Volume 13, Issue 1

Strolling is a complex activity that requires the synchronization of the brain, anxiety, and muscles, as well as rhythmic movement of the lower limbs. Gait may be abnormal if coordination is disrupted. As a result, exoskeletons should be used to treat it effectively. The connection and other systems contained in the exoskeletons could be used to mimic the behavior of the human lower leg. These mechanisms are created utilizing complex traditional methods. This study proposes a new gait-inspired method based on a genetic algorithm (GA) for synthesizing a four-bar mechanism for exoskeletons. For each phase of the gait, the trajectory is calculated and merged using optimization algorithms. Each phase of the trajectory passes through 10 precision points, for an entirety of 20 precision points in 1 gait cycle. For the problem under consideration, it is discovered that the GA outperforms other literature techniques. Finally, the proposed design for a lower limb exoskeleton is depicted as a solid model. Furthermore, the generated link-age accurately tracks all the transition points, and the simulation of the planned linkage for one gait cycle has been illustrated using a stick diagram.

The use of technology in everyday life is unavoidable, considering that technological advancement occurs very quickly. The current era is also known as industry 4.0. In the industry 4.0 era, there is a convergence between the industrial world and information technology. The use of modern machines in the industry makes it possible for business actors to digitize their production facilities and open up new business opportunities. One of the developments in information technology that is being widely used in its implementation is machine learning (ML) technology and its branches such as computer vision and image recognition. In this work, we propose a customized convolutional neural network-based ML model to perform image classification technique for Indonesian herb image dataset, along with the detailed review and discussion of the methods and results. In this work, we use the transfer learning method to adopt the opensource pre-trained model, namely, Xception, developed by Google.

In the current study, the effect of equal channel angular pressing parameters such as die route type and die angle were studied. Billets of pure magnesium (Mg) were processed successfully through up to 2-passes of different routes, A, Bc, and C, using equal channel angular pressing dies with different internal angles of 90° and 120° at 225°C. The crystallographic texture and microstructural evolution were investigated using electron back-scatter diffraction. The Vickers microhardness and tensile properties were investigated, analyzed, and linked to the microstructure and crystallographic texture as well. The as-annealed condition revealed relatively coarse equiaxed grains coupled with some extra-elongated grains with average grain size of 6.338 µm. Processing through 2-passes formed an ultrafine grain structure and recrystallized fine grains. This decrease in grain size was associated with hardness and tensile strength enhancement as compared with the as-annealed Mg counterpart. ECAP processing through the 90° die revealed that 2-passes of route Bc was more effective in grain refinement compared to routes A and C, and it reduced the average grain size by 76.45% compared to the as-annealed counterpart. On the other hand, for the ECAP die with 120°, route A was more effective in grain refinement compared to the other routes. Processing through 2-passes of route C resulted in a stronger texture compared to the other routes with momentous rotation for the texture components. Processing of 2-A, 2-Bc, and 2-C through the 90°-die revealed an increase in the Vickers Hardness (HV) of 76.9, 96, and 84.6%, respectively, compared to the AA counterpart. In addition, the tensile findings revealed that the 90°-die resulted in higher ultimate tensile strength coupled with a drop-in ductility compared to the 120°-die. Furthermore, ECAP processing through the 90°-die led to improvement in the ultimate tensile strength by 14.1, 38.4, and 43.75%, respectively, coupled with improving the Mg ductility by 80.9, 73.5, and 47.6% through processing via 2-A, 2-Bc, and 2-C, respectively, compared to the as-annealed counterpart.

In the last decades, increasing interest in piezoelectric material has opened new horizons in electronic industries and alternative energy fields. In this study, a piezoelectric (ZnO NSs–Na 2 Ti 6 O 13 ) were prepared from Zinc Oxid Nanosheets (ZnO NSs) and Disodium Hexa titanate (NTO). The dielectric, harvester performance, and the pyroelectric effect of ZnO NSs – NTO explored experimentally. Under different experimental conditions and mechanisms, the generated voltages had been measured where a quasi-static pressing force was applied at the harvester. In addition, the derived voltage has been rectified when the harvester was mounted over a cantilever beam, where the power density was 0.10 ± 0.1 mW/cm 3 . Finally, there was further investigation of the pyroelectric property which yielded a maximum pyroelectric coefficient of 30.51 µC/m 2 °C at low temperature.

In a Europe that is undergoing digital transformation, the COGNITWIN project is contributing to accelerate the transformation and introduce Industry 4.0 to the European process industries. The opportunities here can be illustrated by the SPIRE 2050 Vision document (https://www.spire2030.eu/sites/default/files/users/user85/Vision_Document_V6_Pages_Online_0.pdf), which states that “Digitalisation of process industries has a tremendous potential to dramatically accelerate change in resource management, process control and in the design and the deployment of disruptive new business models.” The process industries are characterized with harsh environments where sensors are either costly, not available, or may be subject to costly maintenance. The development of digital twins that can exploit the combinations of data-based and physics-based models is often found to be a preferred path to robust digital twins that can help cutting costs and reduce energy consumption. In this article, we present 5 out of 6 industrial pilots that are developed in the COGNITWIN project. We discuss the commonalities and differences between the selected approaches and give some ideas about how cognition can be incorporated into the digital twins. The aim of this article is to inspire similar projects in related industries.

Some hydraulic structures and phenomena, including compound channels, must be studied in relation to open channel flow. Despite the fact that the primary channel and watersheds share a similar degree of roughness, estimating discharge in composite channels with mainstreams and flood plains has proved tricky. The flow discharge for a compound channel with different roughness in the primary and flood plain channels has been studied, and the results computed experimentally using horizontal division level have been compared with those predicted using dimensional analysis and an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system. The results show good agreement between experimental and numerical for discharge calculation according to root-mean-square error, MARE, R 2 , SI, and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency, with a percentage error not exceeding ±5%.

Although over the years, technical systems (equipment) have been evolving, most of the occurrences in the aviation industry, namely in the ground-handling area, are related to human error, constituting a neglected topic in aviation safety. Since one works 24 h a day and 7 days a week in the aviation industry, the shift work system is the most viable and (only) option to solve this problem, making fatigue an important and quite significant safety issue. Currently, the performance and alertness of ramp workers continue to be negatively affected by fatigue, increasing the risk of accidents/incidents. In this sense, the overall objective of this study was to establish and propose a first attempt to develop a Fatigue Management System, designed to prevent ramp workers from performing their tasks when fatigued and to take appropriate mitigation actions to minimize the consequences of fatigue caused by shift work. Despite not being exhaustive, this approach may also provide good guidance for future research in this field since fatigue is not associated with sleep disorders only.

Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) is a commodity material that has been increasingly used in various open environments owing to its versatile properties. The mechanical and thermal degradation and processability properties can be enhanced by blending with other polymers or using different types of fillers to adjust such properties to fit the required applications. The objective of this work is to investigate the polymer–polymer interface and compare it with the polymer–additive (microparticles) interface in terms of structural changes and the impact on the polymer environmental properties. The novelty of this work is how to control the adhesion at the interface to enhance selected properties of the polymer without compromising other properties. LLDPE dried resins were compounded with UV additive and different wt% content of LDPE resin separately in a twin-screw extruder at 180–200°C and 150 rpm rotating speed with a die head to produce 1 mm thickness sheets. Then the prepared specimens were cooled to ambient temperature for testing. The nuclear magnetic resonance results showed that LLDPE with microparticles has good phase adhesion compared to the blended samples with LDPE. Moreover, thermal gravimetric analysis showed that the blends decompose in two steps at high LDPE content. The morphological images revealed cavities in the microstructure of low weight percent blends inductive of the relatively weak interaction between the components. The present study conclusively demonstrates that the polymer matrix is more stable with microparticle fillers (UV stabilizer) additive than with LDPE, which impacts the environment durability for outdoor application.

One of the serious components to be maintained in rotating machinery including induction motors is bearings. Broken bearing diagnosis is a vital activity in maintaining electrical machines. Researchers have explored the use of machine learning for diagnostic purposes, both shallow and deep architecture. This study experimentally explores the progress of dislocated time sequences–deep neural network (DTS–DNN) used to improve multi-class broken bearing diagnosis by using public data from Case Western Reserve University. Deep architectures can be utilized with the purpose of simplifying or avoiding any traditional feature extraction process. DNN is utilized for avoiding the pooling operation in Convolution neural network that could remove important information. The obtained results were compared with the present techniques. The examination resulted in 99.42% average accuracy which is higher than the present techniques.

The work is theoretical with the use of analytical calculations, subsequently confirmed by a numerical method, in which an attempt was made to verify the method of estimating the corrosion current density based on the deflection of reinforced concrete (RC) elements affected by reinforcement corrosion. The focus was on the possibility of estimating the corrosion current intensity on the basis of external measurements of deflections of RC elements subjected to reinforcement corrosion. The method can be used as an element supporting the diagnosis of RC structures. The article presents an example of analytical and numerical deflection calculations, on the basis of which an attempt was made to estimate the corrosion current density. The obtained results were considered satisfactory, which is sent for further considerations, and above all for experimental verification of the proposed method. The analysis was based on the theoretical work of a simply supported beam, whose analytical results were verified using the finite element method. For the purposes of theoretical considerations, the impact of corrosion of the beam reinforcement was assumed in the form of a history of changes in the intensity of the corrosion current obtained in another research work. Finally, the obtained results confirmed the assumptions regarding the possibility of estimating the corrosion current density on the basis of the deflection of the analyzed beam.

This study investigates the feasibility of utilising common composite material layup techniques in ship propeller blade design to achieve an automatic pitch adjustment through bending-induced twist deformation. A comprehensive design approach, including various reinforcement materials and arrangements, was employed to attain the desired foil pitching, while minimising other undesirable deformation modes. The design process involved iterative computational analysis using finite element analysis and a deformation mode analysis based on foil shape parameters. The research showed that the proposed design approach effectively found options to improve the desired foil parameter pitch, while minimising undesirable deformation modes such as blade deflection and foil shape change. Furthermore, the proposed blade design was tested in thruster steering operational conditions and was found to have a pitch change well matched, potentially countering some changes in fluid flow. When compared to Kumar and Wurm’s design, which only focused on the angular orientation of glass reinforcement, the proposed design was found to outperform the twisting by achieving the same twist for a blade half the length. This study provides valuable insights into the utilisation of composite materials in ship propeller design and highlights the potential for further improvement through a composite engineering design approach.

The influence of compressive forces on the lower and upper natural frequencies of the double beams has been studied in this article. Euler–Bernoulli’s hypotheses have been used to derive the natural frequency equations. Two asymmetric beams were assumed in this work, and four different boundary conditions were applied in these equations: Pinned–Pinned, Clamped–Clamped, Clamped–Free, and Clamped–Pinned. When the axial compressive force is increased about 18 times, it is observed that the lower natural frequencies decreased by 19% for PP beam, 8% for CC beam, 81% for CF beam, and 12% for CP beam. However, the greatest effect of the axial force on the higher frequencies is by reducing it in the CC beam by a ratio that does not exceed 2%. A rise in the values of axial compressive force causes a reduction in the lower natural frequencies, mostly for the CF beam, while it has a little effect on the higher natural frequencies. Similarly, when the compressive forces on the upper and lower beams fluctuate simultaneously, their effect is doubled on the frequencies when the axial compressive force on one of the two beams changes only.

Many vehicles in urban and suburban environment are occupied just by one passenger, i.e. by a driver. Therefore, it is worth to think about vehicles, which would be smaller and lighter and which would include environmental-friendly power source. One such vehicle is the presented three-wheeled electric vehicle. This vehicle is designed for one passenger and it is powered by an ecologic electric powertrain. Therefore, it is necessary to research its driving properties. There are two types of vehicle designs, an original design and a modified design with a reworked body. Both are characterised by the symmetrical distribution of the mass to the longitudinal axis. In terms of driving properties of the vehicle, overturning stability during cornering and vertical dynamics in terms of safety are assessed for both original and modified designs. The article presents the main description of the original and modified designs of the three-wheeled vehicle and results from simulation computations focused on analysis of the over-turning stability. It has been revealed that the original vehicle, which is lighter, has better dynamical properties in curves with regards to driving and the higher total weight of the modified vehicle is safer in terms of vertical dynamics.

