In Australia, most of the existing buildings were designed before the release of the Australian standard for earthquake actions in 2007. Therefore, many existing buildings in Australia lack adequate seismic design, and their seismic performance must be assessed. The recent earthquake that struck Mansfield, Victoria near Melbourne elevated the need to produce fragility curves for existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Australia. Fragility curves are frequently utilized to assess buildings’ seismic performance and it is defined as the demand probability surpassing capacity at a given intensity level. Numerous factors can influence the results of the fragility assessment of RC buildings. Among the most important factors that can affe

The present work aimed to study the SiO2μPs, and NPs effect on the biodegradability of St/PVA blends. The samples were prepared by casting method as PVA, St/PVA blends with different concentrations (30, 40, 50, and 60 %). FTIR test was carried out for the samples preparation. The results proved some changes which might be related to changing in crystallinity of St/PVA matrix as well as physical incorporation of SiO2 μPs, and NPs addition. The enzymatic test and water uptake results proved that increase in weight loss with increases of starch ratio. The lowest weight loss was PVA; the highest weight loss is 60% St/PVA whereas the lowest weight loss is 30%St/PVA for blends involved. SiO2μPs (753.7 nm), and NPs (263.1 nm) were added at d

Blends of Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) doped with 2% weight percentage of Sn were prepared with different blend ratios using casting technique. The measurements of A.C conductivity σa.c within the frequency range (25kHz – 5MHz) of undoped and Sn doped PMMA/PVA blends obeyed the relationship σ= Aw^s were the value of s within the range 0 > s > 1. The results showed that σa.c increases with the increase of frequency. The exponent s showed preceding increase with the increase of PVA content for PMMA/PVA blends doped with Sn. The dielectric constant, dielectric loss, A.C electrical conductivity are varied with the concentration of PVA in the blend and frequency of applied electrical field.

The linear segment with parabolic blend (LSPB) trajectory deviates from the specified waypoints. It is restricted to that the acceleration must be sufficiently high. In this work, it is proposed to engage modified LSPB trajectory with particle swarm optimization (PSO) so as to create through points on the trajectory. The assumption of normal LSPB method that parabolic part is centered in time around waypoints is replaced by proposed coefficients for calculating the time duration of the linear part. These coefficients are functions of velocities between through points. The velocities are obtained by PSO so as to force the LSPB trajectory passing exactly through the specified path points. Also, relations for velocity correction and exact v

Accelerates operating managements in the facilities contemporary business environment toward redefining processes and strategies that you need to perform tasks of guaranteeing them continue in an environment performance dominated by economic globalization and the circumstances of uncertainty attempt the creation of a new structure through multiple pages seek to improve profitability and sustainable growth in performance in a climatefocuses on the development of institutional processes, reduce costs and achieve customer satisfaction to meet their demands and expectations are constantly changing. The research was presented structural matrix performance combines methodology Alsigma in order to improve customer satisfaction significantly bet

Most tubes are made from butyl rubbers, but certain types, such as giant tubes, are based on natural rubber because very high green strength is required when handling the uncured compound. By using blends of natural rubber (NR) and brominated butyl rubber (BIIR), it is possible to maintain high green strength in the uncured compound and improve impermeability and heat resistance of the cured tube.  The best formulations are obtained in the presence of 50 phr of (BIIR) to achieve desired mechanical properties. Improved impermeability was obtained by using 50 and 75 phr of (BIIR) rubber in compounds. Blending of brominated butyl rubber (BIIR) with natural rubber (NR) enhances air retention with acceptable sacrifices in green strength.

The interlaminar fracture toughness of polymer blends reinforced by glass fiber has
been investigated. Epoxy (EP), unsaturated polyester(UPE), polystyrene (PS),
polyurethane (PU) and their blends with different ratios (10%PS/90%EP),
(20%PS/80%EP), (20%PU/80%EP) and (20%PU/80%UPE) were chosen as a matrices A
sheet of composites were prepared using hand lay -up method, these sheet were cut as the
double cantilever beam (DCB) specimen to determine interlaminar fracture toughness of
these composites .Its found that, blending of EP,UPE with 20% of PU will improve the
interlaminar fracture toughness ,but the adding of 10% PS, 20%PS to EP will decrease
the interlaminar toughness of these composites.

       Total flavonoid contents, reductive ability and radical scavenging activity were studied in the methanol extracts of Arum maculatum L. and Physalis peruviana L. The results revealed that A. maculatum extract had total flavonoids of 535.3±109.9 µg/ml, which was significantly higher than the recorded flavonoids in P. peruviana extract (352.0±12.7 µg/ml). Assessment of reductive ability revealed that both extract were effective in such activity and concentration-dependent. The highest absorbance was found at the concentration 0.64 mg/ml of A. maculatum methanol extract (0.929±0.006), which was significantly higher (P ≤ 0.05) than the corresponding concentration of P. peruviana extract (0.850

Many researchers consider Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine mode as a promising alternative to combustion in Spark Ignition and Compression Ignition Engines. The HCCI engine runs on lean mixtures of fuel and air, and the combustion is produced from the fuel autoignition instead of ignited by a spark. This combustion mode was investigated in this paper. A variable compression ratio, spark ignition engine type TD110 was used in the experiments. The tested fuel was Iraqi conventional gasoline (ON=82).

The results showed that HCCI engine can run in very lean equivalence ratios. The brake specific fuel consumption was reduced about 28% compared with a spark ignition engine. The experimental tests showed that the em