Highway embankments stability during its service period represents an important factor for the safety of highway users and vehicles. Consequently, the cost of construction of these embankments should be adequate to maintain the safety and durability during this period through proper estimation of the loading on asphalt pavement, slope stability, horizontal and vertical deformation, etc. Slope stability of the embankment mainly depends on the shear strength of the soil layers materials; this shear strength is affected by the water table level through the contribution of the capillary water. Negative pore water pressure above the water table level evolves matric suction in the unsaturated zone above water table; this matric suction increases the shear strength of the soil depending on the soil type, void ratio, etc. This paper studies the slope stability of highway embankment using finite element method analysis to show the effect of the presence of water table and the contribution of the matric suction. A trial slope is shown to have same factor of safety with reduced cross section due to increasing the shear strength hence, reducing the cross-sectional cost is determined.
One of the most important problems in concrete production in Iraq and other country is the high sulfate content in sand that led to damage of concrete and hence reduces its compressive strength and may leads to cracking due to internal sulfate attack and delay ettringite formation. The magnetic water treatment process is adopted in this study. Many samples with different SO3 content are treated with magnetic water (12, 8, 4 and 2)L that needed for each 1kg of sand with the magnetic intensity (9000 and 5000) Gaus. The magnetic water needed is reduced with less SO3 content in sand. The ACI 211.1-91 concrete mix design was used in this research with slump range (75- 100) mm and the specified compressive strength (35MPa). The compressive streng
... Show MoreDue to the significance of hospital drinking water, a study was done to assess the water in three hospitals in Baghdad (Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital, Ibn Sina Hospital, and Ibn-Al-Nafis Hospital) for its nature and quality, compare it to other hospitals in terms of its physical, chemical, and bacterial specifications, and compare it to international standards. According to Iraqi standards from 2009 and WHO standards from 2011, Chemical factors were measured, which included pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), and Calcium Ion (Ca+2). Reported readings are all within acceptable ranges for drinking water. In contrast, turbidity, total hardness (T.H.), chlorides (Cl-), magnesium (Mg+2), the number of aerobic plates (APC), total coliform (T
... Show MoreWater absorbent polymers (WAP) are new component in producing building materials. They provide internal curing which reduces autogenous cracking, eliminates autogenous shrinkage, mortar strength increased, enhance early age strength to withstand strain, improve the durability, introduce higher early age compressive strength, have higher performance and reduce the effect of insufficient external curing. This research used different percent of polymer balls to choose the percent that provides good development in compressive strength with time for both water and air curing. The water absorption polymer balls in this research have the ability to absorb water and after usage in concrete they spill out the water (internal curing) and shri
... Show MoreThe main challenge is to protect the environment from future deterioration due to pollution and the lack of natural resources. Therefore, one of the most important things to pay attention to and get rid of its negative impact is solid waste. Solid waste is a double-edged sword according to the way it is dealt with, as neglecting it causes a serious environmental risk from water, air and soil pollution, while dealing with it in the right way makes it an important resource in preserving the environment. Accordingly, the proper management of solid waste and its reuse or recycling is the most important factor. Therefore, attention has been drawn to the use of solid waste in different ways, and the most common way is to use it as an alternative
... Show MoreThe cost of pile foundations is part of the super structure cost, and it became necessary to reduce this cost by studying the pile types then decision-making in the selection of the optimal pile type in terms of cost and time of production and quality .So The main objective of this study is to solve the time–cost–quality trade-off (TCQT) problem by finding an optimal pile type with the target of "minimizing" cost and time while "maximizing" quality. There are many types In the world of piles but in this paper, the researcher proposed five pile types, one of them is not a traditional, and developed a model for the problem and then employed particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, as one of evolutionary algorithms with t
... Show MoreA high percentage of existing buildings in Iraq are traditional buildings, yet there is approximately no such green building in Baghdad or other governorates. Most of these buildings require urgent upgrading to increase their performance (operationally, economically, and environmentally), also the building owners looking for identifying and implementing many of the green building measures to reduce the operational and maintenance costs of their buildings. The decision-makers need to support the possibility of achieving sustainable measures of existing building rating systems such as LEED or BREEAM, and that would require an optimization model. The goal of this study is to maximize the
The liver protective effects of pentoxifylline were studied through pre-treatment of rats with various intraperitoneal (IP) doses (25, 50 and 100mg/kg/day) 14 days before induction of liver toxicity by carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). The parameters of oxidative stress, malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were measured in liver homogenate in addition to histopathological examinations. Analysis of data revealed significant amelioration of oxidative stress in groups of animals pre-treated with different doses of pentoxifylline (PTX) compared to group of animals intoxicated by CCl4 as evidenced by lowering MDA contents and elevation of GSH levels in liver tissue homogenate but the levels still signifi
... Show MoreSix isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis were isolated from Iraqi soil characterized as non- insecticidal and non- hemolytic parasporal inclusion proteins. Bacterial isolates were propagated on nutrient broth. Then, the parasporal inclusion proteins were extracted and processed with proteinase K and trypsin. The major protein segments produced of 64KDa were characterized and tested for cytocidal activity against human leukemic T- cells (CLL) (Chronic lymphoid leukemia). Results indicated that the treated parasporal proteins of four isolates (Bt2, Bt3, Bt4 and Bt6) showed strong cytotoxicity with no significant differences between normal lymphocytes and leukemic lymphocytes. Two isolates BtA1 and BtA5 show discriminative cytotoxicity between n
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