This study focuses on the issue of the best value approach (BVA) method in the public procurement and on the European experience with the implementation of the BVA method, with a focus on the use of this method in the Czech Republic. The key topic here is the effort to manage the risks of the construction project already at the stage of preparation and tender for suppliers of construction works or services, namely, for public contracts evaluated through the BVA. The findings show that public procurement tenderers often misunderstand the concept of project risk as managerial, temporal, economic, or qualitative risk. Case studies show reserves and possibilities for improvement. The goal of the study is to provide a framework for understanding and explaining the principles and methods of evaluating a qualitative criterion in the form of the risk assessment plan.

Reinforced concrete skew slabs are commonly used in bridges due to space constraints in motorways and in congested urban areas. Such slabs also often need to contain openings for architectural requirements or services, and this study seeks to determine the effect of these openings on the strength of the skew slabs. The finite element method was used to analyze 13 cases of slabs with skew angles of 45°. The first and second cases were used to validate the results with experimental work. Other cases studied the effect of the position and shape of openings on the strength of the skew slabs under both one-point and four-point loading conditions. The study also showed that the worst location for the opening was near the obtuse corners since this is where most of the load is transferred. With respect to the shape of openings, three different shapes with the same area were used: skew, circle, and square shapes. It was found that the effect of the opening shape depends on how many steel reinforcements are removed, as well as the appearance of negative cracking brought on as a result of the opening. Overall, the square shape introduces the smallest reduction in the skew slab strength compared with a slab with no opening. Accordingly, the study recommends that the strength of skew slabs can best be maintained if square openings are employed near the acute corners, alongside negative steel reinforcement to avoid cracking.

In this study, a small vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) was successfully designed and tested to produce electrical energy using renewable wind energy after being installed on the roof of buildings. The VAWT was constructed according to the existing wind source in the Tabuk region in Saudi Arabia. The use of VAWT on roofs is a sustainable solution for producing clean electricity and contributing to a portion of the local electricity consumption. A rooftop wind turbine test was performed to determine the behavior and output of a VAWT under non-constant wind speeds under natural conditions. To verify the resistance of the shear stress and pressure, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation on the airfoil was conducted. The experimental test results showed that the VAWT can reach its rated power at 9 m/s. The minimum wind speed needed for power production was 3 m/s. The maximum power coefficient obtained during testing was approximately 0.45 at a tip speed ratio of around 1.94. The simulation mesh is constructed with Ansys mesh. Two dimensional (2-D) mapped face meshing, fine, high smoothing mesh was constructed with 50 division numbers and a bias factor of about 150. The grid with 15,000 cells generated the same results as the higher number of cell grids. The simulation equivalent force was about 2.8 N for a single blade, such as 8.5 N in total, which presents an error of about 3%. The CFD simulation and experimental tests on existing forces confirm that the VAWT structure’s resistance can be guaranteed at high wind speeds.

One of the problems experienced by reinforced concrete (RC) structures, whether a mistake at the design phase or a change in building use, is an overload. The goal of this study is to determine whether ultra-high-performance fiber-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is effective in repairing damaged concrete columns utilizing 30 mm thin concrete jacketing made of different steel fibers at various contents with varied aspect ratios (28, 37, and 45). Nine pieces of 500 mm long RC column specimens with a cross-sectional size of 150 mm × 150 mm were cast as part of the experimental program. By loading these columns with roughly 90% of their actual ultimate axial load capacities, damage was caused, and the columns were subsequently strengthened and rebuilt using UHPFRC jacketing materials. The results demonstrated that when steel fiber content increased, so did the mechanical qualities, such as compressive and tensile strengths. Rehab materials that contained 0.5% steel fiber recovered 138% of their maximum load-bearing capacities, while materials that contained 1.5% steel fiber recovered 164% of their original capacities, which were roughly 1.38–1.64 times that of the unjacketed reference column. Additionally, it was observed that employing steel fiber in UHPFRC contents in these approaches resulted in the ultimate displacement being improved from 2.91 to 5.53 mm at 1.5% of steel fiber content, which is an increase of almost double that of control specimens.

Evaluation of the performance of horizontal wells is an important aspect in the enhancement of their productivity. This study provides mathematical computations, and analysis for theoretical well and reservoir considerations. The study investigates how well design and reservoirs geometry affect the overall performance of a horizontal well in a completely bounded reservoir throughout its productive life. A horizontal well in a rectangular reservoir with completely sealed boundaries is considered and the effect of dimensionless well length L D \hspace{.25em}{L}_{\text{D}} , dimensionless reservoir length x eD \hspace{.25em}{x}_{\text{eD}} , and dimensionless reservoir width y eD {y}_{\text{eD}} on the pressure response over a given period of production using dimensionless time t D {t}_{\text{D}} is studied. The mathematical model used was derived using source and Green’s functions presented in part I of this study. Appropriate well and reservoir parameters are considered and the respective dimensionless parameters are computed which are then used in computing dimensionless pressure P D {P}_{\text{D}} and its dimensionless pressure derivative P D ′ \hspace{.25em}{P}_{\text{D}}^{^{\prime} } . From the computations, the results obtained are analysed in diagnostic log–log plots with a discussion of the flow periods. The results obtained indicate that an increase in dimensionless well length decreases pressure response during the infinite-acting flow at early times and during transition flows at middle time but increases the pressure response during the pseudosteady state flow at late times. The dimensionless reservoir width and length are observed not to influence dimensionless pressure response during the infinite-acting flow at early times and during the transition flows at middle time, only affecting the prevalence time of the flow periods. However it is observed that during the pseudosteady state flow at late times, dimensionless pressure response reduces with increased dimensionless reservoir length and width.

The aftermath of Cl − anion concentration reactions on the corrosion resistance of pure Zn metal in 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 was examined by potentiodynamic polarization, optical representations, scanning electron image analysis, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, open-circuit potential analysis, X-ray diffractometry, weight loss method and X-ray fluorescence. The results show that the degradation of Zn increased with an increase in the chloride concentration from 4.089 and 0.218 mm/year to 10.085 and 4.015 mm/year (polarization and weight loss). The corrosion potential at 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 to 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 /0.5% NaCl concentration displayed minimal variation (−1.535 to −1.519 V), whereas a significant shift was observed for the plots at 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 /1% NaCl and 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 /2% NaCl (−1.384 and −0.932 V). The weight loss plot at all Cl − anion concentrations displayed an ordered decrease in the corrosion rate analogous to exposure times. The scanning electron microscopic images of Zn in 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 /2% NaCl solution showed significant deterioration and corrosion pits. The image at 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 solution revealed limited localized and general surface deterioration, while the corresponding EDX data depict the presence of S. The Zn open-circuit potential plot from a 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 solution was relatively electropositive compared to the plot from a 0.0625 M H 2 SO 4 /2% NaCl solution. Both plots exhibited limited reactive-inert transition properties and attained relative thermodynamic equilibrium after 600 s of exposure with final corrosion potentials of −0.91 and −0.97 V at 7,200 s. Zn was the only crystallographic phase identified on its surface before corrosion, whereas ZnS, ZnFes, ZnMnS, ZnMnFeS, and ZnMg4 corrosion products were identified after corrosion.

The effectiveness of railway brakes is highly dependent on the thermal condition of the brake disc and friction linings. An effective research method for the heat transfer process in brakes was computer simulation and experimental tests on a full-size dynamometric test bench. A two-dimensional, axially symmetric numerical model of transient thermal conductivity in a railway brake was presented. Appropriate boundary conditions of the problem were applied, describing the heat generated in the brake and discharged to the environment. The problem was solved using the finite-element method. This article presents exemplary results of the brake temperature calculations obtained using the numerical model and the results of experimental tests carried out on two types of brake discs.

Turbines are one of the most important means of producing clean energy, as they do not cause any negative emissions affecting the environment. Recently, the need to design turbines capable of facing strong winds has appeared because the currently designed turbines must be cut off in such circumstances. This study aims to find the best design parameters and investigate the efficiency of the jet turbine at high wind speed conditions. SolidWorks and MatLab are used to design and analyze small jet wind turbines. The design parameters were chosen to obtain the best efficiency. The turbine diameter is 0.5 m, and the short blade length helps withstand the generated stresses due to strong wind, especially fatigue stress, and resists bending. Blade pitch angle beta starts from 2° from the vertical axis at the hub and changes harmonically along the length to end at an angle of 88° at the blade’s tip to allow air to pass through and not form a wall. The blade number has chosen 15 blades, corresponding to the Betz limit, to obtain the maximum power coefficient. As a result, the assigned power was obtained at a wind speed of 28 m/s. At a lower wind speed, it will work with acceptable efficiency and more efficiently at higher speeds. Therefore, this turbine is suitable to use in such cases.

Proper decision-making in a company requires a company to make decisions quickly, precisely, and relevant to the problem at hand. The ability to examine problems encountered necessitates the use of data from all areas of an organization. These data will be the basis for decision-making. Due to the significance of these data, data warehouse (DW) and analytics and business Intelligence (ABI) are necessary form of information technology. The DW and business intelligence requirements for each organization differ based on the industry. As a result, this case study of the Bedstead manufacturers intends to build a blueprint of the DW and ABI that can be used as the basis and reference in the future by this company and similar companies in creating DWs and business intelligence.

Cupronickel alloys have found widespread use in various applications such as heat exchangers, refrigeration systems, equipment, pumps, and pipes. However, the inherent structure of cupronickel alone may not be able to withstand certain aggressive environments effectively. To address this issue, the mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of cupronickel alloys can be enhanced by carefully selecting the appropriate alloying compositions. The addition of nano chromium (20 nm) has been proposed as a means of designing cupronickel alloys with improved performance. In the present study, corrosion and erosion–corrosion behaviors of cupronickel 70/30 alloys produced by the casting method without and with three different additions of nano Cr (1, 1.2, and 1.5 wt%) were investigated. The prepared specimens were subjected to electrochemical tests in 3.5 wt% sodium chloride solutions to evaluate their corrosion behavior. Additionally, an erosion–corrosion test was conducted at an impact angle of 90°, using a slurry solution containing 1 wt% SiO 2 sand in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution as the erodent. The specimens were comprehensively characterized using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques. The surfaces of the alloy specimens exhibited superficial attacks, but no pits were observed. Moreover, the surfaces developed a greenish coloration. The electrochemical tests conducted using saline solution revealed that the corrosivity of the cupronickel alloy with nano chromium addition varied from moderate to low, depending on the selected concentration. Despite undergoing corrosion in the saline environment, the modified cupronickel alloys demonstrated good resistance to this corrosive process. Therefore, they can be considered suitable for use in highly aggressive environments, such as in seawater capture systems. The erosion–corrosion test results indicated that the addition of nano chromium significantly enhanced the resistance of the specimens to erosion–corrosion. At 1.5 wt% Cr, the erosion–corrosion rate was reduced by 99.27%.

The permeability of soil is an important factor controlling the flow of water through the subsoil. The article presents the results of studies of hydraulic parameters for overconsolidated clays using in situ tests. Using the excess pore pressure normalization technique, both in the case of monotonic and dilatory dissipation tests, and the time at which 50% dissipation of excess pore water pressure takes place, as well as taking into account the rigidity index of the analyzed soil, it was possible to estimate the permeability and consolidation coefficients for the analyzed clays. Based on these studies, simple relationships between the permeability coefficient and the soil behavior-type index are proposed. Proposed formulas may be applied for overconsolidated cohesive soils with soil behavior-type index values within the range of 2.05–3.30 and described in Robertson’s chart as overconsolidated silty clays, clays and heavily overconsolidated and cemented fine-grained soils. Although our proposal of determining flow parameters has been calibrated only for two analyzed cases, its utility for wider use in other overconsolidated fine-grained soils may also be taken into account.

This work concerns the optimization of the shapes of railway entry and exit transition curves (TCs). In this work, mathematical optimization and simulation methods are used. The applied computer simulation concerned the behaviour of the dynamical model of a two-axle rail vehicle. A polynomial of degree n , where n = 9 and 11, was adopted as a TC in the performed analyses. Three radii of the circular arc were used in the work – 600, 1,200, and 2,000 m. The aim of the research was to find optimum TC shapes taking into account the adopted criteria and to compare them with each other.

