Mechanical and thermal properties of composites, consisted of unsaturated polyester resin, reinforced by different kinds of natural materials (Orange peels and Date seeds) and industrial materials (carbon and silica) with particle size 98 µm were studied. Various weight ratios, 5, 10, and 15 wt. % of natural and industrial materials have been infused into polyester. Tensile, three-point bending and thermal conductivity tests were conducted for the unfilled polyester, natural and industrial composite to identify the weight ratio effect on the properties of materials. The results indicated that when the weight ratio for polyester with date seeds increased from 10% to 15%, the maximum Young’s modulus decreased by 54%. When the weight rat

Zernike Moments has been popularly used in many shape-based image retrieval studies due to its powerful shape representation. However its strength and weaknesses have not been clearly highlighted in the previous studies. Thus, its powerful shape representation could not be fully utilized. In this paper, a method to fully capture the shape representation properties of Zernike Moments is implemented and tested on a single object for binary and grey level images. The proposed method works by determining the boundary of the shape object and then resizing the object shape to the boundary of the image. Three case studies were made. Case 1 is the Zernike Moments implementation on the original shape object image. In Case 2, the centroid of the s

The detection for Single Escherichia Coli Bacteria has attracted great interest and in biology and physics applications. A nanostructured porous silicon (PS) is designed for rapid capture and detection of Escherichia coli bacteria inside the micropore. PS has attracted more attention due to its unique properties. Several works are concerning the properties of nanostructured porous silicon. In this study PS is fabricated by an electrochemical anodization process. The surface morphology of PS films has been studied by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The structure of porous silicon was studied by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Details of experimental methods and results are given and discussed

Imitation learning is an effective method for training an autonomous agent to accomplish a task by imitating expert behaviors in their demonstrations. However, traditional imitation learning methods require a large number of expert demonstrations in order to learn a complex behavior. Such a disadvantage has limited the potential of imitation learning in complex tasks where the expert demonstrations are not sufficient. In order to address the problem, we propose a Generative Adversarial Network-based model which is designed to learn optimal policies using only a single demonstration. The proposed model is evaluated on two simulated tasks in comparison with other methods. The results show that our proposed model is capable of completing co

Roof in the Iraqi houses normally flattening by a concrete panel. This concrete panel has poor thermal properties. The usage of materials with low thermal conductivity and high specific heat gives a good improvements to the thermal properties of the concrete panel, thus, the indoor room temperature improves. A Mathcad program based on a mathematical model employing complex Fourier series built for a single room building. The model input data are the ambient temperature, solar radiation, and sol-air temperature, which have been treated as a periodic function of time. While, the room construction is constant due to their materials made of it, except the roof properties are taken as a variable generated practically from the

The issue of cadmium (Cd(II)) contamination of the water is a serious concern of the environmental and health problem, and this requires effective technology to remove the problem of toxic element. It is the purpose of this review paper to give an overview of several techniques of cadmium removal, such as polymer membranes and composites, adsorption using green materials, and electrochemical methods. The important conclusions are presented regarding the effectiveness of the polymer and composite membranes; e.g., the efficacy of the PES/HPEI-SH membrane that reached 99% removal of Cd(II) in 20 min with adsorption capacity of 135.59 mg/cm2, and the PVA/IC/PANI/GO nanofiber composite that indicates high adsorption of the 459 mg/g. The

Natural Bauxite (BXT) mineral clay was modified with a cationic surfactant (hexadecy ltrimethy lammonium bromide (BXT-HDTMA)) and characterized with different techniques: FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The modified and natural bauxite (BXT) were used as adsorbents for the adsorption of 4- Chlorophenol (4-CP) from aqueous solutions. The adsorption study was carried out at different conditions and parameters: contact time, pH value, adsorbent dosage and ionic strength. The adsorption kinetic (described by a pseudo-first order and a pseudo-second order), equilibrium experimental data (analyzed by Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models) and thermodynamic parameters (change in s

This research paper aimed to quantitively characterize the pore structure of shale reservoirs. Six samples of Silurian shale from the Ahnet basin were selected for nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis. Experimental findings showed that all the samples are mainly composed of mesopores with slit-like shaped pores, as well as the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda pore volume ranging from 0.014 to 0.046 cm3/ 100 g, where the lowest value has recorded in the AHTT-1 sample, whereas the highest one in AHTT-6, while the rest samples (AHTT-2, AHTT-3, AHTT-4, AHTT-5) have a similar average value of 0.03 cm3/ 100 g. Meanwhile, the surface area and pore size distribution were in the range of 3.8 to 11.1 m2 / g and 1.7 to 40 nm, respectively.