This paper aims to investigate the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete beams considering fire resistance by adding Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregates (LECA) to the concrete mix as partial coarse aggregate replacement. LECA is a type of porous clay with a uniform pore structure with fine, closed cells and hard, tightly sintered skin. The experimental work comprised four reinforced self-compacted concrete beams. All the specimens were identical in their geometrical layout of 1600×240×200 mm, reinforcement details, and support condition (simply supported). For all the beams, the main reinforcement was provided by two bars, each having a diameter of 12 mm, while a bar of 6 mm diameter was employed for the top and shear reinforc

A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel‐concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high‐strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (i) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (ii) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (iii) steel beams can b

As we live in the era of the fourth technological revolution, it has become necessary to use artificial intelligence to generate electric power through sustainable solar energy, especially in Iraq and what it has gone through in terms of crises and what it suffers from a severe shortage of electric power because of the wars and calamities it went through. During that period of time, its impact is still evident in all aspects of daily life experienced by Iraqis because of the remnants of wars, siege, terrorism, wrong policies ruling before and later, regional interventions and their consequences, such as the destruction of electric power stations and the population increase, which must be followed by an increase in electric power stations,

<p>The demand for internet applications has increased rapidly.  Providing quality of service (QoS) requirements for varied internet application is a challenging task. One important factor that is significantly affected on the QoS service is the transport layer. The transport layer provides end-to-end data transmission across a network. Currently, the most common transport protocols used by internet application are TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol). Also, there are recent transport protocols such as DCCP (data congestion control protocol), SCTP (stream congestion transmission protocol), and TFRC (TCP-friendly rate control), which are in the standardization process of Internet Engineering Task

Flat-plate collector considers most common types of collectors, for ease of manufacturing and low price compared with other collectors. The main aim of the present work is to increase the efficiency of the collector, which can be achieved by improving the heat transfer and minimize heat loss experimentally. Five types of solar air collectors have been tested, which conventional channel with a smooth absorber plate (model I), dual channel with a smooth absorber plate (model II), dual channel with perforating “V” corrugated absorber plate (model III), dual channel with internal attached wire mesh (model Ⅳ), and dual channel with absorber sheet of transparent honeycomb, (model Ⅴ). The dual channel collector used for

Braces in straight bridge systems improve the lateral-torsional buckling resistance of the girders by reducing the unbraced length, while in horizontally curved and skew bridges, the braces are primary structural elements for controlling deformations by engaging adjacent girders to act as a system to resist the potentially large forces and torques caused by the curved or skewed geometry of the bridge. The cross-frames are usually designed as torsional braces, which increase the overall strength and stiffness of the individual girders by creating a girder system that translates and rotates as a unit along the bracing lines. However, when they transmit the truck’s live load forces, they can produce fatigue cracks at their connection

The steady state performance of the counter rotating floating ring Journal bearing is analyzed with isothermal finite bearing theory. The effect of different parameters affecting the performance of the bearing (namely speed ratio, clearance ratio and radii ratio), have been investigated. The load carrying capacity of the bearing increasing with decreasing the radii ratio (R₂/R₁) of the ring and clearance ratio (c₁/c₂), in the other hand, the coefficient of friction increases with increasing the clearance and radii ratios, while decreases with incre4asing the bearing to journal speed ratio (γ). It is shown during this work that different operating conditions are greatly enhanced the performance

Background: The prevention of the enamel demineralization at the periphery of the brackets is a significant challenge to orthodontic professionals. The aim of this clinical study was to compare the Streptococcus mutants count in the plaque surrounding two orthodontic adhesive types, Fuji Ortho LC and Enlight (Ormco). Materials and methods: A total of 13 patients (7 male and 6 female) needing fixed orthodontic appliance therapy were participated. A split mouth technique was followed with appliances bonded by two orthodontic adhesive types, Fuji Ortho LC and Enlight (Ormco). Saliva was collected before placement of appliances (T0) and again at three weeks (T1) and six weeks (T2) after placement of appliances. Plaque was collected from areas a

Fluconazole was used to test the susceptibility of Candida albicans isolated from different clinical samples, and to detect mutations in ERG11 gene, and their relationship to fluconazole resistance. Forty-eight isolates of Candida albicans were tested for susceptibility using the disc diffusion method (M-44). ERG11 genes of six isolates were amplified (four resistant, two susceptible) and sequenced. The sequenced genes were analyzed to detect the mutations. Out of 48 isolates of Candida albicans, 4 (8%) were resistant to fluconazole. Sixteen-point mutations were detected included 13 silent mutations, and three missense mutations. The mutations of A945C (E266D) and G1609A (V488I) were found only in susceptible Candida albicans isolates, whil