The article proposes a mathematical prediction model for daily load curves (DLCs) in Jordan from 2023–2050. The historical hourly peak loads based on the growth rate statistical method in 1994–2020 and the annual forecasted peak loads during the morning and evening periods taken from the long-term load forecast (LTLF) study of National Electric Power Company (NEPCO) during 2022–2050 are employed in the prediction model. The results show that the actual hourly growth rates, the annual forecasted growth rates, and the hourly peak loads in the reference year 2022 are the main input variables used in the prediction formula. The LTLF study conducted by NEPCO employs various sophisticated methods depending on the end-user sectorial electricity consumption that imply an econometric approach, market survey, and Gomprtz extrapolation techniques. The peak load in Jordan relies upon several climatic and nonclimatic variables, implying the ambient temperature, gross domestic product, income, demographic, urbanization, electricity tariff, average oil prices, and other factors related to technology and new aspects of energy saving and space heating/cooling systems, the DLC in Jordan is variable and changing from year to year. The proposed model considers a variation in the future DLC and suggests three different scenarios of DLC’s prediction based on the time occurrence of the peak load: the first is the daytime peak occurrence scenario, the second is the evening peak occurrence scenario, and finally is the daytime and evening peaks may be close to each other.

Undoubtedly, rutting in asphalt concrete pavement is considered a major dilemma in terms of pavement performance and safety faced by road users as well as the road authorities. Rutting is a bowl-shaped depression in the wheel paths that develop gradually with the increasing number of load applications. Heavy axle loadings besides the high pavement summer temperature enhance the problem of rutting. According to the AASHTO design equation for flexible pavements, a 1.1 in rut depth will reduce the present serviceability index of relatively new pavement, having no other distress, from 4.2 to 2.5. With this amount of drop in serviceability, the entire life of the pavement in effect has been lost. Therefore, it is crucial to look at the mechanism, possible reasons, as well as techniques, to reduce the rutting in order to offer long service life and safe roadways. To this end, the need has been arising for this research which deals mainly with a thorough review of the existing literature to highlight some key points for the researchers and pavement engineers related to rutting mechanism, measurement, and criteria, both intrinsic (mixture variables) and extrinsic (traffic and temperature) contributory factors to rutting, material characterization, test methods, and prediction methodologies, as well as possible ways to minimize the rutting distress in asphalt concrete pavement. So far, this research attempts to bridge the gap in the literature that frequently only addresses a single aspect of rutting by providing an in-depth review of rutting in asphalt concrete and thereby offers a complete comprehensive understanding of this major distress type.

In recent years, an increasing interest has been in applying the Metaverse to create unique educational settings. This article reports a review of the literature on Metaverse and its application in higher educational settings to understand its definitive features, evolution from ideation to higher educational use cases, accessibility and affordability, ethical issues, current trends, and future research needs for effective and efficient Metaverse application in higher educational settings. A total of 58 publications between 1992 and 2022 retrieved from Google Scholar and other online portals were reviewed. The review was carried out using Nvivo software for qualitative data analysis to identify and extract the main themes from the reviewed papers, which were then organized thematically, discussed, and presented in the current article. The findings from this review provide an overview of the development of the Metaverse and its application in higher education from a pre-Covid and post-Covid perspective. It highlights the current state of research on applications of the Metaverse in higher education and the development of ten Metaversities funded by Meta, formerly Facebook. Furthermore, the article discusses the main concerns around adopting the Metaverse, which is mainly ethical issues such as data privacy, network security, netiquette, digital citizenship, copyright, and policies.

Vehicles with advanced active safety technology can decrease the significant traffic accidents that can lead to death. This active safety frontier falls under primary safety in the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) 2025 Roadmap, which has become one of the overall safety rating initiatives toward safer vehicles. Some frontier active safety technologies will be assessed, including autonomous emergency steering (AES) and autonomous emergency braking (AEB). However, the New Car Assessment Program in Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP) only focuses on AEB technologies. Hence, this work discusses the existing papers on AES assessment, AES demand, AES control, AES system with Artificial intelligence, and AES testing methodology. Three articles from the industry discussing the AES function in passenger automobiles were found as a result of an article search using the Google search platform. Other terminologies like emergency steering control and emergency steering assist are used instead of AES. However, the principle remains the same. The three categories have been recognized from all of the document results: road adhesion condition, driver condition identification, and rear-end collision. However, only the rear-end collision situations are further investigated in this work to recognize the currently available approach used by previous studies. According to the review findings, just a few AEB intervention systems are now accessible, while AES technology is still in its early phases. That might explain the lack of exact evaluations and effective remedies. As a result, this research aims to offer evidence supporting the proposed methodology for assessing and evaluating AES in the ASEAN NCAP rating scheme. Besides that, this study can also help industries such as automakers and automotive vendors leverage the guidelines to fit the AES in their future models.

Robust and affordable technology capabilities are needed before a sustained human presence on the lunar and Martian surfaces can be established. A key challenge is the production of high-strength structural materials from in situ resources to provide spacious habitats with adequate radiation shielding. Ideally, the production of such materials will be achieved through relatively simple, low-energy processes that support other critical systems. Here, we demonstrate the use of ordinary starch as a binder for simulated extraterrestrial regolith to produce a high-strength biocomposite material, termed StarCrete. With this technique, surplus starch produced as food for inhabitants could be used for construction, integrating two critical systems and significantly simplifying the architecture needed to sustain early extraterrestrial colonies. After optimisation, lunar and Martian StarCrete achieved compressive strengths of 91.7 and 72.0 MPa, respectively, which is well within the domain of high-strength concrete (>42 MPa) and surpasses most other proposed technology solutions despite being a relatively low-energy process. The flexural strength of the lunar and Martian StarCrete, at 2.1 and 8.4 MPa, respectively, was also comparable to ordinary concrete (2.5–4.5 MPa). Graphical abstract

Ensuring safety is the key factor in the development of rail transport. For this reason, the railway market is heavily regulated, including recording and analysis of railway accidents and incidents. The article presents analysis of 148 final reports of accidents and incidents that occurred in the year 2020 in the Polish railway network and whose direct cause was human factor. The analysis looks at the age and experience of railway employees, as well as analyses human error using the Human factor analysis and classification system (HFACS) model and included train drivers and infrastructure-related stuff. It is pointed out that the available publications are generally focused on signal passed at danger accidents and incidents, which relate to passing through a stop signal, or another stop location, most often caused by an error of the train driver. Therefore, these analyses ignore accidents and incidents related to an improperly prepared and protected route, e.g. failure to close the level crossings boom barriers or incorrectly placed junction point, which under minimally different circumstances could have led to a tragedy. The causes of such accidents and incidents are also related to the human factor and therefore should have been identified and classified. The article identifies weaknesses in the investigations, including the quality of the documentation prepared. Such documentation most often focuses on the factors and causes directly related to the site of the accident or incident, while neglecting the factors at the organisational level.

Safety is one of the most important issues in all areas of human life. It is taken into account during the design of motor vehicles, road infrastructure, the implementation of training for drivers, and their education. The main goal is to raise it, which is why it is discussed in many research studies. The research concerns the construction of motor vehicles, systems equipped with them, infrastructure, as well as drivers, their behavior, and the way they are driven. This article presents tests of the method of driving a vehicle in real road conditions. To evaluate the driver, selected vehicle motion parameters were used, which were recorded while driving on a real test section characterised by changing traffic conditions.

The highest loads on the elements of the crank–piston system of the internal combustion engine occur during the combustion phase which takes place successively in individual cylinders. Smaller, but also significant, loads occur beyond this phase when dynamic forces begin to play a dominant role. The latter depends on the degree of wear of the engine components. The aim of this article was to analyze the stresses in a model stand for testing dynamic phenomena in an internal combustion engine operating without the combustion process. A stand has been developed which includes a combustion engine driven by an electric motor placed on a mobile frame. The coast-down method was used to estimate the average values of the equivalent moment of inertia of the engine for various cylinder configurations with a lack of compression process due to a significant weakening of the valve springs or significant wear of the valve seats. This lack of compression was simulated on a bench by partially loosening the spark plug mounting. The article presents the values of the determined mean values of the equivalent moment of inertia of the engine and the stress values in the stand frame obtained from its model developed with the use of the finite element method. The obtained values were important from the point of view of the engine dynamics simulation process outside the combustion area and the safe foundation and operation of the stand frame during the experimental tests.

The article presents the results of research on the relationship between the technical condition of motorcycle shock absorbers determined on the diagnostic line and their damping characteristics. The basic division of shock absorber tests was characterized, which includes tests of shock absorbers installed in the motorcycle and disassembled, carried out on a test stand made of MTS components. The results of two sets of shock absorbers tested using the EUSAMA and THETA methods, as well as tested on a stand for testing shock absorbers removed from a motorcycle, are discussed. Based on the obtained results, the best method of diagnosing shock absorbers was indicated.

The article presents results of retrospective analysis of data from tests related to the diagnostics and inspections of vehicles as part of official technical tests carried out in 2016–2022, among the others, at the Automotive Service Centre for Disabled Persons operating at the Motor Transport Institute. The current trend shows that the quality of technical inspection is regularly improved by introducing legal standardization and standards for assessing the technical condition of a vehicle intended for a disabled driver. The subject of technical tests should therefore be adaptive devices designed to adapt the vehicle for their safe use by these people. As a part of this study, an analysis of the literature in the area of mobility and vehicle adaptation was also carried out, indicating the current directions of analyses and technical standards for adaptive devices.

Vehicles, regardless of the type of drive, move on different types of roads. The operational characteristics of the highway will be different than those of the urban road. The aim of this article is to compare the performance of electric, hybrid, and conventional vehicles on different roads. For simulation studies in the AVL Cruise program, speed profiles determined on the highway, expressway, suburban, and urban roads were used. The article presents the course of energy consumption of an electric and hybrid vehicle, the amount of energy recovered by these vehicles, and the state of battery charge after the routes. The fuel consumption and emissions of harmful exhaust components of hybrid and conventional vehicles are also described. Based on the collected data, it was determined what is the cost of driving each of the routes by the tested vehicles. The results showed that the operational characteristics of the vehicles on each route are different. Driving speed, vehicle load, or duration of the journey significantly affects energy consumption, fuel, and costs. Such a comparison allows you to adjust the choice of vehicle by the driver, who, knowing his daily route, can decide on a vehicle with a specific type of drive.

This article investigates the effect of an additional thin dielectric layer on the top of the metasurface (MS), on the transmission of electromagnetic waves in the terahertz band. For this purpose, the split ring resonator-based MS was designed and analyzed in the terahertz band. The influence of permittivity, film thickness, and suspension height on S 21 transmission coefficient characteristics was studied. For this purpose, a numerical model was created and solved using the finite element method. The conducted study can be helpful in three cases. First, changing the suspension height of the dielectric layer may allow tunable MSs using MEMS structures. Also, this research can be used to determine the effect of applying an additional layer of protection when using the MS as a sensor to test substances that can damage it. In addition, there is an opportunity to study the dielectric properties of thin films using the proposed MS.

In this work, attempts are made to estimate the relationship between the ultrasonic wave parameters and the presence of the nitrided layer. Special samples were prepared, the surfaces of which were ground and then nitrided. The samples were evaluated by ultrasonic method before and after the nitriding. During the tests, three parameters of the ultrasonic wave were recorded i.e., time of wave propagation, dominant frequency of the spectrum and bandwidth. The measurements were repeated ten times. The obtained results indicate, in particular, a reduction in the wave propagation time in the samples after nitriding compared to the samples without the nitrided layer.

In the island operation mode of the microgrid, the rated capacity and feeder impedance of each parallel distributed generation inverter are different and the output power is difficult to be reasonably distributed when the traditional droop control strategy is adopted, which reduces the stability of the system. In order to solve this problem, the power transmission characteristics of low-voltage microgrid are analyzed and the leading factors affecting the reasonable power distribution are obtained. A control strategy of virtual resistor is proposed and the difference between the actual output power and the expected output power is used to control the power compensation coefficient and proportional integration to adjust the reference voltage of each DG inverter. The control strategy can automatically adjust the change in the output power of the distributed power supply in real time, adjust the voltage change caused by the line impedance mismatch in time, improve the power quality, reduce the system circulation, and realize the reasonable distribution of power. Finally, the simulation model verifies the effectiveness of the strategy.

