Globally, Sustainability is very quickly becoming a fundamental requirement of the construction industry as it delivers its projects; whether buildings or infrastructures. Throughout more than two decades, many modeling schemes, evaluation tools, and rating systems have been introduced en route to realizing sustainable construction. Many of these, however, lack consensus on evaluation criteria, a robust scientific model that captures the logic behind their sustainability performance evaluation, and therefore experience discrepancies between rated results and actual performance. Moreover, very few of the evaluation tools available satisfactorily address infrastructure projects. The research introduces a system engineering model that abstracts the environment, the construction product, and its production system as three interacting systems that exchange materials, energy, and information. The model utilizes this setup to capture and quantify essential flows exchanged between such three systems, to evaluate sustainability. The research walks through the development of a generic case of the model, and then demonstrates its utility in evaluating the sustainability performance of civil infrastructure projects. The developed model will address an identified gap within the current body of knowledge by considering infrastructure projects. Through the ability to simulate different scenarios, the model will enable identifying which activities, products, and processes impact the environment more, and hence potential areas for optimization and improvement.
Magnetic levitation (Maglev) systems are employed in a wide range of applications and are therefore of significant practical importance, which has led to growing research interest. This paper presents the design of a terminal synergetic control (TSC) and feedback linearization-based proportional-integral-derivative plus second-order derivative (FL-PIDD2) controller for the Maglev system. For developing the control law of both controllers, the mathematical model of the Maglev system is converted into a canonical system where the expression of the nonlinearity is displayed in the last differential dynamic equation of the system. The determination of the TSC and FL-PIDD2 gains for achieving the desired dynamic response is carried out using the
... Show MoreThis paper proposes a new structure of the hybrid neural controller based on the identification model for nonlinear systems. The goal of this work is to employ the structure of the Modified Elman Neural Network (MENN) model into the NARMA-L2 structure instead of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) model in order to construct a new hybrid neural structure that can be used as an identifier model and a nonlinear controller for the SISO linear or nonlinear systems. Weight parameters of the hybrid neural structure with its serial-parallel configuration are adapted by using the Back propagation learning algorithm. The ability of the proposed hybrid neural structure for nonlinear system has achieved a fast learning with minimum number
... Show MoreAgility is considered an important motor ability for assistant referees and it is vital for passing modern tests issued in September 2016. The researcher used the experimental method. The subjects were (10) referees; four of them for pilot study. The experimental group followed the exercises designed by the while the controlling group used the traditional exercises followed by the refereeing committee. All referees were tested the standardized agility test issued by the FIFA. The researchers concluded that agility plays a vital role in developing some refereeing skill. Finally they recommend developing agility for improving refereeing skills.
Preserving the Past and Building the Future: A Sustainable Urban Plan for Mosul, Iraq
Many cities suffer from the large spread of slums, especially the cities of the Middle East. The purpose of the paper is to study the reality of informal housing in Al-Barrakia and the most important problems that it suffers from. The paper also seeks to study the presence or absence of a correlation between urban safety indicators and urban containment indicators as one of the methods of developing and planning cities. This can be achieved through sustainable urban management. The slums are a source of many urban problems that threaten the security and safety of the residents and represent a focus for the concentration of crimes and drugs. The paper seeks to answer the following question: How can urban safety be improved through urban cont
... Show MoreTerahertz (THz) technology, which uses radiation lying between microwave and infrared in the electromagnetic spectrum, could revolutionize digital agriculture through terahertz’s ability to assess agricultural materials accurately and non-destructively. The review discusses notable developments in THz applications to digital agriculture: real-time crop monitoring, nutrient and disease detection, soil moisture and contaminant analysis, and supply chain traceability. The developments have emerged from studies in time-domain spectroscopy, imaging, machine learning (ML), and blockchain integration. Despite the promising advances in THz agricultural applications, limitations remain, such as limited penetration depth, high system costs, and ope
... Show MoreIn recent years, the steady stream of artificial intelligence into economic systems has become a torrent. It is changing how we generate wealth and grow anew. Manufacturing, finance, health care energy, agriculture and education are just a few of the areas where AI may result in dramatic increases in productivity as well as innovation and sustainability. Predictive analytics, AI, robotics and natural language processing have significantly contributed in the improvement of resource allocation mechanisms and decision making as well as reaching SDGs. The concept of Artificial Humanity is also introduced in the paper. It shows how AI could become a global cognitive network to foster knowledge. By comparison and references of the literature, thi
... Show MoreThe public budget is on the same time an art and a science .As an accountable science it seeks balance between public income and public expenditure for an accountable year. And as an accountable art it seeks to achieve economic balance by distributing equitable income in order to reach sustainable development .This is the optimal use of all natural and human resources to address scarcity of natural resources facing the increase need of human resources by spending on education, health, environment, housing, agriculture and industry to achieve social justice for the current generation and future generations. Since the first budget in Iraq on 1921 an accounting budget, is balancing the sections and items has been adopted and since the publi
... Show MoreThe use of sugarcane molasses (SCM) as a sustainable stabilizing agent for geomaterials, particularly granular subbase soils, has recently attracted growing attention as an alternative to traditional stabilization methods employing cement, lime, or bitumen, which are often associated with high costs and environmental concerns. This study presents a mechanistic–experimental evaluation of SCM for stabilizing granular subbase materials at dosages of 2.5%, 5%, 7.5%, and 10% by weight of dry granular material. A comprehensive testing program was conducted, including compaction characteristics, California Bearing Ratio (CBR), resilient modulus (Mr), permanent deformation under repeated loading, optical microscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy.
... Show MoreTo move forward on the path of goodness and peace, we must realize that, in the midst of the great diversity of cultures and forms of human life in the world, that we form one human nation, which God Almighty created to worship Him on His earth and under His heavens and to enjoy His bounties and natural resources that God Almighty has bestowed upon that nation. On one land, and it is governed by one common destiny. Every country has been endowed with a natural resource by God Almighty that distinguishes it from the other country to live in prosperity if these wealth are distributed equally among the members of the same society and societal justice is achieved. We must join together to work for the establishment of a sustainable global commu
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