This research aims to improve the radiation shielding properties of polymer-based materials by mixing PVC with locally available building materials. Specifically, two key parameters of fast neutron attenuation (removal cross-section and half-value layer) were studied for composite materials comprising PVC reinforced with common building materials (cement, sand, gypsum and marble) in different proportions (10%, 30% and 50% by weight). To assess their effectiveness as protection against fast neutrons, the macroscopic neutron cross-section was calculated for each composite. Results show that neutron cross-section values are significantly affected by the reinforcement ratios, and that the composite material PVC + 50% gypsum is an effect

Recently, Qatar, a well-known oil production country, has been convinced as a successful case in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) as a smaller economy. This paper aims to investigate how FDI inflows affect Qatar’s business cycles. Time series data was selected from 1990 to 2010 as available. The VAR Impulse Responses and the Granger Causality test were mainly employed by using Eviews. The derived result shows that the FDI inflows and the economic growth in Qatar interact with each other in a relatively long term.

Modified asphalt is considered one of the alternatives to address the problems of deficiencies in traditional asphalt concrete, as modified asphalt addresses many of the issues that appear on the pavement layers in asphalt concrete, resulting from heavy traffic and vehicles loaded with loads that exceed the design loads and the large fluctuations in the daily and seasonal temperatures of asphalt concrete. The current study examined the role of polyphosphoric acid (PPA) as a modified material for virgin asphalt when it was added in different proportions (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%) of the asphalt weight. The experimental program includes the volumetric characteristics associated with the Marshall test, the physical properties, and th

The experimental and numerical analysis was performed on pipes suffering large plastic deformation through expanding them using rigid conical shaped mandrels, with three different cone angles (15◦, 25◦, 35◦) and diameters (15, 17, 20) mm. The experimental test for the strain results investigated the expanded areas. A numerical solution of the pipes expansion process was also investigated using the commercial finite element software ANSYS. The strains were measured for each case experimentally by stamping the mesh on the pipe after expanding, then compared with Ansys results. No cracks were generated during the process with the selected angles. It can be concluded that the strain decreased with greater angles of con

Background: Among individuals who have a stenotic aortic valve, a precise assessment of aortic valve area is essential for clinical judgment. So far, no studies have been conducted to investigate and assess the role of the three dimensional echo-cardiography in the assessment of the valve stenosis. This study aims to compare and assess the precision of the measurement of the stenosis area of the aortic valve by 2D versus 3D echo-cardiography.

In this study, Cr−Mo−N thin films with different Mo contents were synthesised via closed field unbalanced magnetron sputtering ion plating. The effects of Mo content on the microstructure, chemical bonding state, and optical properties of the prepared films were investigated by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), field emission scanning electron microscopy, and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry. XRD results determined the face centered cubic (fcc) structure of pure CrN film. The incorporation of molybdenum (Mo) in the CrN matrix was confirmed by both XRD and XPS analyses. The CrMoN coatings demonstrate various polycrystalline phases including CrN, γ-Mo2N, Cr with oxides layers of MoO3, CrO3

In recent years, the world witnessed a rapid growth in attacks on the internet which resulted in deficiencies in networks performances. The growth was in both quantity and versatility of the attacks. To cope with this, new detection techniques are required especially the ones that use Artificial Intelligence techniques such as machine learning based intrusion detection and prevention systems. Many machine learning models are used to deal with intrusion detection and each has its own pros and cons and this is where this paper falls in, performance analysis of different Machine Learning Models for Intrusion Detection Systems based on supervised machine learning algorithms. Using Python Scikit-Learn library KNN, Support Ve