The dual nature of asphalt binder necessitates improvements to mitigate rutting and fatigue since it performs as an elastic material under the regime of rapid loading or cold temperatures and as a viscous fluid at elevated temperatures. The present investigation assesses the effectiveness of Nano Alumina (NA), Nano Silica (NS), and Nano Titanium Dioxide (NT) at weight percentages of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8% in asphalt cement to enhance both asphalt binder and mixture performance. Binder evaluations include tests for consistency, thermal susceptibility, aging, and workability, while mixture assessments focus on Marshall properties, moisture susceptibility, resilient modulus, permanent deformation, and fatigue characteristics. NS notably im

Based on a finite element analysis using Matlab coding, eigenvalue problem has been formulated and solved for the buckling analysis of non-prismatic columns. Different numbers of elements per column length have been used to assess the rate of convergence for the model. Then the proposed model has been used to determine the critical buckling load factor () for the idealized supported columns based on the comparison of their buckling loads with the corresponding hinge supported columns . Finally in this study the critical buckling factor () under end force (P) increases by about 3.71% with the tapered ratio increment of 10% for different end supported columns and the relationship between normalized critical load and slenderness ratio was g

This research is carried out to investigate the behavior of self-compacting concrete (SCC) two-way slabs with central square opening under uniformly distributed loads. The experimental part of this research is based on casting and testing six SCC simply supported square slabs having the same dimentions and reinforcement. One of these slabs was cast without opening as a control slab. While, the other five slabs having opening ratios (O_R) of 2.78%, 6.25%, 11.11%, 17.36% and 25.00%. From the experimental results it is found that the maximum percentage decrease in cracking and ultimate uniform loads were 31.82% and 12.17% compared to control slab for opening ratios (O_R

Purpose:  Providing practical knowledge of the requirements of a detailed feasibility study for selecting the investment project.

Findings:  Directing the private sector towards investing in productive projects - the pre-cast reinforced concrete project - as it achieves a financial return as well as providing Providing foreign currencies by reducing imports and exploiting available natural resources

Practical implications: The importance of a detailed feasibility study to determining whether the project can be implemented or not.

The precast concrete method is one of the best modern c

In Australia, most of the existing buildings were designed before the release of the Australian standard for earthquake actions in 2007. Therefore, many existing buildings in Australia lack adequate seismic design, and their seismic performance must be assessed. The recent earthquake that struck Mansfield, Victoria near Melbourne elevated the need to produce fragility curves for existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Australia. Fragility curves are frequently utilized to assess buildings’ seismic performance and it is defined as the demand probability surpassing capacity at a given intensity level. Numerous factors can influence the results of the fragility assessment of RC buildings. Among the most important factors that can affe

This paper studied the behaviour of reinforced reactive powder concrete (RPC) two-way slabs under static load. The experimental program included testing three simply supported slabs of 1000 mm length, 1000 mm width, and 70 mm thickness. Tested specimens were of identical properties except their steel fibers volume ratio (0.5 %, 1 %, and 1.5 %). Static test results revealed that, increasing steel fibers volume ratio from 0.5% to 1% and from 1% to 1.5%, led to an increase in: first crack load by (32.2 % and 52.3 %), ultimate load by (36.1 % and 17.0 %), ultimate deflection by (33.6 % and 3.4 %), absorbed energy by (128 % and 20.2 %), and the ultimate strain by (1.1 % and 6.73 %). The stiffness and ductility of the specimens also increased. A

In this paper, an exact stiffness matrix and fixed-end load vector for nonprismatic beams having parabolic varying depth are derived. The principle of strain energy is used in the derivation of the stiffness matrix.
The effect of both shear deformation and the coupling between axial force and the bending moment are considered in the derivation of stiffness matrix. The fixed-end load vector for elements under uniformly distributed or concentrated loads is also derived. The correctness of the derived matrices is verified by numerical examples. It is found that the coupling effect between axial force and bending moment is significant for elements having axial end restraint. It was found that the decrease in bending moment was
in the

Deep Learning Techniques For Skull Stripping of Brain MR Images

General Background: Deep image matting is a fundamental task in computer vision, enabling precise foreground extraction from complex backgrounds, with applications in augmented reality, computer graphics, and video processing. Specific Background: Despite advancements in deep learning-based methods, preserving fine details such as hair and transparency remains a challenge. Knowledge Gap: Existing approaches struggle with accuracy and efficiency, necessitating novel techniques to enhance matting precision. Aims: This study integrates deep learning with fusion techniques to improve alpha matte estimation, proposing a lightweight U-Net model incorporating color-space fusion and preprocessing. Results: Experiments using the AdobeComposition-1k