The conception and experimental assessment of a removable friction-based shear connector (FBSC) for precast steel-concrete composite bridges is presented. The FBSC uses pre-tensioned high-strength steel bolts that pass through countersunk holes drilled on the top flange of the steel beam. Pre-tensioning of the bolts provides the FBSC with significant frictional resistance that essentially prevents relative slip displacement of the concrete slab with respect to the steel beam under service loading. The countersunk holes are grouted to prevent sudden slip of the FBSC when friction resistance is exceeded. Moreover, the FBSC promotes accelerated bridge construction by fully exploiting prefabrication, does not raise issues relevant to precast construction tolerances, and allows rapid bridge disassembly to drastically reduce the time needed to replace any deteriorating structural component (e.g., the bridge deck). A series of 11 push-out tests highlight why the novel structural details of the FBSC result in superior shear load-slip displacement behavior compared to welded shear studs. The paper also quantifies the effects of bolt diameter and bolt preload and presents a design equation to predict the shear resistance of the FBSC.
Precision irrigation applications are used to optimize the use of water resources, by controlling plant water requirements through using different systems according to soil moisture and plant growth periods. In precision irrigation, different rates of irrigation water are applied to different places of the land in comparison with traditional irrigation methods. Thus the cost of irrigation water is reduced. As a result of the fact that precise irrigation can be used and applied in all irrigation systems, it spreads rapidly in all irrigation systems. The purpose of the Precision Agriculture Technology System (precision irrigation) , is to apply the required level of irrigation according to agricultural inputs to the specified location , by us
... Show MoreIt takes a lot of time to classify the banana slices by sweetness level using traditional methods. By assessing the quality of fruits more focus is placed on its sweetness as well as the color since they affect the taste. The reason for sorting banana slices by their sweetness is to estimate the ripeness of bananas using the sweetness and color values of the slices. This classifying system assists in establishing the degree of ripeness of bananas needed for processing and consumption. The purpose of this article is to compare the efficiency of the SVM-linear, SVM-polynomial, and LDA classification of the sweetness of banana slices by their LRV level. The result of the experiment showed that the highest accuracy of 96.66% was achieved by the
... Show MoreA Spectroscopic study has been focused in this article to study one of the main types of active galaxies which are quasars, and to be more precise this research focuses on studying the correlation between the main engine of Quasi-Stellar Objects (QSO), the central black hole mass (SMBH) and other physical properties (e.g. the star formation rate (SFR)). Twelve objects have been randomly selected for “The Half Million Quasars (HMQ) Catalogue” published in 2015 and the data collected from Salon Digital Sky survey (SDSS) Dr. 16. The redshift range of these galaxies were between (0.05 – 0.17). The results show a clear linear proportionality between the SMBH and the SFR, as well as direct proportional between the luminosit
... Show MoreBackground: During Ramadan, Muslims fast throughout daylight hours. There is a direct link between fasting and increasing incidence of infections. Antibiotic usage for treatment of infections should be based on accurate diagnosis, with the correct dose and dosing regimen for the shortest period to avoid bacterial resistance. This study aimed to evaluate the practices of physicians in prescribing suitable antibiotics for fasting patients and the compliance of the patients in using such antibiotics at regular intervals. Materials and methods: An observational study was carried out during the middle 10 days of Ramadan 2014 in two pharmacies at Baghdad. A total of 34 prescriptions (Rx) for adults who suffered from infections were examined. For
... Show MorePraise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and prayers and peace be upon the prophet as a mercy to the worlds and on his family and companions. The phenomenon of suicide is one of the most expanding social phenomena in the world, where many groups of society of different ages try to put an end to their lives, especially young men and girls. The numbers always remain on the rise, and there is no doubt that the one who does this matter, that he has reasons that made him resort to suicide, and despite that, whatever those reasons. However, this is not a justification for the assault on the soul that God has forbidden to infringe on or lead them to perdition, or to what harms them. Modern psychology has tried to explain this phenomenon and try to
... Show MoreResearchers are increasingly using multimodal biometrics to strengthen the security of biometric applications. In this study, a strong multimodal human identification model was developed to address the growing problem of spoofing attacks in biometric security systems. Through the use of metaheuristic optimization methods, such as the Genetic Algorithm(GA), Ant Colony Optimization(ACO), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for feature selection, this unique model incorporates three biometric modalities: face, iris, and fingerprint. Image pre-processing, feature extraction, critical image feature selection, and multibiometric recognition are the four main steps in the workflow of the system. To determine its performance, the model wa
... Show MorePinter's play One for the Road (1984) is considered one of his important plays because
it focuses on political issues, which he has not presented overtly before. Generally speaking,
Pinter's early plays describe man's existential fear of an unnamed danger which might be
represented by an intruder who invades the characters' solitude , threatens their peace, and
brings their hidden fears to the surface. Pinter began to write political plays as a result of his
political attitudes and his involvement in political activities over the last three decades.
Pinter's One for the Road deals with the oppressive and authoritarian operations of
state power. This play and Pinter's political plays which followed it, like Mountain