effects of metformin on metabolite profiles and ldl cholesterol in patients with type 2 diabetes. diabetes care, vol. 38, pp. 1858-1867, 2015. [21] b. m. makkar, d. gupta and a. gainda. clinical trials to clinical practice: role of sulfonylureas in today’s practice. in: medicine update. jaypee brothers medical publishers, new delhi, india, pp. 393-8, 2013. [22] h. thacker, s. shah, m. chadha, r. kovil, m. chawla, s. gupta and n. wadhwa. management of type 2 diabetes in western india: attitudes and practices among physicians leading the forefront of diabetes care. diabetes, vol. 65, pp. a556, 2016. [23] v. j. briscoe, m. l. griffith and s. n. davis. the role of glimepiride in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. expert opinion on drug metabolism and toxicology, vol. 6, pp. 225-235, 2010. yassen, et al.: efficacy and safety of metformin, sitagliptin, and glimepiride in type 2 diabetes 109 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 104-109 [24] d. v. rados, l. c. pinto, l. r. remonti, c. b. leitão and j. l. gross. the association between sulfonylurea use and all cause and cardiovascular mortality: a meta-analysis with trial sequential analysis of randomized clinical trials. plos med, vol. 13, p. e1001992, 2016. [25] s. r. salpeter, e. greyber, g. a. pasternak and e. e. salpeter. risk of fatal and nonfatal lactic acidosis with metformin use in type 2 diabetes mellitus: systematic review and metaanalysis. archives of internal medicine, vol. 163, pp. 2594, 2003. [26] h. j. kim. effects of rosiglitazone and metformin on inflammatory markers and adipokines: decrease in interleukin-18 is an independent factor for the improvement of homeostasis model assessment-beta in type 2 diabetes mellitus. clinical endocrinology. (oxford), vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 282, 2007. [27] h. sakura, n. hashimoto, k. sasamoto, h. ohashi, s. hasumi, n. ujihara, t. kasahara, o. tomonaga, h. nunome, m. honda and y. iwamoto. effect of sitagliptin on blood glucose control in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who are treatment naive or poorly responsive to existing antidiabetic drugs: the jamp study. bmc endocrine disorders, vol. 16, no. 70, pp. 1-11, 2016. [28] y. wamoto, n. tajima and t. kadowaki. efficacy and safety of sitagliptin monotherapy compared with voglibose in japanese patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized, double-blind trial. diabetes, obesity and metabolism, vol. 12, pp. 613-622, 2010. [29] a. j. tremblay, b. lamarche, c. f. deacon, s. j. weisnagel and p. couture. effect of sitagliptin therapy on postprandial lipoprotein levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. diabetes, obesity and metabolism, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 366-373, 2011. [30] n. t. y. alibrahim, m. g. chasib, s. s. h. hamadi and a. a. mnsour. predictors of metformin side effects in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus. ibnosina journal of medicine and biomedical science, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 67-73, 2023. [31] m. siavash, m. tabbakhian, a. m. sabzghabaee and n. razavi. severity of gastrointestinal side effects of metformin tablet compared to metformin capsule in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. journal of research in pharmacy practice, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 73-76, 2017. [32] l. j. mccreight, c. j. bailey and e. r. pearson. metformin and the gastrointestinal tract. diabetologia, vol. 59, pp. 426-35, 2016. [33] m. rani, s. yadav, s. choudhary, s. sharma and s. m. pandey. incidence of hypoglycemia and other side effects in patients of type 2 diabetes mellitus treated with glimepiride versus glibenclamide. international journal of health sciences and research, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 68-72, 2014. [34] k. pranarka, a. setiawati, s. halim, d. saraswati and z. alkaf. glimepiride monotherapy in achieving good blood glucose control in type-2 diabetes mellitus: a prospective observational study. medical journal of indonesia, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 172-180, 2009. [35] r. abdulah, t. f. suwandiman and n. handayani. incidence, causative drugs, and economic consequences of drug-induced sjs, ten, and sjs-ten overlap and potential drug-drug interactions during treatment: a retrospective analysis at an indonesian referral hospital. therapeutic and clinical risk management, vol. 13, pp. 919-925, 2017. [36] the british pharmacological society. fatal toxic epidermal necrolysis probably related to glimepiride in a patient with a medical history of hypersensitivity to sulfamethoxazole– trimethoprim. british journal of clinical pharmacology, vol. 87, pp. 1591-1593, 2021. [37] g. sargın, r. köse and t. şentürk. sitagliptin/metformin related cutaneous leukocyto-clastic vasculitis in a patient with type-2 diabetes mellitus. journal of academic research in medicine, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 97-99, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 43-48 review article evaluation of chatgpt’s configuration support for network connectivity and security ghassan a. qasmarrogy1, abdullah a. nahi2, rose m. s. yousif3 1department of informatics and software engineering, cihan university-erbil kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of information technologies management, management technical college southern technical university, basrah, iraq, 3department of computer sciences, college of science, al-mustansiriyah university, baghdad, iraq abstract chatgpt is the world’s most famous ai interface that operates by analyzing the prompt input text and generating coherent responses that predict effectively your query by utilizing the knowledge it has acquired from its training data. although this process may appear straightforward and authentic, it may give misleading results for more deep analysis, especially for the network engineers. in this paper, an evaluation of chatgpt’s configuration support for network connectivity and security will be analyzed, by applying the commands generated by the chatgpt ai to configure and secure an enterprise network designed with simulated cisco hardware, and analyzing the full network connectivity and security to determine if the chatgpt ai prediction was accurately sufficient to run a full network. keywords: chatgpt, computer networks, cyber security, cisco networks, artificial intelligence introduction networks have experienced significant changes due to internet and network technology advancements, network devices, security demands, and evolving internet preferences.[1] openai’s latest version of chatgpt, which is a model chat for a large language generative pretrained transformer (gpt), can drive innovation and enhance operational efficiency in the communication industry. at present, network management resources, configuration, control, and operation are still in their early stages. what distinguishes chatgpt is its capability to generate engaging and coherent responses, which can be credited to its learning technique usage of the reinforcement cycle. based on the architecture of the neural network transformer recognized for the generation and analysis of text capabilities, chatgpt uses a multi-step workflow. it analyzes operator input, then generates dialogue responses, and actively includes user feedback to improve its performance as shown in figure 1 the learning process of chatgpt.[2] network design encompasses a broad range of tasks, such as configuring, connecting, operating, and maintaining computer network devices.[3] these tasks involve activities such as enabling interfaces, activating routing protocols, ensuring port security, implementing vlans, and more. managing communications between the networks requires expert operators of network engineers to configure low-level configuration commands and use more complicated high-level network policies and commands to ensure security, maintenance, and efficient operating.[4] this is where chatgpt can be an invaluable tool, demonstrating its ability to generate diverse commands for operating, generating, and modifying code, as well as providing instructions for analyzing the best network device configuration. therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate and assess the accuracy associated with integrating chatgpt into network design commands and operating a full-scale network, where the analysis of the results will be discussed and tested using real chatgpt commands and procedures. furthermore, in this paper, cisco software, namely, cisco packet tracer will be used to simulate the network design. network configuration can be written and managed through a network manager; therefore, it is not easy to write all the corrected configurations to guarantee the full connectivity and security of the network. the structure of the paper will be as follows, section 2 discusses related work investigation, section 3 provides a corresponding author: ghassan a. qasmarrogy, department of informatics and software engineering, cihan university-erbil kurdistan region, iraq e-mail: ghassan.qasmarrogy@cihanuniveristy.edu.iq received: may 28, 2024 accepted: july 20, 2024 published: august 10, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp43-48 copyright© 2024 ghassan a. qasmarrogy, abdullah a. nahi, rose m.s. yousif. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) qasmarrogy, et al.: evaluation of chatgpt’s configuration support for network connectivity and security 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 43-48 methodology background of the chatgpt and the importance of network commands, section 4 will give a simulation scenario design and generated parameters and the final result will be showed in section 5, finally, in section 6 the conclusion and future work of the paper will be presented. related work as chatgpt is new, there are diminutive research papers that discuss its involvement in computer networks, in[5] the author gives environment development configuration for analyzing computer network packet traffic using a gpt, and the result shows that chatgpt can architect design the network simulation scenarios and can assist in the computer network configuration, also it describes the actions needed to design and analyze network environment. the author in[6] proposes a novel architecture for network artificial intelligence with the name of netlm, this model is designed to comprehend the sequence structure in the data packets and analyze its dynamic, the result shows that the netlm proposed is generating framework to solve the problems of different abstraction levels. while the author in[7] is comparing and describing two methods’ results, both methods use chatgpt but with different constructing scenarios, the first one executing repeatedly the same prompt to the chatgpt system, while the second decomposing the network into sublayers and identifying the problem and solution for each layer. the result shows that the first method gives lower result compared to the second method as it gives more analyze to determine the best solution for any problem. methodology chatgpt, developed and trained by openai since 2018, is an innovative and advanced language model that works by analyzing the input text and considering the context of the conversation, chatgpt generates responses that are natural and relevant. this feature makes it highly valuable for various applications, including answering questions generating images, and many more. the true significance of chatgpt lies in its ability to simulate human-like conversations and produce contextually appropriate and authentic responses.[8] this makes it an invaluable tool for businesses and organizations that aim to establish personalized and interactive communication with their customers or users. large language models like chatgpt are trained on extensive amounts of text data, such as books, articles, and websites, to grasp the intricacies of language as seen in figure 2.[9] by leveraging this knowledge, it can predict the next words in a sentence or suggest missing words in a given text. consequently, they can generate answers to specific questions. these language models have a wide range of practical applications, from enhancing search engine results to generating automated responses in customer service. moreover, they can even generate fresh text, such as news articles, product descriptions, or creative writing. during the training process, chatgpt meticulously analyzed the provided text, comprehending the patterns and structures of language. this understanding enabled it to construct a language model capable of generating new text. however, it is important to acknowledge that chatgpt has certain limitations. it can still make mistakes or provide responses that lack coherence. this is because the quality of its responses is dependent on the data, it was trained on and the patterns, it has learned.[10] furthermore, chatgpt may unintentionally generate biased or inappropriate responses due to the patterns it has learned from its training data. addressing this challenge is a priority for developers, as it is a common issue faced by all ai technologies. in computer networks, designing the network is not enough to make the network work, the main importance of the figure 1: chatgpt learning process[2] qasmarrogy, et al.: evaluation of chatgpt’s configuration support for network connectivity and security 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 43-48 design is to write the correct configuration for each device in the network, the configuration of the network is the procedure of writing and enabling the network controls, settings, flows, and policies.[11] therefore, change network configuration using network simulators because real physical appliances used in networks are replaced by operating software, which makes it easier to configure and test the network before operating the real network. to operate networks, operators must configure all devices to guarantee traffic flow through every network device; also it can enhance and support network stability and security. moreover, the main use of command configuration tools such as chatgpt and other ai text generators can provide benefits, such as undoing network settings and bulks to a previous configuration, automated data logging, reporting, and tracking, reduced downtime, increased maintenance efficiency and decrease network devices and connection repair time, and the ability to relaunch a device when it fails, and many more.[12] since chatgpt publicity in recent years, network engineers have thought about using chatgpt in their daily life tasks, to make it easier for them to finish the job in less time and more accuracy. nevertheless, using ai tasks can add complex tasks and more steps than the manual process, while in other fields it can make the task easier. therefore, chatgpt can be a success, rather than a threat, to network fields. it can help with network segmentation, troubleshooting, improving architecture design, and increasing the performance of the network. modern it networks are complex combinations of firewalls, routers, switches, servers, workstations, and other devices.[13] chatgpt ai network design and configuration the it infrastructure is critical to today’s enterprise networks, but it can be complex and difficult to manage, and it teams often require specific, high-level skills to identify, troubleshoot, and solve network problems. in addition, network managers are bombarded with alerts from all angles that can be difficult to sift through and prioritize. all of this is complicated by the ongoing talent shortage of it workers, which makes automation an urgent matter.[14] ai networking seeks to transform traditional it operations and make networks more intelligent, self-adaptive, efficient, and reliable. the technology uses machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, generative ai, and other methods to monitor, troubleshoot, and secure networks. in recent years, ai networking has automated tasks including network configuration, monitoring, and troubleshooting. this helps to improve performance, optimize resource allocation, and reduce downtime. tasks including configuration and incident management, software updating, and others are also automated, as are recommendations and responses.[15] the main design of any wan network according to ai’s chatgpt must consist of the following devices: • routers: these devices are essential for connecting multiple networks. they handle the routing of data packets between different networks and ensure that data reaches its intended destination. • switches: switches are used to create local area networks (lans) within the enterprise and connect various devices within the lan. • firewalls: firewalls are crucial for network security and protect the network from unauthorized access, viruses, and other cyber threats. they monitor incoming and outgoing network traffic and apply security policies. • virtual private network (vpn) concentrators: vpn concentrators enable secure remote access to the enterprise network. they establish encrypted connections for remote workers or branch offices to access resources within the network. • load balancers: load balancers distribute network traffic evenly across multiple servers or network devices, ensuring efficient utilization of resources and enhancing network performance. • wan optimization appliances: these devices optimize network performance and improve the utilization of wan links by compressing data, caching, and eliminating redundant data. • network management systems: these systems provide centralized management and monitoring of the network. they typically include tools for configuration, monitoring, troubleshooting, and performance analysis. • access points: access points are required for implementing wireless connectivity within the enterprise network. they allow devices to connect wirelessly to the lan as they are used in different types of networks.[16] • modems: modems are used to establish a connection to the internet or external networks. they convert digital signals from the network into analog signals for transmission over telephone lines or other mediums. • network cables and connectors: ethernet cables, fiber optic cables, and connectors are necessary for connecting devices and establishing network connectivity. note that the specific devices required for designing a wan enterprise network may vary depending on the specific requirements, size, and complexity of the network. it is important to assess the network requirements and consult with network engineers or experts when designing and implementing a wan. therefore, according to the requirement of ai’s chatgpt network design, the following topology in figure 3 will be constructed from the given devices. network configuration and result to start the configuration of the network, a question regarding command configuration for each network device was given to chatgpt as shown in table 1. figure 2: shows the chatgpt training data size[9] qasmarrogy, et al.: evaluation of chatgpt’s configuration support for network connectivity and security 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 43-48 table 1: chatgpt’s questions and answers q. no chatgpt question chatgpt answers 1 what are the cisco switch configurations for port security and vlan port security: 1. enable port security on the interface: `switchport port-security` 2. set the maximum number of allowed mac addresses on the interface: `switchport port-security maximum <number >` 3. specify the action to be taken when a violation occurs: `switchport port-security violation <action >` 4. optionally, configure a secure mac address on the interface: `switchport port-security mac-address <mac_address >` create a vlan: 1. ̀ vlan <vlan_id >` 2. assign an interface to a vlan: `interface <interface_name >` `switchport mode access` `switchport access vlan <vlan_id >` 3. configure a trunk port to allow multiple vlans: `interface <interface_name >` `switchport mode trunk` `switchport trunk allowed vlan <vlan_list >` 2 what are the secure connection commands between two cisco switches model 2960? 1. enable ssh (secure shell) for remote management: `crypto key generate rsa` `ip ssh version 2` 2. configure a username and password for ssh access: `username <username >privilege 15 secret <password >` 3. enable telnet access: `line vty 0 15` `transport input ssh telnet` 3 what are the commands to connect two cisco switches model 2960 together 1. connect the switches using an ethernet cable: • plug one end of the cable into an available ethernet port on the first switch. • plug the other end of the cable into an available ethernet port on the second switch. 2. configure the interfaces on both switches: `enable` `configure terminal` 3. configure the interface on the first switch: `interface <interface_name >` `switchport mode trunk` `switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q` `switchport trunk allowed vlan all` `no shutdown` 4. configure the interface on the second switch: `interface <interface_name >` `switchport mode trunk` `switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q` `switchport trunk allowed vlan all` `no shutdown` 4 how to configure a wireless cisco router from gui 1. connect to the router: connect to the router wirelessly, and launch a web browser 2. enter the router’s ip address: often 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. 3. enter login credentials: by default, the username is often “admin” and the password is either “admin” or “password.” 4. navigate the gui: look for sections related to wireless settings, such as “wireless,” “wireless settings,” or “wi-fi.” 5. configure wireless settings: within the wireless settings section, you can set the ssid (network name), security type (wpa2 is recommended), passphrase (password), channel selection, and other relevant options. 6. 6. apply and save changes: apply and save the settings within the gui. the router may require a reboot for the changes to take effect. 5 what are the commands to configure two cisco routers to work as redundant routers hsrp configuration: 1. enable hsrp on the interface: `interface <interface_name >` `standby <group_number >ip <virtual_ip_address >` 2. specify the priority of the router (higher priority becomes the active router): `standby <group_number >priority <priority_value >` 3. set the ip address of the active router: `standby <group_number >preempt` 6 what are the commands asa cisco firewall to secure and monitor traffic on wan network 1. access control lists (acls): create an acl to define traffic rules: `access-list <acl_name > <permit/deny > <source > <destination > <protocol >` 2. apply the acl to an interface: `access-group <acl_name >in/out` 3. network address translation (nat): configure nat for outbound traffic: `nat (inside, outside) <source > <destination > <translated_address >` configure nat exemption for specific traffic: `nat (inside, outside) 0 <source > <destination >` 4. threat detection: enable threat detection: `threat-detection basic-threat` configure threat detection settings: `threat-detection <option >` 5. logging and monitoring: enable logging: `logging enable` set logging level: `logging <level >` view logs: `show logging` 6. intrusion prevention system (ips): enable ips: `ips <name >` configure ips policies: `ips policy <name >` apply ips policy to an interface: `ips inline <interface >` 7. quality of service (qos): configure qos policies: `qos <policy_name >` apply qos policy to an interface: `service-policy <policy_name > <interface >` total commands 33 qasmarrogy, et al.: evaluation of chatgpt’s configuration support for network connectivity and security 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 43-48 table 2: chatgpt’s failure result commands q. no network device failure status no non-working commands 1 switch command rejected: fastethernet0/1 is a dynamic port. 1 2 switch please define a hostname other than switch. 1 3 switch invalid input detected at ‘^’ marker. 2 4 wireless router all commands working 0 5 router the command should not be the same for both routers 2 6 firewall invalid input detected at ‘^’ marker. 4 total 10 after applying all 33 commands in the simulation and testing the network devices, the following table 2 shows the result of the failed commands. from the above table, the total commands were 33 commands, and only 23 commands were accurately working while a total of 10 commands were not working. the efficiency rate is calculated from the below equation (1) as follows: total accuracy percentage = 23/33*100 = 69.6%… eq (1) recent research done by researchers from an integrated health-care system mass general brigham mgb[17] concluded that chatgpt and ai text generator websites were accurate by about 72% in total decision generating and making, from starting with possible analyses of the scenario to generating the final management decisions. the chatgpt performed equally well in general. figure 1 demonstrates the success/failure commands for all network devices used in the topology, as it can be shown that the most accuracy was with basic devices (wireless router) that need minimum commands to test and run, as the devices get more complicated the accuracy drop down and more unsuitable commands was suggested, switches had more wrong commands as they require accurate and dynamic commands to be used. figure 4 shows chatgpt success/ failure commands for each device. figure 5 shows that the efficiency of working commands for all network devices is between 33% and 100 % as the devices get more complicated, they need more experience in writing the commands the accuracy drops down. the total efficiency for designing a network with chatgpt is shown in figure 6, as stated in eq (1), the calculated efficiency is about 69.6%. which is not suitable for running a fully secure network, as for security systems, 99% availability may be nowhere near good enough to be online; therefore, more training may increase the efficiency of chatgpt decisionmaking as found in.[18] figure 3: ai’s chatgpt network design of enterprise network figure 4: chatgpt success/failure commands for each device figure 5: chatgpt’s working efficiency qasmarrogy, et al.: evaluation of chatgpt’s configuration support for network connectivity and security 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 43-48 figure 6: chatgpt’s total efficiency conclusion the ai-changing technology is stirring many industries toward a better future very rapidly. however, the effect of ai in all work fields has not yet been tested. in this comprehensive paper on how chatgpt could be used in network design and decision-making, a hypothesis tested that chatgpt would be able to automate network commands, and ultimately make the final diagnosis. the result shows that tools like chatgpt can be integrated to be used in designing a network, but not fully automated and secured. the accuracy of generating the right commands is about 69% which is considered not good for enterprise networks that require an accuracy rate above 90%. as for future work, ai model algorithms can be learned and tested for more data, and the output of ai can be separated from the original training data. therefore, it truly controls and enhances the data and its value; therefore, more data must be generated and tested with more advanced techniques. references 1. g. a. qasmarrogy. practical analysis of ieee 802.11 ax wireless protocol in wi-fi boosters environments. zanco journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 34, no. s6, pp. 24-32, 2022. 2. m. abdullah, a. madain and y. jararweh. chatgpt: fundamentals, applications, and social impacts. in: 2022 ninth international conference on social networks analysis, management and security (snams). ieee, united states, pp. 1-8, 2022. 3. p. park, s. c. ergen, c. fischione, c. lu and k. h. johansson. wireless network design for control systems: a survey. ieee communications surveys and tutorials, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 9781013, 2017. 4. d. b. rawat and s. r. reddy. software-defined networking architecture, security, and energy efficiency: a survey. ieee communications surveys and tutorials, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 325346, 2016. 5. s. a. marques, d. z. rodriguez and r. l. rosa. use of chatgpt as configuration support tool and network analysis. in: 2023 international conference on software, telecommunications and computer networks (softcom). split, croatia, pp. 1-6, 2023. 6. j. wang, l. zhang, y. yang, z. zhuang, q. qi, h. sun, l. lu, j. feng and j. liao. network meets chatgpt: intent autonomous management, control and operation. journal of communications and information networks, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 239-255, 2023. 7. d. lande and l. strashnoy. causality network formation with chatgpt. ssrn electronic journal, 2023. http://dx.doi. org/10.2139/ssrn.4464477 8. i. adeshola and a. p. adepoju. the opportunities and challenges of chatgpt in education. interactive learning environments, vol. 22. pp.1-14, 2023. 9. t. wu, s. he, j. liu, s. sun, k. liu, q. l. han and y. tang. a brief overview of chatgpt: the history, status quo, and potential future development. ieee/caa journal of automatica sinica, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 1122-1136, 2023. 10. a. koubaa, w. boulila, l. ghouti, a. alzahem and s. latif. exploring chatgpt capabilities and limitations: a survey. ieee access, vol. 11. no. 99, pp. 118701, 2023. 11. r. emiliano and m. antunes. automatic network configuration in a virtualized environment using gns3. in 2015 10th international conference on computer science and education (iccse). ieee, united states, pp. 25-30, 2015. 12. z. guo, f. li, j. shen, t. xie, s. jiang and x. wang. configreco: network configuration recommendation with graph neural networks. ieee network, united states, 2023. 13. g. a. qasmarrogy and a. j. fadhil. fanet drone’s data applications, mobility models and wi-fi ieee 802.11 n standards for real and non-real time traffic. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 76-80, 2022. 14. g. a. qasmarrogy. fanet drone’s 4k data applications, mobility models, and wi-fi ieee802. 11n standards. journal of telecommunications and information technology, vol. 1, pp. 51-55, 2021. 15. s. mohammed. artificial intelligence in computer networks: delay estimation, fault detection, and network automation. doctoral dissertation. université d’ottawa/university of ottawam, ottawam, 2021. 16. g. qasmarrogy. evaluation of flying ad hoc network topologies, mobility models, and ieee standards for different video applications. aro-the scientific journal of koya university, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 77-88, 2021. 17. a. a. mootz, b. carvalho, p. sultan, t. p. nguyen and s. c. reale. the accuracy of chatgpt-generated responses in answering commonly asked patient questions about labor epidurals: a survey-based study. anesthesia and analgesia, vol. 138, pp. 1142-1144, 2024. 18. m. assaad, r. boné and h. cardot. study of the behavior of a new boosting algorithm for recurrent neural networks. in: international conference on artificial neural networks. springer, berlin heidelberg, pp. 169-174, 2005. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 8 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 8-13 research article analyzing the football sports outcomes by the two types branching markov process: real madrid football club as a case study bestoon m. abdullkarim¹, azhin m. khudhur¹, dler h. kadir ¹'² ¹department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq ²department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract in this research the football sport outcomes are analyzed by the two-type branching markov process, assuming that the outcomes occur as a poisson process and are described by the two-state markov process. for this study, the number of losses, wins, and trophy results of the real madrid football club for 24 years (2000–2024) are obtained from the kooora website. this study aimed to determine the probabilities of two state outcomes, the time the process stays in each state and the expected number of the two types for successive periods. in conclusion, the expected number of real madrid football sports outcomes for successive game times are continually decreasing until the number of games. keywords: two-state markov process, two-type branching process, probability generating function, trophy, win and lose introduction the stochastic branching process played a great role in various scientific applications and sports activities. in this work, the two types of branching markov process have been applied to football sport outcomes. this study is in three sections, the first one includes the concept of the markov process, the transition probabilities of two states, the expected time interval the process stays in each state, and the two types of branching process with their probability generating function. the second section specified for application, involves describing and analyzing the data about the game outcomes of real madrid football club during (2000–2024). the final section dedicated to conclusions, indicates the deduces which are found from the results of the application. methodology in this study, the markov process, the transition probabilities of two states, two types of branching process, and the probability generating function for two types. markov processes a stochastic process with continuous time parameter {x (t); t > 0} is called the markov process if for any set of periods t1 < t2, <…, <tn if the conditional probability distribution of x (tn) given the values of {x (t0), x(t1),…, x(tn−1)} depends on x(tn−1) only, as defined.[1,2] p x t x x t x x t x x t xr n n n n[ |( ) ≤ ( ) = ( ) = … ( ) =− −0 0 1 1 1 1,� ,� �,� ] = ( ) ≤ ( ) =− −p x t x x t xr n n n n[ |� � ]1 1 hence, the two-state markov process {0, 1}, in which the process changes its state from 0 to 1 with the rate (𝜆) and from 1 to 0 with the rate (µ). the transition probabilities for the state markov process pij(t)(i, j = 0,1) are defined as[3,4] both rates (µ, λ) represent the waiting time between transitions in exponential distribution. the waiting time in state 0 is referred to as µ while the λ rate follows an exponential distribution with state 1. these rates are expressed as memoryless properties. p t p x t j x iij r( ) = ( ) = ( ) =[ |� �� �]0 (1) the probabilities are given by ( ) ( ) 00 tp t e        − += + + + corresponding author: azhin m. khudhur, department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq region, iraq. e-mail: azhin.khudhur@su.edu.krd received: november 20, 2024 accepted: december 26, 2024 published: january 20, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp8-13 copyright © 2025 bestoon m. abdullkarim, azhin m. khudhur, dler k. hussein. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) abdullkarim, et al.: two types of branching markov process 9 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 8-13 ( ) ( ) 01 tp t e        − += − + + ( ) ( ) 10 tp t e        − += − + + ( ) ( ) 11 tp t e        − += + + + farther, as t → ∞ ( ) ( )0 00 10lim  lim t t p t p t    →∞ →∞ = = = + (2) ( ) ( )1 01 11lim  lim t t p t p t    →∞ →∞ = = = + the expected length of time in two-state markov processes the expected length of time µij (t) in (0, t) that the process spends in state (j), having initially started from the state (i = 0,1), is given by[1,5] ( ) ( ) 00 2 [1 ] ( ) tt t e         − += + − + + (3) ( ) ( ) 01 2 [1 ] ( ) tt t e         − += − − + + ( ) ( ) 10 2 [1 ] ( ) tt t e         − += − − + + ( ) ( ) 11 2 [1 ] ( ) tt t e         − += + − + + furthermore, limiting the fraction of time (t) the process spent in any one of the states (0 or 1) during each transition is given by 00 10 0 ( ) ( ) lim  lim t t t t t t      →∞ →∞ = = = + (4) 01 11 1 ( ) ( ) lim  lim t t t t t t      →∞ →∞ = = = + thus, the time spent by the process in each state during every visit is an exponential distribution. 𝑓0(𝑡) = 𝜆𝑒−𝜆𝑡 t > 0 𝑓1(𝑡) = 𝜇𝑒−𝜇𝑡 t > 0 where the win and loss (λ and µ) rates are estimated by the maximum likelihood estimate (mle), and they equal 1 / t . in addition, the average time ( t ) represents the average of spending in a specific state during each transition to that state in a two-state markov process such as: ( ) ( )0 0 1 1 1 1 ,t e t t e t   = = = = they related the process parameters 𝜆 and 𝜇 to the directly observable characteristics of the process and the expected lengths of visits to each state {0,1}. ( ) ( )1 1 0 and 1e e   = = thus, crude estimates of the process parameters are obtained. λ µ= = 1 0 1 1e e( ) , ( ) two type branching processes considering a branching galton–watson process where two different types may be distinguished, either type will produce or possibly both types independently. let u𝑛 and v𝑛 be a random variable representing type (1) and type (2), respectively, in the nth period,[6,7] which can be written as u x xn j u j j v j n n + = = = +∑ ∑1 1 1 1 2 v y yn j u j j v j n n + = = = +∑ ∑1 1 1 1 2 when the branching process is one of the applications of markov sequent then the transition probability law of the markov process is: p (𝑋𝑗 𝑖 = k, 𝑌𝑗 𝑖 = l) = 𝑃𝑖 (k, l) k, l = 0,1,2, 3… for j = 1,2,3,… and i = 1,2 where x yj i j i, are independent identically distributed (iid) random vectors with probability mass functions 𝑃𝑖 (k, l) as above. the simplest situation assumes the process begins with a single type then we define for initial conditions. u0 = 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑉0 = 0 or u0 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑉0 = 1 moreover, the probability extinction of the two types (𝛱1, 𝛱2) is determined as follows: for type (1)  1 0 0 1 0= = = = =p u v u vn n n n� ,� ,� ][ | and for type (2)  2 00 0 0 1= = = = =p u v u vn n n�[ ,� | ,� ] probability generating function relations for two types of branching process in this section, we show some relation for the two-dimensional probability generating function of (u𝑛) and (𝑉𝑛) of the number of types of 𝑛𝑡h periods,[8,9] as abdullkarim, et al.: two types of branching markov process 10 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 8-13 ( ) ( )1 2 1 1 1 2 , 0 , , ( , )i i k l k l n n i k l q q e q q p k l q q ∞ =  = =  ∑ (5) 0 ≤ 𝑞1, 𝑞2 ≤ 1 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖 = 1,2 where: 1. q1 is the auxiliary variable representing the weight assigned to the number of type (1) individuals (un) 2. moreover, q2 is the auxiliary variable representing the weight assigned to the number of type (2) individuals (vn). moreover, their multiple-step generalizations ( ) ( )1 1 2 0 0 1 2 , 0 , ( ,  | 1,  0) k l n n n k l q q p u k v l u v q q ∞ = = = = = =∑ (6) ( ) ( )2 1 2 0 0 1 2 , 0 , ( ,  | 0,  1) k l n n n k l q q p u k v l u v q q ∞ = = = = = =∑ with 𝑛 ≥ 0, it is clear that the generation function for type (1) is: ( ) ( )1 0 1 2 1,  q q q = ( ) ( )1 1 1 1 2 1 2,  ( ,( )q q q q = moreover, for type (2) is ( ) ( )2 0 1 2 2,  q q q = ( ) ( )2 2 1 1 2 1 2,  ( , )q q q q = in general, the method can be used as ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2, ( , , , )i i n m m n nq q q q q q   + = the expected numbers of the two types of branching process the method of generating function is the most important tool in the study of branching processes, it is useful to determine the mean matrix of the nth period. when (un) and (vn) the number of type 1 and 2 of the nth period,[9,10] then the expected numbers are given by ( ) 1 2 (1) 1 2 ( ) 0 0 111 1 , [ | 1, 0]n n nq q q q e u u v m q  = = ∂ = = = = ∂ ( ) 1 2 (2) 1 2 ( ) 0 0 12[ | 1, 0] q q q q e u u v m = = ∂ = = = = ∂ (7) ( ) 1 2 (1) 1 2 ( ) 0 0 211 1 , [ | 0, 1]n n nq q q q e v u v m q  = = ∂ = = = = ∂ ( ) 1 2 (2) 1 2 ( ) 0 0 221 2 , [ | 0, 1]n n nq q q q e v u v sssm q  = = ∂ = = = = ∂ then the expected matrix for the nth period for two types of branching process is defined as, m m m m m =       11 12 21 22 (8) so m m m m m n n n n n ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )=         11 12 21 22 ( ) 1 1,1 1,2ij j m j q  = = ∂ = 1 j and ( ) 2 1,1 1,2ij j m j q  = = ∂ = 2 j here m =       λ λ µ µ 11 12 21 22 according to the distribution of the two types (1) and (2) the probability generation function is given as ( )( ) ( ) ( )1 2 11 121 ,   . q q q q  = ( ) ( )11 1 12 21 1q qe − + −= ( )( ) ( )1 2 21 222 , . ( )q q q q  = ( ) ( )21 1 22 21 1q qe − + −= in addition, the expected number of the two types (1) and (2) for successive periods is g u vn n n= ( )  (9) then e g g g mn s n n s( |+ =�� ) application this section is specified for analyzing the football sports outcomes of real madrid football club by the two-type branching markov process, where the football outcomes (loss and win) are denoted by the two states (0 and 1), respectively. thus, the transition probabilities of the twostate markov process and the expected length of time that the process spends in each state are defined, also the matrix of the expected numbers to four possible transitions of the two states (0,1) is prepared. data description for this study, the data about the football outcomes of the real madrid team, which has played annually with 19 other spanish teams in periodic competitions for 24 years have been taken from the kooora website. abdullkarim, et al.: two types of branching markov process 11 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 8-13 table 1 shows the total outcome of 748 games played between 2000 and 2024, which included 142 losses with a probability of 0.2, and 606 wins with a probability of 0.8. among these, 14 losses with a probability of 0.58 and 10 wins with a probability of 0.42 were associated with trophy outcomes. estimation of the loss and win rates the loss and win rates of the football outcomes are estimated concerning the trophy results, hence the loss rate ( ̂ )is estimated from the total number of losses, which is 101 from 448 games of 14 losses trophies in the average of 32 games annually 101 0.225 /   44 ˆ 8 gametime = = 0 225 32 7 2. . �� �/× = games annum furthermore, the win rate ( ̂ ) is estimated from the total number of wins, which is 259 from 300 games of 10 wins trophies in an average of 30 games annually 259 0.863 /    0 ˆ 3 0 gametime = = 0 863 30 25 9. . � �/�× = games annum the transition probabilities of the twostate football sport outcomes the transition probabilities of the two-state football sport p i jij( , , )= 0 1 for successive game times ( )t0 are referred to in (1). table 2 shows the transition probabilities between the two state football sports outcomes (loss and win) for successive game times (t = 1,2,…,10). hence, the stationary distribution of the loose ( )0 and win 1( ) is defined in (2). 0 0.863 0.79 0.225 0.863  = = + 1 0.225 0.21 0.225 0.863  = = + the expected time the football sport (process) stays in each outcome (state) the expected length of time ( ) ( , 0,1)ij t i j = the football sport spent in any one of the states (0,1) for game time (t) is defined in (3). table 3 shows the expected length of time the process spends in any football state during each transition for given game times (t = 5,10,15,20,25,30,35). the expected numbers of the two-state football sport outcomes the four expected numbers of the two-state (0,1) football sports m00, m01, m10, m11 are computed from the transition counts of the number of loss and win games according to the loss (state 0) and win (state 1) trophy of real madrid which has got during (2000–2024), as defined: table 1: the number of loss and win outcomes with the trophy results years number of losses number of wins total trophy 2000–2001 6 24 30 win 2001–2002 10 19 29 loss 2002–2003 4 22 26 win 2003–2004 10 21 31 loss 2004–2005 9 24 33 loss 2005–2006 8 20 28 loss 2006–2007 8 23 31 win 2007–2008 7 27 34 win 2008–2009 10 25 35 loss 2009–2010 4 31 35 loss 2010–2011 4 29 33 loss 2011–2012 2 32 34 win 2012–2013 5 26 31 loss 2013–2014 5 27 32 loss 2014–2015 6 30 36 loss 2015–2016 4 28 32 loss 2016–2017 3 29 32 win 2017–2018 6 22 28 loss 2018–2019 12 21 33 loss 2019–2020 3 26 29 win 2020–2021 3 21 24 win 2021–2022 4 26 30 win 2022–2023 8 24 32 loss 2023–2024 1 29 30 win trophy : 101000110001000010011101 the transitions are as noted in table 4. table 4 shows the transition counts of the losses and wins of the real madrid football club. then the four expected numbers mij (i,j = 0,1) of the football sports outcomes are represented in the following matrix, defined in (8). m m m m mij =     00 01 10 11 ij ij i ij m m i j= = ∑ ������, ,0 1 mij� . . . . =     0 58 0 69 0 42 0 31 the expected number of football sport outcomes for successive games the expected number of two state football outcomes (loss and win) with their probabilities for successive game times (t) is defined as in (9). abdullkarim, et al.: two types of branching markov process 12 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 8-13 table 4: the transition counts of the football sport outcomes state 0 1 total 0 261 187 448 1 186 84 270 total 447 271 718 table 2: the transition probabilities of football sports outcomes with game times time p00(t) p01(t) p10(t) p11(t) 1 0.860746816 0.139253184 0.523857216 0.476142784 2 0.813833866 0.186166134 0.700339264 0.299660736 3 0.798029382 0.201970618 0.759794231 0.240205769 4 0.792705015 0.207294985 0.77982399 0.22017601 5 0.790911291 0.209088709 0.786571808 0.213428192 6 0.790307005 0.209692995 0.788845078 0.211154922 7 0.790103427 0.209896573 0.789610919 0.210389081 8 0.790034843 0.209965157 0.789868923 0.210131077 9 0.790011738 0.209988262 0.789955841 0.210044159 10 0.790003955 0.209996045 0.789985123 0.210014877 table 3: the expected time interval of the process spent in each state with game time time µ00(t) µ01(t) µ10(t) µ11(t) 5 4.139175498 0.860824502 3.223167823 1.776832177 10 8.089996422 1.910003578 7.170013747 2.829986253 15 12.03999998 2.960000016 11.12000006 3.87999994 20 15.99 4.01 15.07 4.93 25 19.94 5.06 19.02 5.98 30 23.89 6.11 22.97 7.03 35 27.84 7.16 26.92 8.08 table 5: the expected number of football sports outcomes for successive games time (t) e (gn+t | gn) = gn m (t) pr. of loss game pr. of win game loss win 1 337 286 0.54 0.46 2 154 126 0.55 0.45 3 73 65 0.53 0.47 4 35 37 0.49 0.51 5 17 24 0.41 0.59 6 8 16 0.33 0.67 7 4 11 0.27 0.73 8 2 7 0.22 0.78 9 1 5 0.2 0.8 e g g � �g �mn t n n t( | ) ( ) + = = ( )      ( ) ( )142 606 0 58 0 69 0 42 0 31 ��� t t t t . . . . ( ) ( ) table 5 shows the expected number of losses and wins with their probabilities of real madrid football outcomes for successive game times (t = 1, 2,…, 9). conclusions from the results of the application, the following conclusions are found: 1. for given some successive game times, the transition probabilities p00 (t) and p11 (t) of the football sports outcomes are decreasing, but p01 (t) and p10 (t) are increasing 2. the expected time interval the process (football sport) spends in any one of the outcomes during each transition is continually increasing 3. the stationary distribution of the football sports outcomes shows that the real madrid team will win a game with the lowest probability and lose a game with the highest probability in a long time 4. the expected number of real madrid football sports outcomes for successive game times are continually decreasing till the number of games becomes five, then the mentioned team has won four games against one lost game. references 1. j. medhi. stochastic processes. 2nd ed. new age international, new delhi, 2004. 2. b. sericola. markov chains: theory and applications. john wiley & sons, united states, 2013. abdullkarim, et al.: two types of branching markov process 13 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 8-13 3. u. n. bhat and g. k. miller. elements of applied stochastic processes. wiley series in probability and statistics. 3rd ed. wileyinterscience, hoboken, nj, p. 488, 2002. 4. r. douc, e. moulines, p. priouret and p. soulier. markov chains: basic definitions. (springer series in operations research and financial engineering). springer international publishing, cham, 2018. 5. s. m. ross. introduction to probability models. 11th ed. elsevier inc, amsterdam, netherlands, 2014. 6. m. gonzález, i. m. puerto, r. martínez, m. molina, m. mota and a. ramos. workshop on branching processes and their applications. springer science & business media, berlin, germany, 2010. 7. d. axelrod and m. kimmel. branching processes in biology. springer-verlag, berlin, germany, 2015. 8. j. r. kirkwood. markov processes. 1st ed. crc press, united states, 2015. 9. m. lefebvre. applied stochastic processes. springer science & business media, berlin, germany, 2007. 10. p. haccou, p. jagers and v. a. vatutin. branching processes: variation, growth, and extinction of populations. cambridge university press, united kingdom, 2005. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 36 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 36-40 research article optimizing gnss data sampling rates for improving precise point positioning accuracy and reducing convergence time shamal f. ahmed department of civil engineering, tishk international university, kurdistan region, iraq abstract precise point positioning (ppp) is increasingly being used for achieving highly accurate positioning using a single gnss receiver, particularly in applications such as seismic monitoring and structural health assessments. this study explores the impact of gnss data sampling rates on ppp accuracy and convergence time by collecting field measurements from five observation points (a, b, c, d, and e) in erbil, iraq, using a leica gs16 instrument. data were recorded at sample rates of 5, 15, 30, and 60 s for 2 h at each location. statistical analysis shows that reducing the sampling interval significantly improves the root mean square error (rmse). for example, at the 5-s sampling rate, the rmse at point a dropped by 85% from 0.35 m at 15 min to 0.05 m after 120 min. similarly, at the 60-s sampling rate, the rmse improved by approximately 80% during the same period. across all points, the highest accuracy improvements occurred within the first 30–60 min of observation, demonstrating that higher sampling rates help reduce convergence times. however, the benefit diminishes for extended observation durations, suggesting that optimizing the sampling interval is crucial for balancing accuracy and efficiency in ppp applications. keywords: precise point positioning, sample rate, convergence time, accuracy, rtklib software introduction the most popular approach for achieving very precise location with satellite-based is the use of simultaneous carrier-phase measurements with at least two receivers. the gathered raw data should subsequently be post-processed in an office through the appropriate gnss processing software. in general, this technique requires considerable money, labor, and administrative work. in addition, it does not offer a solution for those requiring coordinates in real-time.[1,2] the real-time kinematic (rtk) approach was first developed to provide an accurate location in real time. in contrast, network rtk (nrtk) needs several continuously operating reference stations, control center(s), and a communication connection (such as the cellular or internet) to broadcast adjustments to the user. a single-baseline rtk only needs a base station and radio link. the range between the base station and rover is also restricted, generally between 10 and 20 km for single-baseline rtk and between 70 and 100 km for nrtk techniques.[3,4] nonetheless, these techniques cannot be utilized successfully in certain challenging terrain situations, such as hills surrounded by various terrain types, high mountains, or urban canyons, that prevent or restrict radio access or global system for mobile communication utilization. precise point positioning (ppp), whether post-processed or real-time, has recently gained attention. this approach utilizes derived accessible or real-time streaming gnss satellite products to achieve centimeter to decimeter-level precise positioning globally, all while maintaining a consistent global reference frame. since 2013, the international gnss service (igs) has offered a global real-time service (rts) for ppp. in addition, several private companies have developed their own commercial global real-time ppp services as alternatives to igsrts. furthermore, there are free internet services available, as well as alternatives for commercial, corporate, and academic software for post-processed ppps.[5-11] the ppp method, recognized for its numerous advantages, has been extensively applied across various fields, this includes applications in precise positioning, surveying, mapping, monitoring crustal deformation, orbit estimation, agriculture, weather forecasting, construction, and photogrammetry using unmanned aerial vehicles. data gathering at a very high sample corresponding author: shamal f. ahmed, department of civil engineering, tishk international university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: shamal.fatah@tiu.edu.iq received: november 4, 2024 accepted: february 19, 2025 published: march 30, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp36-40 copyright © 2025 shamal f. ahmed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ahmed: improving ppp accuracy and convergence time with gnss data sampling 37 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 36-40 rate has recently been made feasible because of advancements in gnss hardware and data processing techniques.[12] due to these advancements, high-rate gnss ppp is now widely utilized in seismology and various engineering projects. it plays a crucial role in measuring earthquake displacements, assessing the condition of engineering structures, and calculating the vibrations and displacements of civil engineering assets, including tall buildings, towers, and both long and short-span bridges, as well as viaducts. this technology is particularly important for structures that are susceptible to the impacts of earthquakes, strong winds, or heavy traffic loads.[11-16] numerous investigations have looked at how well the typical ppp approach performs, incorporating gnss observations with a sample rate of 30 s.[6,8,9] an important area of interest for the ppp approach, the influence of the observation sampling rate on ppp performance, specifically the effect of increasing the sample rate on the convergence time, which has not received much attention. the interval of the precise orbit and clock products plays a crucial role in determining positioning accuracy, especially when higherfrequency gnss observations are utilized, as it can lead to interpolation errors. the recent igs precise orbit products are expected to have interpolation accuracies better than 0.3 cm.[17] high-rate clock corrections are essential for supporting high-rate ppp applications,[17,18] as random drifts in satellite clocks can lead to significant instability over time.[19] the igs typically provides precise orbit and clock products at 30-s or 300-s intervals, but high-rate products are not publicly available. to date, there has been limited research on highrate ppp processing using multi-gnss combinations. given the growing integration of high-rate observations with ppp applications, this research aims to explore the impact of the observation sampling rate on ppp performance, particularly with respect to positioning accuracy and convergence time. methodology ppp method ppp combines differential positioning methods with absolute positioning. in addition, it uses a variety of adjustments and it processes data collected from a single gnss receiver and makes a number of adjustments.[6,20] because ppp does not rely on connecting observations with simultaneous measurements from reference stations, such as relative baseline positioning does, it provides greater flexibility for operation and is appropriate for regions with limited gnss network infrastructure.[6,21,22] even though ppp can produce extremely accurate positioning results, it sometimes needs quite lengthy observation periods to do so. therefore, the objective of ppp is to reduce its convergence time rather than to enhance the achieved accuracy. if one can eliminate these unidentified ambiguities, one may anticipate noticeably lower convergence durations since the existence of carrier-phase ambiguities heavily influences how long convergence takes. if the possibility of accurately estimating the ambiguities could be made with a high enough success rate, then this is feasible.[4] for the pseudorange (or code) puj s and carrier-phase φuj s of a user receiver “u” tracking satellite “s” at frequency “j,” the observation equations . . s s s s s uj u u u j j u jp jl dt dt eρ µ= + + − + (1) � � � � � �uj s u s u s u j j s u j sjl t t� � � �. . (2) where ρs u = ls u + τsu is the sum of the receiver-satellite range ls u and the tropospheric delay τsu, and μ jι s u is the (firstorder) ionospheric delay (an advance for phase and delay for code), with ιsu denoting the ionospheric delay at the first frequency and μj = (λj/λ1) 2 being the ionospheric coefficient, with λj being the j-frequency wavelength. the receiver-satellite range, ls u = rs − ru, depends on the unknown, to be determined, user-receiver position ru at signal reception time tr ≈ te + ls u c (c = vacuum speed of light) and on the satellite position rs at the signal emission time te. the frequency-dependent userreceiver and satellite clock errors for the code and phase are given as: dt dt d dt dt du j u u j j s s j s . . ,� � � � (3) � � � �t dt t dtu j u u j j s s j s . . ,� � � � (4) where dtu and dts are the common user-receiver and satellite clock offsets and du,j, ds ,j, δu,j,δ s ,j are the frequencydependent code and phase hardware delays, respectively. the additional unknown parameter zs u,j in the carrier-phase eq.(1) is the integer carrier-phase ambiguity. the remaining code and phase errors are denoted by es u,j and ϵs u,j, respectively. they capture the measurement noise and any other remaining unmodeled effects, such as multipath effects. henceforth, they will be omitted unless they are truly needed. as a further simplification, the observation equations between the satellites will be used. denoting the variate difference between satellites t and s as (.)st = (.)t − (.)s, the corresponding between-satellite observation equations follow from eq. (1) as p jl dtu j st u st u st j st . � � �� � (5) � . . � � � � �u j st u st u st j st u j stjl t jz� � � � (6) from now the receiver code and phase clock errors, dtu,j and δtu,j, have been eliminated. inspection of this set of observation equations shows that information on the satellite positions and satellite clocks is needed for a single receiver user to be able to solve for its unknown parameters. provision of satellite orbits and clocks dtst ,j allows the user data to be corrected, thus resulting in the adapted user equations . st st st st u j j u up dt jlρ µ+ = + (7) � . . � � � � �u j st j st u st u st u j stdt jl j� � � � (8) in which . . ( ) / st st st st u j u j j jz d jα δ λ= + − with the satellite positions known and the absence of the unknown dtst ,j, δt st ,j, this modified system in eq.(8) has now reached the point where it is possible to find a solution in the event that five or more satellites are tracked on two or more frequencies. the use of accurate orbits and clocks to enable precise singlereceiver placement is the fundamental concept behind ppp.[4] data acquisition and processing in this study, five measurement points were selected along a 100-m road in erbil, iraq, at a latitude of 36.19°e and a ahmed: improving ppp accuracy and convergence time with gnss data sampling 38 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 36-40 longitude of 44.00°n, on the basis of satellite imagery. before this selection, a reconnaissance survey was conducted to ensure that all the points were located in open areas without nearby buildings or other obstacles, as illustrated in figure 1. the selected points were marked on the ground in preparation for instrument setup and subsequent data collection. the observations were commenced by using the ppp method static mode. a leica gs16 instrument was used to gather the raw data. the row data were observed with a 5 s sample rate and for 2 h at each point. for the post-processing step, the unprocessed rtk library rtklib data were utilized. rtklib is an opensource software package created at the university of tokyo for calculating positions and analyzing gnss data.[23] unlike web-based tools, users must manually select the parameters and calculation options. for instance, the software allows the import of precise orbit and clock files. in addition, the user is responsible for selecting an ambiguity resolution method and specifying the desired data output format. results and discussion the data presented in the figures (from 2 to 6) provide a detailed statistical comparison of the performance of the gnss under different sampling rates and time intervals. beginning with figures 2-6, the root mean square error (rmse) values across various sample rates (5, 15, 30, and 60 s) show significant reductions in error as the time intervals increase. for example, in figure 2, point a shows a rmse reduction from approximately 0.35 at the 5-s sampling rate after 15 min to 0.05 after 120 min. this represents an approximate 85% improvement in the rmse over time. similarly, for the 60-s sampling rate, the rmse starts at approximately 0.10 at 15 min and decreases to nearly 0.02 after 120 min, yielding an approximately 80% reduction. this pattern is consistent across points b, c, d, and e, with the highest initial errors observed at shorter intervals and faster sample rates, followed by gradual reductions as the sampling duration increases. for the generalized position figure 7, the rmse decreases substantially within the first 30 s, with an overall reduction of approximately 70% from the initial values. this decline is especially pronounced at shorter sampling intervals, indicating that a considerable portion of error correction occurs early on. over time, the rmse stabilizes after around 60 s, suggesting a rapid improvement phase followed by convergence to lower error levels. across all sampling intervals, the accuracy gains are significant, with the largest improvements occurring within the first 5–15 min. these initial gains reflect an approximate 60–80% reduction in rmse from starting values, underscoring the effectiveness of early sampling for error mitigation. in the generalized satellite figure 8, the number of visible satellites remains relatively stable across all time intervals and sampling rates, with fluctuations of <5%. this stability indicates that satellite availability does not significantly impact rmse improvements; instead, factors, such as sampling rate and observation duration are more influential. for instance, even with a consistent satellite count of around 20, the rmse shows a marked decline, reinforcing the idea that accuracy improvements are driven primarily by the frequency and duration of observations rather than satellite quantity. this finding highlights the importance of optimizing sampling rates for enhanced positioning accuracy without requiring additional satellite resources. figure 1: study area ahmed: improving ppp accuracy and convergence time with gnss data sampling 39 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 36-40 in conclusion, positioning accuracy improves by approximately 60–85% within the first 30–60 min of observation. decreasing the sampling rate from 60 s to 5 s can achieve an additional 50% reduction in error within the first 15 min. however, the benefit of higher sampling frequencies diminishes over extended observation periods, suggesting that a balanced sampling approach offers the best trade-off between accuracy and efficiency in convergence. conclusion this study highlights the significant influence of gnss data sampling rates on the accuracy and convergence time of ppp. higher sampling rates, such as 5 s, lead to faster convergence and a significant reduction in rmse, especially in the first 30–60 min of observation. for instance, the rmse at point a decreased by 85% when using a 5-s rate, from 0.35 m at 15 min to 0.05 m after 120 min. similarly, a 60-s sampling rate showed an rmse reduction of 80% over the same time. this pattern of figure 2: the root mean square error of point a at different times and sampling rates figure 4: the root mean square error of point c at different times and sampling rates figure 3: the root mean square error of point b at different times and sampling rates figure 6: the root mean square error of point e at different times and sampling rates figure 5: the root mean square error of point d at different times and sampling rates figure 8: general position over time for all points (a-e) figure 7: general satellite count over time for all points (a-e) ahmed: improving ppp accuracy and convergence time with gnss data sampling 40 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 36-40 rapid early improvement was consistent across all test points, indicating that a higher sampling rate effectively shortens the convergence time and enhances positioning accuracy. however, after the 1st h, the benefits of higher sampling rates diminish, suggesting that while they are useful in short-term observations, their advantage fades over longer periods. the findings also suggest that optimizing the observation duration and sampling rate is crucial for maximizing ppp performance. while high sampling rates yield quick improvements in accuracy, moderate rates, such as 15 or 30 s may suffice for long-term applications as extended observation periods naturally improve accuracy. this balance between sampling rate and duration helps achieve both precision and efficiency in gnss-based applications. overall, this study offers 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29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 29-35 research article physiochemical and sensory properties of pumpkin and strawberry jams fortified with chia seed (salvia hispanica l) mahmood f. saleem1, salar a. ahmed1, yaseen galali1,2, nawal h. sebo1, ali yildrim3, begard s. najmdaddin1 1department of food technology, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of nutrition and dietetics, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of food engineering, faculty of engineering, harran university, turkey abstract supplementation of jams with functional ingredients is one of the methods to develop healthier jams. the aim of this research was therefore to develop functional jams supplemented with chia seed (cs). five formulations of two types of jams were selected (pumpkin jam [pj] and strawberry jam [sj]) with different levels (0, 1.5, 3, 4.5, and 6%) of cs were added. the jams were assessed chemically, sensorial, and nutritionally using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. the results showed that the introduction of cs into pj significantly increased protein, ash, and cellulose content from 0.35%, 0.55 and 46.43 of the control to 0.77%, 1.01 and 54.18 of the sample containing 6% cs, respectively. however, ph, acidity, and moisture decreased. similarly, protein, ash, and cellulose in sj jam increased from 0.44%, 0.58 and 14.55 in the control sample to 0.93%, 0.93 and 16.75 in the sample containing 6% cs, respectively. unlike pj, ph and moisture increased with the addition of cs. the antioxidant and total phenol content were not noticeably changed. the sensory data discovered that the addition of cs adversely affected all sensory attributes, parallel with cs addition in both jams, but appearance, color, and taste were more influenced, particularly in pj. the addition of cs in pj increased the content of calcium, iron, and zinc from <0.05 mg/kg (control) to 1121, 6.74, and 2.36, respectively. in conclusion, the data of this study showed that pj and sj can be produced by the addition of as high as 6% cs, with improved nutritional value and acceptable sensorial properties. keywords: chia seed, strawberry, pumpkin, functional ingredient, jams, physiochemical introduction functional foods are defined as food despite having basic nutrients; it offers additional physiological benefits to the body. furthermore, due to the increasing consumers demand for healthy foods due to the current situation of diseases.[1,2] thus, researchers have continuously developing various functional foods, from beverages[3] to cereals.[4] jam is one of the most consumed food products as throughout the years a part of daily meals. it is basically made of fruits with added sugar and some thickening agents (gums). it is prepared by mixing sliced fruits with the aforementioned components and cooking them until the required texture is attained. it can be packaged in cleaned cans and/or jars. despite their popular use in different cultures, jams can be unhealthy food choices, particularly when it is high in sugar and low in other nutrients. especially if less nutritious ingredients are used. the carbohydrate level in jams can reach up to 77.5% with <1% protein and at most 2% fiber.[5] thus, the demand for healthier and functional foods is increasing every day. this can be achieved by using more nutritious components. one of the nutritional approaches to enrich jams with nutrients is adding novel functional nutrient-dense seeds into jams. a number of previous studies have mentioned using various functional ingredients into jams in order improve the quality and functionality of jams such as dietary fiber,[6] flaxseed and plant raw material,[7] cur cumin,[8] and tea extract.[9] consequently, jams can be enriched with functional ingredients as a carrier and vehicle. among these novel functional ingredients are seeds such as chia seed (cs). corresponding author: nawal h. sebo, department of food technology, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: nawal.sebo@su.edu.krd received: november 02, 2023 accepted: february 25, 2024 published: april 10, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp29-35 copyright © 2024 mahmood f. saleem, salar a. ahmed, yaseen galali, nawal h. sebo, ali yildrim, begard s. najmdaddin. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) saleem, et al.: jams supplemented with chia seeds 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 29-35 cs (salvia hispanica) is an unrefined seed with possessing almost 40% of oil with largest amount of omega-3 of α-linolenic acid reaching more than 65%, dietary fiber up to 30% and, proteins up to 25% as well as rich in antioxidant (considered as gallic acid) and minerals including calcium.[10] these nutrients can exert health benefits against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and scavenge free radicals.[11] moreover, cs is free from cholesterol and trans fats, and no side effects have been found.[12] thus, due to health benefits and increasing incidences of non-communicable diseases (i.e., diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease), cs is getting popularity and has been widely used in different processed foods, in cereals and salads, fruit juices, and jams. strawberry and pumpkin jam (pj) are very healthy that are high in nutritious components, including antioxidants (vit c, anthocyanin, and phenolic compounds)[13,14] and possess several health benefits, including lowering the risks of cardiovascular diseases, anti-inflammatory and ant mutagenic properties.[15] that makes it very suitable for jams particularly if used with novel functional ingredients. however, the fortification of jams with novel functional ingredients, particularly seeds, might change the chemical composition, texture, mouth-feel, consistency, and texture as well as general acceptability. therefore, the overall aim of this project is to develop different mixtures of low carbohydrate functional strawberry and pj jams through fortifying with cs and assess nutritional aspects through chemical composition and organoleptic characteristics. the study also substituted sugar with stevia in order to make it less carbohydrate. materials and methods materials fresh strawberries and pj with good quality css, sugar, and glucose syrup were purchased from local markets in erbil. all chemicals used in the study were of food analytical grade. methods preparation of jam jam samples were prepared by washing the fresh strawberry fruit thoroughly, sorting them, and cutting them into two halves. for pj it was washed, peeled, and the flesh chopped into cubic pieces. for every 1 kg of the pieces, 0.4 kg of sugar, 0.2 kg of glucose syrup, and 0.125 kg of water were added (table 1). the mixture was boiled to concentrate the soluble solids to about 68% and obtained the favorite consistency. then, the jam was cooled down to room temperature and filled into previously sterilized bottles, and css was added in concentrations of 1.5, 3, 4.5, and 5% 6. the glass bottles were sealed and stored in a cool, dry place for further assessment. chemical analysis moisture moisture content was analyzed following a standard method (aoac, 2006) using the direct oven method. total soluble solids total soluble solids were determined by measurement of the refraction index with a refractometer at 20°c. the obtained reading was expressed as brix, or percentage of total soluble solids, which was used as an indicator for the end of heating time. titratable acidity titratable acidity was determined by titrating the samples with naoh, in which its required volume was changed to percentages of citric acid.[16] ph determination the ph values of the samples were determined according to the official method of.[17] determination of ash ash content was analyzed by the dry ashing method used by.[17] determination of crude fiber crude fiber was analyzed by the weende method with a dosifiber extractor for the determination of cellulose and fiberlab plant-england according to.[17] approximately 2 g of jam samples were weighed in fiber analyzer tubes (w0). boiling with 100 ml of acid (h2so4 0.128m) at 80°c for 40–45 min. it was then washed with distilled water 2–3 times. again boiling with 100 ml koh 0.223m at 80°c for 40–45 min, then washed with acetone 2–3 times. the samples were dried in a hot-air oven at 150°c for 2 h, cooled, and weighed (w1). the samples were dried, then turned to ash using a muffle furnace at 550°c for 3 h, then cooled and weighed (w2). crude fiber was calculated by the following formula: crude fiber w1 w2 w 1% � � � 0 00 mineral analysis calcium (ca), iron (fe), and zinc (zn) were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (icp-oes) (perkin elmer, usa). an amount of sample (3 g) was digested using the dry ashing method (aoac, 2006). the ash result was then dissolved in concentrated hcl (7 ml) before being diluted to 100 ml with deionized water. the solution was then filtered, and the mineral content was determined using icp-oes. determination of total phenolic content (tpc) tpc content was determined using the folin-ciocalteu method described by.[18] five grams of each jam sample were dissolved in 50 ml of deionized water. the samples were centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 min in a test tube, 0.5 ml of sample, 2.5 ml of 0.2 n of folin-ciocaltio reagent, and 2 ml of (7.5%) sodium carbonate (na2co3) were added, then mixed by vortex for 20 s. the samples were kept in a dark place for 90 min at room temperature. the absorbance of the reaction mixture was then measured at 760 nm against empty distilled water (shimadzu corp. 03531 photometer, model: uv-1280, and serial number: a120655). gallic acid (5–250 mg/l, r2 = 9982) was used as the standard to produce the titration curve. the tpc content of samples was measured in milligrams of gallic acid equivalents (gae) per 100 g of jam sample. saleem, et al.: jams supplemented with chia seeds 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 29-35 determination of antioxidant activity the antioxidant activity of jam samples was measured using a modified version of the method reported by bermúdezsoto and tomás-barberán (2004). jam’s anti-radical action was measured using the 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydryl radical (dpph). the jam sample (10 g) was diluted up to 100 ml with deionized water. then, 0.1 ml of the sample solution was combined with 3.9 ml of a dpph solution (0.0025 mg/ml) diluted using 100% pure methanol. after 60 min of incubation in a dark place at room temperature, the absorbance of the mixture was measured using a spectrophotometer. (shimadzu corp. 03531 spectrophotometer, model: uv-1280, serial no. a120655). instead of jam, methanol was utilized as a control. the equation was used to quantify radical scavenging activity as (dpph%) discoloration: a control – a testantioxidant activity% 100lim a control →∞ = × x sensory evaluation of jam sensory evaluation was conducted in the food technology laboratory by 31 semi‐trained panelists. the panelists were staff and students of the food technology department at salahaddin university. the samples were evaluated for sensory attributes (appearance, color, taste, texture, flavor, spreadability, and overall acceptability) on a nine hedonic scale (1 considered as less liked and 9 highly liked). statistical analysis statistical analysis was done to analyze the data utilizing spss (statistical package for the social sciences v. 21.0, ibm). a complete randomized design (duncan test) test was done to compare variables from different categories. a statistically significant level was set at a level of p < 0.05. results jam composition the photos of both pj and strawberry jams (sj) made with and without cs are presented in [figures 1 and 2], which turned darker with the addition of css with a brix value of around 65 ± 1. proximate chemical analysis to find out the statistical differences between the control and other treatments, a complete randomized design and duncan’s test were applied and the p-value was lower than 0.05, which indicated statistical differences between the control and the treatments. the statistical analysis showed that the percentage of protein in both jams is significantly increasing with the addition of cs. the results showed that the protein content of the controls, pj and sj, were 0.35% and 44%, respectively [tables 2 and 3]. with the addition of cs, the protein content was between 0.58 and 0.93 for pj and 0.44 and 0.93 for sj. the statistical analysis also showed that ph and acidity were significantly affected by the addition of cs. the results showed that the addition of cs to pj increased the ph of the control (5.9 5) to 5.5 (cs 6%) and decreased the acidity from 0.7 to 0.5. furthermore, the addition of cs increased the ph of sj from 3.5 (control) to 3.6 (cs 6%). the data analysis showed that the moisture content is differently affected in pj and sj with the addition of cs. the moisture content of pj (35.9) was decreased to 30.2 with the addition of cs (6%) whereas in sj the moisture was slightly but significantly increased from 33.1 to 33.5. on the other hand, the cellulose content (dietary fiber) and ash content seem to be significantly increasing with the addition of cs. the data showed that the cellulose of pj (control) was 46.43% and that of cs (6%) was 54.18%. moreover, the cellulose content of sj (control) increased to 14.55 and that of cs (6%) to 16.77%. the ash content of pj and sj (control) significantly (p < 0.05) increased from 0.55, 0.58 to 0.76 and 0.93 (cs%6), respectively total antioxidant and total phenolic in both types of pj and sj seem to be significantly different between the controls and the treatments, but it still seems they are close to control. the mineral content of the jams was also assessed using icp-oes, and the results are presented in [table 6]. it can be seen that the addition of cs in pj increased the content of calcium, iron, and zinc from <0.05 mg/kg (control) to 1121, 6.74, and 2.36, respectively. on the other hand, the addition figure 1: pictures of pumpkin jams supplemented with and with chia seed (a) control (no chia seed), (b) 1.5%, (c) 3%, (d) 4.5% and (e) 6% ba c d e figure 2: strawberry jams supplemented with and with chia seed (a) control (no chia seed), (b) 1.5%, (c) 3%, (d) 4.5%, and (e) 6% a b c d e saleem, et al.: jams supplemented with chia seeds 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 29-35 table 2: proximate chemical analysis of pumpkin chemical composition control 1.5cs 3%cs 4.5%cs 6% cs p<0.05 protein (%dry weight) 0.35e 0.47d 0.63c 0.77b 0.89a 0.000 ash % 0.55e 0.82c 0.93b 1.01a 0.76d 0.000 moisture % 35.9a 34.0b 32.5c 30.5d 30.2de 0.000 ph 5.9a 5.6b 5.5e 5.5d 5.5c 0.000 acidity g/100g 0.07b 0.06bc 0.09a 0.06bcd 0.05de 0.004 cellulose (%dry weight) 46.43c 29.86d 49.15b 28.25e 54.18a 0.000 antioxidant* 85.5b 82.0e 86.1a 84.8d 83.8c 0.268 total phenol* 269.3a 248.4b 212.1c 208.4d 193.8e 0.003 brix (°) 65±1 65±1 65±1 65±1 65±1 p>0.05 *mg gae [gallic acid equivalent]/g, cs: chia seed, numbers are mean values±msd, dissimilar alphabetic superscript in one row refers to statistically significant differences among means according to the duncan test (p<0.05). table 3: proximate chemical analysis of strawberry chemical composition control 1.5cs 3%cs 4.5%cs 6%cs p<0.05 protein (%dry weight) 0.44e 0.58d 0.69c 0.81b 0.93a 0.000 ash % 0.58e 0.94a 0.84c 0.61cd 0.93ab 0.000 moisture % 33.1ab 32.5bc 32.1cd 31.2e 33.5a 0.001 ph 3.5cd 3.5c 3.6b 3.3e 3.6a 0.000 acidity (g/100 g) 0.8136d 0.8175c 0.8024b 0.8283a 0.7864e 0.723 cellulose (%dry weight) 14.55e 15.66d 26.16b 15.89c 16.75b 0.000 antioxidant* 98.12abcd 97.68abc 98.35ab 98.55a 98.53df 0.008 total phenol* 1374.5a 1321.6abc 1322.6ab 1241.2abcd 1309.3df 0.020 brix (°) 65±1 65±1 65±1 65±1 65±1 p>0.05 *mg gae [gallic acid equivalent]/g, cs: chia seed, numbers are mean values±msd, dissimilar alphabetic superscript in one row refers to statistically significant differences among means according to the duncan test (p<0.05) table 1: the quantity of row material of pumpkin and strawberry jams treatment pumpkin (g) sugar (g) glucose syrup (g) water (g) percentage chia seed/100 g jam at 65% brix brix (%) control 600 300 150 300 0 65 1.5%cs 600 300 150 300 1.5 65 3%cs 600 300 150 300 3 65 4.5%cs 600 300 150 300 4.5 65 6%cs 600 300 150 300 6 65 treatment strawberry (g) sugar (g) glucose (g) syrup water (g) percentage chia seed/100 g jam at 65% brix brix (%) control 750 300 150 100 0 65 1.5% cs 750 300 150 100 1.5 65 3%cs 750 300 150 100 3 65 4.5% cs 750 300 150 100 4.5 65 6% cs 750 300 150 100 6 65 of cs to sj did not change mineral content. it has been stated that cs is a suitable source of minerals. sensory analysis the results of the sensory evaluation revealed that the addition of cs to jams significantly changed some pj sensory attributes assessed by the panelists [tables 4 and 5]. the results showed that there is an adverse correlation between sensory attribute scores and the addition of the cs level. the addition of the cs significantly (p < 0.05) reduced the sensory scores of appearance, color, and taste from (7.2 ± 1.8), (8.0 ± 1.0), and (6.2 ± 1.7) to (4.3 ± 1.8), (4.4 ± 1.9), and (4.5 ± 2.0), respectively. moreover, all other attributes scores the accepted saleem, et al.: jams supplemented with chia seeds 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 29-35 table 6: mineral composition of pumpkin and strawberry jams supplemented with chia seed minerals pumpkin jams strawberry jam control 1.5cs 3%cs 4.5%cs 6%cs control 1.5cs 3%cs 4.5%cs 6%cs calcium mg/kg <0.05 658.7 330.8 345.1 1121 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 iron mg/kg <0.05 2.586 0.697 0.987 6.743 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 zinc mg/kg <0.05 1.415 0.616 0.528 2.364 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 <0.05 cs: chia seed table 5: sensory attributes of strawberry jam supplemented with different levels cs attributes control 1.5cs 3%cs 4.5%cs 6%cs p<0.05 appearance 7.45±1.3 7.13±1.2 6.58±1.4 5.87±1.5 5.45±1.7 0.000 color 7.71±1.1 7.16±1.3 6.94±1.3 5.55±1.4 5.10±1.7 0.000 texture 7.39±1.0 6.9±1.2 6.35±1.3 5.81±1.5 5.61±1.6 0.000 taste 7.42±1.3 6.84±1.4 6.45±1.7 6.29±1.7 6.16±1.8 0.021 flavor 7.39±1.3 6.87±1.5 6.74±1.7 6.52±1.3 5.94±2.1 0.015 spreadability 7.1±1.4 6.84±1.2 6.68±1.2 6.10±1.2 6.1±1.3 0.022 overall acceptability 7.61±1.0 7.23±1.0 6.94±1.2 6.26±1.3 5.48±1.8 0.000 cs: chia seed table 4: sensory attributes of pumpkin jam supplemented with cs attributes control 1.5cs 3%cs 4.5%cs 6%cs p<0.05 appearance 7.2±1.8* 6.6±1.7 5.7±1.9 5.1±1.6 4.3±1.8 0.000 color 8.0±1.0 6.7±1.9 6.2±1.7 5.3±1.6 4.4±1.9 0.000 texture 6.6±1.6 6.2±2.0 6.1±1.7 5.7±2.0 5.2±2.0 0.107 taste 6.2±1.7 6.1±2.4 5.7±2.0 5.2±2.2 4.5±2.0 0.013 flavor 6.03±1.6 6.03±2.2 5.3±2.1 5.3±1.9 5.3±2.01 0.363 spreadability 5.8±2.0 6.1±1.8 6.2±1.7 6.5±1.4 6.1±1.6 0.653 overall acceptability 7.03±1.5 6.7±1.6 6.1±1.6 5.7±1.7 5.0±1.7 0.000 cs: chia seed, numbers are mean±msd score of (5) and seemed to be acceptable. furthermore, the sensory attributes of sj assessed by the panelists were also significantly (p < 0.05) scored lower on the scale but scored a passing score of (5). however, they were also recorded a better score, and they were higher than pj. this may indicate that the sensory attributes of sj were less adversely affected by the introduction of cs in comparison to pj. discussion jams are one of the most consumed foods that are preferred by many consumers, particularly for breakfast. many fruits and, even sometimes, vegetables are used in jam preparation. this is attributed to their affordability, availability, and sensorial properties.[19] however, the chemical and nutritional aspects of jam are of concern due to the high level of carbohydrates and relatively low level of nutrients. therefore, enriching jams with nutrients dense seeds could be a reasonable way to increase nutrients without compromising their quality. the protein content of the control jams seems to be low (0.35 0-44%) and very close to previous studies who reported protein content in jackfruit[5] and pineapple.[20] this is due to the fact that the basic components of jam (fruit and/or vegetables, sugar, acid, and hydrocolloids) are not the main source of protein. the data showed that the introduction of sc increased protein content parallel to the addition level. cs is a reasonable source of protein, with more than 16% of protein, which makes it richer than most cereals, including barley and wheat. furthermore, cs also contains both non-essential and essential amino acids. consequently, it possesses high-quality protein[21] and can be utilized to enrich low-protein products like jams. due to the high dietary fiber content, the addition of cs to any product can increase the dietary fiber content. it has been reported that carbohydrate content in cs reaches around 42%, with around 82% of which is dietary fiber,[20] and leads to fiber content in pj and sj. cs contains soluble and insoluble dietary fiber; the first one can be fermented once it arrives in the colon, produces short-chain fatty acids, and serves several benefits; the latter one builds bulk in the colon.[4] thus, adding cs to products like jam can increase nutritional value and extend several fiber-related benefits. furthermore, cs also contains several fatty acids, including a substantial amount of α-linolenic and linoleic acids (63.79%) and (18.89%), respectively. therefore, the presence of essential fatty acids, saleem, et al.: jams supplemented with chia seeds 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 29-35 particularly α-linolenic, with that amount can confer healthrelated benefits, including coronary heart disease, and adding to pj and sj can back-up and improve health benefits. the ph and acidity of the jams were very close to their control despite being statistically significantly different. this indicates that the addition of cs did not radically change the taste and rheology of the jams (gel). furthermore, the concentration of sugar (brix) in the jams was similar to the controls, if not better. even the panelists confirmed the result and recorder that the spreadability of the supplemented jams recorded a high liking score, which in pj was better than the control (control recorded 5.8 and 6% cs recorded 6.1). the spreadability and rheology (viscosity) of jams are two of the main factors to assess the quality.[22,23] the results of the sensory attributes of both jams indicated that the chia addition affected the sensory attributes of the jams. the results of pj showed that the addition of 6% significantly changed the sensory attribute liking score, particularly appearance, color, and taste. other sensory attributes, including spreadability, texture, and overall acceptability, were less affected, and all scored a passing score of (5). on the other hand, the sj treatment seems to have a better liking score compared to the control. all the sensory attributes, even after the addition of cs, scored as high as 6% of passing scores. texture and color are two main factors that are of concern by the consumers. only color in pj was adversely affected by the addition of %6 cs, which could mean that more than this amount cannot be tolerated. appearance and taste, like color, were also adversely affected. this might be attributed to the addition of whole black cs. cs flour could have less effects. the effects of cs on flavor could be attributed to the perception of consumers toward the addition of novel ingredients to jams since cs has a bland flavor and does not significantly change the jam’s original flavor. these results are in agreement with a previous study that found cs-affected pineapple jams supplemented with cs.[20] the spreadability is crucially important in jams for consumers since it can affect their performance during eating. the results showed that spreadability seems to be less affected and accepted by consumers, despite adding cs as high as 6%. this can be attributed to the fact that cs contains gums and can form a gelly-like structure when mixed with moisture, which can improve jam spreadability.[24] last but not least, the overall acceptability of the jams was proportional to the addition of cs. thus, control had the highest overall acceptability, and the addition of csd had the lowest but an acceptable and passing score. this could mean that, despite adding even 6% can be acceptable. a previous study also indicated that the addition of 6% of cs had little effect on sensorial properties of pineapple jam.[20] the data also unexpectedly indicated that the addition of cs increased the mineral content of the pj but not the sj. previous research has stated that cs is a rich source of many minerals, commonly calcium, iron, and zinc, with 631, 7.72, and 4.58 mg/100 of cs, respectively.[25] it has also been reported that the presence of several healthy nutrients, including fibers, minerals, proteins, lipids (omega-3), and antioxidants, provides nutritious benefits and exerts several metabolic health benefits.[26] it could be expected that adding novel ingredients to food formulas might impact on acceptability by consumers. particularly, the addition of novel cs into jams has been very recently focused on, and people are not very familiar with. however, it is expected that some undesirable impacts of cs can be accepted due to the nutritional value of cs, which can be used in the food industry and in creating functional and nutraceutical products. conclusion the study was conducted in order to develop and fortify two types of jams with novel functional ingredients like cs. the results of the study referred that the supplementation of cs with pj and sj improved the nutritional value, particularly protein, cellulose, and ash. also, the outcome of the research indicated that, despite adding a new ingredient to the jam’s formula, they were still accepted sensorial by a number of panelists. the results may indicate that although cs delivers several health benefits, but addition of cs might change the preferences of the products, particularly their appearance, color, and taste, as well as their increased mineral content. however, this is less seen in strawberry than in pumpkin and seemed to be more acceptable. this indicates that increasing the amount by 6% might increase nutritional value but compromise quality, sensory, and consumer perception. conflict of interest the authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. 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din, m. alam, h. ullah, d. shi, b. xu, h. li and c. xiao. nutritional, phytochemical and therapeutic potential of chia seed (salvia hispanica l.). a mini-review. food hydrocolloids for health, vol. 1, p. 100010, 2021. https://www.scirp.org/(s(i43dyn45teexjx455qlt3d2q))/reference/referencespapers.aspx?referenceid=1387682 https://www.scirp.org/(s(i43dyn45teexjx455qlt3d2q))/reference/referencespapers.aspx?referenceid=1387682 tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 120 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 120-127 research article stability-indicating and rp-hplc method for analyzing amlodipine besylate in commercially available drug products in kurdistan, iraq faroq o. qasim1, nidhal m. sher mohammed2, nzar i. yousi3, muhammed h. fattah1 1department of horticulture, akre technical college, akre university for applied sciences, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of medicinal chemistry, college of pharmacy, university of duhok, duhok city, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of medical laboratory analysis, cihan university erbil, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract this study aims to develop and validate a stability-indicating hplc method for the simultaneous determination of amlodipine (amlo) in bulk and tablet dosage forms. the method’s goal is to evaluate the stability and degradation of amlo under various stress conditions. the method was optimized using high-performance liquid chromatography (hplc) with a uv detector. the mobile phase consisted of water and methanol in a 50:50 (v/v) ratio. an eclipse xdb-c18 column (4.6 mm × 250 mm, 5 µm) was used for separation. the analysis was carried out at room temperature (25°c) with a 10 µl injection volume, a flow rate of 1.2 ml/min, and detection at 360 nm. method validation was conducted in terms of linearity, precision, accuracy, limit of detection (lod), and limit of quantification (loq). the stability of amlodipine in tablet forms, under various stress conditions (acidic, alkaline, oxidative, thermal, and photolytic), was also evaluated. the finding showed excellent linearity (r² = 0.994) in the concentration range of 5–25 µg/ml. precision was demonstrated by a relative standard deviation (rsd) of less than 0.8%. the lod and loq were found to be 0.65 µg/ml and 2.16 µg/ml, respectively. accuracy was assessed at three different levels, yielding recoveries above 98%. the method successfully detected the degradation products of amlo under the applied stress conditions. the developed and validated hplc method is simple, precise, and accurate for the simultaneous determination of amlodipine in bulk and tablet forms. it is reliable for evaluating the stability and degradation of amlo under different stress conditions, making it suitable for routine quality control and stability testing of amlo-based pharmaceutical products. keywords: quality control, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, development and validation, amlodipine besylate, stability-indicating introduction blood pressure refers to the measurement of the pressure exerted by the heart as it circulates blood throughout the body. when the heart pumps blood, it creates two forms of pressure: systolic pressure (measured at around 140 mmhg) when the heart contracts, and diastolic pressure (measured at around 90 mmhg) when the heart is in a resting phase between beats. when the range is over 140/90 the blood pressure is considered to be higher. the pressure is often written as “140/90” and measured by (mmhg). as getting older the risk of developing high blood pressure increases.