Reflection cracking in asphalt concrete (AC) overlays is a common form of pavement deterioration that occurs when underlying cracks and joints in the pavement structure propagate through an overlay due to thermal and traffic-induced movement, ultimately degrading the pavement’s lifespan and performance. This study aims to determine how alterations in overlay thickness and temperature conditions, the incorporation of chopped fibers, and the use of geotextiles influence the overlay’s capacity to postpone the occurrence of reflection cracking. To achieve the above objective, a total of 36 prism specimens were prepared and tested using an overlay testing machine (OTM). The variables considered in this study were the thickness of the

Geotechnical engineers have always been concerned with the stabilization of slopes. For this purpose,
various methods such as retaining walls, piles, and geosynthetics may be used to increase the safety factor of slopes prone to failure. The application of stone columns may also be another potential alternative for slope stabilization. Such columns have normally been used for cohesive soil improvement. Most slope analysis and design is based on deterministic approach i.e a set of single valued design parameter are adopted and a set of single valued factor of safety (FOS) is determined. Usually the FOS is selected in view of the understanding and knowledge of the material parameters, the problem geometry, the method of analysis and the

the financial resources represent a basic factor of production ;It is obvious that the housing sector needs the resources to finance the building operation to produce all the housing units. Finance is the cornerstone of any housing strategy , as its successes dependent on the success of the financing methods and the creation of charnels and effective methods for the provision of the required finances for both individuals and instantly concerned with the production of housing units. The kinds of financial institutions vary from one country to another according to the nature of the economic and financial system. The lending conditions also vary as well as the capital cost of the housing units needed The housing operations is concer

Abstract: In this work we demonstrate and investigate the optical pulse propagation in a photonic band gap fiber Bragg grating (FBG). The light propagates in opposite direction in FBG is explained and discussed by a Coupled Mode Theory (CMT). The photonic band gap (stop band gap) is created by fabricated, a Bragg grating in optical fiber. The results show the pulse spectrum falls entirely within the stop band gap, the entire pulse is reflected by the grating, while when the pulse spectrum is outside the stop band gap the pulses will transmitted through the grating. The group velocity (VG) becomes zero at the edges of the stop band and group velocity dispersion β2 is anomalous on the shorter side of stop band gap whereas β2 for uniform fi

In this paper, simulation study of the frequency shift of photonic bandgaps due to refractive index scaling using liquids filled hollow-core photonic crystal fibers is presented. Different liquids (distilled water, n-hexane, methanol, ethanol and acetone) are used to fill the cladding of 2 types of hollow core photonic crystal fibers (HC19-1060, HC7-1060). These liquids are used to change the effective index scaling and index contrast of the cladding. The effect of increasing temperature of the liquid (20-100 0C for water and 20-70 0C for other liquids ) infiltrated hollow core fiber on the bandgap width and transmission properties has been computed. The maximum photonic bandgap width at 0.0243 has appeared with filling HC7-1060 PCF with

This paper reports a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) as a biosensor. The FBGs were etched using a chemical agent,namely,hydrofluoric acid (HF). This implies the removal of some part of the cladding layer. Consequently, the evanescent field propagating out of the core will be closer to the environment and become more sensitive to the change in the surrounding. The proposed FBG sensor was utilized to detect toxic heavy metal ions aqueous medium namely, copper ions (Cu2+). Two FBG sensors were etched with 20 and 40 μm diameters and fabricated. The sensors were studied towards Cu2+ with different concentrations using wavelength shift as a result of the interaction between the evanescent field and copper ions. The FBG sensors showed

Objective: to assess the predictive value of Doppler imaging of the uterine artery in the identification of early intrauterine abnormal pregnancy as compared to a normal intrauterine pregnancy. Subjects and methods: one hundred and twenty pregnant ladies, at their 6-12 weeks of gestation, with a singleton pregnancy were included in this population-based case-control study. Thirty women with a missed miscarriage, 30 with hydatidiform mole, 30 with a blighted ovum, and 30 as a control group, without risk factors, underwent Doppler interrogation of the uterine arteries. Resistive index (RI), pulsatility index (PI), and the systolic/diastolic ratio (S/D) were measured for both sides. The t-test, or ANOVA test when appropriate, was

Peak ground acceleration (PGA) is one of the critical factors that affect the determination of earthquake intensity. PGA is generally utilized to describe ground motion in a particular zone and is able to efficiently predict the parameters of site ground motion for the design of engineering structures. Therefore, novel models are developed to forecast PGA in the case of the Iraqi database, which utilizes the particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach. A data set of 187 historical ground-motion recordings in Iraq’s tectonic regions was used to build the explicit proposed models. The proposed PGA models relate to different seismic parameters, including the magnitude of the earthquake (Mw), average shear-wave velocity (VS30), focal depth (FD