This study deals with the serviceability of reinforced concrete solid and perforated rafters with openings of different shapes and sizes based on an experimental study that includes 12 post-fire non-prismatic reinforced concrete beams (solid and perforated). Three groups were formed based on heating temperature (room temperature, 400 °C, and 700 °C), each group consisting of four rafters (solid, rafters with 6 and 8 trapezoidal openings, and rafter with eight circular openings) under static loading. A developed unified calculation technique for deflection and crack widths under static loading at the service stage has been provided, which comprises non-prismatic beams with or without opening exposed to flexure concentra

Premature failure in asphalt concrete pavement has been the main concern for pavement construction companies and engineers in recent years because of the large rise in traffic volume and loads and the temperature extremes in the summer and winter. The use of modifiers in asphalt concrete mixtures has attracted much attention to increase the performance and lifespan of pavements. As nanotechnology developed, several researchers concentrated on how these materials can help increase pavement serviceability by minimizing rutting and moisture damage. This study evaluates the Hydrated Lime (HL) effect by two methods (wet and dry hydrated lime) on the durability of the warm mix asphalt. The first method, HL, has been supplemented to the as

In this research is to study the influence of the aging heat treatment on the pitting corrosion resistance of martensitic stainless steel (MSS), where a number of specimens from martensitic stainless steel were subjected to solution treatment at 1100 ^oC for one hour followed by water quenching then aging in the temperatures range (500-750) ^oC for different holding times (1,5,10,15&20) hr. Accelerated chemical corrosion test and immersion chemical corrosion test were performed on samples after heat treatment. The results of the research showed that the pitting corrosion resistance is significantly affected by the aging temperature. Where found that the aging samples at a temperature of 500 °C have the highest ra

Background: Ultrasound is a valuable tool for evaluating fetal problems throughout pregnancy. Amniotic fluid anomalies have been associated with unfavorable maternal, fetal, and obstetrical outcomes. Objective: To determine the effect of echogenic amniotic fluid during term pregnancy on the presence of meconium stain liquor and pregnancy outcome. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1080 term pregnant women who visited Al-Elwiya Maternity Teaching Hospital from May 1st, 2021, to May 1st, 2023. Ultrasound was used to analyze echogenic amniotic fluid and turbid liquor. The liquor state was tested either after an artificial membrane rupture in the vaginal delivery trial or during a cesarean section. Results: Echogenic amni

 A mixture model is used to model data that come from more than one component. In recent years, it became an effective tool in drawing inferences about the complex data that we might come across in real life. Moreover, it can represent a tremendous confirmatory tool in classification observations based on similarities amongst them. In this paper, several mixture regression-based methods were conducted under the assumption that the data come from a finite number of components. A comparison of these methods has been made according to their results in estimating component parameters. Also, observation membership has been inferred and assessed for these methods. The results showed that the flexible mixture model outperformed the

In his masterpiece ’The Prophet’, Kahlil Gibran presents his unwavering faith and passionate belief in the healing power of universal love that brings humans to sublime ideas and elevates their souls and behavior. The current study aims to find out the stylistic devices utilized to represent the concept of love based on the hypothesis that Gibran tends to use certain stylistic effects to convey his meaning. The study adopts Leech and Short’s (2007) framework of stylistic analysis to analyze the lexical items and figures of speech in selected extracts from the book. The findings reveal that Gibran prefers concrete nouns, dynamic verbs, and physical adjectives over abstract nouns, stative verbs, and psychological adjectives to s

Abstract:

   The problem of poverty is one of the most important development challenges facing developing countries including Sudan for several decades. Although many efforts have been made to reduce poverty, however, its rates are increasing, and public policies adopted by the government in this regard remain elusive in achievinging its main objectives or making any significant progress. The purpose of the present study is to analyse poverty in Sudan by identifying its measurement, causes and the factors that have contributed to the increasing poverty rates over the past two decades. Also this study aims at investigating the interim poverty reduction strategy in Sudan as well as evaluates that strategy throug

Background: Adjustment of any premature occlusal contact of any zirconia restoration requires its polishing or glazing in order to restore the smoothness of the restoration. The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effects of different polishing systems and glazing on the surface roughness of full-contour zirconia. Material and methods: Forty disks (diameter: 8 mm, thickness: 6.4 mm) were prepared from pre-sintered full-contoured zirconia block; they were colored and sintered in a high-temperature furnace at 1500ËšC for 8 hours. The specimens were then leveled and finished using grinding and polishing machine and adjusted using diamond disk. The specimens were then randomly divided into four groups (n=10), group I involves

The purpose of this study is designate quenching and tempering heat treatment by using Taguchi technique to determine optimal factors of heat treatment (austenitizing temperature, percentage of nanoparticles, type of base media, nanoparticles type and soaking time) for increasing hardness, wear rate and impact energy properties of 420 martensitic stainless steel. An (L₁₈) orthogonal array was chosen for the design of experiment. The optimum process parameters were determined by using signal-to-noise ratio (larger is better) criterion for hardness and impact energy while (Smaller is better) criterion was for the wear rate. The importance levels of process parameters that effect on hardness, wear rate and impact energy propertie

The family Chalcididae (Order: Hymenoptera) is known as one of the large chalcidoid wasps with some distinct morphological characters. The first occurrence of two parasitoid species belonging to this family was reported in the Al-Husayniya district Karbala Province, Iraq; which are: Brachymeria podagrica (Fabricius, 1787) and Chalcis myrifex (Sulzer, 1776). Both species were collected by using the sweeping net from orchards during July 2020.