[1] amlodipine besylate (amlo) is an antihypertensive calcium channel blocker medication, the chemical structure depicted in figure 1 is that of 3-ethyl (3rs)-2(2-aminoethoxy)4-(2-chlorophenyl)-methyl-1-hydro-pyredine-3-di-carboxylate benzene-sulfonate.[2,3] this drug, part of the dihydropyridine class, is a calcium channel blocker that stimulates the arterial wall muscular relaxation and lowers blood pressure.[3] many methods have been developed and validated for the determination of amlo drug, alone or with other medications, including high-performance liquid chromatography (hplc)[4-8] spectrophotometry,[9-12] thin-layer chromatography,[13,14] and kinetic.[15-17] the stability indicating research investigates the degradation of medical drug products under specific circumstances, such as photo light, acid, alkaline, oxidative, and thermal.[18] it is crucial for demonstrating the specificity of techniques that indicate cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: faroq o. qasim, department of horticulture, akre technical college, akre university for applied sciences, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: faroq.omer@auas.edu.krd received: june 6, 2024 accepted: october 23, 2024 published: november 30, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp120-127 copyright © 2024 faroq o. qasim, nidhal m. sher mohammed, nzar i. yousi, muhammed h. fattah. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. qasim, et al.: stability and rp-hplc analysis of amlodipine 121 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 120-127 stability, providing insight into drug substance breakdown pathways and products, and explaining their structure.[19,20] the current research aims to develop and evaluate a novel analytical technique for routine analysis of quality control using hplc, and a forced degradation investigation of the drug amlodipine besylate in the tablet form in pharmacy. materials and methods chemicals the pharmaceutical active component of amlodipine besylate with a purity of 99% was obtained from awamedica company in kurdistan, iraq. commercial drugs including awalodipine, amloneer, amlo-denk, amlodipine-accord, amipine bioactive, almacor antibiotic, amaday ajanta, and lowvasc-hikma, which are randomly purchased from local pharmacies, are made in kurdistan-iraq (erbil and sulaymaniyah), germany, america, british, india, and jordan, respectively. grade reagents namely sodium hydroxide (naoh) and hydrochloric acid (hcl) were purchased from scharlau (spain), whereas hydrogen peroxide (h2o2) was purchased from roth (germany). solvents, acetonitrile, methanol, and water hplc grade, were purchased from merck (germany). preparing stock and working solutions to prepare a stock standard solution, precisely 100 mg of pure drug was weighed and dissolved in methanol as solvent. the result was then transferred to a volumetric flask of 100 ml, resulting in a concentration of 1000 μg/ml. subsequently, the entire volume was supplemented with solvent till reaching the desired level. the stock standard solution was maintained in a refrigerator to make various concentrations of working solutions. chromatographic conditions the nanodrop spectrophotometer, developed by thermo fisher scientific, has revolutionized ultraviolet (uv)-visible spectroscopy by enabling absorbance measurements from very small sample volumes without cuvettes. the nanodrop quickly gained popularity in labs for its ease of use, accuracy, and minimal sample requirements, becoming essential in fields such as molecular biology and analytical chemistry.[21] a nanodrop spectrophotometer was used to measure the wavelength (λmax) of amlo in the range of 200–700 nm. for this particular situation, it is advisable to use a variety of solvents including methanol, water, acetonitrile, ethanol, and acetone. the system used for analysis is an agilent high-performance liquid chromatography (hplc) instrument supplied with a detector for uv radiation. the chromatographic column used is an eclipse c18 column. the system also includes an autosampler and a binary pump. the specific column used is xdb-c18 with a diameter of 4.6 mm and length of 250 mm, with a specific size of 5 μm. a mobile phase consisting of a 50:50 v/v combination of water with methanol was prepared. 10 min were spent sonicating the mixture and then passed through a 0.45-μm. a 1.2 ml/min flow rate adjustment was made. at a wavelength of 360 nm, the medication showed remarkable absorption. consequently, this wavelength was selected for further investigation, and the study was conducted at 25°c, corresponding to room temperature. method validation the hplc technique for the simultaneous determination of amlo has been evaluated by the international council for harmonization (ich) criteria. the validation characteristics that must be considered include robustness, limit of detection (lod), limit of quantification (loq), specificity, linearity, accuracy, and precision. forced degradation study an hplc system was used to conduct a forced degradation analysis of amlo in the pharmaceutical formulation, subjecting it to various conditions such as acidity, alkaline, oxidation, thermal, and exposure to different types of light (sunlight, uv, and darkness). preparing the stock solution of the formulation accurate weighing was performed on 10 tablets (1.0 g) of commercial forms, where every single tablet contained 10 mg of pure drug. the tablets were then powdered, and an equivalent of 100 mg of amlo powder was placed in a conical flask of 100 ml. the mixture underwent a 10-min sonication after the addition of 25 ml of solvent. the resultant mixture was passed through 0.2 μm of whitman filter paper and transferred into a volumetric flask of 100 ml. the methanol as solvent was added to the flask until it reached the mark, producing a stock solution that included 1000 μg/ml of amlo for each of the eight medication formulations. we used the stock solution of this formulation to create working solutions at various concentrations. preparing the blank solution to prepare the blank solution, 25 ml of each degradation reagent (0.1 and 0.5 n of hcl, 0.1 and 0.5 n of naoh, and 5% and 20% of h2o2), were added into the volumetric flask of 50 ml. methanol was added to fill the flask, and the solution was heated at 80°c. 4 ml of an aliquot was obtained from this solution at various time intervals in separate 25 ml volumetric flasks and neutralized with an appropriate reagent. finally, the volumetric flask was filled to the mark with a methanol. acid and alkaline conditions research on the forced degradation of pharmacological compounds by exposure to acid and base was carried out. 25 ml of the stock solution (100 μg/ml) of drugs was transferred to a volumetric flask of 100 ml, along with 25 ml figure 1: chemical structure of amlodipine besylate qasim, et al.: stability and rp-hplc analysis of amlodipine 122 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 120-127 of 0.1 n and 0.5 n of hcl and naoh, respectively. initially, 4 ml aliquot of this solution was collected and maintained at room temperature for the duration of 4 h. subsequently, another 4 ml aliquot of the same solution was heated at 80°c for the same duration of 4 h. the solvent was added to complete volume after neutralizing with a reagent in a volumetric flask of 25 ml, to obtain a 10 μg/ml concentration of amlo product. oxidation condition follow the same process as described in section 2.5.3. however, h2o2 was used instead of hcl and naoh. photo degradation 25 ml of a working solution of formulations (1000 μg/ml) was added to volumetric flasks of 250 ml to make three solutions with 100 μg/ml of amlo of the two products. these solutions of the two products were left under the sun, dark, and uv light. after that, 5 ml of the exposed solutions were transferred into a volumetric flask of 50 ml. the final volume was made up of solvent to make a solution with 10 μg/ml of the products. thermal degradation a precise amount of 1.0 g (10 tablets) of each product was taken, crushed up, and placed in an oven at 80°c for 10 h. 5 mg of these two products were dissolved in a conical flask with a solvent and sonicating for 10 min. then, put into a volumetric flask 25 ml, and the final volume was made with solvent to make a solution with 10 μg/ml of amlo. result and discussion optimization of chromatographic conditions figure 2 illustrates the highest absorbance and the λmax of amlo at 360 nm. therefore, this specific wavelength was employed for all measurements throughout the study. the objective of applying hplc analysis is to provide a precise method for quantifying amlodipine besylate and its degradation products in pharmaceutical formulations. different ratios of mobile phase were tested to select the best one. a ratio of 50:50 water and methanol was selected as shown in [figure 3], and suitable chromatographic conditions are shown in table 1. several mobile phases were assessed to develop a precise and reliable rp-hplc method for the simultaneous estimation of amlo in local pharmaceutical formulations of awalodipine and amloneer drugs. the impact of different solvents, including water, acetonitrile, and methanol, was examined to determine their influence on the solubility of pure amlo. a quantity of 20 ml of each solvent was utilized to assess the solubility of the pure drug. it was noticed that the pure medication exhibited greater solubility in a mixture of methanol and water compared to other mixtures. method validation method validation is a systematic process of gathering and analyzing data to confirm the reliability and applicability of the analytical method. the proposed method was validated by the requirements established by the ich to assess its performance in terms of linearity, precision, specificity accuracy, lod, loq, and robustness. linearity the linearity method was established by analyzing five distinct concentrations, ranging from 5 to 25 μg/ml as shown in figure 4. it was discovered that the amlo regression formulas were y = 42.183x + 15.009, with a correlation of determination (r2) of 0.994. precision the precision study was assessed by administering five injections of amlo at amounts of 5, 10, and 15 μg/ml, each at three different levels. according to the standard criteria figure 2: ultraviolet-visible spectrum of amlodipine besylate figure 3: chromatogram of amlodipine besylate table 1: optimized chromatographic conditions parameter condition column eclipse c18-column (xdb-c18, 4.6 mm 250 mm, 5 μm) flow rate 1.2 ml/min injection volume 10 μl wavelength 360 nm column temp. 25°c pump flow binary run time 5 min mobile phase 50:50 water: methanol qasim, et al.: stability and rp-hplc analysis of amlodipine 123 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 120-127 set by the ich, table 2 demonstrates good precision, with the rsd values being below 0.4% indicating that the method was stable at the three levels of precision. accuracy the standard addition method was applied for accuracy assessment at the three levels 50%, 100%, and 150%. the method involved adding known concentrations of standard drug solutions to a fixed concentration of the pre-analyzed solution. solutions were prepared in triplicate at each level and measured. table 3 shows that the values of recovery studies were in the acceptance levels of 99.1–99.59, with a low % rsd indicating that the method is accurate. lod and loq lod and loq were determined by calculating the signal-to-noise ratio, with a threshold of 3:1 for lod and 10:1 for loq. the minimum lod threshold for amlo was 0.65 μg/ml, and the minimum loq was 2.16 μg/ml, as shown in table 4. specificity in this study, we introduced starch and lactose into the standard solution of amlo. subsequently, we determined the recovery percentage for three repeated experiments, which yielded a value exceeding 99.00% with a rsd of 0.32. the results show that the presence of common excipients in the formulation did not affect the method’s accuracy and reliability. robustness to evaluate the robustness of the method, small changes in the chromatographic conditions were performed. the flow rate was changed by ±0.2 ml/min, the wavelength was changed by ±0.3 nm, and the temperature of the column oven was changed by ±5°c. as shown in table 5, the method was unaffected by simple changes and has sufficient robustness according to the standard criteria of ich. the proposed method has been validated showing linear, precise, accurate, specified, and robust, with good lod and loq values. this method satisfied with standard requirements of the ich recommendations, making it suitable for use in amlodipine analysis in quality control laboratories and stability indicators. forced degradation study the experiment is designed to apply the forced degradation method to pharmaceutical drugs in kurdistan, iraq, to determine whether the active ingredient will be decomposed when exposed to specific experimental circumstances, involving acid, alkaline, oxidation, thermal, and light. this method has been used to measure the stability of amlodipine in two local commercial products, awalodipine and amloneer, respectively. acid degradation in an acidic condition, the two products were exposed to 0.1 n and 0.5 n of hcl at ambient temperature for up to 4 h at 80°c. table 2: evaluation of precision study no. of injection intra-day (μg/ml) inter-day (μg/ml) repeatability (μg/ml) 5 10 15 5 10 15 5 10 15 1 207.67 416.45 626.49 208.4 417.7 627.9 212.89 420.13 632.44 2 208.12 418.34 626.24 208.3 418.9 627.35 211.3 416.75 631.35 3 207.92 417.76 625.09 209 417.1 628.9 211.76 424.64 628.9 4 207.74 420.74 622.81 207.84 418.4 628.99 209.91 422.4 631.98 5 209.11 418.11 624.56 208 417.9 627.67 210.46 423.9 629.39 mean (%) 208.11 418.28 625.04 208.31 418.00 628.16 211.264 421.56 630.81 standard deviation 0.58 1.56 1.48 0.452 0.69 0.74 1.16 3.2 1.58 % relative standard deviation 0.28 0.37 0.24 0.21 0.16 0.12 0.55 0.76 0.25 table 3: evaluation of accuracy level of recovery (%) conc. given (μg/ml) recovery relative standard deviation % 50 5 99.10 0.28 100 10 99.59 0.37 150 15 99.21 0.24 figure 4: calibration curve of amlodipine besylate qasim, et al.: stability and rp-hplc analysis of amlodipine 124 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 120-127 table 6 shows the degradation of amlo in both products at room temperature before heating. degradation was increased rapidly at 80°c than at room temperature for both products when the incubation period was extended up to 4 h, as shown in figure 5. there was a correlation between the amount of deterioration and the time when medications were exposed to acidic and heat conditions. alkaline degradation in a basic condition, the two drugs were exposed to 0.1 n and 0.5 n of naoh at ambient temperature for up to 4 h at 80°c. table 7 shows the degradation of amlo in both products at room temperature. degradation was increased rapidly at 80°c than at room temperature for both products when the incubation period was extended up to 4 h, as shown in figure 6. the results also showed that under basic and heated conditions, the amlo in the amloneer product degraded less slowly than the awalodipine product. oxidation degradation according to the results of this study, the two products show the highest degradation under oxidative conditions, with 5% and 20% of h2o2 as shown in figure 7. at the ambient temperature, amlo in both drugs began to degrade. the degradation percentage increased up to 4 h after heating at 80 °c, as shown in table 8. photolytic degradation a stress degradation study has been conducted to study the effects of sunlight, uv light, and darkness on amlodipine table 4: lod and loq values parameters value lod pa 42.36 loq pa 106.19 lod 0.65 μg/ml loq 2.16 μg/ml lod: limit of detection, loq: limit of quantification table 6: impact of acid hydrolysis on amlodipine in two products sample conditions of exposure given conc. (μg/ml) founded conc. (μg/ml) percentage of degradation% observation awalodipine 0.1n rt 10 9.77 2.29 no change 4h 80°c 10 7.10 29.04 degrade 0.5n rt 10 8.18 18.22 degrade 4h 80°c 10 5.01 49.88 degrade amloneer 0.1n rt 10 9.06 9.38 degrade 4h 80°c 10 7.54 24.64 degrade 0.5n rt 10 8.08 19.16 degrade 4h 80°c 10 6.31 36.95 degrade table 5: changes in flow rate, wavelength, and temperature flow rate (ml/min) % assay wavelength (nm) %assay column oven temp (°c) % assay 1.0 99.1 363 99.8 20 99.9 1.2 100.1 360 99.95 ambient (25) 100.01 1.4 98.3 357 99.4 35 99.95 average 99.83 average 99.7 average 99.95 rsd% 0.30 rsd% 0.28 rsd% 0.05 rsd: relative standard deviation figure 5: high-performance liquid chromatography chromatograms of acid degradation of awalodipine and amloneer qasim, et al.: stability and rp-hplc analysis of amlodipine 125 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 120-127 table 8: oxidative effect on amlodipine in two products sample conditions exposure given conc. (μg/ml) founded conc. (μg/ml) percentage of degradation% observation awalodipine 5% rt 10 8.29 17.14 degrade 4h 80°c 10 3.93 60.72 degrade 20% rt 10 7.00 29.98 degrade 4h 80°c 10 2.42 75.79 degrade amloneer 5% rt 10 7.96 20.37 degrade 4h 80°c 10 5.88 41.22 degrade 20% rt 10 7.10 28.97 degrade 4h 80°c 10 4.94 50.63 degrade table 7: impact of alkaline hydrolysis on amlodipine in two products sample conditions exposure given conc. (μg/ml) founded conc. (μg/ml) percentage of degradation% observation awalodipine 0.1n rt 10 9.24 7.62 degrade 4h 80°c 10 7.20 28.04 degrade 0.5n rt 10 7.54 24.64 degrade 4h 80°c 10 3.89 61.08 degrade amloneer 0.1n rt 10 9.68 3.23 no change 4h 80°c 10 7.89 21.15 degrade 0.5n rt 10 8.23 17.73 degrade 4h 80°c 10 6.16 38.36 degrade figure 6: high-performance liquid chromatography chromatograms of alkaline degradation of awalodipine and amloneer figure 7: high-performance liquid chromatography chromatograms of oxidative degradation awalodipine and amloneer qasim, et al.: stability and rp-hplc analysis of amlodipine 126 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 120-127 table 10: application of amlo in tablets dosage form tablets added conc. μg/ml founded conc. μg/ml recovery% relative standard deviation % pure drug 10 9.99 99.9 0.063 awalodipine 10 9.91 99.1 0.072 amloneer 10 9.83 98.3 0.063 amlo-denk 10 10.1 100.1 0.050 amlodipine-accord 10 9.91 99.1 0.063 amipine-bioactive 10 9.93 99.3 0.033 almacor-antibiotic 10 9.94 99.4 0.144 amaday ajanta 10 9.89 98.9 0.138 lowvasc-hikma 10 9.99 99.94 0.044 table 9: photolytic effect on amlodipine in two products sample conditions exposure given conc. (μg/ml) found conc. (μg/ml) percentage of degradation% observation awalodipine uv 1 day 10 9.19 8.10 degrade 5 days 10 9.2 8.2 degrade sun 1 day 10 8.79 12.08 degrade 5 days 10 8.51 14.89 degrade dark 1 day 10 9.59 4.08 no change 5 days 10 9.52 4.84 no change amloneer uv 1 day 10 9.42 5.79 no change 5 days 10 9.18 8.16 degrade sun 1 day 10 9.65 3.48 no change 5 days 10 8.72 12.83 degrade dark 1 day 10 9.84 1.56 no change 5 days 10 9.60 3.98 no change products (awalodipine and amloneer). the exposure period was from 1 to 5 days. two products showed slight degradation in uv and sunlight, with <15% degradation over 5 days. the overall results are shown in table 9. thermal degradation the two products of awalodipine and amloneer were exposed to 80°c for 48 h in an oven to study the thermal degradation. the percent of degradation was found to be <5% for both drugs. according to the ich recommendation, these studies showed that amlo remains stable in both products under heating conditions. application to analysis of commercial samples to verify the efficacy of the proposed method, amlo in many commercial formulations was assessed. the determination findings are presented in table 10, indicating a strong agreement between the results obtained using the offered method and the labeled claim. however, in terms of comparison, drug products (awalodipine and amloneer) manufactured in kurdistan/iraq can compete with other companies with their high quality. conclusion an rp-hplc method was developed to determine amlodipine besylate in pure form and commercial products. its rapidity, linearity, precision, accuracy, specificity, robustness, and cost-effectiveness make it suitable for routine analysis and stability testing. a forced degradation study on awalodipine and amloneer revealed that time is the main factor influencing degradation. the outcomes of the present investigation demonstrated the quality of the pharmaceutical specimens qasim, et al.: stability and rp-hplc analysis of amlodipine 127 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 120-127 and the method’s implementations for quality control analysis. the method can be employed for drug analysis during stability studies, improving quality control. acknowledgments the authors are thankful to the university of duhok, college of science, department of chemistry for helping during this study, and many thankful to awa company for supplying gift samples of pure amlodipine besylate. references 1. t. semlitsch, c. krenn, k. jeitler, a. berghold, k. horvath and a. siebenhofer. long-term effects of weight-reducing diets in people with hypertension. cochrane database of systematic reviews, vol. 2021, no. 2, p. cd008274, 2021. 2. s. tatar and s. atmaca. determination of amlodipine in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. journal of chromatography b: biomedical sciences and applications, vol. 758, no. 2, pp. 305-310, 2001. 3. f. o. qasim and n. m. s. mohammed. a nanodrop spectrophotometric method and stability indicating for determination of amlodipine besylate in pharmaceutical formulations of kurdistan of iraq. science journal of university of zakho, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 25-29, 2021. 4. j. s. a. shaikh, s. raut, a. abdul and m. a. a. k. pathan. high performance liquid chromatographic assay of amlodipine, valsartan and hydrochlorothiazide simultaneously and its application to pharmaceuticals, urine and plasma analysis. journal of chromatography b, analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences., vol. 1155, p. 122295, 2020. 5. m. attimarad, k. n. venugopala, n. sreeharsha, b. e. aldhubiab and a. b. nair. validation of rapid rp-hplc method for concurrent quantification of amlodipine and celecoxib in pure and formulation using an experimental design. microchemical journal, vol. 152, no. 3, p. 104365, 2020. 6. a. mohammadi, n. rezanour, m. ansari dogaheh, f. ghorbani bidkorbeh, m. hashem and r. b. walker. a stability-indicating high performance liquid chromatographic (hplc) assay for the simultaneous determination of atorvastatin and amlodipine in commercial tablets. journal of chromatography b, analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences, vol. 846, no. 1-2, pp. 215-221, 2007. 7. a. k. sarkar, d. ghosh, a. das, p. s. selvan, k. v. gowda, u. mandal, a. bose, s. agarwal, u. bhaumik and t. k. pal. simultaneous determination of metoprolol succinate and amlodipine besylate in human plasma by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method and its application in bioequivalence study. journal of chromatography b, analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences, vol. 873, no. 1, pp. 77-85, 2008. 8. h. shamshad, a. naz and a. z. mirza. reverse phase hplc method for the simultaneous determination of cetirizine, verapamil/ diltiazem and amlodipine. analytical and bioanalytical chemistry research, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 139-145, 2020. https://doi. org/10.1007/bf03246509. 9. a. darbandi, m. r. sohrabi and m. bahmaei. development of a chemometric-assisted spectrophotometric method for quantitative simultaneous determination of amlodipine and valsartan in commercial tablet. optik (stuttg), vol. 218, p. 165110, 2020. 10. m. sharma, c. kothari, o. sherikar and p. mehta. concurrent estimation of amlodipine besylate, hydrochlorothiazide and valsartan by rp-hplc, hptlc and uv-spectrophotometry. journal of chromatographic science, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 27-35, 2014. 11. d. kushwaha, s. diwakar, r. k. roy, s. karole, h. kushwaha and p. jain. novel uv spectrophotometer methods for quantitative estimation of concensi (amlodipine 10mg and celecoxib 200mg) using hydrotropic solubilizing agents. journal of drug delivery and therapeutics, vol. 9, no. 4-a, pp. 651-655, 2019. 12. m. attimarad, k. n. venugopala, b. e. aldhubiab, a. b. nair, n. sreeharsha, s. pottathil and s. h. akrawi. development of uv spectrophotometric procedures for determination of amlodipine and celecoxib in formulation: use of scaling factor to improve the sensitivity. journal of spectroscopy, vol. 2019, pp. 1-10, 2019. 13. a. p. argekar and s. g. powar. simultaneous determination of atenolol and amlodipine in tablets by high-performance thinlayer chromatography. journal of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 1137-1142, 2000. 14. d. a. shah, d. v. patel, f. a. mehta, u. k. chhalotiya and k. k. bhatt. high-performance thin-layer chromatography method for estimating the stability of a combination of irbesartan and amlodipine besylate. journal of taibah university for science, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 177-186, 2015. 15. j. lukša, d. josič, m. kremser, z. kopitar and s. milutinovič. pharmacokinetic behaviour of r-(+)and s-(-)-amlodipine after single enantiomer administration. journal of chromatography b: biomedical sciences and applications, vol. 703, no. 1-2, pp. 185193, 1997. 16. a. m. mahmoud, h. m. abdel-wadood and n. a. mohamed. kinetic spectrophotometric method for determination of amlodipine besylate in its pharmaceutical tablets. journal of pharmaceutical analysis, vol. 2, no. 5, pp. 334-341, 2012. 17. b. hemmateenejad, r. miri and r. kamali. a kinetic spectrophotometric method for determination of amlodipine and nifedipine in pharmaceutical preparations. journal of the iranian chemical society, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 113-120, 2009. 18. s. chakraborty, s. sharmin, s. r. rony, s. a. i. ahmad and m. d. h. sohrab. stability-indicating uv/vis spectrophotometric method for diazepam, development and validation. indian journal of pharmaceutical sciences, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 366-373, 2018. 19. f. o. qasim, a. j. m. ameen, k. m. qadirc, m. a. hamid and n. yousif. a simple stability-indicating uv spectrophotometric method developed and validation for detection of paracetamol in (liquid, solid) dosage form and biological fluid: application and comparison. pakistan journal of life and social sciences, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 2838-2850, 2024. 20. m. blessy, r. d. patel, p. n. prajapati and y. k. agrawal. development of forced degradation and stability indicating studies of drugs a review. journal of pharmaceutical analysis, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 159-165, 2014. 21. f. o. qasim, m. a. hami and n. i. yousif. developing and validating a stability-indicating uv-vis nanodrop 2000c method for the simultaneous determination of the anti-hypertensive drug hydrochlorothiazide (hctz) in both bulk and tablet dosage forms. science journal of university of zakho, vol. 12, no. 3, p. 375-381, 2024. 125 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 125-128 research article awareness and commitment to infection control principles among students of the college of dentistry at tikrit university, iraq salaheddin m. shehade1, shatha n. tawfeeq2, hassan m. jindall, mustafa d younus3, noralhuda a. ibrahim4 1department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of basic science, college of dentistry, tikrit university, iraq, 3department of nursing techniques, kirkuk technical medical institute, northern technical university, iraq, 4department of anesthesia technologies, cihan university-erbil, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract many recent studies have shown that many dentists and dental students are at high risk of infection with several serious pathogens during working or training in dental clinics. these significant infections can be prevented by adhering to general safety precautions and applying infection control rules. this study aimed to assess awareness, attitudes, and practices of infection control techniques among senior dental students. at tikrit university, the questionnaire was contained of 20 questions regarding awareness about infection control practices, barrier techniques. the study revealed that 83.8% of the respondent students were aware of standard precautions within the health care setting. about 79% had adequate knowledge about hand hygiene, but 67% of responded participants were exposed to a hand hygiene training course. only 66% of students responded that they are committed to hygienic hand washing before and after contact with patients. 40.7% of responders responded that they wear their laboratory coat outside dental clinics, and 51% of female students wear jewelries and/or artificial fingernails during training in dental clinics. results of this study highpoint the need of persistent education to develop awareness and commitment to infection control principles among students of the college of dentistry at tikrit university. keywords: cross-infection, dental clinics, infection control practice, safety precautions introduction transmission of infectious pathogens between patients and medical staff is called cross-infection and it is common in dental clinics, and may result in serious infections.[1] dental health personnel as well as senior dental students have high risk of infection with blood-borne pathogens, such as hepatitis b virus, hepatitis c virus, hepatitis d virus and human immunodeficiency virus, also they are at high risk of contact with some respiratory pathogenic microorganisms, such as mycobacterium tuberculosis, streptococci, and viruses or bacteria that inhabit the oral cavity and/or the upper respiratory tract.[2] this risk is heightened by unintended injuries caused by dental instruments during different dental procedures and patient treatment in a dental office. these important infections can be prevented using general safety precautions and applying infection control guidelines in addition to specific prophylaxis by vaccination and appropriate post-exposure management. most patients in the dental clinic appear to be in good health with no obvious manifestations of any infectious disease. however, some of them may be a source of infection with important pathogenic organisms, as they may be asymptomatic carriers of these pathogens or have an asymptomatic infection with them. hereafter, hazard controlling policies or standard precautions should not be applied based solely on the patient’s apparent condition.[3] several studies in recent years have shown that many dentists and dental students have been infected with several important pathogens, some of which are blood-borne, such as hepatitis b and c, and some of which are respiratory, such as covid-19. these infections were often transmitted to them from the patient due to their failure to strictly adhere to prevention instructions and infection control principles while working with patients.[4] the possibility of dental students corresponding author: salaheddin m. shehade, department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. email: salaheddin.mohamad@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: october 23, 2025 accepted: november 29, 2025 published: december 20, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp125-128 copyright © 2025 salaheddin m. shehade, shatha n. tawfeeq, hassan m. jindal, mustafa d younus, noralhuda a. ibrahim. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) shehade, et al.: awareness to infection control among dentistry students 126 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 125-128 being exposed to various pathogenic agents, some of which are dangerous, while performing dental procedures during clinical training in the final years of study or after their graduation and work as dentists in their clinics, makes it the duty of dental colleges to spread awareness about infection control and to educate students deeply about the pathogenic agents that can be transmitted to them while working in the clinic and how to prevent them effectively.[5] dental colleges and faculties are accountable for providing appropriate infection control awareness and measures, also they should provide decent training for dental students to protect themselves and their patients, and in the aim of establishing of safer environment in the work. dental colleges and relevant health authorities usually prepare guidelines specifically about the importance of exposure to infections in dental clinics, standard precautions, and infection control procedures. for these strategies and guidelines to be effective and fulfill their intended purpose, students must be followed up and encouraged to understand, comprehend, and adhere to them.[5,6] these strategies typically include standard precautions that target to guarantee a safe working environment and avoid the potential spreading of occupational and nosocomial infections among dental students or dentists and patients. consciousness and amenability with these references are vital for the prevention of occupational infections for healthcare staff, including dentists and dental students. inappropriately, despite the significant highlighting positioned on consistent infection control procedures and measures, it looks that only a small number of dental students and dentists adhered actively to necessary procedures in dental practice.[7-9] several recent researches have shown that several dental students have not constantly accurately followed these measures.[10] proper and effective education about cross-infection in dental clinics may have an important action in the effective preparation of dental stunts and dentists by aiding them to implement satisfactory knowledge and attitudes linked to infection control measures.[11-13] since there are no sufficient studies in iraq on the dental students’ knowledge and awareness about the standard precautions and infection control procedures or the extent of their commitment to these procedures and principles, this study aims to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices of infection control among dental students at tikrit university, iraq. materials and methods this study is a questionnaire-based cross-sectional study, and was accompanied on 250 last dental students, faculty of dentistry, tikrit university, iraq, during the academic year 2024–2025. where dental students start their clinical training in their 4th year of education. a special questionnaire was designed and distributed among 5th-year students (last year of undergraduate education). the anonymous self-administered questionnaire was designed by researchers to cover key points of ipc practices guidelines and was comprised of 20 openand close-ended questions related to awareness, infection control training and practice, the adequate use of personal protective tools, percutaneous, awareness about importance of contact with blood or bloody fluids during treatment of dental patients, and approaches of necessary measures to different types of infections. the questionnaire was distributed to students via email in the form of a google form, and students’ knowledge and awareness about infection control and prevention practices were assessed depending on their answers to the used questionnaire. statistical analysis of the obtained data was accompanied using spss version 20. results the percentage of students, who responded to the questionnaire, completed it, and returned it to the researchers was 84% (211/250) regarding the gender of responded students, they were 84 females and 127 males. the mean age of the responded participant students was 23.16 ± 1.76, extending from 20 to 32 years; 127/211 (60%) were males, and 84/211 (40%) were females [table 1]. regarding general knowledge and awareness about infection control strategies among dental students, results of the study showed that a total of 177/211 (83.8%) respondent students were aware of standard precautions within the health care setting (dental clinics). about 79% (167/211) had adequate knowledge about hand hygiene, but 67% of responded participants were exposed to a hand hygiene training course (141/211). however, only 66% of students (139/211) responded that they are committed to hygienic hand washing before and after each contact with patients or with suspected materials. regarding the minimum time needed for hand washing, 70% of respondents (148/211) responded that the minimum time needed for hand washing is 20 s [table 2]. about using the protective techniques and tools during clinical training in dental clinics, the study reveals that (76.7%) of participant students (162/211) stated wearing gloves all the time during training in dental clinics, while 53.5% reported wearing masks at all times (113/211) [table 3]. regarding to commitment to healthy behavior and attitude during training in dental clinics, 86/211 (40.8%) of responders responded that they usually wear their laboratory coat outside dental offices during training in dental clinics, and 43/84 of female students (51%) responded that they usually wear jewelries and/or artificial fingernails during training in dental clinics. furthermore, 18% of the responders (38/211) sometimes are eating or drinking during training in dental clinics [table 4]. concerning the knowledge and awareness about the transmission modes of some common and important infectious diseases, the study showed that 81.5% (172/211) of responders believe that invasive procedures rise the risk table 1: distribution of the participant students according to gender gender no. % male 127 60 female 84 40 total 211 100 shehade, et al.: awareness to infection control among dentistry students 127 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 125-128 table 4: commitment to healthy attitude during training in dental clinics type of practice no. % wearing a laboratory coat outside the dental clinic 86 40.7 wearing jewelries and/or artificial fingernails during training in dental clinics 43/84 51 eating or drinking during training in dental clinics 38 18 table 2: general knowledge and awareness regarding infection control strategies among responded students type of knowledge or awareness no. % awareness of standard precautions within the health care setting (dental clinics) 177 83.8 having adequate knowledge about hand hygiene 167 79 exposed to a hand hygiene training course 141 67 committed to hygienic hand washing before and after each contact with patients or with suspected materials. 139 66 awareness about the minimum time needed for hand washing 148 70 table 3: using the protective techniques and tools during clinical training in dental clinics type of practice no. % always wearing gloves during training in dental clinics 162 76.7 wearing masks at all times during training in dental clinics 113 53 wearing gloves and masks 147 69 table 5: knowledge and awareness about the transmission modes of some infectious diseases knowledge and awareness about the transmission modes no. % invasive procedures rise the risk of nosocomial infections 172 81.5 transmission of blood-borne infection is possible after a single contaminated needle stick injury 161 76.3 hepatitis b and c can be transmitted through bloody saliva. 47 22 of nosocomial infections, and 76.3% (161/211) responded that transmission of blood borne infection is possible after a single contaminated needle stick injury, while 22% (47/211) of responders think that hepatitis b and c can be transmitted through bloody saliva [table 5]. discussion adequate awareness and a healthy attitude are the main necessities for the prevention of most infectious diseases, especially among healthcare workers and dental medical students.[14-16] in this study, a high rate of questioned students, 84% (211 out of 250), responded to the questionnaire about knowledge and attitudes about infection control measures in dental clinics. the rate of responding male students was higher than the rate among females, but without a significant difference (85% and 78.2 % prospectively). regarding general knowledge and awareness about infection control among dental students, results of the study showed a high percentage of knowledge and awareness among responded students, as (83.8%) respondent students were aware of standard precautions within the dental clinics, and about 79% had adequate knowledge about hand hygiene, but 67% of responded participants were exposed to hand hygiene training course. however, only 66% of students (139/211) responded that they are committed to hygienic hand washing before and after each contact with patients or with suspected materials. despite the high percentage of theoretical awareness, only 65% of students responded that they are committed to hygienic hand washing before and after each contact with patients or with suspected materials. also, the study reveals that (76.7%) of participant students (162/211) are always wearing gloves during training in the dental clinic, while only 53.5% reported wearing masks in the training at all times. this moderate adherence to hand hygiene practice may indicate an important gap between knowledge and practice. this may be due to the lack of good role models for these students among their teachers and supervisors. this perhaps may also be due to the lack of effective monitoring of them while they are training in the dental clinics. similar results were shown in other studies.[17-19] this study showed important unhealthy students’ attitudes and practices during training in dental clinics, as 40.7% of responders responded that they usually wear their laboratory coats outside the dental clinics. about 51% of female students usually wear jewelries and/or artificial fingernails during laboratory sessions. furthermore, 18% of the responders (38/211) sometimes are eating or drinking during training in dental clinics. this may indicate a general lack of adherence to the instructions among many students. it may also indicate a lack of appreciation for the importance of these instructions in preventing infections.[19-22] the study showed moderate percentage regarding the knowledge and awareness about the transmission modes of some important infectious diseases, as 81.5% of responders believe that invasive procedures rise the risk of nosocomial infections, and 76.3% responded that transmission of blood borne infection is possible after a single contaminated needle stick injury, while 22% of responders think that hepatitis b and c can be transmitted through bloody saliva. similar studies showed that a short course of infection control that is provided in most medical schools may not be enough to make all students awarded of infection control measures and safety techniques.[23-26] conclusion this study revealed different levels of knowledge, awareness, and attitude regarding infection control precautions and shehade, et al.: awareness to infection control among dentistry students 128 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 125-128 measurements among students of the dental college at tikrit university, iraq. furthermore, showed insufficient practical adherence to some important precautions among significant proportion of participated students. to improve the safety of dental students during clinical training in dental clinics, we believe that it is essential to begin teaching the necessary basic knowledge about transmission of common and important infections and the principles of infection control and prevention protections during the 1st year of study in the dental college. these educational and awareness programs should be supported by practical commitment to preventive measures by senior colleagues and clinical trainers. understanding and accepting the assurance to preventive and infection control procedures should be a significant aim of education in medical colleges. references 1. o. o. sofola, m. o. folayan, o. o. denloye and s. a. okeigbemen. occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens and management of exposure incidents in nigerian dental schools. journal of dental education, vol. 71, no. 6, pp. 832-837, 2007. 2. d. denault and h. gardner. osha bloodborne pathogen standards. the occupational safety and health administration, united states, 2021. 3. a. amato, m. caggiano, m. amato, g. moccia, m. capunzo and f. de caro. infection control in dental practice during the covid-19 pandemic. international journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 17, no. 13, p. 4769, 2020. 4. c. sotomayor-castillo, c. li, k. kaufman-francis, s. nahidi, l. j. walsh, s. a. liberali, e. irving, a. c. holden and r. z. shaban. australian dentists’ knowledge, preparedness, and experiences during the covid-19 pandemic. infection, disease and health, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 49-57, 2022. 5. r. l. giudice. the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars cov-2) in dentistry. management of biological risk in dental practice. international journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 17, no. 9, p. 3067, 2020. 6. e. yüzbasioglu, d. saraç, s. canbaz, y. s. saraç and s. cengiz. 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a. almutairi. to what extent do dental students comply with infection control practices? the saudi journal for dental research, vol. 8, no. 1-2, pp. 67-72, 2017. 24. o. silva, s. palomino, a. robles, j. ríos and f. mayta-tovalino. knowledge, attitudes, and practices on infection control measures in stomatology students in lima, peru. journal of environmental and public health, vol. 2018, no. 1, p. 8027130, 2018. 25. e. s. halboub, s. a. al-maweri, a. a. al-jamaei, b. tarakji and w. a. al-soneidar. knowledge, attitudes, and practice of infection control among dental students at sana’a university, yemen. journal of international oral health: jioh, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 15-19, 2015. 26. n. el dokky and d. moheb. evaluation of infection control knowledge attitude and practices among a group of egyptian postgraduate dental students. egyptian dental journal, vol. 67, no. 3, pp. 1819-1826, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 26-30 research article epidemiological insights into torch infections in the population of erbil city ameena s. m. juma1, kamgar a. rasul2, muhsin h. ubeid1, shakir m. al-awqati3, tanya s. salih4, muhamed aydin abbas5 1department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of medical microbiology, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of anesthesia technologies, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 4department of physiotherapy, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 5college of pharmacy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract a seroepidemiological study of the torch panel was conducted on inhabitants of erbil city to provide updated baseline data on torch prevalence. 508 individuals were included in this study. 218 (42.91%) were females and 290 (57.09%) were males. their ages ranged from 13 to 63 years, the majority being within the age group (21–30 years), 162 (31.89%) (p < 0.05). 20 individuals (3.94%) tested positive for anti-toxoplasma gondii (tox) immunoglobulin g (igg) antibodies. one of the 20 (5%) tested positive for anti-tox immunoglobulin m (igm) antibodies, who was a 32-year-old female. 128 individuals (25.2%) (all females) tested positive for anti-rubella igg antibodies. 40 individuals (7.87%) were positive for anti-cytomegalovirus (cmv) igg antibodies. one of the 40 (2.5%) also tested positive for anti-cmv igm antibodies, who was a 26-year-old male. 18 individuals (3.54%) tested positive for anti-herpes simplex virus (hsv)-1 igg antibodies. one of the 18  (5.56%) also tested positive for anti-hsv-1 igm antibodies. one 18-year-old male (0.2%) tested positive for anti-hsv-2 igg antibodies, and none were positive for anti-hsv-2 igm antibodies. the results suggest the presence of toxoplasma, cmv, hsv-1, and hsv-2 infections among the community, the majority (p < 0.05) being cmv followed by tox and hsv-1 and finally hsv-2. the positive igg results of rubella are most probably due to the obligatory vaccination program for females. despite the fact that the majority of positive cases were for igg, enhancing vaccination efforts and providing comprehensive health education is crucial for enhancing the well-being of the erbil population. keywords: torch, epidemiology, transmission, prevalence, infectious diseases introduction torch stands for toxoplasmosis, rubella, cytomegalovirus (cmv), and herpes simplex virus (hsv), which are four well-known causes of prenatal illnesses. after pregnancy ultrasound abnormalities are found, a torch serology panel is often utilized for testing maternal primary infections.[1] early recognition and management of congenital infections is important.[2] however, most torch infections, including toxoplasma gondii (tox), rubella virus (rv), cmv, and hsv, are often unnoticed and pose diagnostic challenges due to their frequently asymptomatic nature and moderate to mild pathogenicity.[3] assessing antibodies against torch antigens early in pregnancy improves the evaluation of both maternal immunological state and the related risks of negative pregnancy outcomes.[4] maternal risk factors include missed immunizations, sexually transmitted diseases, and exposures to animals during pregnancy.[5] full screening with the torch panel is not advised for low-risk, asymptomatic expectant mothers.[6] pregnant women without rubella immunity are at an increased risk of congenital rubella infection.[7] in addition to providing comprehensive medical information regarding hospitalized children, this study concentrates on the general screening of torch in women of reproductive age, while congenital and perinatal torch infections are not covered. [8] precise information on the global, regional, and national prevalence of toxoplasmosis during pregnancy is needed to corresponding author: ameena s. m. juma, department of medical microbiology, college of science, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ameena.sabah@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: may 25, 2024 accepted: june 30, 2024 published: july 30, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp26-30 copyright © 2024 ameena s. m. juma, kamgar a. rasul, muhsin h. ubeid, shakir m. al-awqati, tanya s. salih, muhamed aydin abbas. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) juma, et al.: epidemiological insights into torch 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 26-30 treat expectant mothers with the proper care.[9] 1863 pregnant individuals were studied to determine the relationship between torch infections and aberrant pregnancy outcomes. the results showed that torch infection was a substantial risk factor for severe fetal harm in china, particularly congenital deformities.[10] toxoplasmosis is a prevalent opportunistic infection that kills people who are immunocompromised.[11] transplacental transmission is one way that a primary illness in a pregnant woman might infect the fetus.[12] congenital toxoplasmosis in humans has a relatively high morbidity rate.[13] the fetus may suffer serious neurological and ocular effects if the infection is passed from the mother to the unborn kid.[14] a growing amount of data indicates that tox exposure is decreasing in many highincome nations, but the precise causes of this trend are still unknown.[15] german measles, sometimes known as rubella, are a virus that can cause congenital infections and devastating outcomes. for this reason, pregnant women should be especially concerned about this illness.[16] major abnormalities primarily stem from rubella infection during the initial 16 weeks of pregnancy. these abnormalities encompass deafness, eye and cardiovascular defects, central nervous system damage leading to intellectual disability, and a 50-fold elevated risk of lateronset type 1 diabetes.[17] cmv is the most common congenital infection.[18] congenital cmv is the largest cause of non-genetic congenital hearing loss in much of the world, as well as a major cause of neurodevelopmental disorders.[19] hsv causes both oral and genital herpes. hsv could be passed to the fetus, and hsv on an embryo may cause a variety of clinical consequences, including ventriculomegaly, microcephaly, intracerebral calcifications, limb dysplasia, eye problems, and fetal loss.[20] all the previously mentioned results have been among childbearing women. however, scarce data are available regarding torch among the normal population, including males who may be a source of infection to females, especially in erbil city. thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of torch among inhabitants of erbil city and the possible risk factors that lead to these infections. methodology 508 blood samples were collected from randomly selected individuals living in erbil city. all of them were apparently healthy and had no chronic illnesses. the samples were collected during the period of june 2021 and june 2023. each individual provided verbal consent. each person had 5 ml of blood withdrawn from them and transferred into a gel tube to separate the serum. centrifugation was used to separate the serum for 10 min at 2200–2500 revolutions per minute. torch testing was conducted on the serum samples to identify specific immunoglobulin g (igg) and immunoglobulin m (igm) antibodies, employing an accessible commercial rapid strip test (qingdao hightop biotech co. ltd., china), following the instructions of the manufacturer. to analyze the torch igg and igm results, the data were entered into the statistical package for the social sciences version 22 (ibm corp., armonk, ny, usa). a 5% threshold for significance was established, meaning that a p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. results there were 508 participants in this study. of the 508, 218 (42.91%) were females and 290 (57.09%) were males [table 1]. the ages ranged from 13 to 63 year, the majority being within (21–30 years), 162 (31.89%) (p < 0.05) [table 2]. 20 individuals (3.94%) (8 [40%] females and 12 [60%] males) tested positive for anti-tox igg antibodies (one of 20 [5%] 18 years old, 3 of 20 [15%] were [21–30 years], 14 of 20 [70%] were [31–40 years], and 2 of 20 [10%] were [41– 50 years]). one of the 20 (5%) tested positive for anti-tox igm antibodies, who was a 32-year-old female. 128 individuals (25.2%) (all females and all received the rubella vaccine) tested positive for anti-rubella igg antibodies (51 of 128 [39.84%] were [21–30 years], 49 of 128 [38.28%] were [31–40 years], 27 of 128 [21.09%] were [41–50 years], and only one of 128 was 52 years old). 40 individuals (7.87%) (19 [47.5%] females and 21 [52.5%] males) tested positive for anti-cmv igg antibodies (28 of 40 [70%] were [21–30 years], 11 of 40 [27.5%] were [31–40 years], and only one of 40 [2.5%] was in [41– 50 years]). one of the 40 (2.5%) also tested positive for anticmv igm antibodies, who was a 26-year-old male. 18 individuals (3.54%) (8 [44.44%] females and 10 [55.56%] males) tested positive for anti-hsv-1 igg antibodies (one of 18 [5.56%] was 19 years old, 12 of 18 [66.7%] were [21–30 years], 4 of 18 [22.2%] were [31–40 years], and 1 of 18 [5.56%] was [41–50 years]). one of the 18 (5.56%) also tested positive for anti-hsv-1 igm antibodies. one 18-year-old male (0.2%) tested positive for anti-hsv-2 igg antibodies, and none were positive for anti-hsv-2 igm antibodies [table 3]. discussion torch represents a group of pathogens linked to complications and consequences for both unborn and newborn children table 2: age groups of individuals included in studying the prevalence of torch among erbil city inhabitants total samples 508 no. % 13–20 77 15.16 21–30 162 31.89 31–40 147 28.94 41–50 79 15.56 51–60 41 8.07 61–63 2 0.39 table 1: gender of individuals included in studying the prevalence of torch among erbil city inhabitants total samples 508 no. % females 218 42.91 males 290 57.09 juma, et al.: epidemiological insights into torch 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 26-30 table 3: results of torch in individuals included in studying the prevalence of torch among erbil city inhabitants test overall positive no. % no. of igg positive % no. of igm positive % toxoplasma+ve 20 3.94 20 3.94 1 0.20 rubella virus+ve 128 25.20 128 25.20 0 0 cmv+ve 40 7.87 40 7.87 1 0.20 hsv-1+ve 18 3.54 18 3.54 1 0.20 hsv-2+ve 1 0.20 1 0.20 0 0 igg: immunoglobulin g, igm: immunoglobulin m, cmv: cytomegalovirus during pregnancy. elevated risk is particularly associated with primary infections during pregnancy. countries lacking robust disease surveillance systems, the seroprevalence data concerning torch infections are essential for estimating levels of immunity and vaccination. in addition, they help gauge exposure rates and, consequently, the risk of infection during pregnancy. a comprehensive review of the literature covering 30 years was undertaken to identify serosurveys on torch pathogens in southeast asia. the analysis of 96 identified studies revealed variations in the extent of research for different pathogens, with some well studied and others having limited available data. studies from the more developed countries in the region were more prevalent. in addition, seroprevalence data were often restricted to specific geographic regions or cohorts within a country. there was a noticeable scarcity of recent serosurveys, and the overall study quality was frequently deemed inadequate. there is a clear need for well-designed, extensive serosurveys focusing on torch pathogens. if coupled with risk factor analysis, these studies have the potential to direct the creation and application of efficient infection control strategies, especially during pregnancy. furthermore, urgent attention is required for educational programs targeting health-care workers and pregnant women during antenatal care.[21] the study of infectious diseases affecting both mothers and fetuses is vital in the realms of neonatology and obstetrics-gynecology, as it directly affects both fields’ health individuals.[22] such infections are more prevalent among immunodeficient populations, including those hiv infections, organ transplants, and other conditions compromising the immune system.[23,24] this research underscores the importance of conducting serological tests for infectious agents included in the torch panel within the population. this is crucial for assessing the overall health status, particularly among females, and for preventing infections during pregnancy. in our current study, the prevalence of all five agents was relatively low. this may be attributed to the improvement of life quality in erbil city and the increase in education regarding infectious diseases, in addition to the mandatory vaccination programs implemented on all children and adults, especially pregnant women. in a previous study examining the prevalence of torch panel, serum igg testing for infections revealed positive results for t. gondii at 27.4%, hsv-1 at 94.7%, and hsv-2 among women visiting the prenatal care clinic at a maternity hospital in abha, southwest saudi arabia 0.5%, cmv at 100%, and rubella at 88.9%. only 9.5% of serum igm tested positive for cmv.[25] these findings significantly exceed the results obtained in our present study. a nationwide seroepidemiological investigation of torch was carried out among rural women in china to establish foundational data regarding torch prevalence. from 2010 to 2012, 1,541,329 women of reproductive age took part in the survey. anti-cmv antibodies were detected in 602,251 of the samples, 40,055 for anti-tox antibodies, and 858,072 for anti-rv igg antibodies. young individuals (25–34 years) had significantly greater torch prevalence (p < 0.0001). 49,988 (72.2%) of the 69,220 women (4.49%) who had gotten the rv vaccine had gained immunity as a result of it. 6,107 (0.40%) of the 1,541,329 women had positive anti-tox igm antibody tests, while 6,646 (0.43%) had positive anticmv igm antibody tests, indicating tox and cmv infections. these findings were discovered to be lower than in prior research, presumably due to advances in living standards and health practices in china.[26] there are large regional variations in the incidence of torch infections in women who are fertile. for example, the percentage of people who contract tox infections varies from roughly 10% in the us and switzerland to over 60% in iran and indonesia.[27] comparably, cmv infections show variation, with rates as high as 90% in turkey and korea and fewer than 50% in ireland, france, and the united kingdom.[28,29] one of the most populous nations, china, had estimated countrywide seroprevalence rates of 2.3%,[30] 38.6%,[31] and 58.4%[32] for tox, cmv, and rv igg antibodies in 2010 and 2012. in a different study carried out in china, which involved women in the preconception stage. it included igg antibodies for tox, cmv, and rv, which were found in 2,409,137 persons with a prevalence of 3.20% (95% confidence interval [ci]: 3.18– 3.22%), 77.67% (95% ci: 77.62–77.71%), and 76.03% (95% ci: 75.98–76.07%), in tox, cmv, and rv, respectively. for tox, rv, cmv, hsv-1, and hsv-2, the overall igg/igm seropositivity rates in china were 4.35%/0.35, 90%/0.63, 96.79%/0.97, 81.11%/0.14, and 6.1%/0.19%.[3] these figures were considerably higher than those previously reported in croatia.[33] data on the seroprevalence of igg and igm antibodies against torch compounds in romanian women were gathered by a comprehensive analysis. finding population and regional variations as well as related risk factors were the goal. twenty studies were included in the evaluation, and they showed that seroprevalence rates differed across the nation. significantly, compared to bihor, anti-t. gondii igg seroprevalence rates were greater in moldavia and banat, juma, et al.: epidemiological insights into torch 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 26-30 with notable declines in banat. higher t. gondii igg levels were seen in older, multiparous, rural women. anti-rubella igg antibody prevalence was considerably reduced once the anti-rubella vaccine was introduced although recent drops in immunization rates have caused some worry. geographic differences were noted in the seroprevalence of cmv and hsv, with rural areas typically having higher rates of cmv and hsv being influenced by variables including number of sexual partners and education level. in many cases, the simultaneous seroprevalence of several torch components indicates possible shared risk factors.[34] a study similar to the present one was carried out in uzbekistan, focusing on the analysis of torch infections in the republican blood transfusion center among blood donors. out of the 90 donors examined, 66 were men and 24 were women, within the age range of 18–60 years. the study revealed overall seropositivity of 20 (22.2%), 90 (100%), 88 (97.8%), and 90 (100%) for toxoplasmosis, cmv, rubella, and herpes, respectively, based on igg antibodies.[35] the occurrence of rv infection in industrialized countries was shown to be minimal, primarily attributed to vaccination initiatives. however, in various countries, nigeria (97.9%), turkey (96.3%),[36] india (83.4%), and southern italy (85.8%)[37] are among the countries where the frequency varies from 83.4% to 97.9%.[38] several studies have been conducted in erbil city for the prevalence of certain microbial diseases, including torch,[39] hiv, hepatitis b virus, and hepatitis c virus[40,41] in dumpsite workers, all of which 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antibodies among pregnant women in zaria, nigeria. international health, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 156-159, 2010. 39. a. s. m. juma, m. h. ubeid and t. s. salih. anti-toxoplasma, anti-rubella and anti-cmv antibodies in dumpsite workers of erbil governorate. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 85-89, 2019. 40. t. s. salih, a. s. m. juma and m. h. ubeid. occupational exposures and associated health effects among dumpsite workers: a case study of kani qirzhala landfill site, erbil, iraq. cihan universityerbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 1-5, 2021. 41. m. h. ubeid, t. s. salih and a. s. m. juma. hiv, hbs and hcv in dump site workers of erbil governorate. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 20-23, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 1-7 research article real-time vehicles detection using a tello drone with yolov5 algorithm shalaw m. abdallah department of software engineering, koya university, kurdistan region, iraq abstract incorporating unmanned aerial vehicles (uavs) within artificial intelligence systems has given rise to an essential and academically significant approach in the domain of vehicle detection. this study introduces a real-time vehicle detection framework leveraging the you only look once (yolo) algorithm for precise identification of vehicles, employing the camera on the dji tello drone. the research is underpinned by a rich dataset encompassing approximately 2000 images, meticulously annotated with the respective vehicle angles. the framework’s innovation lies in its comprehensive training regimen, encompassing all angles of vehicles: vehicle-front, vehicle-rear, vehicle-above, and vehicle-sides. this holistic approach aims to yield a model capable of accurately identifying and tracking vehicles from a multitude of viewing angles. the choice of the yolo algorithm, further enhanced by ultralytics hub, ensures the robustness and accuracy required for the detection of moving objects. the model’s capability to effectively track objects is a testament to the algorithm’s efficacy. in assessing the framework’s performance, we employed a comprehensive set of evaluation parameters, including mean average precision, precision, recall, and f1 score. this research not only underscores the practicality of uavs in the field of artificial intelligence but also highlights the excellence achieved in real-time vehicle detection. keywords: tello drone, you only look once v5, roboflow, intersection over union, ultralytics introduction the use of drones has become increasingly popular, especially in the military and transportation sectors. we can teach drones how to locate and recognize targets and gather the necessary information about them. we can make drones more advanced and smarter using artificial intelligence-trained models such as you only look once (yolo) and tensorflow. the purpose of this article is to train a yolo model that can recognize all angles of a vehicle for military and traffic use. by training drones to recognize all angles of a vehicle, we can enhance their surveillance capabilities and improve situational awareness in both military operations and traffic management. this advanced technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we gather information and make informed decisions in these sectors. the yolo framework has emerged as a popular opensource deep learning tool for various machine learning applications. initially introduced in 2016, yolo employs a single neural network to perform object identification, categorization, and localization. over the years, yolo has undergone several iterations, with the most recent versions, yolov5 and yolov6/v7, released in 2020 and 2022, respectively, and offering significant enhancements. it’s important to note that versions 6 and 7 were independently developed by different teams and don’t belong to the core yolo series. as of now, yolov5 remains the most widely used among these iterations. yolov5 stands out for several key advantages over its predecessors. these include a reduced model size, increased processing speed, improved accuracy, and seamless integration with the popular pytorch opensource machine learning framework. furthermore, yolov5 introduces ten new types not found in earlier versions, expanding its versatility.[1] in the realm of data science projects, the yolov5 algorithm finds significant utility in categorizing freely available datasets accessible from internet repositories like roboflow.[2] roboflow, a free tool, simplifies the annotation and labeling of images, addressing the complexities of managing large datasets. beyond labeling, the platform streamlines the assignment of images to appropriate classes, project organization, and numerous other workflow tasks, providing comprehensive solutions for data scientists. corresponding author: shalaw m. abdallah, department of software engineering, koya university, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: shalaw.mshir@gmail.com received: august 09, 2023 accepted: november 21, 2023 published: january 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n1y2024.pp1-7 copyright © 2024 shalaw m. abdallah. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ abdallah: vehicle detection with tello drone and yolov5 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 1-7 at the core of yolo’s model is its employment of a single neural network to analyze an entire image. this network partitions the image into grid sections, estimating probabilities and bounding boxes for each section. these bounding boxes are weighted according to their expected probability, allowing the model to consider the global context when evaluating the entire image during testing.[3] in addition, yolo delivers efficient predictions through a single pass, as opposed to repeated analyses required in other systems. it employs three methods for detecting which are as below: 1. blocks of residual (making an s * s grid from the image) 2. regression of bounding box (predict the class, center, width, and height of objects) 3. intersection over union (iou) for checking the way that bbox overlaps and achieves the greatest fit. a fundamental element of yolo is its use of residual blocks to construct an s * s grid from the input image. this grid allows the image to be divided into a set of cells, each responsible for predicting specific class probabilities and bounding boxes. the adoption of residual blocks enables yolo to analyze the entire image in a single pass, making it well-suited for real-world object recognition applications.[4] for object position prediction, yolo employs bounding box regression. this involves estimating the height, width, center, and class of objects. during training, the model adjusts the bounding boxes based on the training data to improve predictions. this fine-tuning enhances the model’s accuracy in predicting object positions in new images. the next critical concept is iou, also known as the jaccard index. iou is a prominent evaluation metric for object detection and is commonly used to measure the similarity between two shapes. it provides a normalized measure that focuses on the areas (or volumes) of the compared objects, taking into account their parameters, such as width, height, and placement of bounding boxes. iou is scale-invariant, making it a valuable metric for various performance assessments in segmentation, object detection, and tracking.[5-7] as previously mentioned, each bounding box (y = [pc, bx, by, bh, bw, c]) in the image comprises features such as the bounding box center (bx, by), class label (c), height (bh), and width (bw). a regression of a single bounding box is employed to predict the class, center, width, and height of objects figure 1. iou attends by below (1): = sec _ ( ) _ ( ) inter tion arear ia iou uion area ua (1) ua = (x22–x21) * (y22–y21) + (x21–x11) * (y12–y11) – ia inter sec tion_height (ih) = min (y12, y22) – max (y11, y21) inter sec tion_width (iw) = min (x12, x22) – max (x11, x21) ia = ih * iw the calculation of iou is represented by (1), where we determine the overlap area between the ground-truth bounding box and the predicted bounding box in the intersection area. the union area covers both the predicted and ground-truth bounding boxes. the resulting iou score, when >0.5, signifies a successful object detection, while values below indicate detection failure.[8] the architecture of yolov5 the network architecture of yolov5 is presented in figure 2. choosing yolov5 as our initial learner has three causes. first, yolov5, much like yolov4, introduces the crossstage partial network (cspnet) into the darknet framework, forming the foundation known as cspdarknet. the incorporation of cspnet is primarily designed to enhance the network’s gradient combinations, all while demanding fewer computational resources. this is achieved by dividing the base layer’s feature map into two distinct parts and skillfully integrating them using a suggested cross-stage hierarchy. notably, cspnet significantly reduces computational overhead, leading to improved speed and accuracy during inference.[9,10] second, yolov5 leverages the path aggregation network (panet) as its “neck” to enhance information flow. panet adopts a novel feature pyramid network (fpn) topology with an augmented bottom-up pathway, facilitating the propagation of low-level features. it further employs adaptive feature pooling, effectively linking feature grids with various levels of features. this design choice enables vital information from every level of features to promptly propagate to the subsequent subnetwork. panet amplifies the utilization of precise localization cues in lower layers, thereby enhancing the accuracy of object localization.[11,12] third, the yolov5 “head,” encompassing the yolo layer, is responsible for producing multi-scale predictions. it generates three distinct feature map sizes, namely 72 × 72, 36 × 36, and 18 × 18, enabling the model to effectively handle objects of various scales, encompassing those that are large, medium, and small.[12] moreover, one of the most captivating features of yolov5 is its versatility in offering ten different types, with the most common ones being categorized into small, medium, large, and extra-large variations. these classifications are distinguished primarily by the number of feature extraction modules and convolution kernels they incorporate. this distinction carries substantial practical implications when working with yolo models, as it directly impacts the model’s capabilities and resource requirements. moreover, these variations in yolov5 also translate into variations in the quantity of neural network parameters. figure 1: example of applying bbox to a grid class abdallah: vehicle detection with tello drone and yolov5 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 1-7 figure 2: the network structure of you only looks once (yolo). (a) cspdarknet. (b) panet neck. (c) yolo head notably, the size of these parameters varies across yolov5s, yolov5m, yolov5l, and yolov5x. the file sizes for these respective versions are approximately 14 mb, 41 mb, 89 mb, and can extend up to 166 mb. these differences in size and complexity provide users with a range of options to suit their specific project requirements and computational resources.[12,13] materials and methods the methodologies and approaches used in this study to locate the top outcome in the selected dataset are presented in this section. the datasets are additionally described in segment 3.1. in segment 3.2, experimenting with the yolov5 on the dataset is given. in segment 3.3, the yolo-trained model is fed to the tello drone. dataset of experimental in the dataset, we have meticulously curated four distinct vehicle classes: “vehicle_above,” “vehicle_rear,” “vehicle_ front,” and “vehicle_sides.” our source of data is the official roboflow universe website, ensuring data reliability. comprising a total of 2000 images, each class is thoughtfully represented with an equal share of 500 images, contributing to a well-balanced dataset. all images have been thoughtfully curated and collected from the roboflow universe.[14] to enhance the dataset quality and uniformity, we’ve harnessed the power of roboflow’s preprocessing capabilities. this crucial step guarantees consistency across the dataset, especially in image dimensions, making it ideal for model training, testing, and validation. the class annotations are meticulously represented as bounding boxes, a common practice in object detection tasks. these bounding boxes have been skillfully converted to the yolov5 format, all within the roboflow universe. furthermore, each image in the dataset has been enriched with bounding box annotations using roboflow annotate. these annotations act as the “answer key” for our computer vision model during training, enabling it to learn and understand each class with precision. as we continue to add more annotated images to the dataset, our model gains access to richer and more diverse data, further improving its performance. figure 3 provides a visual example, shedding light on the dataset’s composition and structure. experimenting the yolov5 on the dataset in this experimental setup, each yolov5s model architecture was diligently trained using the t4 gpu accelerator, a resource generously provided by the google colab platform, readily accessible online. for those interested in replicating this experiment, the entire process is made accessible and straightforward. you can access the notebook code for yolov5 with a free gpu on this link: google colab yolov5 notebook. here are the key steps to train your custom model: 1. cloning yolov5: begin by cloning the yolov5 repository from ultralytics on github. 2. cloning requirements: clone all the necessary dependencies and libraries, such as opencv-python and matplotlib. 3. dataset upload: upload your dataset using the code provided by roboflow. this code facilitates the seamless retrieval and organization of the dataset from the roboflow account where it was created. 4. model training: with the dataset in place, your model is now poised for training. specify the yolov5 variant and set the number of epochs for training. in this particular experiment, 100 epochs were employed, encompassing both small and extra-large types of yolov5. table 1 records the time taken for each model to complete training after 100 epochs: the results suggest that the yolov5s model achieved the quickest training time, taking less than an hour, while yolov5x training proved to be the most time-intensive, spanning approximately 9 h. after the successful completion of training, the trained model is saved in the.pt format, ready to be loaded and utilized with pytorch for further applications. a b c abdallah: vehicle detection with tello drone and yolov5 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 1-7 table 2: commands used to controlling the drone effect command take off e land q move down s move up w move backward down arrow move forward up arrow move right right arrow move left left arrow table 1: the training times for each yolov5 model after 100 epochs symbol model time (h) v5x yolov5x 8.6 v5s yolov5s 0.73 v5 yolov5l 2.1 v5m yolov5m 1.4 tello drone feeding the initial step in connecting with the tello drone involves the integration of another library called “djitellopy.” this library serves as the gateway to interfacing with the drone’s sensors and facilitates control over its movements.[15] the following code snippet demonstrates how to establish this connection: import djitellopy as tello kp.init() me = tello.tello() me.connect() print(me.get_battery()) with this connection in place, the drone is linked exclusively to the host device, which, in most cases, is a laptop, through a wi-fi connection. simultaneously, to effectively load and run the yolo models on any device, we need the pytorch framework.[15] pytorch necessitates access to the internet too; therefore, there will be confusion between loading models and feeding models to the drone. resolving this compatibility challenge involves a specific sequence of actions. the model must be loaded while the laptop is still connected to the internet. once the model is operational, the internet connection can be interrupted, and the laptop is subsequently connected to the drone. an intriguing aspect to note is that the model remains cached in memory, serving as temporary storage and enabling us to retrieve the model without requiring internet access. this cached model can be effortlessly loaded using the pytorch hub. this code below is used to load the model by torch (torch: model = torch. hub.load (“ultralytics/yolov5,” “custom,” path_or_model= “model.pt”) with the model successfully loaded, the next step involves utilizing specific commands to control the drone’s activities. the following commands in table 2 could be employed to commanding the drone and controlling the movements. note: in this step, pycharm serves as the software of choice for model testing. utilizing pycharm, we can effectively evaluate the model’s performance. to initiate the testing process, the yolov5 model must be obtained by cloning or downloading it from the repository accessible through this link: yolov5_drone repository. once obtained, the model files can be uploaded to pycharm. particularly, the.pt file, derived from the final stage of model training, is paramount in this section as it is instrumental in conducting comprehensive testing and assessment. results and discussion our yolov5 model embarked on a rigorous training regimen involving 100 epochs, fed by a dataset comprising 2000 images. this arduous training journey extended over approximately 12 h, with yolov5x, our heavyweight contender, claiming the most substantial share of that time. the colossal yolov5x model boasts a formidable 166 mb of parameters. in our pursuit of exceptional precision, speed was a secondary consideration, ensuring that our primary focus remains on achieving the highest levels of accuracy. for testing purposes, we exclusively scrutinized the yolov5x model, aligning with our precision-driven objectives. however, for a comprehensive comparative analysis, we present the results for all four model variants across the dataset. the performance evaluation of our yolo model extends to an array of critical metrics, including accuracy, mean average precision (map), average precision (ap), f1 score, recall, and precision.[16] precision, one of the fundamental metrics, is derived by dividing the total count of samples classified as positive (regardless of correctness) by the count of positive samples correctly identified. precision serves as a valuable gauge of the model’s proficiency in accurately classifying samples as positive.[17] the below (2) define the precision: = + precision tp tp fp (2) tp is assigned to true positive, when the model accurately predicts the positive class, the result is a true positive. fp figure 3: the dataset example of vehicle detection abdallah: vehicle detection with tello drone and yolov5 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 1-7 assigned to false positive, when the model forecasts the positive class inaccurately, the result is called a false positive.[17] the second metric is recalled, recall is determined by dividing the total number of positive samples by the number of positive samples that were accurately categorized as positive. the recall gauges how well the model can identify positive samples. positive samples are found in greater numbers the higher the recall. to defining recall (3) is used: = + re tp call tp fn (3) here fn false negative, when the model forecasts the negative class inaccurately, the result is known as a false negative. the number of f1 score is from 0 to 1; the greater the value, the better the accuracy of identifying an item. the f1 score indicates how well the model balances its capacity to capture positive cases (recall) and be correct with the cases it captures (precision). the f1 score is calculated as the harmonic mean of precision and recall. it is a widely used statistic for classification models since it assesses the model’s capacity for both recall and precision and yields reliable findings even for unbalanced datasets.[18] for this reason, f1 can assess a model’s recall and precision because of the following derivation (4) method: = + 2*( * re 1_ (pr re ) precision call f score ecision call (4) the final metric is a map, computer vision model performance is measured using map. the mean of the average precision metric over all classes in a model is equal to map. map can be used to compare different iterations of the same model as well as various models on the same job. the range of map measurement is 0 to 1. before showing the equation of map, there are specific metrics that affect the calculating in map. the metrics involve iou, recall, precision, and confusion matrix.[19] in the previous we mention iou, recall, and precision. let us go into the confusion matrix, basicly this elements are explained in table 3. the following four elements are essential for the confusion matrix:[20] true positives (tp): the label was correctly predicted by the model and it matched the ground truth. the appropriate object type and location have been identified by the model. true negatives (tn): neither does the model predict the label nor is it a part of the ground truth. the incorrect class was accurately predicted by the model. false positives (fp): the model predicted a label, but it is not included in the ground truth. the model has either given the incorrect label or recognized an object that is not there. false negatives (fn): although a label is a part of the ground truth, it is not predicted by the model. the model hasn’t picked up on the object. table 3 shows the confusion matrix’s states and labels: now the calculation of the map will be like (5): = = ∑ 1 1 c i map api c (5) here the c refers to the number of the class used in the model, and the api is the average precision of the certain class. ap computes the precision at each threshold as a weighted average, where the weight represents the increase in recall from the previous threshold.[19] the ap will be calculated like (6): ( )= − +∑ ( 1) *ap rn r n pn (6) now that we have a comprehensive understanding of how the model calculates its metrics, let’s delve into the results for the various yolov5 types. table 4 shows the result of yolov5s or the small type. v5s get a good result; 100 epochs are used here with 416 * 416 image sizes. note: the epochs and the image size are standard but they can be changed according to the model. table 5 indicates the final training of v5m, which scores the result that we expected from the training. the model needs around 1 h and 40 min to finalize the training. as a model v5s, here we use a 416 * 416 image size and 100 epochs. table 6 represents the outcome of v5l or the large. here we got an interesting result, but we still need a more table 4: indicator of yolov5s model class precision recal f1 score map (0.5) vehicle_above 0.57 0.70 0.60 0.59 yolov5s vehicle_rear 0.84 0.55 0.66 0.71 vehicle_front 0.88 0.70 0.78 0.75 vehicle_sides 0.87 0.57 0.68 0.60 table 5: indicator of yolov5m model class precision recal f1 score map (0.5) vehicle_above 0.91 0.70 0.85 0.88 yolov5m vehicle_rear 0.66 0.55 0.76 0.87 vehicle_front 0.76 0.70 0.84 0.80 vehicle_sides 0.72 0.57 0.70 0.70 table 6: indicator of yolov5l model class precision recal f1 score map (0.5) vehicle_above 0.90 0.80 0.85 0.88 yolov5l vehicle_rear 0.94 0.87 0.90 0.91 vehicle_front 0.94 0.88 0.91 0.92 vehicle_sides 0.93 0.88 0.90 0.93 table 3: confusion matrix elements matrix name state label label positive tp (true positive) fn (false negative) confusion matrix negative fp (false positive) tn (true negative) abdallah: vehicle detection with tello drone and yolov5 6 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 1-7 accurate outcome. the time spent on training was 2 h and 10 min. the image size and epochs were the same as in previous models. table 7 appears for the model of v5x or the xlarg. the train achieves what we need here in this article, even though it takes us nearly 8 h to finalize the train. we chose v5x as the final model to be used with the drone for detecting vehicles. as a previous type, we used a 416 * 416 image size and 100 epochs. conclusion to summarize what has been discussed in this article, we present a system that can detect vehicles from multiple sides. the sides are classified in the dataset that was collected from the roboflow universe. first, we classified images into four sections (vehicle_above, vehicle_rear, vehicle_front, and vehicle_sides), then annotated all images. next, we performed the pre-processing and saved our dataset in the format of our model, which is yolov5 through roboflow, which plays the main role in this study. yolov5 is one of the versions of yolo that you only look at. v5 has three components: first the csp-darknet53 backbone, second the neck panet model, and third the head. each component has a specific process. v5 has four main types (v5s, v5m, v5l, and v5x), each of which has different parameters. in this article, we train all of them and show the results of the training. the eye camera was a dji tello drone that can be connected with yolo models using the pytorch framework. tello can detect and classify the vehicles correctly based on the yolo model. in the future, the tello drone will be integrated with a tensorflow model and a comparative analysis will be conducted to evaluate its performance against yolov5. the objective is to determine which model is better suited for drone applications. in addition, there are plans to extend the testing of these models to other drones for a more comprehensive assessment. references 1. j. lu, c. ma, l. li, x. xing, y. zhang, z. wang and j. xu. a vehicle detection method for aerial image based on yolo. journal of computer and communications, vol. 6, pp. 98-107, 2018. 2. j. nelson and j. solawetz. responding to the controversy about yolov5. roboflow blog, 2020. available from: https://blog. roboflow.com/yolov4-versus-yolov5 [last accessed on 2023 jan 10]. 3. w. liu, d. anguelov, d. erhan, c. szegedy, s. reed, c. y. fu and a. c. berg. ssd: single shot multibox detector. in: computer vision-eccv 2016: 14th european conference, amsterdam, the netherlands, october 11-14, 2016, proceedings, part i 14. springer international publishing, berlin, pp. 21-37, 2016. available from: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1512.02325.pdf%22source%22 [last accessed on 2023 jan 02]. 4. j. redmon, s. divvala, r. girshick and a. farhadi. you only look once: unified, real-time object detection. in: proceedings of the ieee conference on 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[last accessed on 2023 feb 02]. 16. p. k. yadav, j. a. thomasson, s. w. searcy, r. g. hardin, u. braga-neto, s. c. popescu, d. e. martin, r. rodriguez, k. meza, j. enciso, j. s. diaz and t. wang. assessing the performance of yolov5 algorithm for detecting volunteer cotton plants in corn fields at three different growth stages. artificial intelligence in agriculture, vol. 6, pp. 292-303, 2022. table 7: indicator of yolov5x model class precision recal f1 score map (0.5) vehicle_above 0.97 0.88 0.94 0.93 yolov5x vehicle_rear 0.94 0.94 0.92 0.93 vehicle_front 0.96 0.96 0.96 0.96 vehicle_sides 0.94 0.95 0.94 0.95 abdallah: vehicle detection with tello drone and yolov5 7 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (1): 1-7 17. j. lowe. precision and recall in machine learning. roboflow blog, 2022. available from: https://blog.roboflow.com/precision-andrecall [last accessed on 2023 feb 03]. 18. f. damien, m. u. javaid, n. posocco and s. tihon. anomaly detection: how to artificially increase your f1-score with a biased evaluation protocol. in: joint european conference on machine learning and knowledge discovery in databases. springer international publishing, cham, pp. 3-18, 2021. available from: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2106.16020.pdf [last accessed on 2023 feb 12]. 19. j. solawetz. what is mean average precision (map) in object detection? roboflow blog, 2020. available from: https://blog. roboflow.com/mean-average-precision [last accessed on 2023 feb 14]. 20. q. h. phan, v. t. nguyen, c. h. lien, t. p. duong, m.t. k. hou and n. b. le. classification of tomato fruit using yolov5 and convolutional neural network models. plants, vol. 12, p. 790, 2023. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 19-25 research article knowledge and awareness toward food drug interaction among pharmacists in erbil city behnaz shahrokhisahneh, noor o. ahmed, rangin najmadin, ala h. abdulwahab, sima s. hamasalh department of nutrition and dietetics, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract in the evolving landscape of healthcare, understanding the potential interactions between pharmaceutical drugs and food is imperative yet often overlooked. this study aimed to assess pharmacists’ knowledge of food-drug interactions (fdi) in erbil city, focusing on comprehension, risk factors, counseling practices, and familiarity with drug databases. conducted through a survey-based approach, the research involved 100 pharmacists from varying educational backgrounds, sampled purposively from doctors street in erbil. data collection occurred over 2 months through a self-administered questionnaire comprising 34 questions covering basic fdi awareness and advanced topics. results indicate a correlation between higher education levels and a deeper understanding of fdi, particularly in recognizing specific drug-nutrient interactions. nonetheless, knowledge gaps persist, underscoring the complexity of fdi comprehension. intriguingly, pharmacists with institute certificates exhibited nuanced understanding in certain scenarios, challenging assumptions about the linear relationship between education and awareness. the study emphasizes the necessity for targeted interventions in pharmaceutical education to address these nuances effectively. these findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on fdi awareness among pharmacists, highlighting the importance of continuous education to ensure optimal patient care, treatment efficacy, and safety. keywords: erbil, food-drug interactions, knowledge assessment, patient care, pharmaceutical education introduction in today’s fast-paced world, the use of pharmaceutical drugs has become increasingly common. as individuals seek medical assistance for various ailments, it is crucial to consider the potential interactions between medications and food, which can significantly impact treatment outcomes and patient safety.