A novel welded demountable shear connector for sustainable steel-concrete composite structures is proposed. The proposed connector consists of a grout-filled steel tube bolted to a compatible partially threaded stud, which is welded on a steel section. This connector allows for an easy deconstruction at the end of the service life of a building, promoting the reuse of both the concrete slabs and the steel sections. This paper presents the experimental evaluation of the structural behavior of the proposed connector using a horizontal pushout test arrangement. The effects of various parameters, including the tube thickness, the presence of grout infill, and the concrete slab compressive strength, were assessed. A nonlinear finite element model was also calibrated against the experimental results, and the validated numerical model was used to extend the validity of the experimental results and to perform further parametric studies. The experimental and numerical results show that the tested connectors have similar stiffness, but higher shear resistance and slip capacity compared with traditional welded shear studs and can be classified as ductile according to Eurocode 4.
Background: Among individuals who have a stenotic aortic valve, a precise assessment of aortic valve area is essential for clinical judgment. So far, no studies have been conducted to investigate and assess the role of the three dimensional echo-cardiography in the assessment of the valve stenosis. This study aims to compare and assess the precision of the measurement of the stenosis area of the aortic valve by 2D versus 3D echo-cardiography.
Different polymers were prepared by condensation polymerization of sebacic anhydride and adipic anhydride with ethylene glycol and poly(ethylene glycol). Their number average molecular weights were determined by end group analysis. Then, they were grafted on the prepared phthalocyaninatocopper(II) compounds with the general formula (NH2)4PcCu(II) having amino groups of 3,3',3'',3'''- or 4,4',4'',4'''- positions. All prepared polymers, compounds, and phthalocyaninatocopper(II)-grafted polymers were characterized by FTIR. The sizing measurements were carried out in 3,3',3'',3'''- (NH2)4PcCu(II) and 4,4',4'',4'''- (NH2)4PcCu(II) compounds with and without grafting polymers. The results showed that the grafting process led to decreasing in par
... Show MoreData steganography is a technique used to hide data, secret message, within another data, cover carrier. It is considered as a part of information security. Audio steganography is a type of data steganography, where the secret message is hidden in audio carrier. This paper proposes an efficient audio steganography method that uses LSB technique. The proposed method enhances steganography performance by exploiting all carrier samples and balancing between hiding capacity and distortion ratio. It suggests an adaptive number of hiding bits for each audio sample depending on the secret message size, the cover carrier size, and the signal to noise ratio (SNR). Comparison results show that the proposed method outperforms state of the art methods
... Show MoreNitinol (NiTi) is used in many medical applications, including hard tissue replacements, because of its suitable characteristics, including a close elastic modulus to that of bones. Due to the great importance of the mechanical properties of this material in tissue replacements, this work aims to study the hysteresis response in an attempt to explore the ability of the material to remember its previous mechanical state in addition to its ability to withstand stress and to obtain the optimal dimensions and specifications for the manufacturer of NiTi actuators. Stress-strain examination is done in a computational way using a mutable Lagoudas MATLAB code for various coil radii, environment temperatures, and coil lengths. The computational m
... Show MoreHistoric centers are often subject to urban renewal without the prior knowledge of the extent of the cohesion and attachment to place of its inhabitants. Identifying the rates of cohesion and place attachment can help urban designers to avoid decisions that lead to clashes with the reality of the social groups inhabiting the neighborhoods of the historic center. So the research aimed to measure cohesion and place attachment in a methodological approach based on a psychological instrument conducted by previous studies .The measurements were applied through a questionnaire given to the residents of six elected neighborhoods forming the historic center of Al- Adhamiya.The research assumed the relative disparity rates of cohesion and place atta
... Show MoreThe result of a developed mathematical model for predicting the design
parameters of the fiber Raman amplifier (FRA) are demonstrated. The amplification
parameters are tested at different pump power with different fiber length. Recently,
the FRA employed in optical communication system to increase the repeater distance
as will as the capacity of the communication systems. The output results show, that
high Raman gain can be achieved by high pumping power, long effective area that
need to be small for high Raman gain. High-stimulated Raman gain coefficient is
recommended for high Raman amplifier gain, the low attenuation of the pump and the
transmitted signal in the fiber lead to high Raman gain.
This research aims to design a high-speed laser diode driver and photodetector, the result is the
design of the high-speed laser diode driver with a short pulse of 10 ns at 30 KHz frequency and the
delivered maximum pulse voltage is 5.5 mV. Also, its optical output power of the laser diode driver is
about 2.529 mW for the centroied wavelength 1546.7 nm with FWHM of 286 pm and (1270-1610) nm.
The design of the circuit based on bipolar transistor where the input pulse signal is simply generated by
an arduino kit with 15 kHz frequency and then compensated to trigger to small signal amplifier which
was is simply NPN C3355 transistor and the output is a current driver to the laser diode. OptiSystem
software and Electronic
Soft clays are generally sediments deposited by rivers, seas, or lakes. These soils are fine-grained plastic soils with appreciable clay content and are characterized by high compressibility and low shear strength. To deal with soft soil problems there is more than one method that can be used such as soil replacement, preloading, stone column, sand drains, lime stabilization and Prefabricated Vertical Drains, PVDs. A numerical modeling of PVD with vacuum pressure was analyzed to investigate the effect of this technique on the consolidation behavior of fully and different depths of partially saturated soft soils. Laboratory experiments were also conducted by using a specially-designed large consol
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