This study aimed to investigate the incorporation of recycled waste compact discs (WCDs) powder in concrete mixes to replace the fine aggregate by 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. Compared to the reference concrete mix, results revealed that using WCDs powder in concrete mixes improved the workability and the dry density. The results demonstrated that the compressive, flexural, and split tensile strengths values for the WCDs-modified concrete mixes showed tendency to increase above the reference mix. However, at 28 days curing age, the strengths values for WCDs-modified concrete mixes were comparable to those for the reference mix. The leaching test revealed that none of the WCDs constituents was detected in the leachant after 180 days. The findings of this study indicated a sustainable alternative for diminution the effects on the environment posed by waste CDs. Significant agreement between experimental results and those predicted by the artificial neural networks (ANN) modeling was observed.
A new pavement technology has been developed in Highway engineering: asphalt pavement production is less susceptible to oxidation and the consequent damages. The warm mix asphalt (WMA) is produced at a temperature of about (10-40) oC lower than the hot asphalt paving. This is done using one of the methods of producing a WMA. Although WMA's performance is rather good, according to previous studies, as it is less susceptible to oxidation, it is possible to modify some of its properties using different materials, including polymers. Waste tires of vehicles are one of the types of polymers because of their flexible properties. The production of HMA, WMA, and WMA modified with proportions of (1, 1.5, and 2%) of rub
... Show MoreThe current Iraqi standard specifications for roads and bridges allowed the prepared Job-Mix Formula for asphalt mixtures to witness some tolerances with regard to the following: coarse aggregate gradation by ± 6.0 %, fine aggregate gradation by ± 4.0 %, filler gradation by ± 2.0 %, asphalt cement content by ± 0.3 % and mixing temperature by ± 15 oC. The objective of this work is to evaluate the behavior of asphalt mixtures prepared by different aggregates gradations (12.5 mm nominal maximum size) that fabricated by several asphalt contents (40-50 grade) and various mixing temperature. All the tolerances specified in the specifications are taken into account, furthermore, the zones beyond these tolerances
... Show MoreIn this paper, a compact genetic algorithm (CGA) is enhanced by integrating its selection strategy with a steepest descent algorithm (SDA) as a local search method to give I-CGA-SDA. This system is an attempt to avoid the large CPU time and computational complexity of the standard genetic algorithm. Here, CGA dramatically reduces the number of bits required to store the population and has a faster convergence. Consequently, this integrated system is used to optimize the maximum likelihood function lnL(φ1, θ1) of the mixed model. Simulation results based on MSE were compared with those obtained from the SDA and showed that the hybrid genetic algorithm (HGA) and I-CGA-SDA can give a good estimator of (φ1, θ1) for the ARMA(1,1) model. Anot
... Show MoreOne of the main parts in hydraulic system is directional control valve, which is needed in order to operate hydraulic actuator. Practically, a conventional directional control valve has complex construction and moving parts, such as spool. Alternatively, a proposed Magneto-rheological (MR) directional control valve can offer a better solution without any moving parts by means of MR fluid. MR fluid consists of stable suspension of micro-sized magnetic particles dispersed in carrier medium like hydrocarbon oil. The main objectives of this present research are to design a MR directional control valve using MR fluid, to analyse its magnetic circuit using FEMM software, and to study and simulate the performance of this valve. In this research, a
... Show MoreIn this paper we present a method to analyze five types with fifteen wavelet families for eighteen different EMG signals. A comparison study is also given to show performance of various families after modifying the results with back propagation Neural Network. This is actually will help the researchers with the first step of EMG analysis. Huge sets of results (more than 100 sets) are proposed and then classified to be discussed and reach the final.
Joint diseases, such as osteoarthritis, induce pain and loss of mobility to millions of people around the world. Current clinical methods for the diagnosis of osteoarthritis include X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, and arthroscopy. These methods may be insensitive to the earliest signs of osteoarthritis. This study investigates a new procedure that was developed and validated numerically for use in the evaluation of cartilage quality. This finite element model of the human articular cartilage could be helpful in providing insight into mechanisms of injury, effects of treatment, and the role of mechanical factors in degenerative
conditions, this three-dimensional finite element model is a useful tool for understanding of the stress d
The majority of real-world problems involve not only finding the optimal solution, but also this solution must satisfy one or more constraints. Differential evolution (DE) algorithm with constraints handling has been proposed to solve one of the most fundamental problems in cellular network design. This proposed method has been applied to solve the radio network planning (RNP) in the forthcoming 5G Long Term Evolution (5G LTE) wireless cellular network, that satisfies both deployment cost and energy savings by reducing the number of deployed micro base stations (BSs) in an area of interest. Practically, this has been implemented using constrained strategy that must guarantee good coverage for the users as well. Three differential evolution
... Show MoreThe Current status of biomedical waste of solid, liquid and gaseous formulations from medical and educational laboratories in Iraqi universities and research centers was assessed using a well-structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to scientists, researchers, medical technicians and graduate students who are directly involved in laboratoiy daily activities. The responses were analyzed statistically and interpreted accordingly. The results showed diat the frequency of questionnaire respondent's affiliation gave the highest percentage frequency (69.4%) with the questionnaire of Technical Medical Institute/Al-Mansour while constitute die responses of the Dnig Control Department/Ministry of Sciences and Technology gave the l
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