The idea of using slender Reinforced Concrete (RC) columns with cross-shaped (+-shaped) instead of columns with square-shaped was discussed in this paper. The use of +-shaped columns provides many architectural and structural advantages, such as avoiding prominent columns edges and improved the structural response of member. Therefore, this study explores the structural response of slender +-shaped columns experimentally and numerically by nonlinear finite element analysis using Abaqus simulation tools. The results showed an excellent convergence in strength between numerical and test results with an average standard deviation of 0.05 and 0.07. Besides that, the use of +-shaped columns led to improve the ultimate strength and reduce deflections in all stages of loading, especially with the slenderness ratio more than 40, as compared with square-shaped column. Two design approaches were suggested to evaluate the ultimate strength of +-shaped columns with different slenderness ratios. Briefly, the results showed good structural response of +-shaped columns as compared with square-shaped columns, but further studies are needed to establish the behavior of this type of column, particularly with varying states of loading.
Social determinants of health (SDH) profoundly influence diabetes outcomes; nevertheless, their impact on the Iraqi diabetic population remains under researched. The objectives of this study were To investigate the relationship between particular social determinants of health (SDH) variables namely food and housing insecurity, social support, income, and education and clinical outcomes, including HbA1c levels, medication adherence, and patient satisfaction among Iraqi diabetic patients. A cross-sectional study involving 212 diabetic patients in Iraq was conducted. Participants attending a healthcare facility in Iraq filled out validated questionnaires regarding social determinants of health, medication adherence, and satisfaction. HbA1c rea
... Show MoreThe aim of this work is to study the effect of diesel fuel percentage on the combustion processes in compression ignition engine using dual – fuel (diesel and LPG).
The brake thermal efficiency increased with the increase of diesel fuel rate at low loads, and decreased when load increased. To get sufficient operation in engine fueled with dual fuel, it required sufficient flow rate of diesel fuel, if the engine fueled with insufficient diesel fuel erratic operation with miss fire cycles presented.
Dual-fuel operation at part load showed higher specific fuel consumption than straight diesl operation. At full loads, brake specific fuel consumption of duel fuel engine approaches that for diesel fuel values.
Transient mixed convection heat transfer in a confined porous medium heated at periodic sinusoidal heat flux is investigated numerically in the present paper. The Poisson-type pressure equation, resulted from the substituting of the momentum Darcy equation in the continuity equation, was discretized by using finite volume technique. The energy equation was solved by a fully implicit control volume-based finite difference formulation for the diffusion terms with the use of the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinetics scheme to discretize the convective terms and the temperature values at the control volume faces. The numerical study covers a range of the hydrostatic pressure sinusoidal amplitude range and
... Show MoreTransient mixed convection heat transfer in a confined porous medium heated at periodic sinusoidal heat flux is investigated numerically in the present paper. The Poisson-type pressure equation, resulted from the substituting of the momentum Darcy equation in the continuity equation, was discretized by using finite volume technique. The energy equation was solved by a fully implicit control volume-based finite difference formulation for the diffusion terms with the use of the quadratic upstream interpolation for convective kinetics scheme to discretize the convective terms and the temperature values at the control volume faces. The numerical study covers a range of the hydrostatic pressure head , , , , and ), sinusoidal amplitude range of
... Show MoreHuge number of medical images are generated and needs for more storage capacity and bandwidth for transferring over the networks. Hybrid DWT-DCT compression algorithm is applied to compress the medical images by exploiting the features of both techniques. Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coding is applied to image YCbCr color model which decompose image bands into four subbands (LL, HL, LH and HH). The LL subband is transformed into low and high frequency components using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) to be quantize by scalar quantization that was applied on all image bands, the quantization parameters where reduced by half for the luminance band while it is the same for the chrominance bands to preserve the image quality, the zig
... Show MoreAdherence to cardiac medications makes a significant contribution to avoidance of morbidity and premature mortality in patients with cardiovascular disease. This quantitative study used cross‐sectional survey design to evaluate medication adherence and contributing factors among patients with cardiovascular disease, comparing patients who were admitted to a cardiac ward (
The use of Near-Surface Mounted (NSM) Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strips is an efficient technology for increasing flexural and shear strength or for repairing damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) members. This strengthening method is a promising technology. However, the thin layer of concrete covering the NSM-CFRP strips is not adequate to resist heat effect when directly exposed to a fire or at a high temperature. There is clear evidence that the strength and stiffness of CFRPs severely deteriorate at high temperatures. Therefore, in terms of fire resistance, the NSM technique has a significant defect. Thus, it is very important to develop a set of efficient fire protection systems to overcome these disadvantages. This pape
... Show MoreThis study evaluates the flexural behavior of ultra-thin (50 mm) one‑way reinforced‑concrete (RC) slabs retrofitted with near‑surface mounted (NSM) carbon‑fiber‑reinforced polymer (CFRP) rods under quasi‑static loading. T300‑grade CFRP rods (≈4 mm diameter) were bonded in pre‑cut 7 mm × 7 mm grooves using a two‑part epoxy. As a proof-of-concept experimental baseline, three simply‑supported specimens (1000 mm × 500 mm × 50 mm) were tested in a six‑point bending configuration (four applied loads + two reactions): two conventional controls and one strengthened slab. A load‑control rate of ~15 kN/min was applied; the controls were cycled twice and the strengthened slab four times. Relative to the average of
... Show More