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

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is a widespread Nontraditional Machining (NTM) processes for manufacturing of a complicated geometry or very hard metals parts that are difficult to machine by traditional machining operations. Electrical discharge machining is a material removal (MR) process characterized by using electrical discharge erosion. This paper discusses the optimal parameters of EDM on high-speed steel (HSS) AISI M2 as a workpiece using copper and brass as an electrode. The input parameters used for experimental work are current (10, 24 and 42 A), pulse on time (100, 150 and 200 µs), and pulse off time (4, 12 and 25 µs) that have effect on the material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear rate (EWR) and wear ratio (WR). A

This study was aimed to investigate the response surface methodology (RSM) to evaluate the effects of various experimental conditions on the removal of levofloxacin (LVX) from the aqueous solution by means of electrocoagulation (EC) technique with stainless steel electrodes. The EC process was achieved successfully with the efficiency of LVX removal of 90%. The results obtained from the regression analysis, showed that the data of experiential are better fitted to the polynomial model of second-order with the predicted correlation coefficient (pred. R2) of 0.723, adjusted correlation coefficient (Adj. R2) of 0.907 and correlation coefficient values (R2) of 0.952. This shows that the predicted models and experimental values are in go

The deposition method of perovskite solar cell layers significantly impacts device functionality and the achievement of industrial goals. Aluminum (Al) nanoparticles with rutile titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticle thin films are fabricated on Fluorine Tin Oxide (FTO) glass substrates by nanosecond pulsed fiber laser deposition (PLD) to be used as a plasmonic electron transport layer (ETL) in perovskite solar cell (PSC). The effect of various pulsed fiber laser parameters on the structural, optical, and surface morphology on Al/TiO2 films is extensively examined utilizing a variety of measurement techniques; X-ray diffraction (XRD), Ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and Atomic

Two-dimensional unsteady mixed convection in a porous cavity with heated bottom wall is numerically studied in the present paper. The forced flow conditions are imposed by providing a hydrostatic pressure head at the inlet port that is located at the bottom of one of the vertical side walls and an open vent at the top of the other vertical side wall. The Darcy model is adopted to model the fluid flow in the porous medium and the combination effects of hydrostatic pressure head and the heat flux quantity parameters are carefully investigated. These governing parameters are varied over wide ranges and their effect on the heat transfer characteristics is studied in detail. It is found that the time required to reach a desired temperature at th

Aphid Aphis spp (Hemiptera:Aphididae) and Thrips Thrips spp (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) an economically important pests on several crops in the world and Iraq, that transfer many viruses diseases to it. Field studies were conducted to assessment the population density of these insects and susceptibility of six varieties (Barin, Revera, Divela, Rudlph, Alazata and Pleny) to infestation during 2013 spring season. The results were showed that all Potato varieties were infested by Aphis and Thrips on spring plantation but with different percentage. The Divela variety was higher percentage of infestation and high population density of aphid which averaged 1.47 insect/ leaf while in Alazata was the lower population density which averaged 1.02 in

A field study was conducted at the college of Agriculture, Baghdad University-Jadiriyah to investigate the effect of adding potassium fertilizer and organic nutrient (Reef Amirich) on the population density of two sucking pests of cucumber, cotton whitefly, Bemisia tabaci and onion thrips, Thrips tabaci during the spring season/2016. Results indicated that potassium sulphate (50, 100 and 150 kg/ha) and organic nutrient (0.8 and 1.6ml/l) reduced both the population density of B. tabaci and T. tabaci nymphs depending on the fertilizer level of the user, the treatment 150 kg/ha for the potassium fertilizer and 1.6 ml/L for organic nutrient was the highest among others when minimized density of nymphs by 1.62 nymphs of B. tabaci/disk leaf and 0