Most reinforced concrete (RC) structures are constructed with square/rectangular columns. The cross-section size of these types of columns is much larger than the thickness of their partitions. Therefore, parts of these columns are protruded out of the partitions. The emergence of columns edges out of the walls has some disadvantages. This limitation is difficult to be overcome with square or rectangular columns. To solve this problem, new types of RC columns called specially shaped reinforced concrete (SSRC) columns have been used as hidden columns. Besides, the use of SSRC columns provides many structural and architectural advantages as compared with rectangular columns. Therefore, this study was conducted to explain the structura

Cloud storage provides scalable and low cost resources featuring economies of scale based on cross-user architecture. As the amount of data outsourced grows explosively, data deduplication, a technique that eliminates data redundancy, becomes essential. The most important cloud service is data storage. In order to protect the privacy of data owner, data are stored in cloud in an encrypted form. However, encrypted data introduce new challenges for cloud data deduplication, which becomes crucial for data storage. Traditional deduplication schemes cannot work on encrypted data. Existing solutions of encrypted data deduplication suffer from security weakness. This paper proposes a combined compressive sensing and video deduplication to maximize

A number of compression schemes were put forward to achieve high compression factors with high image quality at a low computational time. In this paper, a combined transform coding scheme is proposed which is based on discrete wavelet (DWT) and discrete cosine (DCT) transforms with an added new enhancement method, which is the sliding run length encoding (SRLE) technique, to further improve compression. The advantages of the wavelet and the discrete cosine transforms were utilized to encode the image. This first step involves transforming the color components of the image from RGB to YUV planes to acquire the advantage of the existing spectral correlation and consequently gaining more compression. DWT is then applied to the Y, U and V col

In this research a theoretical study has been carried out on the behavior and strength of simply supported composite beams strengthened by steel cover plate taking into consideration partial interaction of shear connectors and nonlinear behavior of the materials and shear connectors. Following the procedure that already has been adopted by Johnson (1975), the basic differential equations of equilibrium and compatibility were reduced to single differential equation in terms of interface slip between concrete slab and steel beam. Furthermore, in order to consider the nonlinear behavior of steel, concrete and shear connectors, the basic equation was rearranged so that all terms related to materials are isol

Objectives: Hyperglycosylated human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) is a variant of hCG. In addition, it has a different oligosaccharide structure compared to the regular hCG and promotes the invasion and differentiation of peripheral cytotrophoblast. This study aimed to measure hyperglycosylated hCG as a predictor in the diagnosis of placenta accreta. Materials and Methods: In general, 90 pregnant women were involved in this case-control study among which, 30 ladies (control group) were pregnant within the gestational age of ≥36 weeks with at least one previous caesarean section and a normal sited placenta in transabdominal ultrasound (TAU). The other 60 pregnant women (case

Urban land uses of all kinds are the constituent elements of the urban spatial structure. Because of the influence of economic and social factors, cities in general are characterized by the dynamic state of their elements over time. Urban functions occur in a certain way with different spatial patterns. Hence, urban planners and the relevant urban management teams should understand the future spatial pattern of these changes by resorting to quantitative models in spatial planning. This is to ensure that future predictions are made with a high level of accuracy so that appropriate strategies can be used to address the problems arising from such changes. The Markov chain method is one of the quantitative models used in spatial planning to ana

Purpose:  Providing practical knowledge of the requirements of a detailed feasibility study for selecting the investment project.

Findings:  Directing the private sector towards investing in productive projects - the pre-cast reinforced concrete project - as it achieves a financial return as well as providing Providing foreign currencies by reducing imports and exploiting available natural resources

Practical implications: The importance of a detailed feasibility study to determining whether the project can be implemented or not.

The precast concrete method is one of the best modern c

In this study, the effect of fire flame on the punching shear strength of steel fiber reinforced concrete flat plates was experimentally investigated using nine half-scale specimens with dimensions of 1500×1500 mm and a total thickness of 100 mm. The main investigated variables comprised the steel fiber volume fraction 0, 1, and 1.5% and the burning steady state temperature 500 and 600 °C. The specimens were divided into three groups, each group consists of three specimens. The specimens in the first group were tested with no fire effect to be the reference specimens, while the others of the second and third groups were tested after being exposed to fire-flame effect. The adopted characteristics of the fire test were; (one hour) b