This study investigates the possibility of using waste plastic as one of the components of expired lead-acid batteries to produce lightweight concrete. Different percentages of lead-acid battery plastic were used in the production of lightweight concrete. The replacements were (70, 80 and 100%) by volume of the fine and coarse aggregate. Results demonstrated that a reduction of approximately 23.6% to 35% in the wet density was observed when replacement of 70% to 100% of the natural aggregate by lead-acid battery plastic. Also, the compressive strength decreased slightly with the increase in plastic content at different curing ages of 7, 28, 60, 90, 120 days. The lowest value of compressive strength was (20.7 MPa) for (wa

Critical buckling temperature of laminated plate under thermal load varied linearly along the thickness, is developed using a higher-order shape function which depends on a parameter ‘‘m’’, which is improved to obtain results for thin and thick plates. Laminated plates’ equations of motion are obtained using virtual work principle and solved for simply supported boundary conditions. Angle and cross laminates thermal buckled mode shapes with different E1/E2 proportion, number of plies, (α2/α1) proportion, aspect ratios, are investigated. It is observed that this shape function gives thermal buckling for thin and thick plates but with m = 0.05 that agree well with other theories and linear distribution of temperature giv

Non-thermal (low-temperature) plasma may act as an alternative approach to control superficial wound and skin infections when the effectiveness of chemical agents is weak due to natural pathogen or biofilm resistance. In this paper an atmospheric pressure plasma needle jet device which generates a cold plasma jet is used to measure the effectiveness of plasma treatment against different pathogenic bacteria and to test the individual susceptibility of pathogenic bacteria to non-thermal argon plasma. It is found that, Gram-negative bacteria were more susceptible to plasma treatment than Gram-positive bacteria. For the Gram-negative bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa, there were no survivors among the initial 1x10⁸C.F.U (Co

Photocatalytic materials are being investigated as effective bactericides due to their superior ability to inactivate a broad range of dangerous microbes. In this study, the following two types of bacteria were employed for bactericidal purposes: Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). The shape, crystal structure, element percentage, and optical properties of Ag9(SiO4)2NO3 were examined after it was successfully synthesized by a standard mixing and grinding processing route. Bactericidal efficiency was recorded at 100% by the following two types of light sources: solar and simulated light, with initial photocatalyst concentration of 2 µg/mL, and 97% and 95% of bactericidal acti

Tchebichef polynomials (TPs) play a crucial role in various fields of mathematics and applied sciences, including numerical analysis, image and signal processing, and computer vision. This is due to the unique properties of the TPs and their remarkable performance. Nowadays, the demand for high-quality images (2D signals) is increasing and is expected to continue growing. The processing of these signals requires the generation of accurate and fast polynomials. The existing algorithms generate the TPs sequentially, and this is considered as computationally costly for high-order and larger-sized polynomials. To this end, we present a new efficient solution to overcome the limitation of sequential algorithms. The presented algorithm us

Institutions and companies are looking to reduce spending on buildings and services according to scientific methods, provided they reach the same purpose but at a lower cost. On this basis, this paper proposes a model to measure and reduce maintenance costs in one of the public sector institutions in Iraq by using performance indicators that fit the nature of the work of this institution and the available data. The paper relied on studying the nature of the institution’s work in the maintenance field and looking at the type of data available to know the type and number of appropriate indicators to create the model. Maintenance data were collected for the previous six years by reviewing the maintenance and financial dep

In modern hydraulic control systems, the trend in hydraulic power applications is to improve efficiency and performance. “Proportional valve” is generally applied to pressure, flow and directional-control valves which continuously convert a variable input signal into a smooth and proportional hydraulic output signal. It creates a variable resistance (orifice) upstream and downstream of a hydraulic actuator, and is meter in/meter out circuit and hence pressure drop, and power losses are inevitable. If velocity (position) feedback is used, flow pattern control is possible. Without aforementioned flow pattern, control is very “loose” and relies on “visual” feed back by the operator. At this point, we should examine how this valv

تعتبر شبكية العين جزءًا مهمًا من العين لأن الأطباء يستخدمون صورها لتشخيص العديد من أمراض العيون مثل الجلوكوما واعتلال الشبكية السكري وإعتام عدسة العين. في الواقع، يعد تصوير الشبكية المجزأ أداة قوية للكشف عن النمو غير العادي في منطقة العين بالإضافة إلى تحديد حجم وبنية القرص البصري. يمكن أن يؤدي الجلوكوما إلى إتلاف القرص البصري، مما يغير مظهر القرص البصري للعين. تعمل تقنيتنا على الكشف عن الجلوكوما وتصنيفه