Nowadays, the use of waste materials in concrete production is crucial for a clean environment and less concrete cost. This study aimed to enhance some mechanical properties of concrete utilizing integral waterproof (IWP) admixture and using waste ceramics as fine aggregate with finer particles to improve compressive strength and modulus of elasticity and absorption studied. Studies indicate increase in compressive strength and modulus of elasticity by using IWP only and also a reduction in absorption and by using ceramic powder as a replacement with normal sand, more advantages were achieved, i.e., the compressive strength increased from 41.7 to 47.8 MPa by replacing sand with some ceramic waste, and the modulus of elasticity increased from 25.22 to 29.61 GPa. The absorption lowered to only 1% while it was 1.96% for concrete without ceramic waste. Durability against sulfate attack was also studied in this research.

Assessment of Manning’s unevenness factor is of critical significance in hydraulic readings of open channel stream. Manning’s ( n n ) is obligatory for the computation of releases, water levels, and backwater curves, as well as plan curve additions. The correct value of Manning’s roughness coefficient ( n n ), i. H. a value that accurately reflects the observed data, is selected by the calibration process. The current study aims to calculate the Manning coefficient of the Dujila Canal due to this factor helps in developing water management systems, the Dujila Canal (a branch of the Tigris River) was modeled using the Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System steady-flow model to guess the rate of Manning’s factor. The information was reserved for seven cross sections for calibration, then another cross section is applied for the verification process. A statistical test on the recorded data must be used to verify the calibration process. It uses the Root Mean Square (RMS) test. The outcomes show that the appropriate Manning’s ( n n ) rate was (0.025), providing a reasonable arrangement amid the designed and perceived sketches

Speech processing is one of the fundamental operations in computer science and it is particularly difficult to process and distinguish speech in different Arabic dialects when background noise is present. In any nation, communication skills are crucial. Pushing a button is all it takes for the typical person to make phone calls and leave voicemails but for telecommunications experts, the process is very different. We understand how communication actually works. The terms detection and demodulation are commonly used when addressing the full demodulation process. The procedures and circuits are substantially the same under both designations. As the name implies, demodulation is the opposite of modulation, which is applying a signal, such as an audio signal, to a carrier. The demodulation process isolates the output signal from the audio or other signal that was transmitted using amplitude shifts on the carrier. In this study, a system for distinguishing speech signals was developed using modulation and demodulation to transmit speech by extracting it from a variety of factors, the most significant of which is background noise in addition to a wide variety of dialects, which poses a significant challenge in speech processing. The proposed system was applied to a dataset that was created for a group of voices in different dialects, and by using important techniques, the noise accompanying the voices was deleted and then the voices were processed with other techniques such as modulation and demodulation to distinguish the dialect. The system has proven effective by distinguishing dialects.

The reasons for concrete roof shells’ apparent seismic resistance have been subject to limited research but they have been shown to be inherently resilient to earthquakes. Shells constructed of concrete exhibit high structural efficiency and can therefore be made very thin. As a result of their relatively lightweight nature, thin shell structures are implicitly resistant to earthquake forces. The shell structure is typically designed so that it performs optimally under gravity loads, which are carried mainly by membrane action over the shell surface. As earthquakes induce unexpected horizontal forces, concrete shell structures can be damaged by bending stresses. By studying 8 cm-thick concrete roof shells using parametric analysis, this research shows that small and midsized (span <30 m) thin concrete roof shells can indeed be intrinsically earthquake resistant. These structures have high geometric stiffness and low mass, which results in fundamental frequencies far higher than those of realistic seismic events. Under earthquake excitation, these characteristics result in elastic shell behavior, without exceeding the maximum concrete strength. A shallow shell exhibits greater stress in response to earthquake vibrations caused by the vertical components than by horizontal components. Further, by increasing the rise and curvature of large shells, the fundamental frequency increases and the damaging effect of vertical earthquake vibration is reduced. The aim of this study in general is to show the analysis and the effect of earthquakes on cylindrical concrete shells.

Poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) is one of the versatile thermoplastic materials that have tremendous applications almost everywhere but it is thermally unstable at high temperatures. Processing of PVC at elevated temperatures requires the use of thermal stabilizers that are considered crucial additives for the protection of PVC during both processing and useful life usage. Several thermal stabilizers are available commercially that mostly obstruct the dehydrochlorination reaction. Choosing appropriate stabilizer systems for a specific application is cumbersome. A Brabender torque rheometer at a constant temperature of 180°C and variable shear stress was used to evaluate the stabilizing efficiency of 12 different stabilizer systems combined with PVC. Fusion time, induction period, minimum torque, and rheological stability time were determined in order to evaluate the investigated stabilizer systems. It was found that dibutyl tin mercaptide was the best stabilizer, while the mixture of lead stabilizers was the worse one.

Turbidity is a fundamental measure for assessing the quality of water supplied by water treatment plants (WTPs) employing a conventional treatment process. If it is present in amounts exceeding the permitted limit, disinfectants are less effective in killing microorganisms and the water becomes unsafe to drink. This article is a part of a comprehensive study that aims to investigate the high-turbidity problem of tap water in two cities of Najaf governorate and offer suitable measures to solve this problem. The purpose of this study was to determine how WTPs impact the turbidity of tap water. The work covered two main WTPs located in Najaf governorate: Unified Najaf and The Old Kufa. It included the collection of water samples from three locations in each plant: the influent of flash mix unit (raw water samples), the effluent of clariflocculation unit (settled water samples), and the effluent of filtration unit (filtered water samples). The samples were analyzed for turbidity using a turbidity meter. The efficacy of each plant's treatment units was revealed by monitoring the turbidity of the water inside each facility. For the Unified Najaf WTP, out of 99 TRE readings, there were 3, 92, and 60 positive values for TRE c , TRE f , and TRE p , respectively. The maximum values of TRE c , TRE f , and TRE p were 22.3, 86.5, and 61.5%, respectively. The performance of Old Kufa WTP was worse than that of Unified Najaf WT. Out of 99 TRE values, the number of positive values was 6, 76, and 31 for TRE c , TRE f , and TRE p , respectively. They also showed that only 26 out of 99 and 9 out of 99 effluent turbidity readings in Unified Najaf and Old Kufa WTPs, respectively, satisfy Iraqi standards for tap water turbidity. The bad performance of the WTPs was the main reason behind the high-turbidity tap water in Najaf governorate. This study identified the causes of that performance and proposed solutions.

Tires waste is an undesirable urban industry surplus that has grown worldwide yearly. Because of its seals, this material may be used in earth dams, one option for disposing of this waste. Since this is the main objective of this study, an experiment on a soil sample with various ratios of rubber powder has been conducted to better comprehend the impact of tire rubber powder (TRP) on the seepage rate in earthen dams. This study used physical and numerical models to investigate seepage through earth dams. Analysis indicates that the plotted seepage line in SEEP/W software was comparable to the observed seepage line in the physical model. TRP was tested at concentrations of 15, 30, and 50%. The research demonstrates that there has been a noticeable improvement in reducing the seepage rate through the dam’s body; seepage was decreased by 11.28% when a 15% ratio was adopted, a far smaller impact than the other percentages. The proportion was consequently raised to 30%. The seepage rate was found to be reduced by 35.6%, and TRP with a 50% ratio showed excellent behavior in lowering the water level (phreatic line) from the core point to the downstream face D / S and reducing the seepage rate by 41.5%, producing significantly better results. The findings in SEEP/W software indicate that the relative error in seepage rate varies, averaging 11.8% for the first model, 12.18% for the second, 1.65% for the third, and 7.63% for the fourth. The first and second physical models’ seepage rate (relative inaccuracy) dramatically increased as a result of the presence of piping.

Air conditioners (ACs) are more commonly used nowadays in residential and commercial buildings to achieve thermal comfort in the summer season. Due to the high outside temperature, condenser pressure was highest and ultimately resulted in high electricity consumption. One of the ways to reduce the energy consumption of AC systems and increase cooling capacity is by reducing air temperature entering the condenser by using the evaporative cooling principle. This article presents an experimental and theoretical investigation of improving the performance of the conventional air conditioning unit supported by a direct evaporative cooling system to increase the cooling capacity and reduce the consumption of power in hot and dry climates. A window-type AC unit was implemented in the experiment where the AC system is modulated to provide a wide range of various weather conditions. The results show that using evaporative cooling assist enhanced the system to overcome the many challenges by which the refrigeration capacity was increased in the range of 10–20%. Also, the results show a decrease in outlet temperature by 6–10°C, and the power consumption was reduced by about 3%. MATLAB program was used to analyze different data that were obtained. The input parameters for this program are the inlet conditions such as the weather conditions of the located city, namely the outdoor dry temperature and the outdoor relative humidity. The effectiveness and cooling capacity were calculated based on the frontal air velocity and the inlet air temperature. A comparison between the experimental and theoretical work showed a good agreement, as the relative difference is less than 9%.

Rehabilitation, upgrading, or strengthening of structural members, especially columns, has become the target of many researchers because columns are the most important members in a building and the failure of columns causes direct collapse in the building. This study aims to get an assessment of the best pattern of steel-framed jacket used for strengthening axially loaded concrete columns by numerically studying the behavior of the column for different cases of the same amount of steel jacket. The jacket consists of four angles and/or battens, lacings, or battens with lacings. The nonlinear analysis program designated as ARCC-SSJ (Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Columns Strengthened by Steel Jacket) is used to compare different patterns with the same and different cross-sections of battens and single lacing, as well as battens and lacing with battens taken into account. It is found that lacing with battens is the best pattern for the same amount of steel jacket with different cross-sectional areas. It is observed that the load-carrying capacity of the column increased by approximately 1.8 and 1.15% over that of battens alone in the case of a lacing angle of 60.83 2 ∘ 60.83{2}^{\circ } and 74.40 7 ∘ 74.40{7}^{\circ } with the vertical axis of the column, respectively.

Whether the design is done manually or by software, the designer will have difficulty choosing the economic and strength cross section. The designer, in this case, either relies on their experience or resorts to the method of trial and error. Especially for Cantilever beams with a long span as a result of risk deflections, it is exposed. The current theoretical study was performed on rectangular concrete cross sections of different dimensions and subjected to uniformly distributed loads. Based on a previous study, the sections are reinforced with a specific reinforcement ratio. Through an algorithm, Python 3.4 software, and an output file, the permissible deflections for each cross section were calculated according to the ACI 318M-19. Finally, the authors could draw a graph to choose the appropriate cross section for each required beam length in less time and effort.

High volumes of kinetic energy are generated as water is transported to the dam downstream. Stepped weir are some of the best in lowering the kinetic energy of a flow traveling downstream. In stepped weirs, the steps’ design can impact how much of the flow’s kinetic energy is transferred downstream. Because these weirs could dissipate more power, recently, pooled designs have been more common than smooth ones. Therefore, this work investigated the impact of sills at the ends-edge of the steps and discharge values on flow patterns, particularly energy dissipation. Seventy-five experiments were conducted and five models were used with a slope angle of 35° with different step dimensions, different numbers of steps (14, 10, 7, 5, and 3), and other discharges. Three-step configurations were used: flat, fully pooled, and zigzag pooled steps. The results indicated that increasing the number of steps increased the energy dissipation rate. In addition, an increase in the discharge leads to an increase in the discharge coefficient and thus decreases the energy dissipation rate. A coefficient of determination R 2 {R}^{2} gives a good agreement for the discharge coefficient (0.73).

This research studies a three-dimensional fluid flow, and heat transfer in the heat sink numerically using air as a coolant. The numerical effects of the number of fins and their thickness on the performance of the heat sink are investigated using Ansys Icepak. Various fin numbers and fin thicknesses are used to check the heat sink’s optimal thermal performance. The results demonstrated that the maximum temperature, pressure drop, and thermal resistance decrease with the increase in the fin number and thickness. According to the results, the optimal thickness and number of fins for the current study are 15 and 0.25 mm, respectively. Also, it is observed that increasing the number of fins has a greater effect than increasing the thickness of the fins on the maximum temperature, pressure drop, and thermal resistance.