[1] the complex interactions between the substances we consume and the drugs we take can significantly impact the therapeutic outcomes and potentially lead to adverse reactions or reduced efficacy of treatments.[2-7] food and drug interactions (fdi) arise due to either pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamics mechanisms. pharmacokinetic mechanisms refer to how the body processes a drug, while pharmacodynamics mechanisms pertain to the effects of drugs on the body.[8] various types of food have been demonstrated to impact drug metabolism and absorption.[9] numerous factors contribute to fdi, including the chemical composition of foods, the mechanisms of drug absorption and metabolism, and individual variations in metabolism and genetic predispositions.[4-13] some foods can interfere with drug absorption by binding to or altering the ph of the gastrointestinal tract, thus affecting the drug’s bioavailability. in addition, certain foods may interact with drugs at the metabolic level, either by inhibiting or inducing enzymes responsible for drug breakdown, leading to changes in drug concentration and effects. understanding these interactions is crucial for healthcare professionals and patients to optimize medication regimens and ensure patient safety.[14-17] the intricate relationship between food and drugs, known as fdi, has gained recognition as a critical area of study in healthcare.[18] pharmacists, as frontline healthcare professionals, play a pivotal role in ensuring patients’ wellbeing by possessing in-depth knowledge and awareness of fdi.[19] it is essential for pharmacists to possess a comprehensive understanding of fdi and its implications. despite the growing importance of this subject, limited research has focused on corresponding author: behnaz shahrokhisahneh, department of nutrition and dietetics, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: behnaz.shahrokhi@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: march 29, 2024 accepted: june 23, 2024 published: july 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp19-25 copyright © 2024 behnaz shahrokhisahneh, noor o. ahmed, rangin najmadin, ala h. abdulwahab, suma s. hamasalh. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) shahrokhisahneh, et al.: food drug interaction among pharmacists 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 19-25 assessing the knowledge and awareness levels of pharmacists regarding fdi in erbil city. this article aimed to bridge this knowledge gap by exploring the current understanding and awareness of pharmacists in erbil city regarding fdi, which can provide valuable insights into the extent to which pharmacists in this region are equipped to identify and manage potential fdi risks. enhancing the knowledge and awareness of pharmacists toward fdi is crucial for promoting patient safety and optimizing therapeutic outcomes. by shedding light on the current scenario in erbil city, this study aims to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in fdi research and provide actionable insights for healthcare policymakers, regulatory bodies, and pharmaceutical education institutions. ultimately, it is our hope that this research will foster the development of targeted interventions and initiatives that empower pharmacists to deliver effective pharmaceutical care, ensuring the well-being of the population they serve. materials and methods study design this study employed a survey-based research methodology to assess the knowledge and awareness of fdi among pharmacists in erbil city. the main aim was to investigate the degree of knowledge and awareness among pharmacists of both genders and varying academic backgrounds and to associate their knowledge and awareness with their education levels. study population the study population included male and female pharmacists with different education levels, ranging from certificate holders from institutes to those with bachelor’s degrees and higher education (postgraduate and ph.d.). the pharmacists were selected from pharmacies located on doctors street in erbil city. sampling design and techniques purposive sampling was implemented for this study. a total of 100 pharmacists were selected, comprising 47 males and 53 females. participants were distributed according to their education levels. only those who accepted to participate voluntarily and provided their consent were included in the study. survey structure the survey covered various aspects of fdi, including: • understanding of common drug-nutrient interactions • identification of risk factors • counseling practices • familiarity with relevant drug databases and resources. data collection and analysis data were collected through the administered survey, which was designed to gauge the overall level of knowledge and awareness among pharmacists. the collected data were then analyzed to identify potential areas for improvement in knowledge and awareness regarding fdi. method of data collection the required information obtained using a suitable questionnaire. study pattern: in this study, the required data collected from the pharmacists using a self-administered questionnaire.[20] the data were collected within 2 months (december to february 2022) from the pharmacies in doctors street of erbil city. questionnaire was included 34 questions which could be divided into two different domains: (1) basic and general awareness about fdi and (2) advanced questions about the interaction of different foods with certain drugs. scoring guideline: the overall level of knowledge and awareness about fdi is calculated by summing up all the correct answers. each correct answer scored 1 and each incorrect answer scored 0. the sum of total scores considered as overall fdi knowledge value. the possible range of scores was 0–34 scores. however, the minimum score in our results was 11, and the maximum score was 33. to make comparison between the three groups in terms of the level of knowledge regarding fdi, a range defined: (1) 11–18: low knowledge, (2) 19–25: medium knowledge, (3) 26–34: high knowledge. statistical analysis after data cleaning, data were entered to microsoft excel and then spss (v.16) was implemented for further statistical analysis. the chi-square test and anova test were used for making comparison between the percentage of participants, and the mean of scores, respectively. a p≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. results and discussion drug interactions (di) are the main cause for many issues in pharmacotherapy. changes which occur in these interactions can lead to altered drug effectiveness, increased or decreased drug potency, changes in the way a drug is metabolized or absorbed, or the occurrence of unexpected side effects in effects of a drug or simultaneous administration of another drug may cause di.[21] fdi, herb di, laboratory di, etc. are concepts emerged from the di.[22] the more complicated nature of food with different components increases the risk of food-drug interaction. even fdi might reveal more difficulties than a drug-drug interaction.[23] food-induced changes in drug bioavailability determine the patient’s safety is the first and foremost critical issue in health care system.[24,25] lack of knowledge, or report about fdi, and ignorance may cause irrecoverable health complications.[26] table 1 presents the general information of the participants. required demographic information of the participants including the age, gender, and education level of the participants has been presented in table 1. the study population comprised 45% male, and 51% female pharmacists from different pharmacies from erbil city. a higher percentage shahrokhisahneh, et al.: food drug interaction among pharmacists 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 19-25 of the participants both male and females, belonged to the age range of 20–30 years old (males-87.2%; females-92.5%). the higher percentage of the male participants (44.7%) had a bachelor degree, while a higher percentage of females (41.5%) had only an institute certification in pharmacy. the overall knowledge of the pharmacists with different academic background (institute certificate holders, bachelor, higher education) toward fdi is presented in table 2. the total correct responses to the questionnaire were used as a determinant of overall knowledge of participants regarding food-drug interaction. table 2, displays the knowledge and comparison of fdi among pharmacists with different level of education in erbil city. the percentage of total correct answers to each question among participants is representative of the level of knowledge of the participants in each education group. the differences between the levels of knowledge regarding each question were significant only in q4, q9c, q10f, and q17. it is obvious from table 2 that the higher percentage of pharmacist with higher level of education was aware of the possibility of interaction between mao inhibitors with cheese, processed meats, legumes, wine & beer, fava beans, and fermented products. it is surprising that in certain questions (q9e, q9f, q9g, q10j, q12, q14, and q15) the percentage of total scores of pharmacists with higher level of education were lower than even their institute certificate holder counterparts. conversely, in other questions, the percentage of total correct answers showed an ascending trend in favor of higher-educated pharmacists. however, the differences between the percentages of total scores were not statistically significant. the comparison between the mean of total scores among the pharmacists with different education level has been presented in table 3. it is evident from the table that the mean of total scores was higher for pharmacist with a higher level of education (higher education-20.56±6.206; bachelor-20.48±4.139) compared to their institute certificate holder counterparts (17.97±3.765); this shows that knowledge and awareness of pharmacists with higher education level regarding fdi was higher in comparison with pharmacist with a certificate from institutes. it is interesting that the differences in the mean of total scores were highly significant (pv=0.024). the level of awareness and knowledge of the participants with different age groups is presented in table 4. in general, degree of awareness and knowledge is associated with age. here, in the present study, we investigated the association between degrees of knowledge of participants toward fdi with different age ranges. the mean of total scores compared between participants with age group 20–30, and 31–40. it was surprising that the majority of the participants were belonged to the age group 20–30 years old, and only 10 participants belonged to the age group of 31–40. table 1: general information of the participants n (%) variables gender total male female n-47 n-53 100 education institute 18 (38.3) 22 (41.5) 40 (40.0) bachelor 21 (44.7) 21 (39.6) 42 (42.0) postgraduate 6 (12.8) 8 (15.1) 14 (14.0) ph.d. 2 (4.3) 2 (3.8) 4 (4.0) age 20–30 41 (87.2) 49 (92.5) 90 (90.0) 31–40 6 (12.8) 4 (7.5) 10 (10.0) table 2: comparison of the knowledge of food-drug interactions of pharmacists with different academic level in % q no. level of education among pharmacists chi-square institute bachelor higher education n n=40 n=42 n=18 x2 pv q1 80.0 76.2 83.3 0.428 0.807 q2 77.5 95.2 83.3 5.484 0.064 q3 80.0 92.9 88.9 3.064 0.216 q4 62.5 72.2 92.9 10.944 0.004 q5 37.5 35.7 44.4 0.415 0.813 q6 55.0 61.9 72.2 1.573 0.456 q7 72.5 90.5 88.9 5.232 0.073 q8 40.0 19.0 27.8 4.384 0.112 q9a 65.0 71.4 66.7 0.4.07 0.816 q9b 60.0 69.0 66.7 0.764 0.682 q9c 60.0 83.3 94.4 10.210 0.006 q9d 70.0 66.7 66.7 0.123 0.941 q9e 57.5 61.9 44.4 1.574 0.455 q9f 50.0 52.4 44.4 0.317 0.853 q9g 60.0 59.5 55.6 0.110 0.947 q10a 87.5 97.6 100.0 5.121 0.077 q10b 32.6 40.5 44.4 0.940 0.625 q10c 45.0 54.0 66.7 2.430 0.297 q10d 40.0 47.6 66.7 3.541 0.170 q10e 0.0 2.4 11.1 5.362 0.068 q10f 22.5 52.4 38.9 7.772 0.021 q10g 20.0 35.7 44.4 4.220 0.121 q10h 60.0 64.3 72.2 0.807 0.668 q10i 62.5 52.4 66.7 1.401 0.496 q10j 70.0 66.7 66.7 0.123 0.941 q11 32.5 50.0 44.4 2.630 0.269 q12 47.5 66.7 44.4 4.029 0.133 q13 37.5 35.7 61.1 3.697 0.157 q14 70.0 71.4 50.0 2.888 0.236 q15 57.5 64.3 55.6 0.574 0.751 q16 82.5 83.3 83.3 0.012 0.994 q17 50.0 81.0 72.2 9.148 0.010 q18 52.5 52.4 66.7 1.207 0.547 shahrokhisahneh, et al.: food drug interaction among pharmacists 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 19-25 although the mean of total knowledge scores was slightly higher (20.10±3.281) among elder participants (age group 31–40), however, the differences between the mean of scores statistically were not significant. that could be due to having un-homogenized groups in terms of a number of participants in each group. it could be even more favorable to do the comparison between the level of knowledge and awareness of male and female participants with different age groups, however, due to the lack of a homogenized population groups (uneven number of participant) in each group it is impossible. the degree of awareness and attitude toward fdi has been presented in table 5. it is obvious from table 5 that the higher percentage of pharmacists with different level of education were aware about food-drug interaction but the differences between the three groups in both males and females were not statistically significant. the majority of the participants both males and females stated the importance of knowledge about fdi, hence, it was obvious from table 3 that a higher percentage of pharmacists with bachelor and higher degree emphasized in the importance of knowledge regarding fdi. however, the differences between a number of positive responds to the importance of knowledge regarding fdi in both males and females with different degree certificates were not statistically significant. the level of awareness of the participants with different academic background (institute, bachelor, and higher education) regarding the importance of fdi for elderly people is presented in table 6. higher percentage of pharmacist with master or ph.d degree (higher education level) was aware of the importance of food and drug interaction among the senior citizens due to increasing the likelihood of occurrence of food and drug interaction. in the contrary, the higher percentage of individuals with only institute certificate in pharmacy had a higher level of awareness toward the necessity of fdi for older individuals followed by pharmacist with higher level of education and bachelors. however, the results do not support any relationship between the degree of awareness regarding the importance of fdi for the elderly and the level of education of the participants. the degree of knowledge and understanding of the participants with different academic background about the concept of food-drug interaction has been presented in table 7. it is apparent from table 7 that, a higher percentage of the pharmacists with a bachelor degree and higher (males: bachelor-52.4%, higher education-75.0%; females: bachelor-71.4%, higher education-70.0%) had a better understanding about food and drug interaction compared to their institute certificate holder counterparts. however, the comparisons were not statistically significant. the level of awareness of the participants regarding the factors affecting fdi has been presented in table 8. age of the individuals, drug dosage, and health status are the main factors affecting fdi. it is interesting that a higher number of pharmacists with higher degree (bachelor and above) both males and females were more knowledgeable about factors affecting food and drug interaction compared to their counterparts. level of knowledge of the participants toward food-drug interaction among male and female pharmacist with different education levels is presented in table 9. the knowledge here represents the total correct answers regarding the food and drug interaction. it is obvious from table 9 that a higher number of pharmacists both males and females (male-55.6%; females-63.6%) with a lower education level (institute) had lower knowledge about food and drug interaction. among the participants, pharmacists with the bachelor degree, both males (61.9%) and females (57.1%) had a medium level of knowledge regarding fdi. the level of knowledge of the participants regarding the importance of avoidance of consumption of drugs with certain food items has been presented in table 10. it is evident from table 10 that among males, a higher percentage of pharmacists with a bachelor degree and above (bachelor-66.7%, higher education-75%) compared to their institute certificate holder counterparts were more aware about the importance of not consuming theophylline/nsaid with tea, chocolate, and coffee. however, females with bachelor’s degree were more knowledgeable about the interaction occurs between theophylline and chocolate, tea, and coffee in the body, still the degree of difference in their responses is not statistically significant. likewise, a higher percentage of female participants with a higher degree in pharmacy (bachelor and above) (bachelor-66.7%; higher education-80.0%) revealed to be more aware about the significance of avoidance of ingestion of dairy products with tetracycline and fluroquinolones. however, this pattern was not observed among male counterparts. it was interesting that the majority of participants both male and females with higher degree in pharmacy (bachelor and above) were highly familiar with the importance of prevention of the intake of mao inhibitors and cheese, possessed meats, legumes, wine and beer, fava beans compared to their institute certificate holder counterparts. similarly, the higher percentage table 3: comparison of the overall knowledge of the participants: based on mean±sd total scores q no. level of education among pharmacists anova institute bachelor higher education n n=40 n=42 n=18 f sig. mean±sd 17.97±3.765 20.48±4.139 20.56±6.205 3.888 0.024 table 4: knowledge and awareness of the participants with different age ranges: presented as (mean±sd) variable age range (years) anova 20–30 31–40 f sig. n n=90 n=10 mean±sd 19.42±4.695 20.10±3.281 0.197 0.658 shahrokhisahneh, et al.: food drug interaction among pharmacists 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 19-25 of pharmacists with a higher level of education (bachelor and above) had a better level of understanding about the significance of stopping the consumption of acidic foods with antibiotics. interns showed poor performance in overall fdi, which could be due to a lack of knowledge, awareness, and clinical exposure. table 5: awareness and attitude toward food-drug interactions variables male female institute bachelor higher education institute bachelor higher education n n=18 n=21 n=8 n=22 n=21 n=10 awareness about fdi (being familiar with fdi) yes 15 (83.3) 15 (83.3) 7 (87.5) 17 (77.3) 17 (81.0) 8 (80.0) chi-square χ2=1.263, pv=0.532 χ2=0.093, pv=0.955 importance of knowledge about fdi yes 13 (72.2) 18 (85.7) 7 (87.5) 19 (86.4) 21 (100.0) 9 (90.0) chi-square =1.415, pv=0.493 =2.970, pv=0.227 importance of report about fdi yes 12 (66.7) 20 (95.2) 5 (62.5) 13 (59.1) 19 (90.5) 8 (80.0) chi-square 6.239, pv=0.044 =5.854, pv=0.054 table 6: knowledge regarding the importance of food-drug interactions for elderly variable male female >60 years institute bachelor higher education institute bachelor higher education yes 4 (22.2) 7 (33.3) 4 (50.0) 11 (50.0) 8 (38.1) 4 (40.0) chi-square χ2=2.002, pv=0.368 χ2=0.678, pv=0.713 χ2=1.394, pv=0.238 table 7: knowledge and understanding the concept of food-drug interactions gender male female variable institute bachelor higher education institute bachelor higher education concept of fdi chi-square 9 (50.0) 11 (52.4) 6 (75.0) 13 (59.1) 15 (71.4) 7 (70.0) χ2=1.533, pv=0.465 χ2=0.815, pv=0.665 table 8: knowledge regarding factors affecting food-drug interactions variable male female institute bachelor higher education institute bachelor higher education awareness regarding factors affecting fdi chi-square 16 (72.7) 20 (95.2) 9 (90.0) 13 (72.2) 18 (85.7) 7 (87.5) χ2=1.415, pv=0.493 χ2=4.498, pv=0.106 table 9: level of knowledge toward food-drug interactions (fdi) among male and female pharmacist with different level of education gender male female variables institute bachelor higher education institute bachelor higher education n=18 n=21 n=8 n=22 n=21 n=10 low knowledge 11–18 10 (55.6) 8 (38.1) 3 (37.5) 14 (63.6) 5 (23.8) 4 (40.0) medium knowledge 19–25 8 (44.4) 13 (61.9) 3 (37.5) 8 (36.4) 12 (57.1) 5 (50.0) high knowledge≥26 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) 2 (25.0) 0 (0.0) 4 (19.0) 1 (10.0) chi-square χ2=11.449, pv=0.022 χ2=9.100, pv=0.059 shahrokhisahneh, et al.: food drug interaction among pharmacists 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 19-25 our results were not in line with the results of benni et al. (2012) in terms of awareness regarding cheese reaction[20] which occurs in depressive disorder patients on monoamine oxidase inhibitors as the majority of our population study were aware about this type of interaction. however, it could be due to the population in their study was not comprised of pharmacists but medical doctors and surgeons. it is obvious from table 10 that the majority of female pharmacists with a higher level of education were wellinformed about the importance of avoiding the intake of caffeine consumption with quinidine, diazepam, pseudoephedrine and theophylline due increasing the risk of drug toxicity with symptoms such as nervousness, tremor, and insomnia. however, surprisingly pharmacists with only institute certificate were more educated about the risk of consumption of quinidine, diazepam, pseudoephedrine and theophylline along with caffeine. it is interesting from the result that among the males, a higher percentage of the institute certificate holders were more aware about the increasing the risk of bleeding by increasing the potential of these drugs in terms of stimulating and anticoagulation in multiple ways in the body. conversely, female pharmacist with higher degree had better knowledge regarding the interaction between garlic and ginger with coumarin. the level of knowledge regarding the interaction of different drugs with certain foods has been presented in table 11. the level of knowledge of the participants regarding the possibility of interaction of certain foods with specific drugs has been presented as mean±sd of scores. it is obvious from table 8 that the mean of scores for knowledge regarding the possibility of food and drug interaction did not show significant differences among male and female participants with different education level. conclusion our results indicate that pharmacists with higher academic backgrounds generally possess a better understanding of fdi. this study highlights the necessity to increase knowledge and awareness among pharmacists, as inadequate information about fdis can lead to improper patient counseling and adverse side effects. table 10: importance of prevention of consumption of drug with foods gender male female variables institute bachelor higher education institute bachelor higher education n n=18 n=21 n=8 n=22 n=21 n=10 consumption of theophylline/nsaids with tea, chocolate, and coffee yes 11 (61.1) 14 (66.7) 6 (75.0) 15 (68.2) 16 (76.2) 6 (60.0) chi-square =0.890, pv=0.641 =0.484, pv=0.785 milk and dairy products iron-rich food and supplements with tetracycline and fluro-quinolones yes 14 (77.8) 15 (71.4) 4 (50.0) 10 (45.5) 14 (66.7) 8 (80.0) chi-square =4.005, pv=0.135 =2.070, pv=0.355 mao inhibitors and cheese, possessed meats, legumes, wine & beer, fava beans yes 10 (55.6) 16 (76.2) 8 (100.0) 14 (63.6) 19 (90.5) 9 (90.0) chi-square =5.749, pv=0.056 =5.573, pv=0.062 caffeine consumption with quinidine, diazepam, pseudoephedrine & theophylline yes 14 (77.8) 12 (57.1) 5 (62.5) 14 (63.6) 16 (76.2) 7 (70.0) chi-square =1.889, pv=0.389 =0.804, pv=0.669 garlic/ginger with coumarins yes 14 (77.8) 12 (57.1) 3 (37.5) 9 (40.9) 14 (66.7) 5 (50.0) chi-square =4.136, pv=0.126 =2.900, pv=0.235 acidic foods and beverages, and antibiotics yes 7 (38.9) 11 (52.4) 5 (62.5) 13 (59.1) 11 (52.4) 3 (30.0) chi-square =1.416, pv=0.493 =2.357, pv=0.308 table 11: degree of knowledge about the likelihood of interaction of different food with certain drugs (mean±sd) gender male female variables institute bachelor higher education institute bachelor higher education mean of scores (range of scores 0–7) mean±sd 4.44±1.338 4.48±1.340 4.39±1.614 4.05±1.290 4.81±1.537 4.30±1.418 anova f=0.067, pv=0.796ns shahrokhisahneh, et al.: food drug interaction among pharmacists 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 19-25 the findings reveal a positive association between higher education levels and a deeper comprehension of fdis, particularly in recognizing specific drug-nutrient interactions. however, the knowledge gaps identified among pharmacists with lower educational qualifications emphasize the need for continuous professional development and targeted interventions. education alone is not sufficient; ongoing professional development and specialized training programs are crucial to address specific fdi scenarios and enhance practical application in pharmaceutical care. bridging these knowledge gaps is essential for optimizing treatment outcomes, ensuring patient safety, and maintaining healthcare standards. this research underscores the dynamic nature of healthcare and the importance of continuous learning in the field of pharmacotherapy. it provides a foundation for improving pharmaceutical education strategies to better equip pharmacists in managing fdis. references 1. s. otles and a. senturk. food and drug interactions: a general review. acta scientiarum polonorum, technologia alimentaria, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 89-102, 2014. 2. m. a. elgadir. food-drug interaction and their clinical implications: selected investigations. international journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, vol. 11, pp. 1-5, 2019. 3. s. s. samajdar, s. mukherjee and s. k. tripathi. antimicrobial drug administration and food timings: clinico-pharmacological considerations. exploratory animal and medical research, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 10, 2021. 4. v. pilla reddy, h. jo and s. neuhoff. food constituentand herbdrug interactions in oncology: influence of quantitative modelling on drug labelling. british journal of clinical pharmacology, vol. 87, no. 10, pp. 3988-4000, 2021. 5. e. s. sultan, f. a. el-sahn, e. m. fetohy and d. t. mohamed. knowledge, attitude and practice of physicians and pharmacists working in alexandria governmental hospitals regarding food drug and drug nutrient interactions. journal of high institute of public health, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 121-127, 2021. 6. n. bajj, d. sweidan, m. r. awies, j. barakat and h. al-sayyed. awareness of food-drug interactions (fdis) among jordanian dietitians. in: acm international conference proceeding series, 2021. 7. c. c. diaconu, m. a. cozma, e. c. dobrică, g. gheorghe, a. jichitu, v. a. ionescu, a. c. nicolae, c. m. drăgoi and m. a. găman. polypharmacy in the management of arterial hypertension-friend or foe? medicina (kaunas), vol. 57, no. 12, p. 1288, 2021. 8. y. yang, z. zhang, s. li, x. ye, x. li and k. he. synergy effects of herb extracts: pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic basis. fitoterapia, vol. 92, pp. 133-147, 2014. 9. p. fagiolino, m. vázquez, m. ibarra, c. maldonado and r. eiraldi. drug-drug and food-drug interactions of pharmacokinetic nature. in: adme processes in pharmaceutical sciences. springer, cham. 2018. 10. o. f. ajeigbe, a. o. ademosun and g. oboh. relieving the tension in hypertension: food-drug interactions and anti-hypertensive mechanisms of food bioactive compounds. journal of food biochemistry, vol. 45, no. 3, p. e13317, 2021. 11. i. kose, g. gencyurek, z. a. atan and b. o. elmas. analysis of drug-food interactions in inpatient treatment: a university hospital case. medical research archives, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 2-11, 2021. 12. s. i. oyeleye, o. r. ojo and g. oboh. moringa oleifera leaf and seed inclusive diets influenced the restoration of biochemicals associated with erectile dysfunction in the penile tissue of stzinduced diabetic male rats treated with/without acarbose drug. journal of food biochemistry, vol. 45, no. 3, p. e13323, 2021. 13. s. f. zaidi, r. mgarry, a. alsanea, s. k. almutairi, y. alsinnari, s. alsobaei and k. ahmed. a questionnaire-based survey to assess the level of knowledge and awareness about drug-food interactions among general public in western saudi arabia. pharmacy (basel), vol. 9, no. 2, p. 76, 2021. 14. a. y. abuhelwa, d. b. williams, r. n. upton and d. j. r. foster. food, gastrointestinal ph, and models of oral drug absorption. european journal of pharmaceutics and biopharmaceutics, vol. 112, pp. 234-248, 2017. 15. o. lootens, a. vermeulen, s. croubels, s. de saeger, j. van bocxlaer and m. de boevre. possible mechanisms of the interplay between drugs and mycotoxins-is there a possible impact? toxins (basel), vol. 14, no. 12, p. 873, 2022. 16. l. cheng and h. wong. food effects on oral drug absorption: application of physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modeling as a predictive tool. pharmaceutics, vol. 12, no. 7, p. 672, 2020. 17. á. lópez mármol, p. l. fischer, a. wahl, d. schwöbel, v. lenz, k. sauer and m. koziolek. application of tiny-tim as a mechanistic tool to investigate the in vitro performance of different itraconazole formulations under physiologically relevant conditions. european journal of pharmaceutical sciences, vol. 173, p. 106165, 2022. 18. m. m. rahman, s. m. vadrev, a. magana-mora, j. levman and o. soufan. a novel graph mining approach to predict and evaluate food-drug interactions. scientific reports, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 1061, 2022. 19. w. s. snr, a. bashatah and m. b. a. al-rawi. evaluation of knowledge of food-drug and alcohol-drug interactions among undergraduate students at king saud university an observational study. journal of multidisciplinary healthcare, vol. 15, pp. 2623-2633, 2022. 20. j. m. benni, m. k. jayanthi, r. basavaraj and m. renuka. knowledge and awareness of food and drug interactions (fdi): a survey among health care professionals. international journal of pharmacology and clinical sciences, vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 97-105, 2012. 21. c. palleria, a. di paolo, c. giofrè, c. caglioti, g. leuzzi, a. siniscalchi, g. de sarro and l. gallelli. pharmacokinetic drugdrug interaction and their implication in clinical management. journal of research in medical sciences, vol. 18, no. 7, pp. 601610, 2013. 22. s. p. borse, d. p. singh and m. nivsarkar. understanding the relevance of herb-drug interaction studies with special focus on interplays: a prerequisite for integrative medicine. porto biomedical journal, vol. 4, no. 2, p. e15, 2019. 23. s. p. borse, d. p. singh and m. nivsarkar. understanding the relevance of herb-drug interaction studies with special focus on interplays: a prerequisite for integrative medicine. porto biomedical journal, vol. 4, no. 2, p. e15, 2019. 24. n. makkaoui, a. halaoui, z. atoui, h. siblini, s. habib, h. awada and n. k. zgheib. knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding drug interactions among community pharmacists. journal of public health, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 1357-1363, 2021. 25. r. g. abdulwahid and h. m. ahmed. nutritional characteristics of pregnant women and its relation with anemia during pregnancy in a sample of kurdish women/iraq. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 37-44, 2020. 26. m. y. rashid, a. l. abdulraheem, g. s. hama amin, s. s. weli, r. k. faraj, a. j. muhialdin and s. a. raheem. prevalence of anemia, iron deficiency anemia and its socio-demographic factors among pregnant women in garmian province, kurdistan region of iraq. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 60-66, 2023. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 18-25 research article enhancing energy efficiency in hot climates through wall and roof insulation techniques saya j. rashid, faten r. yaseen department of architecture, college of engineering, salahaddin university, erbilkurdistan region, iraq abstract in the past two decades, energy consumption worldwide has increased by more than 30%. in hot weather countries where temperature reaches high levels, thermal insulation materials have recently been highly considered due to their low thermal conductivity. this results in a substantial reduction in the demand for energy in building hvac systems and its related negative impacts on the surrounding environment. the aim of this study is to determine the optimum construction technique used in buildings to enable energy saving with minimal occupation of space. this research focused on the role of wall and roof materials on the energy efficiency of a building. the research adopted mathematical calculations for finding the u-value of wall and roof insulating materials. the results showed that the cavity walls with insulation material and the cavity roof with air gap and insulation material are optimum solutions to be used in buildings. this study recommended considering long-term energy savings to substantiate the effectiveness of these materials in conserving energy for buildings. keywords: energy efficient, hot climates, insulation techniques, thermal insulation introduction in the past 30 years, energy consumption becomes the most significant issue globally, as the desire in thermal comfort buildings improvement increasingly. this energy is mostly obtained from fossil fuels, which contribute co2 to the atmosphere that can increase the greenhouse effect and promote global warming.[1] energy consumption demand in the iraqi kurdistan region, like in all other countries, has increased gradually. moreover, previous work has shown that residential neighborhoods in kurdistan adopt more than half of the electricity supply (about 60% demand in building) for cooling and heating.[2] applying the strategy of energy efficiency is another alternative to construct buildings in the long sustainable term. the global environment is less affected by minimal energy consumption.[3] the envelope of a building is a crucial component that governs the whole building performance by regulating the interaction between interior environments and adverse external environmental factors that directly influence the energy efficiency of building.[4] as a result of shade temperatures rising between 40°c and 50°c during summer months in the region, the climate inside buildings often becomes undesirable, which means more electricity used for air conditioning to cool building spaces.[1] similarly, the coldness of winter requires more energy for active heating, provided the minimal standards regarding thermal insulation for buildings. the demand for both cooling and heating is much higher compared to what it would have been with better thermal insulation.[5] therefore, improving the overall performance of a building depends on the selection and application of environmentally friendly materials for the building envelope.[6-8] different varieties of insulating materials are available, many of which provide the same insulation properties but vary in price and material content.[9] the thermal performance of a building’s envelope is dictated by the thermal properties of the materials, which are characterized by their capacity to absorb or release solar heat, as well as the overall u-value of the respective layers, including insulation.[10] literature review researches deliberated the energy efficiency in buildings to reduce energy consumption from different visions. pacheco et al. highlight the importance of integrating design corresponding author: saya j. rashid, department of architecture, college of engineering, salahaddin university, erbilkurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: saya.rashid@su.edu.krd received: december 12, 2024 accepted: may 27, 2025 published: july 15, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp18-25 copyright © 2025 saya j. rashid, faten r. yaseen. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) rashid and yaseen: insulation techniques in hot climates 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 18-25 elements such as orientation, shape, envelope systems, and passive heating and cooling techniques to optimize thermal performance and reduce energy consumption.[11] in a related study, al-sanea et al. examined the impact of insulation location on the thermal efficiency of building walls under stable periodic conditions, utilizing weather data from riyadh. the findings indicated that the positioning of the insulation layer showed minimal impact on the daily average transmission load.[12] ghabra et al. found that, through building simulations, thermal material walls with specific glazing characteristics were the most energy-efficient façade for tall residential buildings in saudi arabia, showing the significant impact of façade design on energy efficiency.[6] in addition, other studies have provided empirical evidence that incorporating air gaps within composite walls and optimal insulation thickness drastically reduces heat loss, offering economic and environmental benefits through life-cycle cost analysis.[13] in a related study, li et al. used the inverse parameter estimation method to estimate u-values in solid walls, finding significant deviations in measured values, which suggests that conventional standardizing models may not accurately capture essential building physics.[14] moraekip conducted a performance analysis of various building envelope types in cairo, revealing that conventional external walls significantly contribute to heat transfer. however, introducing thermal insulation blocks resulted in significant improvements in energy efficiency.[15] in another approach, al-yasiri and szabó studied the impact of varying thicknesses of expanded polystyrene insulation combined with phase change materials (pcm) under sweltering summer conditions, using metrics like maximum indoor temperature reduction to assess thermal performance.[7] similarly, vakilinezhad and khabir explored advanced coatings, such as pcms and thermochromic materials, to improve façade thermal performance and energy efficiency, finding that the arrangement of wall layers and insulation thickness had a significant effect on annual energy consumption.[16] furthermore, kaddouri et al. evaluated the effectiveness of bio-based insulation materials – hemp wool, wood fiber, and expanded cork – in a residential building in al-hoceima, morocco, revealing that hemp wool insulation significantly reduced energy demands for both heating and cooling, while improving indoor temperatures throughout seasonal changes.[17] although luo et al. designed specialized walls to simulate the thermal performance of a six-story student apartment model, showing that precast insulation walls with external insulation performed better in terms of thermal efficiency and energy savings than sandwich insulation forms across various climate zones.[8] energy efficiency measures for buildings are approaches through which the energy consumption of a building can be reduced while maintaining or improving the level of comfort in the building. the material is one of the factors that effect on thermal comfort in buildings, also contributing to reducing heating, cooling demand. the objective of this study is to determine the impact of thermal insulation materials in buildings, enabling effective energy savings with minimal occupation of space. this research has focused on the effect of wall and roof materials on the energy efficiency of a building. term definition thermal conductivity (k) thermal conductivity is the rate of constant state transfer of energy (w) through a unit area of a one-meter-thick identical material, directed perpendicular to equilibrium planes, resulting from a unit (1k) temperature gradient across the sample.[18] it measures a material’s effectiveness in conducting heat. thus, comprehending the thermal conductivity values enables a quantitative assessment of the effectiveness of different thermal insulation materials.[10,19-22] thermal conduction c-value thermal conduction, which connoted as c-value, represents the transmission of heat through a solid material, quantified as heat flow (w) per unit surface area of a component, with a temperature differential of 1 k between its opposing surfaces. it resembles thermal conductivity, but pertains to a specific thickness of material. thermal conductance is expressed in watts per square meter per kelvin (w/m2k).[9] thermal resistance r-value thermal resistance quantifies the impediment to heat transfer due to the inhibition of conduction, convection, and radiation. it is a function of the material’s thermal conductivity, thickness, and density. thermal resistance, or r-value, is denoted in (m2-k/w).[10] thermal transmittance u-value thermal transmittance connoted as u-value, quantifies the rate of heat transmission through a building’s external envelope, represented as a u-value. heat consistently travels from warmer areas to cooler areas, with each material in the building’s external envelope conducting heat at varying rates. materials with low u-values transport heat slowly and are hence effective insulators.[21] understanding the method of calculating u-values for a building may be beneficial in relation to efforts aimed at enhancing energy efficiency. the initial step is to determine the thermal conductivity k (w/m k) of each material used in the building.[10] subsequently, compute the thermal resistance r (m2k/w) for each material as outlined below: r t k m k w= ( / )2 (1) where t is the thickness of each material. the u-value of a building element made of multiple layers is given by: = + + + + 21 ( / ) ( 1 2 3 ... 8) u w m k r r r r (2) thermal insulation thermal insulation is a material or a combination of materials that, when properly applied, obstructs the transmission of heat by conduction, convection, and radiation. it obstructs heat flow into or out of a structure because of its high thermal rashid and yaseen: insulation techniques in hot climates 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 18-25 resistance.[10] the interplay of convection, radiation, and conduction determines the total effectiveness of insulation, as shown by the apparent thermal conductivity, which reflects the lack of pure conduction, especially at high temperatures.[22] methodology the research methodology involved analyzing previous research that assessed the properties of materials influencing energy demand and proposed optimal design solutions, while also considering the cost of each material in the local market. this study employed a mathematical methodology to assess the thermal conductivity of construction materials utilized in walls and roofing across several scenarios to determine the u-value for each situation, subsequently comparing these values to identify an optimal design solution for structures. the data were taken in ashrae standard,[23] the u.s. doe standard,[24] and a relevant research study to get approximate results. to obtain the u-value, these steps were followed: 1. determine the thickness of the layers materials with type, and the thickness of each material. 2. determine the thermal conductivity k value for each material, which is taken from the ashrae standard and the u.s. doe standard, then using equation (1) to calculate the r value, r t k m k w= ( / )2 (1), where t is the thickness of each material. 3. determine the u-value by using equation 2 for each case. u r r r r w m k= + + + + 1 1 2 3 8 2 ( ... ) ( / ) (2) 4. comparison between the u-values to obtain the best case. wall walls are a crucial component of a building envelope, serving as barriers against external conditions while providing thermal and acoustic insulation without compromising architectural esthetics. the thermal resistance (r-value) of walls is a vital factor affecting a building’s thermal performance and energy efficiency. a high r-value signifies exceptional insulation efficiency, leading to less energy usage for heating and cooling. an external wall must demonstrate critical attributes such as structural integrity, stability, durability, moisture resistance, and temperature resistance to function properly.[25] external wall insulation is an established method for improving energy efficiency, as it diminishes heat transmission and extends thermal retention within the building envelope.[26] the efficiency of wall insulation is represented by the u-value, which quantifies the rate of heat transfer through a unit area of wall per degree of temperature differential (measured in watts per square meter per kelvin, w/m2·k). a diminished u-value signifies superior insulation efficiency, resulting in decreased thermal transfer through the wall.[21] the present study compares between three types of wall envelopes (traditional wall-cavity wall with an air gap, and cavity wall with insulation material). the u-value of each type was compared to determine the optimum type of wall layer. the ashrae handbook of fundamentals shows comprehensive lists of wall types as well as the thermal properties of building and insulation materials. the properties of wall materials and their costs are shown in table 1.[22-24] traditional wall this wall style is prevalent in areas including concrete blocks of 0.20 m, externally coated with 0.025 m of cement plaster and internally finished with approximately 0.025 m of gypsum, as illustrated in figure 1. the outcome of the u-value is presented in table 2. cavity wall with air space (gap) a cavity wall consists of two walls separated by a continuous air gap and interconnected by metal connections for structural integrity. the thermal resistance of an airspace varies with its thickness. in thinner airspaces, resistance is reduced due to enhanced conduction. in thicker airspaces, convection currents may develop, which can also decrease thermal resistance by facilitating heat transfer. some individuals selected a wall composed of two concrete blocks (0.15m, 0.10m) with an air cavity between them, as seen in figure 2. the value of u for this type is 1.288 w/m2k, as detailed in table 3. cavity wall with insulation material this wall features a double wall system with insulating material located between the layers. this is accomplished by either completely filling the existing cavity, such as through an injection of polystyrene foam, or partially by incorporating a board table 1: properties of wall materials[22] material k (w/m.k) p (kg/m3) c (j/kg.k) material cost ($/m3) insulation ($/m3) hwhcb (200 mm) 1.05 1105 840 plaster board 0.17 800 1090 cement plaster 0.72 1865 840 polystyrene (molded) 0.036 20 1215 42.67 1.60 polystyrene (extruded) 0.032 26 1215 69.33 1.60 polystyrene (injected) 0.032 20 1215 50.67 1.60 rock wool 0.042 30 837 48.00 1.60 glass fiber 0.038 24 837 45.33 1.60 polyurethane (board) 0.024 30 1590 138.67 1.60 rashid and yaseen: insulation techniques in hot climates 21 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 18-25 table 2: properties of the wall materials (authors) material thickness (m) (k) value w/m-k (r) value 2(m k / w) (u) value 2w / m k concrete block 0.20 1.05 0.19 cement plaster 0.025 0.72 0.034 gypsum 0.025 0.22 0.113 inside air 0.13 outside air 0.04 total 0.507 1.972 of insulation material during the construction phase. in the absence of insulation, the entire cavity functions as an air space of limited thickness, across which heat is transmitted through conduction, convection, and radiation.[10] this study selected a wall composed of two concrete blocks, each with a thickness of 0.15 m and 0.10 m, and an insulation cavity of 0.04 m filled with polystyrene between them, as seen in figure 3. the u-value for this kind is 0.46 w/m2k, as detailed in table 4. roof the roof is one of the most critical components of the structure. the thermal insulation of the roof is crucial for minimizing incoming heat change, as significant heat transfer transpires through the roof.[6] generally employed construction techniques in kurdistan mostly utilize reinforced cement concrete as the roofing component, characterized by elevated heat conductivity. moreover, advanced technologies have facilitated the implementation of thinner concrete slab construction, with thicknesses ranging from 0.15 m to 0.20 m. the roof is adjacent to the upper section of the building, serving to shield it from precipitation, wind, solar radiation, and temperature fluctuations. approximately 25% of thermal loss transpires through a building’s roof.[15] a breakdown in the roof design may impact other components of the structure. to enhance roof designs, it is essential to precisely assess the transmission load through roofs under dynamic conditions table 3: properties of cavity wall materials (authors) material thickness (m) (k) value w/m-k (r) value 2(m k / w) (u) value 2w / m k concrete block 0.15 0.96 0.156 concert block 0.10 0.81 0.123 cement plaster 0.025 0.72 0.034 gypsum 0.025 0.22 0.113 air gape 0.18 inside air 0.13 outside air 0.04 total 0.776 1.288 figure 2: cavity wall with air gap (authors) figure 1: layers of traditional wall (authors) rashid and yaseen: insulation techniques in hot climates 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 18-25 table 5: characteristics of roofing materials[12] material k (w/mk) p (kg/m3) c (j/kg k) tile 0.84 1900 840 mortar bed 0.72 1860 840 membrane 0.50 1700 1000 foam concrete 0.20 640 840 reinforced concrete 2.30 2411 800 air space 1.06 1.1 1007 cement plaster 0.72 1860 840 heavyweight concrete 1.73 2243 840 molded polystyrene 0.033 38 1280 table 4: characteristics of insulated cavity walls (authors) material thickness (m) (k) value w/m-k (r) value 2(m k / w) (u) value 2w / m k concrete block 0.15 0.96 0.156 concert block 0.10 0.81 0.123 cement plaster 0.025 0.72 0.034 gypsum 0.025 0.22 0.113 insulation (polystyrene) 0.05 0.032 1.56 inside air 0.13 outside air 0.04 total 2.156 0.46 for various geometrical configurations, insulation types, and environmental factors.[27] table 5 shows the properties of roof material. traditional roof the roof type adopted in kurdistan is mostly a flat roof. the standard materials employed in roofing components in kurdistan include gypsum, reinforced concrete, and tiles, as illustrated in figure 4. the u-value for this kind, based on the calculation standard for each roof layer, is approximately 5.02 w/m2k, as indicated in table 6. roof construction with insulation (polystyrene) this roof style has a typical structure with insulation material, specifically polystyrene, as shown in figure 5. it comprises reinforced concrete with a thickness of 0.15 m. the u-value is around 4.21 w/m2k. table 7. cavity roof with air gap this style of roof has a concrete slab with a thickness of 0.15 m, featuring an air gap and a suspended ceiling [figure 6]. the u-value is 3.96 w/m2k [table 8]. cavity roof with air and insulation this type of roof is similar to a cavity roof, including an air gap, with the additional incorporation of insulation material as shown in figure 7. as a result, the u-value is (0.55 w m k/ 2 ) as shown in table 9. results and discussion this study employs the u-value as the principal criterion for assessing the thermal performance and energy efficiency of building materials. the data presented in table 10 highlights the greater thermal sensitivity of roofs compared to walls, emphasizing the critical role of roof insulation in energy conservation. the u-value of typical walls is 1.97 w/m2·k, whereas cavity walls with airspace and walls with insulation demonstrate enhanced performance, with u-values of 1.28 w/m2·k and 0.46 w/m2·k, respectively. these findings confirm that insulated cavity walls offer markedly superior thermal efficiency, substantially reducing heat transfer and energy demand. the study indicates that u-values for roofs vary significantly based on material characteristics and design combinations. the traditional roof has a u-value of 5.02 w/m2·k, highlighting its limited thermal resistance. in contrast, roofs incorporating polystyrene insulation achieve a modest improvement, with a u-value of 4.21 w/m2·k. further reductions are observed in cavity roofs with an air gap, with a u-value of 3.96 w/m2·k. the optimal configuration is the figure 3: cavity wall with insulation material (authors) rashid and yaseen: insulation techniques in hot climates 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 18-25 table 6: characteristics of conventional roofing materials (authors) material thickness (m) (k) value w/m-k (r) value (m k / w)2 (u) value w / m k2 tiles 0.03 0.84 0.035 mortar bed 0.05 0.72 0.07 gypsum plaster 0.025 0.72 0.034 reinforce concrete 0.15 2.30 0.06 total 0.199 5.02 table 7: properties of roof with insulation material (authors) material thickness (m) (k) value w/m-k (r) value (m k / w)2 (u) value w / m k2 tiles 0.03 0.84 0.035 mortar bed 0.05 0.72 0.069 gypsum plaster 0.025 0.72 0.034 reinforced concrete 0.15 2.30 0.065 insulation (polystyrene) 0.05 1.557 0.033 0.237 4.21 cavity roof featuring both an air gap and insulation, resulting in a remarkably low u-value of 0.55 w/m2·k. the comparison research highlights the substantial benefits of insulated cavity roofs compared to other options, since they significantly improve thermal resistance and decrease the consumption of energy. these results validate the critical importance of integrating advanced insulation figure 4: conventional roof layers material (authors) figure 6: cavity roof with air gap (authors) figure 5: roof with insulation polystyrene (authors) figure 7: cavity roof with airspace and insulation material (authors) rashid and yaseen: insulation techniques in hot climates 24 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 18-25 table 8: properties of roof material with air gap (authors) material thickness (m) (k) value w/m-k (r) value (m k / w)2 (u) value w / m k2 tiles 0.03 0.84 0.035 mortar bed 0.05 0.72 0.069 gypsum spending 0.025 0.72 0.034 reinforce concrete 0.15 2.30 0.065 air gap 0.05 1.06 0.047 0.252 3.96 table 10: results of the u-value of wall and roof (authors) types name (u) value w / m k2 types of wall construction traditional wall 1.97 cavity wall with air gap 1.28 cavity wall with insulation 0.46 types of roof construction traditional roof 5.02 roof construction with insulation (styropor) 4.21 cavity roof with air gap 3.96 cavity roof with air and insulation 0.55 table 9: properties roof with air gap and insulation material (authors) material thickness (m) (k) value w/m-k (r) value (m k / w)2 (u) value w / m k2 tiles 0.03 0.84 0. 035 mortar bed 0.05 0.72 0. 069 gypsum spending 0.025 0.72 0. 034 reinforce concrete 0.15 2.30 0. 065 air gap 0.05 1.06 0. 047 insulation (styropor) 0.05 0.032 1. 56 1. 81 0.55 techniques in both wall and roof designs to achieve optimal energy efficiency in buildings, particularly in hot climate regions. conclusion present research indicates that a lower u-value of materials correlates with a reduced heating load in buildings, and conversely, a higher u-value result in an increased heating load. this study has concentrated on the insulating materials accessible in the kurdistan market. during the assessment of thermal conductivity values of materials in walls and roofs, various scenarios with distinct outcomes were noted. the optimal performance of the wall and roof depicted in figure 8 is achieved with a cavity wall incorporating polystyrene insulation, exhibiting a u-value of 0.46 w/m2k, and a cavity roof featuring an air gap and polystyrene insulation, which has a u-value of 0.55 w/m2k, both proving more effective than conventional methods. moreover, substantial disparities were noted between the insulated cavity wall and the insulated cavity roof. prioritizing insulating materials and other solutions, such as cavity systems with insulation materials, which is advisable to successfully lower u-values and improve energy efficiency in buildings. the thermal insulation within a structure is crucial for energy conservation. the conventional roof and wall components elevated total thermal transmittance; however, the incorporation of insulation in these parts of building decreases the u-factor. this research recommended that material selection should consider longterm energy savings to substantiate the effectiveness of these materials in energy conservation for buildings. references 1. d. mazzeo, g. oliveti and n. arcuri. definition of a new set of parameters for the dynamic thermal characterization of pcm layers in the presence of one or more liquid-solid interfaces. energy build, vol. 141, pp. 379-396, 2017. 2. krg ministry of planning and undp. building the kurdistan figure 8: optimum solution of wall and roof (authors) rashid and yaseen: insulation techniques in hot climates 25 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 18-25 region of building the kurdistan region of iraq. in: empowered lives. resilient nations. krg ministry of planning and undp, new york, 2012. 3. r. a. kudhaer, m. m. salman and h. k. jarallah. review of the use of sustainable materials in the production of building units. journal of engineering and sustainable development, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 550-560, 2024. 4. f. kuznik and j. virgone. experimental assessment of a phase change material for wall building use. applied energy,elsevier, vol. 86, no. 10, pp. 2038-2046, 2009. 5. i. abdulrahman. energy efficient buildings in a hot and dry climate: improvement of traditional houses in kurdistan region; 2014. available from: https://api.semanticscholar.org/ corpusid:128043658 [last accessed on 2023 apr 06]. 6. n. ghabra, l. rodrigues and p. oldfield. the impact of the building envelope on the energy efficiency of residential tall buildings in saudi arabia. international journal of low carbon technologies, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 411-419, 2017. 7. q. al-yasiri and m. szabó. building envelope-combined phase change material and thermal insulation for energy-effective buildings during harsh summer: simulation-based analysis. energy for sustainable development, vol. 72, pp. 326-339, 2023. 8. x. luo, d. xu, y. bing, y. he and q. chen. thermal performance and building energy simulation of precast insulation walls in two climate zones. buildings, vol. 14, no. 9, p. 2612, 2024. 9. j. donnelly. energy efficiency in traditional buildings. dublin, published by stationary office, 2010. available from: https:// www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/36967728/energy/ efficiency/in/traditional/buildings-dublin-city-council [last accessed on 2023 jun 24]. 10. m. s. al-homoud. performance characteristics and practical applications of common building thermal insulation materials. build environ, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 353-366, 2005. 11. r. pacheco, j. ordóñez and g. martínez. energy efficient design of building: a review. renewable and sustainable energy reviews, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 3559-3573, 2012. 12. s. a. al-sanea, m. f. zedan, s. a. al-ajlan and a. s. abdul hadi. heat transfer characteristics and optimum insulation thickness for cavity walls. journal of thermal envelope and building science, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 285-307, 2003. 13. p. parthasarathy and s. k. narayanan. effect of hydrothermal carbonization reaction parameters on. environmental progress sustainable energy, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 676-680, 2014. 14. f. g. n. li, a. z. p. smith, p. biddulph, i. g. hamilton, r. lowe, a. mavrogianni, e. oikonomou, r. raslan, s. stamp, a. stone, a. j. summerfield, d. veitch, v. gori and oreszczyn, t. solid-wall u -values: heat flux measurements compared with standard assumptions. building research and information, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 238-252, 2015. 15. e. m. moraekip. energy efficiency optimization in residential buildings using thermal insulation blocks case study in cairo, egypt. jes journal of engineering sciences, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 184201, 2023. 16. r. vakilinezhad and s. khabir. energy optimization for façade retrofit design of residential buildings in hot climates using advanced materials. energy and buildings, vol. 317, p. 114417, 2024. 17. h. kaddouri, a. abidouche, m. s. h. alaoui, i. driouch and s. hamdaoui. impact of insulation using bio-sourced materials on the thermal and energy performance of a typical residential building in morocco. journal of advanced research in fluid mechanics and thermal sciences, vol. 117, no. 1, pp. 43-59, 2024. 18. c. baglivo, p. m. congedo, m. di cataldo, l. d. coluccia and d. d’agostino. envelope design optimization by thermal modelling of a building in a warm climate. energies (basel), vol. 10, no. 11, p. 1808, 2017. 19. j. kośny. pcm-enhanced building components. springer, berlin, 2015. 20. j. kosny, d. w. yarbrough and w. a. miller. use of pcm enhanced insulation in the building envelope. journal of building enclosure design, vol. 2008, pp. 55-59, 2008. 21. s. a. al-sanea and m. f. zedan. optimum insulation thickness for building walls in a hot-dry climate. international journal of ambient energy, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 115-126, 2002. 22. s. a. al-sanea and m. f. zedan. heat transfer characteristics and optimum insulation thickness for hordi roofs using a pseudo onedimensional dynamic model. international journal of ambient energy, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 85-98, 2006. 23. ashrae standard. ashrae handbook 2001 fundamentals. vol. 53.ashrae standard, united states, pp. 1689-1699, 2001. 24. u.s. doe. increasing efficiency of building systems and technologies september 2015. ch. 5. us energy department, united states, pp. 1-505, 2015. 25. s. b. sadineni, s. madala and r. f. boehm. passive building energy savings : a review of building envelope components. renewable and sustainable energy reviews, vol. 15, no. 8, pp. 3617-3631, 2011. 26. a. kanaan and a. ramazan. sustainable passenger terminals in airport buildings passenger terminals in baghdad international airport-case study. journal of engineering and sustainable development, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. ar-12-ar-33, 2020. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 1 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 1-6 research article impact of sglt2 inhibitors on induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats balen m. khudhur, nidhal a.m. ali department of pharmacology, medical physics and biochemistry, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq abstract benign prostatic hyperplasia (bph) is a non-cancerous proliferation of the prostate tissue, predominantly impacting the transitional zone and periurethral area, resulting in lower urinary tract symptoms in elderly males. chronic inflammation plays a widely acknowledged significant role in the etiology of bph. current pharmacological interventions comprise 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors and alphaadrenergic antagonists, both of which are linked to considerable adverse effects. thus, there is an increasing demand for alternate therapy modalities with reduced adverse effects. sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (sglt2) inhibitors were initially developed for glycemic regulation in type 2 diabetes mellitus while also providing benefits in diminishing significant cardiovascular incidents, enhancing heart failure results, and decelerating the advancement of chronic renal disease. recent research indicates that sglt2 inhibitors have antiinflammatory and antiproliferative properties. this study examines the impact of ertugliflozin and empagliflozin on testosterone-induced bph in rats. bph was induced in rats with the administration of testosterone enanthate. the treatment groups were administered ertugliflozin, empagliflozin, and finasteride. prostate mass, prostate index, serum testosterone concentrations, and histological alterations were assessed. ertugliflozin, empagliflozin, and finasteride significantly (p < 0.05) decreased mean prostate weight, prostate index, and blood testosterone levels. histological investigation revealed a reduction of testosterone-induced bph to mild prostatic hyperplasia in the ertugliflozin and finasteride groups. however, mild-to-moderate prostatic hyperplasia was observed in the empagliflozin group. both sglt2 inhibitors, ertugliflozin and empagliflozin, exhibited efficacy in alleviating bph development, indicating a possible role in bph therapy. additional research is necessary to clarify their specific processes in bph and clinical relevance. keywords: benign prostatic hyperplasia, testosterone, ertugliflozin, empagliflozin, finasteride introduction benign prostatic hyperplasia (bph) denotes the nonmalignant proliferation of prostate tissue and is a prevalent etiology of symptoms related to the lower urinary tract in elderly male individuals. the prevalence of the disease has been demonstrated to rise with age, especially in lowand middle-income countries.[1] the primary pathological feature of bph is the excessive growth and restructuring of epithelial and fibromuscular structures in the prostate’s transitional zone surrounding the urethra, leading to prostatic enlargement.[2] chronic inflammation’s significant role in the pathophysiology of bph is now becoming evident and is regarded as a crucial element in the onset and progression of bph.[3] following lifestyle adjustments, pharmacotherapy is typically the primary approach for managing symptomatic bph.[4] the gold standard for treatment consists of two classes of drugs: alpha-adrenergic blockers and 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors.[5] as a result, there is growing interest in developing safer alternatives to the current bph medications.[5,6] sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (sglt2) inhibitors have been authorized for the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus.[7] these drugs lower blood sugar levels by blocking the action of the kidneys’ tubules.[8] in addition to their main effects, they exhibited significant anti-inflammatory effects proved by the reduction in cardiovascular complications,[9] heart failure with low ejection fraction,[10] non-alcoholic hepatic steatosis,[11] and persistent kidney problems.[12] furthermore, these drugs demonstrated advantageous anti-proliferative properties implicated in reducing the risk of cancers.[13] studies highlighted an association between molecular components of diabetes and bph,[14] which corresponding author: balen m. khudhur, department of pharmacology, medical physics and biochemistry, college of medicine, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: balen.khudhur@med.hmu.edu.krd received: april 04, 2025 accepted: may 15, 2025 published: july 1, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp1-6 copyright © 2025 balen m. khudhur, nidhal a.m. ali. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) khudhur and ali: impact of sglt2 inhibitors on induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats 2 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 1-6 encouraged investigating the impact of sglt2 inhibitors in the management of bph. accordingly, this study was designed to investigate the potential effects of sglt2 inhibitors on the progression of bph in rats. materials and methods a total of 30 adult male albino rats aged 9–12 weeks were used in this study. the rats were maintained under hygienic conditions in the animal house of (the animal house of hawler medical university, college of pharmacy). the rats were provided with food and water freely. after an acclimatization period of 2 weeks, the rats were randomly allocated into five equal groups (six rats in each group) as follows: • group cn: control negative group was given a placebo. • group t-cp: bph-induced control positive group testosterone (3 mg/kg) • group t-ertu: bph-induced group, administered ertugliflozin (10 mg/kg) • group t-empa: bph-induced group, administered empagliflozin (10 mg/kg) • group t-fin: bph-induced group, administered finasteride (0.44 mg/kg). bph was induced by subcutaneous (sc) administration of testosterone enanthate (panpharma, germany®) at a dose rate of 3 mg/kg for 28 days, according to el-shafei et al.[15] the drugs ertugliflozin, empagliflozin (sami pharmaceuticals, pakistan®) and finasteride (accord healthcare, uk®) were given daily at a dose rate of 10 mg/kg for both ertugliflozin[16] and empagliflozin according to malínská et al.,[17] whereas finasteride was given at 0.44 mg/kg according to jawad and jasim.[18] testosterone enanthate ampoule was diluted in olive oil, whereas ertugliflozin, empagliflozin, and finasteride were dissolved in distilled water and given daily by oral gavage to their allocated experimental groups for 8 weeks after 28 days of inducing bph. the bph-inducing agent, testosterone enanthate, was given daily to the positive control group as well as to the treatment groups for the whole period of the experimental protocol. the cn group was given an sc injection of olive oil and distilled water orally as a placebo. the body weight of each rat in different groups was recorded weekly, commencing the experimental study. after 8 weeks of the application of the treatment protocol, the rats were euthanized by intraperitoneal administration of ketamine (90 mg/kg) and xylazine (40 mg/kg) according to abdulla and al-okaily,[19] blood samples were withdrawn by cardiac puncture from each rat, and their serum was used for investigations of testosterone levels (rats kit for enzymelinked immunosorbent assay; sunlong biotech, china; catalog no. sl0668ra) was used for serum testosterone levels determination (sensitivity of the method was 0.01 ng/ml with intra-and inter-assay variability of <10% and <12% respectively), and their prostates were carefully isolated and weighed to assess for hypertrophy. the prostate index (pi) was obtained by equation (1):[20] = ×    ( ) 100    ( ) prostateweight pw pi body weight bw (1) the percent inhibition of hyperplasia (pih) was calculated from the relative prostate weight, as shown in equation (2):[21]                          ]            treated group normalcontrol group pih positivecontrol group normalcontrol group − = 100 − ×100 − (2) the prostates were dissected out, and a tissue sample was obtained, fixed in formalin for histopathological examination of prostate tissue. the study was approved by the ethical committee of the hawler medical university, college of medicine (meeting code: 2; paper code: 12; date: 14/11/2024). statistical analysis of data was performed using statistical package for the social sciences (version 30), and the data are expressed as mean ± standard error of the mean. oneway analysis of variance was used to compare the statistical differences between the groups. differences are considered significant at the level of p ≤ 0.05. results the mean body weight, prostate weight (pw), and prostate index (pi) across study groups are presented in table 1. the average body weight of the rats did not exhibit statistical significance (p > 0.05) across all experimental groups [table 1]. figure 1 illustrates the impact of administering ertugliflozin, empagliflozin, and finasteride over an 8-week period on the mean pw and pi across various experimental groups. the testosterone-induced bph (t-cp) group had significantly (p < 0.05) higher mean pw and pi [figure 1] compared to the cn-placebo group. in contrast, the mean pi of the bph-induced group treated with ertugliflozin (t-ertu), the bph-induced group treated with empagliflozin (t-empa) and finasteride group (t-fin) were non-significantly (p > 0.05) different than those of cn-placebo group. rats in the bph-induced group treated with ertugliflozin (t-ertu), empagliflozin (t-empa), and finasteride (t-fin) exhibited a significantly reduced (p < 0.05) mean pw and pi compared to the testosterone-induced bph (t-cp) group, as illustrated in table 1. the mean serum testosterone levels are displayed in table 2. statistical analysis indicated a significant (p < 0.05) elevation in mean serum testosterone levels in the bph-induced positive control group compared to the cn, t-ertu, t-empa, and t-fin groups, respectively. the groups administered ertugliflozin, empagliflozin, and finasteride exhibited a nonsignificant (p > 0.05) difference in mean serum testosterone levels as compared to the cn group. the histological section [figure 2a and b] depicts an image of the prostate gland from the cp group with hormonal-induced hyperplasia of the prostate, demonstrating pronounced bph features, including significant hyperplasia of the epithelial lining, irregular micropapillary projections within the gland’s lumen, and notable stromal expanding accompanied by blood vessels congestion. khudhur and ali: impact of sglt2 inhibitors on induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats 3 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 1-6 the microscopic analysis of prostate tissue from the cn group [figure 2c] reveals normal prostatic architecture characterized by well-maintained glandular and stromal components. the cell layers of the prostatic glands are intact, the lumen includes a limited number of papillary folds, and the adjacent fibromuscular stroma retains its characteristic architecture. no evidence of abnormal changes, including hyperplasia, inflammation, or fibrosis, is seen, suggesting that the tissue is in its normal physiological condition. in the conventional treatment, finasteride-treated group [figure 2d], the severe characteristics of bph were greatly diminished, evidenced by a marked improvement in both epithelial and stromal hyperplasia, with histological traits nearing normality. ertugliflozin treatment resulted in a significant decrease in bph-related histopathological alterations, evidenced by mild epithelial and stromal hyperplasia and vascular congestion [figure 2e]. whereas, the empagliflozin treatment produced mild-to-moderately hyperplastic epithelial cells with papillary projections [figure 2f]. discussion this study explored the potential effects of two sglt2 inhibitors, ertugliflozin, and empagliflozin, in counteracting the influence of testosterone in promoting the progression of bph induced in rats. the non-significant (p > 0.05) differences in the mean body weight among the experimental groups align with prior research,[22,23] that also observed no changes in the body weight of testosterone-induced bph in rats under comparable experimental conditions. however, there is conflicting evidence on the effects of testosterone on body weight related to the dose and duration of administration.[24] the pw and pi are frequently used to determine the extent of bph progression.[20] the significant (p < 0.05) increase in pw and pi of bph induced group (t-cp) compared to the cn group in the present study is the consequence of dihydrotestosterone (dht) activation of androgenic receptors that promote the proliferation of epithelial and stromal cells of prostate.[25] similar observations have been reported by shanmugasundaram et al.[26] and alamoudi et al.[27] moreover, the t-cp group had significantly (p < 0.05) higher mean serum testosterone levels than the cn group. these results explain the significant rise in both the mean pw and pi of the t-cp group relative to the cn group (p < 0.05) in our investigation. research has established a significant table 2: impact of ertugliflozin, empagliflozin, and finasteride on mean serum testosterone levels in testosterone-induced bph in rats group cn t-cp t-ertu t-empa t-fin mean±sem 2.53±0.25acde 4.27±0.37b 1.97±0.07acde 1.91±0.13acde 2.69±0.16acde different letters indicate statistical significance at a p≤0.05. bph: benign prostatic hyperplasia, sem: standard error of the mean table 1: the mean (± sem) of the prostate profile of bph-induced (t-cp) rats following daily treatment of testosterone enanthate (3 mg/kg) for 12 weeks, then treated with either ertugliflozin (10 mg/kg), empagliflozin (10 mg/kg), or finasteride (0.44 mg/kg) for 8 weeks post-bph induction group body weight (g) mean±sem prostate weight (g) mean±sem prostate index (%) mean±sem cn 341.17±27.16a 1.19±0.11acde 0.35±0.03acde t-cp 334.83±17.30a 2.15±0.19b 0.64±0.05b t-ertugliflozin 325.17±21.75a 1.39±0.13acde 0.43±0.03acde t-empagliflozin 301.17±20.05a 1.42±0.04acde 0.48±0.04acde t-finasteride 326.50±13.31a 1.36±0.06acde 0.42±0.02acde different letters indicate statistical significance at a p≤0.05. bph: benign prostatic hyperplasia, sem: standard error of the mean figure 1: prostate weight (a) and prostate index (b) in the cn group, testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia (bph) positive control group (t-cp), bph-induced group treated with ertugliflozin (t-ertu), bph-induced group treated with empagliflozin (t-empa), and bph-induced group treated with finasteride (t-fin) b a khudhur and ali: impact of sglt2 inhibitors on induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats 4 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 1-6 association between circulatory testosterone levels and the extent of prostate enlargement.[28] the statistically (p < 0.05) increased mean serum testosterone level in the t-cp group can be explained by the negative feedback mechanism induced by the continuous administration of exogenous testosterone on the hypothalamicpituitary-gonadal axis that reduces the production of endogenous testosterone while the serum levels of testosterone remain elevated.[29,30] the histological changes observed in the prostate segment of the t-cp group compared to the cn group provided further evidence for the significant (p < 0.05) higher pw, pi, and serum testosterone levels. the histological examination of prostate sections of the t-cp group showed varying degrees of hyperplastic changes in the epithelial and glandular layers[31] with prominent papillary infoldings.[32] furthermore, significant edema and elevated fibroblasts within the gland. enlarged blood vessels and lymphocytic infiltration were also apparent in the stroma, indicating advanced bph disease[33] in contrast to prostatic sections of cn rats that displayed normal characteristics of prostatic architecture, with well-preserved glandular and stromal components. finasteride, a first-line medication for the management of bph[34] was used in the current study for the purpose of comparison and demonstrated a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in the mean pw and pi as well as in the mean serum testosterone levels which coincide with the findings of elsherbini et al.[21] and shanmugasundaram et al.[26] these inhibitory effects of finasteride were further supported by the amelioration of profound prostatic hyperplastic changes to a mild hyperplasia that closely matches with the normal architecture of prostatic tissue upon histological examination, albeit consistently described by alhussien et al.[35] administration of both ertugliflozin and empagliflozin resulted in a significant (p < 0.05) decrease in the mean pw and pi compared to the t-cp group by 79.2% and 76.1%, respectively. this effect is most probably due to the consequences of the significant (p < 0.05) lowering of mean figure 2: histopathological sections (×40) of prostate tissues (hematoxylin and eosin stain) from rats in the benign prostatic hyperplasia (bph)-induced positive control group (a anb b), the negative placebo control group (c), the bph-induced group treated with finasteride (d), the bph-induced group treated with ertugliflozin (e), and the bph-induced group treated with empagliflozin (f) dc b f a e khudhur and ali: impact of sglt2 inhibitors on induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats 5 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 1-6 serum testosterone levels found following ertugliflozin and empagliflozin administration compared to the t-cp group. these inhibitory effects were more obviously reflected by the mild hyperplasia in the histological sections of the ertugliflozin group, whereas mild-to-moderate hyperplastic changes in the empagliflozin group compared to the prominent prostatic hyperplasia shown in the t-cp group rats. the significant inhibitory effects indicate that both drugs led to the suppression of the androgenic axis by reducing serum testosterone level, thus decreasing conversion to dht and inhibiting proliferative signaling factors that contribute to the enlargement of the prostate gland. similarly, canagliflozin, another sglt2 inhibitor, has been found to reduce the expression of epidermal growth factor in bph and to alleviate bph that has been induced experimentally.[36] however, it is worth noting that the histopathological sections of the empagliflozin group showed mild-tomoderate hyperplasia in prostate sections. the differences seen in the histological sections between the effects of ertugliflozin and empagliflozin may be due to variances in their physicochemical characteristics, especially their pka values. these properties affect how well each drug can get into tissues and spread throughout the prostate, which may help explain why they have different effects on prostate histology. ertugliflozin is more lipophilic than empagliflozin, which promotes better membrane penetration in lipophilic tissues such as the prostate. since ertugliflozin was classified as a biopharmaceutical classification system (bcs) class i drug based on high solubility and high permeability characteristics,[37] while according to the same system (bcs), empagliflozin is a class iii drug, which has high solubility but low permeability.[38] this point makes ertugliflozin have higher oral bioavailability, which is 69% in rats,[39] whereas only 31% for empagliflozin.[40] another influencing factor apart from their anti-inflammatory effects that most likely contributed to the mild hyperplasia seen following ertugliflozin in contrast to mild–moderate hyperplasia observed with empagliflozin in this study is related to differences in their affinity to inhibit sglt transporters. it was demonstrated that ertugliflozin is more selective to sglt1 inhibition than empagliflozin,[39] which is upregulated in prostatic diseases such as bph.[41] it is also worth noting that the limitations of this study are the number of rats. however, utilizing animal models is found to mimic human disease and is cost-effective, although it requires testing in clinical settings for high reproducibility to validate the effectiveness and safety of sglt2 inhibitors in the therapy of bph in human subjects. conclusion the present study’s findings indicate oral administration of ertugliflozin and empagliflozin at a dosage of 10 mg/kg significantly reduced the progression of bph by 79.2% and 76.1%, respectively, as demonstrated by decreased pws, pi, serum testosterone levels, and marked improvement in the histopathological changes in the prostate tissues of testosterone induced-bph rats. these findings illustrate that sglt2 inhibitors may have therapeutic advantages beyond glycemic management and could be advantageous in the management of both hyperglycemia and bph. further studies are required to investigate their molecular role and clinical significance in managing and alleviating the progression of bph in the human population. furthermore, the experiment was performed over a limited timeframe, leaving long-term consequences, such as hormonal and histological alterations unknown. subsequent research should incorporate prolonged follow-up periods to assess the long-term effects of therapy. references 1. gbd 2019 benign prostatic hyperplasia collaborators. the global, regional, and national burden of benign prostatic hyperplasia in 204 countries and territories from 2000 to 2019: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2019. lancet healthy longevity, vol. 3, no. 11, pp. e754-e776, 2022. 2. c. g. roehrborn. pathology of benign prostatic hyperplasia. international journal impotence research, vol. 20, no. s3, pp. s11-s18, 2008. 3. j. li, y. li, d. cao, y. huang, l. peng, c. meng and q. wei. the association between histological prostatitis and benign prostatic hyperplasia: a single-center retrospective study. aging male, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 88-93, 2022. 4. m. bishr, k. boehm, v. 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c-reactive protein. biomedicines, vol. 10, no. 9, p. 2066, 2022. 18. m. r. jawad and g. a. jasim. biochemical and histopathological evaluation of prostatic tissue under effect of pterostilbene in benign prostatic hyperplasia rat model. al mustansiriyah journal of pharmaceutical sciences, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 196-213, 2023. 19. j. m. abdulla and b. n. al-okaily. histomorphometric and histopathological alterations of rat testis following exposure to hydrogen peroxide: protective role of resveratrol supplement. the iraqi journal of veterinary medicine, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 17-23, 2022. 20. d. choi, j. kim, j. an, s. hong, y. song and h. kong. amelioration of benign prostatic hyperplasia by costunolide and dehydrocostus lactone in wistar rats. the world journal of mens health, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 315-323, 2021. 21. d. m. a. elsherbini, h. m. almohaimeed, m. el-sherbiny, z. m. mohammedsaleh, n. m. elsherbiny, s. a. gabr and h. a. ebrahim. origanum majorana l. extract attenuated benign prostatic hyperplasia in rat model: effect on oxidative stress, apoptosis, and proliferation. antioxidants(basel), vol. 11, no. 6, p. 1149, 2022. 22. i. s. shin, m. y. lee, h. k. ha, c. s. seo and h. k. shin. inhibitory effect of yukmijihwang-tang, a traditional herbal formula against testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats. bmc complementary and alternative medicine, vol. 12, no. 1, p. 48, 2012. 23. d. h. youn, j. park, h. l. kim, y. jung, j. kang, m. y. jeong, g. sethi, k. s. ahn and j. y. um. chrysophanic acid reduces testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats by suppressing 5α-reductase and extracellular signal-regulated kinase. oncotarget, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 9500-9512, 2017. 24. j. m. gray, a. a. nunez, l. i. siegel and g. n. wade. effects of testosterone on body weight and adipose tissue: role of aromatization. physiology and behavior, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 465-469, 1979. 25. k. izumi, a. mizokami, w. j. lin, k. p. lai and c. chang. androgen receptor roles in the development of benign prostate hyperplasia. the american journal of pathology, vol. 182, no. 6, pp. 19421949, 2013. 26. d. shanmugasundaram, c. dwan, b. c. wimmer and s. srivastava. fucoidan ameliorates testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia (bph) in rats. research and reports in urology, vol. 16, pp. 283-297, 2024. 27. a. j. alamoudi, s. a. alessi, w. y. rizg, a. m. jali, a. y. safhi, f. y. sabei, s. alshehri, k. m. hosny and a. b. abdel-naim. cordycepin attenuates testosterone-induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats via modulation of ampk and akt activation. pharmaceutics, vol. 14, no. 8, p. 1652, 2022. 28. g. w. kusuma duarsa, y. a. sari, a. a. gde oka, k. b. santosa, i. w. yudiana, p. m. wisnu tirtayasa, i. b. putra pramana and y. p. kloping. serum testosterone and prostate-specific antigen levels are major risk factors for prostatic volume increase among benign prostatic hyperplasia patients. asian journal of urology, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 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s. meguro, s. hoshi, y. sato, s. ogawa, m. uemura and y. kojima. mechanism of androgen-independent stromal proliferation in benign prostatic hyperplasia. international journal of molecular sciences, vol. 24, no. 14, p. 11634, 2023. 34. y. li, j. ma, x. h. qin and c. y. hu. the efficacy and safety of dutasteride and finasteride in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia: a systematic review and meta-analysis. translational andrology and urology, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 313-324, 2022. 35. j. k. alhussien, m. j. al-kurdy and s. a. hussein. in vivo assessment of the anti-benign prostatic hyperplasia effect of hot ethanolic extract of flax seeds in male rats. open veterinary journal, vol. 14, no. 8, p. 1928-1935, 2024. 36. e. m. elbaz, a. darwish, a. m. gad, a. a. s. abdel rahman and m. h. safwat. canagliflozin alleviates experimentally induced benign prostate hyperplasia in a rat model: exploring potential mechanisms involving mir-128b/egfr/egf and jak2/stat3 signaling pathways through in 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949-965, 2020. 40. l. chen, y. mao, d. e. sharp, s. schadt, s. pagels, r. press, t. cheng, m. j. potchoiba and w. collins. pharmacokinetics, biotransformation, distribution and excretion of empagliflozin, a sodium-glucose co-transporter (sglt 2) inhibitor, in mice, rats, and dogs. journal of pharmaceutics and drug development, vol. 3, no. 3, p. 302, 2015. 41. a. blessing, l. xu, g. gao, l. r. bollu, j. ren, h. li, x. wu, f. su, w. c. huang, m. hung, l. huo, g. s. palapattu and z. weihua. sodium/glucose co-transporter 1 expression increases in human diseased prostate. journal of cancer science and therapy, vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 306-312, 2012. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 52-56 research article fungal community associated with sawdust of direct evaporative cooler and their health impact in erbil city salah m. s. al-bader1, zean zefenkey2, daban k. rashid1 1department of community health nursing, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of medical laboratory science, college of science, knowledge university, erbil, 44001, iraq abstract evaporative coolers (ecs) are widely used in semi-arid regions. during operation, mashies pass from outdoors to indoors through wet straws or wood shavings, and these materials act as filters of bio-aerosolized particles. the present work was conducted in erbil city to screen the fungal community associated with sawdust in ecs and explain the health impact of the predominant genera. three hundred fifty fungal colonies were counted belonging to 17 identified isolates besides the sterile mycelia. the highest occurrence and frequency belong to aspergillus spp. (o = 98% and f = 33.7%), followed by cladosporium spp. (o = 50% and f = 20.6%). aspergillus spp. has the highest importance value index. three genera had a moderate incidence, namely, mucor spp., alternaria spp., and penicillium spp. the predominant genera that were isolated from sawdust are common outdoor air mycobiota in the study area and are considered the most effective allergens. indeed, all recorded genera have a potentially significant effect on human health causing several types of pulmonary disorders and involve in opportunistic infections, especially for immunocompromised patients. we concluded that ecs may act as a source and transmitter of indoor airborne fungi pollution. keywords: sawdust, water air cooler, evaporative cooler, airborne-fungi introduction an evaporative cooler (ec), also known as a swamp cooler, is a device that cools the air by passing it through a wet cellulosic material, such as wood shavings or straw, causing water to evaporate; its low energy consumption and ability to add moisture to the atmosphere make it particularly suitable for dry and warm environments.[1] the ec has two types, direct ecs (dec) and indirect ecs, and could be either fixed or movable.[2] the dec type draws the outside air, water droplets, and aerobiological particles into occupied space. several workers have mentioned that dec microbial water contamination diffuses into the air and causes microbial pollution in the cooling device.[3] the relationship between the microbial contamination of water tanks and indoor air was reported.[4] a specific fungal isolate “micrococcus luteus” was used as a tracer to determine the number of microorganisms detected in the flowed air based on the microbial air volume.[5] previous studies suggested that ec increases personal exposure to particulate matter along with the increase in respiratory illnesses.[6,7] these particles contribute to many respiratory disorders such as asthma, allergic disorders, and hypersensitivity pneumonitis.[8-10] a comparison study between air conditioners (ac) and ec showed that the ec increased the indoor environment humidity and resulted in the growth of fungi as well as the diversity of indoor airborne fungi.[3,7] the wide use of ec in iraq and a lack of studies on their relationship with indoor air bioaerosols pollution gave the present study specific importance as the first study for isolation and identification of airborne fungi associated with dec and to analysis the fungal community as well as highlight health impact of predominant genera. materials and methods sawdust samples collection and culturing a cross-sectional study was conducted by collecting 50 sawdust samples from 50 ecs during july 2023 in erbil city. samples were collected from several locations, including minimarkets, houses, and baker shops at the last week of july. samples were corresponding author: salah m. s. al-bader, department of community health nursing, college of health technology, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: salah.saleem@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: april 04, 2025 accepted: may 05, 2025 published: may 30, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp52-56 copyright © 2025 salah m. s. al-bader, zean zefenkey, daban k. rashid. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) al-bader, et al.: fungal communities in cooler sawdust and health risks in erbil 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 52-56 collected from the air ecs 2 months after its initial operation. the pieces of wood straw were taken by forceps and kept in sterilized vials. sabouraud’s dextrose agar and the lab-made medium – typha pollen agar –[11] were prepared for primary culturing through the direct plating method. three pieces (2 cm length) were put on the culture media surface and then incubated in a laboratory environment. the cultures were checked daily from the 3rd day over a period of 4 weeks. the observed developing fungal growths were directly transferred to sabouraud’s dextrose agar to prepare a pure culture. fungal identification the isolated fungi were identified based on the macro and micro morphological characteristics as fully described in.