Traffic loading and environmental factors are among the most serious variables that cause the spoilage of flexible pavements and lead to a decrease in their design life. The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of axle load raise and the change in resilient modulus on the flexible pavement design life. Locally, Highway geometric design code for Iraqi building code has assign certain admissible maximum load limits per every axle truck type that should not be overrun. In this paper nine different axle truck loads (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16) tons, single axle with dual tire and, and two different resilient moduli of asphalt pavement were chosen. The evaluation was carried out assuming high temperature to represent

Background:  Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common joint disorder leading to considerable pain and locomotor disability in lower limb function. Locomotor disability, which is difficulty in activities of daily living related to lower limb function, can be the consequence of KOA, so early diagnosis and management may improve quality of life.

Objective: To assess the contribution of radiological osteoarthritis of the knees to disability in the activities of daily living related to lower limb function.

 Methods: One hundred twenty Iraqi KOA patients (104 females and 16 males) who were attending to Rheumatology Unit, Full history was taken and complete clinical exami

In this paper, a computational method for solving optimal problem is presented, using indirect method (spectral methodtechnique) which is based on Boubaker polynomial. By this method the state and the adjoint variables are approximated by Boubaker polynomial with unknown coefficients, thus an optimal control problem is transformed to algebraic equations which can be solved easily, and then the numerical value of the performance index is obtained. Also the operational matrices of differentiation and integration have been deduced for the same polynomial to help solving the problems easier. A numerical example was given to show the applicability and efficiency of the method. Some characteristics of this polynomial which can be used for solvin

In this paper the variable structure control theory is utilized to derive a discontinuous controller to the magnetic levitation system. The magnetic levitation system model is considered uncertain, which subjected to the uncertainty in system parameters, also it is open-loop unstable and strongly nonlinear. The proposed variable structure control to magnetic levitation system is proved, and the area of attraction is determined. Additionally, the chattering, which induced due to the discontinuity in control law, is attenuated by using a non-smooth approximate. With this approximation the resulted controller is a continuous variable structure controller with a determined steady state error according to the selected control

Micro metal forming has an application potential in different industrial fields. Flexible tool-assisted sheet metal forming at micro scale is among the forming techniques that have increasingly attracted wide attention of researchers. This forming process is a suitable technique for producing micro components because of its inexpensive process, high quality products and relatively high production rate. This study presents a novel micro deep drawing technique through using floating ring as an assistant die with flexible pad as a main die. The floating ring designed with specified geometry is located between the process workpiece and the rubber pad. The function of the floating ring in this work is to produce SS304 micro cups with profile

The process of accurate localization of the basic components of human faces (i.e., eyebrows, eyes, nose, mouth, etc.) from images is an important step in face processing techniques like face tracking, facial expression recognition or face recognition. However, it is a challenging task due to the variations in scale, orientation, pose, facial expressions, partial occlusions and lighting conditions. In the current paper, a scheme includes the method of three-hierarchal stages for facial components extraction is presented; it works regardless of illumination variance. Adaptive linear contrast enhancement methods like gamma correction and contrast stretching are used to simulate the variance in light condition among images. As testing material

The present investigation aims to study the effect of heat treatment by quenching in different quenching media (salt water, water and oil) following by tempering on wear resistance of EN25 steel. EN25 steel is an alloy of medium carbon low alloy steel which is used for many applications requiring high tensile strength and wear resistance such as connecting rods, adapters and in power sectors extensively. The specimens are machined to 20 mm in length and 10 mm in diameter. This study is done by two stages: The first stage is done by austenitizing EN25 steel to 850  for 1 hr by quenching the specimens in three different quenching media and then tempered at 300   in air. While the second stage is performed by wear

The research aims to find approximate solutions for two dimensions Fredholm linear integral equation. Using the two-variables of the Bernstein polynomials we find a solution to the approximate linear integral equation of the type two dimensions. Two examples have been discussed in detail.