The focus of this work is on systematically understanding the effects of packing density of the sand grains on both the internal and bulk mechanical properties for strip footing interacting with granular soil. The studies are based on particle image velocimetry (PIV) method, coupled with a high resolution imaging camera. This provides valuable new insights on the evolution of slip planes at grain-scale under different fractions of the ultimate load. Furthermore, the PIV based results are compared with finite element method simulations in which the experimentally characterised parameters and constitutive behaviour are fed as an input, and a good level of agreements are obtained. The reported results would serve to the practicing engineers, r

Buckling analysis of composite laminates for critical thermal (uniform and linear) and mechanical loads is reported here. The objective of this work is to carry out theoretical investigation of buckling analysis of composite plates under thermomechanical loads, and experimental investigation under mechanical loads. The analytical investigation involved certain mathematical preliminaries, a study of equations of orthotropic elasticity for classical laminated plate theory (CLPT), higher order shear deformation plate theory (HSDT) , and numerical analysis (Finite element method), then the equation of motion are derived and solved using Navier method and Levy method for symmetric and anti-symmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminated plates t

Nosocomial infections (NIs) are hospital-acquired associated infections, and also contracted due to the infections or toxins that exist in some location, like hospital. Therefore in our study, 4 Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) isolates were obtained from dairy product (Lactobacillus brevis, L. acidophilus, Lactococcus raffinolactis and Lactococcus lactis) and were tested for Bacteriocin production to select Lactococcus lactis among them. Cell free supernatant (CFS), Lipid and partial purification of protein La. Lactis had high inhibitory effect against test pathogens (E. coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus). 30 isolates that diagnosed by Vitec, were isol

Desulfurization of a simulated diesel fuel by different adsorbents was studied in a fixed-bed adsorption process operated at ambient temperature and pressure.  Three different adsorption beds were used, commercial activated carbon, Cu-Y zeolite, and layered bed of 15wt% activated carbon followed by Cu-Y zeolite.Initially Y-zeolite was prepared from Iraqi rice husk and then impregnated with copper. In general, the adsorbents tested for total sulfur adsorption capacity at break through followed the order Ac/Cu-Y zeolite>Cu-Y zeolite>Ac. The best adsorbent, Ac/Cu-Y zeolite is capable of producing more than 30 cm3 of simulated diesel fuel per gram of adsorbent with a weighted average content of 5 ppm-S, while Cu-Y zeolite producing of

This study includes adding chemicals to gypseous soil to improve its collapse characteristics. The collapse behavior of gypseous soil brought from the north of Iraq (Salah El-Deen governorate) with a gypsum content of 59% was investigated using five types of additions (cement dust, powder sodium meta-silicate, powder activated carbon, sodium silicate solution, and granular activated carbon). The soil was mixed by weight with cement dust (10, 20, and 30%), powder sodium meta-silicate (6%), powder activated carbon (10%), sodium silicate solution (3, 6, and 9%), and granular activated carbon (5, 10, and 15%). The collapse potential is reduced by 86, 71, 43, 37, and 35% when 30% cement dust, 6% powder sodium meta-silicate, 10% powder activated

Background: The elimination of the microorganisms from the root canal systems, an important step for the successful root canal treatment. This study was conducted to evaluate the antibacterial effectiveness of the photoactivated disinfection by using the toluidine blue O and a low- energy light emitting diode (LED) lamp . Materials and method: Sixty single rooted extracted teeth were decoronated, instrumented, irrigated, sealed at the apex and contaminated with endodontic anaerobic bacteria for 7 days to form biofilms in prepared root canals. Group I. Twelve teeth were medicated by photosensitizer (toluidine blue O) solution activated by diode lamp (FotoSan; CMS Dental, Copenhagen, Denmark).Group II. Twelve teeth were medicated by the tricr

The adsorption of copper ions onto produced activated carbon from banana peels (with particle size 250 µm) in a single component system with applying magnetic field has been studied using fixed bed adsorber. The fixed bed breakthrough curves for the copper ions were investigated. The adsorption capacity for Cu (II) was investigated. It was found that 1) the exposure distance (E.D) and strength of magnetic field (B), affected the degree of adsorption; and 2) experiments showed that removal of Cu ions and accumulative adsorption capacity of adsorbent increase as the exposure distance and strength of magnetic field increase.
 

The adsorption of Pb(II) ions onto bentonite and activated carbon was investigated. The effects of pH, initial adsorbent dosage, contact time and temperature were studied in batch experiments. The maximum adsorption capacities for bentonite and activated carbon were 0.0364 and 0.015 mg/mg, respectively. Thermodynamic parameters such as Gibbs free energy change, Enthalpy change and Entropy change have been calculated. These thermodynamic parameters indicated that the adsorption process was thermodynamically spontaneous under natural conditions and the adsorption was endothermic in nature. Experimental data were also tested in terms of adsorption kinetics, the results showed that the adsorption processes followed well pseudo second- order

A systematic approach is presented to achieve the stable grasping of objects through a two-finger robotic hand, in which each finger cavity was filled with granular media. The compaction of the latter, controlled by vacuum pressure, was used to adjust the structural and contact stiffness of the finger. The grasping stability was studied under the concurrent effect of an external torque and applied vacuum pressure. Stable grasping was defined as the no slippage condition between the grasped object and the two fingers. Three control schemes were adopted and applied experimentally to ensure the effectiveness of the grasping process. The results showed that stable and unstable grasping regions exist for each combination of applied torqu