[12,13] fungal community analysis the occurrence% and frequency% were calculated as follows in:[14] ( ) = × no. of samples in  which the genus occurred no. of total s occurren amples ce o%   100 ( ) = × no. of  (species / genus) colonies no. of total ( species / genus) col freque onies ncy f%   100 importance value index = (o+t)/2 results analysis of fungal community fungal growth appeared on 96% of the sawdust (48/50) samples in the dishes. a total of 350 colonies were enumerated, which included sterile mycelia and 17 distinct species [table 1]. the highest frequency (33.7%) and occurrence (98%) were shown by aspergillus spp., which were followed by cladosporium spp. (50% occurrence and 20.6% frequency). alternaria spp., penicillium spp., and mucor spp. had a moderate occurrence. the frequency of the remaining isolates was 5.1% or less, and their occurrence was 8% or less [table 1]. aspergillus niger, aspergillus fumigatus, aspergillus flavus, and aspergillus ochraceous were the four species identified. the 14 isolates are all filamentous and belong to hyphomycetous fungi accounting for 77.7%, zygomycetes for 16.6%, and one strain of coelomycetes for 5.5% [table 1]. the importance value index ivi [figure 1] showed that aspergillus spp. with the highest level (65.85) followed by cladosporium spp., 12.85 and sterile mycelium 35.3, 12.85 and 9.3, respectively. discussion fungal community the present study revealed that the predominant fungal genera isolated from the ecs sawdust were aspergillus spp. and cladosporium spp., followed by mucor spp., alternaria spp., table 1: the isolated fungi from sawdust samples of direct evaporative coolers s. no. fungi o% f% t.g. 1 actinomucor spp. 4 2.3 z 2 alternaria spp. 12 5.1 h 3 aspergillus flavus 98 3.4 h 4 aspergillus fumigatus 9.7 h 5 aspergillus niger 17.7 h 6 a.occhracious 2.9 h 7 aureobasidium spp. 4 1.7 h 8 cladosporium spp. 50 20.6 h 9 drechslera spp. 8 5.1 h 10 mucor spp. 20 5.7 z 11 penicillium spp. 10 3.4 h 12 phoma spp. 4 1.1 c 13 pithomyces spp. 6 2.4 h 14 rhizopus spp. 4 1.7 z 15 scopulriopsis spp. 4 2.9 h 16 stachybotrys spp. 4 2.3 h 17 trichoderma viride 8 2.9 h 18 sterile mycelium 10 8.6 h o%: occurrence%, f%: frequency%, t.g: taxonomic group, z: zygomycetes, h: hyphomycetes, c: coelomycetes figure 1: the importance value index for the isolated fungi and penicillium spp. these genera are commonly recognized as major components of the aeromycobiota in the study region. aspergillus spp., penicillium spp., cladosporium spp., and alternaria spp. were the predominant isolates during the storm and calm climates in erbil city, while mucor spp. showed high occurrence during storm climate only.[15] it is worth mentioning that the isolated genera in the present study were also isolated in high incidence from ac systems of hospitals, classrooms, as well as automobiles.[16-18] in general, fungi possessing dry and hydrophobic spores, dark pigmentation (melanin), and thick cell walls are welladapted for airborne dispersal and tend to predominate in warm, dry geographical regions. in addition, fungal species producing small-sized spores (typically 2–10 µm) are more likely to remain suspended in the air for extended periods. in such environments, the predominant fungal genera commonly al-bader, et al.: fungal communities in cooler sawdust and health risks in erbil 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 52-56 isolated from aerosols include alternaria solani, aspergillus candidus, a. flavus, a. fumigatus, a. niger, aspergillus terreus, aspergillus wentii, curvularia clavata, drechslera dematioidea, and penicillium species. the major myco-airspora of the atmospheric in karachi-pakistan.[19] the study’s leading genera were noted as the most significant air fungal allergens worldwide.[20] the report of the world health organization[21] emphasizes aspergillus spp., cladosporium spp., mucor spp., alternaria spp., and penicillium spp. as harmful airborne fungi that ability to infect humans, cause allergies and create mycotoxins. health impact of predominant isolates aspergillus is a very large, saprophytic, globally distributed genus. it is common in soil, decaying vegetation, seeds, and keratinous tissues. some species, such as a. fumigatus, a. niger, and aspergillus nidulans are considered opportunistic pathogens in humans,[22] and are associated with respiratory disorders including allergic asthma, allergic bronchopulmonary, and hypersensitivity.[23] the incidence of disseminated aspergillosis, similar to other opportunistic fungal infections, has increased significantly over the past two decades. this rise is strongly associated with the growing population of immunocompromised patients, including those with cancer, organ transplants, human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, and individuals receiving immunosuppressive therapies.[24] the high production of dry, lightweight, and easily airborne conidia by aspergillus species contributes to their increased prevalence in airborne bioaerosols. therefore, strict preventive measures are essential, particularly for immunocompromised individuals such as hospitalized patients, those with burn wounds, and individuals exposed to highly contaminated environments, including poultry farms, grain storage facilities (silos), and municipal waste management sites.[25-27] cladosporium is common in many areas of the world, the fungus is cosmopolitan and inhabited different substrates. their spores have variable shapes and sizes and can be isolated from air, soil, accommodation, and food products. some species are phytopathogens, others are mycotoxin producers.[28] from an allergological perspective, cladosporium species are wellknown as common airborne allergens, with cladosporium herbarum and cladosporium cladosporioides identified as the primary species responsible for inducing allergic reactions in sensitized individuals.[29] cladosporium spp. can cause opportunistic infections, these cases are related mainly to people with compromised immune systems. infections in healthy people were also reported, appearing as lesions of chromoblastomycosis.[23] alternaria is one of the predominant isolates from sawdust in the present study; the genus has about 275 spp. according to morphological diagnosis.[30] the spores of alternaria are considered one of the most abundant and main sources of airborne allergens.[31] spores of alternaria are more allergenic than other fungi, even though they occur in low concentration (cfu/m3), this may be related to the ratio of viable spores in a cubic meter of air. one of the most widely distributed species is alternaria alternata, which has large, dark, and easily separated conidia. the species is implicated in types of pulmonary infections, including hypersensitivity pneumonitis, bronchial asthma, and allergic sinusitis and rhinitis as well as keratitis.[32] it is well known as a mycotoxin producer, such as alternariol (aoh); alternariol monomethyl ether (ame), altenuene (ae), and altertoxins.[33] the genus mucor, which had the third level of incidence in sawdust samples, consists of approximately 50 species, and it has a widespread distribution. depending on spatial and temporal factors, mucor spp. appeared as the second most commonly isolated airborne fungus in lithuania.[34] it was also predominant in the hospital environment and office ventilation systems.[35] indeed, certain pathogenic mucor species are a threat to animal and human health and are identified more frequently as mucormycotic causative agents, especially in immunocompromised patients.[36] mucor circinelloides is the species that is most frequently isolated from clinical sources, it causes specific pulmonary infections in humans. the primary infection occurred after fungal particles were inhaled, the lung infection may develop in the sinuses. a skin infection may also follow contamination of the wound.[37] penicillium is frequently isolated from indoor and outdoor environments.[38] the genus associates with a higher rate of incident wheezing and persistent cough.[39] the rate of pulmonary infections is of higher relevance to adult asthma than childhood asthma.[40] penicillium spp. is predominant in hospitals’ indoor aero mycobiota and in their ventilation system. moreover, penicillium with cladosporium is the most common agent that causes allergies and asthma in healthcare facilities.[41] the remaining isolated fungi, including actinomucor spp., aurobasidium spp., drechslera spp., phoma spp., pithomyces spp., rhizopus spp., scopulariopsis spp., stachybotrys spp., and trichoderma spp., are known allergens or could act as opportunistic pathogens causing various human diseases.[13] these fungi have been reported to pose health hazards and are associated with several infections.[42,43] they show a significant relationship with immunocompromised individuals and are sometimes linked to specific environments that promote the release of their aerosolized particles.[44] moreover, these airborne particles have been regarded as air pollutants and are suggested to cause adverse health effects in humans.[45] conclusion according to the results of this study, sawdust appears to be a rich and appropriate habitat for a high number and variety of airborne fungi. wet sawdust increases the density of the listed genera, which are common outdoor airborne fungus. the sawdust fungi are abundant outdoor airborne fungi, alive, highly diverse, and include common fungal allergens, namely, aspergillus, alternaria, cladosporium, and penicillium. during operation, fungal propagules gather on sawdust, which appears to be a source of indoor air bioaerosols. these propagules are especially transferred from the dry sawdust in the initial minutes of operation. the high fungal contamination detected in sawdust highlights a potential health risk, particularly for atopic al-bader, et al.: fungal communities in cooler sawdust and health risks in erbil 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 52-56 individuals susceptible to allergies and asthma. therefore, regular replacement of sawdust pads is essential to minimize exposure and reduce the associated health hazards. references 1. o. amer, r. boukhanouf and h. g. ibrahim. a review of evaporative cooling technologies. international journal environment science development, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 111-117, 2015. 2. k. v. vala. environment friendly indirect-direct type evaporative cooling technology: a review. international journal environment climate change, vol. 12, no. 10, pp. 494-503, 2022. 3. j. d. johnston, a. e. cowger and k. s. weber. bioaerosol and microbial exposures from residential evaporative coolers and their potential health outcomes: a review. indoor air, vol. 32, no. 9, p. e13082, 2022. 4. j. m. macher and j. r. girman. 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against fungi isolated from car air-conditioner filters. medico-legal update, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 301-306, 2021. 18. s. m. al-bader, a. a. othman and s. hussainagad. fungal contamination of air-conditioned air flow with special reference to antifungal activity of eight plant oil vapor against aspergillus niger. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 1660, no. 1, p. 12001, 2020. 19. t. a. rao, a. h. shaikh and m. ahmed. airborne fungal flora of karachi, pakistan. pakistan journal of botany, vol. 41, no. 3, pp. 1421-1428, 2009. 20. v. p. kurup. fungal allergens. current allergy and asthma reports, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 416-423, 2003. 21. o. o. hänninen. who guidelines for indoor air quality: dampness and mold. in: fundamentals of mold growth in indoor environments and strategies for healthy living. wageningen academic, netherlands, pp. 277-302, 2011. 22. a. sabahat, i. a. bhatti, m. r. asi, h. n. bhatti and m. a. sheikh. occurrence of aflatoxins in maize grains from central areas of 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surrounding area. journal of environmental sciences (china), vol. 129, pp. 90-103, 2023. 28. d. w. denning, b. r. o’driscoll, c. m. hogaboam, p. bowyer and r. m. niven. the link between fungi and severe asthma: a summary of the evidence. european respiratory journal, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 615-626, 2006. 29. p. krzyściak, m. skóra and a. b. macura. atlas grzybów chorobotwórczych człowieka. medpharm polska, wrocław, 2011. 30. j. h. c. woudenberg, j. z. groenewald, m. binder and p. w. crous. alternaria redefined. studies in mycology, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 171-212, 2013. 31. m. f. gabriel, i. postigo, c. t. tomaz and j. martínez. alternaria alternata allergens: markers of exposure, phylogeny and risk of fungi-induced respiratory allergy. environment international, vol. 89-90, pp. 71-80, 2016. 32. k. m. kang, h. k. kim, h. s. lee, k. e. song, s. h. lee, w. j. lee and w. k. lee. a case of alternaria alternata keratitis isolated from corneal tissue. korean journal medical mycology, vol. 20, no. 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genus with human health impact and industrial applications. fungal biology reviews, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 12-32, 2017. 37. m. i. a. hassan and k. voigt. pathogenicity patterns of mucormycosis: epidemiology, interaction with immune cells and virulence factors. medical mycology, vol. 57, no. s2, pp. s245-s256, 2019. 38. s. al-bader, a. a. ahamood and m. m. al-hamdani. the relation between fungi isolated from higher respiratory tract of allergic and asthmatic patients, and air fungi in their residence. rafidain journal of science, vol. 2, no. 24, pp. 1-12, 2013. 39. r. a. sharpe, n. bearman, c. r. thornton, k. husk and n. j. osborne. indoor fungal diversity and asthma: a meta-analysis and systematic review of risk factors. the journal of allergy and clinical immunology, vol. 135, no. 1, pp. 110-122, 2015. 40. t. reponen, j. lockey, d. i. bernstein, s. j. vesper, l. levin, g. k. k. hershey, s. zheng p. ryan, s. a. grinshpun, m. villareal and g. lemaster. infant origins of childhood asthma associated with specific molds. journal of allergy and clinical immunology, vol. 130, no. 3, pp. 639-644.e5, 2012. 41. h. y. kek, s. b. m. saupi, h. tan, m. h. d. othman, b. b. nyakuma, p. s. goh, w. a. h. altowayti a. qaid, n. h. a. wahab, c. h. lee, a. lubis, s. l. wong and k. y. ventilation strategies for mitigating airborne infection in healthcare facilities: a review and bibliometric analysis (19932022). energy and buildings, vol. 295, no. 15, p. 113323, 2023. 42. g. fischer and w. dott. relevance of airborne fungi and their secondary metabolites for environmental, occupational and indoor hygiene. archives of microbiology, vol. 179, no. 2, pp. 75-82, 2003. 43. a. a. h. khan and s. m. karuppayil. fungal pollution of indoor environments and its management. saudi journal of biological sciences, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 405-426, 2012. 44. p. a. jensen, w. f. todd, m. e. harth, r. l. mickelseri and d. m. o’brien. evaluation and control of worker exposure to fungi in a beet sugar refinery. american industrial hygiene association journal, vol. 54, no. 12, pp. 742-748, 1993. 45. e. u. durugbo, a. o. kajero, e. i. omoregie and n. e. oyejide. a survey of outdoor and indoor airborne fungal spores in the redemption city, ogun state, south-western nigeria. aerobiologia, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 201-216, 2013. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 56 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 56-64 research article correlation between klebsiella species’ biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance from erbil hospital patients ali m. hussein, mohammed i. jameel, naz r. majeed, aya a. noori, mina m. mohamad, washan n. hamad, adyan a. mohammedsaeed department of biomedical sciences, college of applied sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the primary cause of nosocomial infections is klebsiella pneumoniae, an environmental gram-negative, encapsulated, non-motile bacterium. antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation are two crucial characteristics that contribute to the pathogenicity of this bacterium. this research aimed to examine the relationship between antibiotic resistance and the capability of klebsiella species isolated from erbil hospital patients to produce biofilms. therefore, in this study, 38  samples were collected from different laboratories and hospitals. at first, the samples were rejuvenated in tryptic soy broth and then cultured on macconkey agar. gram staining and urease test were performed to identify the bacterial isolates while vitek 2 system was performed to determine both the bacterial isolates and the antibiotic susceptibility. at last, biofilm detection was assessed by the microtiter plate technique and congo red agar method. the results revealed that positive klebsiella samples did not significantly correlate with the formation of biofilm despite being resistant to some antibiotics and biofilm producers. keywords: klebsiella species, antibiotic resistance, biofilm formation, extended-spectrum β-lactamase, klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase introduction klebsiella species k lebsiella species are a type of bacteria that are gram-negative, non-motile, encapsulated, lactosefermenting, and facultative anaerobic. they are known to cause various illnesses, particularly in regions with inadequate health-care systems.[1] the pathogens that take advantage of favorable conditions, klebsiella species are commonly present in the nasal passages, throat, skin, and intestinal flora of individuals in good health. however, they can also give rise to a range of illnesses, such as pneumonia, infections of soft tissues and surgical wounds, urinary tract infections (utis), bloodstream infections, and sepsis. on a global scale, a multitude of klebsiella strains has emerged as a significant concern in both clinical and public health settings. the klebsiella family comprises an extensive variety of species, including the klebsiella pneumoniae species complex as well as other more distantly related species.[2] all klebsiella species, but especially k. pneumoniae, klebsiella oxytoca, klebsiella ozaena, and klebsiella rhinocerotic, are significant sources of human infections.[3] as well such as nosocomial infections of the respiratory tract, urinary tract, wounds, and bloodstream, k. pneumoniae is a major contributor to serious communitarian outbreaks, such as necrotizing pneumonia, hepatic abscess, and endogenous endophthalmitis.[4] friedlander first documented this bacterium in 1882, after isolating it from the lungs of patients with pneumonia. initial indications of pneumonia encompass elevated body temperatures, shivering, symptoms resembling influenza, expectorating yellow or bloody phlegm, difficulty in breathing, and discomfort in the chest region. antibiotic-resistant pneumonia brought on by k. pneumoniae can have a 50% fatality rate.[5] the outer membrane proteins (omps), type 1 and type 3 fimbriae, lipopolysaccharide (lps), capsule polysaccharide, and determinants for getting iron and utilizing the nitrogen source are virulence factors present in klebsiella. these virulence elements helped k. pneumoniae survive an infection, evade the immune system, and create biofilms.[6] k. pneumoniae infections are associated with community-acquired illnesses and nosocomial infections and cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: ali m. hussein, department of biomedical sciences, college of applied sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: ali.m.hussein@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: june 20, 2024 accepted: july 25, 2024 published: august 25, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp56-64 copyright © 2024 ali m. hussein, mohammed i. jameel, naz r. majeed, aya a. noori, mina m. mohamad, washan n. hamad, adyan a. mohammedsaeed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. hussein, et al.: klebsiella species and antibiotic resistance 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 56-64 can be transmitted by contaminated food or water in situations involving interaction between humans and animals.[7] k. pneumoniae isolation reports from various sources are increasing, and many of these isolates show signs of multidrug resistance (mdr).[8] the bacterium’s virulence is influenced by a number of many factors, and it can result in infection and antibiotic resistance, for example, as a result of alterations in the organism’s fundamental dna.[9] there are limited therapeutic interventions for the treatment of infections such as pneumonia, liver abscess, meningitis, bloodstream infections, and utis due to the presence of an mdr pathogen.[10] antibiotic susceptibility and biofilm formation antibiotic susceptibility testing (ast) is a procedure used to ascertain the optimal dosage of antibiotics required to effectively treat a patient’s medical condition and aids in formulating a treatment strategy for the management of severe infections. consequently, prompt diagnosis plays a vital role in achieving successful treatment of bacterial infections. although all ast methods offer qualitative assessments using susceptible, intermediate, or resistant classifications, some methods also provide quantitative evaluations, such as minimum inhibitory concentration, to establish the optimal antibiotic dosage. these methods establish a profile of empirical therapy to effectively manage each patient’s health against life-threatening infections.[11] antibiotic resistance is the ability of microorganisms to withstand exposure to antibiotics that would typically eliminate them or stop their development. antibiotic misuse in people and animals, antibiotic use in the livestock and food sectors, a lack of quick diagnosis methods, and the presence of antibiotics in the environment are some of the major causes of antibiotic resistance. due to different genetic processes, antibiotic resistance can either be intrinsic or acquired.[12] k. pneumoniae developed a variety of defense mechanisms against antimicrobial agents. only a limited number of virulence factors have been discovered thus far that are capable of circumventing the host’s first defense mechanisms. the virulence factors consist of fimbriae, lps, and capsule formation, primarily associated with the highly virulent strain. additional virulence factors have been subsequently discovered, although their complete characterization necessitates additional investigation. pathogenic factors include omps, porins, efflux pumps, and transporters. the capsule, composed mainly of a polysaccharide matrix, is the most extensively researched pathogenicity component of k. pneumoniae.[13] gram-negative bacteria, such as k. pneumoniae, have evolved diverse mechanisms to withstand the effects of routinely employed antibiotics. the presence of certain antibioticresistance genes is a major contributing factor to the occurrence of antibiotic resistance. a significant health-care issue related to the worsening condition of hospital infections is the prevalence of resistance to different types of antibiotics, along with the coexistence of certain virulence factors that promote disease severity and genes that confer resistance.[14] k. pneumoniae amr high-risk clones pose a significant public health threat and have been pivotal in the amr epidemic’s worldwide spread.[15] a major global public health concern is the emergence of drug resistance among infectious diseasecausing microbes like k. pneumoniae. not only does it raise patient illness and death rates, but it also elongates hospital stays and increases the cost of care. most studies on resistance genes have identified genes that encode for beta-lactams, which are believed to be responsible for the increasing antibiotic resistance in the beta-lactam class. this high prevalence number is concerning because mdr k. pneumoniae therapy is challenging and costly.[16] mdr infections are commonly being brought on by k. pneumoniae carbapenemases (kpcs), which are capable of producing these enzymes. plasmid-borne enzymes identified as kpcs have the ability to build up and spread antibiotic resistance to other drug classes.[17] extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (esbls), which are bacterial enzymes that impart resistance to numerous b-lactam antibiotics that are commonly prescribed.[18] global health is seriously threatened by the rapid spread of k. pneumoniae esbl producers, the emergence of antimicrobial resistance, and the production of kpc and cefotaxime’s enzymes. this is compounded by the implementation of local and national guidelines and the establishment of innovative therapeutic approaches.[19] the development of biofilms is a process that begins when planktonic (free-living) organisms develop aggregation and/or change to a lifestyle associated with surfaces. it is completed when cells disperse from the biofilm structure to restore their single-cell, planktonic mode of growth. notably, compared to their planktonic counterparts, biofilms have been found to be 10–1000 times more resistant to different antibiotics. in both medicinal and industrial settings, these characteristics have bad impacts in both medicinal and industrial settings.[20] k. pneumoniae can generate surface-attached microbial communities, or “biofilms,” which are multicellular, sessile microorganisms that agglomerate their cells within a selfproduced matrix of extracellular polymeric substance, as opposed to being dispersed and free-floating. this enables them to successfully spread and endure in the hospital setting.[21] extracellular carbohydrates, edna, and proteins make up the majority of k. pneumoniae biofilm aggregates. in addition, biofilms can adhere to medical equipment, such as catheters and endotracheal tubes, but they are most harmful when they are on body surfaces.[13] compared to infections caused by other strains, the management of infections caused by k. pneumoniae strains that form biofilms presents greater challenges.[22] biofilm-associated cells usually exhibit increased antibiotic resistance and considerably contribute to therapeutic failure.[23] materials and methods sample collection the samples were collected from patients at several hospitals and laboratories in erbil city, as well as students at our university, cihan university-erbil. urine, vaginal swab, and sputum samples were collected regardless of the patient’s age, which provided an overall of 38 samples. samples were suspended in tryptic soy broth and incubated for 24 h at 37°c after collection. hussein, et al.: klebsiella species and antibiotic resistance 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 56-64 bacterial isolation and identification manual methods for identification the manual methods that were used for the identification of klebsiella include culturing the samples on macconkey agar, gram staining, and urease test. culturing on macconkey agar after the sample collection, they were rejuvenated and proliferated in tryptic soy broth (accumix), as well as cultivated on macconkey agar (accumix) and then incubated at 37°c for 24 h. gram staining a colony was taken from the cultured samples in terms of making a smear and performing gram staining, identifying the klebsiella under the microscope based on their morphological properties. urease test the urease test is a diagnostic technique employed to differentiate between urease-positive and urease-negative organisms by detecting the presence of cytosolic urease enzyme. a urease test was performed to confirm that the samples were klebsiella urease positive. for the preparation of the urea base agar, 1.5 g of urea base agar (acumedia) was dissolved in 95 ml of distilled water, and 0.12 g of urea was mixed with 5 ml of distilled water to obtain the urea solution. both solutions were mixed and added into tubes. they were left to cool down, cultured, and then incubated at 37°c for 24 h. automated method identification and antibiotic susceptibility by vietik 2 in clinical microbiology laboratories, the vitek 2 automated system is one of the most extensively used instruments for identifying and assessing the susceptibility profiles of bacteria, including the detection of esbls generated by klebsiella species. the source of these data was global clsi-based. the antibiotics that were utilized and the interpretations according to the mic are listed in table 1. detection of biofilm formation assay congo red agar (cra) method the qualitative cra assay is utilized to identify biofilm-forming klebsiella samples. this screening approach relies on observing changes in the color of colonies cultivated on cra medium. this medium was prepared by dissolving 5 g of agar, 2.5 g sucrose, and 18.5 g brain–heart infusion broth (himedia) in 400 ml of distilled water and then autoclaved at 121°c for at least 30 min alone. 0.4 g of conger red to 100 ml of distilled water was prepared and then it was autoclaved at 121°c for at least 30 min as well. later on, the two solutions were mixed to obtain a 500 ml solution. at last, it was poured into the petri dish and after cooling, it was inoculated with the isolated cultures and incubated for 24 h at 37°c. microtiter plate (mtp) method and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa) bacterial colonies from the fresh cultures of all isolates on macconkey agar were inoculated with tubes containing tryptic soy broth (accumix) with 0.25% glucose and incubated overnight at 37°c. 190 μl of tryptic soy broth containing inoculated bacteria, and 10 μl of tryptic soy broth containing glucose were mixed, then this bacterial suspension was diluted to 1/20 with tryptic soy broth. 200 μl from the diluted bacterial suspension was dispensed into each 96-well flat-bottomed microplate. c5 well was the negative control with only broth containing glucose. the mtp was incubated for 24 h at 37°c. the contents of the wells were emptied and the plates were rinsed three times with 200 μl of sterile distillate water while shaking and inverted to eliminate any non-stick bacteria. after fixating the bacteria that had adhered to the wells for 15 min with 200 μl of 99% methanol, they were subsequently rinsed 3 times with 200 μl of sterile distilled water, shaken, and inverted. following a 5-min staining period with 200 μl of crystal violet, the wells were rinsed to eliminate any residual stain. finally, the wells were air-dried. the dye bound to the wells was solubilized with 200 μl of glacial acetic acid. the optical density (od) of each well was measured at 490 nm using an elisa auto reader. results collected samples regardless of the patient’s age, urine, vaginal swab, and sputum samples were obtained, making up to 38 samples. the most collected sample regardless of the patient’s age was urine samples that made up to 83% of the total samples. while 10% of the samples were sputum, vaginal swabs were the least collected samples making up to 7%. the collected samples are displayed in figure 1. table 1: the utilized antimicrobial agents antimicrobial agents resistant sensitive intermediate amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid ≥32/16 ≤8/4 16/8^ piperacillin/ tazobactam ≥128 ≤16 32–64^ cefazolin ≥8 ≤2 4 cefuroxime ≥32 ≤8 16^ ceftazidime ≥16 ≤4 8^ ceftriaxone ≥4 ≤1 2^ aztreonam ≥16 ≤4 8^ ertapenem ≥2 ≤0.5 1^ imipenem ≥4 ≤1 2^ meropenem ≥4 ≤1 2^ amikacin ≥64 ≤16 32^ gentamicin ≥16 ≤4 8^ ciprofloxacin ≥1 ≤0.25 0.5^ fosfomycin ≥256 ≤64 128 nitrofurantoin ≥128 ≤32 64 trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole ≥4/76 ≤2/38 / cefepime ≥16 ≤2 4–8 tigecycline ≥16 / / hussein, et al.: klebsiella species and antibiotic resistance 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 56-64 most of the collected urine samples were obtained from females, while most of the sputum samples were obtained from males than females [figure 2]. demonstrates the distinction in the number and type of samples according to sex group. isolation of klebsiella on culture media bacterial examination on macconkey agar after incubating the samples at 37°c for 24 h the colonies that developed on the macconkey agar were pink, and some of them appeared to be mucoid lactose fermenters which indicate klebsiella species characteristics as shown in figure 3. bacterial examination by gram-staining gram staining was conducted to confirm the presence of klebsiella species depending on their morphological properties by microscopical examination that revealed pink rod-shaped encapsulated bacteria. bacterial identification by urease test after incubating the samples at 37°c for 24 h samples with a bright pink slant were considered as klebsiella urease positive, whereas the samples without any color change were considered as a negative result for urease. the urease test is demonstrated in figure 4. automated method for bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility vietik 2 system for bacterial identification and antibiotic susceptibility it was determined by vietik2 that out of the total of 38 samples, only 30 samples were klebsiella and the remaining 8 were escherichia coli. the samples varied in their antibiotic susceptibility, although they were in general susceptible and not resistant to antibiotics. tables 2 and 3 show the antibiotic susceptibility among klebsiella and e. coli samples. figures 5 and 6 show an overall antibiotic susceptibility among klebsiella and e. coli samples. figure 7 shows the antibiotic susceptibility variation between males and females. examination of the biofilm formation biofilm examination on cra after incubating the 30 klebsiella samples for 24 h at 37°c, the black colonies that developed were considered as biofilm formers, whereas the white/pink colonies were non-biofilm formers as shown in figure 8. figure 1: displays the total 38 samples collected from the hospitals and laboratories figure 2: demonstrates the differences in the number and type of samples according to sex group figure 3: samples cultured on macconkey agar showing the formation of mucoid, pink colonies figure 4: demonstrates urease test, in which the bright pink color slants are klebsiella urease-positive samples while the non-color changed samples are klebsiella urease negative hussein, et al.: klebsiella species and antibiotic resistance 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 56-64 mtp assay and elisa for biofilm examination the mtp method is a quantitative method that was used to detect biofilm, and it was quantified using an elisa reader. the od was measured at 490 nm and the assay was repeated 3 times to reduce the errors. table 4 shows the mean ± standard deviation and the p-value. table 5 shows the number of strong, moderate, and weak samples. discussion the major hospital and laboratory klebsiella-positive samples collected were urine samples (83%), while (10%) were sputum samples, vaginal swabs were the least collected samples making up to (7%) as naqid et al. revealed that k. pneumoniae infection was the most common bacteria found in the patient’s urine samples (66.2%), followed by blood samples (12.3%) and wound swabs (10%).[24] whereas a study’s findings revealed that the majority of k. pneumoniae samples were obtained from throat cultures as they stated that 32 (38.5%) of the 83 k. pneumoniae clinical isolates were found in the throat culture, 18 (21.6%) in the urine, 17 (20.4%) in the trachea, 6 (7.25%) in the blood culture, 6 (7.25%) in the wound, 2 (2.5%) in the sputum, and 2 (2.5%) in the samples from the abscess drain.[25] positive urine samples with klebsiella were more prevalent in females (68.4%) in comparison to males (18.4%) due to the difference in the genital tract which makes females more susceptible as jafari-sales et al. mentioned that the urethra’s shortness is one of many potential causes. in contrast to the various anatomical systems of the male urinary tract, the prostate secretions contain bactericidal compounds. these all play an important role in preventing the invasion of pathogenic bacteria.[26] while in contrast to a study carried out in southern brazil, whose findings showed that male patients were more susceptible to klebsiella infection as they mentioned that the risk for the presence of esbl was significantly higher in males (26.4%) than females (8%), from hospital-acquired infections (29.1%) than community-acquired infections (7.0%), and in klebsiella species (27.4%) than in e. coli (7.7%). it’s somewhat demanding to pinpoint the cause of this variance, which may be related to differences in sample collection, research design, environmental factors, and personal hygiene as well.[27] identification and the presence of klebsiella were determined by performing different tests. the samples were cultured to detect the presence of k. pneumoniae, as it was cultured on macconkey agar because of being selective for table 2: antibiotic susceptibility among klebsiella samples. most of the samples were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole as well as ceftriaxone. while being sensitive to amikacin, ertapenem, imipenem, meropenem, ciprofloxacin, piperacillin/tazobactam, and gentamicin antimicrobial agent resistant sensitive intermediate amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid 13 (43.33) 16 (53.33) 1 (3.33) piperacillin/ tazobactam 1 (3.33) 29 (96.66) ceftriaxone 8 (26.66) 20 (66.66) 2 (6.66) amikacin 30 (100) ertapenem 29 (96.66) 1 (3.33) imipenem 1 (3.33) 29 (96.66) meropenem 1 (3.33) 29 (96.66) ciprofloxacin 2 (6.66) 28 (93.33) gentamicin 1 (3.33) 29 (96.66) trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole 14 (46.66) 16 (53.33) table 3: antibiotic susceptibility among escherichia coli samples. the samples were sensitive to amikacin, ertapenem, imipenem, meropenem, piperacillin/tazobactam, gentamicin, fosfomycin, nitrofurantoin, ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, and cefepime. while showing resistance mostly to cefazolin as well as cefuroxime antimicrobial agent resistant sensitive intermediate amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 1 (12.5) 4 (50) 3 (37.5) piperacillin/ tazobactam 1 (12.5) 6 (75) 1 (12.5) cefazolin 4 (50) 4 (50) / cefuroxime 4 (50) 4 (50) / ceftazidime 2 (25) 5 (6.25) 1 (12.5) ceftriaxone 4 (50) 4 (50) / ertapenem / 8 (100) / imipenem / 8 (100) / meropenem / 8 (100) / amikacin / 8 (100) / gentamicin / 8 (100) / ciprofloxacin 3 (37.5) 5 (6.25) / fosfomycin / 8 (100) / nitrofurantoin / 8 (100) / trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole 2 (25) 6 (75) / cefepime 1 (12.5) 5 (62.5) / amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid 13 (43.33) 16 (53.33) 1 (3.33) piperacillin/ tazobactam 1 (3.33) 29 (96.66) / ceftriaxone 8 (26.66) 20 (66.66) 2 (6.66) amikacin / 30 (100) / ertapenem / 29 (96.66) 1 (3.33) imipenem 1 (3.33) 29 (96.66) / meropenem 1 (3.33) 29 (96.66) / ciprofloxacin 2 (6.66) 28 (93.33) / gentamicin 1 (3.33) 29 (96.66) / trimethoprim/ sulfamethoxazole 14 (46.66) 16 (53.33) / hussein, et al.: klebsiella species and antibiotic resistance 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 56-64 gram-negative bacteria and from its characteristics as it appeared to be mucoid lactose fermenter, forming mucoid pink colonies on the macconkey. as osman et al. suggested in their work that the hospital laboratories identify colonies that are lactose-fermenting mucoid colonies on macconkey’s, cled agar, and blood agar as k. pneumoniae. under a light microscope, these colonies also show up as gram-negative rods after staining.[28] urease test which is a biochemical test was also performed for the identification of k. pneumoniae. the samples that changed the slant color to pink were considered as a positive result for urease in klebsiella as kumar arya et al. suggested from their study that k. pneumoniae has the following biochemical properties, in addition to forming a pink, mucoid colony that ferments lactose on macconkey agar: the bacterium is indole negative, citrate positive, tsi acid/acid with gas, a mannitol fermenter, non-motile, and also tests positive for urease.[29] however, research in contrast revealed that a considerable percentage of k. pneumoniae isolates lack the enzyme urease due to the insertion of is5075 or other related iss, such as is4321, into the urec gene, rendering the operon inactive. both carriage isolates and isolates linked to clinical symptoms can have urease inactivation capability.[30] the antibiotic susceptibility test in this research was performed by vitek2 with k. pneumoniae being sensitive to some antibiotics, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (53.33%), ceftriaxone (66.66%), and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (53.33%) being the least effective while amikacin (100%), piperacillin-tazobactam (96.66%), gentamicin (96.66%), meropenem (96.66%), and ertapenem (96.66%) had the figure 5: overall antibiotic susceptibility among klebsiella samples. most of the samples, up to 85% were sensitive to the antibiotics while only 14% showed resistance figure 6: overall antibiotic susceptibility among escherichia coli samples. about 85% of the samples were sensitive to the antibiotics, while 13% being resistant figure 8: demonstrates the formation of black and red colonies on the congo red agar. the black colonies are due to strong biofilm producers, while the red colonies being moderate biofilm producers figure 7: antibiotic susceptibility variation in klebsiella between male and female samples table 4: the mean±standard deviation and the p-value of the t-test, which showed significance as the p-value being <0.05 concentration mg/ml od at 490 nm mean±standard deviation p-value 200 0.280±0.0519 0.001 control 0.148±0.0125 table 5: number of strong, moderate, and weak biofilm samples as well as the p-value of the chi-squared test. most of the samples were strong biofilm producers, while six of them were moderate and only four were weak biofilm producers. the work showed significance as the p-value being <0.05 biofilm number percentage p-value strong 20 66.6 moderate 6 20 0.0005 weak 4 13.3 hussein, et al.: klebsiella species and antibiotic resistance 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 56-64 most favorable profile. as alzahrani et al. showed from their work that amikacin, aztreonam, cefepime, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, imipenem, and levofloxacin were the most effective antibiotics against k. pneumoniae (100% sensitivity), followed by meropenem, nitrofurantoin, and norfloxacin (80% sensitivity), ceftriaxone (66.67% sensitivity), tazocin (60% sensitivity), and (50% sensitivity) of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. k. pneumoniae was discovered to be completely resistant to tobramycin, ampicillin, cefoxitin, cefuroxime, as well as cephalothin. sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim displayed a lower susceptibility pattern of 63.64% simultaneously.[31] ghenea et al. proposed in their work that they have observed an increase in k. pneumoniae isolates in recent years, particularly antibiotic-resistant strains, in high-risk ward such as icus. the proliferation of hospital-acquired infections within the population can give rise to significant public health concerns that must not be overlooked.[32] furthermore, abdelwahed et al. mentioned that in their study, different levels of drug resistance have been observed in k. pneumoniae. this research found greater resistance rates to ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, cefepime, piperacillin-tazobactam, ciprofloxacin, imipenem, and cefuroxime when compared to bangladesh. however, there was less resistance to colistin and amikacin. greater resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanic acid, ceftazidime, imipenem, and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim was observed in urine samples of k. pneumoniae than in grenada. however, in their research, gentamycin, cefuroxime, and ciprofloxacin resistance levels were reduced.[33] our findings revealed as the samples were mostly obtained from females, both the resistance to certain antibiotics as well as sensitivity were more in females than in males. females are more likely than males to acquire klebsiella infections. as in this research, we noticed that the infection rates in females (61.7%) were higher than in males (38.3%).[34] there are different methods that can be used for screening the biofilm formation, cra is a qualitative test that was performed to determine whether the samples were biofilm producers, and it was confirmed by the black and red colony formation on the cra. according to our findings, out of the thirty klebsiella samples, twenty (66.6%) of them produced biofilm at a strong level, six (20%) at a moderate level, and only four (13.3%) at a weak level. the biofilm producers develop black colonies (strong), red colonies (moderate), and non-biofilm producers develop pink/white colonies on cra medium.[34] naji and awadh also suggested in their work that out of the total number of isolates, 57 (38%) exhibited weak biofilm formation and were characterized by dark red (maroon) colonies. on the other hand, 24 isolates (16%) did not form any biofilm and were identified by pale red colonies. out of the total isolates, 34 of them, accounting for (22.67%), exhibited moderate biofilm formation. these isolates were characterized by the presence of black-dark gray colonies, sometimes accompanied by a clear zone around the colonies, which were similar in color to pink.[35] mtp assay was performed as a quantitative method for biofilm detection and an elisa auto reader was utilized to measure the od at 490 nm. depending on the od findings in the current study, it was determined that most of the samples were strong biofilm producers and also that the p-values were significant for both the t-test and chi-squared test. the strong biofilm samples were also determined depending on the references which validated the results as naji and awadh stated from their study that an od of 490 nm >0.12 was regarded as a sample that would produce a biofilm after measuring the absorbency at this wavelength. and no/weak biofilm od <0.120, biofilm od = 0.120–0.240, and heavy biofilm od >0.240.[35] as opposed to a study conducted by haghighifar et al. which demonstrated that among k. pneumoniae isolates, 20% exhibited high biofilm formation, 30% showed moderate biofilm formation, and 50% displayed low biofilm formation. these isolates had od values that varied from more than 0.38 but <0.74.[36] furthermore, a study’s findings of the mtp analysis revealed that 86 (67.2%) isolates had weak biofilms, 24 (18.8%) had moderate biofilms, and 18 (14.1%) had strong biofilms. out of 128 samples, 57 (44.5%) were identified as mdr.[37] the findings of this study revealed that most of the collected klebsiella samples were strong biofilm producers while sensitive to most antibiotics, as siddique et al. revealed that according to one of the studies conducted by the national institutes of health and the centre for disease control, biofilm-forming microorganisms are responsible for 65–80% of infections and have the capacity to contribute to a variety of diseases.[38] furthermore, wang et al. mentioned that particularly in individuals with compromised immune systems, k. pneumoniae biofilm can cause invasion of the respiratory, gastrointestinal, and urinary tracts as well as the rise of invasive infections.[39] while, research revealed that weak biofilm development was independently correlated with patient clinical outcomes, pathogenicity, and resistance. the most resistant organism and the one that produced the most biofilms was k. pneumoniae. antibiotic resistance and biofilm development did not statistically correlate, which may be due to the fact that the majority of isolates were poor biofilm producers.[40] the klebsiella samples that were obtained from the hospitals and laboratories demonstrated resistance to some antibiotics as a result of their strong biofilm formation in agreement with shadkam et al. the majority of k. pneumoniae isolates that have been isolated from hospitalized patients are able to produce biofilms. in addition, mdr-k. pneumoniae genotypes tend to produce stronger biofilms than the nonmdr strains in their study.[22] whereas, a study revealed that k. pneumoniae isolates resistant to the antibiotic carbapenem were 91% less likely to be strong biofilm producers, making it the first study to their knowledge to demonstrate an antagonistic correlation between k. pneumoniae antimicrobial resistance and biofilm production.[41] however, nirwati et al. suggested according to this research, biofilm-producing k. pneumoniae had higher levels of drug resistance than non-biofilm-producing k. pneumoniae.[6] hussein, et al.: klebsiella species and antibiotic resistance 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 56-64 conclusion the prevalence of antibiotic resistance in klebsiella is rising which is why samples were obtained from hospitals and laboratories. in this research, we wanted to investigate if the resistance is correlated to biofilm formation. several tests were performed, to identify and confirm the presence of klebsiella. antibiotic resistance was evaluated using vitek 2 and the capability of biofilm formation was assessed by both qualitative and quantitative techniques. although there is not a significant correlation between antibiotic susceptibility and biofilm formation, the samples demonstrated the capability of strong biofilm formation as well as resistance to certain antibiotics. acknowledgment we would like to express our gratitude to cihan universityerbil for their support and for granting us permission to conduct this study in their laboratory. references 1. s. kuinkel, j. acharya, b. dhungel, s. adhikari, n. adhikari, u. t. shrestha, m. r. banjara, k. r. rijal and p. ghimire. biofilm formation and phenotypic detection of esbl, mbl, kpc and ampc enzymes and their coexistence in klebsiella spp. isolated at the national reference 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characteristic of virulence, biofilm and antibiotic resistance of klebsiella pneumoniae. international journal of environmental research and public health, vol. 17, no. 17, p. 6278, 2020. 40. a. juliana, k. leela, a. gopinathan and t. jayaprakash. biofilm formation and its association with gram negative sepsis pathogenicity. biomedical and pharmacology journal, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 2099-2106, 2022. 41. j. a. cusumano, a. r. caffrey, k. e. daffinee, m. k. luther, v. lopes and k. l. laplante. weak biofilm formation among carbapenemresistant klebsiella pneumoniae. diagnostic microbiology and infectious disease, vol. 95, no. 4, p. 114877, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 41 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 41-46 research article application of support vector machines kernel functions for breast cancer detection and classification: a comparative study raz m. hama salih, saman h. mahmood department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq abstract this study deals with the linear, polynomial, and radial basis function (rbf) kernel-based support vector machines (svm) applied to the classification of breast cancer. it checks the efficiency of different kernel-based techniques for distinguishing benign and malignant tumors against medical datasets. this analysis is conducted on the public wisconsin breast cancer dataset borrowed from the uci machine learning repository, which consists of 569 cases, 357 benign and 212 malignant. it aims to develop the assessment necessary for each kernel based on its accuracy, precision, recall, computational efficiency, f1 score, and area under the curve (auc). the outcome reveals that, in general, the polynomial kernel will provide top-ranking results across the various features, thereby enhancing accuracy (96.84%), specificity (97.76%), and auc (0.9966) compared to the linear and rbf kernels for use in disease classifications of cancers. these findings indicate that the polynomial kernel adeptly captures complex, non-linear data relationships, making it a strong candidate for developing more accurate svm-based breast cancer detection models. keywords: machine learning, support vector machines, kernel functions, breast cancer, classification introduction breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancerrelated mortality among women worldwide, presenting a significant global health challenge. early and accurate diagnosis is important in the improvement of patient outcomes and survival rates.[1] traditional diagnostic approaches include mammography, ultrasound, and biopsy – all with their disadvantages. mammography has wide usage, though one may also expect false positives and negatives, especially in dense breast tissue. however, while highly sensitive, biopsies are invasive and require a great deal of time. moreover, they may not be suitable for all patients.[2] the inherent variability in the interpretation of medical images adds to diagnostic inconsistencies and can further delay diagnosis.[3] such limitations call for newer methods of diagnosis. while these traditional methods are good in many cases, they can sometimes have difficulty with data with complex relationships or many dimensions. machine learning can be a very promising avenue for improving medical diagnosis by enabling the analysis of complex datasets with high accuracy and speed.[4] supervised learning algorithms, especially those developed for classification, are quite effective at distinguishing. while the field has dealt mainly with segregating between cancerous and non-cancerous tissues using different features of medical images or clinical data, a variety of machine learning algorithms are used to achieve the end goal. support vector machines (svm) are among them that have acquired great attention for being robust and capable of dealing with highdimensional data on the availability of small-sized samples. basically, kernel functions map input data into a higherdimension feature space to create non-linear separating hyperplanes; therefore, increasing classification efficiency on complicated datasets can be developed correspondingly. in light of existing related studies on machine learning for the detection of breast cancer, comparative studies, which would focus comprehensively on the performance of various svm kernel functions using some specific breast cancer datasets, are few and far between. while various studies have been conducted on the application of different kernel functions corresponding author: raz m. hama salih, department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq. e-mail: raz.hamasalih@su.edu.krd received: february 4, 2025 accepted: march 14, 2025 published: april 20, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp41-46 copyright © 2025 raz m. hama salih, saman h. mahmood. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) salih and mahmood: svm kernel functions for breast cancer classification 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 41-46 for the detection of breast cancer, there is no comparative study on the performances of linear, polynomial, and radial basis function (rbf) kernels on the different publicly available datasets of breast cancer.[5] this will indeed be very helpful to point out which of these kernel functions would best suit the optimum detection and classification of breast cancer in various scenarios. the main purpose of this research is to gauge the performances for different kernel functions of svm on breast cancer datasets, such as a linear, polynomial, and rbf kernel for the most appropriate kernel regarding their performance on breast cancer data effective detection and classification. this study will carry out the assessment of the various functions of kernels and their efficiency in performance and develop insight into choosing the appropriate kernel function among the options given for the choice of a kernel function in certain datasets. literature review traditional methods for diagnosis of breast cancer include several diagnostic modalities such as mammography, ultrasound, and biopsies. however, these methods are not without their limitations.[6-9] machine learning, or more specifically supervised learning, has developed to effectively enhance the detection and classification of breast cancer. various studies have been carried out that apply several machine learning algorithms, such as artificial neural networks, svms, and ensemble methods, on the imaging and clinical datasets for the diagnosis of breast cancer.[10] of all these, the most promising performance is offered by svms, which classify the images and clinical data of breast cancer due to their capability to handle high-dimensional datasets with fewer numbers of total observations effectively.[11] the svm works by constructing a hyperplane that maximizes the margin between the data points of different classes and separates them in high-dimensional space. data points closest to the hyperplane are called support vectors, and they uniquely define the position of the hyperplane. major performance bases of svm are kernel functions, as they allow non-linear classification without explicit computation of transformation in higher dimensional space.[12] the selection of the kernel function in svm plays a crucial role in choosing the model’s implementation. the linear kernel, the simplest model, is sufficient for linearly detachable data but cannot be used when dealing with complex and non-linear datasets. a study has revealed that svms employing a linear kernel can achieve high accuracy on smaller datasets.[13] conversely, the rbf kernel is one of the most adequate functions for breast cancer detection. studies demonstrated that rbf-based svms outperform other kernel functions in accuracy and robustness, especially in non-linear datasets. for instance, one study revealed that the rbf kernel performed an accuracy of 89.1%, exceeding the polynomial and linear functions.[14] similarly, another investigation revealed that rbf models optimized with genetic algorithms achieved accuracies of 97.71%.[15] this research paper investigates the effectiveness of kernel function selection, compares the performance of different kernel functions, and discusses optimization techniques to improve svm classification accuracy in breast cancer data. materials and methods kernel functions linear kernel the linear kernel performs a dot product of input vectors and is suitable for linearly separable data.[16] the linear kernel tries to find a line that maximizes margins and minimizes misclassification. it is intended to find a hyperplane that maximizes the margins between classes and, at the same time, minimizes misclassifications. k(x,y) = x.z + c (1) c is a parameter that controls the trade-off between the margin of the decision boundary and the accuracy of classifying the training data. as the value of c increases, the tolerance for misclassification decreases, resulting in a narrower margin.[17] polynomial kernel the polynomial kernel maps input data to a higher-dimensional space using a polynomial function, with different degrees influencing the model’s complexity.[18] k(x,y) = (γ x.z + c)d (2) γ is a scaling parameter that determines the influence of the inner product x.z. d is the degree of polynomial rbf it is one of the most popular kernels. rbf kernel measures similarity based on the radial distance between data points, using a gamma parameter that controls the influence of each data point.[19,20] k(x,y) = exp(-γ‖x-z‖2) (3) where γ > 0 each kernel has advantages and disadvantages, and the best choice often depends on the nature of the input data.[9] whereas much research has been directed toward machine learning in the detection of breast cancer, the literature indicates a lack of comparative studies that have analyzed and compared the performances of different svm kernel functions on different datasets regarding classification. therefore, the literature demonstrates the need to conduct a systematic study of different svm kernels by using publicly available datasets related to breast cancer. in this respect, therefore, the present work meets this gap in the literature by comparing the different types of svm kernels in-depth, as much as possible, and intends to determine which kernel best fits the purpose of detecting and classifying breast cancer, including the discussion of advantages and disadvantages associated with each kernel. dataset description the performance of the various kernel functions in svm was compared using the open wisconsin breast salih and mahmood: svm kernel functions for breast cancer classification 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 41-46 cancer (wbc) dataset from the uci machine learning repository.[21] this dataset contains 569 instances, and each instance is characterized by 30 features (variables) computed from digitized images of the fine needle aspiration. these features describe the cell nuclei’s properties in the image, including radius, texture, perimeter, area, smoothness, compactness, concavity, concave points, symmetry, and fractal dimension, with measurements for mean, standard error, and worst values. the dataset is binary, with 357 instances labeled benign and 212 instances labeled malignant. data pre-processing before training the svm classifiers, several pre-processing steps were performed on the dataset. first, an inspection for missing values revealed that none were present in this specific dataset. this guarantees that all features contribute equally to the classification process and helps avoid potential numerical instability issues. in addition, the processed data was divided into a training set (70%) and a testing set (30%) aligning with common practices to balance model training and evaluation. evaluation metrics the confusion matrix, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity are key metrics used for evaluating classification models. each one exhibits distinct strengths and shortcomings depending on the specific problem, particularly with respect to class imbalance. confusion matrix it is a metric that illustrates the performance of the classification algorithm based on the data contained within it. for a binary classification, it can be expressed in table 1. accuracy accuracy measures how many predictions were made correctly regarding all cases predicted. accuracy means all positive and negative results were true. it is simple to understand and compute and work well when the classes are balanced.[22] accuracy nmber of correct predictions total number of predi �             cctions tp tn tp tn fn fp � � � � � (4) sensitivity the sensitivity (recall) is the degree of effectiveness in a classification algorithm that classifies data points into a positive class.[23] sensitivity�recall( ) �� � tp tp fn (5) specificity this is the measure of a degree of effectiveness in a classification approach in classifying data into the negative class.[24] specificity � � tn tn fp (6) � * * * �,� ,�,f precision recall precision recall� � � �� �� � � � � � 1 1 2 2 2 ��3 (7) f-scores the f1, f2, and f3 scores are obtained by setting β to 1, 2, and 3, and taking a positive real number. f1-score matric combines two different metrics (precision and recall). these metrics are the most used performance metrics in medical research, which involve diagnosis and classification.[25] area under the curve (auc) the auc is a vital metric of performance for any classification models. the higher the auc, the better the model.[25,26] svm implementation the svm classifiers were implemented in matlab r2022a, using the (fitcsvm) function for appropriate corresponding types, namely linear kernel, polynomial kernel, and rbf kernel, and 5-folds cross-validation for tuning the hyperparameters so that the generalizability of the model could be checked, and overfitting was reduced as far as possible. results and discussion this section is followed by comparing the performance of three svms: linear, polynomial, and rbfs. a confusion matrix was then created to evaluate the performance of the models, which allowed several parameters to be calculated, such as accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, and f-scores, such as the f1, f2, and f3 scores. furthermore, auc can also be used for the measure in the comparison of classifiers since high auc will indicate better performance in all thresholds of possible decisions. these metrics provide a comprehensive evaluation of the svm models, with a focus on recall and auc being especially significant in the medical domain. linear kernel table 2 presents a summary of the test results using the classification model. out of the (212) positives, (203) were, in fact, positive, while (9) were false negatives; likewise, out of (357) negatives, (345) were true negatives, and the remaining (12) were false positives. further computation on the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity evaluation measures could be done as per the following: accuracy � � � � � � 203 345 203 345 9 12 0 9630. � table 2: confusion matrix for linear kernel model predicted\actual positive negative positive 203 9 negative 12 345 table 1: confusion matrix for binary classes (negative and positive) predicted\actual positive negative positive true positive (tp) false positive (fp) negative false negative (fn) true negative (tn) salih and mahmood: svm kernel functions for breast cancer classification 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 41-46 sensitivity�recall� � � � � 203 203 9 0 9575. � specificity�true nagtive rate� � � � � 345 345 12 0 9663. � polynomial kernel table 3 shows that out of (312) positive class data points, (202) were correctly identified as true positives and (10) were false negatives. of the (357) negative class data, (349) were true negatives, while (8) were false positives. the calculated values for metrics are as follows: accuracy � � � � � � 202 349 202 349 10 8 0 9683 � �. sensitivity�recall� � � � � 202 202 10 0 9528�. specificity�true nagtive rate� � � � � 349 349 8 0 9775�. rbf kernel table 4 shows that out of (212) positive classes, (192) of them were predicted in the positive class, which is called true positive, and the left of them (20) of the data got negative that called false negative. furthermore, from (357) negative class test data, true negative is (346), and false positive is (11). the following are the performance metrics calculated in this regard, which include accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. accuracy � � � � � � 192 346 192 20 11 346 0 9455. � sensitivity�recall� � � � � 192 192 20 0 9056. � specificity�true nagtive rate� � � � � 346 346 11 0 9691. � table 5 presents a direct comparison of the three svm kernel models using key performance metrics. the polynomial kernel model demonstrates superior overall performance with the highest accuracy at 0.9684, precision at 0.9619, and specificity at 0.9776. while the linear kernel achieves a slightly higher recall of 0.9575 compared to the polynomial’s 0.9528, the latter demonstrates a more balanced performance. the polynomial model also has the highest f1-score of 0.9573, a better way of measuring the balance between precision and recall. the rbf kernel lags in most metrics, including the lowest precision at 0.9458, recall at 0.9057, and significantly lower f-scores, where the highest score it achieves is the f1 score of 0.9253. crucially, the polynomial kernel model achieves the highest auc at 0.9966, followed by linear with 0.9955 and rbf with 0.9818, indicating its superior capability in distinguishing between malignant and benign cases overall, solidifying its position as the best-performing model among the three in the table. as shown in the graphs from figure 1, the polynomial kernel model displays a receiver operating characteristic curve with an auc of 0.9966, the highest among the three models, indicating superior discriminatory ability. the polynomial kernel’s curve is closer to the ideal top left corner compared to the curves of the other two models. next, the linear kernel also demonstrates strong performance with an auc of 0.9859. its curve is slightly below the polynomial model’s, showing excellent discriminatory power, though not quite as good as the polynomial kernel. finally, the rbf kernel has the lowest auc at 0.9818 (rounded from 0.98175), and its curve is visibly further from the top left corner, indicating comparatively lower discriminatory capabilities. in all the graphs, the dotted diagonal line represents the performance of a random classifier with an auc of 0.5. since all models have curves significantly above this line, it suggests that all three models are notably better than a random classifier. overall, figure 1 visually confirms the numerical results in table 4, reinforcing the conclusion that the polynomial kernel is the best-performing model for breast cancer classification. discussion this study offers a comparative analysis of three widely used svm kernel functions: linear, polynomial, and rbf, specifically for the classification of breast cancer using the wbc dataset. we assessed each kernel’s performance using various evaluation metrics, including accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, f-scores, and auc. the results are quite consistent: the polynomial kernel surpasses both the linear and rbf kernels in all respects, particularly regarding overall accuracy, specificity, and most impressively-auc. such results complement other works in which the efficiency of polynomial kernels on complex classification problems was underlined. in fact, in one of table 4: confusion matrix for the matrix of rbf model predicted\actual positive negative positive 192 20 negative 11 346 table 3: confusion matrix for polynomial kernel model predicted\actual positive negative positive 202 10 negative 8 349 table 5: performance metric comparison metric polynomial kernel rbf kernel linear kernel accuracy 0.9684 0.9455 0.9630 precision 0.9619 0.9458 0.9442 recall 0.9528 0.9057 0.9575 specificity 0.9776 0.9692 0.9663 f1 score 0.9573 0.9253 0.9508 f2 score 0.9546 0.9134 0.9548 f3 score 0.9537 0.9095 0.9562 auc 0.9966 0.9818 0.9859 auc: area under the curve, rbf: radial basis function salih and mahmood: svm kernel functions for breast cancer classification 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 41-46 the studies, similar results were obtained, representing the polynomial kernel as one of the best for classification tasks, mainly due to its non-linear connections’ detectability within data.[5] furthermore, many researchers have proved that even though the rbf kernel may be a suitable choice for most of the intricate data, it always requires appropriate parameter tuning.[20,27] our case reflects that the rbf kernel was not able to achieve similar performances attained by the polynomial kernel. it is justified that this kernel is performing better because the polynomial kernel maps the input data into higherdimensional space using a polynomial function and hence grasps more complex relations within the data.[23] increased flexibility becomes important in modeling the intricacy of medical datasets for which classes cannot always be separated by a linear boundary. the linear kernel also performed very well with an auc of 0.9859 and sensitivity, proving that there was a certain degree of linearity inside the dataset. this is important because linear kernels are computationally simpler and sometimes can give decent results with far lower computational costs. however, our analysis suggests that due to its capability of capturing more intricate patterns, the polynomial kernel achieves higher accuracy and specificity. although effective for many problems, the rbf kernel exhibited considerably lower performance on this classification problem. lower auc and lower precision, recall, and f-scores of the rbf kernel indicate poor generalization of the radial distancebased similarity measure for the chosen dataset. this may be due to either the nature of the dataset or some problems in rbf hyperparameters, indicating that kernel selection needs to be specific to the nature of a dataset. this is most significant in medical diagnosis, in which early detection is critical. a higher auc for the polynomial kernel means increased chances of successfully differentiating between malignant and benign cases and fewer false negatives. sensitivity is of utmost importance for better patient outcomes, reducing the chances of late intervention, and is very significant for kernel selection in medical contexts.[22] although this work presents a critical study of the svm kernel functions using the given dataset, one should also ensure that it is not without its set of limitations. the model does not fully generalize to other datasets on breast cancer, each of which may have variable features and dimensions. further research work must exercise this comparative analysis with other datasets and variations in parameters to assess the generalizability of the polynomial kernel overall in different scenarios of cancer detection and robustly develop our conclusion. further work could be extended to other types of kernels in svm or other machine-learning approaches to see whether these produce superior results. the conclusion of this research really proved that kernel function selection is very important in any svm-based medical diagnosis system. so far, the polynomial kernel has resulted in the best performance in classifying breast cancer using the wbc dataset and thus serves as a very strong tool toward more effective and reliable model development with an emphasis on higher auc and increased sensitivity. conclusion this study certainly establishes the supremacy of the polynomial kernel function of svm for the classification of breast cancer using a wbcd dataset. upon rigorous evaluation, a polynomial kernel function demonstrated the highest accuracy with specificity and auc, with a significant lead over linear and rbf kernel functions. these results point out the importance of a proper kernel function in the development of the svm-based model for medical diagnosis. this can be interpreted that the polynomial kernel captured non-linear patterns with complexity, therefore finer discrimination of benign and malignant tumors was allowed. the higher auc and specificity in the medical context mean the reduction of the number of false negatives for early and correct diagnosis. these study findings also provide the basis for the optimum performance of svm models in breast cancer datasets. it is important to contribute to the formation of a basis upon which future studies can be conducted based on these results with other datasets of breast cancer using different machinelearning methods. in general, the study postulates that a polynomial kernel represents an important step forward in machine learning toward developing effective models for the detection of breast cancer with the ultimate goal of improving both the care as well as the outcomes of the patients. figure 1: area under the curve for each kernel function of (polynomial, linear, and radial basis function) salih and mahmood: svm kernel functions for breast cancer classification 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 41-46 references 1. a. roheel, a. khan, f. anwar, z. akbar, m. f. akhtar, m. i. khan, m. f. sohail and r. ahmad. global epidemiology of breast cancer based on risk factors: a systematic review. frontiers in oncology, vol. 13, p. 1240098, 2023. 2. k. hashimoto, s. nishimura, t. ito, n. oka and 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tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 research article determination of single sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model with application dler h. kadir1, azhin m. khudhur1, rebaz o. yahya2, abdulrahim k. rahi3 1department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq, 2department of business administration, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of business administration, dijlah university college, iraq abstract bayesian sampling plans for production inspection involve using a sampling method to assess the plan’s features, assuming that defect rates fluctuate randomly among different production batches. this study uses bayesian sampling plans, specifically the beta distribution, to determine a single sampling plan’s (ssp) parameter (n, c). these parameters were then compared to those from other ssp. the study was conducted at the ala corporation for soft drinks, where 120 batches were selected to calculate the defect rate. the results showed that using bayesian and decision-making models can lead to developing a single sampling inspection procedure that closely approximates the quality level. in addition, the decision-making model resulted in a smaller sample size and lower inspection costs than other inspection plans. keywords: acceptance quality level, bayesian sampling plans, operating characteristics, statistical quality control, average sample size introduction pepsi company (ala) is one of the private sector companies belonging to the food industries in the bazian area of sulaymaniyah governorate. this company was established in 2006–2005 and its first production was in 2006, and the company consists of machinery and equipment (italian and swiss) made with high specifications as it can manufacture two types of soft drink bottles with a capacity of (1.5 l) and (330 ml), and that the allowable percentage of production damage according to international specifications is 3%, meaning that any increase in this percentage indicates a defect in the company’s production stages. quality control is a critical aspect of production, ensuring that products meet specified standards and minimizing waste and costs. statistical tools, such as control charts and sampling plans, play a crucial role in managing and monitoring production quality. sampling plans, in particular, offer a precise and efficient way to assess the presence of specific characteristics in produced units by analyzing a small, randomly selected portion of the output.[1] this study focuses on the application of bayesian sampling plans for production inspection, a method that incorporates prior knowledge and experience to make informed decisions about product acceptance or rejection. bayesian sampling plans have been shown to be effective in various industries, and their potential benefits in the soft drink industry are worth exploring. the research aims to develop a bayesian discriminant sampling plan for the ala pepsi soft drinks company, a major producer in the bazian area of sulaymaniyah governorate. by applying bayesian theory and decision theory, this study seeks to establish a sampling procedure that closely approximates the actual quality level of the company’s products. the findings of this research will contribute to the optimization of quality control practices at ala pepsi and potentially in other similar production settings.[2,3] hald[4] introduced a novel sampling methodology that uses cumulative conforming control chart count and compared it to conventional sampling techniques, illustrating its power for higher lot sizes and process averages. the mathematical frameworks for the suggested technique are built utilizing the count of cumulative conforming items and markov chain corresponding author: azhin m. khudhur, department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region f.r. iraq. e-mail: azhin.khudhur@su.edu.krd received: june 27, 2024 accepted: august 09, 2024 published: august 25, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp65-75 copyright © 2024 dler h. kadir, azhin m. khudhur, rebaz o. yahya, abdulrahim k. rahi. this is an open-access article distributed under the creativecommons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 modeling, which both depend on markov modeling and negative binomial distribution. this suggested method is shown to be beneficial compared to the tables of dodge-romig when the findings are compared to those of the single sampling plan (ssp) based on aoql and lot tolerance percent defective (ltpd) developed by dodge-romig. the optimization model makes sure that the aoql stays within a set upper limit and that the minimal ati is attained. ahmadi yazdi and fallahnezhad[5] focused on the creation of dodge-romig aoql ssp using variables and specification limitations. the research suggests a generalization of kapur and wang’s paradigm and is to extend their earlier work. based on the anticipated total cost per unit, the best inspection strategy is either approval without control or 100 observations. the sample plans are designed using the quadratic quality loss function, which has proven effective in many quality control uses. the findings paper recommends additional investigation into an integrated bayesian ssp model for variables and boundaries. chen[6] provided clear asymptotic formulae for the dodge-romig ltpd single sampling inspection plans’ sample size and approval number. numerical experiments indicate that a simple finite population adjustment of the asymptotic formulae results in a very accurate approach to the dodgeromig solution. the paper’s major findings are that the sample size is asymptotically proportionate to the logarithm of the lot size and that the maximum permitted percent faulty in the sample merges to the tolerance fraction defective, with a difference of order l/v%. klůfa[7] compared ltpd single sample plans for examination by characteristics to the matching dodge-romig ltpd plan from an economic standpoint. the economic effectiveness of ltpd plans for variable and property inspection is investigated, and it is discovered that they are more inexpensive than the matching dodge-romig attribute sample plans in several cases, with a cost savings of 80%. the research also investigates the relationship between economic efficiency and lot size n, given specified characteristics. whenever the quantity of objects in the plenty is large, the system’s average fraction of defective is low, and while the cost of inspection by variables does not appear to be significantly higher as compared to the cost of inspection by characteristics, the economic efficiency of the ltpd plans for inspection by variables and attributes is higher. kadir and rahi[3] utilized the beta-binomial distribution to determine the parameters for a bayesian sampling plan and then compared it to alternative ssp. the bayesian and decisionmaking models can create a sample evaluation process that closely mimics the actual level of quality. when applying the decision-making model, the sample size was smaller than other inspection plans, leading to lower inspection costs. it is critical to completely develop quality control criteria, especially in prioritizing standard and production standards. dodge-romig models in 1994 both researchers harold and harry used sampling plans and these plans apply in case of filtered rectifying inspection it’s an examination that examines a sample (n) that is taken from a production batch (n), the number of specified units (x) in a sample (n). if it is less or equal to several approvals (x ≤ c) then c will decide to accept the sample and the rest quantity (n – n) without, and defective units in the units will be replaced with better ones. a decision is taken to refuse the sample when the number of defective units is (x) in a sample (n) is bigger than the number of acceptances, which means when (x > c) refuses the remaining quantity (n – n) and all its units are submitted to general examination for isolating purposes of effective units and exchange them with other nondefective units. when finding the ssp for filtered examination, both researchers depended on (ltpd, and aoql) systems, where the (ltpd) term refers to the proportion of defects allowed in the production batch, ass for the (aoql) term refers to the highest rate of defective units in the transmitted batch and that is after implementing a filtered examination on it.[8] single sampling ltpd plans ltpd ssps are based on several assumptions: defective units occur randomly, and the production process is under the statistical control of a binomial distribution with a constant defect rate of p1 choose the value of ltpd to be p2 to protect the producer from delivering unsatisfactory batches, as the probability of accepting batches with quality level (p2 > p1) p2 is small and this probability is usually called consumer’s risk, which is the probability of accepting a batch with a quality level worse than the ltpd, and we will symbolize it as p (p2), it can be said that the producer aims to use sampling plans where the value of p (p2) is small. rejected batches are completely re-inspected based on the decision to reject the sample, after which all defective units are replaced with non-defective (good) units or repaired if repair is possible for these units. the cost of inspecting one unit in the sample is equal to the cost of inspecting one unit in the rejected lot (n-n) and is equal to one as an economic unit. the inspection plans determined by the model aim to minimize the total inspection rate i(p1) for a product of quality (p1). this rate is based on inspecting a quantity n in the case of acceptance and n in the case of rejection, so i(p1). i(p1) = np(p1) + nq(p1) (1) where: p(p1): represents the probability of accepting n batches of the product of quality p1. the value of p(p1) depends on the type of sampling distribution, and according to the first assumption above, we obtain the value of p(p1). p p p x c b x n p b c n p x c 1 0 1 1� � � �� � � � � � � � , , ( , , ) (2) q(p1) represents the probability of batch rejection, where: q(p1) = 1 – p(p1) (3) a binomial distribution is used when a random sample n is drawn from batch n or from the output of a production process kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 67 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 whose quality rate is equal to p1. in addition, the probability of obtaining x defective units in a sample of size n taken from a production batch of size n containing x defective units is determined from the hypergeometric distribution, since p n x x n a x bx x n x n x n n, , ,� � � � �� �c c c (4) a = max [0, n–(n – x)], b = min [x, n] thus, the acceptance probability of batch n containing x defective units is p(n, c, x, n) since p n x x n p n x x n x c , , , , , ,� � � � � � � 0 (5) the cumulative probability values obtained in terms of binomial sums are a good and reasonable approximation of the probability values in terms of hypergeometric sums in the case of x ≥ n, n ≥ 50 n/n ≤ 0.1 therefore, equation (5) can be written as follows: p n x x n p n x x n x c , , , , , /� � � � � � � 0 (6) in addition to the previous distribution, the poisson distribution can be used to calculate the acceptance probability when the focus is on the number of defects per unit of production rather than the number of defective units. if we have a production process in which the average number of defects per unit of production is equal to μ (and these defects occur randomly so that the number of defects per unit is independent of the number of defects for any other unit of production), the acceptance probability of the quality product is μ equal to: p p x c e n xr x c n x � �� � � � �� � � � � � 0 ( ) ! p(μ) = g(c, nμ) (7) the poisson distribution is a good approximation to a binomial distribution when p is small and n is large, so equation (2) converges to: p(p1) = b(c, n, p1) = g(c, np1) when (p1 < 0.10) this approximation simplifies the solution for parameterizing the sampling plan because the poisson results depend on the product (np1) rather than the two separate parameters p1, n as in binomial. using dodge-romig tables the researchers, dodge-romig brought out the results of the ssps using the hypergeometric allocation and for (ltpd) system, and the plans were set in particular tables that comprised the ssps for eight values (ltpd ≤ 0.10) and the values are: 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0%, 3.0%, 4.0%, 5.0%, 7.0%, and 10.0%. these techniques have improvements over the classic dodge-romig table, such as greater flexibility in selecting ltpd values and attaining reduced average total inspection by adapting the plan to individual process averages and lot sizes.[9] utilizing dodge-romig tables the singular dodge-romig plans for the aoql system rely on the following assumptions[10]: 1. the production process operates under binomial control, where the constant defective rate equals p1. 2. the examination used is of the filtering type. 3. for the producer to ensure that the quality of his product is convenient, he must pick out a value for the maximum percentage of defective units in the batch sent for the inspection (i.e., the aoql value), subsequently, consideration is given to the sampling plan that achieves the smallest value for the overall inspection rate i(p1) among all conjoining plans to this plan the ones that have the same (pl) value. 4. dodge-romig plans for the aoql system were based on the use of a poisson distribution rather than a binomial when determining acceptance probabilities p(p1). after mentioning the specific assumptions for the aoql system, we proceed to reformulate equation (8) and make it more suitable for deriving the sampling plan parameters for the aql system. first, let’s define pa: p p n n n p pa � �� � 1 1( ) (8) p p n n n e np xa x c np x � �� � � � � � � � �1 0 1 1( ) ! (9) if we assume that pm represents the value of p1 that maximizes the equation (9), which equals pl, and that m = npm, we find that: p n n n m n e m xl x c m x � �� � � � � � � � � 0 ( ) ! (10) p n n m e m xl x c m x � �� � � � � � � � �1 1 0 ( ) ! (11) y n nc � �� � � � � � 1 1 whereas: y m e m xc x c m x � � � � 0 ( ) ! in additional, y np n n c l� �� � � � � �1 (12) the researchers dodge-romig calculated the values of (m = npm), yc values in equation (12), for different values of c, specifically for c = 0(1)40, as they cleared that ion the table.[8] it is noteworthy that equation (12) represents the relationship between n, n, c, and when solved for n, we obtain: kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 68 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 n y p y n c l c � � �( )1 (13) this equation targets the necessary size of the sample to examine the n batch of the product after figuring the values of pl and c. the researchers dodge-romig extracted the result of sampling plans of the aoql system and put it in a particular table, these tables obtain inspection plans for thirteen values of the value aoql≤0.10 and the values are: 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0%, 4.0%, 5.0%, 7.0%, 10.0% each table contains six plans consistent with the worth levels, and for batch sizes groups, if n batches were distributed from value (1) to value 100000 in 14 categories, and the value of ltpd was also determined at each level of the quality levels, with the help of these tables the parameters of the sampling plan (n, c) can be read after determining the value of pl, the quality level, and the category that includes the batch size that produces n. the use of poisson approximation the poisson approximation is counted as a consistent and great approximation for the accurate solution extracted from the binomial, and that’s when: 1 2 2 ( 0.10, 0.5, 0.10) p np p n ≤ ≤ ≤ to use the poisson approximation, we have to rewrite the equation (1) as follows: i(p1) = np (p1) + nq (p1) =np(p1) + nq (p1) + nq(p1)– nq(p1) i(p1) = n + (n – n) q (p1) (14) � � �� � � � �� � � � � � � �� � �n n n e np x x c np x 1 0 1 1 ! (15) from equation (15), the parameters of the sampling plan (n, c) are determined which minimizes the value of i(p1) as claimed to the specific conditions of the consumer risk p(p2), that equals p(p2),) = g(c, np2). extracting the ssp for the dodge-romig models using hald tables here is the clarification of the method that hald suggested to determine the parameters of the sampling plan (n, c) for the filtering inspection of the ltpd system, which relies on the direct tables that hald found, where the values of (n, c) are determined, and for each n as an alternative of specifying the value of (n, c) for the category that contains the batch size n. this method relies on the following equation: i(p1) = n + (n–n)[1–g(c, np1)] (16) where we multiply both sides of equation (16) by p2 to get the following equation: i(p1) p2 = np2 + (n–n) p2 [1–g(c, np1)] (17) and it’s written briefly as follows: r(c, m) = m + (m–m)[1–g(c, np1)] (18) according to the fixed value of p2, the parameters of the ssp (n, c) are determined by minimization of the equation (17) and that under the particular condition of the consumer risk as known as: g(c, m) = 0.10, m = np2 ssps for aoql system the aoql term refers to shortened for average outgoing quality, where 1941 the researchers dodge-romig brought out simple sampling plans for the aoql system, it expresses the average percentage of defective units in the transmitted batch, after doing filtered sampling on them, and the aoql worth is defined by dividing the predicted value number of defective units in transmitted batch over the total number of units. if the production procedure for the product of type (p) goes under the control of a binomial the number of defective units in the produced batch will trace the binomial distribution with () parameters, and the number of defective units x in the haphazard sample n will follow the binomial distribution with (n, p). therefore, when the batch is accepted, the number of defective units (y = x – x) remaining quantity after pulling out the sample of size n then the binomial will follow with (n–n, p) parameters and the predicted value of y equals p(n–n),[10,11] in case of the batch rejection, all the batch components will be re-examined, and the defective units will be replaced with better ones, that’s why y of 0 possibly 1 in case of rejection, and the predicted value of y can be expressed by the following equation: e(y) = e(y|x ≤ c)p(x ≤ c) + e(y|x > c) pr (x > c) =(n–n)pp(p) + (0)q(p) e(y) = (n–n)pp(p) (19) we use the code (pa) to express the value of aoq, as follows: p aoq e y na = = ( ) p n n n p p pa � �� � � � � � � �) . (20) according to the following rule, we can derive the value of pa where it is known that the average of the defective units in the product submitted for inspection equals np, the number of defective units that are found during the inspection will lower this average, therefore the average number of defective units in the product emerging from inspection (npa) equals: npa = np–pi(p) p np pi p n p n i p na � � � � � � � �[ ] [ ] (21) kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 69 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 therefore: i(p) = n + (n–n)q(p) ( ) ( )( )[ ] ( ) . ( )a np p n n n q p n np p p p n n − + − − = = as appeared in equation (20), but in the case of only eliminating defective units as an alternative to replacing them, the value pa is changed to * ap where: * ( ) ( )a n i pp p n pi p  − =  −  (22) the characteristics of aoq: if the value of the type p level was small the pa will be small as well, then it will be preferred to accept the batches without inspection. if the p was large all the batches must be thoroughly examined and as a result to repair defective units with good ones, the value of pa will also be small. pa equal zero when p = 0, and pa equals zero when p = 1, (when the large p = 0 the entire batch is examined pa = 0). when p has a value that means pa is the greatest possible, which pl equals: pl = maxp aoq = aoql this means: that the maximum average of the defective units in transmitted batches after the filtered inspection procedure is expressed as aoql. determination of the parameters of ssps for the aoql system first: usage of (dodge-romig) tables dodge-romig single plans rely on the aoql system on the following assumption[10]: 1. the production procedure falls under the control of a binomial and the defective average is fixed it equals p1. 