Cost estimation is considered one of the important tasks in the construction projects management. The precise estimation of the construction cost affect on the success and quality of a construction project. Elemental estimation is considered a very important stage to the project team because it represents one of the key project elements. It helps in formulating the basis to strategies and execution plans for construction and engineering. Elemental estimation, which in the early stage, estimates the construction costs depending on . minimum details of the project so that it gives an indication for the initial design stage of a project. This paper studies the factors that affect the elemental cost estimation as well as the relation between these factors using Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Final conclusions and recommendations were extracted for better elemental estimation accuracy in project management.
The aim of this work was to estimate the concentrations of natural and artificial nuclides in some fertilized and unfertilized plant samples. These samples were collected and prepared in a petri dish for the measurements using gamma spectroscopy. The average values of 238U, 232Th, 40K, and 137Cs for the unfertilized plant samples were (11.964 ± 3.226, 8.273 ± 2.639, 402.436 ± 18.099, and 2.761 ± 1.613) respectively, and for the fertilized plant samples were (30.434 ± 5.282, 22.584 ± 4.620, 711.332 ± 25.806, and 6.986 ± 2.542) respectively. The average values of radiological hazard indices, Raeq, D, D for 137Cs, (AEDE)in, (AEDE)out, Iγ, Hin, and Hout for the unfertilized plant samples were (54.782 ± 7.216, 27.306, 0.469, 0.
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The university course timetable problem (UCTP) is typically a combinatorial optimization problem. Manually achieving a useful timetable requires many days of effort, and the results are still unsatisfactory. unsatisfactory. Various states of art methods (heuristic, meta-heuristic) are used to satisfactorily solve UCTP. However, these approaches typically represent the instance-specific solutions. The hyper-heuristic framework adequately addresses this complex problem. This research proposed Particle Swarm Optimizer-based Hyper Heuristic (HH PSO) to solve UCTP efficiently. PSO is used as a higher-level method that selects low-level heuristics (LLH) sequence which further generates an optimal solution. The proposed a
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Video steganography has become a popular option for protecting secret data from hacking attempts and common attacks on the internet. However, when the whole video frame(s) are used to embed secret data, this may lead to visual distortion. This work is an attempt to hide sensitive secret image inside the moving objects in a video based on separating the object from the background of the frame, selecting and arranging them according to object's size for embedding secret image. The XOR technique is used with reverse bits between the secret image bits and the detected moving object bits for embedding. The proposed method provides more security and imperceptibility as the moving objects are used for embedding, so it is difficult to notice the
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Abstract
The vegetative filter strips (VFS) are a useful tool used for reducing the movement of sediment and pesticide in therivers. The filter strip’s soil can help in reducing the runoff volume by infiltration. However, the characteristics of VFS (i.e., length) are not recently identified depending on the estimation of VFS modeling performance. The aim of this research is to study these characteristics and determine acorrelation between filter strip length and percent reduction (trapping efficiency) for sediment, water, and pesticide. Two proposed pesticides(one has organic carbon sorption coefficient, Koc, of 147 L/kg which is more moveable than XXXX, and another one
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Based on the results of standard penetration tests (SPTs) conducted in Al-Basrah governorate, this research aims to present thematic maps and equations for estimating the bearing capacity of driven piles having several lengths. The work includes drilling 135 boreholes to a depth of 10 m below the existing ground level and three standard penetration tests (SPT) at depths of 1.5, 6, and 9.5 m were conducted in each borehole. MATLAB software and corrected SPT values were used to determine the bearing capacity of driven piles in Al-Basrah. Several-order interpolation polynomials are suggested to estimate the bearing capacity of driven piles, but the first-order polynomial is considered the most straightforward. Furthermore, the root means squar
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Bio-diesel is an attractive fuel fordiesel engines. The feedstock for bio-diesel production is usually vegetable oil, waste cooking oil, or animal fats. This work provides an overview concerning bio-diesel production. Also, this work focuses on the commercial production of biodiesel. The objective is to study the influence of these parameters on the yield of produced. The biodiesel production affecting by many parameters such s alcohol ratio (5%, 10%,15 %, 20%,25%,30%35% vol.), catalyst loading (5,10,15,20,25) g,temperature (45,50,55,60,65,70,75)°C,reaction time (0-6) h, mixing rate (400-1000) rpm. the maximum bio-diesel production yield (95%) was obtained using 20% methanol ratio and 15g biocatalyst at 60°C.
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Membrane distillation (MD) is a hopeful desalination technique for brine (salty) water. In this research, Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) and Air Gap Membrane Distillation (AGMD) will be used. The sample used is from Shat Al –Arab water (TDS=2430 mg/l). A polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) flat sheet membrane was used as a flat sheet form with a plate and frame cell. Several parameters were studied, such as; operation time, feed temperature, permeate temperature, feed flow rate. The results showed that with time, the flux decreases because of the accumulated fouling and scaling on the membrane surface. Feed temperature and feed flow rate had a positive effect on the permeate flux, while permeate temperatu
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The δ-mixing ratios have been calculated for several γ-transitions in 90Mo using the 𝛔 𝐉 method. The results are compared with other references the agreement is found to be very good .this confirms the validity of the 𝛔 𝐉 method as a tool for analyzing the angular distribution of γ-ray. Key word: population parameter, γ-ray transition, 𝛔 𝐉 method, multiple mixing ratios.
The present study aimed to investigate the acetamiprid effects on biochemical aspects in albino mice. Thirty albino mice at the age of 6-8 weeks and average weight 25±5 g were divided into three groups each having ten (10) healthy mice. The first group was orally administrated with distilled water while the second and third groups were orally administrated with 50 mg/mL and 100 mg/mL respectively of acetamprid (0.1 mL) daily for one week. LD50 of acetamiprid was measured and found to be 200 mg/kg. The parameters of evaluations included liver function using Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST), Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) and Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP). Lipid profile was anal
... Show MoreInthisstudy,FourierTransformInfraredSpectrophotometry(FTIR),XRay Diffraction(XRD)andlossonignition(LOI),comparativelyemployedtoprovideaquick,relativelyinexpensiveandefficientmethodforidentifyingandquantifyingcalcitecontentofphosphateoresamplestakenfromAkashatsiteinIraq.Acomprehensivespectroscopicstudyofphosphate-calcitesystemwasreportedfirstintheMid-IRspectra(4004000cm-1)usingShimadzuIRAffinity-1,fordifferentcutsofphosphatefieldgradeswithsamplesbeneficiatedusingcalcinationandleachingwithorganicacidatdifferenttemperatures.Thenusingtheresultedspectratocreateacalibrationcurverelatesmaterialconcentrationstotheintensity(peaks)ofFTIRabsorbanceandappliesthiscalibrationtospecifyphosphate-calcitecontentinIraqicalcareousphosphateore.Theirpeakswereass
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