The hydrodynamic model is essential for building a water quality model for rivers, lakes, estuaries, and other water systems. Most model software, such as HEC-RAS, can perform a complex hydrodynamic surface water body and limitations to represent water quality for the corresponding area. In contrast, other models, like WASP, can simulate a wide range of contaminants in a multidimensional geometry of rivers, estuaries, lakes, and reservoirs. Still, it requires flow information from separate hydrodynamic models. This article aims to develop a comprehensive water quality model of the Shatt Al Arab River south of Iraq by linking HEC-RAS with WASP. A variety of software techniques has sequentially been used. This software includes GIS for DEM modification, HEC-RAS for the hydrodynamic model, Python code with PyCharm to run the external coupler, WASP software for advective and dispersive contaminant transport, and finally, WRDB software for full calibration process and results display. The results showed successful transportation of flow information had been achieved. Moreover, the article described an effective calibration process by plotting comparison graphs and statistical summaries to make the appropriate decision. Another goal of this work is to collect the equations and associated reaction rates of source/sink kinetic for eutrophication’s state variables.

The applications of modern materials especially reactive powder concrete for improving concrete structures have been significantly growing in recent years. Great conduct properties creep, shrinkage, little permeability, ultra-high strength, and expanded safety against corrosion are the important features of Reactive Powder Concrete. In addition, the use of the Near-Surface Mounted technique in recent decades has helped strengthen and repair shears-reinforced concrete (RC) for deep beams using carbon fiber replacement reinforcing bars. The parameters studied in the present research investigated the impact of the maximum load, deflection, stress–strain curve of concrete, first shear crack, crack pattern, and crack width. Considering the aforesaid cause and objective, one specimen of Reactive Powder Concrete RC deep beams has a rectangular cross-section of 150 mm in width, 500 mm in depth, and a total length of 1.2 m. One control specimen was tested for comparison. In addition, 12 control specimens (cylinder and cubes) are used for experimental investigation on the mechanical properties of normal and Reactive Powder Concrete deep beams. Following the specimens’ processing, they were subjected to one concentrated load pressure test through a hydraulic jack. Moreover, six core drill specimens were taken from those deep beams to obtain the real mechanical properties of those beams, including maximum stress, modulus of elasticity, density, stress–strain curve, and Poisson’s ratio, after subjecting them to the pressure machine. Depending on the results, the ultimate strength, deflection, and first shear crack capacity for the specimens (RPCDB1P-4NSM & RPCDB1P-8NSM) have increased by (21, 25), (47, 27), and (133, 150)%, respectively, compared with (CDB1PC20). Moreover, the specimens above have reduced the first shear crack width by (9, 33.25)% respectively compared with (CDB1PC20) at 65% of the ultimate shear load.

The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of using reactive powder concrete (RPC) for reinforcement concrete deep beams (CDBs) to study the shear effect by the numerical analysis. The method of finite element analysis model simulations using a program was used. The characteristics of RPC and the deep beam of reinforced concrete were obtained from previous scientific research. Non-linear analysis for two models of deep beams, one with RPC and the other without using it, was conducted to compare with experimental results from recent tests of deep concrete beams with RPC and loaded until failure. The data obtained from the specimens have many factors related to the effect of the strength and action of reinforcement CDBs such as shear load deflection, crack pattern, mode failure, and concrete strength. On the other hand, the mesh changing was investigated in terms of the maximum concrete strength and the running time by changing the mesh size to 50, 25, and 15. Models were simulated with a two-point load using a shear span-to-depth with an av/d ratio of 0.77. The difference in percentage deflection between the numerical and experimental models’ data was observed at 2.60 and 5.9% for concrete deep beam and RPC deep beam, respectively, and the maximum shear load was 2.27 and 5.40%. The importance of the outputs of this article lies in bridging the research gap of this new topic and identifying the shear behavior of deep beams reinforced with RPC due to the lack of research related to this topic. It was noted that the obtained data for finite element analysis are very consistent with the previous laboratory scientific research, while the error rate did not exceed 10%.

The adsorption method may be one of the environmentally friendly, economical, and effective techniques to remove phenol from wastewater using low-cost adsorbent activated carbon (AC). The effects of the initial concentration of phenol, temperature, and time of the adsorption on the phenol removal percent were studied. The maximum removal percentage of phenol was 63.73% of the initial 150 mg/l concentration obtained at 25°C. Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin, and Dubinin–Radushkevich isotherm models have been applied to study the adsorption equilibrium. The results show that both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms fitted the equilibrium data better with a high correlation coefficient ( R 2 ) and a maximum adsorption capacity of 108.70 mg/g. Thorough fitting of adsorption kinetics data followed the pseudo-second-order model. Thermodynamic parameters were calculated in the temperature range of 25–50°C. The results show that the adsorption process of phenol on AC is more favorable at low temperatures.

The behavior of concrete-filled double-skin poly vinyl chloride (PVC) tubular columns confined by plain PVC sockets is studied in this research. The plastic pipes have been used with concrete as columns. PVC has several advantages as it is inexpensive, light weight for construction, and decrease in the time taken for construction. Thus it can be used as an alternative to metal in various applications in which the maintenance cost is increased and the corrosion is reduced. This study is an experimental work on four groups of composite hollow PVC columns, each group containing three different samples. The effects of several parameters are studied, including slenderness ratio, compactness ratio, compressive strength, and confinement ratio. The experimental results show that stiffness, strength, as well as the ductility of composite columns of different loadings were considerably influenced by all these parameters. An increase in loading carrying capacity by about 40.4% was noticed as slenderness ratio decreased from 20 to 12 and about 21.1% as compactness ratio decreased from 50 to 25. Besides, the rate of increase in load capacity was about 96.6% as compressive strength increased from 33 to 54 MPa. For the case of variation of confinement ratio from 25 to 75%, the increase in the axial load capacity was about 56.7%. The main benefit of this type of column is the interaction between PVC tube and concrete. Besides, restriction of concrete by tube results in the delay of local buckling so that the concrete strength is enlarged by the effect of confining provided by the tube.

Accurately prediction of dispersion and polydispersity of droplet flow is not a trivial task due to the complex behavior of the droplet size distribution (DSD) and the strong state of the instantaneous velocity of a droplet on the shape and size of the droplet. Describing the distribution of sizes and velocities of droplets initially formed in sprays is an essential piece of information needed in spray modeling, which is used to define the initial state of the spray droplets in the downstream two-phase flow fields’ predictive computations. The predictive model for the droplet size and velocity distributions in sprays is formulated as the droplet’s velocity magnitude has a power–law relationship with the droplet in this study. The present model incorporates the deterministic and stochastic aspects of the spray formation process. The quadrature method of moments (QMOM) is applied to solve numerically the transport equations of the probability density function coupled with conserved source terms incompressible Navier-Stokes equations for the liquid phase. The sub-models are connected by different source terms signifying the liquid-gas interaction. Equations of transport for spray moments are derived from DSD, and closure is attained using a gamma distribution. The integer spray moments concerning the volume are used to construct the continuous distribution of QMOM. In contrast, the velocity moments are used to determine the droplet velocity as a constant function of the droplet diameter. The model is first applied to simulate a diesel spray tip penetration under nonreactive conditions with different droplet velocity profiles to validate the approach with experimental data. An additional case of a liquid nitrogen spray is applied to show the gamma distribution’s ability to describe spray drop size distribution. The model generally predicts reasonable agreement with the experimental for both cases.

This research investigated the feasibility of using waste-expanded polystyrene (EPS) and mortar to produce lightweight aggregate (LWA). The EPS extracted from the leftover backing waste was crushed into beads using an electric grinder and mixed in three different proportions with two types of mortars (with and without a superplasticizer). Physical property tests such as loose bulk density and water absorption were carried out for the LWA. Also, the compressive strength of the manufactured lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) was determined, and failure modes were discussed. The results indicate that using the EPS is effective for LWA. The loose bulk density is obtained at a range from 588 to 790 kg/m 3 790\hspace{0.33em}{\text{kg/m}}^{3} , which meets the requirements of the American society for testing and materials C330 specification of LWA. For water absorption, the value obtained ranges from 6.45 to 14.05%, slightly higher than the normal aggregate due to the voids in the LWA. When using LWA containing a superplasticizer to produce LWAC, the compressive strength was higher than the concrete with LWA without a superplasticizer. The highest compressive strength for LWAC was 21 MPa.

Industrial processes are the main generator of littering agents, and the growing environmental awareness has contributed to a focus on the issue of littering. One of the biggest environmental issues in the world is how to manage this waste given the limited space available, the high cost of remediation, and the need for landfilling. However, the idea of reusing some of this waste is an alternative solution to decreasing the process of landfilling, and reducing the increase of waste. In this research, three different waste materials were used, namely plastic waste, aluminum waste, and silica sand. Each of these materials was mixed in a ratio of 1, 3, and 5%, with silty sand soil. The consistency limits of maximum dry density and the optimal ratio for the preferred materials were determined by examining and comparing cohesiveness and angle of internal friction. Research results showed that the maximum unit weight decreased after adding the waste materials: it decreased by 9.35 and 11.69% when 5% each of aluminum and plastic waste was added, respectively. At the same time, the increase in the inner angle of internal friction reached 26.41% at the highest percentage of plastic waste. The addition of 3% of silica sand gave the highest value of cohesion, and the increase reached 218.7% for soils not treated with silica. It also showed the effect of adding 1% of silica sand on the plasticity, reducing it by 72.7% from its original value.

One of the widespread non-traditional and non-contact machining processes is the electrical discharge machining (EDM) process, which depends on removing material from the surface by different repeat electrical discharges between a machined workpiece and a cutting tool called the electrode. The electrode wear in the EDM process is one of the parameters of significant technological interest. This article proposed a reliable image-based system that automatically detects and computes electrode wear in EDM of rectangular steel workpiece plate of AISI 314 using a copper electrode with a rectangular shape. MATLAB environment and image processing toolbox are used to identify and manipulate the captured rectangular electrode image for rectangular electrode data extraction needed for the electrode wear identification process. The results show that the proposed image-based approach, using a non-contact measuring system and relatively inexpensive equipment, is suitable with good accuracy and efficiency for measuring and testing electrode wear.

Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is one of the most recent and significant advancements in the world of building. Due to its higher concrete characteristics, it has a common excessive benevolence happening in the globe at the moment, excessive ductility, shrinkage resistance, and corrosion and abrasion resistance. Investigated is the method for amending the RPC experimentally in punching shear slab action and the properties of construction material to investigate properties of volumetric ratios of steel fiber, and silicas fume, tensile steel ratio, the most important component for construction is reinforced concrete, which works well with other materials to create structures in any shape that is needed. In the present research, investigational work of RC slab with (1,000 × 1,000 × 60) mm dimensions was tested. This study aims to see how the relative volume of steel fibers (Vf) and silica fume content (Sf) affect the actions of RC slabs after being exposed to fire. It originated that a concrete mix containing 2% steel fibers improved the RPC slab's cracking and final punching shear. The existence of reactive powder increases fire resistance. This study's experiment aimed to see how reactive powder and Slab's ultimate punching shear strength were affected by replacement ratio. Whenever a fire is present. After fire exposure, the initial and subsequent stiffness of reinforced concrete slabs reduced considerably the temperature grew from 25 to 750°C.

An integral part of any reliable network security infrastructure is the intrusion detection system (IDS). Early attack detection can stop adversaries from further intruding on a network. Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques to automate intrusion threat detection at a scale never previously envisioned have snowballed during the past 10 years. Researchers, software engineers, and network professionals have been encouraged to reconsider the use of ML techniques, notably in cybersecurity. This article proposes a system for detecting intrusion with two approaches, the first utilizing a proposed hybrid convolutional neural network (CNN) and Dense layers. The second utilizes naïve Bayes (NB) ML techniques and compares the two approaches to determine the best detection accuracy. The preprocessing of network data is necessary. The suggested technique is evaluated using the UNSW-NB15 Dataset to create a reliable classifier and an effective IDS. The experimental results for the proposed CNN-dense classifier outperformed the ML and DL models. CNN has a 99.8% accuracy rate compared to previous studies. At the same time, the Gaussian naïve Bayes, which is considered the best among the ML-utilized classifiers, yielded an 83% accuracy rate.

