John Updike’s use of setting in his fiction has elicited different and even conflicting reactions from critics, varying from symbolic interpretations of setting to a sense of confusion at his use of time and place in his stories.  The present study is an attempt at examining John Updike’s treatment of binary settings in Pigeon Feathers and Other Stories (1962) to reveal theme, characters’ motives and conflicts.  Analyzing Updike’s stories from a structuralist’s perspective reveals his employment of two different places and times in the individual stories as a means of reflecting the psychological state of the characters, as in “The Persistence of Desire”, or expressing conflicting views on social and political is

Several stress-strain models were used to predict the strengths of steel fiber reinforced concrete, which are distinctive of the material. However, insufficient research has been done on the influence of hybrid fiber combinations (comprising two or more distinct fibers) on the characteristics of concrete. For this reason, the researchers conducted an experimental program to determine the stress-strain relationship of 30 concrete samples reinforced with two distinct fibers (a hybrid of polyvinyl alcohol and steel fibers), with compressive strengths ranging from 40 to 120 MPa. A total of 80% of the experimental results were used to develop a new empirical stress-strain model, which was accomplished through the application of the parti

  The current research contains four chapters. The first topic included the methodological framework that included the problem of research and the need for it, and then the importance of the research, and then the aim of the research, its limits and the definition of terms linguistically, conventionally and procedurally. The second chapter (the theoretical framework) contained two topics, the topic The first is titled: The Outward Vision in Child Theater Performances, while the second topic was titled: Presentation Technology in Child Theater, Chapter Four (Research Procedures), which organized the research community and analyzed its sample, and the fourth chapter contained research results, conclusions and recommendations. The prop

The performance of a diesel engine was tested with diesel oil contaminated with glycol at the engineering workshop/Department of Agricultural Machines and Equipment / College of the Agricultural Engineering Sciences at the University of Baghdad. To investigate the impact of different concentrations of glycol on the performance of a diesel engine, an experimental water-cooled four-stroke motor was utilized, with oil containing 0, 100, and 200 parts per million (ppm). Specific fuel consumption, thermal efficiency, friction power, and exhaust gas temperature were examined as performance indicators. To compare the significance of the treatments, the study employed a full randomization design (CRD), with three replicates for each treatment at th

Ration power plants, to generate power, have become common worldwide. One such one is the steam power plant. In such plants, various moving parts of heavy machines generate a lot of noise. Operators are subjected to high levels of noise. High noise level exposure leads to psychological as well physiological problems; different kinds of ill effects. It results in deteriorated work efficiency, although the exact nature of work performance is still unknown. To predict work efficiency deterioration, neuro-fuzzy tools are being used in research. It has been established that a neuro-fuzzy computing system helps in identification and analysis of fuzzy models. The last decade has seen substantial growth in development of various neuro-fuzzy systems

In this paper, the behavior of spliced steel girders under static loading is investigated. A group of seven steel I-girders were tested experimentally. Two concentrated loads were applied to each specimen at third points and the load was increased incrementally up to the yield of the specimen. Two types of splices were considered; the bearing type and the friction-grip type splices. For comparison, an analytical study was made for the tested girders in which the finite element analysis program (Abaqus) was used for analysis. It was found that the maximum test load for spliced girders with bearing type splices was in the range of (34%) to (67%) of the maximum test load for the reference girder. For girders spliced by using friction-grip t

In the present study, the removal of zinc from synthetic waste water using emulsion liquid membrane extraction technique was investigated. Synthetic surfactant solution is used as the emulsifying agent. Diphenylthiocarbazon (ditizone) was used as the extracting agent dissolved in carbon tetrachloride as the organic solvent and sulfuric acid is used as the stripping agent. The parameters that influence the extraction percentage of Zn+2 were studied. These are the ratio of volume of organic solvent to volume of aqueous feed (0.5-4), ratio of volume of surfactant solution to volume of aqueous feed (0.2-1.6), pH of the aqueous feed solution (5-10), mixing intensity (100-1000) rpm, concentration of extracting agent (20-400) ppm, surfactant co