This research utilized natural asphalt (NA) deposits from sulfur springs in western Iraq. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of an asphalt mixture incorporating NA and verify its suitability for local pavement applications. To achieve this, a combination of two types of NA, namely soft SNA and hard HNA, was blended to create a binder known as Type HSNA. The resulting HSNA exhibited a penetration grade that adhered to Iraqi specifications. Various percentages of NA (20%, 40%, 60%, and 80%) were added to petroleum asphalt. The findings revealed enhanced physical properties of HSNA, which also satisfied the requirements outlined in the Iraqi specifications for asphalt cement.

Consequently, HS

An encryption system needs unpredictability and randomness property to maintain information security during transmission and storage. Although chaotic maps have this property, they have limitations such as low Lyapunov exponents, low sensitivity and limited chaotic regions. The paper presents a new improved skewed tent map to address these problems. The improved skew tent map (ISTM) increases the sensitivity to initial conditions and control parameters. It has uniform distribution of output sequences. The programs for ISTM chaotic behavior were implemented in MATLAB R2023b. The novel ISTM produces a binary sequence, with high degree of complexity and good randomness properties. The performance of the ISTM generator shows effective s

Internal conversion coefficients (ICC) and electron–positron pair conversion coefficients (PCC) for multipole transition of the core nucleus 88Sr have been calculated theoretically. The calculation is based on the relativistic Dirac–Fock (DF) solutions using the so called ‘‘Frozen Orbital’’ approximation, takes into account the effect of atomic vacancies created in the conversion process, covering a transition energies of 1–5000 keV. A large number of points were used to minimize any errors due to mesh-size effects. The internal conversion coefficients display a smooth monotonic dependence on transition energy, multipolarity and atomic shell. Comparing the values of PCC to ICC, it is interesting to note, that the energy dep

Metoprolol is a β₁ adrenergic blocker used in treatment of heart diseases. Metoprolol (100mg) tablets was formulated as a modified release oral system utilizing the concept of bilayer system, first layer contained (30mg) as immediate release and the other (70mg) in the sustained release matrix.  The immediate release layer consisted of lactose or microcrystalline cellulose as diluents with sodium starch glycolate or sodium croscarmellose as disintegrants. The result showed that the layer contains microcrystalline cellulose and 2% sodium starch glycolate gave disintegration time similar to that of conventional metoprolol tartrate tablet. This result was subjected in the subsequent preparation of the bilayer tablet. The

For modeling a photovoltaic module, it is necessary to calculate the basic parameters which control the current-voltage characteristic curves, that is not provided by the manufacturer. Generally, for mono crystalline silicon module, the shunt resistance is generally high, and it is neglected in this model. In this study, three methods are presented for four parameters model. Explicit simplified method based on an analytical solution, slope method based on manufacturer data, and iterative method based on a numerical resolution. The results obtained for these methods were compared with experimental measured data. The iterative method was more accurate than the other two methods but more complexity. The average deviation of

The study employs Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze how technological discourses are influenced by AI-generate d English texts. The research marries Fairclough’s three-dimensional discourse analysis, Van Dijk’s socio-cognitive approach, and Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS) in the use of mixed-methods research, integrating primarily qualitative analysis with quantitative corpus-based data, to perform a thorough analysis of twenty AI-produced English texts. The findings identify the sophisticated linguistic mechanisms through which AI language employs modality, nominalization, passive voice, and interdiscursive blending to normalize and legitimize dominant contemporary ideologies. These mechanisms serve to legitimize te

In this paper, the Active Suspension System (ASS) of road vehicles was investigated. In addition to the conventional stiffness and damper, the proposed ASS includes a fuzzy controller, a hydraulic actuator, and an LVDT position sensor. Furthermore, this paper presents a nonlinear model describing the operation of the hydraulic actuator as a part of the suspension system. Additionally, the detailed steps of the fuzzy controller design for such a system are introduced. A MATLAB/Simulink model was constructed to study the proposed ASS at different profiles of road irregularities. The results have shown that the proposed ASS has superior performance compared to the conventional Passive Suspension System (PSS), where the body displacemen