Most construction projects face the problem of a high percentage of gypsum in the soil. To get rid of the unwanted effects of gypsum, which lead to the dissolution of gypsum in the presence of water and the settlement of the foundations of buildings and subsoil of roads, the researchers used several materials that can be added to the soil to improve its properties in resisting loads. This research presents a study of the effect of adding cement kiln dust (CKD) and ground-granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) on the California Bearing ratio (CBR) of gypsum sandy soil. The percentages of 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10% of additives by the weight of the soil sample were collected, and CBR tests were performed on dry and soaked samples. The main results showed that the ideal CKD ratio, which improves the CBR soil in a dry state, is 5% and in a soaked condition is 7.5%. Also, CBR in dry and soaked states increases slightly when the GGBS percentage increases reaching 10%. The use of GGBS gives an increment in CBR, which is around 1.6 times in a dry condition and 4 times in a soaked state.

This study investigated the effect of reducing seepage under a hydraulic structure. This article aims to find positional equations for the control devices that reduce the seepage under the hydraulic structure. Using lengths and angles of sheet-piles under the hydraulic structure where the sheet-pile was placed up- and downstream, respectively, upon the hydraulic structure with anisotropy soil hypothetically affects both uplift pressure and seepage values. The experiments were conducted in two cases: in the first case, a couple of sheet-piles were oriented to the upstream passage; while in the second case, they were oriented to the downstream. Then, the second case was compared with three sheet-piles placed upstream, downstream, and intermediate to the passage. For each experiment (at the hydraulic toe position), the major affecting parameters such as the uplift pressure, gradient exit, and outlet flow rate were found. A correlation equation to correlate the exit gradient and discharge parameters was developed.

Extended end-plate type connections are widely utilized in steel assemblies for easy production and assembly. The proper end-plate and bolt selection is paramount to confirming safety and economy in all connections and, consequently, steel buildings. This study presented an approach for refined parametric three-dimensional finite element analysis of bolted steel beam-to-beam extended end-plate connections. The model considers geometrical and material non-linearity to determine the impact of various factors on the connection’s performance. The proposed model was used to construct a parametric study. The study variables were bolt diameter and end-plate thickness, focusing on how thick and thin end plates affect connection conductivity. Numerical outcomes demonstrate that the connection's flexural strength and stiffness capability improved by increasing the end-plate thickness and bolt diameter. Finally, the analysis results were assessed, and the main conclusions were presented.

There are many studies about the use of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) to strengthen concrete members such as columns, beams, and slabs. The effectiveness of these strengthening techniques has been proved by enhancing the mechanical properties of concrete structures. So, CFRP has been used to strengthen and repair existing concrete structures in Iraq. For example, in Al-Mosul city, the strengthening and repairing system is done for concrete members such as beams, columns, and slabs using the Near Surface Mounted or confinement technique. Therefore, the research aim is to use CFRP for maintenance as an alternative material to strengthen and repair concrete members in Iraqi schools. This article employs methods to enhance and repairing of some of concrete columns at Al-Abeer school in Najaf city by using modern materials as an alternative method of maintenance. In addition, finite element analysis was carried out using Abaqus software to verify the effectiveness of strengthening. The reinforced concrete (RC) column strengthened by using fiber-reinforced polymer as a confining technique increased compressive strength by about 91% compared to the control column. In addition, the value of strains increased to nearly 100% in the longitudinal direction with the stability of the value of the lateral strains, despite the occurrence of a significant increase in the compressive strength capacity. So, the values of vertical displacement at stress 4 MPa were 22.3 mm for the strengthened RC column and 5 mm for the control RC column. Thus, the strengthened RC column increases the values of compressive strength with a decrease in displacement to approximately 22%. Four years ago, the strength of the school building was assessed, thus the success of the strengthening.

In the past decade, it has been observed that the applications of modern materials have developed a lot, especially effective reactive powder concrete (RPC), due to its superior performance properties. As a result of the superior resistance of RPC, it will give a longer construction life with less maintenance and more resistance to various environmental conditions and exhibits high-performance features such as high porosity, very high strength, and excellent corrosion resistance. The parameters studied in the present research were used to investigate the effect of maximum load, deflection, tensile and strain of concrete, first shear crack, crack pattern, and crack width. Considering the aforesaid cause and objective, one specimen of RPC RC deep beams has a rectangular cross-section of 150 mm in width, 500 mm in depth, and a total length of 1.2 m. One control specimen was tested for comparison. Moreover, 12 control specimens including cylinders and cubes were cast and tested to obtain the mechanical properties of the normal and RPC deep beams. Following the specimens’ processing, they were subjected to two concentrated load pressure tests through a hydraulic jack. Based on the results, the ultimate strength, deflection, and first shear crack capacity for the reactive powder concrete deep beam (RPCDB) have increased by 68, 10.5, and 62.5%, respectively, compared with concrete deep beam (CDB). Moreover, with respect to the width, the delay in the appearance of the first shear crack was reduced by 11 and 78%, respectively, compared with CDB at 65% of the final shear load. In addition, regarding the stress-strain results, RPCDB has increased by 118% at the maximum stress compared with CDB and in contrast, the strain scores for CDB increased by 22.5% at maximum stress compared to RPCDB.

Aquifers offer a reliable supply of high-quality water, making groundwater significant in arid and semi-arid regions. Climate change is predicted to result in a decrease in rainfall and an increase in droughts. The prolonged drought severely devastated Iraq and is the main reason for the ongoing increase in groundwater consumption over the last decade. In this study, the stresses and depletion potentials of the Dammam confined aquifer, which extended along the Najaf and Muthanna governorates, are identified and analyzed. By using the Groundwater Modelling System (GMS v10.4) software, a numerical simulation of groundwater flow was used to study the Dammam aquifer system. The upper layer was modeled as unconfined, while the bottom layer was confined. The findings from the steady-state calibration indicate that the hydraulic conductivity (HK) within the study area varies between 1.47 to 20.0 m/day. Additionally, the recharging rate (RH) was estimated to be approximately 1.66 × 10 −6  m/day. These parameters were utilized as the initial condition for conducting the transient analysis. Two operating scenarios were employed to perform unsteady simulations. The initial scenario involved the utilization of 89 production wells, while the second scenario included all 139 stand-by production wells, resulting in a total of 228 wells for the operational period from July 2021 to June 2022. The results of the first operation scenario showed that the drawdowns ranged from 0.4 to 5.8 m, whereas the second operation scenario showed that the drawdown increased from 1.0 to 22 m. The depletion rate in the groundwater static heads was measured by the percentage of relative difference. Hence, the depletion rate for the first scenario varied from 4.32 to 33.34%. On the other hand, the second scenario ranged from 7.45 to 33.34%.

As an extension of recent developments in concrete understanding, an extensive study is currently being conducted on the structural performance of reactive powder concrete (RPC). This article guides how to investigate the shear behavior of RPC T-beams and calculate their ultimate and breaking shear capacities. The mechanical features of this construction material and approach to revising the reactive powder shear hybrid segment T-beams are cast-off in this motion and are investigated in this experimental study. To evaluate the effects of volumetric ratio of steel fibers, silica fume ratio, and tensile steel ratio, introductory section on the effectiveness of T-beam shearing reactive powder, the program of experimentation involved trying four beams. The research aimed to determine the deflection conduct of the load, downtime approach, strain amount over the beams’ depth, and failure form of cracks. In examining reaction powder’s mechanical characteristics mixtures, steel fiber volumetric ratio and silica fume volumetric ratio were also studied. Furthermore, a hybrid beam study revealed that by using reactive powder web and regular concrete in flange effectively, T-beam concert is enhanced when associated with normal concrete T-beams by 12%. Hybrid beams have also revealed that using reactive powder flange and usual concrete in a web effectively advances the show of T-beams when associated with standard concrete T-beams by 28%.

A feasibility study is considered a strategic tool, a critical principle, and an essential stage of the success of the investment project, and it is regarded as an essential point in the success or failure of the investment project. Therefore, feasibility studies are among the most critical elements of the success of investment projects. The purpose of this study is to find out the reality of the feasibility study in the various departments of the state and its impact on the success or failure of investment projects, in addition to studying, identifying, and analyzing the factors that affect the feasibility study in investment projects. In this research, 23 influential factors were collected from site surveys, interviews with engineers and experts, and previous research in the Arab world. These factors are grouped into five categories: political and legal aspects, economic and financial, consultancy, owner, and contractor. A questionnaire survey of 70 respondents was distributed among different experts. A statistical analysis was done using SPSS and Excel packages. The results accomplished from the survey revealed the significant factors that affect the feasibility study (ranked respectively), namely, the absence of a clear investment policy (86%), the existence of obstacles (85.71%), slow and complicated routine procedures (84%), lack of experience and field knowledge (82.29%), and failure to accurately meet the scientific (79.71%) These findings could help the construction professionals to improve the feasibility study and project performance in Iraq.

The cement industry is considered one of the strategic industries, because it is directly related to construction work and cement is used as a hydraulic binder. However, it is a simple industry compared to major industries and depends on the availability of the necessary raw materials. This study focuses on optimizing and coordinating the location of raw materials needed for the cement manufacturing in Wasit Governorate in Iraq. Field works include detailed reconnaissance, topographic work, and description and sampling of 24 lithological sections that represent the carbonate deposits, which crop out in the area. The investigated area has the following specifications: The weighted averages of chemical components in the industrial bed are as follows: CaO = 47.83%, MgO = 1.12%, SiO 2 = 7.28%, SO 3 = 0.34%, Fe 2 O 3 = 1.85%, Al 2 O 3 = 1.85%, L.O.I = 39.26%, Na 2 O = 0.29%, and K 2 O = 0.38%. The average thickness of the investigated raw materials is 15.68 m. The average bulk density of the investigated raw materials is 2.32 g/cm 3 . The compressive strength of the investigated raw materials ranges from 6.182 to 55.21 MN/m 2 . The positive area is 922,552 m 2 . The volume of the industrial bed is 14,466,242 m 3 . The economic reserve of the industrial bed is 33,561,682 tons.

Two box-type solar cooker (BTSC) prototypes were tested to examine thermal performance under identical conditions. The first box solar cooker used an absorber plate fabricated from copper, and the second box solar cooker used 40 pores per inch (PPI) of copper foam sheets. Many experiments on solar cookers were carried out in September 2022 in Baghdad, Iraq, where the solar cookers were directed to the south and situated at latitude 33.3°N and longitude 44.4°E. In the experimental testing, copper metal foam 40 PPI is used as a heat absorber plate at various absorber plate heights (1, 3, 5, and 7 cm). The results showed that the solar cooker with a 40 PPI copper foam absorber experienced a stagnation temperature of roughly 17° higher compared to a BTSC with a standard absorber. A copper foam 40 PPI absorber plate can reduce cooking time in a BTSC by as much as 23% compared to a standard flat absorber plate. The percentage of increase in the solar cooker’s internal temperature with an increase in absorber plate height from 1 to 7 cm for 40 PPI copper foam absorber plate is approximately 16.1%. The acceptable range for the equation of cooking power indicates that the cooker can be relied upon for consistently cooking food and boiling water.

Because it is essential to avoid toxicity and corrosion in order to enhance the steel components and their aesthetic magnitude used in our everyday life, there has been an increased interest in the electroless field, particularly with regard to the application of nickel-phosphor on steel substrates. In this work, electroless process by nickel low phosphor solution and added titania particles (10–30  µm) to amount of coating solution (0, 5, and 10  g/L) with different coating times (30 and 60 min). Then, many tests were conducted, involving coating thickness, surfaces roughness, hardness, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and linear polarization tests in salt solution that were carried out for substrate and coating layers. Hardness indicates that the mechanical characteristics of the applied coatings with incorporated (TiO 2 ) reinforcement were far more superior to its own matrix as well as noncomposite nickel coating. The polarization curves conducted by potentiodynamic technique for different coating layers with 3.5% NaCl a medium and find all data by computerize, which shows that the addition of TiO 2 extract improved the corrosion rate (67.58%) than uncoating specimen.

