In drilling fluid program, selecting the drilling fluid that will reduce the lost time is the first objective, and will be economical regardless of its cost. The amount and type of solids in drilling fluid is the primary control of the rheological and filtration properties. Palygorskite clay (attapulgite) is an active solid that has the ability to reactive with its environment and form a gel structure within a fluid and due to its stability in the presence of brines and electrolytes this type of clay is preferred for use. The aim of this study is to improve properties of Iraqi palygorskite (PAL) by adding different chemical additives such as caustic soda NaOH and soda ash Na2CO3 with a different concentration in both fresh and salt water-based drilling fluid to satisfy the API specification and to compete with imported palygorskite. The palygorskite claystone of Late Cretaceous age is present in the Western Desert of Iraq within the Digma Formation. In this study, two areas in Western Desert palygorskite were obtained, Bahr Al-Najaf and Trefawi. The results of rheological properties showed that the performance of Bahr Al-Najaf PAL was more affected by caustic soda than Trefawi PAL. In contrast, Trefawi PAL performance was more affected with low concentrations of soda ash than Bahr Al-Najaf PAL in both fresh and salt water-based drilling fluid. Also, these additives lead to improve the value of pH in both fresh and salt drilling fluid that increases the ability of clay to be more dispersed in drilling fluid. Besides that, enhancement of drilling fluid prepared with Iraqi palygorskite stability to 85 and 80 in fresh and saltwater, respectively, was observed with soda ash additions.
This paper presents an improved technique on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm. The procedure is applied on Single Machine with Infinite Bus (SMIB) system with power system stabilizer (PSS) at three different loading regimes. The simulations are made by using MATLAB software. The results show that by using Improved Ant Colony Optimization (IACO) the system will give better performance with less number of iterations as it compared with a previous modification on ACO. In addition, the probability of selecting the arc depends on the best ant performance and the evaporation rate.
Objectives: Bromelain is a potent proteolytic enzyme that has a unique functionality makes it valuable for various therapeutic purposes. This study aimed to develop three novel formulations based on bromelain to be used as chemomechanical caries removal agents. Methods: The novel agents were prepared using different concentrations of bromelain (10–40 wt. %), with and without 0.1–0.3 wt. % chloramine T or 0.5–1.5 wt. % chlorhexidine (CHX). Based on the enzymatic activity test, three formulations were selected; 30 % bromelain (F1), 30 % bromelain-0.1 % chloramine (F2) and 30 % bromelain-1.5 % CHX (F3). The assessments included molecular docking, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), viscosity and pH measurements. The efficie
... Show MoreIn regression testing, Test case prioritization (TCP) is a technique to arrange all the available test cases. TCP techniques can improve fault detection performance which is measured by the average percentage of fault detection (APFD). History-based TCP is one of the TCP techniques that consider the history of past data to prioritize test cases. The issue of equal priority allocation to test cases is a common problem for most TCP techniques. However, this problem has not been explored in history-based TCP techniques. To solve this problem in regression testing, most of the researchers resort to random sorting of test cases. This study aims to investigate equal priority in history-based TCP techniques. The first objective is to implement
... Show MoreThis paper proposes improving the structure of the neural controller based on the identification model for nonlinear systems. The goal of this work is to employ the structure of the Modified Elman Neural Network (MENN) model into the NARMA-L2 structure instead of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) model in order to construct a new hybrid neural structure that can be used as an identifier model and a nonlinear controller for the SISO linear or nonlinear systems. Two learning algorithms are used to adjust the parameters weight of the hybrid neural structure with its serial-parallel configuration; the first one is supervised learning algorithm based Back Propagation Algorithm (BPA) and the second one is an intelligent algorithm n
... Show MoreResearchers dream of developing autonomous humanoid robots which behave/walk like a human being. Biped robots, although complex, have the greatest potential for use in human-centred environments such as the home or office. Studying biped robots is also important for understanding human locomotion and improving control strategies for prosthetic and orthotic limbs. Control systems of humans walking in cluttered environments are complex, however, and may involve multiple local controllers and commands from the cerebellum. Although biped robots have been of interest over the last four decades, no unified stability/balance criterion adopted for stabilization of miscellaneous walking/running modes of biped
The introduction of concrete damage plasticity material models has significantly improved the accuracy with which the concrete structural elements can be predicted in terms of their structural response. Research into this method's accuracy in analyzing complex concrete forms has been limited. A damage model combined with a plasticity model, based on continuum damage mechanics, is recommended for effectively predicting and simulating concrete behaviour. The damage parameters, such as compressive and tensile damages, can be defined to simulate concrete behavior in a damaged-plasticity model accurately. This research aims to propose an analytical model for assessing concrete compressive damage based on stiffness deterioration. The prop
... Show MoreA new simple, sensitive and inexpensive method has been developed for the spectrophotometric determination of cisapride in pharmaceutical formulation. The turbidimetric method is based on the formation of the ion-pair complex between the drug and bromophenol blue (BPB) in presence of potassium chloride at pH= 2.6, with a maximum absorbance at 520 nm. The calibration graph is linear in the concentration range 5-50µg.ml-1 , with good correlation coefficient (r = 0.9989).The limit of detection was found to be 1.14 µg.ml-1 and no interference was observed from common excipients in the pharmaceutical preparation that contain cisapride with good accuracy and precision.
The effect of Wood Flour addition to the gamma alumina powder used in the preparation of gamma alumina (ɤ-Al2O3) catalyst carrier extrudates on the pore volume and BET surface area physical properties was investigated. Two parameters which are size of wood flour particles and its quantity were studied. The sizes of wood flour particles used are 150 µm, 212 µm and 500 µm and the weight percentage added to the gamma alumina powder during the preparation of the extrudates are (1%, 3%, 5% and 10%). The results showed that the addition of wood flour to the gamma alumina powder in order to get gamma alumina extrudates used as catalyst carrier is one of the successful methods to improve the pore volume
... Show More