Al-Si alloys which are widely used in engineering applications due to their outstanding properties can be modified for more enhancements in their properties. Current work investigated the ability of these alloys to be modified by casting them through the addition of nanoparticles. So, Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (CNT) and titanium carbide ceramic particles (TIC) with size of (20 nm) were added with different amounts started from (0.5 up to 3%) weight  to cast alloy A356 that was considered to be the base metal matrix, then stirred with different speeds of (270, 800, 1500, 2150) rpm at 520 °C for one minute. The results showed change in microstructure’ shape of the casted alloys from the dendritic to spherical gra

Carbon fibre reinforced polymers are widely used to strengthen steel structural elements. These structural elements are normally subjected to static, dynamic and fatigue loadings during their life-time. A number of studies have focused on the characteristics of CFRP sheets bonded to steel members under static, dynamic and fatigue loadings. However, there is a gap in understanding the bonding behaviour between CFRP laminates and steel members under impact loading. This paper shows the effect of different load rates from quasi-static to 300 × 103 mm/min on this bond. Two types of CFRP laminate, CFK 150/2000 and CFK 200/2000, were used to strengthen steel joints using Araldite 420 epoxy. The results show a significant bond strength enhancemen

Background: Metabolic syndrome (Mets) is partially heritable. High mobility group AT-hook1 (HMGA1), an architectural transcription factor, affects the homeostasis of glucose. The marked inter-individual differences between T

The Electric Discharge (EDM) method is a novel thermoelectric manufacturing technique in which materials are removed by a controlled spark erosion process between two electrodes immersed in a dielectric medium. Because of the difficulties of EDM, determining the optimum cutting parameters to improve cutting performance is extremely tough. As a result, optimizing operating parameters is a critical processing step, particularly for non-traditional machining process like EDM. Adequate selection of processing parameters for the EDM process does not provide ideal conditions, due to the unpredictable processing time required for a given function. Models of Multiple Regression and Genetic Algorithm are considered as effective methods for determ

In this research, the focus was on estimating the parameters on (min- Gumbel distribution), using the maximum likelihood method and the Bayes method. The genetic algorithmmethod was employed in estimating the parameters of the maximum likelihood method as well as  the Bayes method. The comparison was made using the mean error squares (MSE), where the best  estimator  is the one who has the least mean squared error. It was noted that the best estimator was (BLG_GE).

This research presents and discuss the results of experimental investigation carried out on geogrids model to study the behavior of geogrid in the loose sandy soil. The effect of location eccentricity, depth of first layer of reinforcement, vertical spacing, number and type of reinforcement layers have been investigated. The results indicated that the percentage of bearing improvement a bout (22 %) at number of reinforced layers N=1 and about (47.5%) at number of reinforced layers N=2 for different Eccentricity values when depth ratio and vertical spacing between layers are (0.5B and 0.75B) respectively

BP algorithm is the most widely used supervised training algorithms for multi-layered feedforward neural net works. However, BP takes long time to converge and quite sensitive to the initial weights of a network. In this paper, a modified cuckoo search algorithm is used to get the optimal set of initial weights that will be used by BP algorithm. And changing the value of BP learning rate to improve the error convergence. The performance of the proposed hybrid algorithm is compared with the stan dard BP using simple data sets. The simulation result show that the proposed algorithm has improved the BP training in terms of quick convergence of the solution depending on the slope of the error graph.

This paper provides the result of an investigation to use of crushed clay brick as
aggregates in producing concrete. Eight different crushed clay brick aggregate concretes were
used in this investigation. Compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and pulse velocity of
crushed clay brick aggregates concrete were determined and compare to natural aggregate
concrete. The compressive strength of crushed clay brick aggregates concretes were always
lower than the compressive strength of natural aggregates concrete regardless the age of
concrete, but the crushed clay brick aggregates concrete showed better performance as the age of
concrete increases and average reduction in compressive strength were 33.5% at the age