Two novel demountable shear connectors for precast steel-concrete composite bridges are presented. The connectors use high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the steel beam with the aid of a special locking configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connectors promote accelerated construction and overcome typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connectors allow bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (3) steel beams can be replaced, while precast

Lymphoma is a cancer arising from B or T lymphocytes that are central immune system ‎components. It is one of the three most common cancers encountered in the canine; ‎lymphoma affects middle-aged to older dogs and usually stems from lymphatic tissues, ‎such as lymph nodes, lymphoid tissue, or spleen. Despite the advance in the management of ‎canine lymphoma, a better understanding of the subtype and tumor aggressiveness is still ‎crucial for improved clinical diagnosis to differentiate malignancy from hyperplastic ‎conditions and to improve decision-making around treating and what treatment type to use. ‎This study aimed to evaluate a potential novel biomarker related to iron metabolism,

Automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) used for many applications especially in security applications, including border control. However, more accurate and language-independent techniques are still needed. This work provides a new approach to identifying Arabic license plates in different formats, colors, and even including English characters. Numbers, characters, and layouts with either 1-line or 2-line layouts are presented. For the test, we intend to use Iraqi license plates as there is a wide range of license plate styles written in Arabic, Kurdish, and English/Arabic languages, each different in style and color. This variety makes it difficult for recent traditional license plate recognition systems and algorithms to recogn

In the last few years, the Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining remarkable attention in both academic and industrial worlds. The main goal of the IoT is laying on describing everyday objects with different capabilities in an interconnected fashion to the Internet to share resources and to carry out the assigned tasks. Most of the IoT objects are heterogeneous in terms of the amount of energy, processing ability, memory storage, etc. However, one of the most important challenges facing the IoT networks is the energy-efficient task allocation. An efficient task allocation protocol in the IoT network should ensure the fair and efficient distribution of resources for all objects to collaborate dynamically with limited energy. The canonic

The inhibitory effect of acetone, ethanol, and aqueous extracts of ten medicinal plants on β-lactamase from Staphylococcus sciuri and Klebsiella pneumoniae was investigated in vitro by starch-iodine agar plate method. The results revealed the success of starch-iodine method for the detection of the inhibition of β-lactamase activity by the various extracts of each individual plant. The acetone extracts of Catharanthus roseus, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and Schinus terebinthifolius induced an inhibitory effect on β-lactamase from Staphylococcus sciuri. On the other hand, acetone extracts from only Eucalyptus camaldulensis, and Schinus

Flexible joint robot (FJR) manipulators can offer many attractive features over rigid manipulators, including light weight, safe operation, and high power efficiency. However, the tracking control of the FJR is challenging due to its inherent problems, such as underactuation, coupling, nonlinearities, uncertainties, and unknown external disturbances. In this article, a terminal sliding mode control (TSMC) is proposed for the FJR system to guarantee the finite-time convergence of the systems output, and to achieve the total robustness against the lumped disturbance and estimation error. By using two coordinate transformations, the FJR dynamics is turned into a canonical form. A cascaded finite-time sliding mode observer (CFTSMO) is construct

The Jeribe Formation, the Jambour oil field, is the major carbonate reservoir from the tertiary reservoirs of the Jambour field in northern Iraq, including faults. Engineers have difficulty organizing carbonate reserves since they are commonly tight and heterogeneous. This research presents a geological model of the Jeribe reservoir based on its facies and reservoir characterization data (Permeability, Porosity, Water Saturation, and Net to Gross). This research studied four wells. The geological model was constructed with the Petrel 2020.3 software. The structural maps were developed using a structural contour map of the top of the Jeribe Formation. A pillar grid model with horizons and layering was designed for each zone. Followin

Construction is a hazardous industry with a high number of injuries. Prior research found that many industry injuries can be prevented by implementing an effective safety plan if prepared and maintained by qualified safety personnel. However, there are no specific guidelines on how to select qualified construction safety personnel and what criteria should be used to select an individual for a safety position in the United States (US) construction industry. To fill this gap in knowledge, the study goal was to identify the desired qualifications of safety personnel in the US construction industry. To achieve the study goal, the Delphi technique was used as the main methodology for determining the desired qualifications for constructio