This study presents experimental and numerical investigations on seven one-way, reinforced concrete (RC) slabs with a new technique of slab weight reduction using polystyrene-embedded arched blocks (PEABs). All slabs had the same dimensions, steel reinforcement, and concrete compressive strength. One of these slabs was a solid slab, which was taken as a control slab, while the other six slabs were cast with PEABs. The main variables were the ratio of the length of the PEABs to the length of the slab (lp/L) and the ratio of the height of the PEABs to the total slab depth (hP/H). The minimum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 6% with a minimum reduction in the slab weight of 15%. In contrast, the maximum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 24% with a maximum reduction in the slab weight of 40%. Moreover, the mode of failure changed from flexure to shear failure, especially for those slabs with an lP/L ratio equal to one. The geometric and material non-linearity was adopted in the proposed finite element (FE) model to simulate the slabs with PEABs using Abaqus software. Good agreement was obtained between the developed FE and experimental results.
Background: University students in Iraq face rising obesity risk linked to physical inactivity, prolonged sedentary behavior, insufficient sleep, and academic stress. Longitudinal evidence examining the combined influence of these behaviors on weight status in Iraqi universities remains limited. Objective: This study examined six-month longitudinal associations of physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep duration, and perceived stress with body mass index and percentage body fat among Iraqi university students. Methods: A prospective multi-behavioral study was conducted at six public universities in Iraq. Six hundred undergraduate students aged 18–25 years were followed monthly during one academic semester. Validated questionn
... Show MoreExpanded use of antibiotics may increase the ability of pathogenic bacteria to develop antimicrobial resistance. Greater attention must be paid to applying more sustainable techniques for treating wastewater contaminated with antibiotics. Semiconductor photocatalytic processes have proven to be the most effective methods for the degradation of antibiotics. Thus, constructing durable and highly active photocatalytic hybrid materials for the photodegradation of antibiotic pollutants is challenging. Herein, FeTiO3/Fe-doped g-C3N4 (FTO/FCN) heterojunctions were designed with different FTO to FCN ratios by matching the energy level of semiconductors, thereby developing effective direct Z-type heterojunctions. The photodegradation behaviors of th
... Show MoreWe aimed to examine the effect of amoxicillin and azithromycin suspensions on the microhardness of sliver-reinforced glass ionomer and nano-resin modified glass ionomer (GI). Method: Thirty discs (2mm height x 4mm diameter) of each type of GI were prepared, which were randomly assigned to amoxicillin, azithromycin, and artificial saliva groups. Microhardness was evaluated by Vickers hardness test before and after three immersion cycles. Results: The overall model (P < 0.001), before/after intervention (P < 0.001), intervention group (type of antibiotic) (P=0.013), and type of glass ionomer (P < 0.001) showed significant differences among study groups (P < 0.001). Post hoc test showed only non-significant before/after difference for Azithrom
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Organic soil is problematic soils in geotechnical engineering due to its properties, as it is characterized by high compressibility and low bearing capacity. Therefore, several geotechnical techniques tried to stabilize and improve this soil type. In this study, sodium silicate was used to stabilize sand dune columns. The best sodium silicate concentration (9%) was used, and the stabilized sand dune columns were cured for seven days. The results for this soil were extracted using a numerical analysis program (Plaxis 3D, 2020).In the case of studying the effect of (L/D) (where ‘’L” and ‘’D’’ length and diameter of sand dune columns) of a single column of sand dunes stabilized with sodium silicate with a diff
... Show MoreThe main factors that make it possible to get the corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete are chloride ions and the absorption of carbon dioxide from the environment, and each of them works with a mechanism which destroys the stable immunity of rebar in the concrete. In this work the effect of carbon dioxide content in the artificial concrete solution on the corrosion behavior of carbon steel reinforcing bar (CSRB) was studied, potentiostatically using CO2 stream gas at 6 level of concentrations; 0.03 to 2.0 weight percent, and the effect of rising electrolyte temperature was also followed in the range 20 to 50ᴼ C. Tafel plots and cyclic polarization procedures were obeyed to investigate the c
... Show MoreThe reuse or recycling of waste materials in different aspects of life is served the objective of sustainability and be beneficial to society. In recent years, a wide variety of waste materials were used in pavement construction. One of these materials is glass that generally produces in large quantities and crushed glass can be considered feasible alternative source of aggregate for asphalt mixture production. This study focused on examining the asphalt mixture properties of wearing course using crushed glass as fine aggregates. Fine crushed glass with various percentages by total weight retained on sieve 2.36 mm, 0.3 mm and 0.075 mm was used in the study. The results indicate that mixes containing crushed glass had lower Marshall stabilit
... Show MoreIn this study, the effect of the combination of micro steel fibers and additives (calcium hydroxide and sodium carbonate) on the size of cracks formation and healing them were investigated. This study aims to apply the use of self-healing phenomenon to repair cracks and to enhance the service life of the concrete structures. Micro steel fibers straight type were used in this research with 0.2% and 0.4% by volume of concrete. A weight of 20 and 30 kg/m3 of Ca(OH)2 and 2 and 3 kg/m3 of Na2CO3 were used as a partial cement replacement. The results confirm that the concrete cracks were significantly self-healed up to 30 days re-curing. Cracks width up to 0.2 mm were comp
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