A bolted–welded hybrid demountable shear connector for use in deconstructable steel–concrete composite buildings and bridges was proposed. The hybrid connector consisted of a partially threaded stud, which was welded on the flange of a steel section, and a machined steel tube with compatible geometry, which was bolted on the stud. Four standard pushout tests according to Eurocode 4 were carried out to assess the shear performance of the hybrid connector. The experimental results show that the initial stiffness, shear resistance, and slip capacity of the proposed connector were higher than those of traditional welded studs. The hybrid connector was a ductile connector, according to Eurocode 4, with slip capacity higher than 6 mm. A nonli

Secure storage of confidential medical information is critical to healthcare organizations seeking to protect patient's privacy and comply with regulatory requirements. This paper presents a new scheme for secure storage of medical data using Chaskey cryptography and blockchain technology. The system uses Chaskey encryption to ensure integrity and confidentiality of medical data, blockchain technology to provide a scalable and decentralized storage solution. The system also uses Bflow segmentation and vertical segmentation technologies to enhance scalability and manage the stored data. In addition, the system uses smart contracts to enforce access control policies and other security measures. The description of the system detailing and p

Seven leafhoppers (Cicadeilidae). and one plantboppei (Delpbacidae), Homoptera were identified from a one year operated light trap at the College of Agiculture farm in Abu¬Ghraib. The leafhoppers were: Balclutha hortensis Lind.; B. rufaofasciata Merine.; psammctettix alien us Dahlbem.; P. striatus L.; Extianus capicola.; Neoaliturus haematoceps H. R.; and Orozius albicnctus Dist. The planthopper was Sogatella vibix Haupt. one year records of their populations, indicated that B. rufofasciata occured during the fall from October 10 until December 18; E. capicola from October 24 until November 21 and again in the summer from March to October. The others occured only during the summer, from the end of March and early April until Mid-Septemb

Concerns about the environment, the cost of energy, and safety mean that low-energy cold-mix asphalt materials are very interesting as a potential replacement for present-day hot mix asphalt. The main disadvantage of cold bituminous emulsion mixtures is their poor early life strength, meaning they require a long time to achieve mature strength. This research work aims to study the protentional utilization of waste and by-product materials as a filler in cold emulsion mixtures with mechanical properties comparable to those of traditional hot mix asphalt. Accordingly, cold mix asphalt was prepared to utilize paper sludge ash (PSA) and cement kiln dust (CKD) as a substitution for conventional mineral filler with percentages ranging fro

Preserving the Past and Building the Future: A Sustainable Urban Plan for Mosul, Iraq

This paper proposes a new method to tune a fractional order PID controller. This method utilizes both the analytic and numeric approach to determine the controller parameters. The control design specifications that must be achieved by the control system are gain crossover frequency, phase margin, and peak magnitude at the resonant frequency, where the latter is a new design specification suggested by this paper. These specifications results in three equations in five unknown variables. Assuming that certain relations exist between two variables and discretizing one of them, a performance index can be evaluated and the optimal controller parameters that minimize this performance index are selected. As a case study, a thir

This paper proposes a new method to tune a fractional order PID controller. This method utilizes both the analytic and numeric approach to determine the controller parameters. The control design specifications that must be achieved by the control system are gain crossover frequency, phase margin, and peak magnitude at the resonant frequency, where the latter is a new design specification suggested by this paper. These specifications results in three equations in five unknown variables. Assuming that certain relations exist between two variables and discretizing one of them, a performance index can be evaluated and the optimal controller parameters that minimize this performance index are selected. As a case study, a third order linear time