The performance and durability of asphalt pavements are strongly influenced by the rheological properties of asphalt binders, particularly under severe climatic and traffic conditions. This study investigates the synergistic effects of incorporating multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at dosages ranging from 0.25% to 1% into AC 40-50 asphalt binders modified with 4% Styrene–Butadiene–Styrene (SBS). A comprehensive experimental program involving physical, rheological, and chemical characterization tests was conducted, including penetration, softening point, viscosity, storage stability, a Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), Multiple Stress Creep Recovery (MSCR), Linear Amplitude Sweep (LAS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Glover–Rowe (G-R) analysis. Statistical inference using one-way ANOVA was also conducted to evaluate the significance of differences among the binder formulations investigated. The results showed a continuous increase in binder stiffness with increasing CNT content, as indicated by decreasing penetration values, higher softening points, and increased viscosity. Incorporating 1% CNT reduced the softening-point difference from 3.1 °C to 1.6 °C in SBS-modified binders, indicating improved storage stability. Rheological evaluations showed that 0.75% CNT increased the high-temperature performance grade from 82 °C to 88 °C and provided the best rutting resistance, as indicated by MSCR results. In contrast, the 0.5% CNT formulation exhibited superior fatigue resistance and the lowest Glover–Rowe index, indicating improved cracking resistance and durability. Overall, the findings demonstrate that CNTs can effectively enhance the performance of SBS-modified asphalt binders, with 0.75% CNT being optimal for hot-climate applications, while 0.5% CNT exhibited improved fatigue and cracking resistance under moderate-temperature conditions.
Researchers are increasingly using multimodal biometrics to strengthen the security of biometric applications. In this study, a strong multimodal human identification model was developed to address the growing problem of spoofing attacks in biometric security systems. Through the use of metaheuristic optimization methods, such as the Genetic Algorithm(GA), Ant Colony Optimization(ACO), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for feature selection, this unique model incorporates three biometric modalities: face, iris, and fingerprint. Image pre-processing, feature extraction, critical image feature selection, and multibiometric recognition are the four main steps in the workflow of the system. To determine its performance, the model wa
... Show MoreIn unpredicted industrial environment, being able to adapt quickly and effectively to the changing is key in gaining a competitive advantage in the global market. Agile manufacturing evolves new ways of running factories to react quickly and effectively to changing markets, driven by customized requirement. Agility in manufacturing can be successfully achieved via integration of information system, people, technologies, and business processes. This article presents the conceptual model of agility in three dimensions named: driving factor, enabling technologies and evaluation of agility in manufacturing system. The conceptual model was developed based on a review of the literature. Then, the paper demonstrates the agility
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Performance evaluation is of great importance in all countries of the world, because it has a prominent and effective role in determining the efficiency and effectiveness of the optimal use of available resources, which are rare and important in achieving the desired objectives. With the continued growth of public spending and the limited resources, the State seeks to achieve its objectives through its units with minimal expenditure or deficit, rationality and wastefulness in the spending. In many countries, particularly developing countries, reforms are made in the public sector to achieve that goal through the adoption of IPSAS, which is reflected in the developmen
... Show MoreThe research aims to explain the reality and the roots of the problem financial crisis and its impact on the performance of the Amman Stock Exchange, by testing three hypotheses, the first and the second relates to the performance of the Amman Stock Exchange and its sectors before and after the financial crisis. And the third examined the relationship between indirect foreign investment and the performance of Amman Stock Exchange.
Hypothesis testing results of the first and second pointed to the existence of statistically significant differences for the performance of the stock market in general and in particular their performance for the period before and after the financial crisis. The third hypothesis resu
Plasma electrolytic oxidation and dip chemical coating as fabrication techniques are performed in ambient temperature and pressure, giving a competitive-edge in the commercial applicability. Thus, we proposed new compositions of flower-like hybrid materials, MgO-TiO2-HQ(8-hydroxyquinoline), MgOTiO2-HQ-APY(2-aminopyridine) and MgO-TiO2-HQ-APH(2-aminophenol), as photocatalysis with high corrosion resistance via a combination of plasma electrolytic oxidation and dip chemical coating in which 8-HQ, 2-APY, and 2-APH were used as the organic components. TiO2-HQ-APY and MgO-TiO2-HQ-APH exhibited improved simultaneous electrochemical and photocatalytic performance on photodecomposition of methylene blue (MB) in an aqueous solution in the presence o
... Show MoreSteps were taken to obtain the Kojic acid crystals from local fungal isolation A. flavus WJF81 by separating the fermentation products from the fungus mycelium from the production plant at the centrifuge at a speed of 5000 cycles for 10 minutes. The extraction was followed by ethyl acetate then supernatant concentrate by using rotary evaporator, and dried with heat oven 37ºC. Long, yellowish, pristine acid crystals were obtained that examined the optical microscope with a magnification force of 10x and 40x. The melting point of kojic acid was determined between 152.9-153.5 °C Results of the diagnosis of Kojic acid by applying High pressure liquid chromatography HPLC technique showed that the acid was at one peak, which was close to the
... Show MoreIn this work, a convex lens concentrating solar collector is designed and manufactured locally by using 10 convex lenses (concentrator) of a diameter 10cm and one Copper absorber tube of a diameter 12.5mm and 1mm in thickness 1m length. Two axes manual Tracking system also constructed to track the sun continuously in two directions. The experiments are made on 17th of May 2015 in climatic conditions of Baghdad. The experimental data are fed to a computer program to solve the thermal performing equation, to find efficiency and actual useful energy. Then this data is used in numerical CFD software for three different absorber diameters (12.5 mm, 18.75 mm and 25 mm). From the results that obtained the maximum the
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The current research aims to know the reality of the research's coefficients, to know correlation and effectiveness between the organizational Agility and high performance . The current research has been applied on the official banks , including a sample of senior administration members (120) ; besides , the research has used questionnaire that being considered as the main tool for gathering information and data . It includes 59 questions in addition to the personal interviews program as to support the questionnaire and to fulfill a great deal of reality. It has been anal
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