As the subbase layer is one of the important layers in road construction, it is necessary to use a granular material to resist traffic loads. Usually, granular soil with a good gradation is used, which is determined by most road design codes. Sometimes it is needed to improve the properties of this soil by adding materials such as cement, which is considered a high-cost material, so it is necessary to search for low-cost materials. One of these materials is recycled asphalt pavement (RAP). Herein, we presented an experimental study to investigate using RAP and cement in roadway subbase material improvement. The indicator of the improvement has been selected as the California bearing ratio (CBR); many laboratory tests were made for many percentages of cement and RAP. The study’s main conclusions are that the CBR value increases when the cement percentage increases and the RAP percentages increase up to 12% by the mass of the virgin subbase and then decrease. Also, using a mix of 12% RAP and 1% cement blended with the subbase material gives a CBR value of 138.6. This improvement is considered the same as using 6% (133.5) cement but it is of low cost due to the low cost of the waste material (RAP) as it saved the high cost of 5% cement.

Lightweight aggregate (LWA) mortar is made using lightweight or low-density aggregate, which improves properties such as thermal insulation, durability for freezing and thawing, fire and temperature resistance, and sound insulation. This research aims to use lightweight fine aggregate obtained from crushing natural rocks that are locally called “Ponza” to produce LWA mortar with different mix proportions to study the possibility of using it to produce blocks that can be erected on the outer side of the walls of old buildings to provide good thermal insulation. It also presents a study about the internal curing property of the produced cement mortar, which comes from the absorbed water by the used surface-saturated dry Ponza aggregate. The process includes using three mix proportions (1:1, 1:0.7, and 1:0.5) by weight of cement: fine aggregate. The samples were cured by dividing them into five groups, including moist curing for 1, 3, 7, and 28 days and the fifth group was moist cured for 1 day and then covered by a thin layer of flan coat. Dry density, compressive strength, flexural strength, and thermal conductivity for ages (7, 28, and 56 days) have been tested. The findings indicate that it is possible to produce thermal insulating lightweight cement mortar with mixtures of 1:0.7 or 1:0.5 cement to LWA, using Ponza aggregate, since the results showed an acceptable range of compressive and flexural strengths reaching about 14.75 and 2.91 MPa, respectively, a bulk density of less than 1,600 kg/mm 3 , and a lower thermal conductivity than many building materials.

In this study, the analysis was carried out concerning previous changes in land use/land cover (LULC) for 2 years, 2000 and 2020, and their impact on water resources in the Diyala River Watershed in Iraq was assessed. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is a hydrological model used to perform the hydrological modeling process for LULC maps. The data for LULC were collected using the Landsat satellite with a resolution of 30 m, and it was classified using geographical information systems (ArcGIS). Using the confusion matrix, the accuracy of the maps for the years 2000 and 2020 was evaluated, the overall accuracy was more than 90%, and the kappa coefficient (ka) was more than 88%, which indicates the accuracy of the classification and is ideal for use in modeling work. SUFI-2 included with the SWATCUP program was used to perform the calibration and the results were validated for the outflow of the two gauging stations within the study area of Hemren station and Derbendikhan station as a monthly time step for a baseline map LULC 2000, in the period 1996–2020 with 4 years as warm up. Coefficient of determination ( R 2 ), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and percent bias (Pbias) were used, which were the most common indicators for evaluating the performance of the statistical model. The results indicated that the values of R 2 during the calibration and validation processes were (0.84–0.88) and (0.85–0.87), respectively; the NSE was (0.87–0.85), and the Pbias was (4.2–6.8)% and (5.8 to −4.1)%, respectively. Therefore, the calibration and verification results were good and satisfactory. In addition to the two LULC maps for 2000 and 2020, the parameters of the modified SWAT model were utilized to estimate the effects on the Diyala River Basin. The study found that LULC change affects basins and sub-basins differently. At the basin, hydrological parameters were largely unaffected by LULC changes. However, at the sub-basin level, the water yield and the surface runoff were changed between (−6.45 to 4.67)% and (−2.9 to 9.88)%, respectively.

Polymer concrete (PC) was developed at the end of the 1950s and gained popularity in the 1970s for precast parts, flimsy floor coverings, and repairs. Due to its superior performance over traditional Portland cement concrete, which offers many benefits, including mechanical properties, quick hardening, and durability. In this article, polymeric concrete was made using a mixture of sand and epoxy, and different proportions of sand were replaced with crushed concrete waste. This study found that the ideal ratio between resin and fine aggregate was 23% resin to 77% fine aggregate in terms of the total weight of the combination to get the best dispersion of fine aggregate. Waste concrete replaced 5, 10, 15, and 20% of aggregate in PC, respectively. It was further demonstrated that increased waste concrete aggregate content in PC increased the 28-day compressive strength by 7.7, 13.44, 16.8, and 18.97%, respectively; flexural strength increased by 16.68, 25.32, 37.16, and 47.71% at 28 days’ age; and direct tensile strength was higher than the reference mixture by values of 3.41, 17.21, 23.54, and 30.38% at 28 days age. The findings recommended using recycled fine aggregate on PC and suggested a 20% replacement ratio as an optimum percentage.

This article focuses on the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Type II stilling basin, which has chute blocks, an end dentated sill, and a flat floor. USBR provides general design criteria to contain the hydraulic jump within the stilling basin. The sequent depth ratio, energy dissipation ratio, and stilling basin dimensions of the hydraulic jump are changed when the bed slope of USBR II stilling basins is changed. This study aimed to investigate the effects of adverse slope on the performance of USBR II stilling basin in terms of sequent depth ratio and energy dissipation. Six discharges ranging from 8 to 33 lps were applied to the USBR II stilling basin with bed slopes ( S ) of −0.085, −0.055, −0.035, and 0. Results demonstrated that for Q = 13 and 8 lps, the basin performs better than other models with S = −0.085, increasing energy dissipation by about 10% compared to a typical basin due to the formation of a free hydraulic jump downstream dentated end sill. On the other hand, the floor downstream of the dentated end sill needs more protection against this free jump, and this case becomes economically expensive. In other cases, the downstream jump was submerged, resulting in a counterintuitive current and reverse roller based on the submerged ratio, reducing the effectiveness of the stilling basin. In addition, the modified design of the stilling basin resulted in a shorter effective length that included the hydraulic jump downstream spillway, thereby reducing internal friction. As a result, the standard USBR II with a flatbed is less expensive and more efficient than the adverse slope basin.

This study investigates the effect of using recycled steel fibers (RSFs) extracted from cut tires with dimensions of 0.8 and 40 mm in diameter and length, respectively. Different percentages of fibers were used, which are 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2%. Ten beams with dimensions of 150 mm × 240 mm and a length of 1,700 mm were tested, two of which are control beams without stirrups and using stirrups at a distance higher than the upper limit ( d /2), which is a distance of 250 mm. In the case of using steel fibers without a stirrup, it is noticed that shear resistance increases gradually, but the type of failure remains shear. When using a minimum stirrup with steel fibers, the shear resistance increased significantly by 11.1, 23.7, 33.3, and 41.4%, respectively, compared to the reference beam without steel fibers so that the increased shear capacity in the presence of the minimum stirrups and optimal ratio of steel fibers of 2% reaches 122%, compared to the reference beam without stirrup and steel fibers, as well as converting the type of failure from shear failure to pure bending failure. When using a stirrup, this effect will be greater. The presence of RSF reduces deflection at cracking load, while increasing deflection at the ultimate load. Therefore, the stiffness and ductility ratio increased with the presence of steel fibers by 41.5 and 50.3%, respectively. Also, steel fibers delayed the appearance of beam cracks and reduced their widths.

The method of internal distillation (in situ retorting) and internal treatment for extracting shale oil is one of the modern methods developed with good economic quality but at a higher cost. Therefore, the net of fossil oil can be considered alternative energy. Hydrocarbon-rich hydrogen turns into oily shale, which distills by heat and turns into gases and petroleum liquids suitable for use as fuel. The fumes from burning oil shale are considered cancer-causing, so advanced treatment is required before extraction. As the temperature increases, the speed of oil extraction increases dramatically, but at 510°C, the production rate begins to decline. Oil extraction produces more than gas; the highest production peak is around 550 h. The permeability is closely proportional to the oil producers, and the permeability is inversely proportional to the highest temperature in the case of high heat through the combustion of coal with oxygen internally. The type of oil shale is affected by the surrounding environment and the temperature of the earth’s crust.

Fly ash (FA) cement and water make up flowable fill material, which is also generally produced from waste and utilized in place of compacted granular fill as a cost-effective fill or backfill material. The capability to produce mixtures from various inexpensive, locally available by-products is one of the main benefits of flowable fill material. To considerably reduce costs, this study designed flowable fill mixtures utilizing cement, recycled fine aggregate (RFA; recycling waste hardened mortar and ceramic rubbish), FA, superplasticizers (SPs), and water for various uses. Initially, FA, Portland cement, fine natural aggregate, and water were combined to create a control mixture. Recycled aggregate (recycling waste hardened mortar and ceramic rubbish) was used instead of normal aggregate in various mix proportions in weights of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50%. They performed well and conformed to the requirements of flowable fill material concerning flow consistency, unit weight, compressive strength, direct tensile strength, and thermal conductivity. Finally, when compared to ordinary concrete, flowable fill material can be produced with minimal mechanical criteria, such as a compressive strength of fewer than 5.71 MPa after 60 days and a unit weight between 1,993 and 1,961 kg/m 3 . Additionally, it was discovered that using more RFA to replace normal fine aggregate in flowable fill materials could result in a relative decrease in thermal conductivity.

This article describes an experimental investigation of the behavior of reinforced concrete deep beams repaired by near-surface-mounted (NSM) steel bars. The first beam was loaded under a two-point load up to failure, and the other six deep beams were loaded to 0.4 and 0.75 of ultimate load. Then, they were repaired by NSM steel bars. The bar orientation and angle were the main variables in these beams. The primary goal of this study is to determine whether it is possible to restore the reinforced concrete deep beam with shear reinforcement to its full load-carrying capacity by NSM steel bars as the method of repair. All deep beams were tested with a shear span-depth ratio of 0.8. The test findings showed that the NSM steel repair bars were very effective in restoring the loaded deep beams’ full capacity. Moreover, NSM steel bars enhanced the original deep beams’ strength capacity from 4.16 to 19.44%. The ultimate load, mechanisms of failure, load–crack width distribution, and load–deflection profile are tracked as results.

Pozzolanic materials, glass powder, and silica fume (SF) have all been used in concrete recently as a partial cement substitution to increase the strength of the concrete. The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of waste glass powder (WGP) and SF combination on high-strength concrete (HSC) characteristics. The working methodology of the current research consists of using SF passed through sieve No. 200, and WGP particles that passed through sieve No. 400 (particle size less than 38 µm), maximum size of aggregate (14, 20) mm and W/C + p (0.25, 0.35, and 0.45). The used waste materials were in three different amounts of SF and WGP (5, 10, and 15%) by weight of cement. HSC was tested for compressive strength, density, and ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) with various glass powder and SF contents. The obtained results show that after 7 and 28 days, concrete specimens containing 15% glass powder and SF demonstrated an increase in density, UPV, and compressive strength, depending on the test results. Conversely, concrete specimens with 5% SF and WGP had decreased compressive strength, UPV, and density. It was detected that WGP gave high mechanical (compressive strength) and physical properties (density and UPV) than SF with a ratio of 15% and lower properties with a ratio of 5%. In HSC manufacturing, glass powder may be used instead of SF.

The corona virus pandemic greatly affected Al-Najaf construction sector and its economy. This study ex-amines the impact of pandemic on the sector and assesses the mitigation measures used. A questionnaire was given to 66 construction industry experts, covering 38 variables related to contracts, finance, chain supply, risks, and safety. Results, analyzed using the relative importance index, ranked finance as the top priority, followed by safety, risk, and other factors. Operational aspects, supply chain, and contracts were of lesser concern. Key variables included safety concerns, contractor payment delays, risk management, communication, and health projects. Mitigation measures revealed the importance of management actions and health and safety initiatives. Financial and communication measures were significant, while environmental measures ranked lower. Vaccination and emergency loans were highly valued. Evaluation, communication strategy, and cash support were also important. In conclusion, this study underscores the significance of risk management and safety in mitigating the impact of pandemic on the construction sector. Updating Iraqi legal documentation, particularly for crisis management, is crucial. Adopting a modern management approach is necessary to overcome pandemic-related challenges. The study provides recommendations for further investigation, offering valuable insights for decision-makers and future research in the field.

