Earth dams are constructed mainly from soil. A homogenous earth dam is composed of only one material. The seepage through such dams is quite high. Upstream impervious blanket is one of the methods used to control seepage through the dam foundations. Bennet's method is one of the commonly used methods to design an impervious upstream blanket. Design charts are developed relating the length of blanket, total reservoir head, total base width of the dam (excluding downstream drainage), the coefficient of permeability of the blanket material, blanket thickness, foundation thickness, and coefficient of permeability of the foundation soil, based on the equations governing the Bennet's method for a homogenous earth dam with a blanket of uniform

This paper proposes a novel finite-time generalized proportional integral observer (FTGPIO) based a sliding mode control (SMC) scheme for the tracking control problem of high order uncertain systems subject to fast time-varying disturbances. For this purpose, the construction of the controller consists of two consecutive steps. First, the novel FTGPIO is designed to observe unmeasurable plant dynamics states and disturbance with its higher time derivatives in finite time rather than infinite time as in the standard GPIO. In the FTGPO estimator, the finite time convergence rate of estimations is well achieved, whereas the convergence rate of estimations by classical GPIO is asymptotic and slow. Secondly, on the basis of the finite and fast e

Periodontal disease is typically treated with mechanical debridement of the tooth surface. It may, however, be insufficient to eradicate pathogenic microorganisms on its own. Because of the microbial etiology of periodontitis, systemic or local antibiotic therapy is used as an adjunct treatment. The present study aimed to determine the effects of curcumin gel on Porphyromonas gingivalis. Eleven patients with stage II and III periodontitis were registered in the study. A double-blinded split-mouth design followed. Periodontal pockets were distributed into 2 groups; the test group received scaling and root planing along with curcumin gel, while the control group received scaling and root planing along with a placebo gel. Plaque index,

Rapid worldwide urbanization and drastic population growth have increased the demand for new road construction, which will cause a substantial amount of natural resources such as aggregates to be consumed. The use of recycled concrete aggregate could be one of the possible ways to offset the aggregate shortage problem and reduce environmental pollution. This paper reports an experimental study of unbound granular material using recycled concrete aggregate for pavement subbase construction. Five percentages of recycled concrete aggregate obtained from two different sources with an originally designed compressive strength of 20–30 MPa as well as 31–40 MPa at three particle size levels, i.e., coarse, fine, and extra fine, were test

To promote sustainable steel-concrete composite structures, it is essential to develop special shear connectors that facilitate accelerated construction and deconstruction. A lockbolt demountable shear connector (LBDSC) was recently proposed. While the LBDSC has been evaluated using horizontal and vertical (standard) push-out tests, it is essential to further assess the disassembly mechanism and the positive flexural performance of prefabricated demountable composite beams (PDCBs) under both serviceability and ultimate limit states. Two full-scale test specimens of PDCBs with LBDSC were designed with partial shear connections and assessed using a three or four-point load beam setup under both cyclic and static monotonic loading conditions.

                In the past years, the Algerian Economy has witnessed various monetary developments characterized by different monetary and banking reforms aimed by monetary authorities to achieve monetary stability and driving overall growth. It should be noted that there is evidence to initiate fundamental changes on the basis of which new monetary, financing and banking policy mechanisms must be formulated in Algeria by enhancing the pursuit of reforming the monetary system, in order to improve monetary and economic indicators.

                The study a

This research examines the relationship between dinar deposits and U.S. dollar payments at the Central Bank of Iraq using monthly data for the period 2016–2025. The ARDL model, the GRU neural network, and a hybrid ARDL–GRU model are applied. The results show that dollar payments are stationary at level, while dinar deposits become stationary after first differencing, with a significant positive long-run cointegrating relationship. The linear ARDL model has limited ability to capture sudden shocks, whereas the hybrid ARDL–GRU model achieves superior forecasting performance both in-sample and out-of-sample. The findings confirm the Central Bank of Iraq’s efficiency in managing domestic and foreign liquidity and maintaining market stab

The paper considers the main types of corrosion taking into account the direction of corrosion processes. The main parameters of metal building structures corrosion and factors that have a significant influence on these parameters are taken into account, which can influence the increase of such structures longevity. One of the main factors of corrosion rate determining is the humidity of air and dust deposited on surface from atmosphere at production emissions.