2. the used inspection is filtered type. 3. the manufacturer must be pleased with the products so that he confirms it. after the inspection, he must choose a value for the highest percentage of defective units in the transmitted batch (i.e., the aoql value). he considers the sampling plan that fulfills the smallest value for the entire rate (p1) between all the plans close to it that have the same value of (p1). 4. dodge-romig plans were based on using a poisson distribution rather than a binomial for the aoql system when determining acceptance probabilities p(p1). after mentioning propositions aoql own system plans, we reframe equation (20) and make it more acceptable for the reason of deriving the sampling plan parameters for aql system. define pa: p p n n n p pa � �� � 1 1( ) 1 1 1 0 ( ) ! c np x a x n n e npp p n x − = − =   ∑ (23) if we presume that (pm) represents the value of p1 that makes the equation (23) as maximum as possible, that is, we find that npm = m is equal to pl: p n n n m n e m xl x c m x � �� � � � � � � � � 0 ( ) ! (24) p n n m e m xl x c m x � �� � � � � � � � �1 1 0 ( ) ! (25) y n nc � �� � � � � � 1 1 while, y m e m xc x c m x � � � � 0 ( ) ! meaning that: y np n n c l� �� � � � � �1 (26) the researchers, dodge-romig measured the (m = npm) and yc values from the equation (26) for the other c value, in particular, c = 0(1)40 values, they clarified that in the table.[12] we notice that equation (26) stands for the relationship between n, n, c, and when we solve the (n) we get: n y p y n c l c � � �( )1 (27) this equation (27) defines the needed sample size for batch n of product knowing the c and pl values. dodge-romig brought out the outcome of the sampling plan for the aoql system and set them in its table, these tables involve sampling plans for thirteen values aoql ≤ 0.10. moreover, the values are: 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, 2.5%, 3.0%, 4.0%, 5.0%, 7.0%, and 10.0% every table consists of six plans corresponding to the quality levels and category of batch sizes. if n batches were distributed from value (1) to (100,000) in 14 categories, the value of ltpd was selected at every quality level, and through these tables, the sampling plan parameters can be read (n, c) after selecting pl value and level of quality and the category that involves the batch size producer n. second: using hald table [28] the inspections of ssps for the (aoql) system, which was brought out by hald depend on minimizing the total inspection and the results of multiplying sides of equation (15) by the pl value, which means: i(p1) pl = npl + (npl–npl)q(p1) (28) kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 70 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 which can be written in this form: i(p1) pl = ml + (ml–ml)(1–g(c, pml) (29) the results of the ssps were set which replaced the equation (29) in the tables hald,[11,12] as the value of p, yc, c implementing dodge-romig model the process of (ala pepsi 1.5 l bottle) production reveled to us that it falls under the control of the beta binomial and because of that beta distribution is considered x p as an evaluate for the type of the product; therefore, the value of beta distribution (p = 0.005349) which is the value that is pointed in the dodge-romig model, and from the public facility for the fizzy drinks (ala pepsi) it appeared to us that the authorized value of the defective percentage (ltpd) is (p = 1%) whereas the parameters of the ssp (n, c) are extracted, which is mandatory for inspection batch n = 39388 which it represent the everyday production ratio and that’s through depending on table 1[13] that knows the value that is comparable to the size of the batch, which falls under the category (20000–50000) and quality level (0.4–0.5%) and it was found that the parameter sampling plan is (2570.19), and regarding the average total inspection i(p) which is formalized to apply to this plan which is known in equation (14). i(p) = n + (n–n)q(p) it was extracted after determining the possibility of approval of the product from the following equation: i p p x cr x x n x n x� � � �� � � � � � � � ��19 0 005349 1 0 005349 0 93389 0 19 . ( . ) . q(pi) = 1–0.93389 = 0.06611 i(pi) = 2570 + (39388–2570) 0.611 = 5004 sampling units poisson approximation was implemented after finding the sampling plan for the (ltpd) system through using dodge-romig tables to determine the sampling plan with the help of hald tables, where it relies on locating the value m = np2 = 39388 (0.01) = 39388 which falls within the column p = 0.5349 in the [table 2],[11] then knowing the values of (c, mc) that is comparable to the value of m from the first and second columns, and it was discovered that (c = 24, mc = 31.58) and that’s because the parameters of the ssp are (n = mc, p2 = 3158, c = 24), and to find the total inspection ratio which is connected to the ssp (3158,24), the value of q(p1) was found in the table 3[11] where q(p1) = 0.0195 and therefore the total average is (the average of the accepted and rejected inspection quantity) is: i(p1) = 3158 + (39388–3158) (0.0195) = 3864 it appeared to us previously that the total average inspection in using the poisson approximation is smaller than in the case of using the binomial. implementing the decision-making model based on the decision-making model, a set of bayesian strategies was selected to assess the product by using past defective proportion data to calculate sample size (n) and acceptance criteria (c). the sampling plans for the product were listed in [table 2] based on quality levels and batch sizes produced. regarding the necessary parameters for the sampling plan to analyze the daily production of the (ala pepsi 1.5l) product with a quality of ( x p = 0 005349. ), quantity of (0.00617), and extracted based on the sample size (n, c) = (1495,14). the expected dangerous value for the sampling plan was extracted (1495, 14) and it was found that the value r{f(p) n, c} equals (43.210$). implementing [hald] model the defective percentages distribution p(f) is a continuous distribution that can be altered at a specific point p = pr bayesian plans for product examination will be derived from direct formulas by [hald], with the required groups of bayesian plans needing to be calculated beforehand: average cost of inspection per unit 1. k s s ps � �1 2 =0.0011 + (0.03) (0.005349) = 0.00126$ average cost of rejection per unit 2. k r r p kr s� � �1 2 average cost of acceptance per unit 3. k a a ps � �1 2 =0 + 0.208 (0.005349) = 0.0011$ also the evaluation quantities (4, 5, 6, 7) 4. ( ) 0 ( ) ( ) , ( 1, ) rp r r pr prp p f p dp p ib pibα β α β− = − +∫ =(0.006179) (0.789972)–(0.005349) (0.734239) = 0.000954 5. 2 2 0 ( ) ( ) ( ) rp m r rk k a a p p f p dp= − − −∫ =0.00126–(0.178) (0.0009544) = 0.0010901 6. ( )2 22 1 ) 2 ( , )( r r s m p q a r b k k α β λ α β − = − �1 2 148 25059� . whereas: 2 20.0061 , 0.208 , 0.03 , ˆˆ 25 , 4648rp a r α β= = = = = 7. � � � � � � � � 2 23 11 2 3 1 3 1 1 1 � � � �� � � � � � �� � � � ( ) ( ) p q p qr r r r the value of λ1, λ2 is extracted, therefore the value on (n) needed for the inspection batch will be n = 39388 and it’s the particular value of the upcoming context: n n* � � �� �1 2 n unit* . .� � � � �12 17582 39388 55 4084 2361 kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 71 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 table 1: bayesian plans to test the product against the decision-making model and the hald model [hald] model decision-making model batch size pn(c) c n pn(c) c n 0.005998286 10 1162 0.00580307 6 669 10000 0.00610687 11 1222 0.005768515 6 701 11000 0.006049403 11 1278 0.005919349 7 733 12000 0.005994006 11 1333 0.005886681 7 763 13000 0.006107626 12 1385 0.005856515 7 791 14000 0.006056638 12 1436 0.00600874 8 819 15000 0.006008444 12 1485 0.005979344 8 846 16000 0.005962933 12 1532 0.005951307 8 872 17000 0.006079027 13 1578 0.005924596 8 897 18000 0.006035578 13 1623 0.006076854 9 922 19000 0.005993691 13 1667 0.006050899 9 946 20000 0.006110937 14 1709 0.006026232 9 969 21000 0.006070984 14 1751 0.006001765 9 992 22000 0.006033416 14 1791 0.005978548 9 1014 23000 0.00599631 14 1831 0.006130671 10 1036 24000 0.006113404 15 1870 0.006107137 10 1058 25000 0.006078104 15 1908 0.00608484 10 1079 26000 0.006044122 15 1945 0.006063756 10 1099 27000 0.006010518 15 1982 0.00621547 11 1119 28000 0.00597818 15 2018 0.006194081 11 1139 29000 0.006094842 16 2054 0.00617284 11 1159 30000 0.006064192 16 2088 0.006152794 11 1178 31000 0.006032961 16 2123 0.006132879 11 1197 32000 0.006003807 16 2156 0.00611413 11 1215 33000 0.006119773 17 2190 0.006264815 12 1233 34000 0.006091371 17 2222 0.00624578 12 1251 35000 0.006062356 17 2255 0.00622686 12 1269 36000 0.006034483 17 2287 0.006208054 12 1287 37000 0.006007724 17 2318 0.006190397 12 1304 38000 0.006123612 18 2349 0.006339673 13 1321 39000 0.006096696 18 2380 0.006321743 13 1338 40000 0.006070874 18 2410 0.006303915 13 1355 41000 0.006045269 18 2440 0.006287227 13 1371 42000 0.006020722 18 2469 0.006270627 13 1387 43000 0.005995538 18 2499 0.006254115 13 1403 44000 0.006111111 19 2527 0.006401838 14 1419 45000 0.006086596 19 2556 0.006385069 14 1435 46000 0.006063111 19 2584 0.006369427 14 1450 47000 0.006039808 19 2612 0.006352826 14 1466 48000 0.006016683 19 2640 0.006337342 14 1481 49000 0.00599455 19 2667 0.006321932 14 1496 50000 kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 72 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 table 2: bayesian plans for product inspection relative to the beta-prior distribution extracted from the decision-making model quality level quality level quality level quality level quality level batch size 0.005 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 accepted number sample size accepted number sample size accepted number accepted number sample size accepted number sample size accepted number c n c n c n c n c n 6 669 5 527 4 449 3 398 7 753 10000 6 701 5 553 4 471 4 418 7 790 11000 7 733 5 578 4 492 4 436 8 825 12000 7 763 5 602 4 512 4 454 8 859 13000 7 791 6 624 5 532 4 471 8 891 14000 8 819 6 646 5 550 4 488 9 923 15000 8 846 6 667 5 569 4 504 9 953 16000 8 872 6 688 5 586 5 519 9 982 17000 8 897 6 708 5 603 5 534 9 1011 18000 9 922 7 727 6 620 5 549 10 1038 19000 9 946 7 746 6 636 5 563 10 1065 20000 9 969 7 765 6 651 5 577 10 1092 21000 9 992 7 783 6 667 5 591 11 1117 22000 9 1014 7 800 6 682 5 604 11 1143 23000 10 1036 8 817 6 696 6 617 11 1167 24000 10 1058 8 834 6 711 6 630 11 1191 25000 10 1079 8 851 7 725 6 642 11 1215 26000 10 1099 8 867 7 739 6 654 12 1238 27000 11 1119 8 883 7 752 6 666 12 1261 28000 11 1139 8 899 7 766 6 678 12 1283 29000 11 1159 8 914 7 779 6 690 12 1305 30000 11 1178 9 929 7 792 6 701 13 1327 31000 11 1197 9 944 7 804 6 712 13 1348 32000 11 1215 9 959 8 817 7 724 13 1369 33000 12 1233 9 973 8 829 7 734 13 1389 34000 12 1251 9 987 8 841 7 745 13 1410 35000 12 1269 9 1001 8 853 7 756 14 1430 36000 12 1287 9 1015 8 865 7 766 14 1449 37000 12 1304 10 1029 8 876 7 776 14 1469 38000 13 1321 10 1042 8 888 7 787 14 1488 39000 13 1338 10 1055 8 899 7 797 14 1507 40000 13 1355 10 1069 8 910 7 807 15 1526 41000 13 1371 10 1082 9 921 7 816 15 1544 42000 13 1387 10 1094 9 932 8 826 15 1562 43000 13 1403 10 1107 9 943 8 836 15 1581 44000 14 1419 11 1120 9 954 8 845 15 1598 45000 14 1435 11 1132 9 964 8 854 15 1616 46000 14 1450 11 1144 9 975 8 864 16 1634 47000 14 1466 11 1156 9 985 8 873 16 1651 48000 14 1481 11 1168 9 995 8 882 16 1668 49000 14 1496 11 1180 9 1005 8 891 16 1685 50000 kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 73 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 table 3: bayesian plans for the inspection of the ala pepsi 1.5l product that’s extracted from [hald]’s model quality level quality level quality level quality level quality level batch size 0.005 0.004 0.003 0.002 0.001 number of acceptances sample size number of acceptances sample size number of acceptances sample size number of acceptances sample size number of acceptances sample size c n c n c n c n c n 10 1162 8 798 7 671 3 588 6 529 10000 11 1222 8 839 7 707 3 620 6 557 11000 11 1278 8 879 8 741 3 650 7 584 12000 11 1333 9 917 8 773 3 679 7 611 13000 12 1385 9 954 8 804 3 706 7 636 14000 12 1436 9 989 8 835 3 733 7 660 15000 12 1485 9 1023 8 864 3 759 7 683 16000 12 1532 10 1057 9 892 3 784 7 706 17000 13 1578 10 1089 9 920 3 808 8 728 18000 13 1623 10 1120 9 946 3 832 8 750 19000 13 1667 10 1151 9 972 3 855 8 771 20000 14 1709 10 1181 9 998 3 878 8 791 21000 14 1751 10 1210 9 1022 3 900 8 811 22000 14 1791 11 1238 9 1047 3 921 8 830 23000 14 1831 11 1266 10 1070 3 942 8 849 24000 15 1870 11 1293 10 1094 3 963 8 868 25000 15 1908 11 1320 10 1116 3 983 8 886 26000 15 1945 11 1346 10 1139 3 1003 9 904 27000 15 1982 11 1372 10 1161 3 1022 9 922 28000 15 2018 12 1397 10 1182 3 1041 9 939 29000 16 2054 12 1422 10 1203 3 1060 9 956 30000 16 2088 12 1446 11 1224 3 1078 9 973 31000 16 2123 12 1470 11 1245 3 1096 9 989 32000 16 2156 12 1494 11 1265 3 1114 9 1006 33000 17 2190 12 1517 11 1285 3 1132 9 1022 34000 17 2222 13 1540 11 1304 3 1149 9 1037 35000 17 2255 13 1563 11 1323 3 1166 10 1053 36000 17 2287 13 1585 11 1342 3 1183 10 1068 37000 17 2318 13 1607 11 1361 3 1200 10 1083 38000 18 2349 13 1629 12 1380 3 1216 10 1098 39000 18 2380 13 1650 12 1398 3 1232 10 1113 40000 18 2410 13 1672 12 1416 3 1248 10 1127 41000 18 2440 13 1693 12 1434 3 1264 10 1142 42000 18 2469 14 1713 12 1452 3 1280 10 1156 43000 18 2499 14 1734 12 1469 3 1295 10 1170 44000 19 2527 14 1754 12 1486 3 1310 10 1184 45000 19 2556 14 1774 12 1503 3 1325 10 1197 46000 19 2584 14 1794 12 1520 3 1340 10 1211 47000 19 2612 14 1813 13 1537 3 1355 11 1224 48000 19 2640 14 1833 13 1553 3 1370 11 1237 49000 19 2667 14 1852 13 1570 3 1384 11 1251 50000 kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 74 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 however, the number of is extracted from the c n pr * *� � �1 context which means: 1 1 2 ˆ ˆr rp qβ β α= − − therefore, the value of the accepted unit (n = 2361) equals: β1 = (4648) (0.0061) – (25) (0.9939) – 0.5 β1 = 3.0053 and added: c* = 2361 (0.061) + 3.0053) = 17 unit as a result, a ssp is necessary to assess the production mean of n=39388, as specified in [hald]’s model (2361, 17). this plan entails inspecting a random sample size of (2361) bottles, and if the number of defective units in the sample is (17) or fewer, all units are accepted; otherwise, the batch is rejected. the cost of quality control, determined by the sampling plan, will be derived from the smallest standard cost r0 (n), resulting in the best sampling plan (2361.17) being implemented: ( )* 2 0 1 2 2 2 2 , ( ) s mk kr n ds ds a r λ λ − = − − = − ds = 0.000954 r0 (n) = [2(2361)–148.2506 + 55.4084] (0.000954) r0 (n) = 4.4162 therefore, the total value cost k(p) is expected to control quality type which equals to: k(p) = r0 ((a2–r2) + nkm =4.4162 (0.178) + 39388 (0.001091) =42.9731 $ table 3 displays the outcomes of bayesian strategies for assessing the ala pepsi 1.5l item derived from [hald]’s model, based on the beta distribution, categorized into quality levels x � � �0 001 0 001 0 005. . . and production batch sizes n = 10000 (1000) 50000. calculating the value of the defective fraction in unexamined quantities based on decision-making models and the hald model, a set of bayesian strategies are selected to assess the product. determining the expected value of the fraction defective in the untested quantities (n–n) is crucial. and they are going to be approved based sample’s acceptance, after that we will depend on the average value of the distribution following the detective amount e(p/x) when x = c which means pn(c) and it appeared to us in the equation (31) that the next distribution f(p/x) is also a beta with parameters (x + α, α + β + n) therefore it is: e x p x x nn� � � � � � � � � � � � (30) and when x = c it is: p c c nn � � � � � � � � � (31) the forthcoming [table 1] shows a comparison of bayesian designs based on [hald]’s model and the decisionmaking model, considering the quality level ( x p = 0 005349. ), value pn(c), and all plans from both models. table 1 clearly shows that the expected value of the defective fraction in the quantities (n – n) that will accepted under the sample approval decision equals 0.6%, according to the decision-making model equals 0.6%, and according to [hald] model that is the same value as the sells percentage that is allowed through (ltpd) that relies on the pepsi company for fizzy drinks and the correspondences of the average value of (pn) and (ltpd) shows the efficiency of the bayesian plans that relies on the previous distribution of defective percentages, as it takes all available and previous information about the quality in consideration when estimating the quality in subsequent production batches, and the correspondence indicates the importance on the bayesian plans and efficiency and the quality level of actual production x p = 0 005349. , as we find that the size of the sample for different batch sizes is small compared to other sampling plans which means reducing the cost of them and therefore the reduction of the total cost. conclusion the beta-binomial distribution with a rate of 0.005349 was found to be a suitable probability distribution for modeling the proportion of defective products in the ala pepsi factory. in this specific case, the poisson approximation resulted in a smaller total average inspection compared to the binomial distribution, suggesting potential cost savings. the study also demonstrated the effectiveness of the decision-making model in determining a sampling plan (n = 1495, c = 14) that resulted in smaller sample sizes and reduced inspection costs compared to the dodge-romig tables method. the expected value of the defective fraction in the untested quantities was consistent with the allowed ltpd, highlighting the efficiency of bayesian plans in incorporating prior knowledge about quality. these findings have significant implications for quality control practices in the soft drink industry, suggesting that bayesian sampling plans can be a valuable tool for optimizing inspection processes and reducing costs. future research could explore the generalizability of these findings to other industries and investigate the use of different prior distributions in bayesian sampling plans. references [1] p. banerjee. sampling inspection procedures. calcutta statistical association bulletin, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 132-148, 1955. [2] d. h. kadir and a. r. k. rahi al-harthy. application of bayesian technique for ala pepsi softdrink company in sampling plan design. university of sulaimani, iraq, 2007. [3] d. h. kadir and a. r. k. rahi. applying the bayesian technique in designing a single sampling plan. cihan university-erbil scientific kadir, et al.: sampling attribute plans based upon dodge-romig model 75 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 65-75 journal, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 17-25, 2023. [4] a. hald. some limit theorems for the dodge-romig ltpd single sampling inspection plans. technometrics, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 497-513, 1962. [5] a. ahmadi yazdi and m. s. fallahnezhad. comparison between count of cumulative conforming sampling plans and dodgeromig single sampling plan. communications in statistics-theory and methods, vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 189-199, 2017. [6] c. h. chen. economic design of dodge-romig aoql single sampling plans by variables with the quadratic loss function. journal of applied science and engineering, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 313-318, 2005. [7] j. klůfa. economic aspects of the ltpd single sampling inspection plans. agricultural economics, vol. 61, no. 7, pp. 326-331, 2015. [8] h. f. dodge and h. g. roming. sampling inspection tables. wiley, united states, 1959. [9] w. c. guenther. on the use of standard tables to obtain dodge‐ romig ltpd sampling inspection plans. naval research logistics quarterly, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 531-542, 1971. [10] a. z. salman. using decision-making methods to build the best cost function model in quality control. ph.d thesis. administration and economics university of baghdad, baghdad, 1991. [11] a. hald. statistical theory of sampling inspection by attributes (probability and mathematical statistics). academic press, london, new york, 1981. [12] d. harold and r. harry. sampling inspection tables. ediciones revolucionarias. wiley, new jersey, u.s, 1959. [13] d. c. montgomery. introduction to statistical quality control. john wiley and sons, new jersey, u.s, 2007. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 111 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 111-116 research article indoor airborne fungal community in an experimental animal hall and their risks and control using essential oil vapors salah m. al-bader1, mohammed m. hussein1, fahmi s. moqbel2 1department of biomedical sciences, college of applied sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of biology, faculty of applied science, thamar university, dhamar, yemen abstract airborne fungi are a major concern in indoor environments, particularly in experimental animal housing facilities, where they pose significant health risks to both animals and humans. this study investigates the diversity, concentration, and health implications of airborne fungal species present in an experimental animal house at cihan university-erbil. air samples were collected from both indoor and outdoor environments to assess fungal contamination levels. the results revealed that indoor air had a significantly higher fungal concentration (401 colony-forming unit [cfu]/m3) compared to outdoor air (202 cfu/m3), with dominant species including aspergillus fumigatus, alternaria sp., and white yeast. the study also evaluated the antifungal efficacy of lemongrass (cymbopogon citratus) oil vapor, which demonstrated significant inhibitory effects on aspergillus terreus, alternaraia sp., and rhodotorula mucilaginosa, suggesting its potential as a natural antifungal agent. the findings highlight the importance of proper ventilation and fungal control measures in animal housing environments to mitigate health risks. future research should explore the long-term effectiveness of natural antifungal agents and optimize air quality management strategies. keywords: airborne fungi, animal house, oil vapor, health impact, aspergillus introduction the past 20 years have seen a rise in interest in indoor airborne fungi as people have become more conscious of their possible health effects and the amount of time they spend indoors. research connecting fungi to a number of health conditions, such as allergies, asthma, and other respiratory disorders, as well as the realization that people spend a large amount of their lives indoors, have led to this increased attention.[1] indoor air quality issues are recognized as a globally significant risk concern for human health. people spend a significant portion of their time indoors, which makes indoor air quality crucial. population groups that are more susceptible because of their age or health status are impacted by indoor air pollution in homes, daycare facilities, retirement homes, and other unique settings.[2] many types of fungi can flourish and cause microbial contamination in the moist indoor environment that supports their development. clinically, respiratory issues, allergies, asthma, and immunological responses are linked to exposure to bioaerosol pollution.[3] due to a number of contributing factors, animal housing environments, including those for both large and small animals, are acknowledged as important sources of indoor airborne fungal contamination. it has been demonstrated that a range of fungal aerosols are present in chicken breeding facilities, in particular. trichosporon sp., candida sp., aspergillus sp., cladosporium sp., and alternaria sp., are the most common fungal species found in chicken homes.[4] in rabbit breeding environments, aspergillus sp., alternaria sp., and fusarium sp., were the predominant in air samples.[5] from duck breeding house aspergillus sp., acrophialophora sp., byssochlamy sp., fusarium sp., lichtheimia sp., paecilomyces sp., penicillium sp., polycephalomyces sp., rhizomucor sp., scopulariopsis sp. talaromyces, and thermoascus sp. were recorded from air samples.[5] the degree of mycological air contamination and the taxonomic diversity of airborne fungi were investigated in the air of 20 different animal facilities within a zoological garden. a total of 10 fungal genera were isolated. penicillium sp. was the dominant genus, accounting for 58.9% of the total fungal strains, followed by aspergillus sp., cladosporium sp., talaromyces sp., mucor sp., schizophyllum sp., syncephalastrum corresponding author: salah m. al-bader, department of biomedical sciences, college of applied sciences, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: salah.saleem@cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: september 02, 2025 accepted: november 31, 2025 published: december 01, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp111-116 copyright © 2025 salah m. al-bader, mohammed m. hussein, fahmi s. moqbe. this is an open access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) al-bader, et al.: indoor airborne fungi in an experimental animal hall 112 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 111-116 sp., alternaria sp., absidia sp., and cunninghamella sp.[6] in contrast to domestic animals, the airborne fungi in the houses of experimental small animals did not receive enough attention. the current study aims to estimate the fungal bioaerosols in the experimental animal house of cihan university-erbil and evaluate in vitro activity of a friendly environment vapor on aspergillus terreus, alternaria sp., and rhodotorula mucilaginosa. materials and methods study location and sampling this study was conducted to evaluate airborne fungal diversity and density across two distinct environments: an indoor controlled animal housing facility and a natural outdoor field. on march 18, 2025, 20 air samples were collected from each site. the indoor air sampling was carried out in the experimental animal house at cihan university-erbil in a room housing albino mice and rats maintained under standard laboratory conditions. environmental parameters included a temperature range of 22 ± 2°c, relative humidity of about 60%, and controlled ventilation with moderate airflow. airborne fungal spores were sampled using the settle plate method (passive exposure). in this method, sterile petri dishes containing 15 ml of sabouraud dextrose agar (sda) supplement with 50 mg/l[7] were exposed to ambient air at a height of approximately 1 m above ground level for fungal spores were sampled using the settle plate method (passive exposure). in this method, sterile petri dishes containing 15 ml of sda were exposed to ambient air at a height of approximately 1 m above ground level for a duration of minutes to allow gravitational settling of fungal spores onto the agar surface. to minimize contamination bias, samples were collected from the central area of the room, away from potential fungal sources such as bedding, feed, and waste disposal areas, and 1 m above the ground surface. the housing conditions adhered to established guidelines for the care and use of laboratory rodents, ensuring animal welfare and consistency in environmental exposure. outdoor air samples were collected concurrently at a location carefully selected to minimize environmental disturbances, situated away from buildings, trees, vehicular traffic, and other potential sources of interference. fungal community analysis the absolute number colony-forming units (cfus) for each plate was modified to cfu/m3 by the equation followed by[5] (n = 5a × 104 (b t)-1). n = cfu/m3 of air, a = number of colonies/plates, b = area of dish surface (cm2), t: exposure time (minutes). the percentage of occurrence and the frequency of occurrence% were calculated for each genus by the following equations, followed by:[8] occurrence% (o%) = (no. of samples in which the genus occurred)/(no. of total samples) × 100. frequency% (f%) = (no. of genus colonies/no. of total genera colonies × 100. importance value index = (o+t)/2. antifungal effect of lemongrass cymbopogon citratus oil vapor a disk volatilization method[9] was used to estimate the antifungal activity of lemongrass (c. citratus) oil vapor on the selected isolates. the experiment was applied to three isolates. a. terreus, alternaria sp. and r. mucilaginosa. petri dishes containing 15 ml of sda supplemented by the antibiotic were prepared. plates were inoculated from 7-day-old fungal cultures. a sterile needle was used to transfer the molds, and a sterile loop was used for yeast. a filter paper disk (2 cm in diameter) was saturated with 150 µl oil and was placed on the inner surface of the petri dish lid. each plate was sealed with parafilm tape and incubated at 25 ± 2°c. the antifungal activity is determined by measuring the growth diameter after 4 days. triplicate assays were carried out for each essential oil and the control to validate the reliability of the experimental outcome. fungal identification the isolated fungi were identified based on the morphology feature of the colonies, followed by the microscopic examination for the microscopic characteristics such as the asexual spores forming structures, shape of conidiophores, and yeasts properties as fully described by domsch et al.,[10] de hoog and guarro.[11] results and discussion fungal colonies became visibly observed on the petri dishes, enabling reliable quantification during the incubation period. the distinct colonies aid in the primary identification and preparation of pure cultures [figure 1]. analysis of fungal communities a 138 cfu related to eight isolates for the indoor air samples were recovered from indoor air samples, representing eight distinct fungal taxa [table 1]. white yeasts were the most abundant, with 58 cfu, corresponding to a concentration of 136 cfu/m3. the second most prevalent group was the aspergillus species figure 1: representative plate of the culture plates after air exposure and incubation for 7 days. aspergillus niger (1), rhodotorula muceligenosa (2), alternaria alternata (3) al-bader, et al.: indoor airborne fungi in an experimental animal hall 113 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 111-116 complex, comprising aspergillus niger, a. fumigatus, a. terreus, and aspergillus ochraceus, which collectively accounted for 51 cfu, equivalent to 134 cfu/m3 [table 1]. in contrast, a total of 68 cfu were recovered from outdoor air samples, demonstrating ten distinct fungal isolates (6 genera besides whit mycelium and white yeast) [table 2]. aspergillus spp. (a. niger, a. fumigatus, a. terreus) were the most abundant 25 cfu, conforming to a concentration of 65 cfu/m3. the second most prevalent was alternaria sp. 16 cfu and 51 cfu/m3 [table 2]. the comparison between the total cfu of common isolates – occurred in both sites – showed a high difference after chi-square analysis [table 3]. the overall chi-square test clarifies a highly significant difference in fungal composition between indoor and outdoor air (χ² = 26.61, p < 0.001). post hoc analysis shows that white yeast, alternaria sp., and a. niger differed significantly between environments [table 4]. remarkably, white yeast counts were much higher indoors, likely reflecting favorable microclimatic conditions in the animal house. aspergillus fumigatus, despite a higher indoor count, did not reach statistical significance due to variation relative to total colony counts. the predominance of aspergillus belongs to biological and environmental factors. the genus grew in a variety of settings, including soil, air, and decomposing organic materials. their broad existence and survival are attributed to a number of traits. it produces a large number of tiny conidia that are easily airborne and dominate,[12] in addition, a. fumigatus is a thermotolerant fungus that thrives and multiplies in temperatures ranging from 0°c to 45°c. from another perspective, the fungus exhibits high enzymatic activity that facilitates its growth on various types of substrates.[13] the persistence of conidia in indoor and outdoor air, especially in humid or dusty environments, increases exposure risk.[12] table 1: fungal isolates of indoor air samples: (cfu)=colony forming units, (o%)=occurrence%, (f%)=frequency%, (ivi)=importance value index no. fungi cfu (o%) (f%) ivi cfu/m3 1 aspergillus fumigatus 34 66 24.28 90.28 89 2 alternaria sp. 18 50 12.85 62.85 47 3 rhodotorula mucilaginosa 8 33 5.71 38.71 21 4 aspergillus niger 8 15 4.28 19.28 21 5 aspergillus ochraceus 6 20 2.85 22.85 16 6 aspergillus terreus 3 10 1.42 11.42 8 7 white yeast 58 50 41.42 91.24 136 8 white mycelium 10 33 7.14 40.14 26 total 145 100 362 table 2: fungal isolates of outdoor air samples: (cfu)=colony-forming units, (o%)=occurrence%, (f%)=frequency%, (ivi)=importance value index no. fungi cfu (o%) (f%) ivi cfu/m3 1 alternaria sp. 16 80 23.5 51.75 41 2 aspergillus niger 10 60 14.7 37.35 26 3 aspergillus fumigatus 10 60 14.7 37.35 26 4 aspergillus terreus 5 40 7.3 23.65 13 5 cladosporium sp. 3 20 4.0 12.0 8 6 penicillium sp. 4 20 5.8 12.9 11 7 rhodotorula mucilaginosa 2 20 2.9 11.45 5 8 rhizopus sp. 2 20 2.9 11.45 5 9 white mycelium 8 60 11 35.5 21 10 whie yeast 8 60 11.7 35.85 21 totally 68 100 178 table 3: comparison of total mean cfu counts between outdoor and indoor air of the animal house (common species) environment total mean cfu (common species) outdoor 68 indoor 145 chi-square (χ²) 26.61 p-value 0.000068 significance highly significant cfu: colony-forming units al-bader, et al.: indoor airborne fungi in an experimental animal hall 114 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 111-116 health impact of predominant isolates the total cfus in both locations are less than the risk level; they represent low level (178 cfu/m3) and (362 cfu/m3) in the outdoor and indoor air, respectively [tables 1 and 2]. aspergillus and alternaria are among the most common fungal allergens. recent studies indicate that occupational exposure in environments such as animal houses and farms is associated with an increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms, primarily due to the inhalation of aspergillus aerosols.[14] regarding aspergillus, the genus was represented by 25 cfus in outdoor air samples and 51 cfus in indoor samples. airborne aspergillus species, particularly a. fumigatus pose significant health risks to humans. these filamentous fungi release conidia that are easily aerosolized due to their small size (~2–3 µm), allowing deep penetration into the respiratory tract upon inhalation.[15] in indoor settings, such as animal houses lodging mice and rats, aspergillus thrives in organic bedding, feed, and poorly ventilated spaces. the presence of asp f1, a major allergen released during spore germination, has been linked to inflammatory responses and airway remodeling.[16] the concentration of the outdoor total airborne fungal colony count and its composition are affected by environmental factors. aspergillus spores, one of the predominant isolates here, are influenced by temperature, humidity, and vegetation, and several previous studies have shown that outdoor air contains significant levels of aspergillus spore types, which may exacerbate respiratory symptoms during seasonal and daily peaks.[17,18] from the other side of the view in the two sample locations, alternaria sp. is listed as a common isolate; it has several properties that lead to its use as a significant indicator in aeromycological monitoring and public health risk assessments. alternaria sp. is frequently isolated from indoor and outdoor environments. it produces large quantities of dry, lightweight spores that are easily dispersed by wind, making it a dominant component of bioaerosols.[19] alternaria sp. concentration was used to point out the total fungal air pollution,[20] and in this study, alternaria was detected at concentrations of 41 cfu/m3 in outdoor air and 47 cfu/m3 in indoor samples from the animal house, which are less than the risk level (100 spores/m3). its presence at these levels suggests moderate fungal air contamination.[21] due to the size of the spores and their constituents, alternaria air spores are more harmful to human health at lower figure 2: 1 = aspergillus terreus. 2 = alternaria sp. 3 = rhodotorula mucilaginosa (a=treated; b=untreated) table 4: comparison of mean cfu counts for common airborne fungal species between outdoor and indoor air of the animal house, with chi-square statistical analysis species outdoor (mean cfu) indoor (mean cfu) χ2 (species-specific) p-value significance alternaria sp. 16 18 6.15 0.013 significant aspergillus niger 10 8 5.89 0.015 significant aspergillus fumigatus 10 34 0.57 0.449 ns aspergillus terreus 5 3 3.21 0.073 ns white yeast 8 58 12.26 0.00046 significant rhodotorula mucilaginosa 2 8 0.06 0.810 ns overall χ² 26.61 0.000068 highly significant cfu: colony-forming units al-bader, et al.: indoor airborne fungi in an experimental animal hall 115 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 111-116 concentrations than aspergillus, penicillium, and cladosporium, the primary causes of fungal respiratory illnesses.[22] the concentration of alternaria in outdoor samples is higher than in indoor samples, primarily due to its ecological role as a plant pathogen and phylloplane-associated genus.[23] moreover, outdoor environmental factors – particularly sunlight and elevated temperatures – significantly influence the survival of fungal propagules. the multicellular, thick-walled, and pigmented spores of alternaria exhibit greater resistance to desiccation and ultraviolet radiation compared to the smaller, unicellular spores of aspergillus sp. antifungal activity of lemongrass (c. citratus) oil vapor lemongrass oil vapor was used based on initial screening tests reported by al-bader et al.,[24] bakkali et al.[25] the vapor demonstrated a distinct inhibitory effect on both molds and yeasts. the relative inhibition ri = 43%, 71%, and 8% for a. terreus, r. mucilaginosa, and alternaria sp., respectively [figure 2]. the vapor markedly reduces mycelial growth and the abundance of conidia (lighter colony color) of a. terreus and alternaria sp., and significantly inhibits the development and density of r. mucilaginosa. the high antifungal activity of lemongrass oil (on mold and yeast) is largely attributed to citral, the main biochemical constituent, which is easily absorbed through fungal cell membranes, causing a disruption of membrane structure and functions.[26] conclusion this study revealed a diverse fungal community within the indoor air of an experimental animal hall with. aspergillus spp. and alternaria sp. as the dominant genera. although total cfu counts were below critical health thresholds, the indoor fungal load exceeded outdoor levels, emphasizing the need for regular environmental monitoring. vaporized lemongrass (c. citratus) essential oil demonstrated significant antifungal activity, effectively inhibiting growth and sporulation of filamentous fungi such as a. niger, a. fumigatus, and alternaria spp., as well as yeasts such as r. mucilaginosa. these findings highlight lemongrass oil vapor as a promising, eco-friendly alternative to synthetic chemical agents for improving air quality in animal housing environments. its natural origin, low toxicity, and broad-spectrum efficacy support its potential for sustainable fungal control. future research should focus on optimizing application parameters, including concentration, exposure duration, and treatment frequency. in addition, investigating other essential oils, evaluating synergistic effects, and assessing long-term impacts on air quality and animal health will be crucial for advancing the practical use of plant-based volatiles in maintaining safe and hygienic indoor environments. references 1. m. m. meklin, a. potus, a. hyvärinen, t. taskinen, a. nevalainen and m. roponen. effects of exposure to damp indoor air and molds on respiratory health: a systematic review of epidemiological evidence. indoor air, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 1021-1037, 2020. 2. e. heseltine and j. rosen, editors. who guidelines for indoor air quality: dampness and mould. who regional office for europe, denmark, 2009. 3. m. j. mendell, a. g. mirer, k. cheung, m. tong and j. douwes. respiratory and allergic health effects of dampness, mold, and dampness-related agents: a review of the epidemiologic evidence. environmental health perspectives, vol. 119, no. 6, pp. 748-756, 2011. 4. g. chen, d. ma, q. huang, w. tang, m. wei, y. li, l. jiang, h. zhu, x. yu, w. zheng, j. zhang and x. zhang. aerosol concentrations and fungal communities within broiler houses in different broiler growth stages in summer. frontiers in veterinary science, vol. 8, p. 775502, 2021. 5. m. han, m. chae and s. han. assessment of fungal contamination and biosecurity risk factors in duck-breeding farms in south korea. poultry science, vol. 103, no. 1, p. 103197, 2024. 6. k. plewa-tutaj, p. krzyściak and a. dobrzycka. mycological air contamination level and biodiversity of airborne fungi isolated from the zoological garden air preliminary research. environmental science and pollution research, vol. 31, pp. 4306643079, 2024. 7. s. manibusan and g. mainelis. passive bioaerosol samplers: a complementary tool for bioaerosol research a review. journal of aerosol science, vol. 163, p. 105992, 2022. 8. s. m. s. al-bader, z. zefenkey and d. k. rashid. fungal community associated with sawdust of direct evaporative cooler and their health impact in erbil city. cihan university-erbil scientific journal, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 52-56, 2025. 9. l. nedorostova, p. kloucek, l. kokoska, m. stolcova and j. pulkrabek. antimicrobial properties of selected essential oils in vapour phase against foodborne bacteria. food control, vol. 20, pp. 157-160, 2009. 10. k. h. domsch, w. gams and t. anderson. compendium of soil fungi. 2nd ed. ihw verlag, eching, germany, pp. 672, 2007. 11. g. s. de hoog and j. guarro. atlas of clinical fungi. centraalbureau voor schimmelcultures, utrecht, netherlands, 2000. 12. j. w. bennett and m. klich. aspergillus: ecology, genomics, medical relevance, and industrial utility. microbiology spectrum, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 1-20, 2020. 13. f. tekaia and j. p. latgé. aspergillus fumigatus: saprophyte or pathogen? current opinion in microbiology, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 385-392, 2005. 14. w. eduard. fungal spores: a critical review of the toxicological and epidemiological evidence as a basis for occupational exposure limit setting. critical reviews in toxicology, vol. 39, no. 10, pp. 799-864, 2009. 15. c. de linares, d. navarro, r. puigdemunt and j. belmonte. aspergillus conidia and allergens in outdoor environment: a health hazard? journal of fungi (basel), vol. 9, no. 6, p. 624, 2023. 16. m. schroeder, s. j. khan, a. m. wolyniec, r. a. crameri, p. r. barnes, r. j. thornton and r. j. green. allergens from aspergillus fumigatus and their role in allergic disease: a comprehensive review. clinical and experimental allergy, vol. 50, no. 6, pp. 654-664, 2020. 17. h. l. burch and e. levetin. outdoor airborne aspergillus concentrations and meteorological relationships in an urban environment. aerobiologia, vol. 38, pp. 151-163, 2022. 18. s. m. al-bader, a. d. a. aljoborey, a. q. ahmed and a. y. ayied. a cross-sectional study on the 24-hour variation of fungal pollution in the atmosphere of erbil city, iraq. international journal of membrane science and technology, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1170-1176, 2023. 19. j. nunes, m. j. aira, m. fernández gonzález and f. j. rodríguez rajo. airborne alternaria spores: 70 annual records in northwestern spain. journal of fungi, vol. 10, no. 10, p. 681, 2023. 20. a. grinn-gofroń and b. bosiacka. effects of meteorological factors al-bader, et al.: indoor airborne fungi in an experimental animal hall 116 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 111-116 on the concentration of alternaria and cladosporium spores in the air. environmental science and pollution research, vol. 22, no. 17, pp. 13440-13447, 2015. 21. c. l. jones. environmental and clinical mould spore risk thresholds. journal of bacteriology and mycology: open access, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 44-48, 2023. 22. j. chauhan and d. k. jain. study on diversity of phylloplane fungi associated with the dried-decaying leaves of solanum nigrum l. and inhibition of conidial germination of alternaria alternata by the phylloplane fungi. plant archives, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 731-737, 2020. 23. s. m. al-bader, a. a. osman and s. hussainnagad. fungal contamination of air conditioned air flow with special reference to antifungal activity of eight plant oil vapor against aspergillus niger. journal of physics: conference series, vol. 1660, no. 1, p. 012001, 2020. 24. s. m. al-bader, z. zefenkey and a. s. m. juma. effect of ten essential oils in vapor phase on airborne fungal isolates from sawdust of evaporative air coolers. international journal of agriculture and biology, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 250-254, 2024. 25. f. bakkali, s. averbeck, d. averbeck and m. idaomar. biological effects of essential oils a review. food and chemical toxicology, vol. 46, no. 2, pp. 446-475, 2008. 26. o. amer, r. boukhanouf and h. g. ibrahim. a review of evaporative cooling technologies. international journal of environment science and development, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 111-117, 2015. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 26 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 26-32 research article enhancement of the solubility of simvastatin by utilizing two distinct types of excipient compositions, l-isoleucine and sodium docusate maysra a. al-jumaili1, suzan n. alamdar2, marwa f. noori3, hewa a. hamad ameen1, muhamed a. abbas3 1department of pharmaceutics, college of pharmacy, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq, 2department of clinical pharmacy, raparin teaching hospital, erbil, iraq, 3college of pharmacy, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the solubility of a drug plays an important role in determining its bioavailability and the subsequent effect it has on the body as a whole. simvastatin is a bcs class ii drug, classified as having high absorbability but low solubility. the study objective is to increase the solubility of simvastatin by using two excipients: sodium docusate and l-isoleucine. these excipients were incorporated in a solid dispersion at different ratios, left to dry, dissolved, and tested for increased solubility against a simvastatin calibration curve (which was prepared using a standard solution of simvastatin). the improvement in solubility for a 4:1:1 ratio was approximately 1.5-fold. a 2:1:1 ratio of simvastatin: docusate: isoleucine increased solubility more than 7-fold, and a 4:3:3 ratio increased the solubility nearly 5-fold. the synergistic effect of docusate and isoleucine showed improvement in the solubility of simvastatin at room temperature when incorporated in relatively low ratios. keywords: l-isoleucine, simvastatin, sodium docusate, solubility introduction drugs that are easily or completely soluble in the gastrointestinal (gi) media show complete oral absorption, resulting in high plasma levels or bioavailability. about 40% of drugs are practically insoluble in water and as such have slow absorption, which results in inadequate and unequal bioavailability, and gi toxicity.[1] thus, the most critical phase and important aspect of drug development, especially for oral formulations, is the improvement of drug solubility and, consequently, its oral bioavailability. bioavailability is defined as the amount of therapeutically active drug that enters the bloodstream, or systemic circulation, and is readily available at the drug’s site of action. there are two reasons put forth for the low aqueous solubility of drugs:[2] (a) high lipophilicity and (b) strong intermolecular forces that cause the difficulty in solubilization of drugs.[3] dissolution, which depends on solubility, is the rate-limiting step for both the rate and degree of drug absorption. figure 1 shows an important insight into the relationship between solubility and permeability. as shown in figure 1, the two factors of solubility and absorption form four classes of drugs. many classic drugs, such as digoxin, piroxicam, chlorothiazide, and griseofulvin, as well as most new innovative pharmacological compounds, exhibit poor water solubility.[4] here, excipients play a significant role in improving these compounds. in oral medications like simvastatin, the drug is required to be dissolved in gastric fluids to have better absorption and bioavailability. low aqueous solubility is one of the features of bcs class ii and iv drugs and is a significant hurdle for drug development and delivery. multiple technologies have been implemented to enhance the bioavailability of poorly water-soluble drug compounds, including solid dispersions, lipid-based formulations, co-precipitation, micronization, solvent evaporation, liquid–solid compacts, and solvent deposition inclusion complexation. some commonly used excipients are hypromellose acetate succinate, cyclodextrin, povidone, hydroxypropyl cellulose, polyethylene glycol, sodium lauryl sulfate, and more.[6] corresponding author: maysra a. al-jumaili, department of pharmaceutics, college of pharmacy, hawler medical university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: maysra.ahmed@ukh.edu.krd received: june 26, 2024 accepted: march 11, 2025 published: july 25, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp26-32 copyright © 2025 maysra a. al-jumaili, suzan n. anwer alamdar, marwa f. noori, hewa a. hamad ameen, muhamed a. abbas. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) al-jumaili, et al.: enhancing solubility of simvastatin with l-isoleucine and sodium docusate 27 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 26-32 figure 2 shows the classification of drugs based on solubility in water. simvastatin is a chemical derivative of lovastatin. it is a prodrug that lowers cholesterol levels by inhibiting liver cholesterol synthesis through inhibition of hmg-coa reductase, and also by increasing low-density lipoprotein (ldl) receptors present on the liver’s surface. simvastatin, in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, reduces the total cholesterol and ldl cholesterol, and as a secondary action tends to reduce triglycerides and increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. this medication is also effective in patients with familial dysbetalipoproteinemia, polygenic hypercholesterolemia, and nephrotic syndrome where an excess of helpful proteins is lost.[8] chemically, simvastatin is a part of the class of hexahydronaphthalenes that includes lovastatin, in which the 2-methylbutyrate ester moiety has been replaced by a 2,2-dimethylbutyrate ester group as shown in figure 3. physiologically, simvastatin has a role as an hmg-coa inhibitor, alf endopeptidase inhibitor, a geroprotector, and a ferroptosis inducer. there are multiple chemical classes that simvastatin belongs to: semi-synthetic statin, as well as a fatty acid ester and a delta-lactone.[9] it is a bcs class ii drug, which, as mentioned previously, means it has low solubility in water but high absorption. the solubility is 0.012 g/l, or 0.012 mg/ml, which officially categorizes it as insoluble in water, according to the united states pharmacopeia. the usp requires a drug to have a solubility of 33 mg/ml or more to be considered soluble, as shown in figure 2. this is the problem that this experiment will try to remedy. simvastatin is, however, freely soluble in ethanol, methanol, and chloroform.[10] it has a melting point of 135–138°c. the log kow, or octanol-water partition coefficient, is 4.68.[11] simvastatin is found as a white to off-white crystalline powder, and it has a molecular weight of 418.57g/mol. it is nonhygroscopic.[12] sodium docusate is the common pharmaceutical and chemical name of the anion bis (2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate, also called dioctyl sulfosuccinate. dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate is used as a surfactant in many different applications. it is unique in that it can form microemulsions without the presence of co-surfactants, and it has varied aqueous-phase actions, which include several liquid crystalline phases.[14] the compound is a white, wax-like, plastic solid and has an odor reminiscent of octanol. it starts to degrade at 220°c. the solubility of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate in water is 14 g/l at 25°c.[15] solubility of docusate is better in solvents with a lower polarity, with ratios of 1:30 in ethanol, 1:1 in diethyl ether and chloroform, and practically unlimited in petroleum ether, all at room temperature (25°c). in general, its uses include a wetting agent, anionic surfactant, solubilizer, and fecal softener.[16] the chemical structure of sodium docusate is shown in figure 4. sodium docusate has anionic surfactant properties that are useful in solid dispersion and that enhance the wettability of the molecules they attach to, and the more solvation that occurs, the more soluble the compound becomes.[17] surfactants in general form micelles; these micelles form at a certain concentration, called the critical micelle concentration (cmc), and work to solubilize insoluble products, with an increase in the amount of surfactant correlating to an increase in solvation and solubilization.[18] the cmc depends on the molecular and chemical properties of the surfactant, such as polarity and charge. micelles are normally made up of amphiphilic polymers which mean they have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts. the best size for micelles is 10–100 nm, and in aqueous solutions, they spontaneously assemble to form sphereor sphere-like shapes, with a hydrophobic core and hydrophilic external shell. due to these properties, simvastatin, or other drugs with low water solubility, can dissolve in micelles.[19] isoleucine is one of the essential amino acids. isoleucine is required for hemoglobin formation, stabilization, and figure 2: solubility definition[7] figure 1: bcs categories[5] figure 3: simvastatin structure[13] al-jumaili, et al.: enhancing solubility of simvastatin with l-isoleucine and sodium docusate 28 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 26-32 regulation of blood sugar and energy levels. it is one of the three branched-chain amino acids, and these amino acids increase endurance, improve energy, and help in muscle tissue repair. isoleucine also has an important role in immunity.[21] isoleucine is found as a white to off-white powder with a sweet odor.[22] the solubility of isoleucine is 34.4 g/l, with a molecular weight of 131 g/mol. its boiling point is 168– 170°c, with two pka values: 2.32 and 9.76.[23] the structure of l-isoleucine is shown in figure 5. amino acids have already proven effective in enhancing the solubility of simvastatin.[24] isoleucine has, in previous experiments, been used to improve the solubility of atorvastatin with positive results, and here those properties were shown to be even more potent.[25] isoleucine is also easily available, which makes it useful in solubility enhancement. because both isoleucine and docusate are inert and have minimal side effects, they are acceptable excipients to use for improving solubility. a solid dispersion is defined as a group of solid products consisting of a hydrophobic drug that is dispersed in at least one hydrophilic carrier, with a subsequent increase in surface area and thus enhanced drug solubility and dissolution rate. there are several advantages in using solid dispersion, such as increased wettability, easier formulation as a solid dosage form, and greater effectiveness in dissolution when compared to salt preparations, which require an ionized drug compound.[27] in addition, one of the most important advantages to using solid dispersion occurs with the interaction of hydrophilic carriers with the drug. this interaction can decrease agglomeration and release when there is supersaturation, which means a more rapid absorption, in addition to solubility, and consequently improved bioavailability.[28] solid dispersion also produces amorphous forms of simvastatin, which have a higher solubility than crystalline simvastatin.[29] the key idea in solvent evaporation is that the drug in question and a carrier are dissolved in a volatile solvent to achieve a homogeneous mixture. the solid dispersion is fully formed after the evaporation of the solvent.[27] it was used in this experiment for its relative ease and simplicity. the disadvantages of solvent evaporation include difficulty in fully removing the solvent and choosing a common solvent for the solutes.[30] simple ethanol was satisfactory, however, in dissolving simvastatin and its excipients. many attempts at improving the solubility of simvastatin have been made, using various methods, most commonly with solid dispersions. in one such attempt, arginine was used as a cosolvent with simvastatin in different molar concentrations, and the results showed a massive improvement in the aqueous solubility of the drug. the final maximum solubility showed an incredible almost 13,000-fold improvement, in which the intrinsic solubility jumped from 0.003164 mmol/ml to 70.4 mmol/ml.[24] the authors’ proposed explanation for this increase is the formation of a more favorable environment for the solubility of simvastatin. this is achieved through both solute-solvent and solute-cosolute interaction in which the arginine forms a complex with the simvastatin, making it more polar and readily soluble. another experiment improved simvastatin’s solubility more than 5-fold using polymeric blends of polyvinylpyrrolidone and similar substances, with solid dispersion. this time, however, no solvent was used. instead, the hot melt and twinscrew melt granulation methods were used. the release profile of these mixtures was the same as that of normally formulated simvastatin. in one of their product results, the values showed a large increase in miscibility, but not a proportional increase in solubility, which shows they are not always directly correlated.[31] yet another experiment utilized citric acid and co-crystallization as a method in the improvement of simvastatin’s solubility.[32] this showed an increase in solubility, and also in the release profile and stability of the drug. simvastatin has even been used topically to improve wound healing, and an experiment was done to enhance topical simvastatin’s solubility to make it more practical to use externally.[33] the experiment used various solvents such as buffered ethanol, methanol, and dimethyl sulfoxide, along with polymers such as chitosan, and cellulose derivatives such as carboxymethyl cellulose and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose. the findings showed a remarkable 50-fold increase in simvastatin’s solubility with ethanol and chitosan. the objective of this experiment is to improve the solubility of simvastatin by forming a solid dispersion, using the solvent evaporation method with ethanol as in previous experiments, with sodium docusate and l-isoleucine combined in various ratios in order to ascertain which combination has the greatest improvement. all the ingredients are easily available, making it easy to fine-tune all the measurements in repeated experiments. instruments and methodology materials and instruments • simvastatin 100 g (powder form) as shown in figure 6 • l-isoleucine 100 g simson brand (powder form) • sodium docusate 50 g (semisolid form) • ethanol 100% • distilled water • volumetric flasks (10 ml) • pipette • graduated cylinder (25 ml) • mortars and pestles (ceramic and glass) • filter paper, whitman brand (42 ashless) • various beakers (10, 20, and 50 ml) figure 4: sodium docusate structure[20] figure 5: l-isoleucine structure[26] al-jumaili, et al.: enhancing solubility of simvastatin with l-isoleucine and sodium docusate 29 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 26-32 • highly accurate balance • spectrophotometer • magnetic stirrer and heater • oven (set at 32°c). methodology two solvents were prepared in separate beakers, both consisting of 80 ml of pure ethanol and 20 ml of distilled water. ten milligrams (mg) of simvastatin were added to one beaker, which resulted in a concentration of 10 mg/100 ml (100 µg/ml) and was used as the stock solution. the solvent without simvastatin was used as a diluting agent for the linear dilution process. for this process, 1 ml of stock solution was poured into a 10-ml volumetric flask using a pipette and then diluted to 10 ml using the dilution agent. this gave a concentration of 10 µg/ml (flask 1). flask 2 had 1.5 ml of the stock solution and was also diluted to 10 ml with the diluting agent, to produce a flask of 15 µg/ml. this process was repeated until concentrations of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 µg/ml were made. a saturated solution of simvastatin was also made by adding 10 ml of distilled water to a small beaker, where a magnetic stirrer was added at 900 rotations. then, simvastatin powder was slowly added until saturation, which was evident by a turbid solution and a persistent powder being present on the bottom of the container. the filter paper was used to strain the solution, and it was measured in a quartz cuvette in the spectrophotometer. the spectrophotometer was calibrated by setting the device to scan mode from 200nm to 400 nm and putting the diluting agent as the test sample to form the reference and cancel all external factors. the spectrophotometer was also used to create a wavelength intensity chart from the saturated simvastatin solution; then the highest peak, at 252 nm, was chosen as the maximum wavelength (λ max). once this was found, each of the test samples of concentrations 10–35 µg/ml was measured three times and plotted. a calibration curve was fitted to the plotted absorbance values. after this plotting, the absorbance of the saturated simvastatin was measured in the same way, and the concentration was calculated using the reverse of the calibration curve equation. the solubility-modifying agents were l-isoleucine and sodium docusate. in combining them, the first sample was made of 1 g simvastatin and 0.25 g each of sodium docusate and isoleucine; the second sample was 1 g simvastatin and 0.5 g each of docusate and isoleucine, and the third sample was 1 g simvastatin and 0.75 g each of docusate and isoleucine. the combination ratios are shown in table 1. these components were weighed separately on an accurate scale and then combined in a mortar and pestle. a sufficient amount of ethanol was added to submerge all the ingredients in the mortar, where they were manually levigated until a single-phase solution was formed for complete homogenization. the samples were left in a hot air oven for several days to dry, and the dry products were taken out and ground into a powder with a pestle. these products were made to be incorporated into modified-simvastatin solutions. the modified solutions were prepared by adding 10 ml of distilled water in a small 20-ml beaker and placing it on the magnetic stirrer plate, while small amounts of the powdered product were added to it until saturation. it was kept at 900 rpm for 10-min intervals until there was evident precipitation. finally, filter paper was used on the solution, and it was put in a cuvette to measure with a spectrophotometer, where the reading was repeated 3 times. this was done for all products before the final absorbance measurements. results and discussion results the results of the calibration curve are shown in table 2. the recorded absorbance values shown in table 2 were plotted to get the best-fitting curve presented in figure 7. the fitting curve represents the actual values with an equation of y = 0.00303x-0.00051 which relates absorbance with concentration, where y is the absorbance and x is the concentration. when mathematically reversed, the equation of best fit can form a new equation, which is written as + = 0.00051 0.00303 y x , and it can be used to find the concentration of the saturated simvastatin solution from absorbance, as shown in table 3. table 4 contains the results of the absorbances and solubilities of the simvastatin: docusate: isoleucine solid dispersion mixtures. the solubility of sample 1, sample 2, and sample 3 was increased 1.5-fold, 7.18-fold, and 4.8-fold, respectively, from the solubility of pure simvastatin. discussion the smallest concentration of 1 g simvastatin to 0.25 g of excipients yielded the smallest improvement of only 1.5-fold. table 1: excipient ratios sample simva.(g) docus.(g) isoleuc.(g) ratio s1 1 0.25 0.25 4:1:1 s2 1 0.50 0.50 2:1:1 s3 1 0.75 0.75 4:3:3 table 2: simvastatin absorbances conc. (µg) abs. 1 abs. 2 abs. 3 avg. abs. 10 0.0280 0.0305 0.0258 0.0281 15 0.0448 0.0448 0.0446 0.0447 20 0.0595 0.0645 0.0623 0.0621 25 0.0788 0.0802 0.0757 0.0782 30 0.0881 0.0858 0.0874 0.0871 35 0.1060 0.1035 0.1068 0.1054 table 3: saturated simvastatin abs. 1 abs. 2 abs. 3 avg. abs. conc (µg/ml) 0.1969 0.1979 0.1954 0.1967 65.085 al-jumaili, et al.: enhancing solubility of simvastatin with l-isoleucine and sodium docusate 30 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 26-32 table 4: simvastatin, docusate, isoleucine concentration sample abs. 1 abs. 2 abs. 3 avg. abs. conc.(µg/ml) 1 0.293 0.296 0.294 0.294 97.495 2 1.447 1.408 1.392 1.416 467.53 3 0.943 0.948 0.949 0.947 312.78 a possible theory could be that 0.25 g is below the cmc of sodium docusate, which would mean it is too low to allow micelles to form. at this concentration, there may be only weak solubilization due to isoleucine alone or weak anionic interaction with docusate, without its strong surfactant properties. based on the results given, there seems to be a range at which the excipients have optimal solubilizing effects, and this is at around a 2:1 ratio with simvastatin: excipients. the 2:1:1 sample ratio showed a sevenfold improvement while the 4:3:3 ratio was improved fivefold. this indicates that an excess of docusate and isoleucine may hinder the solubility process. this could be due to interactions with the chemical bonds of simvastatin or due to the saturation of the solution preventing further solubility. theoretically, the formation of sodium docusate micelles may be hindered at specific concentrations of isoleucine, which would require more refinements to determine for certain. a possible mechanism may involve the interaction between the anionic, i.e., the negative part of sodium docusate, and the potentially positive amine group in isoleucine, or amino acids in general. if this is the case, substituting an amino acid with an exposed positive group, such as lysine, arginine, or histidine, may yield even more positive results. this is supported by the fact that adding arginine into the solution resulted in a huge improvement in the solubility of simvastatin.[24] isoleucine may also have formed a complex with the simvastatin, making it more polar and soluble, as in the experiment with arginine. arginine has multiple nh groups, while isoleucine only has one, and that may contribute to its greater effectiveness. on the other hand, a more negatively charged amino acid may decrease the effectiveness of the excipients’ actions alone or together. in the dissolution process for each ratio, the time required until complete saturation varied. the lowest excipient concentration of 4:1 simvastatin: excipients required only about 15 min on the magnetic stirrer due to the relatively low solubility of the product. the middle sample, with a 2:1 ratio, took much longer, at about 45 min. the final ratio of 4:3 took 1.5 h to solubilize and become saturated, even though ultimately, it had a lower simvastatin concentration in the solution. this may be due to the drying out of the excipients to form a physical coating, similar to a hard shell, that did not allow water to penetrate past it. another possibility is that micelle formation was not completely successful and resulted in incomplete solubilization for some of the particles, as a result of excess saturation, interaction with isoleucine or simvastatin, or another unknown mechanism.[34] although some positive results were found, there were many combinations and ratios that did not yield satisfactory solid dispersions, and these occurred when too much isoleucine or docusate was added. when large amounts of docusate were incorporated into the mixture, the product did not dry correctly and stayed as a jelly-like semisolid. this made it impossible to grind into a powder and to dissolve into water easily. a viscous liquid that did not pass through the filter paper was the result of attempting to solubilize it. with excess isoleucine added to the mixture, the product did not dry into a powder, and there was a distinct separation between the two layers of the solution, with a turbid supernatant on top and a thick yellowish layer on the bottom. in solutions that had a 1:3 ratio of isoleucine in a 1g: 3g mix, there was adequate drying of the solution into a solid, but there was an inhomogeneous product obtained, which meant the isoleucine was unevenly distributed. this could be due to precipitation,[35] or uneven solvation and solid dispersion formation due to high solution saturation. the percentage of isoleucine in the solution should not be dramatically more than simvastatin to have a stable solid dispersion. figure 6: starting materials figure 7: simvastatin calibration curve al-jumaili, et al.: enhancing solubility of simvastatin with l-isoleucine and sodium docusate 31 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 26-32 the final concentration of the modified simvastatin in water is not enough to change its classification from being insoluble to soluble, though it is certainly a step in the right direction. as previously mentioned, in order to be classified as soluble, a drug must have a solubility of 33 mg/ml or more, according to the usp. the smallest improvement resulted in a solubility of 97.5 µg/ml, which is still within the “insoluble” category. the next higher solubility was 312.8 µg/ml, which is 0.3 mg/ml. this is enough to take simvastatin out of the “insoluble” category and raise it to “very slightly soluble” category. the greatest change was 467.5 µg/ml, which is approximately 0.5 mg/ml. this also removes simvastatin out of “insoluble” and to “very slightly soluble.” though these findings are modest when looked at in the absolute, they represent an open pathway that may lead to greater improvements if certain variables and parameters are changed. for example, a change in the amino acid used may yield different results. a combination of amino acids with another form of surfactant, such as certain polymers, may allow for greater solubility depending on the strength of the surfactant. another form of solvent may be used in place of ethanol, such as chloroform or acetone and water, which may affect the extent of homogeneity or dissolution, and thus affect the resulting solid dispersion. a study to determine the exact drug content of the solid dispersion after it is dissolved in water may be helpful to understand how much of the solid dispersion is truly effective material. it will also give a clue about what excipient played a bigger role in the simvastatin’s solubility or lack thereof. conclusion in this experiment, simvastatin was incorporated into a solid dispersion of docusate and isoleucine to improve its solubility. the best improvement had a 7-fold increase from normal simvastatin, with 1.5-fold being the lowest improvement. the best improvement corresponds with a 2:1:1 ratio of simvastatin and excipients. these results indicate that the surfactant properties of docusate in conjugation with isoleucine improve the solubility of simvastatin to a large degree. this combination is optimized when the ratio of excipients is relatively low compared to the mass of simvastatin. in future, a study can be done that replaces the solvent with something similar, or the sodium docusate with a polymer surfactant. another measure could be to calculate how much simvastatin is found per milligram of solid dispersion, which may provide insight into the content of each solution, and how much of the mixture is actually an active ingredient. acknowledgments many thanks to dr. idris/college of pharmacy for allowing access to the research laboratory and the instruments and materials required for this experiment. references 1. e. rinaki, g. valsami and p. macheras. quantitative biopharmaceutics classification system: the central role of dose/solubility ratio. pharmaceutical research, 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screw melt granulation of simvastatin: drug solubility and dissolution rate enhancement using polymer blends. pharmaceutics, vol. 16, no. 12, p. 1630, 2024. 32. f. m. khan, m. ahmad and f. batool. enhancement of solubility and release profile of simvastatin by co-crystallization with citric acid. tropical journal pharmaceutical research, vol. 18, no. 12, pp. 2465-2472, 2019. 33. m. a. hashem, a. k. hussein, h. abdelkader and m. s. saddik. solubility enhancement of simvastatin for wound dressing preparation. journal advanced biomedical pharmaceutical science, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 75-79, 2024. 34. v. parikh, s. g. gumaste and s. phadke. effect of the interaction between an ionic surfactant and polymer on the dissolution of a poorly soluble drug. aaps pharmscitech, vol. 19, no. 7, pp. 30403047, 2018. 35. n. s. m. azmi, n. anuar, k. j. roberts, n. f. abu bakar and n. f. kamalul aripin. molecular aggregation of l-isoleucine in aqueous solution and its impact on the determination of solubility and nucleation kinetics. journal crystal growth, vol. 519, pp. 91-99, 2019. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 100 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 100-110 review article performance enhancement of solar stills: a comprehensive review of methods and technologies dlair a. baban department of mechanical engineering, college of engineering, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract access to safely managed drinking water services has become a serious issue for 2.2 billion people worldwide. as is known, traditional stilling designs suffer from low quality and production. therefore, solar stills offer an eco-friendly solution. this review study provides the first comprehensive cross-comparison of enhancement technologies for solar stills developed between 2020 and 2025. this work rigorously analyzes 121 peer-reviewed articles, comparing 11 different enhancement methods based on technical performance, economic viability, and practical implementation challenges, unlike previous reviews focusing on limited improvements. an innovative combined deductive–inductive taxonomy was developed and validated, providing a rationale-based technology selection framework. results show productivity improvements ranging from 4.2% to 748%, with costs between $0.0014 and $0.29/l. low-cost technologies (thermal storage, fins, stepped designs: $0.005–0.035/l) are ideal for resource-limited settings, offering payback periods under 2 years. moderatecost options ($0.018–0.060/l), including phase change materials and pyramidal designs, show promise for community-scale applications, though they face short- to medium-term economic barriers. enhancements are categorized using a four-stage technology readiness scale: deployment-ready, community-scale ready, pilot-scale, and research stage. key research gaps include insufficient long-term performance data and unsystematic evaluation of hybrid enhancement approaches. this study uniquely provides a systematic, evidence-based framework integrating technical performance with economic feasibility and practical viability, enabling informed decision-making for expanding safe drinking water access through solar desalination technology. keywords: solar distillation, performance enhancement, economic feasibility, technology assessment, sustainable desalination introduction water scarcity is among the most challenging global problems in the 21st century, and about 2.2 billion people on the planet have no access to safely managed drinking water services.[1] safe drinking water is in everincreasing demand as populations grow, industrial activities expand, and climate impacts are felt;[2,3] thus, sustainable, effective, and economical water treatment technologies have to be established. solar distillation systems have gained considerable interest, especially in the case of rural and underprivileged communities where access to conventional energy resources is scarce or non-existent. solar still systems purify nonpotable water by natural evaporation and condensation with solar energy only, consuming neither electricity nor intricate mechanical construction.[4,5] however, traditional solar stills inherently have low daily productivity, which has conventionally impeded their use for large-scale implementation. various approaches have led to numerous efforts recently to enhance the performance of solar stills. enhancement methods can be generally divided into passive (improving the design configuration and selection of materials) and active (external sources or mechanical approaches). some of the passive enhancement techniques include adding nanomaterials to improve thermal and optical properties, using phase change materials (pcms) to ensure functionality during nonsunshine hours, and implementing geometrical modifications such as pyramidal, stepped, and corrugated designs. solar concentrators, rotating techniques, and external condensers or thermoelectric systems are all examples of active cooling methods. recent technological advances have demonstrated that these augmentation techniques can significantly increase the productivity of solar stills. studies have investigated corresponding author: dlair a. baban, college of engineering, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: dlair.hassan@su.edu.krd received: september 03, 2025 accepted: october 18, 2025 published: december 1, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp100-110 copyright © 2025 dlair a. baban. this is an open access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) baban: performance enhancement of solar stills 101 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 100-110 nanomaterial coatings, high-performance integration with pcm, innovative geometry configurations, solar concentration methods, and hybrid multi-technology solutions. these developments have demonstrated excellent results in laboratory and field tests, offering significant performance enhancements under varying operating conditions. research gap identification. however, the scale-up and performance optimization of solar augmentation technologies still face many challenges. most previous reviews are mainly focused on a certain kind of enhancing category (e.g., only nanomaterials or pcms), which introduces the challenges of very limited cross-comparison among different enhancement strategies.[2-4] most studies do not holistically assess performance enhancements, economic feasibility, and practical barriers of major enhancement approaches. moreover, both researchers and practitioners are faced with the absence of well-defined evidence-based guidelines on how technologies should be chosen and tuned to respond to given functional needs and constraints in their deployment contexts. such a fragmented knowledge base of the existing knowledge makes it difficult for people to make informed choices and greatly reduces the effective translation of research results into practice. furthermore, many studies indicate performance improvements without comparing the cost-effectiveness, scalability, maintenance costs, and long-term reliability between various approaches of enhancement. the field would be well served by a unifying framework that brings together technical performance measures on the one hand with economic and practical considerations in implementation on the other. the current review covers the existing research gap and fills it by systematically examining enhancement technologies for solar stills. the aims for this study are as follows: 1. to classify and categorize solar still improvement technologies systematically. 2. to quantitatively assess performance gains for different enhancement methods. 3. to evaluate the economic feasibility and cost–benefit ratio. 4. to examine practical implementation feasibility. 5. to uncover missing critical research and future research directions. 6. to develop an integrative, evidence-based approach for selecting technologies. methodology this rigorous, systematic study was on the enhancement technologies of solar stills, published from january 2020 to december 2025. the process included five critical stages: identification and selection of the literature, data extraction and assessment of quality, development of taxonomies, analytical synthesis, and assessment. literature search and selection of studies a comprehensive electronic search was performed using five well-known academic databases (scopus, web of science, springerlink, science direct, and ieee xplore). key words were combined, primary keywords (solar still, solar distillation, desalination) with enhancement-specific terms (nanomaterials, pcms, rotating design, solar concentrator, and enhancement efficiency). search terms used boolean operators for comprehensive coverage with high specificity. the first search identified 347 articles, which were potentially relevant. a total of 198 articles were included for full-text screening after title and abstract selection. studies were incorporated if they (1) were published in peerreviewed journals, (2) had reported original experimental or theoretical research of quantitative data, (3) showed quantifiable enhancements in performance due to some specific enhancement methods used, and (4) included a clear methodological description and were written in english. the exclusion criteria were conference papers, studies that were entirely based on hypotheses without experimentation, no quantitative results, duplicate articles, and reviews without original data. one hundred and twenty-one articles fulfilled all inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. data extraction and quality appraisal a standardized extraction was employed to extract technical, economic, and practical operation data from all of the studies. this technical content encompassed descriptions of the enhancement method used, experimental setups, baseline and enhanced performance measurements, productivity enhancement (percentage and absolute values), and efficiency gain. economic indicators were cost per liter, capital cost, and payback period (where available). the pragmatic parameters concerned system complexity, material availability, maintenance requirements, scalability potential, and operational constraints. the included studies were quality-assessed on methodological rigor (experimental design, control of variables or dosages, statistical treatment), data completeness and reporting clarity, reproducibility based on methodological detail reported, validity assessment based on statistical evaluation (correct use of statistics, confidence intervals, significance tests), as well as quality of publication venue. studies were included only if they satisfied minimum quality requirements on these dimensions, thereby ensuring that the synthesis is informed by methodologically rigorous scholarship. classification taxonomy development the eleven-category classification system was developed through a systematic, combined deductive-inductive approach. the deductive phase began with previous review studies that identified major enhancement categories such as nanomaterials, pcms, and solar concentrators. however, these prior reviews typically covered only two to four categories and had a limited temporal scope. the inductive stage was an iterative thematic analysis of the full set of 121 studies to determine unique enhancement techniques that required their own category. additional categories had arisen or developed during 2020–2025 according to the outcome of a data-driven approach that encompassed rotating parts, pyramid and stepped shapes, external condensers, materials for storage heat (not pcm), fin and corrugated surface systems, advanced hybrid systems, baban: performance enhancement of solar stills 102 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 100-110 computational methods to model optimizing strategies, and economic-environmental analysis studies. four explicit criteria were used to validate each category: (1) a distinct operational principle with a fundamentally different enhancement mechanism; (2) sufficient study volume with a minimum of 6–7 studies for meaningful analysis; (3) practical differentiation of implementation requirements and performance characteristics; and (4) technological independence, so that the category can be a standalone or a hybrid. the taxonomy was tested for inter-rater reliability (94% agreement between two independent evaluators) and assessed for mutual exclusiveness, exhaustiveness, and practical usefulness as a basis to support the choice of technologies. this eleven-class categorization is a substantial improvement over previous classification systems, embracing the complete variety of modern solar still enhancement research and providing strong categories for comparative study. analytical methods and synthesis several complementary techniques have been used to guarantee a complete assessment. descriptive statistics were computed for each of the categories (minimum, maximum, average performance, and performance range). comparative analysis included relative performance between categories, consistency of performances, outlying cases, and change over time. based on a systematic thematic review, information content analysis identified operational principles applied, technical challenges continually faced, implementation impediments met, and success edge factors in both categories as well as emerging trends. this qualitative synthesis set quantitative performance measures in a contextual frame and identified elements influencing the practical use. a multi-dimensional synthesis structure structured the literature findings through four interrelated dimensions: (1) technical, including productivity gains, efficiency improvements and performance consistency; (2) economic in terms of cost per liter, investment demand and payback period; (3) implementation feasibility in relation to complexity, scalability and maintenance or material availability; and (4) impact on the environment from an energy consumption perspective as well as considering carbon footprint and material aspects. it allows for the integration of all real-world deployment-relevant influences, making it applicable to a comprehensive, end-to-end analysis. synthesis comparatively analyzed performance-cost trade-offs, complexity-effectiveness balance, scalability potential, and context fit for various deployment scenarios (rural/remote vis-à-vis industrial/utility-scale applications). this novel multi-criteria assessment helps in technology selection that is evidence-based and appropriate to particular operational needs, but also to available facilities. performance evaluation framework all enhancement methods were methodically assessed through a standardized, multicriteria-based analysis. performance metrics were scaling factors, water production as a percentage of improvement rates, absolute water yields (l/m2/h or kg/ m2/h), efficiency increments, and performance robustness for different conditions. economic indexes included the liter purchasing cost, capital investment, and payback period. the feasibility of implementation was rated in terms of technical complexity (low/medium/high), availability of materials (local/regional/specialized) and scalability potential (lab/ pilot/commercial scale), and maintenance. energy and material performance were measured using environmental metrics such as energy utilization, carbon footprint, and material sustainability. the foundation provided can support informed choices by exemplifying the complete set of drivers influencing technology choice, not limited to performance metrics, but also economic, practical, and environmental issues that play a significant role in creating an environment for successful deployment. study rationale and scope with this purpose in mind, the present review systematically explores 121 peer-reviewed studies published from 2020 to 2025 to report up-to-date advancements in solar still improvement measures. in this study, we present a complete cross-comparison of 11 different enhancement strategies, as shown in table 1, unlike prior reviews that focused on a single table 1: summary of solar still enhancement strategies, reported performance improvements, and representative references (2020–2025) category performance improvement representative references nanomaterials 19.5–300% [2,4,5,32,62,84,88,91,96,98,101,104] phase change materials 10.6–675% [3,10,14,16,30,52,55,57,59,109,112-114,119,120] rotating configurations 37–300% [6,13,17,18,41-43,51,82] solar concentrator systems 14.18–216.6% [12,19,20,29,31,54,60,65,69,70,74] fins and corrugated surfaces 24–128% [21,23,38,46,53,61,72,79,83,90,97] pyramid and stepped designs 60–675% [9,14-16,44,45,58,63,64,73,80,101] external condensers 32.46–469.48% [27,34,35,40,87,112-114] thermal storage materials 4.21–85.86% [22,25,26,67,71,76,93,110] advanced/innovative technologies 33.26–748% [11,28,36,37,47,48,49,50,56,68,78,85,95,100,103,1 05,107,115,117,118,121] modeling and prediction methods forecast accuracy (<5% error) [24,38,40,66,77,92,99,116] economic and environmental analysis $0.0014–0.29/l; co₂ reduction [33,86,94,102,106,108,111,120] baban: performance enhancement of solar stills 103 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 100-110 class of technology. this systematic classification provides a structured analysis of the performance, economics, and implementation advantages of each enhancement method to pursue informed technology development and optimization strategy selection. results and discussion in this section, an extensive review of a set of 11 categories of solar still enhancement is provided by considering a structured data analysis based on 121 reviewed articles. technical, economic feasibility, and implementation resistance are evaluated for each of the categories. nanomaterial enhancements the use of nanomaterials was the focus of 15 studies[2,4,7,32,62,84,88,91,96,98,101,104] reporting productivity gains ranging from 19.5 to 300%. maximum enhancement (300%) in case rotating wick systems employing nanofluids[5] has been reported, and for conventional ones cuo nanofluids with pcm (80.2%),[2] graphene oxide (116.5%),[62] and silver nanoparticles (106–218%).[91] augmentation mechanisms include increased solar absorption, raised thermal conductivity, and elevated evaporation due to nucleation sites for nanoparticles.[32,84,96] economic-nano materials increase capital costs by 40–60% because they are very complex to synthesize, and the cost per liter is observed between $0.015 and 0.045.[86,108] there is a particularly narrow range of highly technical applications where commercial feasibility exists. long-term stability remains a critical constraint in practical implementations, as numerous nanoparticle synthesis routes tend to induce particle aggregation and system fouling after prolonged operation, typically within six to twelve months. [32,91] such progressive performance degradation has hindered the realization of any notable commercial deployment, while the scaling-up of solar still systems beyond the laboratory scale (<1 m²) continues to be limited by significant technical and economic challenges.[2,4,91] health and safety conditions restrict access in rural areas.[89,106] better applied in research installations, short of widespread use.[17,108] pcms eighteen studies considered running pcm,[3,10,14,16,30,52,55,57,59,109,112,114,119,120] reporting improvements of 10.6–675%. single pcms were used with step pyramids embedded with pvs to reach the extraordinary thermal performance of 675%.[14] common applications demonstrated an improvement from 90% to 230%, while nano-enhanced pcms showed enhancements of 180–245%.[10,55] pcms make 24-h operation possible by storing hot-day heat and releasing it during the night.[57,81] economic: pcms contribute 20–35% to the construction cost, at $0.018–0.080/l.[86,108,120] 2–4 years payback periods render them economically attractive in community-based supplies.[120] practical limits: climate matching is necessary for the selection of pcm.[55,57] the thermal cycling degradation (15–25% after 1000 cycles) requires replacement every 2–3 years.[52,109] threat of leakage is a motivation for sound encapsulation.[30,59] pilot-scale demonstrations (5–10 m²) are feasible[14,55] but scale-dependent weight and volume increases. most appropriate for systematic community interventions, agency-based settings.