A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel‐concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high‐strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (i) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (ii) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (iii) steel beams can be replaced, while precast decks and shear connectors can be reused. A series of push‐out tests are conducted to assess the behavior of the connector and quantify the effect of important parameters. The experimental results show shear resistance, stiffness, and slip capacity significantly higher than those of welded shear studs along with superior stiffness and strength against slab uplift. Identical tests reveal negligible scatter in the shear load – slip displacement behavior. A design equation is proposed to predict the shear resistance with absolute error less than 8%.
Background: Pit and fissure sealant have been considered an outstanding adjunct to oral health care in the decrease of occlusal caries onset and low progression. The aims of this in vitro study were to evaluate the marginal microleakage of three different types of fissure sealants (SDI, Tg and tetric N-flow) by time interval, one day and 45 days, in the presence or absence of bonding agent among maxillary and mandibular teeth. Materials and methods: Seventy two sound human maxillary and mandibular first premolar teeth were collected which were free from obvious carious lesions. The teeth were randomly divided into two main equal groups, group (1) and group (2), each group consists of (36) teeth involving equal numbers of maxillary and mandi
... Show MoreThe Maxwell equations have been formulated for a composite slab waveguide at x-band wave propagation. The eigenvalues of the system equations are obtained by using MATLAB program. These eigenvalues are used to obtain the wave propagation constant and a number of modes inside the slabs. A good correspondence was seen between the number of modes and the cut off thickness. The parameter that affects the performance of waveguide is the slab thickness. The propagation constant is usually adopted to characterize this type of waveguide and show how the cutoff frequency of the mode in the slab is increased dramatically by decreasing the frequency.
Our study focused on lower modes, the results for the transmission coefficient are then used to
The distress of moisture induced damage in flexible pavement received tremendous attention over the past decades. The harmful effects of this distress expand the deterioration of other known distresses such as rutting and fatigue cracking. This paper focused on the efficiency of using the waste material of demolished concrete to prepare asphalt mixtures that can withstand the effect of moisture in the pavement. For this purpose, different percentages of waste demolished concrete (0, 10, 20, 30, 50, 70 and 100) were embedded as a replacement for coarse aggregate to construct the base course. The optimum asphalt contents were determined depending on the Marshall method. Then after, two parameters were founded to evaluate the moisture
... Show MoreThe advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), within the previous decades, has significantly changed people’s transmit or store their information over the Internet or networks. So, one of the main challenges is to keep these information safe against attacks. Many researchers and institutions realized the importance and benefits of cryptography in achieving the efficiency and effectiveness of various aspects of secure communication.This work adopts a novel technique for secure data cryptosystem based on chaos theory. The proposed algorithm generate 2-Dimensional key matrix having the same dimensions of the original image that includes random numbers obtained from the 1-Dimensional logistic chaotic map for given con
... Show MoreAfamin, which is a human plasma glycoprotein, a putative multifunctional transporter of hydrophobic molecules and a marker for metabolic syndrome. Afamin concentration have been proposed to have a significant role as a predictor of metabolic disorders. Since NAFLD is associated with metabolic risk factors, e.g., dyslipidemia, insulin resistance and visceral obesity, it is considered as the hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome. The objective of this study is to determine Afamin levels in hypothyroid patients with and without fatty liver disease and compare the results with controls. Also to study the relationship of Afamin level with the Anthropometric and Clinical Features (Age, Gender, BMI and Duration of Hypothyroidism) , Serum
... Show MoreBackground: With the increase in composite material use in posterior teeth, the concerns about the polymerization shrinkage has increased with the concerns about the formation of marginal gaps in the oral cavity environment. New generation of adhesives called universal adhesive have been introduced to the market in order to reduce the technique sensitive bonding procedures to give the advantage of using the bonding system in any etching protocol without compromising the bonding strength. The aim of the study was to study marginal adaptation of two universal adhesives (Single bondâ„¢ Universal and Prime and Bond elect) using 3 etching techniques under thermal cycling aging. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight sound maxillary first premola
... Show MoreThe antidiabetic thiozolidinediones (TZDs) a class of peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor (PPAR) ligands has recently been the focus of much interest for their possible role in regulation of inflammatory response. The present study was designed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of pioglitazone in experimental models of inflammation in rats. The present study was conducted to evaluate the anti inflammatory effect of TZDs (pioglitazone 3mg/Kg) on acute, sub acute and chronic model of inflammation by using egg-albumin and formalin–induced paw edema in 72 rats, relative to reference drugs Dexamethasone 5mg/Kg and Piroxicam 5mg/Kg. In each inflammation model, 24 rats wer
... Show MoreA new human-based heuristic optimization method, named the Snooker-Based Optimization Algorithm (SBOA), is introduced in this study. The inspiration for this method is drawn from the traits of sales elites—those qualities every salesperson aspires to possess. Typically, salespersons strive to enhance their skills through autonomous learning or by seeking guidance from others. Furthermore, they engage in regular communication with customers to gain approval for their products or services. Building upon this concept, SBOA aims to find the optimal solution within a given search space, traversing all positions to obtain all possible values. To assesses the feasibility and effectiveness of SBOA in comparison to other algorithms, we conducte
... Show MoreTodays, World is faced an energy crisis because of a continuous increasing the consumption of fuels due to intension demand for all types of vehicles. This study is one of the efforts dealing with reduce the weight of vehicles by using a new material of sandwich steel, which consists of two skin steel sheets with core of a polymer material. Resistance spot welding (RSW) can be easily implemented on metals; however a cupper shunt tool was designed to perform the resistance welding of sandwich steel with DP800 cover sheets to resolve a non-conductivity problem of a polymer core. Numerical simulations with SORPAS®3D were employed to test the weldability of this new material and supported by many practical experiments. In conclus
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