This paper studies the behavior of reinforced Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) two-way slabs under static and repeated load. The experimental program included testing six simply supported RPC two-way slabs of 1000 mm length, 1000 mm width, and 70 mm thickness. All the tested specimens were identical in their material properties, and reinforcement details except their steel fibers content. They were cast in three pairs, each one had a different steel fibers ratio (0.5 %, 1 %, and 1.5 %) respectively. In each pair, one specimen was tested under static load and the other under five cycles of repeated load (loading-unloading). Static test results revealed that increasing steel fibres volume fraction from 0.5 % to 1 % and from 1% to 1.5%, led to an increase in the: first crack load by (32.2 % and 52.3 %), ultimate load by (36.1 % and 17.0 %), ultimate deflection by (33.6 % and 3.4 %), absorbed energy by (128 % and 20.2 %), and the ultimate strain by (1.1 % and 6.73 %). It also increased the stiffness and the ductility of the specimens especially at the final stages of loading. Additionally, it delayed the propagation of the cracks, controlled their growth, kept the integrity of the specimens at post cracking stage, and avoided their ruin at the failure stage through its “bridging” effect. For the repeated load test, applying five cycles of repeated load to the steel fiber reinforced RPC two-way slab specimens led to a decreasing in the ultimate load capacity, ultimate deflection, ultimate strain, and absorbed energy in a comparison with the corresponding static test specimens, and that because of the loading-unloading process which causes a fluctuation of stresses and more damages in concrete. Increasing the steel fibers volume fractions decreased the dissipated energy of the specimens that subjected to a repeated load, where the difference percent of dissipated energy between the first and second cycles of (R0.5 %, R1 %, and R1.5 %) specimens were (68.0 %, 46.2%, and 32.4%) respectively.
The study was conducted to determine the effect of of cumin (Cuminum cyminum) and ginger (Zingiber officinale) powder on performance in Japanese quails. 630 bird (7 birds for each treatment) nine weeks of age were used. Experiment was continued for 12 weeks divided to six periods and the birds distributed randomly on nine combinations of cumin and ginger, three levels of each plant powder namely, 0, 0.5 and 1%. T1 (Control) contain the slandered diet (0% of cumin and 0% of ginger), T2: (0% of cumin and 0.5% of ginger), T3: (0% of cumin and 1% of ginger), T4: (0.5% of cumin and 0% of ginger), T5: (0.5% of cumin and 0.5% of ginger), T6: (0.5% of cumin and 1% of ginger), T7: (1% of cumin and 0% of ginger), T8: (1% of cumin and 0.5% of ginger),
... Show MoreThe genus of Chrysobothris Eschscholtz, 1829 is one of the most diverse and widespread genera of the family Buprestidae of some 700 described species distributed throughout the world. In Iraq, particularly in the Kurdistan region, about 4 species had been recorded so far, many of these species are sympatric, share larval host plants, and are difficult to reliably separate morphologically. The current study investigates species limits and relationships among the recognized species occurring within the Erbil Province; mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase (COX I) molecular analysis confirmed the monophyly of two Chrysobothris species, Ch. affinis (Fabricius, 1794) and Ch. chrysostigma (Linnaeus, 1758). Implications of the resultant larval mor
... Show MoreIn this study, a low-cost biosorbent, dead mushroom biomass (DMB) granules, was used for investigating the optimum conditions of Pb(II), Cu(II), and Ni(II) biosorption from aqueous solutions. Various physicochemical parameters, such as initial metal ion concentration, equilibrium time, pH value, agitation speed, particles diameter, and adsorbent dosage, were studied. Five mathematical models describing the biosorption equilibrium and isotherm constants were tested to find the maximum uptake capacities: Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, Sips, and Khan models. The best fit to the Pb(II) and Ni(II) biosorption results was obtained by Langmuir model with maximum uptake capacities of 44.67 and 29.17 mg/g for these two ions, respectively, w
... Show MoreBackground: Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity, it can affect a person's thoughts, behavior and sense of well-being. It can affect oral health and lead to an increased risk of dental caries. Dental caries is the most common oral infectious diseases that stresses the immune system and causes changes in cellular and molecular components of peripheral blood and C-Reactive Protein is one of these components, considered a key biomarker of inflammation. This study was conducted to assess the effect of depression status on dental caries among 17 years old secondary school female students in relation to salivary C-Reactive Protein. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried and the whole sample composed of
... Show MoreThis study was carried out at the Dept. Hortic. and Land.Gard., Coll. Agric. Eng.Sci., University of Baghdad during fall season of 2019-2020, in order to evaluate the effect of nutrient solution type under hydroponic system (NFT) on growth, yield and quality of broccoli Brassica oleracea var.italica. Two experiments were carried out which were the standard solution experiment (Cooper) and the alternative solution experiment (ABEER) prepared from fertilizers. Results revealed that the type of solution used in the hydroponics system had non significant effect on the leaves content of N,K, Mg, Fe, Cu, B, Chlorophyll, leaves number, root length, weight of the main heads, number of side heads were not significantly affected. 13nt, refl
... Show MoreThe family Chalcididae (Order: Hymenoptera) is known as one of the large chalcidoid wasps with some distinct morphological characters. The first occurrence of two parasitoid species belonging to this family was reported in the Al-Husayniya district Karbala Province, Iraq; which are: Brachymeria podagrica (Fabricius, 1787) and Chalcis myrifex (Sulzer, 1776). Both species were collected by using the sweeping net from orchards during July 2020.
An innovative two-step noncatalytic esterifcation technique was proposed to synthesize alkyl esters from free fatty acids simulated in waste cooking oil, as a pretreatment process for biodiesel production, without adding any catalyst under normal conditions of pressure and temperature. The efect of methanol:oil molar ratio, reaction time, mixing rate, and reaction temperature were investigated. The results confrmed that the conversion of the reaction was increased when increasing the methanol molar ratio and decreased in prolonged reaction temperature. High conversion (94.545%) was successfully achieved at optimized conditions of 115:1, 65:1 methanol:oil molar ratio in the frst step and second step, respectively, other conditions i
... Show MoreBackground: Hyperfunction of the muscles of the upper lip is considered as the most common cause of excessive gingival display (EGD). The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of botulinum toxin (BT) injection as a conservative treatment for EGD due to muscular hyperfunction and to compare the outcome of 2 injection methods. Material and methods: This study included 40 participants who were randomly assigned into 2 groups of 20 each, The first group received 2.5IU BT injection at 1 point per side (2-points group), while the second group received a total of 5 IU of BT at 2 points per side (4-points group). The outcome variables were the reduction in the central and lateral gingival display expressed as the difference between
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