[17,108] rotating configurations eight studies investigated spinning designs,[6,13,17,18,41-43,51,82] demonstrating enhances by 37–300%. four-cylinder systems 214%,[13] rotating drums between 200–300%[43] and rotating disks at 124%[42] were obtained. enhancement happens by continuous renewal of the surface and better mass transfer.[41,43] economic viability: mechanical complexity leads to 60–100% with estimated cost per liter of $0.05–0.15/l.[86,108] the payback period of 8–15 years is uncertain from an economic standpoint.[108] practical issues: the primary limitation is mechanical reliability, with bearings, seals, and motors that need to be serviced on a regular basis.[17,41,43] when using in solutions, for example, saline media component damage is intensified.[6,43] energy demand presumes a reliable electrical power supply.[41] there are no long-term reliability data available, and all the implementations are still confined to the laboratory scale (< 2 m²).[6,13,41-43] most appropriate for research settings.[17,108] solar concentrator systems concentrators were explored in eleven studies[12,19,20,29,31,54,60,65,69,70,74] with an increase of 14.2–216%. parabolic troughs had the highest gains (216%),[54] while cpcs had a 65%.[20] concentration: enhancing the concentration of solar radiation increases the effective thermal energy absorbed by the distillation unit, leading to higher evaporation rates and improved freshwater yield.[19,24,75] economic feasibility: concentrators add 100–200% cost that drives the total price per liter between $0.03–0.12.[54,86,108] the economic feasibility relies on high direct normal irradiance (dni) sites.[54,75] tracking the sun introduces 22% cost reduction potential but incurs maintenance.[54] practical limitation: need high-quality direct sunlight, i.e., can only be deployed in clear-sky areas.[19,54,75] tracking mechanisms have mechanical reliability issues.[54] every 2–7 days cleaning the surfaces results in the water use paradox.[54] installing a lid is technically demanding and precise work.[17] owing to geographic limitation, viability to 20–30% of water-scarce regions. best applications using technical support large-scale in high dni locations.[17,54,108] fins and corrugated surfaces fins were studied in eleven studies,[21,23,38,46,53,61,72,79,83,90,97] exhibiting improvements for (24–128%]). meanwhile, 128%[38,39] were obtained by corrugated plates, 77%[61] v-corrugated fins with pcm and 24–46% for simple fins.[72,83] increasing the area of attachment and better convection aiding enhancement.[61,72] economy: adds only 5–15% at minimal cost, baban: performance enhancement of solar stills 104 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 100-110 $0.008–0.025/l.[86,108] return on investment of 1–2 years indicates very high cost-effectiveness.[61,72,108] practical considerations: no significant obstacles – rudimentary construction, simple upkeep, corrosion can be controlled by choice of materials (aluminum or stainless steel).[72,83] great scalability from homes to businesses.[17,72] limitation: relatively modest performance (24–46% for simple fins) but suitable to combine with other low-cost methods.[61,72] most extensive grass-roots use.[17,72,108] pyramid and stepped designs pyramids (ten studies,[14-16,45,58,59,63,64,73,80,101] showed benefits of 60–675%. combination of pcm and pv: the maximum 675% combined stepped pyramids with pcm and pv.[14] pyramidalwick devices realized 195%,[45] while simple step concepts reached in the range of 60–90%.[15,58] multi-level evaporation surfaces.[15,45] economic feasibility: complexity of construction raises prices by 30–50%, cost/l $0.02–0.06.[14,86,108] positive performance-to-investment ratio with 2–4 year payback times.[15,108] practical bounds: building the plumes needs more precision for watertight seals and multilevel assembly.[15,58] dc access is difficult to clean.[58] as the glass area increases, cost and fragility are raised.[15] medium scalability up to 2–3 m² per unit[14,15] and[58] most appropriate in community initiatives with minimal technical support.[17,108] external condenser systems seven studies were conducted on the use of external condensers[27,34,35,87,112-114] and observed an increase in efficiency ranging between 32.5 = 469%. the highest 469% beam for the fresnel lens with a submerging condenser.[35] conventional systems resulted in 80–150%.[27,112-114] augmentation by decoupling and optimizing condensation.[34,112] • economic potential: design 10–20% more expensive, sophisticated systems 60–90% greater per l of $0.025– 0.10.[86,108] 2–4-year payback from basic passive systems.[112,113] • practical constraints: the complexity range is extremely broad, for example passive air-cooled systems are simple,[27] though water-cooled or active designs typically require pumps and heat exchangers.[34] climate sensitive efficacy; least effective in hot humid climates.[27,112] immersion condensers are subjected to biofouling and corrosion.[35] ideal for maritime or cool, well-ventilated climate/habitat.[27,34,108] thermal storage materials non-pcm storage materials were explored in 7 publications,[25,26,67,71,76,93] and[110] which indicated reductions/ enhancements of values from 4.2% to 86%. the removal rates for carbonaceous materials were reported as 76–86%,[76] iron chips and cement 50%,[67] shells 11–26%[26] and sand/gravel of 4–15%.[25,71] improvement by sensible heat storage.[25,26] economic viability: most economically affordable class – for many materials, all or only 3–8% cost increase; and the price per liter of $0.005–0.018.[86,108] payback times <1 year are indicative of high value.[26,76,108] practical limitations: low barriers–no specific expertise, easy to maintain, long life span.[25,26,76] superior scalability at all system sizes.[17,26] primary restriction is limited speed (4–15% for common materials), but suitable to compound with other extensions.[26,76] the most democratically deployable enhancement is its universal accessibility.[17,25,108] advanced and innovative technologies eleven studies evaluated novel technologies[11,28,36,100,103,105,107,115,117,118,121] and revealed an increase of 33.3–748%. pv-thermal units were as high as 748–1162 ml/m², the rate of thermoelectric generators was 232% and thermally localized multistage purifiers delivered 5.78 l/m² h with an efficiency of 385%. economic feasibility: highest at prices of 100–375% premiums, cost per liter ranging from $0.08 to $0.29.[86,108] such payback periods, 8–25 years, far exceed normal system lives.[108] constraints in practice: technological complexity requires domain experts.[105,118] installation has professional needs that are not available in rural areas.[17] component outages leave systems offline, and there are unreliable supply chains for replacement parts.[17,108] energy needs require large-scale electrical infrastructure.[105,107] scalability is technology-dependent.[17,118] table 2: performance and economic comparison category improvement range (%) cost/l complexity scalability studies thermal storage 4.2–85.9 $0.005–0.018 very low excellent 7 fins and corrugated 24–128 $0.008–0.025 very low excellent 11 pyramid systems 60–675 $0.020–0.060 moderate moderate 10 pcms 10.6–675 $0.018–0.080 moderate moderate 18 external condensers 32.5–469.5 $0.025–0.100 low-moderate good 7 concentrators 14.2–216.6 $0.030–0.120 high moderate 11 nanomaterials 19.5–300 $0.015–0.045 high poor 15 rotating designs 37–300 $0.05–0.15* high poor 8 advanced tech 33.3–748 $0.08–0.29 very high poor 11 *estimated; limited data available baban: performance enhancement of solar stills 105 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 100-110 no long-term reliability information.[105,107] most appropriate for research tasks and custom high-value deployments.[17,108] performance prediction and modeling seven studies employed machine learning and statistical methods[24,38,40,77,92,99,116] (prediction error <5%). production was predicted by lstm networks using time-series data,[38] 5.21% error was obtained by random forest[116] and yields were estimated across modes of operation with artificial neural networks ann.[24,40] practical relevance: useful for prediction of performance, design optimization, and operational control.[38,40,116] yet, model performance can be limited by the quality and quantity of training data.[38] accessibility is restricted due to computational competency.[17,38] models can support experimental validation rather than replace it.[17,40] the greatest impact for research institutions, broader deployment will come once tooling is accessible.[17,92,108] economic and environmental analysis in total, six studies presented an in-depth techno-economic and environmental evaluation.[86,94,106,108,111,120] prices varied up to 200-fold (comparable price range: usd/liter from $0.0014–0.29);[86,108] cost per liter was calculated using the entire document. some simple improvements were found to be the least expensive solar thermal storage 0.005–0.018 fins 0.008–0.025.[86,108] reasonable techniques: pcms 0.018–0.080, pyramids 0.020–0.060.[86,108,120] expensive materials: new $0.015–0.045, concentrators $0.030–0.120, and advanced cells $0.080$–$0.290.[86,108] environmental-related benefits sustainability profiles are positive for all themes + [94,106] and categories +.[111] the solar stills save 0.5–2.5 kg co2/m³ compared to the fossil fuel desalination (2.5–8 kg co2/m³).[106] passive methods are best for net environmental profiles because they are least manufacturing dependent.[106] economic and environmental incentives converge to promote simple low-cost techniques for organizing a distributed use.[17,106,108] comparative analysis technology selection framework 1. tier 1 deployment-ready (widespread adoption): • thermal storage materials[25,26,76] • fins and corrugated surfaces[61,72,97] • simple stepped designs[15,58] 2. tier 2 community-scale ready: • pyramid designs[14,15,45] • common pcms[10,55,57] • simple external condensers[27,112] 3. tier 3 pilot-scale: • nano-enhanced pcms[8,104] • fixed concentrators[20,60] • sophisticated hybrids[14,16] 4. tier 4 research stage: • nanomaterials[2,91] • rotating systems[13,41] • advanced technologies[105,118] challenges and limitations technical challenges material degradation in saline environments affects all categories through corrosion, fouling, and stability issues.[53,72,91] seasonal performance variation with climate conditions.[17,27] maintenance requirements range from minimal (thermal storage, fins) to substantial (rotating systems, advanced technologies).[17,72] economic challenges high initial costs for advanced methods limit accessibility.[105,108] scale-up challenges from laboratory to commercial deployment.[17,108] market competition with established desalination technologies.[108] implementation barriers technical expertise requirements vary from minimal (thermal storage, fins) to specialized (advanced technologies).[17,72,105] material availability constraints in remote regions.[17] longterm reliability data gap across most categories.[17,108] conclusion this review of 121 peer-reviewed papers (2020–2025) offers a thorough assessment of solar still enhancement technologies in terms of performance, economics, and implementation feasibility. key findings table 2 summarizes the key findings from the systematic review and provides essential data for decision-making regarding technology selection. it integrates performance metrics, cost analysis, complexity assessment, and scalability evaluation across all 11 enhancement categories analyzed in this study. on enhancement technologies demonstrated improvements ranged from 4.2% to 748% in eleven categories. high performance techniques such as pcms (10.6–675%), pyramid patterns (60–675%), and sophisticated hybrid schemes have been recommended (33.3–748%). economical choices are thermal storage (4.2–85.9%), fins (24–128%), and stepped configurations (60–675%). economic evaluation showed the cost per liter ranging from $0.0014 to $0.29, simple improvements ($0.005–0.025/l) representing an exceptional cost–benefit while advanced system technologies ($0.08–0.29/l) face economic limitations. technology readiness assessment technologies are organized into four readiness levels: (1) deployment-ready with low barriers to large-scale adoption (e.g., direct storage, fins, and simple stepped structures), (2) community-ready for public projects with moderate resources (pyramid-shaped designs, common pcms, simple condensers), (3) pilot scale that require further validation before deployment; examples include nano-enhanced pcms and fixed concentrators. […] these four levels span the range from technologies with high deployability and low cost to those that are in a preliminary stage needing deeper baban: performance enhancement of solar stills 106 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 100-110 scoping and research investment before being ready for full deployment. critical research gaps longer-term performance data (>1 year) are still scarce in all categories. it is important to conduct a full-life-cycle cost analysis for economic assessment. there is a great lack of information on the scaling-up of this transformation from lab to industrial scale. common history effects from mixing multiple enhancement methods have not been well examined. research is also needed regarding the adaptation of technologies to different water qualities, climate types, and application contexts. practical recommendations for resource-limited settings: introduce phase-change materials and fins (15–85% savings, <$0.025/l, <1-year payback). for community: use pyramid designs with common pcms (100–250%, $0.020–0.050/l, 2–4 years payback). for niche applications: central receivers (solar concentrators); high-dni areas with technical assistance of special systems. hybrid approaches: use combinations of complementary solutions (thermal storage + fins, pyramids + pcm) for performance/cost tradeoffs. environmental impact a positive environmental profile is demonstrated for all categories of the enhancements. solar stills save 0.5–2.5 kg of co2/m³ compared to desalination by fossil fuels (2.5–8 kg of co2/m³). simple passive approaches are ideal for sustainability in minimum manufacturing cost and zero operational energy. future directions priority research needs are long-term field testing to demonstrate operational reliability; systematic optimization of hybrid-enhancement methods combinations; cost-reduction avenues, including design simplification and manufacturing innovation; easily accessible technology selection decision tools. progressive development of established technologies alongside the implementation of demonstrated accessible solutions represents the best approach to use solar still enhancement as a sustainable solution against water stress. contribution and significance the present review supplies the first ever complete crosscomparison between all existing solar still enhancement types of current research, linking technical utility with economic provability and practical facility. the evidence technology selection process allows enhancement methods to be matched against settings of deployment and resources available for implementation, assisting researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in making informed decisions. the development of multiple options at various economic and technology capacity levels opens opportunities for different actors to facilitate wider delivery of safe drinking water through better solar distillation. limitations and considerations several limitations must be acknowledged. the review was restricted to articles published in peer-reviewed journals and did not include conference papers or gray literature. differences in performance data between the studies reflect different experimental settings, and the contextual factors should be considered when making comparisons. most of the studies have not been long-term, and there are few data about the performance and reliability over time. there was heterogeneity in the economic data reported in studies, and cost estimates should be checked against local data for particular circumstances. use of more than one single technique in a study was considered in categorizing, but the actual decision was based on the dominant primary developmental focus with a degree of interpretive judgment. limitations notwithstanding, this systematic review represents the most exhaustive synthesis of established enhancement criteria for enhancing contemporary solar stills (2020–2025) and has adopted a 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solar humidification and dehumidification system: integrating ultrasonic atomizer and solar still state-of-art. separation and purification technology, vol. 378, p. 134550, 2025. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 49-55 research article antibacterial and wound healing assessment of silver nanoparticles against multidrug-resistant klebsiella variicola faraidun a. ahmed, khadijakhalil m. barzani, payman a. hamasaeed department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract the increase in antimicrobial resistance and the absence of novel antibiotic development cause problems in controlling infections for wound healing. antibacterial properties of nanomaterials have emerged as a potentially effective approach in the pursuit of superior alternatives; nevertheless, the toxicity associated with higher concentrations has emerged as a significant obstacle. according to this study, green nanoparticle synthesis is demonstrated to be both economical and biocompatible on account of the bioactive compounds present. in the present work, silver nanoparticles (nps) were prepared using pistacia khinjuk gum; then, nanoparticle-based cream was prepared and compared with fucidin and vaseline creams through assessment in vitro antibacterial and in vivo wound healing activity on wistar albino rats infected with multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria which were newly recorded in iraq, namely, klebsiella variicola. the findings revealed that the application of nanoparticle cream resulted in more rapid and effective wound healing (11 days), demonstrating a significant synergistic effect in comparison to fucidin (16 days), vaseline (20 days), and the untreated control group rats (32 days). the results indicated that green nps proved to be a significant strategy in the fight against multidrug-resistant bacteria, without any toxicity concerns. keywords: multidrug resistance, klebsiella variicola, biosynthesis of nanoparticle, antibacterial activity, wound healing introduction the process of wound healing has four distinct phases: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and maturation. impaired wound healing is mainly linked to bacterial infections, particularly those caused by multidrugresistant (mdr) bacteria. these infections can lead to the development of chronic wounds, which, in turn, can result in severe problems that pose a risk to life.[1] wound infection is an important category of nosocomial infection that has a global impact on a considerable number of patients. the potential risks and financial and medical burdens associated with bacterial contamination of a lesion are substantial, due to the rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.[2] mdr bacteria present a significant medical problem in our current period. these bacteria demonstrate the capacity to persist for prolonged durations and endure conditions with limited nutrients while proliferating. moreover, they have the ability to establish colonies on compromised epidermis, thereby presenting a substantial worldwide peril to public health.[3,4] according to the world health organization reports, the rate of mortality associated with mdr infections exceeds that of all types of cancer combined. infections caused by mdr bacteria in burn wounds are recognized as severe, widespread health hazards in a number of countries. as a result, novel nanoparticle-based materials have garnered significant interest within the domain of antimicrobial therapy for infections originating from burn wounds.[5,6] nanoparticles (nps) possess the capacity to emerge as a crucial and feasible therapeutic option for addressing mdr diseases. nps consist of metallic compounds and their corresponding oxides, which have the greatest potential among all types of nps and have generated significant interest among several experts. moreover, the utilization of silver nps (agnps) has generated significant attention.[7] additional advancements in nanomaterials as a novel framework for biomedical applications through phytoassisted synthesis offer numerous advantages, including costeffective biocompatibility improvements. in addition, bioactive compounds present in plant extracts facilitate the reduction process and contribute to the stabilization of the resulting nanomaterials. greenly synthesized agnps have been shown corresponding author: faraidun a. ahmed, department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: faraidun.ahmed@su.edu.krd received: may 25, 2024 accepted: july 01, 2024 published: august 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp49-55 copyright © 2024 faraidun a. ahmed, khadijakhalil m. barzani, payman a. hamasaeed. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) ahmed, et al.: antibacterial and wound healing assessment of agnps 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 49-55 in recent studies to possess superior intrinsic antimicrobial and wound-healing properties while exhibiting minimal toxicity.[8,9] this study investigates the combined antibacterial and wound-healing effects of agnps synthesized from pistacia khinjuk gum extract on wistar albino rats complicated with klebsiella variicola infection. cream formulations with optimal qualities were created for conducting in vitro and in vivo antibacterial and wound healing tests. methodology and experimental design isolation and identification of k. variicola a total of 157 clinical samples were collected in different hospitals in erbil city-iraq in the summer of 2022. specimens were inoculated on blood agar and macconkey agar and incubated at 37°c for 24 h. gram-negative bacteria were identified by studying molecular identification using polymerase chain reaction (pcr) (16s rrna) gene and sequencing. a web-based submission tool (https://submit. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) to assist with the submission procedure was utilized. each sequence has been submitted to genbank and accession numbers for isolates were generated. then, an antimicrobial sensitivity test was used to assess the sensitivity of isolated bacteria against 19 antimicrobials. plant extract preparation fresh p. khinjuk gum was bought from local markets in halabja city-kurdistan region-iraq and verified the p. khinjuk category in the college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq. to dissolve p. khinjuk gum, dimethyl sulfoxide (dmso) was used as an organic solvent. one gram of p. khinjuk gum was added to 100 ml of dmso, then the solution was sonicated for 1 h at 60°c, and the extract was collected and stored at 4°c for further experiments.[6,10] biosynthesis of agnps for the production of agnps, 100 ml of p. khinjuk gum extracts were added dropwise to 400 ml of 1 mm of silver nitrate (agno3) solutions under stirring. the obtained solutions were stirred for 2 h at 1000 rpm and at 5°c. the ph of solutions was controlled between 8 and 10 by adding sodium hydroxide (naoh). the solution was incubated for 72 h at 37°c. for preparation powder of nps, the solution was boiled to evaporation of the solvents, then, put in the oven for 2 h at 200°c for full drying and sterilization.[10-12] characterization of agnps characterization of agnps was screened by double-beam ultraviolet (uv)-visible spectrophotometer for confirming the formation of agnps and fourier-transmission infrared spectroscopy (ftir) analysis was conducted to identify the potential functional groups in the biomolecules found in the plant extract. x-ray diffraction (xrd) measurements and the chemical composition of the prepared nps were measured by (energy-dispersive x-ray [edx] spectroscopy) performing in scanning electron microscopy (sem). the sem was used to investigate the agnps’ size and surface shape.[13-15] antibacterial activity of agnps the antibacterial assessment of agnps against mdr k. variicola was detected in vitro by the well diffusion method. a known concentration (0.1%) of 10 mg/ml of agnps was prepared by dissolving 0.05 g of nps in 5 ml ethanol, the solution sonicated for 1 h at 50°c. the suspension (0.5 mcfarland standard 1.5 × 108 colony forming unit/ml) was inoculated on the mueller–hinton agar. plates containing wells of 7 mm diameter were filled with extract of nps. after 24 h of incubation at 37°c, the inhibition zones on the plates were measured in mm.[16] in vivo wound healing activity of agnps animal preparation and burning rats the excision wound healing model was selected to evaluate the wound healing impact of agnps in wistar albino rats (200 ± 10 g). two rats were housed in an individual cage measuring 40 × 25 × 20 cm. standard care conditions, including a 12-h light-dark photoperiod, temperature control set at 24 ± 2°c, and continuous access to food and water, were consistently maintained. the experimental protocol adhered to ethical guidelines for animal experimentation outlined in directive 2010/63/eu and was approved by the ethics committee.[6,17-19] initially, 8 rats (n = 2) were anesthetized using a combination of 2% xylazine and 10% ketamine (10 + 90 mg/kg body weight) administered intramuscularly. subsequently, professional hair clippers were used to remove the hair. burn wounds of a specific thickness were created by applying heat to a solid stainless steel bar [figure 1a] on specified sections of the animal’s dorsal proximal region for a duration of 5 s [figure 1b].[20,21] to demonstrate the inhibitory effects of the synthesized agnps on antimicrobial and wound healing activity, the burned rats were infected with activated pure cultures of k. variicola. the activated culture was applied to the wounds of each burned rat [figure 1c] and allowed to grow for 24 h.[6,21,22] creams formulation and treatment of wounds the nanoparticle-based cream was prepared in a concentration of (1% w/w) by dissolving 0.05 g of agnps 2 ml dmso, then, 5 g of pure vaseline wax was added, and heated on the magnetic stirrer hot plate with gentle stirring at 500 rpm for 1 h to liquidity the vaseline and mixing vaseline with nps, and also to eliminate the dmso from the mixture; then, the mixture was cooled to room temperature while being stirring to produce a homogeneous cream, which was then sterilized in an autoclave typically 15 min. the sterilized cream was, then, cooled with continuous stirring.[21,23] the burned rats were randomly divided into four major groups; test group treated with nps cream, positive control (pure vaseline wax), negative control (no treatment), and standard group (fusidin 2%) (n = 2). following 24 h of infection, treatment started, the wound area being swabbed by mentioned creams in a single dose during 24 h [figure 2].[21,24] healing times were recorded daily until complete wound closure. oral acute toxicity/single-dose toxicity study to evaluate the toxicity of each nanoparticle in a living system, female wistar albino rats (weighing 200 ± 10 g) were chosen ahmed, et al.: antibacterial and wound healing assessment of agnps 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 49-55 for an acute oral toxicity test. the test followed as outlined in the oecd test guidelines 425 (oecd, 2008). the rats underwent a 1-week acclimatization period and were fasted overnight before the dosing.[25] the required quantity of the agnps (mg/kg) relative to body weight was dissolved in ethanol. subsequently, corn oil was added as a vehicle, and the mixture was gently heated with stirring to achieve homogenization and evaporation of the ethanol [table 1].[21] depending on (oecd 425–27), four rats were weighed, and the limited test dose (2000–5000 mg/kg) relative to body weight was administered orally either in a single dosage or twice within a 24 h period by gavage through a stomach tube for each nanoparticle. following dose administration, the animals were individually monitored periodically within the first 24 h and daily for the next 14 days. throughout the study, additional observations were conducted on each rat, comparing their condition to the control group, including behavioral alterations and modifications to the eyes, skin, and fur.[26] on the 15th day, the rats were anesthetized with a combination of xylazine 2% and ketamine 10%, sacrificed, and exterior surface and abdominal organs macroscopically investigated.[26,27] results in the present study, k. variicola was identified and recorded for 1st time in iraq depending on the molecular study (pcr) using 16s rrna, sequencing and submitted to ncbi, and the accession number was acquired (oq380694). however, the antimicrobial susceptibility test showed that out of 19 tested antimicrobials, k. variicola was 100% resistant to 12 antimicrobials. biosynthesis of agnps biological active agnps were successfully produced using p. khinjuk gum. color change observed during the initial stages of the process and synthesis of nps was confirmed, and the color of agno3 and p. khinjuk gum changed from colorless to dark brown [figure 3]. characterization of agnps the generation of nps was examined using a uv-visible spectrophotometer. a strong plasmon absorbance band was observed at 441 nm and confirmed the presence of agnps [figure 4a]. the ftir spectra revealed the stabilization of agnps by p. khinjuk gum, which showed characteristic metal nps bands at 617.22, 835.18, 1107.14, 1384.89, 2924.09, and 3452.58 [figure 4b]. the band ta 617.22 is due to c-br figure 1: appearance of different wounds b ca figure 2: treatment of burned rats ahmed, et al.: antibacterial and wound healing assessment of agnps 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 49-55 stretching of the halo compound. at 835.18, absorption band revealed the existence of c = c bending of the alkene. the presence of c-n stretching (amine) and s = o stretching (sulfate) was confirmed by peaks at 1107.14 and 1384.89, respectively. the existence of c-h stretching functional group of alkenes was confirmed by the peak at 2924.09. the presence of o-h stretching of alcohol was revealed by the absorption band at 3452.58. xrd analysis of agnps exhibited six diffraction peaks at 28.805, 37.675, 43.949, 46.981, 54.472, and 64.098 represents to reflections of (100), (111), (020), (211), (220), and (311) of face-centered cubic silver [figure 4c]. the edx spectroscopy of agnps [figure 4d] illustrated the existence of notable absorption peaks at 2 kev, signifying the creation of metallic agnps with a crystalline structure. the form and size of agnps were examined using sem, revealing a regular and spherical morphology [figure 4e].figure 3: visual observation of the color change of silver nanoparticles figure 4: characterization of silver nanoparticles from pistacia khinjuk gum ba c d e ahmed, et al.: antibacterial and wound healing assessment of agnps 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 49-55 table 1: dose preparation and administration conc. mg/kg ethanol (ml) vehicle (ml) no. of doses in 24 h no. of used rat lethality 2000 2 3 1 1 no 3000 2 3 1 1 no 4000 4 5 2 1 no 5000 4 5 2 1 no figure 5: wound healing on different days with nanoparticles, positive control, standard control, and negative control in vitro and in vivo antimicrobial and wound healing activity of agnps the antibacterial activity of agnps at a concentration of 0.1% was investigated against k. variicola. the result displayed the inhibition zone with 11 mm. furthermore, healing times were recorded daily until complete wound closure and were varied among the treatment groups. wounds treated with nanoparticle creams were notably revealed shorter healing time (11 days) compared to standard group treatment (16 days), positive control (20 days), and non-treated group (32 days), as displayed in [table 2 and figure 5]. in vivo toxicological study (acute oral toxicity) throughout the experimental period, no fatalities were reported, and the rats did not exhibit any substantial indications of toxicity. these observations suggest that the tested nps can be characterized as possibly nontoxic. at the end of the study, the rats were sacrificed after being anesthetized. the abdominal organs were tested macroscopically to evaluate any potential changes associated with toxicological effects. importantly, no notable differences were detected between the test groups and control group, indicating the absence of toxicological concerns related to the administration of agnps. this robust evaluation supports the safety profile of the nps, reinforcing their potential for further biomedical applications. discussion results of nanoparticles demonstrated that agnps may suppress mdr bacterial growth. various proposed mechanisms suggest how nps can influence rates of bacterial survival. the nps penetrate bacterial cells; moreover, silver metal or ions trigger the production of free radicals ahmed, et al.: antibacterial and wound healing assessment of agnps 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 49-55 and reactive oxygen species, which can harm dna and denature proteins, ultimately resulting in bacterial death.[16] the findings reveal how nanoparticle-based creams may improve wound healing in complex k. variicola infections. nps lowered healing times compared to controls. similar findings were obtained by el-banna et al.,[28] the study found that nanoparticle-treated groups healed faster than nontreated groups. each nanoparticle’s size, composition, and wound environment interactions affect healing timeframes. nps may speed healing with antibacterial and regenerative characteristics.[1] nps kill bacteria and regenerate skin. agnps are highly efficient. their unique qualities prevent wound infections and speed tissue healing compared to topical therapies.[28] scientific studies have demonstrated that the p. khinjuk gum extract-mediated agnps had potent antibacterial properties and the capacity to promote wound healing.[10,16] the study assessed the capacity of plant extract-derived agnps to promote wound healing in wistar albino rats, demonstrating accelerated re-epithelialization compared to conventional medication.[6] green synthesis of antibacterial metal nps using plant extracts as reducing and stabilizing agents is possible. current pharmacology and toxicology need new effective, non-toxic antibacterial treatments for infectious disorders caused by diverse bacterial strains, especially mdr in clinical settings.[29] the k. variicola, a new gram-negative bacteria found in iraq in gunshot wounds, is a novel observation with significance for clinical care and microbiology. similar to the present study, nakamura-silva et al.[30] reported the first case in brazil infected by k. variicola. conclusion the present study has taken forward to biosynthesis of agnps using p. khinjuk gum. the investigation evaluated their in vitro antimicrobial properties and in vivo excision wound healing activities on wistar rat models. the results indicated that agnps effectively impede the growth of mdr k. variicola. this study highlighted the combined benefits of nps as a safe, economical, and promising choice for applying to promote efficient wound healing. furthermore, the nps demonstrated the ability to heal excision wounds in a timeframe of 11 days. in addition, the present study represents a substantial challenge in developing novel nps for antibacterial drugs and wound creams, offering improved alternative applications. it contributes to an enhanced understanding of the biological impacts induced by these valuable metals, paving the way for a new paradigm in medical research. references 1. a. pormohammad, n. k. monych, s. ghosh, d. l. turner and r. j. turner. nanomaterials in wound healing and infection control. antibiotics, vol. 10, no. 5, p. 473, 2021. 2. a. shariati, s. m. hosseini, z. chegini, a. seifalian and m. r. arabestani. graphene-based materials for inhibition of wound infection and accelerating wound healing. biomedicine and pharmacotherapy, vol. 158, p. 114184, 2023. 3. b. nițescu, d. pițigoi, d. tălăpan, m. nițescu, s. ș. aramă, b. pavel, a. streinu-cercel, a. rafila and v. aramă. etiology and multi-drug resistant profile of bacterial infections in severe burn patients, romania 2018-2022. medicina, vol. 59, no. 6, p. 1143, 2023. 4. a. a. al-naqshbandi, h. a. hassan, m. a. chawsheen and h. h. a. qader. categorization of bacterial pathogens present in infected wounds and their antibiotic resistance profile recovered from patients attending rizgary hospital-erbil. aro-the scientific journal of koya university, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 64-70, 2021. 5. m. a. khalil, g. m. el maghraby, f. i. sonbol, n. g. allam, p. s. ateya and s. s. ali, enhanced efficacy of some antibiotics in presence of 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kantipudi, j. r. sunkara, m. rallabhandi, c. v. thonangi, r. d. cholla, p. kollu, m. k. parvathaneni and s. v. n. pammi. enhanced wound healing activity of ag-zno composite nps in wistar albino rats. iet nanobiotechnology, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 473-478, 2018. 24. d. dwivedi, m. dwivedi, s. malviya and v. singh. evaluation of wound healing, anti-microbial and antioxidant potential of pongamia pinnata in wistar rats. journal of traditional and complementary medicine, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 79-85, 2017. 25. b. olela, j. mbaria, t. wachira and g. moriasi. acute oral toxicity and anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of aqueous and methanolic stem bark extracts of piliostigma thonningii (schumach.). evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine, vol. 2020, p. 5651390, 2020. 26. m. h. zarei, z. lorigooini, h. a. khoei and e. bijad. acute oral toxicity assessment of galbanic acid in albino rat according to oecd 425 tg. toxicology reports, vol. 11, pp. 111-115, 2023. 27. h. wati, r. muthia, k. kartini and f. setiawan. acute toxicity study of the ethanolic extract of eleutherine bulbosa urb in wistar rats. pharmacy education, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 143-147, 2021. 28. a. h. el-banna, f. s. youssef, h. y. elzorba, a. m. soliman, g. g. mohamed, s. h. ismail, m. r. mousa, h. a. elbanna and a. s. osman. evaluation of the wound healing effect of neomycinsilver nano-composite gel in rats. international journal of immunopathology and pharmacology, vol. 36. https://doi. org/10.1177/03946320221113486 29. c. e. escárcega-gonzález, j. a. garza-cervantes, a. vazquezrodríguez, l. z. montelongo-peralta, m. t. treviño-gonzalez, e. díaz barriga-castro, e. m. saucedo-salazar, r. m. chávez morales, d. i. regalado-soto, f. m. treviño-gonzález, j. l. carrazco rosales, r. villalobos cruz and j. r. morones-ramirez. in vivo antimicrobial activity of silver nanoparticles produced via a green chemistry synthesis using acacia rigidula as a reducing and capping agent. international journal of nanomedicine, vol. 13, pp. 2349-2363, 2018. 30. r. nakamura-silva, l. m. d. macedo, l. cerdeira, m. oliveirasilva, y. t. c. silva-sousa and a. pitondo-silva. first report of hypermucoviscous klebsiella variicola subsp. variicola causing primary endodontic infection. clinical microbiology and infection, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 303-304, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 132 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 132-139 research article adverse effects of excessive use of some beverages on male albino rats youns s. mustafa, saman m. abdulkareem, treefa f. ismail department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract beverages are non-alcoholic drinks designed to induce stimulation by the addition of active compounds, particularly high levels of caffeine. they are currently promoted as agents that boost energy (both mental and physical capabilities), this study aims to assess the side effects of energy drinks, such as red bull and red strong, on numerous physiological parameters and histological characteristics of the liver and kidney in male albino rats. fifteen rats were allotted into three groups: group (1) consumed distilled water as the control group, group (2) drank red strong energy, and group (3) drank red bull energy, administered orally by gavage once a day for 8 weeks, with each group receiving 2.0 ml/100 g of body weight in the energy drink. the outcome shows that the body weight gain increased significantly induced in high long-term energy drinking groups and elevated the liver function enzymes, including alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, total serum bilirubin, and alkaline phosphatase. furthermore, it adversely affects renal function through increased urea, creatinine, uric acid, and decreased glomerular filtration rates. furthermore, adverse influences on reproduction organs by a decline in testosterone and sperm properties. histological studies showed alteration structure in energy-drinking groups such as degenerative kidney tubules, hemorrhage, shrinkage of the glomerulus and the dilated sinusoid, degenerative hepatocyte, and inflammation in the liver. the presented study showed that the high consumption of beverages (red strong and red bull) have adverse effects on the liver and kidneys of male albino rats. keywords: energy drinking, red strong, red bull, caffeine, liver enzyme introduction beverages are alcohol-free drinking, which primarily consists of significant amounts of caffeine and other chemical compounds.[1] in addition, there seems to be a substantial increase in energy drink usage among young adults and athletes in recent years. however, there are worries over the potential health hazards that may arise from excessive usage.[2] the beverages enhance mental performance[3] by encouraging wakefulness, helping people stay alert, improving their mood, reducing sleepiness and fatigue, and improving driving performance.[4] grocery stores and online platforms present an extensive selection of over 50 distinct brands of energy drinks. moreover, their compositions are significantly different.[5] the fundamental characteristics of all these beverages are the high content of caffeine and compounds, depending on the particular brand.[6] research indicates that for most consumers, between 15 and 30 years old, over 40% have reported a daily consumption of more than two cans.[7] stimulant drinks frequently contain caffeine, l-carnitine, taurine, d-glucuronolactone, guarana, and vitamin b complex.[8] reports demonstrated that prolonged and excessive ingesting of energy drinks has harmful impacts on the broad spectrum of bodily organs. they potentially result in the initiation of multi-system organ failure for instance harm to the digestive organs.[9] physiological consequences encompass a range of illnesses including anxiety, diarrhea, dehydration, diuresis, vomiting, and nervousness, as well as more serious results such as rhabdomyolysis and acute renal injury,[10] cardiovascular illnesses such as acute mania, tachycardia, bronchodilation elevated blood pressure, ventricular fibrillation and stroke,[4] and seizures of the neurological system.[11] gastrointestinal disturbances include stomach acid secretion,[10] diabetes mellitus with future acute pancreatitis, hepatomegaly, and hypertriglyceridemia.[12] furthermore, pregnant women who consume excessive amounts of caffeine are at an increased hazard of experiencing late miscarriages corresponding author: youns s. mustafa, department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: youns.mustafa@su.edu.krd received: august 26, 2024 accepted: november 3, 2024 published: december 10, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp132-139 copyright © 2024 youns s. mustafa, saman m. abdulkareem, treefa f. ismail. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mustafa, et al.: adverse effects of some beverages 133 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 132-139 and stillbirths.[13] energy drinks containing caffeine are advertised as a means to alleviate tiredness and enhance vitality and attentiveness.[14] the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of caffeine-rich energy beverages (red bull and red strong) on several physiological indicators and the histological characteristics of male rats. materials and methods beverages the beverages brands applied in the current study were red strong, a product of karwanchi for soft drinks (iraq-kirkuk), and red bull, a product of rauch trading ag, switzerland (manufactured for red bull gmbh, austria). strong red and red bull purchased from the local market in erbil city. animal feeding and environments fifteen healthy adult male albino rats (rattus norvegicus) average weight of 150 ± 20 g were kept in a special cage in the animal house center. the rats were under special standard conditions, including a temperature and light, respectively, 25 ± 2°c, and a 12-h light/12-h dark cycle. experimental design of animal and blood collection the rats were randomly assigned to three groups, with five in each group. group (1): control group (distiller water), group (2): strong red energy drinking, and group (3): red bull energy drink; the red bull and red strong group were orally administrated with 2.0 ml/100 g body weight of energy drinking for 8 weeks. the doses for all groups were administered orally through gavage once daily. the groups had ad libitum access to tap water. the body weights of rats were recorded (every week) to calculate the body weight gain during the experiment for 8 weeks. the rats received an overnight fast before the day during which the blood sample was collected. then, the blood was drawn by puncturing the heart and collected in non-heparinized tubes for a biochemical test, then centrifuged to prepare serum. biochemical analysis the biochemical parameters included renal function tests (urea, creatinine, uric acid, sodium, potassium, chloride, total serum protein, and glomerular filtration rate) and liver function tests (alanine aminotransferase [alt], aspartate aminotransferase [ast], total serum bilirubin [tsb], and alkaline phosphatase [alp]). the analyses were carried out using the colorimetric method with roche diagnostic kits from germany, applying the auto analyzer biochemistry cobas integra 400 plus (made in switzerland). histopathological analysis the liver and kidney of each dissected animal were extracted and preserved in a 10% neutral buffered formalin solution. the preserved tissue was then processed to create slices, which were stained (hematoxylin and eosin). finally, we applied the light microscope to observation and distinguish histological section. analysis of sperm motility the sperm motility was measured by counting 200 sperm cells per rat in at least 10 sample fields. this was done using a warmed slide (37°c) and a warmed coverslip (37°c) with a microscope that had a heated stage. the magnification used was (400×).[15] sperm count the procedure was performed by applying phosphate buffer saline which involved diluting the sperm suspension with phosphate buffer (1:20). then counted in the wbc position[16] of the neubauer hemocytometer (eight squares). subsequently, the sperm cells were enumerated utilizing a binocular microscope with each square having dimensions of 1 mm2. the resulting count was subsequently multiplied by a factor of 5 × 104 to get the total quantity of spermatozoa per million/epididymis.[15] statistical analysis the data were submitted for statistical evaluation using the statistical package graph pad prism 9. the experiment that was conducted was a one-way analysis of variance and tukey’s test for comparing means between various groups. results were applied comparison of the means and standard error (mean ± standard error [se]) for all groups and measured as statistically significant at p ≤ 0.05. if the value has the same symbols (*) and (*) = non-significant, but different symbols (*) and (#) = significant. results the fluctuation in body weight gain of male albino rats is shown in table 1. according to the current study, the body weight of the red strong group exhibited a considerable increase in comparison to the control group. there were non-significant differences between the participants in the red bull group. furthermore, after being given beverages, the proportion of weight gain increased in both groups. the renal function test findings showed a significant difference between the red strong and red bull groups in the mean ± se of serum urea, creatinine, uric acid, and glomerular filtration rate (gfr) [figure 1]. in particular, urea, creatinine, uric acid, and potassium levels were significantly increased than in the control group, and gfr was reduced considerably. nonetheless, the groups had no significant variation in tsp, sodium, potassium, and chloride serum levels as shown in figure 2. activities of enzymes in the liver are shown in figure 3, which demonstrates the changes in liver function status in the induced groups. it shows that serum alt and alp levels in the red strong group were considerably elevated compared to group 1 but not significantly higher than in the red bull group. the beverage administered group (red strong and red bull) also increased their serum ast levels considerably. nevertheless, there was no significant change in the serum tsb levels across all groups. the influences of beverage and alternation of the reproductive system in rats were shown in figure 4. the mean mustafa, et al.: adverse effects of some beverages 134 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 132-139 concentrations of serum testosterone, total sperm count, and motility significantly declined in groups 2 and 3 compared to the control group. histological findings the general architecture section through the kidney of the control group showed normal glomerulus and kidney tubules [figures 5 and 6]. however, the degenerative kidney tubules, hemorrhage, shrinkage, and degenerative of the glomeruli, huge inflammation between urinary tubules with the absence of urinary space between glomeruli no space in kidney tubules, no urinary space, are observed in the kidney of beverage administered group [figure 7 and 8]. moreover, fibrotic aggregation, with the absence of urinary space between kidney tubules, shrinkage, and degenerative of the glomeruli, is observed in the kidney of the beverage administered group, red bull [figures 9 and 10]. the liver section of the control group rats appeared to have a well-defined central vein, hepatocyte, and sinusoid [figures 11 and 12]. sections of the liver in the red strong groups showed dilated sinusoids, degenerative hepatocytes, strong fibrotic area, and inflammation [figures 13 and 14]. the liver sections of red table 1: (mean±se) effects beverages on body weight in male albino rats group parameters (mean±se) initial weight final weight weight gain weight gain% control 162.80±7.88 301.76±14.38 138.96±8.754* 85.5±4.57 red strong 182.00±7.95 356.70±11.41 174.70±7.70 96.53±4.84 red bull 167.60±4.01 329.30±6.50 161.70±8.10*# 96.87±5.73 the symbols (*) and (#) = significant, se: standard error figure 1: (mean ± standard error) variations in the level of serum urea, creatinine, uric acid, and gfr in the control and beaverage administered group (red strong and red bull). gfr: glomerular filtration rate figure 2: (mean ± standard error) variations in the level of sodium, potassium, chloride, and tsp in the control and beaverage administered group (red strong and red bull). tsp: total serum protein mustafa, et al.: adverse effects of some beverages 135 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 132-139 bull groups illustrated dilated central veins, sinusoids, fat droplets, and inflammations [figures 15 and 16]. discussion beverage is commonly consumed by adolescents and is known for its high caffeine content, which enhances energy levels and mental and physical abilities.[5] the body weight increased in groups of rats that induced energy drinking. the group that consumed the energy-inducing drink had significantly higher levels of glucose and glycogen, according to a study by munteanu et al.[17] showed a substantial rise in the glucose and glycogen levels in the group that had the energy-inducing drink. the increase in body weight is associated with the composition of energy drinks, which are composed of various components.[18] consuming sugar-sweetened beverages has been demonstrated to lead to an increase in body weight and, ultimately, the development of obesity.[19] this would increase the fat storage rate in adipose tissues.[20] the outcomes of the present study illustrated that high caffeine content in beverage has damaging effects on many biochemical parameters, the level of renal function abnormality among induced energy drinking groups by increased urea, creatinine, uric acid, and decreased gfr, this results agree with ugwuja[21] who conducted research on rats and found that drinking energy drinks were linked to significantly higher levels of urea, uric acid and creatinine. the level of caffeine is one of the essential components of all energy drinks.[22] although it has a stimulating impact, it cannot serve as an alone energy source. the symptoms include psychomotor agitation, affective sleeplessness, tachycardia, arrhythmia, elevated arterial blood pressure, and nausea.[23] on the other hand, in the present study, the serum potassium level increased significantly in the consumption of energy drinks. potassium plays a crucial role in maintaining proper heart function, and its deficiency can result in changes to circulatory system function or cardiac abnormalities.[24] figure 4: (mean ± standard) the testosterone level, total sperm count, and motility in the control and beverage administered group (red strong and red bull) figure 3: (mean ± standard) level of tsb, alt, ast, alp in control and beverage administered group (red strong and red bull). tsb: total serum bilirubin, alt: alanine aminotransferase, ast: aspartate aminotransferase, alp: alkaline phosphatase mustafa, et al.: adverse effects of some beverages 136 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 132-139 figure 5: histological analysis of kidney from control group albino rats: control group, g: glomerulus, kt: kidney tubules. (hematoxylineosin stain, 400×) figure 6: histological analysis of kidney from control group albino rats: g: glomerulus, kt: kidney tubules. (hematoxylin-eosin stain 400×) figure 7: histological analysis of kidney from red strong group albino rats: thick black arrow represents degenerative and shrinkage, fine black arrow represents no urinary space. red arrow represents no space in kidney tubules, green arrow represents degenerative of kidney tubules (hematoxylin-eosin stain, 400×) the enzymatic level in hepatic male rats increased by induced high-beverage compared to control groups. these results agree with that illustrated by administering an energy drink orally to rats, resulting in elevated liver enzymes, including alt, ast, and alp, in their blood. this is a dependable indication of liver damage induced by toxic substances.[21,25] it was also demonstrated by mukhiddinovna[7] that consuming energy drinks for 3 months damages the liver and kidneys by altering liver function tests and raising urea, creatinine, and uric acid levels. this change attributes these changes to oxidative stress and free radical production.[26] a 22-year-old lady presented with symptoms of a mild fever, abdomen pain, nausea, and vomiting. upon investigation, it was discovered that she had been ingesting 10 cans of energy drinks per day for 2 weeks, resulting in abnormal liver test results. the laboratory tests revealed significant increases in alt and ast levels, although bilirubin, alp, and ggt levels were within the normal range.[27] the current research investigates the influence of energy beverages on the reproductive system of male rats. among the sperm parameters, sperm concentration and motility mainly exhibited a detrimental response to the consumption of energy drinks a reduction in both sperm count and motility following oral administration.[20] our study conducted with other research showed the gonadal toxic and pro-oxidant qualities of energy drinking, caffeine specifically affects sertoli cells and spermatogonia while causing minimal damage to spermatids, differentiating cells, and mature spermatozoa.[19] the effects may be related to histological problems. nwakanma et al.[20] evidence of genotoxicity was observed in germ cell sloughing and decreased seminiferous tubule size by the presence of degenerative in the seminiferous tubules by alterations and reduction in the number of spermatozoa in the testis. in figure 8: histological analysis of kidney from red strong group albino rats: d: red strong group. star represents inflammation, fine black arrow represents no urinary space, and red arrow represents no space in kidney tubules (hematoxylin-eosin stain, 400×) mustafa, et al.: adverse effects of some beverages 137 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 132-139 figure 10: histological analysis of kidney from red bull group albino rats: thick black arrow represents degenerative and shrinkage, red arrow represents no space in kidney tubules, green arrow represents degenerative of kidney tubules (hematoxylin-eosin stain,400×) figure 9: histological analysis of kidney from red bull group albino rats: blue arrow represents fibrotic area. (hematoxylin -eosin stain,100×) figure 12: histological analysis of liver from control group albino rats: c: central vein, h: hepatocyte, s: sinusoid. (hematoxylin-eosin stain,400×) figure 11: histological analysis of liver from control group albino rats: c: central vein, h: hepatocyte, s: sinusoid. (hematoxylin-eosin stain,100×) figure 14: histological analysis of liver from red strong group albino rats: red strong group star represents inflammation, orang arrow represents dilation (hematoxylin-eosin stain,400×) figure 13: histological analysis of liver from red strong group albino rats: the blue arrow represents the fibrotic area. (hematoxylineosin stain,100×) mustafa, et al.: adverse effects of some beverages 138 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 132-139 addition, caffeine also induces testicular atrophy by reducing leydig cell-mediated testosterone synthesis, resulting in decreased testicular weight and size.[28] they increase the concentration of oxidative stress such as lipid peroxides in the testis of male rats who are given energy for 7 weeks.[29] the histological study showed abnormal kidney structure due to high consumption of beverages, such as degenerative kidney tubules, hemorrhage, shrinkage of the glomerulus, and no space in kidney tubules. the study of mazzali et al.[30] illustrated that renal function was mildly decreased by mild tubulointerstitial injury along with monocyte infiltration in hyperuricemic rats with mild vascular disease involving the pre-glomerular arteriole. a case report documents the occurrence of acute tubular necrosis in the kidneys of a young adolescent following the consumption of energy drinks, which resulted in an elevation of creatinine levels.[31] degeneration and hemorrhage of the kidney by caffeine and energy drinking.[32] furthermore, the dilated sinusoid, degenerative hepatocyte, and fat droplet showed in energy-drinking groups. in another study, rats received an energy drink (1.5 ml/kg) for 14 and the observed changes included the infiltration and aggregation of inflammatory cells with hepatocyte necrosis.[33] figure 16: histological analysis of liver from red bull group albino rats: star represents inflammation, orang arrow represents dilation (hematoxylin-eosin stain,400×) figure 15: histological analysis of liver from red bull group albino rats: orang arrow represents dilation (hematoxylin-eosin stain,100×) conclusion long-term beverage or high-concentration consumption interferes negatively with liver and kidney functions and impacts the reproductive systems of male albino rats. the beverage consumption (red strong and red bull) has adverse effects, including increased hepatic enzymes and alteration in renal function. furthermore, interferes negatively with testosterone levels, sperm count, and motility. hence, it causes increased weight gain in induced groups. moreover, histological abnormality architecture or damage was observed in the hepatic and renal male rats. references 1. m. nasi, a. de gaetano, g. carnevale, l. bertoni, v. selleri, g. zanini, a. pisciotta, s. caramaschi, l. reggiani bonetti, a. farinetti, a. cossarizza, m. pinti and manenti a, a. v. mattioli. effects of energy drink acute assumption in gastrointestinal tract of rats. nutrients, vol. 14, no. 9, p. 1928, 2022. 2. a. costantino, a. maiese, j. lazzari, c. casula, e. turillazzi, p. frati and v. fineschi. the dark side of energy drinks: a comprehensive review of their impact on the human body. nutrients, vol. 15, no. 18, p. 3922, 2023. 3. n. bedi, p. dewan and p. gupta. energy drinks: potions of illusion. indian 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adverse effects. jama, vol. 309, no. 3, pp. 243-244, 2013. 9. b. t. zh. effects of energy drinks on the digestive system of humans and animals. international journal of development and public policy, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 23-30, 2022. 10. m. a. mangi, h. rehman, m. rafique and m. illovsky. energy drinks and the risk of cardiovascular disease: a review of current literature. cureus, vol. 9, no. 6, e1322, 2017. 11. f. ali, h. rehman, z. babayan, d. stapleton and d. d. joshi. energy drinks and their adverse health effects: a systematic review of the current evidence. postgraduate medicine, vol. 127, no. 3, pp. 308-322, 2015. 12. a. m. ibrahim, m. ali, b. al-bast, b. bhandari and a. kulkarni. energy drink consumption resulting in severe hypertriglyceridemia, hyperglycemia, and acute pancreatitis. journal of the american college of cardiology, vol. 73, no. 9 supp 1, pp. 2752-2752, 2019. 13. d. c. greenwood, n. alwan, s. boylan, j. e. cade, j. charvill, k. c. chipps, m. s. cooke, v. a. dolby, 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concentration. fertility and sterility, vol. 73, no. 3, pp. 591-594, 2000. 17. c. munteanu, c. rosioru, c. tarba and c. lang. long-term consumption of energy drinks induces biochemical and ultrastructural alterations in the heart muscle. anatolian journal of cardiology, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 326-323, 2018. 18. a. v. mattioli, a. manenti, l. r. bonetti and a. farinetti. energy drinks and obesity: preliminary results from a preclinical study. the anatolian journal of cardiology, vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 422-422, 2018. 19. e. schuchowsky, d. schaefer, r. a. salvador, a. e. do nascimento, d. til, a. p. senn and v. l. l. amaral. effects of energy drinks on biochemical and sperm parameters in wistar rats. nutrire, vol. 42, pp. 22, 2017. 20. a. nwakanma, c. idaguko, s. okafor and f. amanjide. energy drink (fearless) effect on sperm parameters and testicular histology of wistar rats. journal of experimental and clinical anatomy, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 1-7, 2023. 21. e. ugwuja. biochemical effects of energy drinks alone or in combination with alcohol in normal albino rats. advanced pharmaceutical bulletin, vol. 4, no. 1, p. 69-74, 2014. 22. l. m. lópez-gonzález, a. j. sánchez-oliver, f. mata, p. jodra, j. antonio and r. domínguez. acute caffeine supplementation in combat sports: a systematic review. journal of the international society of sports nutrition, vol. 15, no. 1, p. 60, 2018. 23. n. monjotin, m. j. amiot, j. fleurentin, j. m. morel and s. raynal. clinical evidence of the benefits of phytonutrients in human healthcare. nutrients, vol. 14, no. 9, p. 1712, 2022. 24. j. p. higgins, t. d. tuttle and c. l. higgins. energy beverages: content and safety. in: mayo clinic proceedings, vol. 85, no. 11, pp. 1033-1041, 2010. 25. h. m. bukhar, n. a. elsawy and e. a. header. biological effect of high energy drink on normal and hyperglycemic rats. pakistan journal of nutrition, vol. 11, no. 4, p. 301, 2012. 26. w. mansy, d. m. alogaiel, m. hanafi and e. zakaria. effects of chronic consumption of energy drinks on liver and kidney of experimental rats. tropical journal of pharmaceutical research, vol. 16, no. 12, pp. 2849-2856, 2017. 27. a. vivekanandarajah, s. ni and a. waked. acute hepatitis in a woman following excessive ingestion of an energy drink: a case report. journal of medical case reports, vol. 5, p. 227, 2011. 28. m. park, y. choi, h. choi, j. y. yim and j. roh. high doses of caffeine during the peripubertal period in the rat impair the growth and function of the testis. international journal of endocrinology, vol. 2015, no. 1, p. 368-475, 2015. 29. f. s. al-eryani, a. m. kelany, h. a. amin and h. f. shazly. histological and physiological studies on the effects of some energy drinks on male rats. international journal of pharmaceutical research and allied sciences, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 165-176, 2018. 30. m. mazzali, j. hughes, y. g. kim, j. a. jefferson, d. h. kang, k. l. gordon, h. y. lan, s. kivlighn and r. j. johnson. elevated uric acid increases blood pressure in the rat by a novel crystal-independent mechanism. hypertension, vol. 38, no. 5, pp. 1101-1106, 2001. 31. i. schöffl, j. f. kothmann, v. schöffl, h. d. rupprecht and t. rupprecht. vodka energy”: too much for the adolescent nephron? pediatrics, vol. 128, no. 1, pp. e227-e231, 2011. 32. m. t. costa-valle, b. d. tonieto, l. altknecht, c. d. cunha, n. fão, l. v. cestonaro, g, s. c. garcia, m. b. leal, e. dallegrave and m. d. arbo. energy drink and alcohol combination leads to kidney and liver alterations in rats. toxicology and applied pharmacology, vol. 355, pp. 138-146, 2018. 33. l. khayyat, j. sorour, m. al rawi and a. essawy. histological, ultrastructural and physiological studies on the effect of different kinds of energy drinks on the liver of wistar albino rat. journal of american science, vol. 8, no. 8, pp. 688-697, 2012. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 42 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 42-47 research article bisphenol a as a potential modulator of biochemical markers in children with autism spectrum disorder renas n. salih, saman m. abdulkareem department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract autism spectrum disorder (asd) is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by repetitive behaviors, limited interests, and difficulties with social interactions. the purpose of this study was to measure the levels of bisphenol a (bpa), vitamin d, thyroidstimulating hormone (tsh), body mass index (bmi), and some hematological parameters in children with and without asd. for this study, 75 boys between the ages of 3 and 10 years were split into two groups: 40 children with asd (asd group) and 35 children without asd (control group). the results of the present study show that the level of bpa is significantly higher in the asd group, also the mean value of bmi significantly increased in the asd group compared with the control group. regarding the vitamin d and calcium levels, the findings illustrate that vitamin d and calcium significantly decline in the asd group compared to the control group. on the other hand, the variations in the serum tsh, magnesium, and hematological parameters were insignificantly changed, except that the level of white blood cell was significantly elevated in the asd group. bpa is the main factor lowering vitamin d and serum calcium levels, as well as raising inflammatory cells and bmi of autistic children (children with autism). keywords: autism disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bisphenol a, vitamin d deficiency, thyroid-stimulating hormone introduction autism spectrum disorder (asd) is a developmental impairment that manifests as limited interests or repetitive activities, as well as challenges with social interaction or communication.[1] it is acknowledged that asd is a diverse disorder, with individuals exhibiting a wide range of signs and symptoms, varying in intensity, and requiring varying degrees of support.[2] furthermore, intellectual disabilities and epilepsy are two neurodevelopmental conditions that are commonly associated with asd.[3] multiple investigations show that autism-related problems are more common in males than in females. the 4:1 male-to-female ratio is among the most trustworthy findings in asd.[4] according to zhong et al.,[5] pregnant women’s and children with asd’s eating habits may be modifiable factors in the development or exacerbation of autism-related symptoms. in addition, the correlation between advanced maternal age and neurological and behavioral diseases may be influenced by cumulative exposure to environmental pollutants.[6] however, according to a number of studies, children with asd commonly exhibit several nutritional and metabolic irregularities, such as deficiencies in sulfation and methylation, disruptions in glutathione redox balance, elevated oxidative burden, and impairments in mitochondrial activity.[7] numerous researchers have reported the presence of inflammation in the brain and central nervous system (cns), marked by pronounced activation of microglial cells and increased cytokine levels in post-mortem brain samples from both younger and older individuals with asd. broad population-level epidemiological investigations have identified associations between asd and abnormal concentrations of various pro-inflammatory cytokines and immune-related indicators in the bloodstream.[8] furthermore, children with asd have reduced amounts of micronutrients, such as iron, folic acid, magnesium, selenium, vitamin a, vitamin d, and vitamin e.[9] the production of epoxy resins and plastic items, such as toys, food can linings, drinking containers, and medical equipment, among other things, uses bpa, one of the most abundant chemicals in the world.[10] the materials used in a lot of infant bottles and milk containers also contain bisphenol corresponding author: renas n. salih, department of biology, college of education, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: renas.salih@su.edu.krd received: may 17, 2025 accepted: july 7, 2025 published: august 05, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp42-47 copyright © 2025 renas n. salih, saman m. abdulkareem. this is an openaccess article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ salih and abdulkareem: bisphenol a and autism spectrum disorder 43 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 42-47 a (bpa), an ingredient found in food packaging that may leak into the contents and endanger customers’ health. plastic bags, tetra pak wrapping, and infant bottles are examples of typical plastic containers used to store milk or other items that may expose users to bpa.[10] moreover, bpa exhibits multisystem toxicity, affecting various organs, including the reproductive, nervous, hepatic, and renal systems. notably, the cns, particularly during its developmental stages, appears to be highly susceptible to bpa exposure.[11] a significant concern in understanding the etiology of asd is the role of prenatal exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (edcs), such as bpa. bpa can interfere with hormonal signaling during critical periods of brain development. increasing evidence links bpa exposure to neurodevelopmental alterations associated with asd, including disrupted neurotransmission, immune activation, oxidative stress, and epigenetic changes. this highlights the urgent need for public health policies to regulate edcs exposure, particularly during pregnancy, as a potential modifiable risk factor in the prevention of asd.[12,13] the purpose of this study was to determine the levels of bpa, some hematological parameters, vitamin d, thyroid-stimulating hormone (tsh), and some minerals in children with asd. materials and methods study design the study was performed at the gashbin center, a specialized center for children with asd in erbil, kurdistan. children with severe medical conditions or on medications that could affect their blood values were excluded from the study. study participants the present study included 75 male preschoolers and schoolaged children (3–10 years old) divided into two groups. the first group consists of 40 children with asd (asd group), and the second group consists of 35 children without asd (control group). data collection children prospectively assessed eligible cases of asd, and any subsequent cases that met the inclusion criteria were included. on a semi-structured questionnaire, information on the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of the patients and controls was documented. seven milliliters of blood were drawn from a vein by the butterfly venipuncture process, and following 5 ml of blood was used for serum separation for biochemical and hormonal analysis, and 2 ml for hematological study. biochemical and hormonal analysis the analysis of biochemical and hormonal parameters, including calcium, magnesium, tsh, and vitamin d (25-hydroxycholecalciferol), was performed using the cobas integra® 400 plus system (roche diagnostics ltd., rotkreuz, switzerland) using roche diagnostic kits (germany). each subject’s serum bpa levels were assessed using the commercially available elisa kits method (sunlong biotech co., ltd., china) in line with the manufacturer’s protocol. hematological analysis when the blood samples were collected, a hematological analysis was performed immediately. a fully automated swelab alfa plus 3-part hematology analyzer was used to analyze complete blood counts, including total white blood cell count (wbc), lymphocyte count, granulocyte count, total red blood cell count (rbc), hemoglobin (hb), hematocrit (hct), and rbc indices, such as mean corpuscular volume (mcv), corpuscular hb (mch), and mean corpuscular hb concentration (mchc), rbc distribution width (rdw%), platelets count, and mean platelet volume (mpv). statistical analysis graphpad prism (graphpad software version 9, san diego, ca, usa) was used to analyze the data, and the results were presented as mean ± standard error. the shapiro–wilk test was used to determine whether the distribution was normal. every variable under analysis has a normal distribution (p > 0.05). a student t-test, unpaired, was used for statistical analysis to compare the groups of asd and control children. the threshold for statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. results body mass index (bmi) is computed by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters squared (kg/m2).[14] the ranges of bmi categories as underweight, normal, and overweight, for children with asd and the control group are presented in figure 1. the prevalence of underweight was higher in the asd group (34.7%) than in the control group (21.21%), although the mean value of bmi was much higher in the asd group than in the control group. the prevalence percentage of the present study showed that normal weight is higher in the control group (63.64%) than in the asd group (52.1%), but the mean differences between the two groups were not statistically significant. on the other hand, the percentage of overweight people in the control group is slightly greater (15.15%) than in the asd group (13.2%). however, compared to the control group, the asd group’s mean was significantly increased. the fluctuation in bpa is shown in figure 2. the present results illustrated that the serum bpa concentration figure 1: percentage and mean variation of body mass index comparison between autism spectrum disorder and control groups salih and abdulkareem: bisphenol a and autism spectrum disorder 44 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 42-47 of children with asd was significantly greater than that of the control group (19.82 ± 1.313 ng/ml and 14.26 ± 1.58 ng/ml, respectively). furthermore, present findings demonstrated that the vitamin d level in the asd group was substantially lower than the control group. in particular, the mean vitamin d concentration in the asd group was 18.91 ± 1.01 ng/ml, while the mean in the control group was 23.07 ± 0.54 ng/ml [figure 3]. in addition, the present study demonstrated that both groups’ calcium levels varied, which showed the asd group having a substantially lower level (9.35 ± 0.11 mg/ml) than the control group (9.88 ± 0.15 mg/ml), as seen in figure 3. according to the findings of this study, the tsh level was insignificantly reduced in the asd group (2.36 ± 0.11 miu/ ml) than in the control group (2.61 ± 0.11 miu/ml), as shown in figure 4. furthermore, the findings in figure 4 demonstrated that the magnesium levels in the asd group were not significantly different from those in the control group (2.08 ± 0.031 miu/ml vs. 2.09 ± 0.051 miu/ml). the wbc count was significantly higher in the asd group (9.54 ± 0.53 × 109/l) compared to the control group (7.34 ± 0.33 × 109/l, p = 0.0013). the hct percentage was also significantly elevated in the asd group (37.13 ± 0.49%) compared to the control group (35.44 ± 0.35%). furthermore, the mchc was significantly lower in asd children (34.37 ± 0.19 g/dl) than in the control group (35.71 ± 0.18 g/dl). a significant reduction was also observed in rdw% values in the asd group (13.09 ± 0.16%) compared to the control group (13.87 ± 0.16%), suggesting lower variability in rbc size. in addition, the mpv was significantly higher in asd children (9.35 ± 0.17 fl) than in controls (7.91 ± 0.12 fl, p < 0.0001). the other hematological parameters of the two groups did not show any significant changes. discussion asd is appearing as one of the most rapidly increasing neurodevelopmental conditions globally; however, its medical management continues to encounter difficulties because of the diversity in underlying causes and variations in symptom presentation.[15] the present study illustrated that the mean of bmi significantly increases in the asd group. the results parallel with the study of sedgewick et al.,[16] who demonstrated that children with autism exhibited a higher mean bmi compared to their non-autistic children, potentially related to reduced physical activity, increased energy consumption, and a tendency toward nutrient-poor food choices. numerous obesity-related risk factors in children with asd are particularly related to today’s environment that promotes weight gain. the use of psychiatric medications, genetic predispositions, sleep disturbances, irregular dietary habits, and difficulties in maintaining adequate physical exercise may be distinctively linked to the onset of obesity in autistic children.[14] the obtained results showed that, in comparison with the control group, the children with asd had noticeably higher serum bpa concentrations. the results agree with the study of symeonides et al.,[17] which showed that prenatal figure 2: level of serum bisphenol a in autism spectrum disorder and control groups (mean ± standard error) figure 3: level of serum vitamin d and serum calcium in autism spectrum disorder and control groups (mean ± standard error) figure 4: level of serum thyroid-stimulating hormone and serum magnesium in autism spectrum disorder and control groups (mean ± standard error) bpa exposure is linked to male asd-related behaviors, brain abnormalities, and reduced brain aromatase activity, and another study believed that bpa disrupts neural cell growth, movement, and specialization during brain maturation. it also affects the formation and function of synapses within the brain. as a result, bpa has been associated with the emergence of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions, such salih and abdulkareem: bisphenol a and autism spectrum disorder 45 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 42-47 as asd, attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorders (adhd), and schizophrenia.[18] furthermore, bpa disrupts the usual functioning of the brain, metabolic processes, reproduction, and behavior. it also has a role in the development of some neurodevelopmental diseases, such as adhds and asds.[19] early life exposure to edcs, including bpa, has separately been suggested to contribute to the temporal increase in asd prevalence.[17] study of meng et al.[20] shows how exposure to bpa alters the homeostasis of ca2+ and structural integrity of the mitochondria in hippocampus neurons. in addition, environmental bpa exposure blocks autophagic flux, inhibit the autophagic process in injured mitochondria, and negatively impacts hippocampus neurons’ energy consumption through the pink1/parkin mitophagy pathway, all of which lead to abnormal neuronal death. the release of tsh, which regulates the release of thyroid hormones and is controlled by negative feedback.[21] compared to the control group, the tsh level in the asd group was nonsignificantly lower. the present finding agrees with the singh et al.,[22] who report that tsh levels were significantly lower in asd children. tsh production and secretion are extremely susceptible to environmental exposure.[23] metals have been associated with differences in tsh levels in adult studies; however, it is unknown how maternal exposure to metals affects neonatal tsh and subsequent brain development.[24] however, in another study, bpa exposure can alter the level of thyroid hormone. since thyroid hormones are crucial for fetal brain development, and maternal exposure to bpa carries sensitive clinical relevance, prenatal bpa exposure may influence thyroid hormone levels in newborns.[25] the findings of the present study revealed that the asd group’s mean vitamin d level was significantly lower than the control group. the results parallel with the study of mansour et al.[26] demonstrated that lower serum vitamin d levels in children with asd could be one of the environmental variables influencing the development of asd. furthermore, the inquiry of feng et al.[27] found that a vitamin d status and the overall score for behavioral abnormalities and psychiatric symptoms in kids with asd have been linked negatively. these findings indicate that children with asd have a higher bpa rate. according to the study of brandi et al.[28] that showed bpa can raise the excretion of vitamin d3 in the urine, which lowers blood levels. this suggests that disruption of vitamin d3 metabolism may be connected to neurodevelopmental abnormalities caused by bpa. moreover, vitamin d deficiency and abnormally low serotonin levels in the brain are frequently observed in children with asd. neurogenesis is one of the brain processes that serotonin levels are linked to controlling.[29] vitamin d supplementation may still be considered under medical supervision due to the high prevalence of baseline vitamin d deficiency in children with asd, potential effects on asd severity, and the evidence of safety and tolerability of the supplements across all trials.[30] calcium level in the asd group is significantly lower than control group. the study of omotosho et al.[31] showed that children with asd were shown to have hypocalcemia and hypomagnesemia. another study reported that children with asd have far lower calcium levels, most likely as a result of dietary deficiencies and exposure to environmental pollutants, particularly in the early stages of development.[32] in addition, dysregulated calcium homeostasis could be the cause of the decreased serum calcium. asd is associated with mutations in a number of voltage-gated and ligand-gated ion channels that control calcium homeostasis, which may lead to an increase in cytosolic calcium concentration and a decrease in extracellular fluid calcium concentration.[33] furthermore, low plasma ca2+ and high brain ca2+ in autistic children can easily result in oxidative stress because elevated intracellular ca2+ stimulates mitochondrial oxygen radicals.[32] according to the present study, the asd group had no significantly lower magnesium level than the control group. other studies found that magnesium is essential for the conversion of thiamine into thiamine pyrophosphate, whose absence in gastric juice is linked to autism.[32] the findings of the present study show that children with asd frequently have iron deficiency, hypomagnesemia, and hypocalcemia. while intracellular concentrations of magnesium did not change significantly, a different investigation found that children with asd had significantly lower plasma levels.[34] however, the results of the present study in table 1 showed that the asd group had significantly higher wbc levels than the control group, which may be connected to a high inflammatory state in children with asd. furthermore, arteaga-henríquez et al.[35] found that in comparison to controls, asd was characterized by a significantly higher wbc count as well as substantially greater amounts of neutrophils and monocytes. immune system dysfunction is frequently associated with this inflamed disorder. it has been established that bpa negatively impacts biological systems.[36] bpa in the bloodstream is thought to have the potential to cause cytotoxic reactions in blood components by increasing wbc and especially monocytes.[37] other hematological parameters did not show significant changes between the two groups. whereas, in the gunes et al.[38] study demonstrated that hb, hct, iron, and mcv levels of children with asd were lower than healthy controls. table 1: some hematological parameters for asd children and the control group (mean±standard error) parameter asd control p-value wbc (109/l) 9.54±0.53 7.34±0.33 0.0013 lymphocyte (109/l) 3.65±0.17 3.23±0.13 0.0587 granulocyte (109/l) 4.93±0.32 4.45±0.31 0.3172 rbc (1012/l) 4.76±0.07 4.63±0.05 0.1272 hgb (g/dl) 12.75±0.16 12.64±0.14 0.6593 hct (%) 37.13±0.49 35.44±0.35 0.0113 mean corpuscular volume (fl) 78.22±0.95 76.46±0.91 0.1576 mch (pg) 26.91±0.37 27.33±0.36 0.1797 mchc (g/dl) 34.37±0.19 35.71±0.18 <0.0001 rbc distribution width (%) 13.09±0.16 13.87±0.16 0.0044 platelet count (109/l) 336.15±10.44 324.82±9.69 0.4215 mpv (fl) 9.35±0.17 7.91±0.12 <0.0001 wbc: white blood cell, rbc: red blood cell, hgb: hemoglobin, hct: hematocrit, mch: mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mchc: mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, mpv: mean platelet volume salih and abdulkareem: bisphenol a and autism spectrum disorder 46 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 42-47 conclusion bisphenol a is a widely used organic compound that is considered a common pollutant due to its presence in plastic manufacturing. the production of bpa has been steadily increasing on a global scale. exposure to bpa has been linked to various health issues, including vitamin d deficiency, hypocalcemia, and elevated inflammatory cells, particularly in individuals with autism. in addition, individuals with autism tend to have a higher bmi. references 1. k. a. shaw, s. 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neuronal energy metabolism dysfunction and apoptosis mediated by pink1/parkin mitophagy pathway in juvenile rats. science of the total environment, vol. 929, p. 172655, 2024. 21. s. j. k. abad, g. k. chir, p. heydari, a. fazilat, f. m. moghadam and m. valilo. hormonal disorders in autism spectrum disorders. hormone molecular biology and clinical investigation, vol. 46, pp. 57-66, 2025. 22. s. singh, u. yazdani, b. gadad, s. zaman, l. s. hynan, n. roatch, c. schutte, c. n. marti, l. hewitson and d. c. german. serum thyroid-stimulating hormone and interleukin-8 levels in boys with autism spectrum disorder. journal of neuroinflammation, vol. 14, p. 113, 2017. 23. m. babić leko, i. gunjača, n. pleić and t. zemunik. environmental factors affecting thyroid-stimulating hormone and thyroid hormone levels. international journal of molecular sciences, vol. 22, no. 12, p. 6521, 2021. 24. l. yu, h. zhang, j. liu, s. cao, s. li, f. li, w. xia, s. xu and y. li. thyroid-stimulating hormone (tsh) mediates the associations between maternal metals and neurodevelopment in children: a prospective cohort study. environmental pollution, vol. 363, p. 125150, 2024. 25. m. j. kim and y. j. park. bisphenols and thyroid hormone. endocrinology and metabolism, vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 340-348, 2019. 26. a. mansour, a. amer, a. sobh, m. zaki and t. abou-elsaad. vitamin d profile in autism spectrum disorder children and its relation to the disease severity. the egyptian journal of otolaryngology, vol. 40, no. 1, p. 7, 2024. 27. j. feng, l. shan, l. du, b. wang, h. li, w. wang, t. wang, h. dong, x. yue, z. xu, w. g. staal and f. jia. clinical improvement following vitamin d3 supplementation in autism spectrum salih and abdulkareem: bisphenol a and autism spectrum disorder 47 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 42-47 disorder. nutritional neuroscience, vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 284-290, 2017. 28. m. brandi, s. bandinelli, t. iantomasi, f. giusti, e. talluri, g. sini, f. nannipieri, s. battaglia, r. giusti, c. g. egan and l. ferrucci. association between vitamin d and bisphenol a levels in an elderly italian population: results from the inchianti study. endocrine connections, vol. 11, no. 3, p. e210571, 2022. 29. m. j. berridge. vitamin d deficiency: infertility and neurodevelopmental diseases (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, and schizophrenia). american journal of physiology cell physiology, vol. 314, no. 2, pp. c135-c151, 2018. 30. m. kittana, a. ahmadani, l. stojanovska and a. attlee. the role of vitamin d supplementation in children with autism spectrum disorder: a narrative review. nutrients, vol. 14, no. 1, p. 26, 2021. 31. i. o. omotosho, a. o. akinade and i. a. lagunju. calcium and magnesium levels are down regulated in nigerian children with autism spectrum disorder and cerebral palsy. neuroscience and medicine, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 159-170, 2018. 32. s. shahjadi, a. s. khan, m. u. ahmed, m. karim, s. parvin, u. r. siddiqi, s. afroz and s. n. mahruba. study on serum magnesium, calcium and iron in autism spectrum disorder (asd) children. journal of dhaka medical college, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 199-204, 2020. 33. s. afroz, u. r. siddiqi, n. mahruba, s. shahjadi and s. begum. serum calcium and phosphate in children with autism spectrum disorder. journal of bangladesh society of physiologist, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 72-77, 2020. 34. j. baj, w. flieger, m. flieger, a. forma, e. sitarz, k. skórzyńskadziduszko, c. grochowski, r. maciejewski and h. karakułajuchnowicz. autism spectrum disorder: trace elements imbalances and the pathogenesis and severity of autistic symptoms. neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews, vol. 129, pp. 117-132, 2021. 35. g. arteaga-henríquez, j. lugo-marín, l. gisbert, i. setién-ramos, m. martínez-gallo, r. pujol-borrell and j. a. ramos-quiroga. activation of the monocyte/macrophage system and abnormal blood levels of lymphocyte subpopulations in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: a 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article computations of the effects of flat and sloped steps of stepped spillways types on the size of stilling basin using computational fluid dynamic pshtiwan o. zaid, abdulla a. abo department of water resources engineering, college of engineering, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq abstract the objective of this study was to assess the impact of stepped spillways on the dimensions of stilling basins. this goal can be reached by using the computational fluid dynamics code fluent, which works with the ansys software. the experiment’s results were used to test the code. the results from the code were identical to what the first results of the experiment showed. then, the code was used on 45 different stepped spillways, each with three different step numbers: 20, 30, and 40 steps. then, the code was used on each of the spillways. there are three different step slopes in this area: 0°, 6°, and 12°. there were five different flows: 0.16, 0.32, 0.48, 0.64, and 0.8 m3/s. the study found that stepped spillways with sloped steps needed a stilling basin that was 16% shorter. this was in contrast to stepped spillways featuring level steps. keywords: flat steps, sloped steps, stepped spillway, stilling basin, ansys-fluent, computational fluid dynamics introduction a dam’s spillway is an important part of managing and releasing floodwaters, making sure that extra water can safely flow through during times of heavy rain. however, spillways often have problems, such as cavitation and high kinetic energy because of the strong flow discharge.[1] aeration devices are often put on the bottom and sides of the spillway to bring air close to the surface and lower the risk of cavitation erosion.[2] the supercritical flow conditions and high speeds make the erosive potential even worse, so effective energy dissipation mechanisms are needed to protect riverbeds and foundation structures downstream. stepped spillways have become a promising way to improve energy dissipation. these spillways break up the flow into smaller steps, which lowers river speeds, lowers kinetic energy, and raises air entrainment rates. this makes cavitation less likely.[3] researchers like obaid et al.,[4] have done experimental studies to find out what the limits are for stepped spillways. they looked at how different downstream slope angles (25°, 35°, and 45°) and step configurations (flat, pooling, porous end sills, and gabions) affect the flow. their findings underscore the substantial impact of end sills on flow regimes, especially in prolonging the transition flow regime and enhancing stability. recent improvements in computational fluid dynamics (cfds) have made it possible to do detailed numerical studies of how well spillways work. for example, zaid et al.,[5] used ansysfluent to look at how well an ogee spillway with a buckettype energy dissipater worked hydraulically. the numerical and theoretical results were very similar. their research highlighted the dependability of cfd in modeling intricate flow dynamics, encompassing water surface profiles, velocity distributions, and pressure metrics. in the same way, mamand and zaid[6] used ansys-fluent to check the flow over a rectangular sharpcrested weir by comparing experimental and numerical results. their research underscored the precision of the renormalization group (rng) k-epsilon turbulence model in forecasting flow characteristics, exhibiting negligible error margins. this research seeks to numerically examine the effects of step heights and slopes on skimming flow characteristics, with a focus on energy dissipation, building upon previous studies. we will use ansys-fluent to look at forty-five different configurations with the same chute slopes but different flow conditions. the results will help improve stepped spillway designs by making them more efficient at dissipating energy and keeping the flow stable. corresponding author: pshtiwan o. zaid, department of water resources engineering, college of engineering, salahaddin university-erbil, iraq. e-mail: pshtiwan.zaid@su.edu.krd received: january 09, 2025 accepted: july 12, 2025 published: september 10, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp56-60 copyright © 2025 pshtiwan o. zaid, abdulla a. abo. