The use of Near-Surface Mounted (NSM) Carbon-Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strips is an efficient technology for increasing flexural and shear strength or for repairing damaged Reinforced Concrete (RC) members. This strengthening method is a promising technology. However, the thin layer of concrete covering the NSM-CFRP strips is not adequate to resist heat effect when directly exposed to a fire or at a high temperature. There is clear evidence that the strength and stiffness of CFRPs severely deteriorate at high temperatures. Therefore, in terms of fire resistance, the NSM technique has a significant defect. Thus, it is very important to develop a set of efficient fire protection systems to overcome these disadvantages. This pape

Three-dimensional cavity was investigated numerical in the current study filled with porous medium from a saturated fluid. The problem configuration consists of two insulated bottom and right wall and left vertical wall maintained at constant temperatures at variable locations, using two discretized heaters. The porous cavity fluid motion was represented by the momentum equation generalized model. The present investigation thermophysical parameters included the local thermal equilibrium condition. The isotherms and streamlines was used to examine energy transport and momentum. The meaning of changing parameters on the established average Nusselt number, temperature and velocity distribution are highlighted and discussed.

This study aimed to assess the possible association of oxytocin (OXT) gene with reproductive traits in two groups of Awassi ewes that differ in their reproductive potentials. Sheep were genotyped using PCR—single-stranded conformation polymorphism approach. Three genotypes were detected in exon 2, CC, CA, and AA, and a novel SNP was identified with a missense effect on oxytocin (c.188C > A → p.Arg55Leu). A significant (p < 0.01) association of p.Arg55Leu with the twinning rate was found as ewes with AA and CA genotypes exhibited, respectively a lower twinning ratio than those with the wild-type CC genotype. The deleterious impact of p.Arg55Leu was demonstrated by all in silico tools that were utilized to assess the effect of this varian

In order to reduce the environmental pollution associated with the conventional energy sources and to achieve the increased global energy demand, alterative and renewable sustainable energy sources need to be developed. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a bio-electrochemical innovative technology for pollution control and a simultaneous sustainable energy production from biodegradable, reduced compounds. This study mainly considers the performance of continuous up flow dual-chambers MFC
fueled with actual domestic wastewater and bio-catalyzed with anaerobic aged sludge obtained from an aged septic tank. The performance of MFCs was mainly evaluated in terms of COD reductions and electrical power output. Results revealed that the C

Realizing the full potential of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) highlights many design issues, particularly the trade-offs concerning multiple conflicting improvements such as maximizing the route overlapping for efficient data aggregation and minimizing the total link cost. While the issues of data aggregation routing protocols and link cost function in a WSNs have been comprehensively considered in the literature, a trade-off improvement between these two has not yet been addressed. In this paper, a comprehensive weight for trade-off between different objectives has been employed, the so-called weighted data aggregation routing strategy (WDARS) which aims to maximize the overlap routes for efficient data aggregation and link cost