The future of 5G New Radio development has many significant concerns. We present and investigate a frequency-reconfigurable antenna based on a PIN diode to overcome the working frequency band issue. The dimensions are 30 mm × 20 mm × 1.6 mm, built on material substrate (FR-4) with a relative permittivity of ε r {\varepsilon }_{{\rm{r}}} = 4.4. Two switches allow frequency reconfiguration in the antenna, giving us three operation modes. The design in mode 1 (SW1 = Off and SW2 = Off) covers a 4.6 GHz band. The proposed design in mode 2 resonated at 2.7 and 4.8 GHz (SW1 = On, SW2 = Off or SW1 = Off, SW2 = On), while the design in mode 3 operated at 3.6 GHz (SW1 = On, SW2 = On). Before fabrication, the proposed design is simulated by the Computer Simulation Technology microwave studio software. The presentation and discussion of the radiated pattern and S parameter demonstrate the practicability of the proposed design. The design module’s dimensions and performance are both precisely appropriate. The results indicate a good agreement between both simulation and experimental findings.

The evaluation of the spatial and temporal distribution of groundwater recharge is required to develop the regional groundwater model for more precise simulations of various management scenarios. WetSpass-M (Water and Energy Transfer between Soil, Plants, and Atmosphere under Steady-State Conditions), which is a GIS-based spatially distributed water balance model, is deployed to evaluate monthly groundwater recharge, surface runoff, and actual evapotranspiration in the Low Folded Zone from 2000 to 2019. ArcGIS software prepares the essential relevant input data for the Wetspass-M model as grid maps. They include monthly climatological measurements (precipitation, temperature, and wind speed), land cover distribution, soil map, groundwater depth, topography, and slope. The mean annual groundwater recharge, evapotranspiration, and runoff were found to be 128, 131, and 72 mm, respectively. Accordingly, recharge accounts for 39% of the precipitation, while the rest, 40 and 21%, become evapotranspiration and surface runoff, respectively. WetSpass-M model results are meant to enable integrated groundwater modeling. The study of simulation data demonstrates that the WetSpass-M model accurately simulates the hydrological water budget components of the Low Folded Zone. In addition, a better understanding of the simulated spatial and temporal distribution of water balance components is beneficial for managing and planning the available water resources of the Low Folded Zone in Iraq, which faces water scarcity threats.

The purpose of this article is to create a simple general function to find the maximum base pressure of biaxial eccentric loads under a trapezoidal and triangular footing. Base pressure is the load per unit area below the foundation. The first step is to derive a function linking variables to the specific status by determining what variables can be observed in it and which variables are expected to be extracted from it. This research will focus on a specific status in foundation science and, thereafter, will produce a factor named k that is multiplied by the load divided by the area to find the maximum base pressure.

A ramp metering (RM) or ramp signal is an effective method for traffic management, especially at merging sections in urban expressways. This research aims to assess the Asservissement Linéaire d’Entrée Autoroutière (ALINEA) method performance at different loop detector locations using field data and micro-simulation modeling via advanced interactive microscopic simulator for urban and non-urban networks (AIMSUN). The operation of RM was executed using the ALINEA method. The field data were collected from two locations in Manchester in the UK for calibration and validation in AIMSUN. Occupancy values at different loop detector locations were evaluated. The results indicated that the current simulation model could represent reality to acceptable limits. Increasing the number of detector locations at the merging entrance will decrease the occupancy value. The results showed that the effect of loop detector location is a significant factor in determining the critical occupancy of the merging section. Also, the downstream location is more appropriate for determining the congestion or critical status. The AIMSUN software showed significant consistency in representing field data of merging sections. The minimum value of GEH (Geoffrey E. Havers) that equal to 0.5 has been used to statistically and graphically demonstrate this behavior.

Reinforcing the wooden structural members is considered as a challenging matter to overcome the drawbacks of using wood in the construction field. The current investigation, therefore, presents an attempt to evaluate the effectiveness of utilizing steel bars as reinforcements in glulam timber beams using the near-surface-mounted (NSM) technique in conjunction with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheet wraps. A series of flexural testing was carried out until failure for both reinforced and unreinforced glulam members in a simple support system. Eleven specimens were examined in two groups to compare them with the control beam. Five reinforced glulam (RG) beams of the first group were reinforced with different schemes at tension and compression zones using the same bar size. The other five specimens of the second group were reinforced with shear reinforcement using fully wrapped strips made of CFRP sheet in addition to the same flexural reinforcement schemes as the first group. Each glulam beam has a span of 1.35 m and a rectangular section sized 85 mm × 175 mm. Based on experimental outcomes, theoretic modeling was provided to estimate the ultimate load capacity and bending rigidity of reinforcing glulam members. Though several theoretical predictions of flexural capacity were overstated when compared to experimental predictions, these disparities were frequently about 10%, confirming that the proposed theoretical model was accurate, and the mean of ultimate loading capacity and deflection between experimental and theoretical results were 1.01 and 1.09, respectively. Experimental results presented show that the RG beams performed much better than the unreinforced reference beams in terms of structural behavior, with improvements in ultimate load capacity ranging from 16 to 49%. On the other hand, the shear reinforcement for RG members slightly improved flexural performance, and the ultimate load capacity increased by 2–7%. Therefore, it was concluded that the NSM techniques using ordinary steel bars were effective ways in strengthening the glulam members in terms of flexural stiffness with increasing ultimate load capacity.

The fatigue life of polymer materials like epoxy can be improved by using stiffeners such as carbon fiber and/or adding multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). This article studies the effect of adding MWCNTs with different ratios (0.5, 1, and 2 wt%) to epoxy and composite (epoxy + 30% carbon fibers). The experimental results of the fatigue test with fully reversed bending stress (with R = −1) showed a maximum increase of 788% in fatigue life when adding 1 wt% MWCNTs to epoxy, while the maximum improvement ratio reaches 2,500% when adding 1 wt% MWCNTs to composite. The best results of fatigue life improvement were observed for samples with MWCNTs of 1 wt%. The material will be transferred from low cycle fatigue (less than 10 5 cycles) to high cycle fatigue (more than 10 5 cycles) by adding 1 wt% of MWCNTs. At the same time, the ratio of MWCNTs of more than 1 wt% (such as 2 wt%) will decrease the fatigue life due to the agglomeration of nanotubes inside the resin and reduce the positive effect of it. These agglomeration points work as a barrier to load transfer and stress concentration points. The numerical model was built to simulate the fatigue test and compare the results with the experimental with a discrepancy value of 7.5%.

In this article, we used some methods to solve Riemann-type fractional difference equations. Firstly, we use a method that is a composite method based on the successive approximation method with the Sumudu transform. Secondly, we use a method that is a composite method that consists of the homotopic perturbation method with the Sumudu transform. It was found that the results obtained from these combined methods are identical when compared. We also provided theories and illustrative examples to support the research findings.

The subgrade soil layer is the most essential part of the pavement system. Many pavement failures can be associated with subgrade weak strength and stiffness qualities. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen this layer before building the other pavement layers. One of the essential methods utilized to enhance the engineering characteristics of this layer is soil stabilization. Stabilization methods are many and varied, but chemical and mechanical stabilization are the most common. This research aims to evaluate the strength of stabilized soils by using a dynamic cone penetration (DCP) test. To achieve this aim, subgrade soil was provided from a roadway project in Kerbala city and stabilized with 2.5 and 5% of Portland cement by weight of the dry soil. Then, the cemented subgrade soil was reinforced with 6 and 12 mm of polypropylene discrete fiber. The fiber was added to the soil with the following contents: 0.5, 1, and 2%. The characteristics of stabilized soils were evaluated by determining three parameters: dynamic cone penetration index (DCPI), in-situ California bearing ratio (CBR), and bearing capacity obtained from the DCP test. The results showed that when Portland cement was increased from 0 to 2.5% and then to 5% by weight of the dry soil, the DCPI value gradually decreased while increasing both CBR and bearing capacity. However, adding 6 and 12 mm fiber contents (0.5, 1, and 2) to the cement–sand mixture containing 2.5 and 5% cement led to increased DCPI and a gradual decrease in CBR and bearing capacity. Also, the results showed that the DCPI for a 12 mm fiber is lower than that for 6 mm fibers, while the CBR and bearing capacity for a 12 mm fiber are greater than those of 6 mm fibers for all ratios. Accordingly, the results of the DCP tests showed that the most significant support for the soil is obtained when the soil is stabilized using 5% cement with 12 mm of fiber by weight of dry soil.

Recurring congestion on highways is the primary cause of traffic congestion in the urban traffic system while jams on merging sections are the worst section along the expressway. Due to the presence of heavy congestion in the site of University of Technology, this study aims to discover the traffic characteristics of this site to determine the appropriate solutions. Therefore, this study selects a merging section on Mohammed Al-Qassim expressway to investigate some characteristics of such a section in Iraq. Field data have been collected from this site for 4 h. The data were collected from video cameras installed along the expressway in Baghdad city which is called Mohammed Al-Qassim Expressway. These data present flow of upstream and ramp. The Advanced Interactive Microscopic Simulator for Urban and Non-Urban Networks (AIMSUN) program was also adopted to investigate other characteristics which are difficult to get such as speed and occupancy for the current case. The results showed that the simulated and real data significantly corresponded. In this study, the AIMSUN program received recognition by utilizing Geoffrey E. Havers a method for comparing two sets of traffic volumes that are used in traffic engineering, traffic forecasting, and traffic modeling as it was discovered to be comparable to reality, and the road management was then enhanced by the addition of ramp metering and cycle (green) time control.

Flat slab systems are widely utilized in construction due to their versatility and efficient use of space. Nevertheless, they are susceptible to flexural failure, particularly in the tension zone. To address this issue, slurry-infiltrated fiber concrete (SIFCON) has been proposed as a solution owing to its exceptional strength and durability. This research examines the effect of utilizing SIFCON in the tension zone of flat slab systems to enhance their flexural performance. The study encompasses testing eight identical slabs, two of which were cast with normal concrete, while the remaining six were hybrid slabs incorporating SIFCON. The specimens were subjected to vertical loading to compare their flexural behavior and identify the optimal dimensions for the SIFCON layer. The slabs had identical dimensions but varied in reinforcement. Group A had a reinforcement ratio of ρ = 0.5%, whereas Group B had a ratio of ρ = 0.335%. All slabs had a constant thickness of the SIFCON layer of 20 mm in the tension zone but varied in the dimensions of the SIFCON layer (100, 50, 30%) from the slab dimensions. A square plate with dimensions (140 × 140 × 20) mm supported the load for all slabs. The load was applied gradually until failure, and the load–deflection curves were recorded for each slab. The result showed that using SIFCON in the tension zone improved the flexural resistance of flat slab systems. The hybrid slabs with SIFCON demonstrated higher ultimate loads and lower deflections than the control slabs that used regular concrete. In particular, the hybrid slabs with a 100% SIFCON layer exhibited the best results, with a rise in ultimate load of 179 and 100% for Groups A and B, respectively, compared to the control slabs. In addition, there was a significant decrease in deflection of 62.35 and 52.38% for Groups A and B, respectively, relative to the control slabs. The study found that the optimal combination of the SIFCON dimension was when the 50% slab dimension was covered and the reinforcing bar area for the hybrid reinforcement system was smaller.

The management of groundwater recharge success and sustainability depends on many site characteristics. It is essential to integrate the maps of site’s suitability and characteristics to identify suitable areas. The purpose of this study is to use a geographic information system (GIS) to find potential places for a project using managed aquifer recharge (MAR) in the eastern Wasit province, Iraq. Data for four effective criteria, terrain slope, Soil type/texture, drainage density, and hydrogeological efficiency, were collected, and a categorization map for each GIS criterion was subsequently created. The four steps are performed to identify this site: defining the problem, screening for the suitable areas, after the suitability map, and after the screening; the suitability mapping is divided into two zones: suitable zone and unsuitable zone. The results indicate that the site suitability for conducting aquifer recharge was classified into five categories, i.e., very high, high, moderate, low, and very low potentiality. These areas cover 26.83, 34.71, 24.98, 11.56, and 1.79%, respectively. GIS is widely acknowledged as an efficient approach for choosing MAR sites. This approach gives a better reference for analyzing suitable sites and the potential implications of applying MAR in an aquifer in similar water-stressed areas.