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) zaid and abo: cfd analysis of stepped spillway effects on stilling basin size 57 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 56-60 methodology using the commercial code ansys-fluent, numerical results are compared to the experimental data for the spillway model tested experimentally, with a specific focus paid to alternating skimming flow behavior. different spillway configurations may then be studied using the numerical code. these sections cover the proposed numerical model’s definition and implementation aspects in detail. the mesh was generated using an inflation technique near the wall boundaries to accurately capture the boundary layer (see figure 2). governing equations the rng k–ε° turbulence model closure is used in cooperation with a set of 3d reynolds averaged navier stokes equations in the spillway numerical model and hirt & and nichols’ nichols’ (1981) volume of fluid (vof) technique. the water volume fraction (α) was used to track the free surface interface (see figure 3). for example, the model functions as a k-w model for near-wall vortices, and as a k-e model in the free stream zone (above the pseudo-bottom), where high reynolds number formulation of the model is quite successful. once the mass and momentum conservation equations (eqs.1 and eq. 2) for each phase have been solved, the fluid volume in each domain cell may be estimated to get the free surface. values of alpha (α) are defined by vof, and they range from 1 to 0, which corresponds to cells filled with water or fluid 1 (f1), α value of 1; and cells filled with air air (f2), α value of 0. volume fractions αα may be expressed as αα= 1−αw in each instance, because the volume of the fluid fraction sum of air and water equals one. each time step, the advection equation for a (eq. 3) is used to update α. assuming that each phase is highly viscous;, the vof model does not include air entrainment in its calculations. to get a rough idea of the free-surface location, α = 0.5 is often used. gy∇ =.υ 0 (1) ∂ ∂ + ∇ ( ) = −∇ − ∇ +∇ ∇( ) + ∇( ) ∇ + ρυ ρ µ µρ t uu p g x u u f * . . . . (2) ∂ ∂ + ∂ ∂ = ≤ ≤ α α αw w i w t u x 0 0 1; (3) where x = [x, y, z] is the cartesian coordinates and u is the reynolds-averaged velocity components in the x direction. there are three variables in this equation: time (t), gravity (g), and velocity u( ) . ∇ ∇( ) + ∇( ) ∇. .µ µu u is a decomposition of the shear stress tensor, f is the volumetric surface tension force, and the modified pressure (p*). it is possible to determine in each cell the density using (eq. 4), the dynamic viscosity using (eq. 5), and the turbulent viscosity using (eq. 6), which are all functions of the water volume fraction αwαw . ρ α ρ α ρ= + −w w w a( )1 (4) µ α µ α µ= + −w w w a( )1 (5) µ ρ ε ρ ωµ µt c k c k = = 2 (6) in this equation, k is the kinetic energy of turbulence, ε is the energy dissipation rate of turbulence, and ω = ε/k /ω ε= k is the specific energy dissipation rate. there are specifics to each of the variables’ transport equations based on the model employed for turbulence.[7] boundary conditions, properties, and settings mechanical parameters of water (pw = 998.78 kg/m3) and air (pa = 1.225 kg/m3) are considered in this article, respectively, as density and kinematic viscosity, respectively, of water and air. a surface tension coefficient of 0.072 kg/s² was applied. second-order discretization schemes were adopted for momentum, turbulence kinetic energy, and dissipation rate, as these are important for accurately capturing swirl flows. the pressure velocity was then connected using a simple coupled phase technique. next, we examined hydrostatic pressure for inlet and outflow, where input water velocity on the left side. at the spillway, there was a no-slip and fixed wall, as well as an atmosphere on the top. wall functions were used to avoid fine meshes and conserve computing resources when modeling the boundary layer at the bottom of this study. the inflow water has a depth (h) and velocity (ux) that are used as beginning conditions at t0 our goal was to find a differential in water flow between the input and output that was <1%. the parameters k and ω, volume percent, and mass were also set as criteria (allowing a tolerance of 10−3 for the residual). the compatibility with the courant number may be determined under these circumstances and with the use of a time step variable. a typical cross-section of the stepped spillway used in this study is shown in figure 4. code validation researchers utilize numerical data from their experiments to verify their results and to develop confidence in the correctness of their forecasts. this program requires the geometry, mesh, and processing steps be pre-defined before it can be used. we attempt to verify one model numerically against the quantity of energy dissipation found experimentally by zhang and liu[8] to find the most efficient way to dissipate energy at high discharges, built and tested twelve spillways made of plywood. then, to improve energy dissipation, it was modified using two block configurations and one cascade configuration, resulting in three downstream slopes with stepped faces (27°, 32°, and 40°). our validation use one of these cases to see the accuracy of the numerical model, a model with chute slope 27°, 4 steps, step height 3 cm, step length 5.9 cm, and q = 2.25l/s as shown in figure 1. the experimental results show that the energy dissipation is about 43%. applying energy equations between u/s and d/s of the stepped spillway. e y v go o o= + α 2 2 (7) figure 1: stepped spillway cross-section zaid and abo: cfd analysis of stepped spillway effects on stilling basin size 58 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 56-60 e y v g1 1 1 2 2 = + α (8) ∆ = −e e e e eo o o % ( ) % 1 (9) where: eo = u/s energy (m) e1 = d/s energy (m) vo = velocity at downstream (m/sec) v1 = velocity at upstream of spillway (m/sec) α = kinetic correction coefficient, for turbulent flow, generally equal to 1.1.[9] g = gravity acceleration (m/s2) ∅e e0 % = relative energy dissipation between u/s and d/s. numeric results are as follows: yo = 0.225 m vo = 0.18 m2/s y1 = 0.024 m v1 = 1.4 m2/s eo = 0.2268 m e1 = 0.133 m ∆ = e e0 % . % 41 3 − − = = = 43 41.3 %  3.9% 43 experiment numeric difference experiment the results show a good agreement between the experiment and numeric results. the code can be used for our cases in this study. results and discussion the present study quantitatively examines the impact of step height and step slope on skimming flow characteristics, with a particular emphasis on energy dissipation across forty-five distinct configurations. the setups have three different step heights (11.9 cm, 8.1 cm, and 6.1 cm) and three different step angles (0°, 6°, and 12°). they were all tested with a constant chute slope of 26° and five different discharge rates (0.16–0.8 m²/s). the results, which are shown in table 1, show clear patterns in the relative energy dissipation rate (δe/eo%), which are very important for figuring out how stepped spillways work with water. physical interpretation of flow behavior: the data show that energy loss is very sensitive to the shape of the steps and the rate of discharge. for example, when the step angle is 0°, raising the discharge from 0.16 to 0.8 m²/s lowers energy dissipation by about 23.5% (from 61.5% to 38%) for the 20-step setup. this trend indicates that increased discharges result in diminished relative energy dissipation, presumably attributable to the development of larger air-water interfaces and the redistribution of turbulent kinetic energy. conversely, introducing a step angle (6° or 12°) consistently enhances energy dissipation, with the 12° angle showing the most pronounced effect. for instance, when q = 0.32 m2/s, the dissipation rate goes up from 51.2% (0°) to 60% (12°) for the 20-step setup. this behavior can be explained by the fact that inclined steps cause more flow disruption and vortex generation, which leads to more energy loss. depending on equation -7-9, the numerical results are listed below: the results and the visual data in figures 5-7 show that sloped stepped spillways lose energy at a faster rate than flat figure 2: spillway mesh with inflation technique figure 4: typical cross-section of stepped spillway figure 3: water volume fraction figure 6: discharge and relative energy dissipation relations for 30 steps figure 5: discharge and relative energy dissipation relations for 20 steps zaid and abo: cfd analysis of stepped spillway effects on stilling basin size 59 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 56-60 table 1: relative energy dissipation rate for all configurations steps step angle(α) step height (m) step length (m) chute angle (ɵ) q (m2/s) ∆e/e0% 20 0 0.119 0.25 26 0.16 61.5 20 0 0.119 0.25 26 0.32 51.2 20 0 0.119 0.25 26 0.48 43.9 20 0 0.119 0.25 26 0.64 41 20 0 0.119 0.25 26 0.8 38 20 6 0.119 0.25 26 0.16 64.5 20 6 0.119 0.25 26 0.32 53.7 20 6 0.119 0.25 26 0.48 47 20 6 0.119 0.25 26 0.64 42 20 6 0.119 0.25 26 0.8 40.6 20 12 0.119 0.25 26 0.16 66 20 12 0.119 0.25 26 0.32 60 20 12 0.119 0.25 26 0.48 56.4 20 12 0.119 0.25 26 0.64 51.5 20 12 0.119 0.25 26 0.8 46.6 30 0 0.081 0.167 26 0.16 58.7 30 0 0.081 0.167 26 0.32 50.8 30 0 0.081 0.167 26 0.48 42.8 30 0 0.081 0.167 26 0.64 39.9 30 0 0.081 0.167 26 0.8 36.35 30 6 0.081 0.167 26 0.16 63.9 30 6 0.081 0.167 26 0.32 58 30 6 0.081 0.167 26 0.48 54.1 30 6 0.081 0.167 26 0.64 48.6 30 6 0.081 0.167 26 0.8 45.4 30 12 0.081 0.167 26 0.16 64.3 30 12 0.081 0.167 26 0.32 59.1 30 12 0.081 0.167 26 0.48 55.5 30 12 0.081 0.167 26 0.64 50.1 30 12 0.081 0.167 26 0.8 46 40 0 0.061 0.125 26 0.16 60 40 0 0.061 0.125 26 0.32 54.4 40 0 0.061 0.125 26 0.48 49 40 0 0.061 0.125 26 0.64 44.7 40 0 0.061 0.125 26 0.8 40.7 40 6 0.061 0.125 26 0.16 60.5 40 6 0.061 0.125 26 0.32 55.3 40 6 0.061 0.125 26 0.48 49.9 40 6 0.061 0.125 26 0.64 47 40 6 0.061 0.125 26 0.8 43.5 40 12 0.061 0.125 26 0.16 63.4 40 12 0.061 0.125 26 0.32 55.9 40 12 0.061 0.125 26 0.48 50.9 40 12 0.061 0.125 26 0.64 49 40 12 0.061 0.125 26 0.8 45 zaid and abo: cfd analysis of stepped spillway effects on stilling basin size 60 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 56-60 stepped spillways. the better performance is due to the inclined geometry, which causes more turbulent flow and more air to be entrained, which makes the overall energy dissipation more efficient. furthermore, when the hydraulic flow conditions are the same, raising the step height makes the energy dissipation rate go up even more. this implies that, besides the slope, the geometric arrangement of the steps-particularly their heightsubstantially contributes to the improved hydraulic efficiency of stepped spillways. the study showed that making the steps steeper greatly speeds up the rate at which energy is lost along the stepped spillway. the main reason for this improvement is that the flow has more gravitational force and the turbulence is stronger because of the steeper gradient. together, these two things make energy loss more effective. the analysis also showed that lowering the number of steps can increase energy dissipation even more when the slope is at its highest. this is probably because fewer steps at a steeper angle make each step higher, which makes the hydraulic impact and energy conversion mechanisms stronger. figure 8 clearly shows these results. it shows how the shape of the steps affects the amount of energy lost when the slope changes. length of stilling basin y y f2 1 1 21 2 1 8 1= + −    (10) f v gy1 1 1 = (11) length of cistern = 6 (y2−y1) 6 2 1 ( )y y− (12) length of cistern for 20 steps, q = 0.8m2/s, and α = 0° = 5.57 length of cistern for 20 steps, q = 0.8m2/s, and α=12° = 4.66 m difference between cistern length of (α = 0° and α = 12°) = 16% conclusion this research aimed to optimize energy dissipation at high discharges, as multiple studies have shown that energy dissipation diminishes with increasing discharge. the flow rate was increased in each case. the study found that in stepped spillways, a higher ratio of flow energy dissipation is reached when the number of steps is lowered and the steep slopes are raised. this is different from flat stepped spillways. the results from all cases indicate that 20 steps and an angle of α = 12° are most effective at dissipating energy, achieving approximately 46.6% for maximum discharge. the length of the stilling basin will change depending on how much energy is lost. when energy losses go up, the length of the stilling basin will go down. the study found that for the critical case (20 steps and qmax = 0.8m2/s), the length of the stilling basin will go down by 16% when α = 12° instead of α = 0°. references 1. j. peakall and j. warburton. surface tension in small hydraulic river models the significance of the weber number. journal of hydrology new zealand, vol. 35, no. 2, pp. 199-212, 1996. 2. h. chanson. air bubble entrainment in free-surface turbulent shear flows. vol. 20. elsevier, netherlands, pp. 630-647, 1996. 3. n. rajaratnam. skimming flow in stepped spillways. journal of hydraulic engineering, vol. 116, no. 4, pp. 587-591, 1990. 4. n. obaid, s. alghazali and s. m. jasim. experimental study on the limits of flow regimes for different configurations of stepped spillway. vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 30-40, 2014. 5. p. o. zaid, p. o. a. abo, a. k. fatah and a. h. ibrahim. computation of hydraulic performance for ogee spillway with bucket-type energy dissipater using cfd. the 3rd international conference on engineering and innovative technology iceit2024 salahaddin university-erbil, 2024. 6. b. s. mamand and p. o. zaid. the validation of rectangular sharp crested weir flow using ansys-fluent. zanco journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 36, pp. 27-34, 2024. 7. ansys. ansys fluent-solver theory guide. ansys, united states, 2021. 8. f. zhang and h. liu. experimental study on energy dissipation ratio of pure steps on stepped spillway. shuili fadian xuebao journal hydroelectric engineering, vol. 34, no. 4, p. 87-100, 2015. 9. h. rouse. open channel flow. by f. m. henderson. macmillan, 1966. 522 pp. $14.95. journal of fluid mechanics, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 414-415, 1967. figure 8: discharge and energy dissipation relations for 20, 30, 40 steps and α = 12° figure 7: discharge and relative energy dissipation relations for 40 steps tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 117 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 117-124 research article a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filtering approach for short-term electricity load forecasting in the kurdistan region of iraq rebaz o. yahya, kurdistan i. mawlood department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract accurate short-term load forecasting is vital for maintaining the reliability and stability of electricity supply systems. this study examines forecasting methods for the kurdistan region of iraq, where electricity demand is steadily rising. historical hourly load data and relevant exogenous variables were used to develop and compare two models: a standalone fuzzy logic model and a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filter (kf) model. although both fuzzy logic and kfs have been used separately for load forecasting, there has been a lack of literature directly comparing a standalone fuzzy logic model with a hybrid fuzzy-kf approach, especially using data from the kurdistan region. the fuzzy logic model was designed to capture non-linear relationships and apply human-like reasoning in predicting load demand. the hybrid approach integrated a kf to refine initial fuzzy estimates by reducing noise and updating predictions based on recent observations. both models were evaluated using mean absolute percentage error and root mean square error (rmse). the outcomes show that standalone fuzzy logic prediction is not as effective as the hybrid fuzzy–kf. the hybrid technique lowers the average mean absolute error and rmse of the fuzzy model to 95.13 mw (−3.75%) and 109.89 mw (−10.46%), respectively, compared to the fuzzy model’s average of 98.84 mw and 122.73 mw. this enhancement demonstrates how well noise filtering and recursive state estimation work, especially when load circumstances are steady. results show that the hybrid model consistently outperformed the standalone fuzzy logic model. the findings highlight that the hybrid fuzzy-kf provides a more effective solution for short-term load forecasting in kurdistan’s electricity sector. keywords: short-term load forecasting, fuzzy logic model, kalman filter, hybrid modeling, electricity demand introduction electrical load forecasting stands at the core of planning and administration of contemporary power systems. the precise forecasting of load is essential for ensuring the reliability of the electrical grid, enhancing the efficiency of power generation, regulating energy markets, and reducing operational expenses.[1,2] conventional statistical methods, including exponential smoothing and autoregressive models have seen extensive applications in load forecasting, but their shortcomings are apparent when dealing with issues of nonlinearity, non-stationary, and environmental variables such as temperature.[3-5] this has given rise to the development of hybrid and intelligent models, such as fuzzy logic and kalman filtering, to improve forecasting efficiency under dynamic and uncertain conditions.[6-8] the kurdistan region of iraq faces significant challenges with its unstable electricity supply and rapidly growing demand, making accurate short-term load forecasting a crucial priority. fuzzy logic systems (fls) are based on human cognitive processes and linguistic rules, making them well-suited to represent uncertain or imprecise relationships.[9] these systems are data-driven and can embody expert knowledge through conditional statements, which enables them to flexibly accommodate complex, nonlinear trends in load behavior.[10] kalman filters (kf), on the other hand, offer an optimal recursive estimation for linear dynamic systems with gaussian noise assumptions.[11] though they are widely used in signal and control processing, standard kfs perform inadequately when the noise characteristics are nonstationary or in cases where system dynamics are nonlinear.[12] to overcome these limitations, fuzzy adaptive kfs (fakf) have been established as a hybrid approach. in fakf schemes, fuzzy logic is used to adaptively adjust the measurement cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: rebaz o. yahya, department of statistics and informatics, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: rebaz.yahya@su.edu.krd received: september 16, 2025 accepted: october 20, 2025 published: december 10, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp117-124 copyright © 2025 rebaz o. yahya, kurdistan i. mawlood. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. yahya and mawlood: a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filtering for short-term electricity load 118 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 117-124 noise covariance (r) and, occasionally, the process noise covariance (q), based on contextual variables such as temperature, time factors, or historical trends of error.[13] this capability makes the kf adaptable and responsive to changing operating conditions, thereby enhancing its predictive capability and robustness.[14] this work presents a comparison of two techniques for electric load forecasting: a fuzzy logic model by itself and a fakf. the goal is to contrast the predictive capabilities of each approach and point out the possible benefits of hybrid methodologies. to the best of our knowledge, few works have explicitly compared these approaches with a unique dataset under controlled simulation conditions.[15] literature review traditional methods of load forecasting initial approaches to load forecasting depended primarily on statistical techniques, encompassing methods such as autoregressive integrated moving average, regression analyses, and exponential smoothing.[16-18] these models are effective where the underlying data are stationary and the relationships are linear. nevertheless, electric load is influenced by numerous nonlinear factors, such as weather conditions, human activities, and economic constraints.[19] thus, conventional models need to be frequently retrained and are not very generalizable in dynamic environments. fuzzy logic in load forecasting fuzzy logic was first proposed by zadeh (1965) to deal with the imprecision present in most real-world problems.[20] fuzzy logic models have been used in electric load forecasting to incorporate human knowledge and heuristic rules, such as “if temperature is high, then load is likely to be high.” such models are highly interpretable and can perform well even with noisy or limited data.[21] fuzzy logic forecasting has been shown to outperform the traditional linear models, especially for short-term instances of varying demand.[22] various types of fuzzy systems have been studied, including the mamdani and sugeno models. the mamdani models make use of fuzzy sets for input and output variables, while the sugeno models incorporate crisp outputs and are more computationally efficient. the selection of the two models is based on the complexity of the application and whether interpretability is required.[23] kalman filtering in forecasting kfs, which were suggested by kalman in 1960,[24] are an optimum recursive linear system estimation algorithm for gaussian noise. kfs have been used in energy systems for filtering measurement noise from loads and estimating realtime system states.[25] extended kfs and unscented kfs have been suggested to allow handling nonlinear dynamics,[26] but the performance degrades as the noise statistics change with time.[27] a significant drawback of conventional kalman filtering is its assumption of constant and fixed noise covariances (r and q). in practice, such parameters are rarely stable, particularly in situations influenced by external variables such as temperature, weather conditions, and human activity.[28,29] hybrid models: fuzzy adaptive kalman filtering hybrid approaches of kalman filtering and fuzzy logic have received much attention due to their adaptation capabilities under varying conditions. in such approaches, fuzzy inference systems adaptively change the noise covariance’s r and/or q in real-time, depending on auxiliary variables. for instance,[30] r is considered to be regulated by a fuzzy logic controller according to load and temperature changes, resulting in better tracking performance. the same hybrid models have been applied in other areas, including finance and robotics, and their applicability is attested.[31] studies have shown that fakf models can outperform both fls and conventional kfs, particularly in systems with highly varying and nonlinear dynamics[32] good fuzzy rules and membership functions remain challenging to design and generally require expert insight or tuning using optimization algorithms.[33] despite the extensive discussions about hybrid models, there is still a notable lack of studies comparing pure fuzzy logic with fakf in the field of load forecasting applications. this gap underscores the need for further research, which our current study intends to explore.[34] thus, this study aims to address the existing gap by developing and evaluating a hybrid fuzzy-kf model specifically designed for the electricity load profile of the kurdistan region, and comparing its performance to that of a standalone fuzzy logic model. methodology the methodology of this study is structured in a systematic sequence. it begins with dataset preparation, followed by the implementation of a fuzzy logic model to produce initial load forecasts. subsequently, a kf is incorporated to enhance these forecasts. finally, the performance of both the standalone and hybrid models is assessed using standard accuracy metrics. by combining fuzzy logic with the kf, the study develops a hybrid modelling approach that provides more stable predictions for electricity load. there are four fundamental phases in the methodology: 1. data preparation data on electricity loads over 24 h was collected, along with temperature data. load values were used as the target variable, and temperature was added as an input to the fuzzy model to adjust for external influences on demand. 2. fuzzy logic load estimation a system that relied on fuzzy inference was developed to estimate the load by analysing temperature variations. the initial load estimates were obtained through fuzzy regression after designing triangular membership functions for the temperature variable. 3. kf integration the outputs were fuzzy and then subjected to a kf to smooth out fluctuations and improve the stability of the time series. the filter was set to the mean and variance yahya and mawlood: a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filtering for short-term electricity load 119 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 117-124 of the actual load per hour. by performing the prediction and update steps every hour, the kf produced an adjusted estimate. several crucial statistical data were reported, including: • kalman gain (k): balancing the validity of fuzzy measurements with the filter’s predictions. • error covariance (p): defining the uncertainty of the state estimates. • residuals: identifying the dissimilarities between fuzzy outputs and kalman estimates. 4. evaluation and analysis for model performance, two accuracy measures, mean absolute error (mae) and root mean squared error (rmse), were calculated by utilizing fuzzy outputs and kalman-filtered estimates. time convergence was also documented to determine how many times the filter had to be adjusted for each hour. hourly load profiles and the error plotted are use to illustrate the results in performance tables per hour. fuzzy logic (takagi–sugeno) estimator memberships (three terms: l, c, r) a triangular membership function is defined by three parameters: • l (left): left endpoint the membership starts to rise from 0. • c (centre): peak point the membership is 1 (full membership). • r (right): right endpoint the membership falls back to 0. μi (tk)∈[0,1], i∈{l,c,r} linear consequents (fuzzy regression) yi(tk) = a0,i + a1,itk (1) defuzzification (ts-weighted average) y w tk y tk tk y tk a a tk tkk f i ii i i i i i i � � � � � � ( ) ( ) � ( ) ( )[ ]) ( ) , , � � 0 1 0 (2) the defuzzification step is vital, as it transforms the fuzzy output into a single, clear value that represents the estimated load demand. state and observation models we treat the true load as a latent state xk and the fuzzy output as the measurement. xt = ftxt−1 + wt (3) where xt t t load temperature r� � � � � � � � 2 are the current state, ft � � � � � � � 1 0 0 1 is the transition matrix, and wt is the process noise with covariance , i.e., wt~n(0,qt). the predicted load to the actual measurements to the observation model is: z y h x vt k f t t t� � � (4) where zt = fuzzy logic output = estimated load are the measurements of true state xt, ht = (1 0) is the measurement function or (matrix), and vt is the measurement noise with covariance rt, i.e., v n rt t~ ( ,� )0 . initialization (per hour) = =  , ,0 0 0 0  ,   ( )actual hour actual hourx y p var y (5)   =      0 0 0 0 mean load mean temp x̂ , p 0 0 0 0 � � � � � � � var load var temp ( ) ( ) forecasting: xk∣k−1 = f xk−1∣k−1, pk∣k−1 = f pk−1∣k−1f t+q (6) innovation (residual) and its variance − − = − = +  1 1  , ˆ   t k k kk k k k y z hx s hp h r (7) kalman gain, update of state and covariance kk = pk∣k−1h t sk−1 (8) with h = 1 k p p rk k k k k � � � �   1 1 hence: kk ↑ when pk∣k−1↑ (high state uncertainty) or r↓ (trust the fuzzy measurement more). kk↓ when pk∣k−1↓ or r↑ (trust prediction more) the kalman gain serves as a dynamic weighting factor, determining the extent to which the new fuzzy measurement adjusts the state prediction. time convergence (per-hour iteration) if you iterate the filter within hour until stability, stop when x x iterations timeconvergence k k t k k t   � � ���( ) �1  . mae/rmse (for fuzzy and for kalman estimates) given actual load yk, fuzzy ˆ f ky , and kalman forecasting ˆk ky == = − = −∑ ∑ 2 11 ˆ1 1   , ˆ( ) n n f f f k k f k k kk mae y y rmse y y n n   (9) = = = − = −∑ ∑ 2 1 1 1 1   ,  ( )ˆ ˆ n n k k k k k k k k k k mae y y rmse y y n n   (10) results descriptive statistics table 1 displayed each period’s mean consumption, which ranges from 996 to 1026 units, and was comparatively constant. for example, the average hourly use of electricity fluctuated between 996 and 1026 units during the day, while the minimum hourly load was between 700 and 792 units. maximum loads could reach up to 1263 units at 1 am, while average consumption was slightly lower during the early morning hours (1 am–5 am), with mean values between 998 and 1008 units. the demand for electricity steadied throughout the day, with a discernible uptick beginning at 8 am. midmorning to early afternoon (9 am–12 pm) was yahya and mawlood: a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filtering for short-term electricity load 120 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 117-124 when power consumption was at its highest. during this time, the mean load was continuously higher than 1023 units, and at noon, the maximum recorded values were higher than 1311 units. during these peak hours, the third quartile (q3) continuously exceeded 1080 units, suggesting persistently high electricity consumption. moreover, with mean values between 1010 and 1017 units, power consumption in the afternoon (1 pm–5 pm) was still strong but somewhat tapered down. the fact that maximum loads during this time still surpassed 1250 units indicated that demand was still high even after peak hours. a slow decrease was noted in the evening (6 pm–9 pm), with maximum loads continuously surpassing 1229 units and mean values ranging from 996 to 1007 units. with upper quartiles continuing to be above 1060 units, late-night (10 pm to midnight) hours exhibited a little recovery in mean consumption (1005–1011 units), suggesting that some users continued to consume at high levels. with notable peaks in the morning and consistent high consumption throughout the day and evening, the overall pattern indicated that the demand for power stayed strong throughout the 24-h cycle. these insights were essential for predicting peak load demand and optimizing the energy supply. regarding to the variation inspected through standard deviation, which might be a sign of seasonal patterns, population activity shifts, or outside events that impact the demand for power. the existence of fluctuating consumption periods highlighted the dynamic character of power demand, even when the overall trend of mean consumption was steady as shown in figure 1. in conclusion, the data points to a pattern of electricity use that was largely steady, with sporadic fluctuation spikes and this might be due to hourly usage. the study’s findings demonstrate the enhanced performance of the hybrid fuzzy-kf model in comparison to the standalone fuzzy logic model for 24-h power demand forecasting in the kurdistan region of iraq. a thorough comparison of the hourly performance metrics, including mae and rmse, is provided in table 2. table 2 the data consists of hourly measurements of electricity load with convergence times between 9 and 32 units, representing different computational complexities in different hours of the day. the load values themselves range from 842 mw to 1223 mw, exhibiting normal daily variation patterns in power grids. the fuzzy logic approach produces estimates based on membership functions and rule-based reasoning, whereas the hybrid fuzzy-kalman method fuses the fuzzy estimates with kalman filtering principles. the values of the kalman gain (0.1321–0.6395) represent adaptive weighing between forecasted states and measurements, where higher gains reflect greater reliance upon new observation. the values of error covariance (0.8921–15.0214) reflect quantification of uncertainty inherent in the kalman formulation, representing a measure of confidence in estimation that changes based upon system behavior and quality of measurement. the analysis of performance clearly indicates merits of the hybrid fuzzy-kf over fuzzy logic prediction alone. for fuzzy logic prediction, mae ranges from 87.27 to 110.13 mw, averaging 98.84 mw, and rmse ranges from 111.14 to 137.14 mw, averaging 122.73 mw. for its own part, though, better accuracy is evidenced by the hybrid fuzzy-kf, where higher and lower limits of mae are 82.48 mw and 108.03 mw, averaging 95.13 mw, and rmse is 101.85 mw to 137.04 mw, averaging 109.89 mw. reduction of mean mae by approximately 3.75% and rmse by 10.46% verifies that mitigation of prediction error is efficacious by means of recursive state estimation and filtering out measurement noise by means of the kf. notably, improvement is most effective during stable load patterns, where dynamic tracking of the table 1: descriptive statistics of electricity usage per hour time (hour) min q1 median mean q3 max 1 715.95 943.74 1004.98 1007.72 1057.35 1262.62 2 705.45 936.33 1010.9 1006.83 1070.79 1247.29 3 718.47 937.07 1012.2 1005.02 1068.96 1273.33 4 707.36 943.61 1010.72 1004.17 1075.83 1260.31 5 700.35 932.69 1010.31 997.9 1073.4 1233.22 6 701.06 919.61 1006.41 997.63 1080.44 1256.32 7 700.77 916.82 1016.19 998.78 1079.33 1266.82 8 707.15 921.12 1031.5 1011.42 1092.34 1277.95 9 743.57 932.5 1029.84 1016.37 1089.69 1257.37 10 763.7 935.84 1034.25 1024.11 1089.99 1292.36 11 775.46 939.12 1025.39 1022.95 1082.66 1316.06 12 748.79 957.35 1028.08 1025.59 1084.27 1310.61 13 732.83 946.5 1022.12 1015.88 1071.51 1257.62 14 733.41 952.01 1023.05 1016.78 1076.13 1246.87 15 737.1 946.89 1014.84 1010.02 1070.97 1249.71 16 719.25 941.5 1014.18 1009.27 1067.1 1256.43 17 774.69 934.58 998.31 998.97 1051.98 1245.09 18 757.89 930.86 999.97 996.21 1046.79 1263.78 19 746.55 929.5 999.02 996.85 1050.69 1242.78 20 735.21 940.46 1006.46 1005.68 1063.23 1229.34 21 781.41 938.57 998.55 1005.41 1061 1246.77 22 788.97 941.85 1003.36 1007.19 1066.8 1233.96 23 791.76 939.33 1010.06 1010.06 1075.62 1239.73 24 745.79 946.47 1007.79 1010.95 1066.51 1244.56 figure 1: mean value electricity consumption along the standard deviation yahya and mawlood: a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filtering for short-term electricity load 121 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 117-124 ta b le 2 : c om pa ra ti ve p er fo rm an ce o f f uz zy lo gi c an d k al m an fi lt er in h ou rl y el ec tr ic it y lo ad fo re ca st in g h o u r t im e co n ve rg en ce a ct u a l lo a d f u zz y es ti m a te h yb ri d f u zz y k a lm a n e st im a te k a lm a n g a in e rr o r co va ri a n ce m a e f u zz y r m s e f u zz y m a e h yb ri d fu zz y k a lm a n r m s e h yb ri d fu zz y k a lm a n 1 18 86 9 99 3. 51 75 99 4. 21 20 0. 36 66 9. 31 48 99 .7 51 3 12 6. 40 92 96 .9 01 2 11 6. 50 78 2 19 91 3 99 3. 56 88 99 2. 85 82 0. 35 88 9. 08 06 93 .8 26 9 12 0. 40 91 91 .9 22 2 11 0. 49 47 3 11 11 25 98 9. 83 45 99 8. 89 21 0. 13 21 2. 39 12 99 .9 84 3 12 5. 45 10 91 .1 24 1 11 0. 67 21 4 20 94 2 98 7. 07 95 98 7. 34 70 0. 33 17 7. 91 33 10 5. 32 96 12 8. 97 29 10 3. 23 37 12 8. 87 43 5 10 93 7 99 0. 08 41 99 0. 05 17 0. 63 95 15 .0 21 4 11 0. 13 16 13 7. 14 14 10 8. 02 57 13 7. 04 20 6 9 95 7 99 1. 29 38 98 8. 58 44 0. 63 88 14 .8 23 3 10 8. 34 57 13 5. 49 50 10 2. 24 15 13 5. 38 20 7 13 97 0 98 5. 49 66 98 3. 66 82 0. 50 41 11 .6 60 9 98 .0 97 2 12 0. 84 65 91 .0 11 2 12 0. 72 22 8 15 10 19 99 8. 98 41 99 1. 78 21 0. 21 31 0. 89 21 97 .3 19 8 11 1. 65 21 91 .2 14 5 11 1. 13 56 9 12 91 1 96 9. 52 56 96 8. 68 63 0. 50 19 12 .3 68 5 87 .3 74 5 11 4. 41 30 83 .4 17 6 10 4. 56 22 10 11 92 0 97 2. 55 06 97 3. 91 42 0. 54 77 13 .7 59 0 87 .2 72 6 11 2. 32 33 82 .4 76 4 10 2. 51 88 11 13 93 3 98 1. 81 18 98 0. 88 49 0. 49 84 12 .6 17 1 88 .5 46 5 11 1. 69 72 85 .6 64 8 10 1. 85 15 12 14 97 4 99 7. 17 79 99 7. 19 24 0. 45 25 11 .7 43 2 90 .6 17 9 11 4. 01 69 89 .8 10 2 10 4. 20 56 13 17 93 1 10 04 .3 80 5 10 03 .9 53 9 0. 38 45 9. 99 20 10 1. 91 71 12 6. 56 12 10 0. 14 27 10 6. 73 05 14 32 12 23 10 10 .0 12 8 10 09 .2 44 9 0. 23 75 6. 12 91 10 2. 99 25 12 7. 20 11 10 1. 19 41 10 7. 39 71 15 19 91 0 10 03 .4 64 0 10 02 .2 43 9 0. 35 61 9. 17 03 10 2. 89 88 12 6. 44 47 10 1. 99 47 10 6. 56 36 16 29 96 6 99 9. 70 01 99 8. 93 55 0. 27 76 7. 04 89 99 .3 46 3 12 3. 08 28 87 .4 77 9 10 3. 21 02 17 14 91 1 97 8. 04 35 97 8. 36 40 0. 46 99 11 .7 82 8 95 .3 13 9 11 6. 76 49 93 .4 21 6 10 6. 84 94 18 13 84 2 97 5. 89 41 97 4. 84 87 0. 48 58 12 .1 11 9 94 .6 49 1 11 7. 20 03 91 .7 24 1 10 7. 24 76 19 13 84 7 97 5. 64 25 97 4. 77 75 0. 47 96 11 .9 16 7 95 .7 08 2 11 8. 56 07 91 .8 66 5 10 8. 69 98 20 12 89 5 97 8. 80 31 97 8. 65 36 0. 53 84 13 .5 67 7 95 .6 42 5 11 9. 25 86 92 .7 77 3 10 9. 29 60 21 17 86 5 98 4. 21 27 98 3. 66 44 0. 40 42 10 .1 42 8 10 2. 35 56 12 5. 48 25 99 .5 32 6 10 5. 58 13 22 12 89 6 97 5. 72 12 97 8. 62 32 0. 53 57 13 .5 51 7 10 0. 19 22 12 3. 59 75 98 .3 70 6 10 3. 71 36 23 11 10 00 98 1. 30 80 98 3. 96 00 0. 54 62 13 .9 36 0 99 .7 32 6 12 4. 10 23 92 .8 35 4 10 4. 19 44 24 11 96 8 98 8. 32 36 99 0. 00 97 0. 57 32 14 .6 57 8 99 .1 91 5 12 3. 89 75 94 .2 84 8 10 3. 99 62 yahya and mawlood: a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filtering for short-term electricity load 122 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 117-124 system along with filtering out measurement noise is aided by means of the kf. the consistently lower mae and rmse values for the hybrid model, as indicated in table 2, clearly demonstrate that the integration of the kf effectively mitigates forecasting errors. this enhancement is particularly evident during periods of high load volatility, illustrating the filter’s ability to refine the noisy predictions generated by the fuzzy logic component. by examining the 24-h load profile, it is evident that clear patterns exist in both fuzzy outputs and kalmanfiltered estimates when compared to the actual load. higher fuzzy outputs than the actual load are observed during the early morning period, hours 1–6, which is probably due to temperature-based changes in the fuzzy model. despite being somewhat biased towards smoothing short-term fluctuations, the hybrid fuzzy-kf estimates do not address the systematic overestimation of outputs. the temperature effect in the fuzzy model is reflected in both the moderate differences between the noon period, hours 7–14, as well as their fuzzy outputs and kalman estimates, which remain slightly below or above the actual load. hours 15–24 exhibit comparable behavior, with the highest residuals occurring in hours 22–24. the kf somewhat reduced fluctuations but still tracks the ambiguous outputs. this is also true for the evening period, hours 15–24. the kf maintains temporal consistency and reduces noise, whereas it fails to significantly enhance alignment with the actual load. despite the filter’s improved stability, predictive accuracy is primarily determined by the quality of the fuzzy model itself, as demonstrated in this trend analysis as shown in figures 2 and 3. conclusion for a region facing electricity supply instability and rapid demand growth, such as kurdistan, the improved accuracy provided by the hybrid fuzzy-kf offers a more dependable tool for grid management and operational planning. the findings showed that while the fuzzy logic model captured the non-linear relationship between temperature and electricity demand, it was also prone to noise and uncertainty. the addition of the kf significantly improved forecasting figure 2: hourly electricity load forecasting using fuzzy logic and hybrid fuzzy-kalman filter models figure 3: error analysis and forecast comparison of 24-h electricity load using fuzzy logic and hybrid fuzzy-kalman filter yahya and mawlood: a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filtering for short-term electricity load 123 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 117-124 accuracy by reducing estimation errors and smoothing shortterm fluctuations, as evidenced by a consistent decrease in the rmse over the 24-h forecast period. however, the performance of the hybrid model still relied heavily on the initial fuzzy estimate, and the kf did not address systematic overestimation biases found in the fuzzy model’s output. this research validates the effectiveness of the hybrid model; however, its reliance on the initial fuzzy estimate suggests that future efforts should focus on refining the core fuzzy logic component. potential enhancements include the integration of additional external variables and the optimization of fuzzy membership functions, aiming to improve forecasting accuracy further and mitigate the systematic overestimation biases observed in the current model. in conclusion, this research validates the hybrid fuzzy-kf as an effective method for stlf in the kurdistan-iraq electricity system, providing a practical solution for better power grid management and operational planning. limitations and recommendations this study has several limitations that should be acknowledged. first, the application of the kf was based on fuzzy model outputs derived from actual load data, which limits the filter’s potential to substantially enhance prediction accuracy, as the observation model is already closely aligned with the target values. second, the current framework does not incorporate exogenous variables such as weather, seasonal effects, or socioeconomic indicators that are known to influence electricity demand. finally, the model assumes relatively simple noise structures, which may not fully capture the complex stochastic behavior inherent in real-world load patterns. for future research, it is recommended to extend the model by integrating exogenous predictors to improve robustness, exploring alternative state-space formulations, and considering adaptive or hybrid filtering approaches such as advanced kalman variants. additionally, comparative evaluations with other estimation techniques, including particle filters and bayesian methods, would provide further insights into the trade-offs between model interpretability, computational efficiency, and forecasting accuracy. references 1. v. kumar and r. k. mandal. long-term load forecasting for smart grid. engineering research express, vol. 6, no. 4, p. 045339, 2024. 2. m. ali, m. adnan, m. tariq and h. v. poor. load forecasting through estimated parametrized-based fuzzy inference system in smart grids. ieee transactions on fuzzy systems, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 156-165, 2020. 3. m. chavan. time series analysis in electrical load forecasting. panamerican mathematical journal, vol. 35, no. 1, pp. 210-219, 2024. 4. x. sun, x. zhang and f. zeng. an improved time series temperature prediction algorithm based on kalman filter and lstm. in: 2024 international conference on energy and electrical engineering (eee), pp. 1-7, 2024. 5. s. h. murad, n. b. tayfor, n. h. mahmood and l. arman. hybrid genetic algorithms-driven optimization of machine learning models for heart disease predictio. methodsx, vol. 15, p. 103510, 2025. 6. i. akhtar, s. kirmani, m. ahmad and s. ahmad. average monthly wind power forecasting using fuzzy approach. ieee access, vol. 9, pp. 30426-30440, 2021. 7. h. a. khidir, i̇. etikan, d. h. kadir, n. h. mahmood and r. sabetvand. bayesian machine learning analysis with markov chain monte carlo techniques for assessing 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transformer to model the kalman gain in kalman filters. frontiers in neurorobotics, vol. 18, p. 1460255, 2025. 13. w. liu, y. liu and r. bucknall. a robust localization method for unmanned surface vehicle (usv) navigation using fuzzy adaptive kalman filtering. ieee access, vol. 7, pp. 46071-46083, 2019. 14. i. ullah, m. fayaz and d. kim. improving accuracy of the kalman filter algorithm in dynamic conditions using ann-based learning module. symmetry, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 94, 2019. 15. m. a. hammad, b. jereb, b. rosi and d. dragan. methods and models for electric load forecasting: a comprehensive review. logistics and sustainable transport, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 51-76, 2020. 16. u. dilawar, a. khaliq and n. kureshi. evaluating artificial intelligence and statistical methods for electric load forecasting. international journal of innovations in science and technology, vol. 3, no. 5, pp. 59-83, 2022. 17. o. m. al-zawbaee and n. h. mahmood. building an efficient model by using panel data. cihan university-erbil journal of humanities and social sciences, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 82-87, 2023. 18. n. hussen mahmood, d. hussen kadir and o. m. m. alzawbaee. building a statistical model to forecast traffic accidents for death and injuries by using bivariate time series analysis. zanco journal of humanity sciences, vol. 28, no. 1, pp. 278-289, 2024. 19. k. w. yu, c. h. hsu and s. m. yang. a model integrating arima and ann with seasonal and periodic characteristics for forecasting electricity load dynamics in a state. in: proceedings of the 2019 ieee 6th international conference on energy smart systems, 2019. 20. a. a. kindo, g. kaladzavi, s. malo, g. camara, t. marie and n. kolyang. fuzzy logic approach for knowledge modeling in an ontology: a review. in: ieee 2nd international conference on smart, pp. 1-8, 2020. 21. b. k. chauhan and p. k. shukla. electric load forecasting using fuzzy knowledge base system with improved accuracy. intelligent learning for computer vision. springer nature, germany, pp. 259-273, 2021. 22. d. v. n. ananth, l. v. s. kumar, t. s. gorripotu and a. t. azar. design of a fuzzy logic controller for short-term load forecasting with randomly varying load. international journal of sociotechnology and knowledge development, vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 32-49, 2021. 23. a. t. nguyen, t. taniguchi, l. eciolaza, v. campos, r. palhares and m. sugeno. fuzzy control systems: past, present and future. ieee computational intelligence magazine, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 56-68, 2019. 24. y. bai, b. yan, c. zhou, t. su and x. jin. state of art on state yahya and mawlood: a hybrid fuzzy-kalman filtering for short-term electricity load 124 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 117-124 estimation: kalman filter driven by machine learning. annual reviews in control, vol. 56, pp. 100909-100909, 2023. 25. h. h. afshari, s. a. gadsden and s. habibi. gaussian filters for parameter and state estimation: a general review of theory and recent 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68, no. 6, p. 560, 2018. 31. n. nireekshana, r. ramachandran and g. v. narayana. a new soft computing fuzzy logic frequency regulation scheme for two area hybrid power systems. international journal of electrical and electronics research, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 705-710, 2023. 32. s. mokhtari and k. k. yen. a novel bilateral fuzzy adaptive unscented kalman filter and its implementation to nonlinear systems with additive noise. in: ieee industry applications society annual meeting, pp. 1-6, 2020. 33. g. dewantoro. optimizing membership function of fuzzy logic controller via orthogonal array: a case study on temperature control. in: 7th ieee international conference on control system, computing and engineering, pp. 192-197, 2017. 34. o. ibrahim, w. o. owonikoko1, a. abdulkarim, a. o. otuoze1, m. a. afolayan, i. s. madugu, m. s. bakare and k. e. adedayo. performance evaluation of different membership function in fuzzy logic based short-term load forecasting. pertanika journal of science and technology, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 959-978, 2021. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 32 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 32-35 research article fungal contamination of automobile air conditioner system with reference to aqueous extract effect of dodonaea viscosa on aspergillus fumigatus salah m. s. al-bader1, zean zefenkey2, muhsin h. ubeid3 1department of community health nursing, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq, 2department of medical laboratory science, knowledge university, kurdistan region, iraq, 3department of anesthesia technologies, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq abstract one of the indoor environments where people spend a lot of time these days is public and private transportation, and there is more and more attention to explaining the correlation between human health and indoor air quality in transportation. the present investigation aims to identify the fungus species in car cooling dispensers and quantify the antifungal efficacy of an aqueous crude extract derived from dodonaea viscosa leaves and seeds against aspergillus flavus. fifty swab samples were obtained in 8 h and then they were cultivated on sabourad’s dextrose agar medium. the emerging fungi were aspergillus spp., penicillium spp., cladosporium spp., ulocladum spp., alternaria spp., and white and black mycelia. the occurrence, frequency, and importance value index were counted. the predominant isolate was a. fumigatus (importance value index = 36.2). in vitro, fungal growth suppression was evaluated using the hot water extract of d. viscosa seeds and leaves. 20% and 40% (w/v) concentrations were made. the results showed that seed extract (40%) presented the highest activity against the predominant isolate aspergillus fumigatus. keywords: automobile, air conditioner, antifungal activity, dodonaea viscosa, water extract introduction automobiles are one of the most environmentally polluting machines and the toxic compounds released by cars and other transportation types are well highlighted. on the other hand, the closed environment of land transport modes did not receive enough attention and needed further investigations. as probable sources of biopollution, there were 947 million passenger automobiles and 335 million commercial vehicles on the planet just in europe, there are 256 million registered passenger cars. (https://theicct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ icct_pocketbook). the poor interior air quality of cabs, buses, lorries, and private vehicles poses a risk to both drivers and passengers, particularly for professional drivers who spend long hours on the road.[1-3] actually, because of the surface bioaerosols and increasing automobile indoor air humidity car air conditioning systems frequently operate as active sources of hazardous biological agent emissions (mostly fungi and bacteria) and microorganisms develop ducts and depressors as a result. certain microorganisms can readily form a biofilm in the air conditioning ducts, which allows them to spread throughout the other installation components and the automobile interior.[4,5] fungi attached to car’s air conditioners (ac) filters were recorded by al-bader et al.,7 genera were recorded penicillium spp., alternaria spp., and aspergillus spp. the predominant, while acremonium, rhizopus, stachybotrys, and rhodotorula represented low o%.[6] aquino examined fungal contamination in air conditioning filters from 21 automobiles. the study discovered that 17 fungal genera were present in all samples (100%), including toxic fungi, such as fusarium, aspergillus, and penicillium. this suggests that indoor air quality can harm certain groups, including professional drivers.[7] corresponding author: salah m.s. al-bade, department of community health nursing, cihan university-erbil, kurdistan region, iraq. e-mail: salah.saleem@ cihanuniversity.edu.iq received: november 26, 2024 accepted: february 26, 2025 published: march 20, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp32-35 copyright © 2025 salah m.s. al-bader, zean zefenkey, muhsin h. ubeid. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ al-bader, et al.: antifungal activity of dodonaea viscosa oil against fungi from car air conditioner 33 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 32-35 jo and lee examined the overall colony-forming unit both before and after turning on the car’s air conditioning. they discovered that the levels of bioaerosols in cars before they used air conditioning were either lower or comparable to those in the outside air. elevated amounts often happened 5–15 min after driving and over time, these concentrations dropped.[2] numerous physical and chemical methods have been used to clean air conditioning systems,[1] and as a result, a significant impact on the quality of air inside cars. unfortunately, the ecofriendly application had less attention in this field. antifungal activity of five essential oils in liquid and vapor phases against fungi isolated from automobile air conditioner filters was examined in erbil city.[6] the present study was conducted to investigate fungi that inhabit ducts of automobile ac, as well as estimate the antifungal efficacy of the aqueous extract of dodonaea viscosa seeds and leaves on aspergillus fumigatus. materials and methods samples collection fifty swab samples were collected from the air conditioner duct of 50 privet cars. after that swabs were cultured by streaking method on sabouraud’s dextrose agar (sda) supplemented by chloramphenicol (15 mg/l), then plates were incubated at (25 ± 2°c), and the cultures were checked daily from the 3rd day over 2 weeks. to create a pure culture for further steps, the growing fungi were immediately transferred to sda plates. the identification was done through morphological characteristics based on.[8,9] analysis of fungal community after the identification of isolated fungi, the frequency% (f%), occurrence% (o%), and important value index (ivi) for distinguishable genera and species were determined. the following equations were used for this purpose: [10,11] to no of timesappear no of collected samples % . . � �100 (1) tf%= no.of fungal isolates no.of total fungal isolates ×100 (2) ivi = to+tf 2 11[ ] (3) aqueous extract preparation d. viscosa materials were collected from the public garden in erbil city including fresh/green leaves, and dry flowers with seeds, they were washed thoroughly by tape then sterile distilled water sdw and left to dray at laboratory temperature until no change in their weight were occurred. an electric grinder machine was used to ground the leaves and seeds into a powder. 20 ml of sdw was added to five grams of powdered plant material to reach a concentration of 40% and the mixture was shaken for 24 h. the mixture was filtered using a metallic mesh (50 microns), and the resulting filtrate was stored at 4°c in a sterile conical flask as a stock solution (40%).[12] from this stock extract, a diluted extract (20%) was prepared for the antifungal test. antifungal activity test the modified agar disc diffusion method was used[13] and sterilized filter paper (no. 1) disks with a diameter of 10 mm were prepared. conversely, a water spore suspension of active a. fumigatus was prepared at a concentration of 1 × 10-6, and 0.250 ml of the suspension was spread on the sda surface. the filter paper disks were carefully saturated by lemongrass oil extracts and were fixed 1 cm from the petri dish edge. disk with sdw was done as control. all work was completed inside a laminar flow cabinet, with three replicas. an average of two perpendicular diameters of each oil was calculated to determine the antifungal activity. finally, paraffin tape was used to seal the petri dishes, and they were then incubated at 25°c. four days later, the results were recorded. results and discussion fungal community structure 101 isolates related to 5 fungal genera were recorded beside white and black mycelium [table 1 and figure 1]. they included 4 anamorphic aspergillus (3 spp.), cladosporium, penicillium, and stemphylium beside the zygomycotic rhizopus. aspergillus species, which are cosmopolitan fungi that can grow on a variety of substrates in a wide range of temperatures, exhibited the highest level of o%, f%, and ivi%. as airborne fungi, aspergilli are the most common isolate worldwide.[14,15] previous studies for airborne fungi in erbil city exhibited the predominance of aspergillus.[16,17] the indoor air fungal community is affected by its external counterpart, as well as internal environmental factors, one of the most important factors that interact with the indoor environment is the air conditioning systems. fungal formations can spread into indoor air environments through air conditioning systems. the indoor air environment of automobiles is no exception to this. fungi that were recorded figure 1: fungal colonies developed on sabouraud’s dextrose agar medium al-bader, et al.: antifungal activity of dodonaea viscosa oil against fungi from car air conditioner 34 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 32-35 in the present study [table 1] were commonly isolated from outdoor air samples; moreover, they were identified in air conditioning systems of types of buildings such as hospitals and schools.[18,19] the antifungal test the aqueous extract of d. viscosa seeds and leaves was scanned [table 2 and figure 2] it was found that the 40% seed extract exhibited the highest inhibitory effect (11 mm). this was followed by the 40% leaf extract and 20% seed extract, which showed an inhibitory effect of 6 mm and 2 mm, respectively while, the 20% leaf extract showed no activity. in addition to its antimicrobial activity, different types of extracted tissues contain a variety of compounds with diverse insecticidal and pharmaceutical properties.[20,21] our results were consistent with previous studies that were conducted to use different solvents to extract the bioactive compound in d. viscosa, different tissues of the plant represented antifungal compounds against aspergillus niger, aspergillus fumigatus, fusarium, and rhizopus.[22,23] conclusion based on the results, it is clear that there was a clear relationship between outdoor air-borne fungi and interior automobile air fungi. the car air conditioner system may be a source of allergy since aspergillus, cladosporium, and penicillium, the most fungal allergens are predominant in ac dispensers. an allergy may arise due to a car air conditioner depending on the time of exposure and tidiness of the ac system. given that d. viscosa shrubs are plentiful and common in the area, have a pleasant scent, and are highly effective as antifungal, they could be the source of successful natural antiseptics of the future. references 1. m. gołofit-szymczak, a. stobnicka-kupiec and r. l. górny. impact of air-conditioning system disinfection on microbial contamination of passenger cars. air quality, atmosphere & health, vol. 12, pp. 1127-1135, 2019. 2. w. k. jo and j. h. lee. airborne fungal and bacterial levels associated with the use of automobile air conditioners or heaters, room air conditioners, and humidifiers. archives of environmental & occupational health, vol. 63, no. 3, pp. 101-107, 2008. 3. r. p. vonberg, p. gastmeier, b. kenneweg, h. holdack-janssen, d. sohr and i. f. chaberny. the microbiological quality of air improves when using air conditioning systems in cars. bmc infectious diseases, vol. 10, p. 146, 2010. 4. r. b. simmons, j. a. noble, l. rose, d. l. price and d. g. ahearn. fungal colonization of automobile air conditioning systems. journal of industrial microbiology and biotechnology, vol. 19, pp. 150-153, 1997. 5. r. b. simmons, l. j. rose, s. a. crow and d. g. ahearn. the occurrence and persistence of mixed biofilms in automobile air conditioning systems. current microbiology, vol. 39, pp. 141-145, 1999. 6. s. m. al-bader, l. q. ismael, h. s. ali, a. s. al-tami and a. a. saleh. antifungal activity of essential oils vapors against fungi isolated from car air-conditioner filters. medico-legal update, vol. 21, no. 4, p. 301, 2021. 7. s. aquino, j. e. a. de lima, a. p. b. do nascimento and f. c. reis. analysis of fungal contamination in vehicle air filters and their impact as a bioaccumulator on indoor air quality. air quality, atmosphere & health, vol. 11, no. 10, pp. 1143-1153, 2018. figure 2: inhibition zones (i h) of aqueous seeds and leaves extracts of dodonaea viscosa 1-seeds (concentration [conc.] = 40%, i h = 11 mm), 2-leaves (conc. = 40%, i h= 6 mm), 3-seeds (conc. = 20%, 2 mm), 4leaves (conc.=20%, i h = 0) table 2: inhibition ratio of dodonaea extracts concentration seed’s extraction leave’s extraction 40% 11 mm 6 mm 20% 2 mm 0 table 1: occurrence%, frequency%, and important value index of isolated fungi (ivi) s. no. fungi no. of colonies occurrence% frequency% ivi 1. aspergillus fumigatus 82 32 40.5 36.2 2. aspergillus niger 54 17 26.7 21.8 3. aspergillus flavus 28 11 13.8 12.4 4. cladosporium spp. 16 6 7.9 6.95 5. penicillium spp. 10 3 4.9 3.95 6. stemphilium spp. 4 2 1.9 1.95 7. rhizopus spp. 2 1 0.99 0.99 8. white mycelia 4 1 1.9 1.45 9. black mycelia 2 1 0.99 1.45 ivi: important value index al-bader, et al.: antifungal activity of dodonaea viscosa oil against fungi from car air conditioner 35 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 32-35 8. k. h. domsch, w. gams and t. h. anderson. compendium of soil fungi. vol. 1. academic press, london, 1980. 9. g. d. hoog, j. gene, j. f. m. j. guarro and m. j. figueras. atlas of clinical fungi. 2nd ed. american society for microbiology, washington, dc, p. 1126, 2000. 10. s. m. al-bader, a. q. aleryani and a. a. almutaa. a study on soil thermophilic and thermotolerant fungi in thamar-yemen. journal of agricultural environmental and veterinary sciences, vol. 1, 1-44, 2017. 11. r. prayudyaningsih, c. a. prasetyawati and h. suryanto. diversity and association of arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (amf) in landslide-impacted area. iop conference series: earth and environmental science. vol. 807, no. 2, p. 022046, 2021. 12. a. q. al eryani and s. m. al-bader. the antimicrobial effect of aqueous and ethanol extracts of stems, roots and leaves of salvadora persica on oral microbes. assiut journal of agricultural sciences, vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 97-104, 2012. 13. a. gahlaut, r. dabur and a. k. chhillar. anti-aspergillus activity of selected medicinal plants. journal of pharmacy research, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 419-422, 2013. 14. d. m. c. e. silva. incidence of the genus aspergillus and its species in the atmosphere of sao paulo, brazil and its relations with the environment. journal of pollution, vol. 1, 1-5, 2020. 15. f. al salameen, n. habibi, s. uddin, k. al mataqi, v. kumar, b. al doaij, s. al amad, e. al ali and f. shirshikhar. spatio-temporal variations in bacterial and fungal community associated with dust aerosol in kuwait. plos one, vol. 15, no. 11, p. e0241283, 2020. 16. s. m. al-bader, a. d. a. aljoborey, a. q. ahmed and a. yahia. a cross-sectional study on the 24-hour variation of fungal pollution in the atmosphere of erbil city, iraq. international journal of membrane science and technology, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 1170-1176, 2023. 17. s. m. saleem and z. zefenkey. the airborne mycobiota of a dust storm in comparison with a calm climate in erbil city-iraq. science journal of university of zakho, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 45-49, 2023. 18. s. m. al-bader, l. q. ismael and a. a. ahmood. fungal contamination of airconditioner units in five hospitals of erbil province-kurdistan region/iraq. science journal of university of zakho, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 146-149, 2018. 19. s. m. al-bader, a. a. osman and s. hussainnagad. fungal contamination of air-conditioned air flow with special reference to antifungal activity of eight plant oil vapor against aspergillus niger. journal of physics: conference series. vol. 1660, no. 1, p. 012001, 2020. 20. s. venkatesh, y. s. r. reddy, m. ramesh, m. m. swamy, n. mahadevan and b. suresh. pharmacognostical studies on dodonaea viscosa leaves. african journal of pharmacy and pharmacology, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 83-88, 2008. 21. m. pkashatel and m. m. coogan. antifungal activity of the plant dodonaea viscosa var. angustifolia on candida albicans from hivinfected patients. journal of ethnopharmacology, vol. 118, no. 1, pp. 173-176, 2008. 22. t. riaz, a. m. abbasi, t. shahzadi, m. ajaib and m. k. khan. phytochemical screening, free radical scavenging, antioxidant activity and phenolic content of dodonaea viscosa. journal of the serbian chemical society, vol. 77, no. 4, pp. 423-435, 2012. 23. m. n. malik, i. u. haq, h. fatima, m. ahmad, i. naz, b. mirza and n. kanwal. bioprospecting dodonaea viscosa jacq.; a traditional medicinal plant for antioxidant, cytotoxic, antidiabetic and antimicrobial potential. arabian journal of chemistry, vol. 15, no. 3, p. 103688, 2022. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 116 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 116-119 research article comprehensive evaluation and management of liver hydatid cyst saman h. abdulla department of statistics and information, college of administration and economics, university of sulaimani, sulaymaniyah, iraq abstract hydatid cyst infection is a severe disorder caused by exposure to the infectious form of the echinococcus granulosus parasite, which is widespread worldwide. this study examined a total of 125 patients who were diagnosed with hepatic hydatid cysts based on clinical and surgical evaluations. patients with cysts larger than 5  cm displayed markedly elevated levels of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, and alkaline phosphatase in comparison to those with smaller cysts. the heightened levels suggest a disturbance in liver functionality resulting from the infection. furthermore, the patients exhibited elevated serum bilirubin levels. an evident differentiation was observed between patients with cysts over 5 cm in size and those with smaller cysts, indicating have a higher effect on liver function in individuals with bigger cysts. a total of 125 hepatic hydatid cysts were diagnosed using computed tomography (ct) scans. the predominant cyst phases seen were stage i and ii, accounting for 58% and 45% of cases, respectively. on diagnosis, 79% of the cysts range in size from 5 to 10 cm. ct imaging provides additional features that aid in the identification of type i unilocular echinococcosis. however, it is important to note that no single imaging feature is clearly diagnostic of this type of cyst. nevertheless, imaging techniques can assist in differentiating these cysts from non-parasitic liver cysts. on the other hand, type ii, iii, and v hydatid cysts can be accurately identified by their distinct imaging characteristics. keywords: hydatid cyst, echinococcosis, liver enzymes, bilirubin introduction cystic echinococcosis, also known as hydatid disease, is a common parasitic disease that is distributed worldwide.[1] echinococcosis is a human disease caused by the larval stages of echinococcus granulosus, echinococcus multilocularis, and echinococcus vogali. e. granulosus is common in iraq, with an annual report of approximately 500 cases of cystic echinococcosis.[2] the liver is the most commonly compromised organ. the commonly accepted radiographic classification of gharbi et al.,[3] is based on the ultrasonographic features of the disease, this classification differentiates five types of hepatic cystic echinococcosis. type i involves the collection of pure fluid, which is simple and involves only one cyst. type ii is concerned with fluid collections that have a separate, floating internal chamber. type iii is characterized by smaller cysts and septa, and is primarily composed of fluid, as observed on ultrasound. type iv cysts have a mostly complex pattern of solidity, including thick membranes and a few associated daughters. type v is associated with calcified cysts that have a thick wall that reflects light. this kind of cyst is caused by damage. type ii and iii hecs have different radiographic properties due to their design, including fluid, sloughed membranes, daughter cysts, and septa that are either calcified or not. as a result, their radiographic diagnosis is typically simple. however, the identification of types i and iv hecs is difficult. other lesions that are filled with fluid are classified as type i hec, these include: b. non-parasitic simple epithelial cysts, which are similar in appearance, this makes it difficult to differentiate between them.[4] similarly, the type iv hec is indistinguishable from other solid parts of the liver.[5] as a result, it is now considered that hepatic cysts that contain only one compartment in common with other site specifically associated with the disease should be considered potential candidates for e. granulosus infection until proven otherwise. corresponding author: saman h. abdulla, department of statistics and information, college of administration and economics, university of sulaimani, sulaymaniyah, iraq. e-mail: saman.abdulla@univsul.edu.iq received: september 5, 2024 accepted: october 12, 2024 published: november 20, 2024 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v8n2y2024.pp116-119 copyright © 2024 saman h. abdulla. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) abdulla: evaluation and management of liver hydatid cyst 117 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 116-119 common hepatic abnormalities are simple cysts that have a single layer of epithelial cells that line their walls. they may occur alone or in groups. computed tomography (ct) images of simple liver cysts exhibit a well-defined, uniform mass that lacks a visible wall.[6] liver damage is often accompanied by changes in the levels of certain serum enzymes, most notably aspartate transaminase (ast), alanine transaminase (alt), alkaline phosphatase (alp), and total serum bilirubin (tsb). these enzymes are relied on to assess damage or necrosis in liver cells. an increase in alt and ast occurs with different types of liver damage; alt is primarily found in the liver and is a more specific indicator of hepatitis compared to ast, which is also present in other organs such as the heart, muscles, brain, and pancreas.[7] alp is mainly found in the liver, bones, kidneys, intestines, and placenta. the level of this enzyme increases in cases of bile obstruction, hepatic cholestasis, which is a condition where bile flow from the liver is reduced or blocked, and infiltrative liver diseases.[8] the aim of study the study aims to demonstrate the effect of hydatid cysts on liver enzymes levels and total bilirubin. the aim of the study was to diagnose patients more accurately by characterizing e. granulosus lesions. materials and methods this study, covering during the (2022–2023), initially consisted of 125 patients with liver hydatid cysts (seventy-two females, fifty-three males, range age 5–85 years, mean age 39.9 years), who visited and examined by ct in smart hospital. liver patients (125 patients) were divided according to the size of the cysts formed into patients with cysts larger than 5 cm and <5 cm (cyst size significantly influences treatment decisions, risk of complications, and clinical management strategies), 110 and 15 respectively. ct scans were performed using a spiral scanner, and 10-mm-thick abdominal sections were examined. non-enhanced and intravenous contrast studies were performed in each patient. patients who were finally diagnosed with hepatic echinococcosis had a final diagnosis made by surgery or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. the results of this study were statistically analyzed using spss statistics 26. results females (57.6%) were more likely to be affected than males (42.4%). of the patients examined, 73 (58.4%) lived in rural areas and 52 (41.6%) lived in urban areas. the age of the patients ranged from 5 to 85 years, with the majority being in their forties (41–50 years). the distribution of cysts by age is shown [table 1]. of the total 125 patients, 79 had single cysts, 16 had double cysts, and 30 had multiple cysts. the diameter of the cysts ranged from 0 to 20 cm, and most of them were larger; 79 cysts were 5–10 cm, 29 cysts were 10–15 cm, 15 cysts were <5 cm, and 2 cysts were more than to 15 cm in diameter [table 2]. table 1: the frequency of cysts according to the gender, residence, and age of the patients gender no. % male 53 42.4 female 72 57.6 total 125 100 residence urban 52 41.6 rural 73 58.4 total 125 100 age age<10 13 10.4 age 11–20 11 8.8 age 21–30 17 13.6 age 31–40 18 14.4 age 41–50 26 20.8 age 51–60 18 14.4 age 61–70 18 14.4 age 71–80 3 2.4 age >80 1 0.8 total 125 100 table 2: number and size of hydatid cysts in 125 patients number of cysts no. % solitary 79 63.2 double 16 12.8 multiple 30 24 total 125 100 size size <5 15 12 size 5–10 79 63.2 size 10–15 29 23.2 size >15 2 1.6 total 125 100 ct staging showed that there were a large number of stage 1 cases (46.4) in our patients, and 1 (0.8) stage v cyst was observed in our study. right abdominal pain was the most common symptom, followed by secondary symptoms and jaundice. hepatic h.c. was found in the abdomen in two cases [table 3]. the results shown in table 4 indicate that there is a difference in alt enzyme activity between patients with cysts smaller than 5 cm (2.4%) and patients with cysts larger than 5 cm (14.4%). the increase the alp levels appeared more substantial in patients with cysts smaller than 5 cm (3.2%) compared to those with cysts larger than 5 cm (11.2%). statistical analysis revealed differences in ast enzyme activity, with patients having cysts smaller than 5 cm (2.4%) and those with cysts larger than 5 cm (12%). the tsb level also showed abdulla: evaluation and management of liver hydatid cyst 118 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 116-119 diameter between 5 and 10 cm, whereas 23.2% had a dimension between 10 and 15 cm. this is mostly due to the fact that hepatocellular carcinoma (hc) of the liver is asymptomatic in a clinical setting, resulting in a delayed diagnosis.[15] ct staging is crucial in determining the therapy approach, as it establishes the treatment pattern. at present, aspiration and medicinal intervention manage the majority of stage i cases, while surgical means address stage iii and iv cases.[16] treatment options for stage ii can vary depending on the availability of drainable substances. in the mentioned order, the study classified 46.4% of the cysts as stage i and 36% as stage ii. ct scans can readily identify stage ii cysts due to their distinct appearance of a detachable membrane that resembles a serpentine shadow. this membrane is denser than the fluid inside the cysts. ct scans facilitated the identification of stage iii cysts due to the distinctive visual features of the daughter cysts. the cysts in stage iv were characterized by an uneven mixture of soft-tissue density components. it was harder to tell the difference between type i unilocular hydatid cysts and simple hepatic cysts that are not caused by parasites. according to reports, unilocular type i hc accounts for 23–46% of all hc cases.[5,7] out of the whole sample, 58 individuals (46%) belonged to this particular category. individuals in their fourth decade of life observed the majority of these cysts, while older individuals predominantly detected type ii-v cysts. this occurrence is predictable when we consider the inherent progression of echinococcal cysts.[17] as a result, cyst size, shape, location, and ct attenuation values do not provide precise indications for diagnosing hepatic echinococcal cysts. this is due to the fact that nonparasitic simple hepatic cysts may exhibit identical ct characteristics.[18] out of the 125 cysts examined in this study, 15 of them exhibited peripheral ring enhancement following the administration of intravenous contrast. prior research has discussed the ring enhancement pattern of hc and attributed it to either infection or compression of the hepatic tissue.[19] when investigating the effect of cyst infection on liver functions, the current study showed an increase in the level of liver enzymes alt, ast, and alp in patients. these levels were also elevated in patients with cysts larger than 5 cm. the increase may be due to the growth of the cyst in the liver tissue and the occurrence of pathological changes, such as necrosis in the liver cells, which causes an increase in the permeability of the cell membranes or their destruction, thus releasing these enzymes into the peripheral circulation.[20] it may also be due to the expansion of the area of destruction occurring in the liver cells, as in the case of cysts larger than 5 cm. the study also included measuring the level of total bilirubin in the serum. the results showed a considerable rise in total bilirubin level in patients with hydatid cysts compared to patients with cysts larger than 5 cm. this increase may be due to liver cell damage or the large size of the cyst, which increases pressure on the liver cells.[21] conclusion the investigation discovered hydatid cyst infection in human patients from the iraqi city of sulaimani. patients whose liver table 3: the frequency distribution according to ct staging and presenting symptoms ct staging no. % stage i 58 46.4 stage ii 45 36 stage iii 12 9.6 stage iv 9 7.2 stage v 1 0.8 total 125 100 presenting symptoms pain 82 65.6 incidental 37 29.6 jaundice 4 3.2 abdominal 2 1.6 total 125 100 table 4: the frequency of infection according to the several effective factors cyst size alt n (%) alp n (%) ast n (%) tsb n (%) <5 cm 3 (2.4) 4 (3.2) 3 (2.4) 2 (1.6) higher than 5 cm 18 (14.4) 14 (11.2) 15 (12) 10 (8) alt: alanine transaminase, alp: alkaline phosphatase, ast: aspartate transaminase, tsb: total serum bilirubin differences, with patients having cysts smaller than 5 cm (1.6%) compared to those with cysts larger than 5 cm (8%). discussion the liver is regarded as a vital accessory organ to the digestive system. it performs a multitude of essential bodily functions. this study specifically examined a serious liver condition known as a hepatic hydatid cyst.[9] the most prevalent age group in this study was those in their fourth decade of life (ages 41–50).[10] the impact was more common on females than on males.[11] cultural changes appear to influence the distribution of genders. women in certain societies assume the responsibility of animal breeding and agriculture, which consequently exposes them to a higher risk of infection. pain in the right upper quadrant was the most common symptom, followed by incidents and jaundice. two cases, representing 1.6% of the total, revealed abdominal hepatic echinococcal cysts.[12] we found 79 (63.2%) of the hydatid cysts in our cases to be solitary. this finding is consistent with morel et al.’s[13] study, which found that two-thirds of the patients had solitary cysts. in our investigation, we observed several hepatic cysts in a sizable percentage of cases (24%). this is consistent with findings from other investigations.[14] it is very uncommon to encounter multiple stages of hydatidosis in a single patient, particularly given the endemic nature of the disease in our country. initially, the majority of hydatid cysts were of considerable dimensions. the study found that 63.2% of the cysts had a abdulla: evaluation and management of liver hydatid cyst 119 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2024, 8 (2): 116-119 cyst growth measured more than 5 cm had for higher enzyme levels than those whose cyst size was <5 cm, which indicated the disturbance of the liver functions in patients who revealed the growth of the cyst in the liver. references 1. c. casaravilla, r. malgor and c. carmona. characterization of carbohydrates of adult echinococcus granulosus by lectin-binding analysis. journal of parasitol, vol. 89, pp. 57-61, 2003. 2. n. al-kadhali. (2003). accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging compared to ultrasound in liver hydatidosis. [thesis, iraqi commission for medical specialization in radiology]. scientific council of radiology, baghdad, iraq. 2003. 3. h. a. gharbi, w. hassine, m. w. brauner and k. dupuch. ultrasound examination of the hydatic liver. radiology, vol. 139, pp. 459-463, 1981. 4. p. r. hira, h. m. shweiki and i. francis. cystic hydatid disease: pitfalls in diagnosis in the middle east endemic area. journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, vol. 96, pp. 363-369, 1993. 5. s. jouini, e. menif, s. sehili, z. ben safta, h. ben hajel, l. chamekh, m. jouini, s. belaïd and m. ben jaafar. value of ultrasonics in differential diagnosis of pseudotumor hydatid cyst of the liver and other solid hepatic masses (prospective study). journal of radiologie, vol. 77, pp. 563-569, 1996. 6. j. heiken and i. liver. computed body tomography with mri correlation. 3rd ed., vol. 89. lippincott-raven, philadelphia, pa, pp. 701-777, 1998. 7. z. salemi and s. k. pooya. toxicity of margarine on liver enzymes (aspartate amino transferas and alanine amino transferase) in rats. iranian journal of toxicol, vol. 6, pp. 655-659, 2012. 8. s. mahjoub and j. m. roudsari. quantification of liver alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme activity using heat inactivation and phenylalanine inhibition techniques: comparison of two methods. world applied sciences journal, vol. 17, pp. 941-946, 2012. 9. c. v. anekwe, p. chandrasekaran and f. c. stanford. ketogenic diet-induced elevated cholesterol, elevated liver enzymes and potential non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. cureus, vol. 12, p. 6605, 2020. 10. h. m. zahawi, o. k. hammeed and a. a. abalkhail. the possible role of the age of the human host in determining the localization of hydatid cysts. annals of tropical medicine and parasitology, vol. 93, pp. 621-627, 1999. 11. m. c. haddad, g. al-awar, s. h huwaijah and a. o. al-kutoubi. echinococcal cysts of the liver: a retrospective analysis of clinicoradiological findings and different therapeutic modalities. clinical imaging, vol. 25, pp. 403-408, 2001. 12. s. a marani, g. c. canossi, f. a. nicoli, g. p. alberti, s. g. monni and p. m. casolo. hydatid disease: mr imaging study. radiology, vol. 175, pp. 701-706, 1990. 13. p. morel, j. robert and a. rohner. surgical treatment of hydatid disease of the liver: a survey of 69 patients. surgery, vol. 104, pp. 859-862, 1988. 14. b. david and j. scott. hepatic echinococcal cyst: sonographic appearance and classification. radiology, vol. 155, pp. 723-775, 1985. 15. i. beggs. the radiology of hydatid disease. ajr american journal of roentgenology, vol. 145, pp. 639-648, 1985. 16. a. kabaaliooglu, k. karaali, a. apaydin, m. melikoğlu, t. sindel and e. lüleci. ultrasound-guided percutaneous sclerotherapy of hydatid liver cysts in children. pediatric surgery international, vol. 16, pp. 364-350, 2000. 17. m. s. noah, m. a. laajam, n. a hawass and m. m. abdel-hafez. hydatid liver disease, is it a diagnostic problem? analysis of 42 consecutive cases in saudi patients. annals of tropical medicine & parasitology, vol. 80, pp. 607-614, 1986. 18. a. leinonen. percutaneous aspiration and ethanol sclerotherapy of symptomatic hepatic cysts. european journal radiology, vol. 3, pp. 312-218, 1993. 19. d. sutten. textbook of radiology and imaging. 6th ed., vol. 2. churchill livingston, london, 1988. 20. m. c. safioleas, e. p. misiakos, m. kouvaraki, m. k. stamatakos, c. p. manti and e. s. felekouras. hydatid disease of the liver: a continuing surgical problem. archives of surgery, vol. 141, pp. 1101-1108, 2006. 21. a. m. elshazly, m. s. azab, s. n. elbeshbishi and h. m. elsheikha. hepatic hydatid disease: four case reports. cases journal, vol. 2, p. 58, 2009. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 48 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 48-55 research article role of on-site architectural courses in enhancing graduate employability skills across krg universities frya i. hussein, husein a. husein department of architecture engineering, college of engineering, salahaddin university, erbil, iraq abstract to meet architectures contemporary demands, this study investigates the role of on-site practical learning in shaping the employability skills of architecture graduates in the kurdistan region of iraq. despite the expansion of architecture programs, a notable proportion of graduates remain unemployed or shifted into unrelated fields, exposing a gap between industry expectations and academic preparation. employing a mixed-methods approach comprising a survey of 120 fresh graduates 2023–2024, interviews with industry professionals, and department heads. this research evaluates the effectiveness of experiential learning methods, such as site visits, internships, and field-based training in developing technical, generic, and personal competencies. the findings highlight a statistically significant inverse correlation between skill gaps and employment status, underscoring the practical relevance of structured, on-site learning. industry experts mentioned prevalent “practice shock” among fresh graduates, attributed to limited professional exposure during their studies. meanwhile, the head of departments identified inconsistent implementation of internships, weak university-industry partnerships, and limited university support as primary barriers to experiential learning integration. the study concludes that embedding longitudinal, real-world experiences within the curriculum, supported by strategic collaborations with professional firms, is essential to bridging the theory-practice divide and enhancing graduate employability skills. recommendations include curriculum reform and internship standardization. by repositioning on-site learning as a core component of architectural education, kurdistans universities can better prepare graduates for the dynamic needs of the construction industry. keywords: employability, on-site learning, architecture education, work-based learning, experiential learning introduction the demand for employable graduates in industries requires a skilled and advanced labor force, which has become a main issue in global higher education worldwide. employability, generally defined, refers to an individual’s ability to secure and maintain employment through the possession of relevant knowledge, practical skills, and personal attributes, entrepreneurial passion, attitudes, and competencies of a learner that align and required with labor market needs to get employment and stay in the job market.[1,2] in today’s rapidly evolving job market, higher education institutions (heis) face pressure to improve graduates preparedness for work and their ability to excel in their chosen professions,[1] benefiting themselves, their teams, the community, and the economy.[2] in response to this demand, heis are increasingly expected not only to deliver academic knowledge. when creating the curriculum, the hei system must inevitably take employers demands into consideration to prepare students for successful transitions into the workforce by fostering comprehensive employability skill sets.[3] the architectural profession, as a multidisciplinary and practice-intensive profession, presents a distinctive case in this discourse.[4] it requires a fine balance between conceptual design thinking, technical competencies, and realworld application. despite architecture schools commitment to equipping students and graduates with skills, theoretical and technical knowledge necessary for architectural professional practice, but many still lack employability skills, numerous studies, and employer feedback indicate a significant skills gap.[3] this gap is most evident in areas, such as problem-solving, analytical thinking, collaboration, communication, and teamwork skills increasingly prioritized by architectural firms in recruitment and project execution processes.[3,4] contemporary architectural curriculum reforms have emphasized the approaches that confronted with cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) corresponding author: frya i. hussein, department of architecture engineering, college of engineering, salahaddin university, erbil, iraq. e-mail: frya.hussein@su.edu.krd received: june 30, 2025 accepted: august 15, 2025 published: september 01, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp48-55 copyright © 2025 frya i. hussein, husein a. husein. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ hussein and husein: on-site architectural courses and graduate employability skills in krg 49 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 48-55 issues known as “21st century competencies,” including problem-solving, creativity, analytical thinking, collaboration, communication, ethics, and accountability skills, which have an impact on recent graduates employment. consequently, several universities are modifying their instructional strategies to give students the tools they need to support their capacity for lifelong learning. the integration of 21st-century competencies into national curriculum worldwide has created a growing demand to assess student skill development.[4] a persistent gap exists between university instruction and real workplace demands, particularly affecting graduate employment prospects in developing economies where industry requirements change quickly. work-integrated learning and the development of practical skills are being emphasized more and more in contemporary educational approaches as crucial tactics for preparing students for professional careers. three aspects are covered by these approaches: applied learning through professional practice, workplace-based training, and career education preparation. these methods assist students in developing industry networks, defining career paths, and gaining competencies relevant to the workplace.[1,3,5] twenty years of research shows that practice-based learning is a good way to build students skills.[2] hands-on learning offers benefits, such as active engagement, better understanding, practical application, critical thinking, skill development, long-term retention, and team building. it encourages active participation, improves focus, motivation, and retention of information.[6] the kurdistan region of iraq (krg) faces challenges in aligning architectural education with labor market needs and industry. despite the growth of architecture programs, 63% of college graduates are unemployed or working without a bachelor’s degree. to improve student’s attention, performance, and critical thinking, universities should focus on practical competencies and deeper university-industry partnerships. the bologna process, a thorough accreditation system, can help create an outcome-based education system in the kurdistan educational system. this approach will equip students with a realistic learning environment and prepare them for a demanding post-graduation world.[7] the study highlights a significant gap in architecture education in the kurdistan region. graduates lack the necessary technical, generic skills for employers and architecture industry professionals due to inadequate integration of on-site, practical, and experiential learning components in the architecture curriculum. the study examines the impact of on-site practical learning, including site visits, internships, and field-based architectural training, on the employability skills of architecture graduates in kurdistan. it evaluates their technical, personal, and generic skills, assesses their job preparedness, and analyzes industry perceptions of their skill readiness and the effectiveness of academic-industry collaboration. the research hypothesis is that the integration of structured on-site practical learning components (e.g., site visits, internships, and real-world projects) within the architecture curriculum significantly improves graduate employability skills by enhancing technical, generic, and personal skills. literature review conceptualizing employability in higher education employability in heis refers to acquiring a mix of academic (technical) knowledge, practical abilities, and personal attitudes that enable graduates to secure and sustain employment.[1] one significant result of heis is employability. when creating the curriculum, the hei system must inevitably take employers demands into consideration.[3] in the field of architecture, this structure covers the following three main skill areas: technical skills, including design software competency, construction methodology, regulatory literacy, and spatial analysis. generic skills: encompassing teamwork, communication, leadership, time management, and adaptability. personal attributes, such as initiative, self-efficacy, professional ethics, and resilience.[2,8] despite that, architectural programs traditionally aim to achieve these competencies through studio-based learning and project development, employers increasingly report that graduates enter the profession lacking critical jobready skills, particularly in soft skills, such as communication, leadership, and teamwork areas.[3,4] work-based learning (wbl) in architecture wbl is a student-centric educational program or education strategy that focuses on flexibility, employer-student interests, and teamwork skills. it enhances graduate employability by improving communication, self-management, and problemsolving. incorporating wbl in architecture courses can provide a strong foundation for shaping students into architects, increasing higher education participation, and skill upgrading for a competitive market.[3] every wbl program is meticulously designed, combining classroom instruction with practical, well-organized work experience.[1] in architecture, wbl enhances employability through internships. employers think that incorporating real-world projects into the curriculum will give students the necessary practical skills.[3] internships are vital for engineers and architects, enabling students to apply theoretical knowledge and gain practical experience. the internship process, involving academic advisors, site supervisors, and interns, forms a partnership between the academic institution and the workplace, providing students with unique learning opportunities and inspiring professionals to guide their career aspirations.[9] experiential learning and on-site education strategies experiential learning activities are a proven method for enhancing students employability skills, as they are not always directly transferable to the workplace due to the diverse contexts of education and employment. over the past two decades, evidence has shown that experiential learning is an effective method for enhancing students skills.[2] experiential learning as theorized by kolb, includes “learning by doing” and reflection on experience as a base for knowledge construction. an architectural education includes hands-on design exercises, site visits, material testing, physical model making, and participation in real-world projects.[2,6] these actions not only strengthen theoretical content but also develop interpersonal hussein and husein: on-site architectural courses and graduate employability skills in krg 50 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 48-55 collaboration and critical analysis. programs, such as designbuild studios and live projects, serve as immersive learning environments that simulate professional conditions, bridge the theory-practice divide, and enhance job readiness.[6,10] field trips and site visits play an essential role in the foundation of students understanding of construction processes, regulatory frameworks, and material applications. these interactions create observation-based learning and provide a tangible connection between academic instruction and the built environment. furthermore, they enable students to internalize environmental, contextual, and socio-cultural considerations that influence architectural decision-making.[8,11] the role of personal development in employability employability depends strongly on personal development. skills, such as adaptability, self-reflection, professional ethics, and emotional intelligence, are increasingly recognized as critical for sustainable career progression.[2] experiential learning environments, particularly those involving real client interactions, project responsibility, teamwork, and encourage the increasing of these personal competencies. blooms revised taxonomy (2001) supports the integration of activities that foster deep cognitive engagement, including evaluation, analysis, and creative design, all of which are central to architectural learning.[6] methodology this research applies a mixed-methods approach, integrating qualitative and quantitative methods to evaluate the employability skills of architecture graduates in the kurdistan region and pinpoint discrepancies between industry demands and university outputs. three primary components comprise the research: a questionnaire survey of fresh graduates 2023–2024 from the eleven public and private universities in kurdistan universities [figure 1], interviews with industry professionals, heads of architecture departments. the study looks at how graduates employability skills for the labor market are affected by on-site learning techniques, such as internships, site visits, and on-site courses [figure 2]. interviews with architecture engineering construction professionals (employers/ industry) the study involves 10 in-depth interviews with architecture professionals to assess graduates performance in the real world. it addresses skill gaps, curriculum alignment, institutional challenges, and insights on university-industry collaboration and industry-academia alignment. cross-cutting themes, such as regional construction trends and policy recommendations are also analyzed for actionable improvements. questionnaire survey a survey was conducted among 120 fresh graduates from eleven architecture departments in the kurdistan region to assess their employability readiness. the survey assessed technical, generic, and personal skills, identifying challenges in skills and academic gaps. graduates also reflected on their career transition, rating the curriculums relevance to industry demands and identifying unmet skill needs. interviews with head of architecture engineering departments in-depth interviews were conducted with the architecture department heads in kurdistan region universities to understand present collaborations with industry, challenges in aligning education with market needs, and suggested strategies for stronger partnerships. it also shows institutional barriers and opportunities for integrating industry-relevant training, such as internships, site visits, field trips, and joint projects. the study evaluates the effect of on-site practical learning in enhancing employability skills. results and discussions perspective of architecture professionals architectural professionals in the kurdistan region are concerned about the readiness of fresh graduates for professional practice. interviews with ten architects revealed gaps in technical skills, adaptability, and university-industry collaboration. graduates with autocad, 3rdsmax, and revit software proficiency are still at a beginner level, with only 60% of the required technical proficiency. this suggests a need for more rigorous practical training in advanced software features, detailed drawings, and comprehensive construction documentation. professional architects are experiencing “practice shock” among new graduates, who struggle with workplace adaptation, multidisciplinary team collaboration, theoretical knowledge application, and managing workflows and deadlines, citing a lack of opportunities for professional judgment and practical problem-solving skills. the interviews revealed significant shortcomings in university-industry collaboration, with internship programs often limited by logistical constraints and a lack of structured frameworks. present models are criticized for being too brief and poorly timed, resulting in a lack of kr g u ni ve rs iti es public universities salahaddin university–erbil (sue) university of sulaimani koya university university of duhok (uod) private universities tishk international university-erbil (tiu) tishk international university-sulaimani (tiu) cihan university–erbil cihan university–sulaimani nawroz university-duhok the american university of kurdistan–duhok (auk) university of kurdistan hewlêr (ukh) figure 1: krg university list hussein and husein: on-site architectural courses and graduate employability skills in krg 51 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 48-55 meaningful impact on students professional development. some architects propose alternative approaches, such as longitudinal mentorship programs and distributing internship experiences across multiple years, to better prepare students for career transitions. professional respondents recommended curriculum improvement in construction detailing, including comprehensive training in contemporary methods and materials, on-site practical components, and engaging with practicing professionals. the kurdistan region faces challenges in architectural education, with graduates lacking technical proficiency and professional readiness for immediate workplace contributions. practice shock and curriculum reforms are needed to prioritize structured real-world practice. implementing distributed internships, early professional mentorship, and enhanced practical components could improve graduate employability and smooth the transition into professional practice. the insights of professionals can guide the reshaping of architectural education to meet industry demands and prepare students for successful careers [table 1]. results of questionnaire survey this study examines the employability skills status of recent architecture graduates (2023–2024) from the eleven architecture department in kurdistan region universities, with participants ranging in age from 23 to 27 years old. the study examines the early career outcomes of recent architecture graduates in the kurdistan region, revealing their educational goals and career paths. the employability rate is 49.2%, with 29.2% employed full-time, 13.3% parttime, and 6.7% self-employed. nearly half of the graduates have secured employment, while 42.5% have not yet entered the workforce. however, 8.3% of respondents are engaged in continuing education, indicating commitment to academic and professional advancement. the data highlights the importance of addressing the unemployment rate and fostering a more inclusive and diverse workforce [figure 3]. the survey reveals a relatively low employability rate in core architecture professions, with only 31.26% of respondents working in traditional architectural roles, such as design architect (20.83%), technical architect (0.83%), site architect (1.6%), interior architect/designer (5%), or assistant in architecture department (3%). this suggests that some of the surveyed graduates are actively practicing architecture in its primary forms. instead, many have shifted to adjacent fields, some working in real estate (2.5%), graphic design (9.16%), or 3d visualization (3%). in addition, a small portion (4%) have moved into completely unrelated sectors, such as business and marketing [figure 4]. the survey highlights that on-site experience (75.4%) is the most valuable skill for professionals, followed closely by bim/digital tools (71.9%) and construction knowledge (69.3%). this suggests that hands-on, practical skills are highly prioritized in the industry. meanwhile, project management (40%) and teamwork (26.3%) [figure 5]. the correlation analysis done between graduates present employment status and perceived critical skill gaps in their curriculum reveals a statistically significant negative relationship (r = −0.431, p < 0.001). this indicates that individuals who identified more gaps in their education were more likely to face unemployment or part-time work, while those with fewer gaps tended to secure full-time roles. the moderate effect size suggests that curriculum shortcomings meaningfully impact employability, emphasizing the need for industry-aligned training to bridge these gaps. the survey results indicate that graduates generally perceived their academic curriculum program as well in preparing them for professional challenges, with notable variations across different competency areas. the highest-rated aspects included problem-solving preparation (mean = 3.63, standard deviation [sd] = 0.66), with 61.67% of respondents agreeing and 3.33% strongly agreeing that the program equipped them well for job-related problem-solving. similarly, teamwork abilities (mean = 3.51, sd = 0.64) and project management skills (mean = 3.48, sd = 0.66) were viewed favorably, suggesting strong development in transferable professional skills. the applicability of digital tools (mean = 3.56, sd = 0.77) and bim knowledge (mean = 3.55, research methodolgy qualitative semi-structured interviews interviews with eleven architecture engineering department heads interviews with industry proffessionals and employers in architecture field qunatitave survey research student survey figure 2: research methodology figure 3: present employment status hussein and husein: on-site architectural courses and graduate employability skills in krg 52 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 48-55 sd = 0.76) also received positive evaluations, reinforcing the program’s success in integrating relevant technological competencies. however, the lower ratings in technical skills and theoretical application highlight a persistent gap between academic instruction and workplace expectations, technical skills preparation (mean = 3.06, sd = 0.89) and the application of theoretical concepts (mean = 3.02, sd = 0.97) emerged as weaker areas, with 29.17% disagreeing on technical preparedness and 34.17% disagreeing with the practical application of theory. industry alignment metrics, such as curriculum relevance to present standards (mean = 3.37, sd = 0.73) and skills matching marketplace demands (mean = 3.27, sd = 0.81), showed moderate satisfaction in industry alignment, suggest that while the curriculum remains generally relevant, periodic updates may be necessary to keep pace with evolving standards. to address these gaps, the program could benefit from enhanced on-site practical learning, stronger industry collaboration for realworld case studies, and iterative curriculum reviews to ensure technical content remains cutting-edge. these improvements would better bridge the theory-practice divide and further solidify graduates readiness for the dynamic construction industry [table 2]. table 1: summary of the findings of an interview with an industry professional in the architecture field thematic area key insights and recommendations technical skill deficiencies professional architects reported that graduates possess limited proficiency in essential software tools (e.g., autocad, 3ds max, revit), typically operating at a beginner level and demonstrating approximately 60% of the technical capacity expected in practice. inadequacies were especially evident in advanced software use, detailed technical drawings, and construction documentation. workplace adaptability challenges professionals observed significant “practice shock” among new graduates, who struggle to adapt to workplace environments. noted difficulties include collaborating in multidisciplinary teams, translating theoretical knowledge into practice, and managing real-world workflows and deadlines. university–industry collaboration gaps 1. curriculum versus practice misalignment: graduates can design but struggle with executable drawings, material specifications, or budget constraints. 2. technology disconnect: universities teach basic software (autocad, revit) 3. regulatory and code knowledge: the university has limited emphasis on local building codes, zoning laws, or permit processes. while the industry needs compliance with regulations is critical, graduates often lack this practical knowledge. 4. professional soft skills: universities rarely teach client negotiation, multidisciplinary teamwork (engineers, contractors) and time management under deadlines. while in industry: these skills determine project success and career advancement professional recommendations for curriculum reform 1. extend internship programs into longitudinal mentorship models spanning from the 1st to 5th academic year to ensure sustained practical exposure. 2. implement a distributed internship structure, allowing students to engage with professional practice gradually across multiple academic years rather than in a single short-term placement. 3. enhance student training in contemporary construction detailing and modern building materials, bridge the gap between theoretical understanding and real-world applications. 4. integrate municipal code literacy into the curriculum through direct on-site engagement with real projects and regulatory environments. 5. introduce early-stage professional exposure, beginning from the 1st year of study, to cultivate industry-relevant skills and align students progressively with workplace expectations. 6. co-teaching: practitioners teach specialized modules (e.g., construction law). 7. live projects: students work on real, small-scale community projects. 8. industry advisory boards: regular curriculum reviews with firms. 9. shared labs: universities and firms collaborate on material testing/digital fabrication. figure 4: fields in which architecture graduates are working figure 5: useful skills in architecture curriculum for profession hussein and husein: on-site architectural courses and graduate employability skills in krg 53 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 48-55 ta b le 2 : em pl oy ab ili ty s ki lls a nd le ar ni ng o ut co m es a ch ie ve d by g ra du at es e m p lo ya b il it y sk il ls a n d l ea rn in g o u tc o m es a ch ie ve d b y g ra d u a te s s tr o n g ly d is a g re e d is a g re e n eu tr a l a g re e s tr o n g ly a g re e m ea n s td . d ev ia ti o n f re q u en cy pe rc en t f re q u en cy pe rc en t f re q u en cy pe rc en t f re q u en cy pe rc en t f re q u en cy pe rc en t th e pr og ra m p re pa re d m e w el l f or t he p ro bl em -s ol vi ng ch al le ng es i fa ce in m y jo b. 2 1. 7 2 1. 7 38 31 .7 74 61 .7 4 3. 3 3. 6 0. 66 th e pr oj ec t m an ag em en t sk ill s i ga in ed in t he p ro gr am a re ap pl ic ab le t o m y w or k. 1 0. 8 4 3. 3 55 45 .8 56 46 .7 4 3. 3 3. 5 0. 66 m y te am w or k ab ili ti es de ve lo pe d du ri ng t he p ro gr am ar e va lu ab le in m y ca re er 0 0 5 4. 2 53 44 .2 58 48 .3 4 3. 3 3. 5 0. 64 i w as a de qu at el y pr ep ar ed fo r em pl oy er e xp ec ta ti on s w he n i en te re d th e w or kf or ce . 2 1. 7 8 6. 7 53 44 .2 53 44 .2 4 3. 3 3. 4 0. 74 th e pr og ra m h el pe d m e de ve lo p th e ad ap ta bi lit y sk ill s ne ed ed in t he c on st ru ct io n in du st ry . 2 1. 7 9 7. 5 49 40 .8 55 45 .8 5 4. 2 3. 4 0. 76 th e b im k no w le dg e i ga in ed ha s be en u se fu l i n m y pr of es si on al w or k. 2 1. 7 2 1. 7 54 45 .0 50 41 .7 11 9. 2 3. 6 0. 76 th e co ns tr uc ti on k no w le dg e i le ar ne d ha s pr ov en r el ev an t to m y ca re er . 2 1. 7 8 6. 7 56 46 .7 48 40 .0 5 4. 2 3. 4 0. 75 i fi nd m ys el f a de qu at el y pr ep ar ed in t er m s of t ec hn ic al sk ill s fo r m y jo b. 2 1. 7 35 29 .2 40 33 .3 40 33 .3 3 2. 5 3. 1 0. 89 th e di gi ta l t oo ls i le ar ne d to u se in t he p ro gr am a re ap pl ic ab le in m y w or k. 0 0. 0 8 6. 7 48 40 .0 50 41 .7 12 10 .0 3. 6 0. 77 i ca n ef fe ct iv el y ap pl y th e th eo re ti ca l c on ce pt s fr om th e pr og ra m in p ra ct ic al si tu at io ns . 3 2. 5 41 34 .2 31 25 .8 39 32 .5 5 4. 2 3. 0 0. 97 m y ed uc at io n al ig ne d w el l w it h ac tu al in du st ry p ra ct ic es i’v e en co un te re d. 1 0. 8 13 10 .8 55 45 .8 47 39 .2 4 3. 3 3. 3 0. 75 th e pr og ra m c on te nt r ef le ct ed pr es en t in du st ry s ta nd ar ds an d re qu ir em en ts . 2 1. 7 8 6. 7 57 47 .5 48 40 .0 4 3. 3 3. 4 0. 73 m y ed uc at io n pr ep ar ed m e w el l f or in du st ry c er ti fi ca ti on / en gi ne er in g sy nd ic at e 2 1. 7 7 5. 8 54 45 .0 47 39 .2 7 5. 8 3. 4 0. 77 th e sk ill s i le ar ne d m at ch th e ac tu al d em an ds o f t he co ns tr uc ti on m ar ke tp la ce . 3 2. 5 14 11 .7 53 44 .2 44 36 .7 4 3. 3 3. 3 0. 81 (c on td ... ) hussein and husein: on-site architectural courses and graduate employability skills in krg 54 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 48-55 perspective of head of architecture departments the findings derived from structured interviews with heads of architecture departments across kurdistan universities reveal a pronounced dissonance between theoretical pedagogy and applied practical training within architectural education. while mandating internship components fail to require structured on-site courses, termed as a “theory-practice divide” in architectural pedagogy. this institutional gap manifests most notably in the uneven implementation of practical internships across universities. while three major universities (salahaddin, sulaimani, and duhok) have integrated semester-long internship courses into their 5th-year curriculum, the remaining institutions continue to treat practical internship in summer. this disparity suggests a lack of standardized implementation of practical internship requirements, potentially creating unequal learning outcomes among graduates from different universities. results indicate that existing field visits (averaging 15–20 annually) provide only superficial exposure to real-world practice, falling short of the immersive, participatory learning experiences needed for competency development. institutional barriers to effective practical training emerged as a dominant theme in interviews, such as industryuniversity collaborations, budget, and safety of construction sites. the head of departments ensured that the department capacity about most instructors have recent industry experience. this academic-practice gap significantly impacts the quality of practical instruction, as departments struggle to bridge theoretical concepts with present professional practices. perhaps most critically, the study revealed weak universityindustry linkages, with few formal partnerships between academic institutions and architectural firms. this lack of collaboration represents a missed opportunity for creating meaningful experiential learning pathways for students. the kurdistan region offers both challenges and opportunities for architectural education due to its rapid urbanization and construction. however, this potential is largely untapped, highlighting a critical gap in preparing students for local practice. the study suggests curriculum reform to integrate on-site practical learning in architectural education. universities should establish formal partnerships with architectural firms and construction companies to create more robust experiential learning opportunities, such as live project work or practitioner-led workshops. conclusion the study investigates the role of on-site practical learning on the employability skills of architecture graduates from public and private universities in the krg. it uses a mixed-methods approach, including graduate surveys, interviews with industry professionals, and department heads, to understand the gap between academic preparation and professional expectations in the region. the evidence strongly indicates that while architecture department curriculum in the region provides a foundational theoretical and conceptual education, they often fall short in ta b le 2 : (c on ti nu ed ) e m p lo ya b il it y sk il ls a n d l ea rn in g o u tc o m es a ch ie ve d b y g ra d u a te s s tr o n g ly d is a g re e d is a g re e n eu tr a l a g re e s tr o n g ly a g re e m ea n s td . d ev ia ti o n f re q u en cy pe rc en t f re q u en cy pe rc en t f re q u en cy pe rc en t f re q u en cy pe rc en t f re q u en cy pe rc en t th e pr og ra m s in du st ry pa rt ne rs hi ps p ro vi de d va lu ab le pr of es si on al c on ne ct io ns . 3 2. 5 8 6. 7 57 47 .5 48 40 .0 4 3. 3 3. 4 0. 76 th e in te rn sh ip e xp er ie nc e en ha nc ed m y un de rs ta nd in g of r ea lw or ld c on st ru ct io n pr ac ti ce s an d on -s it e ch al le ng es . 2 1. 7 2 1. 7 38 31 .7 74 61 .7 4 3. 3 3. 6 0. 66 fi el d tr ip s/ si te v is it s pr ov id ed pr ac ti ca l i ns ig ht s th at co m pl em en te d m y cl as sr oo m le ar ni ng e ff ec ti ve ly . 0 0 5 4. 2 53 44 .2 58 48 .3 9 7. 5 3. 5 0. 64 hussein and husein: on-site architectural courses and graduate employability skills in krg 55 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 48-55 equipping graduates with the technical proficiency, workplace adaptability, and interpersonal competencies required in todays competitive job market. notably, only 49.2% of surveyed graduates were employed, and of those, just a third was engaged in core architectural roles. this highlights a critical gap between curriculum outputs and labor market needs, leading many graduates to seek employment in peripheral fields. however, the statistically significant inverse correlation between skill gaps and employment status confirms that on-site practical learning deficits are not just a narrative; they are also materially that impact employment outcomes. industry professionals have emphasized the “practice shock” experienced by new graduates, who struggle with applying theoretical knowledge in real-world contexts, collaborating across multidisciplinary teams, and managing professional responsibilities. they advocate for longitudinal, distributed internships early in the academic program, along with stronger engagement between universities and architectural firms, to generate substantive professional growth. department heads interviews also covered systemic issues, such as uneven practical module implementation among universities, logistical difficulties planning field trips, a little industry cooperation. even though most department members have work experience, institutional inertia and a lack of funding have prevented this from fully translating into curriculum integration of modern practice. considering these conclusions, the study makes several specific recommendations. to close the gap between architectural education and industry demands in the kurdistan region, a multifaceted reform strategy is necessary, starting with a thorough curriculum overhaul that formally incorporates structured on-site practical learning throughout all 5 academic years. this includes incorporating real-world projects and insights from. at the same time, universities must establish enduring partnerships with architectural firms, construction companies, and municipal planning bodies through joint studios, practitioner-led lectures. efforts should be supported by a regionally coordinated framework to standardize internship requirements, duration, and learning outcomes, ensuring equitable practical exposure for all students. finally, policy advocacy with government bodies, the engineering syndicate, and accreditation agencies, such as bologna process authorities can institutionalize these practices within broader higher education quality frameworks, creating systemic, sustainable change that aligns academic training with industry demands. the kurdistan region is uniquely positioned to lead transformative changes in architectural education, given its ongoing urban development. however, this potential can only be realized through deliberate, sustained efforts to bridge the gap between academic instruction and professional practice. by repositioning on-site practical learning from a peripheral activity to a central pillar of architectural education, universities in the region can produce graduates who are employable. acknowledgment the authors thank salahaddin universityerbil, college of engineering, for their guidance and support. thanks for the eleven universities in the kurdistan region for their invaluable support during data collection, with special thanks to the heads of departments, architecture instructors, and fresh graduated architects for their active participation and insightful survey responses. sincerely, thank the industry professionals in the architecture field for their valuable suggestions during the interview. references 1. h. s. thapa. development of employability skills through workbased learning. journal of vocational education and training, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 102-111, 2024. 2. v. jackson, v. o’brien and a. richards. investigating the impact of experiential learning on employability skill development and employment outcomes: a uk case study of mba students from the indian subcontinent. journal of education and work, vol. 36, pp. 476-493, 2023. 3. t. s. mari, s. srirangam, s. gunasagaran, s. kuppusamy and f. l. ang. architecture graduate work readiness: the gap between learning and employability. iop conference series: materials science and engineering, vol. 636, p. 012010, 2019. 4. l. m. khodeir and a. a. nessim. changing skills for architecture students employability: analysis of job market versus architecture education in egypt. ain shams engineering journal, vol. 11, pp. 811-821, 2020. 5. s. l. olivares, e. adame, j. i. treviño, m. v. lópez and m. l. turrubiates. action learning: challenges that impact employability skills. higher education, skills and work-based learning, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 203-216, 2020. 6. s. kalamkar and s. sinhal. exploring the role of hands-on learning in architecture education. international journal of technology engineering arts mathematics science, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 165-170, 2023. 7. s. y. baper. factors affecting bologna process course registration in architectural engineering department-salahaddin university. zanco journal of pure and applied sciences, vol. 36, no. 2, p. 53, 2024. 8. r. cole-hawthorne, a. dedekorkut-howes, j. byrne, d. tomerini and a. sammel. the role of fieldtrips in fostering employability skills in planning students. in: anzaps 2017: locating places, locating planning, proceedings, hobart, australia, p. 14, 2017. 9. i̇. erbaş. the influence of construction site internships in architecture education: a study on kolb’s experiential learning theory. prostor, vol. 31, no. 66, p. 299, 2023. 10. e. antonini, j. gaspari and c. visconti. collaborative learning experiences in a changing environment: innovative educational approaches in architecture. sustainability, vol. 13, no. 16, p. 8895, 2021. 11. r. q. g. rashed, a. a. abubakar, o. madani and y. h. al-mamary. enhancing student engagement and motivation for sustainable education: the role of internship and institutional support. sustainability, vol. 17, no. 12, p. 5291, 2025. tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 14 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 research article an elastic net approach to logistic regression for genetic selection in high-dimensional brain cancer data nozad h. mahmood1, dler h. kadir1 1department of statistics and information, college of administration and economics, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, iraq, abstract the study explores issues related to the treatment of brain cancer caused by the heterogeneous nature of different variants of brain tumors. the objective of this study was to identify essential genes present in multiple types of brain cancer using high-dimensional gene expression data available on the curated microarray database. the study’s dataset comprised a total of 130 samples belonging to four subtypes of brain cancer and 16384 gene expression variables. thus, the penalized elastic net method, in conjunction with multinomial logistic regression, was used to cope with the curse of dimensionality problems. then, accuracy, kappa statistics, an area under the curve (auc), and f1-score were utilized to evaluate measures of the model efficiency. elastic net proved to be quite effective in the sense of the extensiveness of the variables included in the analysis and successfully restricted gene level further analysis as well as highlighted subtype-specific expression signatures. the model achieved high precision and auc values, indicating that, in general, the model had a good ability to distinguish all subtypes with some around perfect scores of auc. robust parameter estimation was supplemented with cross-validation and other predictive model validation statistical techniques done in r language programming. thus, these findings suggest that the best model for evaluating large-scale gene expression data of brain cancers is the use of multinomial logistic regression (mlr) with an elastic net regularization. there is ample evidence that these selected genes contribute to and serve as targets for therapy, therefore making this study a good starting point for further investigations with respect to understanding their biological role. the corresponding model is also to be applied to test its validity on some other datasets of a quite different nature. this, in turn, may suggest improved diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic options for the brain tumor. keywords: brian cancer, elastic net, regularization techniques, gene selection, multinomial logistic model, high-dimensional data introduction brain cancer describes a well heterogeneous array of malignancies that arise within the brain tissue and represent a considerable threat to human health around the globe. such tumors have great variability in pathology, molecular structure, and clinical behavior, leading to variable prognosis and treatment response rates.[1] it is vital to appreciate the multifactorial nature of genetic and environmental determinants of brain tumor development to achieve advancements in cancer patient outcomes.[2] recent high-throughput technologies have made it possible to perform extensive profiling of gene expression across brain tumors and construct such high-dimensional datasets that consist of thousands of genes.[3] however, the analysis of such data has great difficulties because of the “curse of dimensionality” where the maximum number of genes (variables) greatly outnumbers the samples.[4] thus, such a situation can result in overfitting phenomena where models fit to the noise instead of the signal, making models difficult to interpret and generalize.[5] therefore, effective gene selection approaches are essential for the analysis of high-dimensional genetic data and pinpointing the strongest target spaces responsible for the different subtypes of brain cancers. multinomial logistic regression is used for modeling outcome variables that involve a finite number of categories.[6] it is a generalization of the binary logistic regression for problems that involve more than two classes, making it appropriate for the analysis of data on brain cancer.[7] mlr models the relationship of a set of independent variables (gene expression corresponding author: nozad h. mahmood, department of statistics and information, college of administration and economics, salahaddin universityerbil, erbil, iraq. e-mail: nozad.mahmood@sulicihan.edu.krd received: november 21, 2024 accepted: december 20, 2024 published: january 20, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n1y2025.pp14-23 copyright © 2025 nozad h. mahmood, dler h. kadir. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) mahmood and kadir: elastic net for brain cancer genetics 15 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 levels) with a dependent variable which is categorical (subtype of brain cancer) by estimating the log-odds for each brain cancer subtype with respect to a certain base category.[8] even though mlr seems to be a powerful method, it has problems in high-dimensional areas. traditional mlr often suffers from overfitting which leads to unstable estimates and poor predictions in large genomic-wide association studies with limited samples.[9] moreover, collinearity between the predictor variables of which the standard errors will be large, making individual gene effects less identifiable.[10] such challenges mean that penalized methods have to be employed for better variable selection and to improve the model’s robustness. the elastic net is a contemporary and efficient method for regularization and variable selection which improves the shortcomings of the classical mlr in the examination of high-dimensional mlr data sets.[11] it wallows in the l1 (lasso) and l2 (ridge) penalties which provide a level of tradeoff between the selection process and shrinkage of the coefficient of the model parameters.[12,13] where there is an application of the l1 penalty, it is noted to promote the occurrence of sparsity by shrinking some of the coefficients to exactly zero, thereby performing an automatic variable selection process.[14] where there is an application of the l2 penalty, all the coefficients are shrunken to zero, including the offset, thereby even alleviating multicollinearity and increasing model stability. the existing relationship or association between the two penalties means that the application of the elastic net to high-dimensional genetic data has a lot of advantages. for instance, the method is less frustrating in identifying relevant genes with respect to the presence of several other genes, thereby devising models that are easier to work with and understand.[15] the performance of the elastic net is better than that of the lasso and ridge regression in most highdimensional situations.[16,17] along with its ability to interpret the model, better prediction accuracy increased, thus the method may work for identifying critical genetic markers for subtypes of brain cancer. the objective of the research is to apply an elastic netregularized mlr framework to identify the key genes which are responsible for the different subtypes of brain cancer using the high dimensional gene expression dataset. it is also intended to make use of the variable selection attributes of the elastic net to obtain gene expression patterns, which will assist in the identification of specific subtypes of brain cancer, helping improve its diagnosis and treatment. literature review analysis of gene expression has proven to be an important tool in brain cancer studies because it has helped define molecular subtypes, prognostic indicators, and even therapeutic targets.[18] microarray and rna sequencing techniques have been employed to characterize the pattern of gene expression in different types and grades of brain tumors which disclose distinct molecular profiles that correlate with the aggressiveness of the tumor features, response to treatment, and survival of patients.[19,20] these studies underscore the usefulness of gene expression data in making sense of the pathology of brain cancer and the development of individualized treatment approaches as well. the most important problem in this sphere of research is the analysis of data which has a large number of dimensions. as biological research now can title and measure thousands of genes at once, traditional statistical approaches usually fall short because of multicollinearity, overfitting, and poor accuracy.[21] the “curse of dimensionality” relates to the fact that as the number of dimensions increases, the data becomes increasingly sparse, making the identification of meaningful correlations and patterns in the data much more effortful.[5] in genomics scenarios, this can venture to unstable association and prediction in the results. various variable selection strategies have been suggested to deal with the high dimensionality issue. recursive partitioning techniques, for example, stepwise regression methods are easy to implement but may also be overfitted and unstable as they use a greedy search process. two popular penalized regression techniques among many that can be useful are lasso regression and ridge which are used l1 and l2 penalty regression, respectively. lasso not only does variable selection but also shrinks the estimates of regression coefficients through the introduction of an l1 constraint which drives some coefficients to zero. ridge regression, on the other hand, employs l2 penalization and does not choose variables but concentrates them near the zero point. the elastic net combines the merits of lasso and ridge by dealing with issues associated with highly correlated predictors and allowing for a more effective application of variable selection methods. according to[6] many categorical dependent variables are best analyzed using techniques such as multinomial logistic regression which is one of the more sophisticated statistical techniques. it incorporates the general concepts of logistic regression into cases where an outcome variable consists of three or more categories. in the case of brain cancer, multinomial versus logistic regression would allow us to predict the subtype of a tumor based on the expression of a bunch of genes. the technique calculates the likelihood of a sample being of a specific subtype by estimating the log odds of the subtypes as a linear combination of the predictors which are (genes) in this instance. the elastic net has turned out to be an effective variable selection tool in situations characterized by high dimensionality, particularly in genomics and other biomedical fields.[14] it is particularly appropriate for gene expression data that has such predictors because genes are usually co-regulated and functionally related. the elastic net makes use of both l1 and l2 penalties and thus allows coefficient shrinkage to a certain level of being near zero whilst some relevant variables are still able to be selected. furthermore, the elastic net has been proven useful in determining predictive gene signatures of different cancers, among them breast cancer and leukemia.[22] its use on gene expression data of brain cancers has a great likelihood of helping to uncover significant genes responsible for subtype change and therefore increasing prediction accuracy. mahmood and kadir: elastic net for brain cancer genetics 16 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 materials and methods acquisition of data the dataset pertaining to brain cancer which was used in this analysis originates from the curated microarray database (cumida). the dataset contains gene expression data consisting of 16384 gene variables in 130 samples for four different types of brain cancer with varying numbers of observations as given in table 1. data preprocessing the cumida database is useful in the field of machine learning applications for cancer research and provides microarray-based standardized and prepared datasets to harness computational analyses. every step was performed carefully during the submission of the brain cancer data set for background correction and removal of any inaccurate probes, thus guaranteeing a robust as well as a reliable analysis process. study design the purpose of the research was to develop a sparse multinomial logistic regression model and test its possible application in classifying the brain cancer subtypes with the help of elastic net shrinkage methods to resolve the overfitting issues and cope with a great number of gene expression data independent variables. several assessment metrics were used for the comprehensive evaluation of how well the models performed such as accuracy, kappa statistics, area under the curve (auc), and f1-score. k-fold cross-validation has also been applied for the purpose of more reliable estimation by eliminating bias or variance which are factors during fitting models which may result from employing only one random sampling split. in addition, r programming was used to develop these models. model development for a binary logistic model with two classes (0 and 1), the probability of class 1 given the features is modeled as: p y x e e t x t x ( / )� � � � � 1 1 0 0 � � � � the probability of class 0 is: p y x e t x ( / )� � � � 0 1 1 0� � where y and x are dependent and independent variables, respectively, and β0 is intercepted β = β1, β2,…) a multinomial logistic model is a broader form of logistic regression model useful when there is one dependent variable with more than two categories.[23] the probability for classes k = 1, 2,…, k-1 is: p y k x e e k k t x j k j j t x ( / )� � � � � � �� � � � � 0 1 1 01 for the kth class (as the reference class), the probability is: p y k x e j k j j t x ( / )� � � � � �� 1 1 1 1 0� � these probabilities ensure that the sum over all classes is 1: k k i ip y k x � � � � 1 1( / ) combining the above, for each class k (including the reference class k) 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 , 1,2,3, , 1 1 ( / ) 1 , 1 t xk k k t xj j j k t xj j j e k k e p y k x k k e β β β β β β + − + = − + =   = … −  += =   = + ∑ ∑ here, β0k is the intercept for class k, and βk is the vector of coefficients for independent variables. the likelihood function for the entire dataset, assuming n independent observations, is the product of the individual probabilities: l p y k x i n i i�� � � � � � 1 ( / ) it can be written as below: l e ei n k k k k t xi j k j j t xi yi k � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � �� �1 1 0 1 0 1( ) (1) the indicator function of ( ) = = =   1        1 0     i i if y k y k otherwise the log-likelihood function is obtained by taking the logarithm of the likelihood function by taking the natural logarithm of equation (1).[24] log logl y k e ei n k k i k k t xi j k j j t xi � � � � � � � � �� � � � � � �� � � � ��� �1 1 0 1 0 1 �� � � � � (2) for simplicity equation (2) can be written as below. ( ) ( ) ( ) β β β β β = += =   =   =     + −       ∑ ∑ ∑ 0 1 1 0 1 1 log   log t j j i k i n k k xi t k k i j y k l x e (3) table 1: types and observations of brain cancer types number of observations ependymoma 46 glioblastoma 34 medulloblastoma 26 pilocytic_astrocytoma 24 total 130 mahmood and kadir: elastic net for brain cancer genetics 17 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 to estimate the parameters from equation (3), we can maximize logl(β) with respect to (β0,β1,…,βk) or minimize the function of –logl(β). feature selection the logl(β) function from equation (3) is derived to install penalized regression techniques trying to adapt the logistic multinomial model. the objective of the model is to control the coefficients which may lead to the ratio of penalized regression, especially in situations where the number of observations n is less than the number of features.[25] the penalized multinomial logistic regression model can be stated as: l l penalty termpenalty � �� � � � � � �log ( ) ( )( )0 1 1 0 1 1 log k t i k k in k penalty k t xi j j i j y k x l penalty term eβ β β β β = += =   = +    = − +    −      ∑ ∑ ∑ elastic net the elastic net penalty adds together both l1-norm and l2-norm penalties that achieve automatic estimation and variable selection of the model simultaneously.[26,27] to maintain the ratio of lasso and ridge penalties on the model, we assume that α ∈ (0,1) then, the elastic net penalty can be written in the form as: penaltyelasti net k k j p kj k k j p kj� � � � � � � �� ��� � � � 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 λ1 = λ α, λ2 = λ (1 – α) if α = 0, we will have ridge regularization. if α = 1, we have lasso regularization. if 0 < α < 1, we have elastic net. the parameters λ > 0 control the degree of lasso and ridge penalties. this parameter is usually estimated through cross-validation, where the aim is to identify the most optimal one that minimizes an objective function on the validation set. then, logl(β) for a multinomial logistic model with elastic net becomes: ( ) ( )( ) 0 0 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 log n k k t xt j j i elastic i k k i i k j p pk k kj kj k j k j l y k x eβ ββ β β λ β λ β + = = = = = = =      = − = + −      + + ∑ ∑ ∑ ∑∑ ∑∑ model evaluation in the context of precision, accuracy, auc, and f1-score, they are all essential metrics of interest for the performance of classification models. it is worth stating, however, that they have their own benefits and limitations depending on the problem, and most importantly the class imbalance issue. accuracy: the accuracy metric is purely how many predictions were correct out of the total cases predicted. it indicates whether positive and negative results were actually positive and negative. considering the formula and the method, accuracy is easy to grasp and calculate, and it is effective if the class is balanced.[28] accuracy nmber of correct predictions total number of predi = � � � � � � cctions the f1 score integrates both precision and recall into a single value by taking their harmonic mean rather than the arithmetic mean in which one value can overshadow the other on account of superlative performance. simply put, it is used to illustrate how well the model performs.[29] precision x recallf1 score 2 precision recall − = × + auc: the auc, where the curve depicts the true positive rate against the false positive rate with regards to the different threshold settings in the receiver operating characteristic (roc) auc range values are as follows: 0 < auc < 1 auc = 0.5 means no discrimination. auc = 1 indicates perfect discrimination between classes. it does serve the purpose of assessing the performance of a model, especially in cases where class imbalance exists. cross-validation strategy: cross-validation (k-fold) is the most widespread technique for assessing a model’s performance since it allows a reliable estimation with a low level of bias and variance in the evaluation (iyengar, 2024). results in this section, the number of genes chosen by all the gene selection techniques for sparsity regularization and performance measures that may be useful will be discussed. also, the multinomial logistic models will be assessed in terms of their predictive accuracy, whether these models are selected or not. in the model-building process, figure 1 is a crucial stage. it determines the optimal values of lambda for elastic net regularization which in turn improves the tuning of the models during the training set so that they generalize well to new data. this technique is essential in the quest to build optimal and precise models for the classification of brain subtypes from gene expression data. the figure illustrates the results of cross-validation when the elastic net method is applied. for elastic net, the lambda that would be optimal is 0.00829563. this number will be employed in further analysis for the construction of final models of the method. figure 1 depicts the relationship between model complexity and tuning parameters. the increase in lambda achieves a greater penalty on model coefficients which may disturb simpler reconciliation of models with higher deviance. the optimal value of lambda therefore is the one that tends to be in the middle of these two minimization processes. table 2 demonstrates the performance of the elastic net penalty application using the optimum lambda value mahmood and kadir: elastic net for brain cancer genetics 18 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 figure 1: cross-validation plots to choose the optimal λ to have the minimum deviance table 2: the performance of penalty methods based on the best lambda chosen from cross-validation methods criteria elastic net best lambda 0.00829563 accuracy 0.875 kappa 0.8294 established in figure 1. the performance is assessed according to two metrics, which are accuracy the proportion of the total samples of each type of brain cancer that were correctly classified, and kappa an agreement measure concerning the actual and predicted labels taking into account the chance agreement. the fact that the kappa value is 0.8294 entails that there is almost perfect agreement between the model outputs and the actual observations. this implies that the model is quite accurate and distinguishes among the several types of brain cancer much better than chance would do. the results show that elastic net performs well in accuracy with a score of 87.5 % and a kappa score of 0.8294. this means that an elastic net model with l1 and l2 penalizing factors is suitable for the task at hand both for the fitting of the data and controlling model complexity. table 3 shows the number of genes selected (those with non-zero coefficients) by the elastic net method for each one of the four brain subtypes. the notable point here is the compression in the dimensionality quite significantly brought about by the elastic net penalized method. elastic net performs feature selection because some coefficients become zero, leading to sparser models. sparser models are created by setting specific coefficients equal to zero. as a result, instead of estimating a huge number of 16384 variables, the elastic net method has selected 54 variables for ependymoma, 79 variables for glioblastoma, 46 variables for medulloblastoma, and 58 variables for pilocytic astrocytoma of brain cancers subtypes. such sparsity may significantly improve both interpretability and computational efficiency. moreover, the names and coefficients of all the selected genes by elastic net are given in table 1 [appendix]. figure 2 shows the number of selected variables (genes) for the elastic net method across all four classes. the bar chart clearly demonstrates the sparsity of elastic net, highlighting their variable selection capability. the performance evaluation for the sparsity regularization method of elastic net in classifying brain tumor subtypes was conducted and the results are represented in table 4 and figure 2: non-zero coefficients (genes selection) based on classes table 3: number of genes selected by elastic net regularization method within each class classes penalty methods elastic net ependymoma 54 glioblastoma 79 medulloblastoma 46 pilocytic_astrocytoma 58 figure 3. the evaluation metrics used are auc values, which quantify the overall ability of a model to discriminate a target class among a set of classes (brain cancer subtypes in this case). according to the results, the elastic net performs remarkably very well for most subtypes, in some settings the auc is close to one. in such a way that it consistently attains aucs of 1 for the ependymoma subtype, it means it is always perfect in classifying this type of brain cancer. furthermore, macroaveraged auc, which is a global measure of performance across all subtypes, also indicates that elastic net is the best performer in all with 0.972027. table 4: the values of auc for each subtype or class classes area under the curve (auc) elastic net ependymoma 1 glioblastoma 0.9907 medulloblastoma 0.9474 pilocytic_ astrocytoma 0.95 mahmood and kadir: elastic net for brain cancer genetics 19 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 figure 3: receiver operating characteristic (roc) and macro average roc curves for each method table 5: performance criteria for methods based on the subtypes of brain cancer penalty method classes sensitivity specificity positive pred value negative pred value precision recall f1-score elastic net ependymoma 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 glioblastoma 0.8333 1 1 0.9474 0.8333 1 0.9091 medulloblastoma 0.6 1 1 0.9048 0.6 1 0.75 pilocytic astrocytoma 1 0.85 0.5714 1 1 0.5714 0.7273 the effectiveness of the model improves the more the curve approaches the upper left corner. therefore, all the curves begin with a steep slope. in addition, the graphs of the individual roc curves of the subtypes also emphasize the performance of elastic net further for the subtypes where they obtained perfect auc. in general, elastic net portrays strong discriminative power in the classification of brain cancer subtypes as indicated by the high auc values and roc curves. the results also show that techniques which promote sparsity such as elastic net can greatly enhance multinomial logistic regression models, which in turn can be used in classifying brain cancer subtypes with more than a thousand-dimensional gene data. table 5 illustrates the performance metric outcomes of the sparsity regularization method of elastic net on different subtypes of brain cancers. generally, among the subtypes of ependymoma, the elastic net performed high on scores (sensitivity, specificity, and f1-score) = 1 which means that those cases were perfectly classified. moreover, for the other subtypes, it presents an overall good classification achieving a certain acceptance level of sensitivity, specificity, and f1-scores. this means that the results indicate that elastic net indeed takes care of the high-dimensional problems in classifying brain cancer. better classification could be obtained by feature selection which will also lead to more interpretable models. the fact that there were different results within subtypes suggests that one should consider specific characteristics of subtypes before settling on a classification method. focusing on the genes picked by the algorithms along with their biological relevance would also be important as research may help clarify various mechanisms underlying different types of brain. discussion this paper employed an elastic net-regularized multinomial logistic regression model to derive gene signatures for the various brain cancer subgroups using high dimensional gene expression data. the results show the usefulness of this method in solving the problems associated with the high dimensionality and multicollinearity of independent variables which leads to reducing the model to be a better performance and more robust interpretation of the model. the elastic net’s ability to perform simultaneous variable selection and coefficient shrinkage proved crucial in handling the high-dimensional gene expression data. by shrinking some coefficients to zero, the elastic net effectively identified a subset of genes with the strongest association with each brain cancer subtype, reducing the complexity of the model and enhancing its interpretability. this feature selection capability aligns with previous research demonstrating the utility of the elastic net in high-dimensional genomic data analysis for various cancer types, including breast cancer and leukemia.[22] similarly, other studies have emphasized the importance of robust feature selection methods for extracting meaningful insights from complex gene expression data in brain cancer research.[4,20] the performance evaluation using auc and other metrics confirmed the strong discriminatory power of the elastic net model. achieving near-perfect auc values for certain subtypes suggests the potential of this approach for improved diagnosis and subtype classification. this finding echoes the broader trend in brain cancer research where gene expression analysis has been increasingly utilized to identify molecular subtypes and prognostic markers.[18,19] the variability in performance noted between the different observed subtypes reinforces the fact that brain cancer is indeed a complex disease and that there is a need for gene expression signatures specific to each subtype, a view that has been noted in previous studies which have shown that different grades and types of brain tumors possess distinct molecular characteristics.[20] mahmood and kadir: elastic net for brain cancer genetics 20 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 the biological importance of the genetic variations among subtypes of interest needs to be explored further. knowing the functions of these genes can help one understand the drivers of each subtype and possibly more importantly, help one find new possible therapies. on the other hand, there are also attempts being made in this area which seek to resolve the combined genetic and environmental epidemiology of brain cancer.[1] thus, further investigations could examine the incorporation of more clinical and molecular variables with a view to improving the predictive power and clinical applicability of the model. this categorical approach is in line with the shift in opinion toward the role of data integration in precision oncology.[30] overall, this study demonstrates that elastic netregularized multinomial logistic regression can be an efficient method for analyzing high-dimensional gene expression data relevant to brain tumor research. the identified subtypespecific gene expression signatures could help advance diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment strategies leading towards better tailor-made approaches to fight against this dreadful disease. conclusion the research proceeded with the construction of a sparse multinomial logistic regression model based on elastic net shrinkage methods in an effort to classify brain cancer subtypes based on genetic expression data. this solved the overfitting problem and the problem of having too many independent variables which is a common scenario in highdimensional data problems. the elastic net regularization technique was therefore found to be of importance in the analysis of high-dimensional gene expression data by allowing for variable selection and shrinkage of the coefficients at the same time. this enabled the model to select only those groups of genes with the highest significance to risk for a particular brain cancer subtype, thus improving the performance and the explanatory power of the model. the results confirmed the validity of the elastic netregularized multinomial logistic regression as a competent model for the analysis of high-dimensional gene expression data. this method contributed not only to increasing the accuracy of the classification of subtypes of brain cancers but also enabled the discovery of subtype-shifting gene expression signatures. the discovered gene expression signatures have the potential to provide the needed impetus toward better diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment measures for brain cancer, making it possible to employ more directed and effective measures against this problem. more studies are suggested to determine the biological relevance of the genes selected for this study as well as apply the model to more varied populations for better substantiation. references 1. d. n. louis, a. perry, p. wesseling, d. j. brat, i. a. cree, d. figarella-branger, c. hawkins, h. k. ng, s. m. pfister, g. reifenberger, r. soffietti, a. von deimling and d. w. ellison. the 2021 who classification of tumors of the central nervous system: a summary. neuro-oncology, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 1231-1251, 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and elastic net tend to over-select features. mathematics, vol. 11, no. 17, p. 3738, 2023. 28. j. balayla. prevalence threshold and bounds in the accuracy of binary classification systems. cornell university, new york, 2021. 29. p. christen, d. j. hand and n. kirielle. a review of the f-measure: its history, properties, criticism, and alternatives. acm computing surveys, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 1-24, 2023. 30. m. weller, w. wick, k. aldape, m. brada, m. berger, s. m. pfister, r. nishikawa, m. rosenthal, p. y. wen, r. stupp and g. reifenberger. glioma. nature reviews disease primers, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 15017, 2015. mahmood and kadir: elastic net for brain cancer genetics 22 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 appendix: selected variables (gens) based on each brain cancer subtypes ependymoma glioblastoma medulloblastoma pilocytic_astrocytoma (intercept) 0.82307 (intercept) 0.20406 (intercept) −0.43924 (intercept) −0.58789 x1552296_at 0.02868 x1438_at 0.0189 x1553157_at 0.04591 x1552302_at 0.09649 x1552970_s_at 0.0541 x1552619_a_at 0.09434 x1553268_at 0.04684 x1552304_at −0.02193 x1553140_at 0.07397 x1553043_a_at 0.03575 x1553611_s_at 0.19474 x1554095_at −0.02047 x1553321_a_at 0.00582 x1553276_at 0.10793 x1554098_at 0.06079 x1554170_a_at −0.10002 x1553513_at −0.06128 x1553411_s_at 0.24225 x1555154_a_at −0.01896 x1554272_at −0.01436 x1553622_a_at 0.08222 x1553441_at 0.00096 x1556092_s_at 0.0759 x1555250_a_at 0.06405 x1553734_at 0.09392 x1553983_at 0.00948 x1556444_a_at 0.2522 x1555403_a_at 0.00704 x1554116_s_at −0.06526 x1553984_s_at 0.07494 x1556963_at 0.01203 x1555836_at −0.02157 x1555007_s_at 0.14043 x1554112_a_at −0.04166 x1559735_at 0.00161 x1556619_at 0.15262 x1555082_a_at 0.03328 x1554332_a_at 0.05281 x1560091_a_at 0.18482 x1556776_a_at −0.04423 x1557636_a_at 0.06628 x1555403_a_at −0.00685 x1560108_at 0.05542 x1556877_at 0.26185 x1560503_a_at −0.07319 x1555925_at 0.07318 x1560734_at 0.00653 x1558105_a_at 0.06 x1560834_a_at 0.11466 x1555980_a_at −0.10482 x1561341_at 0.03356 x1558280_s_at 0.09876 x1561106_at 0.03096 x1556019_at −0.10273 x1562309_s_at 0.09042 x1559883_s_at 0.00047 x1561429_a_at 0.0762 x1556573_s_at 0.06695 x1569188_s_at 0.04031 x1560647_at 0.03261 x1561504_s_at 0.10127 x1556896_at 0.01523 x1569290_s_at −0.13844 x1561324_at 0.05663 x1562371_s_at 0.03812 x1557167_at −0.10269 x1569469_a_at 0.06698 x1561343_a_at −0.00641 x1562583_s_at 0.01223 x1557169_x_at −0.03906 x201015_s_at 0.05989 x1563145_at 0.09144 x1563814_at 0.09818 x1557309_at 0.15031 x201418_s_at 0.01648 x1568752_s_at −0.03865 x1568606_at 0.00813 x1557325_at 0.05706 x201534_s_at −0.03106 x1568888_at −0.0945 x1568644_at −0.0022 x1557359_at 0.28137 x201565_s_at −0.11082 x1569934_at 0.06197 x1569186_at 0.14491 x1557486_at −0.01431 x201566_x_at −0.08521 x200790_at −0.16455 x1570035_at −0.00492 x1558508_a_at 0.06359 x201876_at −0.17757 x201047_x_at 0.18132 x1570169_at −0.01967 x1558568_a_at −0.06444 x202381_at −0.00876 x201133_s_at 0.12042 x200811_at 0.00424 x1558834_s_at 0.03118 x202800_at −0.02537 x201292_at −0.02405 x201365_at 0.06873 x1558841_at −0.02931 x202848_s_at 0.14732 x201303_at −0.05069 x201564_s_at −0.15413 x1559111_a_at 0.05312 x203795_s_at 0.02413 x201614_s_at −0.15487 x202357_s_at 0.05722 x1559462_at 0.01933 x204045_at −0.02328 x201820_at 0.02687 x202409_at 0.10286 x1559992_a_at 0.00583 x204060_s_at 0.03691 x202330_s_at −0.191 x202713_s_at 0.02084 x1564936_at 0.11029 x204061_at 0.02919 x202421_at −0.0564 x203337_x_at −0.00974 x1564964_at 0.06805 x204088_at −0.17597 x202503_s_at −0.02291 x204288_s_at 0.00404 x1565598_at 0.11856 x204130_at 0.11738 x202593_s_at 0.03838 x204298_s_at 0.03724 x1569183_a_at 0.10018 x204465_s_at 0.03012 x202763_at −0.04589 x204741_at −0.09191 x1569934_at −0.03686 x204469_at −0.17362 x202768_at 0.04172 x204800_s_at 0.10079 x1570255_s_at 0.02612 x204781_s_at −0.00759 x203022_at −0.03811 x204877_s_at 0.01762 x200811_at −0.03401 x205311_at 0.05355 x203213_at −0.15018 x204932_at 0.30163 x200940_s_at −0.04208 x205445_at 0.06772 x203358_s_at −0.05451 x204933_s_at 0.30847 x201193_at 0.00945 x205857_at 0.17959 x203477_at 0.01034 x205161_s_at 0.11716 x201584_s_at 0.05808 x205970_at −0.04295 x203649_s_at 0.06895 x205186_at 0.02606 x201787_at −0.0496 x206230_at 0.20859 x203768_s_at 0.00534 x205328_at 0.03462 x201850_at 0.02903 x206271_at −0.01822 x203839_s_at 0.14987 (contd...) appendix mahmood and kadir: elastic net for brain cancer genetics 23 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (1): 14-23 appendix: (continued) ependymoma glioblastoma medulloblastoma pilocytic_astrocytoma (intercept) 0.82307 (intercept) 0.20406 (intercept) −0.43924 (intercept) −0.58789 x205421_at 0.14693 x202246_s_at 0.10458 x206403_at 0.03297 x203958_s_at −0.01045 x205562_at 0.00752 x202409_at −0.06603 x206422_at 0.16859 x204092_s_at −0.00804 x205666_at 0.06251 x202580_x_at 0.04053 x206722_s_at 0.03394 x204146_at −0.01616 x205906_at 0.00174 x202718_at 0.01873 x206893_at −0.0091 x204156_at 0.05223 x205924_at −0.00405 x202994_s_at −0.03581 x204338_s_at 0.0807 x206170_at 0.00279 x202995_s_at −0.12111 x204339_s_at 0.03569 x206308_at 0.0446 x203362_s_at 0.04662 x204414_at 0.03277 x206335_at 0.03515 x203380_x_at −0.01402 x204444_at −0.04664 x206336_at 0.00461 x203865_s_at −0.05842 x204466_s_at 0.03622 x206683_at 0.08253 x203963_at 0.00813 x204632_at 0.00397 x206773_at 0.09108 x204062_s_at −0.01086 x205046_at −0.03811 x204146_at 0.10208 x205339_at −0.01853 x204170_s_at 0.01662 x205466_s_at 0.0428 x204204_at 0.01318 x205508_at 0.00055 x204466_s_at −0.07174 x206729_at 0.14615 x204508_s_at 0.04399 x204600_at 0.05308 x204639_at 0.11363 x204825_at 0.12085 x204877_s_at −0.02019 x204882_at 0.13267 x205194_at 0.01384 x205306_x_at 0.21862 x205542_at 0.11852 x205762_s_at 0.0316 x205775_at −0.13669 x205931_s_at 0.09853 x206018_at 0.03698 x206025_s_at 0.00091 x206026_s_at 0.07345 x206159_at −0.08246 x206172_at 0.02561 x206178_at 0.15791 x206201_s_at 0.06273 x206299_at −0.15668 x206364_at 0.03199 x206516_at 0.06593 tx_1~abs:at/add:tx_2~abs:at 61 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 61-67 research article microbial and heavy metal contamination assessment in restaurant foods: a quality assurance study from erbil city, kurdistan region of iraq solav k. malarash, khalid e. aziz department of food technology, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, iraq abstract during this study, six different restaurants located in erbil city were categorized, and a total of 96 samples were collected from them. samples were gathered, and microbial and chemical tests were performed to evaluate fungal contamination and the presence of lead and cadmium as heavy metals. final results indicated widespread microbial contamination across all food types tested. escherichia coli and staphylococcus aureus were among the most frequently isolated bacteria, detected in over 70% of samples. fungal contaminants, including penicillium, aspergillus, and candida species, were also commonly found, with contamination rates exceeding 50% in specific food categories. heavy metal analysis revealed high levels of lead and cadmium in staple foods. rice samples from some restaurants contained lead concentrations up to 1.56 ppm and cadmium up to 1.75 ppm, both exceeding international safety limits. meat-based dishes also showed elevated cadmium levels reaching 1.52 ppm, while salads consistently tested below detectable limits. these findings underscore the urgent need for stricter hygiene protocols, routine screening for microbial and heavy metal contaminants, and targeted training for food handlers to reduce contamination and protect public health. keywords: microbiological contamination, quality assurance, heavy metals, culture media, consumer needs introduction quality assurance plays a vital role in all industrial fields, as well as the food industry. in this specific field, it ensures the safety, hygiene, and overall quality of food products, which is essential for protecting public health and maintaining consumer trust. among various subsets of the food industry, restaurants, as the key points of food service, must take advantage of effective quality assurance systems to prevent foodborne illnesses. to achieve this goal, different health and safety assurance systems have been introduced. one of the most widely applied systems is the hazard analysis and critical control point (haccp) system, which systematically identifies, evaluates, and controls biological, chemical, and physical hazards throughout food production. this framework includes different steps, including hazard identification, defining critical control points, establishing safety limits, continuous monitoring, corrective actions, verification, and detailed record-keeping to ensure consistent food safety.[1] as well as haccp, there are good manufacturing practices (gmps) and good hygiene practices (ghps) that provide important guidelines to keep food production areas clean and safe. these two systems are applied before haccp to guarantee proper sanitation and acceptable hygiene during the process. alongside standard operating procedures (sops), especially those for sanitation, help make sure that all surfaces, tools, and equipment are thoroughly cleaned and sterilized. in addition to all these steps, various rules were set for staff hygiene, helping to prevent any contamination during food preparation and handling. figure 1 represents the relationship between gmp, ghp, haccp, good manufacturing practices (gmp), good hygiene practices (ghp), hazard analysis and critical control point (haccp), quality assurance and control plan qacp, quality management system (qms) and food safety management system (fsms), total quality management (tqm), and standard operating procedures (sops).[2,3] corresponding author: solav k. malarash, department of food technology, college of agricultural engineering sciences, salahaddin university-erbil, erbil, iraq. e-mail: solav.malarash@su.edu.krd received: august 06, 2025 accepted: september 04, 2025 published: september 20, 2025 doi: 10.24086/cuesj.v9n2y2025.pp61-67 copyright © 2025 solav k. malarash, khalid e. aziz. this is an open-access article distributed under the creative commons attribution license. cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj). cihan university-erbil scientific journal (cuesj) malarash and aziz: assessment in restaurant foods 62 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 61-67 in order to ensure food safety and quality, restaurants can take advantage of international standards. certifications like iso 22000 focus on food safety, while iso 9001 improves service quality. other iso standards address environmental impact, worker safety, and information security. the haccp system, part of iso 22000, helps manage food safety risks. gmp are also important guidelines for safe food handling. the codex alimentarius sets global food standards to promote fair trade and protect public health. together, these standards help restaurants provide safe food and protect customers.[13] in restaurants, various bacteria commonly found in food pose significant health risks that must be carefully managed. for example, citrobacter freundii, which can be found in environments such as soil, water, and human intestines, can contaminate raw vegetables, meats, and seafood, causing gastrointestinal illnesses that range from mild to severe, particularly in vulnerable individuals.[4] pathogenic strains of escherichia coli, especially those producing shiga toxins, have been repeatedly linked with outbreaks through contaminated beef, produce, and unpasteurized products, often resulting in symptoms that can lead to serious kidney complications.[5] other opportunistic bacteria, such as members of the enterobacter cloacae complex and klebsiella species, frequently contaminate foods and cause infections, especially in immunocompromised patients. these bacteria are particularly concerning because of their antibiotic resistance, complicating treatment and infection control.[6] enterococcus faecalis and staphylococcus aureus are also important pathogens in food safety, known for contaminating ready-to-eat foods and triggering food poisoning through toxin production, which highlights the need for rigorous hygiene and sanitation practices in food handling.[7,8] moreover, bacteria such as raoultella ornithinolytica and other staphylococcus species may contaminate poultry and seafood products, becoming a potential health concern when sanitation is inadequate.[9,10] chemical contamination in food points to ash content determination and heavy metal presence in each food sample. it is important to mention that not all heavy metals are considered toxic; essential metals like copper (cu), zinc (zn), manganese (mn), iron (fe), nickel (ni), and chromium (cr) are beneficial at low levels. however, metals such as lead (pb), cadmium (cd), and arsenic (as), which have no biological benefits, are harmful even at low concentrations and are considered chemical contaminants that must be removed. this study was conducted to evaluate the quality of food and environmental hygiene in six selected restaurants in erbil city. a total of 96 samples were collected from various parts of restaurants and were checked for microbial and chemical contamination. preliminary results revealed bacterial contamination in several samples, highlighting concerns related to hygiene and safety practices in some of the restaurants. thus, this study highlights the urgent need for coordinated food safety initiatives to reduce microbial contamination and toxic metal exposure in erbil’s restaurant industry, thereby safeguarding consumer health and enhancing confidence in local food services. figure 1: diagram of the relationship between gmp, ghp, haccp, qacp, qms, and tqm.[2] gmp: good manufacturing practice, ghp: good hygiene practices, haccp: hazard analysis and critical control point, qacp: queer affirmative counselling practice, qms: quality management system, tqm: total quality management malarash and aziz: assessment in restaurant foods 63 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 61-67 materials and methods restaurant selection six restaurants, all located in erbil city, were randomly selected based on their classification into three categories, low, medium, and high quality, with two restaurants representing each category. permission was received from the ministry of health in the kurdistan region, as well as from each restaurant’s management. sample collection for the standard sample collection process, the guidelines provided by the world health organization (who) were followed.[11] food samples were aseptically collected from six food categories: chicken, rice, burger, kebab, salad, and meat, across the selected restaurants. approximately 25–50 g of each food item was placed into sterile, labeled polyethylene bags using sterile forceps. samples were immediately stored in insulated coolers at 4°c and transported to the microbiology laboratory for analysis within 2 h of collection.[11] sample preparation to prepare samples in the laboratory, samples were homogenized in 225 ml of sterile buffered peptone water using a stomacher for 2 min. serial decimal dilutions, up to 10⁻⁶, were prepared in sterile saline, 0.85% nacl, for microbial enumeration and isolation. to count and recognize the types of existing bacteria in food samples, the following steps were taken. first, to estimate the total number of aerobic mesophilic bacteria in food samples, the standard plate count method on nutrient agar was used. then 10 g of each food sample were homogenized in 90 ml of sterile buffered peptone water (bpw) to create the initial dilution (10⁰), followed by tenfold serial dilutions up to 10⁻6. from appropriate dilutions (typically 10−3 to 10⁻6), 0.1 ml aliquots were spread in triplicate on na plates, which were incubated aerobically at 37°c for 48 h. plates yielding 30–300 colonies were selected for enumeration to ensure reproducibility and statistical accuracy.[14] the tvc was calculated, and the results were expressed as colony-forming units per gram (cfu/g). interpretation of microbial load tvc provides a general indication of the microbial quality and hygienic condition of the food samples. counts exceeding 10⁵ cfu/g are typically considered unsatisfactory based on international food safety standards.[15] elevated counts may suggest inadequate cooking, post-cooking contamination, or insufficient sanitation during processing or storage. samples above this threshold were subjected to further pathogen testing through selective media and confirmatory biochemical assays. all culture media were freshly prepared and sterilized; positive controls were included, and all tests were performed in triplicate to ensure reliability. colony morphology, pigmentation, and odor were documented to assist preliminary bacterial identification.[16] bacterial isolation and identification selective media were employed to isolate specific bacterial groups: macconkey agar for gram-negative enteric bacteria, including e. coli, klebsiella spp., and enterobacter spp.; mannitol salt agar for staphylococcus spp.; and bile esculin agar for enterococcus spp. plates were incubated at 37°c for 48 h. colonies were characterized by morphology and counted. microscopic examination with gram staining and standard biochemical tests (catalase and oxidase) was performed to differentiate bacterial species. species-level identification was confirmed using the vitek 2 compact system, an automated platform widely used in clinical and food microbiology.[17] fungal isolation and identification for fungal detection, 0.1 ml of homogenized samples or their dilutions was plated on malt extract agar supplemented with chloramphenicol (0.05 g/l) to inhibit bacterial growth. plates were incubated at 28°c for up to 5 days and inspected daily. fungal colonies were identified through macroscopic characteristics (color, texture, shape) and microscopic examination after lactophenol cotton blue staining, using standard fungal identification keys for aspergillus, penicillium, mucor, and candida species.[18] all procedures were conducted in triplicate to ensure consistency. for identifying the types of bacteria, each sample was also cultured in selective culture media. macconkey agar for gram-negative enteric bacteria, mannitol salt agar for staphylococcus spp., and bile esculin agar for enterococcus spp. colony characteristics were examined, and bacteria were further analyzed using gram staining and biochemical tests. finally, species identification was confirmed with the automated vitek® 2 system, allowing precise determination of the bacterial species contaminating the food.[12] fungal isolation was performed as well. malt extract agar supplemented with chloramphenicol to inhibit bacteria was used for this aim. plates were incubated at 28°c for 5 days and checked daily. fungal colonies were identified through macroscopic characteristics (color, texture, shape) and microscopic examination after lactophenol cotton blue staining, using standard fungal identification keys for aspergillus, penicillium, mucor, and candida species.[18] all procedures were conducted in triplicate to ensure consistency. samples were also checked for the presence of heavy metals. all samples were collected aseptically in airtight, sterile polyethylene containers, stored at 4°c, and transported to the laboratory. samples were washed, if necessary, chopped, and homogenized using a stainless-steel blender. food samples with approximately 3 g each were aciddigested using a mixture of concentrated nitric acid and perchloric acid under controlled heating until clear. after cooling and filtration, samples were diluted to 25 ml. a wet acid digestion method, adapted from the association of official analytical chemists and who protocols, was used to extract heavy metals.[19] each sample was treated with a mixture of 10 ml concentrated nitric acid and 2 ml perchloric acid, then heated gradually, not exceeding 180°c, until the solution became clear. after cooling, it was filtered and diluted to 25 ml with deionized water. all glassware was thoroughly cleaned with nitric acid and rinsed to prevent contamination. malarash and aziz: assessment in restaurant foods 64 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 61-67 lead and nickel concentrations were measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry at wavelengths of 283.3 nm and 232.0 nm, respectively. calibration curves were generated using certified standards, and concentrations were reported in parts per million (ppm) or milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg).[20] quality assurance included blanks and recovery tests alongside samples, with all measurements performed in triplicate. detection limits were 0.01 ppm for pb and 0.02 ppm for ni. obtained concentrations were compared to maximum permissible limits defined by codex alimentarius commission and the european food safety authority, pb between 0.1 and 0.3 ppm, depending on food type, and ni generally between 0.2 and 0.5 ppm. values exceeding these limits suggest potential health risks due to long-term exposure, especially in staple foods such as rice and meat. results and discussion bacterial identification in this study, bacterial isolates obtained from restaurant food samples were characterized through a combination of morphological observations, microscopic examination, biochemical testing, and colony morphology on selective media. species-level identification was confirmed using the vitek automated system, a widely recognized tool in clinical and food microbiology diagnostics. table 1 shows the total microbial count of each sample. conventional methods correlated strongly with vitek results. gram-positive isolates, mainly staphylococcus and enterococcus species, were consistently identified. these bacteria exhibited typical coccoid morphology arranged in clusters or chains, with positive catalase and negative oxidase reactions. their colony appearances, including the distinctive golden-yellow pigment of s. aureus and the smooth white sheen of staphylococcus epidermidis, matched established diagnostic criteria.[21] notably, s. aureus, s. epidermidis, staphylococcus gallinarum, and e. faecalis all exhibited these characteristic features, aligning with documented features of facultative anaerobic gram-positive food contaminants.[22] gram-negative isolates included species such as klebsiella pneumoniae, e. coli, r. ornithinolytica, c. freundii, and enterobacter cloacae. morphologically, these were rodshaped, catalase-positive, and oxidase-negative bacteria with colonies varying from mucoid to glossy cream, consistent with their capsulated nature.[23] a significant achievement was the precise differentiation of r. ornithinolytica, often misidentified as klebsiella by traditional methods, demonstrating the vitek system’s superior discriminatory capacity.[24] this distinction holds clinical and food safety importance due to the emerging pathogenicity of r. ornithinolytica.[25] the combined use of conventional and automated diagnostics helps the validity of an integrative identification approach, which is critical for rapid and accurate detection of foodborne bacteria, thereby supporting contamination risk assessment and improved food safety management.[26] fungal identification fungal isolates from food samples were identified based on morphological characteristics, microscopic features, and colony appearance. these identifications were further verified using maldi-tof mass spectrometry, offering species-level resolution. penicillium chrysogenum was identified by its classic blue– green, velvety, or powdery colonies with branched brush-like conidiophores and oval conidial chains. penicillium expansum showed similar morphology but differed in conidial shape and exudate production. recent metabolomic insights highlight their role in fermentation and production of secondary metabolites, including proteases, lipases, and mycotoxins such as roquefortine c and patulin.[27] mucor spp. presented with broad, non-septate hyphae, spherical sporangiospores, and fast-growing cottony colonies turning gray within 48–72 h. these features correspond to standard classifications of mucorales, confirmed by koh mounts and lactophenol cotton blue staining, revealing coenocytic hyphae and rhizoid structures.[28] recognized as frequent agents of plant spoilage, mucor identification benefits from direct microscopy alongside culture techniques. aspergillus niger isolates showed septate hyphae, black granular colonies with radiating margins, and dark conidia. aspergillus fumigatus produced blue–green velvety colonies with columnar heads. both species’ features align with standard mycological profiles, facilitating accurate species differentiation in food safety contexts. yeasts identified as candida spp. showed oval budding cells with pseudohyphae, smooth colonies, and was distinct from filamentous molds. table 1: total microbial counts (log cfu/g) of contaminant microorganisms in restaurant food samples food sample restaurant code microbial total counts (log cfu/g) for restaurant food samples chicken 1 5.18 2 5.38 3 6.70 rice 1 5.26 2 5.41 3 6.54 burger 1 6.42 2 6.48 3 6.76 kebab 1 6.52 2 6.55 3 6.78 salad 1 6.49 2 6.67 3 6.85 meat 1 5.32 2 5.46 3 6.60 cfu/g: colony-forming units per gram malarash and aziz: assessment in restaurant foods 65 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 61-67 these fungal contaminants are notable for their spoilage potential and health risks due to mycotoxin production. penicillium species notably produce patulin and roquefortine c, common food contaminants with toxic effects.[29] mucor species contribute to rapid post-harvest spoilage, exemplified in fruits such as plums. the utilization of enhanced detection protocols (e.g., modified koh-lcb staining) can achieve early fungal detection rates near 92%, critical under resourcelimited conditions. the fungi identified here underscore the necessity of rigorous hygiene and monitoring during food preparation and storage to prevent mycotoxin contamination. microbial contamination in food samples from erbil city restaurants microbiological analysis of six food types, including chicken, rice, burgers, kebabs, salads, and meat, all collected from three restaurants in erbil, revealed extensive contamination by diverse bacterial and fungal species, reflecting substantial food safety risks. chicken samples from restaurant 1 showed contamination by enterobacter cloacae, s. aureus, r. ornithinolytica, and penicillium chrysogenum. restaurant 2’s chicken harbored e. coli, s. epidermidis, c. freundii, and penicillium species. at the same time, restaurant 3’s samples contained e. faecalis, e. coli, r. ornithinolytica, and p. expansum–the recurrent presence of e. coli and staphylococcus spp. strongly indicates lapses in hygiene and possible cross-contamination during food handling or processing. rice samples were frequently contaminated with sporeforming bacteria. notably, bacillus cereus was found in all restaurants, with bacillus subtilis present in two. fungal contaminants included mucor, candida, and a. niger. detection of these organisms suggests improper storage and temperature control, conditions that facilitate spore germination and mold proliferation. burgers contained a broad spectrum of bacteria, including enterobacter cloacae, e. faecalis, s. epidermidis, klebsiella oxytoca, and klebsiella aerogenes, along with fungal contamination by candida and penicillium species. the presence of e. coli and s. aureus further indicates potential contamination from raw materials or preparation practices. kebab samples were heavily contaminated with gramnegative bacteria such as k. aerogenes, k. oxytoca, enterobacter cloacae, and e. coli, as well as gram-positive bacteria such as s. aureus, s. gallinarum, and e. faecalis. the pervasive detection of e. coli across all kebab samples suggests cross-contamination stemming from raw meat or inadequate cooking. salads, often considered high-risk due to minimal processing, were contaminated by a mix of opportunistic and spoilage organisms, including enterobacter cloacae, e. coli, klebsiella spp., e. faecalis, staphylococcus spp., r. ornithinolytica, a. fumigatus, and other aspergillus species. this diverse contamination profile points to inadequate washing of vegetables, contaminated surfaces, or poor storage conditions. meat samples also exhibited extensive contamination by e. coli, enterobacter cloacae, k. pneumoniae, k. aerogenes, e. faecalis, s. aureus, and s. gallinarum. fungal presence included candida, penicillium, and aspergillus species. detection of k. pneumoniae and e. coli signals potential lapses in cooking or cross-contamination during handling. the predominance of e. coli, s. aureus, enterobacter cloacae, and klebsiella spp. across all food types, there are significant hygienic shortcomings. the frequent isolation of molds such as aspergillus, mucor, and penicillium further indicates problems such as poor cleaning, cross-contamination, and improper storage temperatures, especially worrying for salads since they are served raw and do not get cooked to kill bacteria. heavy metals contamination of food samples testing also found unsafe levels of lead and cadmium in several food items. table 2 shows the final results of each food sample tested for heavy metal presence. the results of each food sample will then be discussed. analysis of chicken samples from the three restaurants revealed generally low contamination levels. cadmium was detected at 0.035 ppm in restaurant 1, though no lead was found. conversely, restaurant 2 showed detectable lead at 0.022 ppm without any cadmium presence. restaurant 3 had no detectable levels of either metal. these results suggest minimal contamination in chicken, potentially linked to environmental factors or feed composition. however, the variation between restaurants may reflect differences in sourcing or handling protocols. rice showed the highest heavy metal concentrations among all tested foods. restaurant 1 recorded lead at 1.56 ppm and cadmium at 0.56 ppm, while restaurant 2 had cadmium at an even greater 1.40 ppm but table 2: concentration of lead (pb) and cadmium (cd) in food samples from restaurants in erbil city food sample restaurant code lead (pb) (ppm) cadmium (cd) (ppm) chicken 1 nd 0.035 2 0.022 nd 3 nd nd rice 1 1.558 0.559 2 nd 1.399 3 nd nd burger 1 0.046 nd 2 nd 1.524 3 0.034 0.026 kebab 1 0.034 1.749 2 nd nd 3 0.028 0.013 salad 1 nd nd 2 nd nd 3 nd nd meat 1 0.059 0.029 2 nd nd 3 nd nd malarash and aziz: assessment in restaurant foods 66 http://journals.cihanuniversity.edu.iq/index.php/cuesj cuesj 2025, 9 (2): 61-67 no detectable lead. restaurant 3 exhibited no contamination. the elevated heavy metal levels, particularly in restaurants 1 and 2, raise concerns about contaminated irrigation water, polluted soil, or poor storage conditions. given rice’s status as a dietary staple, such contamination poses a significant public health risk. burger samples displayed varied contamination profiles. lead was found at 0.046 ppm in restaurant 1 and 0.034 ppm in restaurant 3. notably, restaurant 2’s burgers contained a high cadmium concentration of 1.52 ppm, while restaurant 3 showed trace cadmium (0.026 ppm). this suggests multiple contamination sources, including ingredients and kitchen equipment, with the elevated cadmium levels representing a potential long-term health hazard. kebabs had particularly concerning cadmium contamination in restaurant 1 at 1.75 ppm, the highest level recorded in this study, alongside lead at 0.034 ppm. restaurants 3 showed lower levels of both metals (pb = 0.028 ppm, cd = 0.013 ppm), whereas restaurant 2 had no detectable contamination. since kebabs are generally cooked on metal skewers or grills, contamination may arise not only from the meat itself but also from cooking utensils, especially in restaurant 1. no lead or cadmium contamination was detected in salad samples across all restaurants. this likely reflects sourcing from less polluted environments and thorough washing and handling. compared to meat and rice dishes, salads appear safer regarding heavy metal exposure, possibly due to their minimal processing and limited contact with cooking equipment. meat samples showed moderate contamination in restaurant 1, with 0.059 ppm lead and 0.029 ppm cadmium detected. however, restaurants 2 and 3 showed no traces of these metals. the contamination in restaurant 1’s meat could be related to farming practices or post-slaughter contamination. although only one location showed contamination, this underscores the need for more stringent quality control in the meat supply chain. together, these results highlight a troubling combination of microbial and heavy metal contamination in common foods served at several restaurants in erbil city. the frequent presence of bacteria such as e. coli, s. aureus, and various members of the enterobacteriaceae family, along with widespread growth of fungi known to cause spoilage and produce harmful toxins, points to serious issues with food safety. on top of that, detecting lead and cadmium in staple dishes such as rice, kebabs, and burgers adds another layer of concern due to the long-term health risks these metals pose. these findings expose significant weaknesses in how food is handled, stored, and sourced within the local restaurant industry. they highlight a pressing need for thorough food safety measures that address both microbial contamination and chemical hazards, thereby better protecting consumers from foodborne illnesses and harmful exposures. conclusion this study comprehensively assessed the microbial and chemical quality of food samples collected from six restaurants in erbil, analyzing 96 samples from a range of commonly consumed dishes. the findings reveal a high prevalence of bacterial contamination, with e. coli and s. aureus detected in approximately 70% of samples across multiple food categories. fungal contaminants, including species of penicillium, aspergillus, mucor, and candida, were also commonly identified, particularly in rice and meat dishes, affecting more than half of these samples. such widespread microbial presence indicates significant shortcomings in hygiene and food handling practices within these establishments. heavy metal analysis indicated that rice samples demonstrated the highest levels of lead and cadmium contamination. for instance, lead concentrations reached 1.56 ppm and cadmium 0.56 ppm in samples 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