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 affect the performance-based seismic assessment of buildings are the building height and the characteristics of the earthquake. Despite this, very few studies accounted for the earthquake characteristics and the influence of height on the vulnerability of buildings in Australia. Consequently, the combined effect of building height and the characteristics of the earthquake were investigated in this study. This was achieved through numerical modeling and time-history analyses of three typical two-, four-, and nine-story RC frame buildings in Australia. Moreover, these buildings were subjected to three different types of ground motions which were: short- and long-duration, and near-fault earthquakes. Fragility analysis was then conducted for the three buildings under all the selected earthquake suites. It was noted from the median values of the fragility curves that the four-story and the nine-story RC buildings were 17% and 18% more susceptible to damage in comparison with the two-story building under short-duration earthquakes. Moreover, it was also noted that the median value of the vulnerability increased by 33%, 40%, and 50% for the two-, four-, and nine-story buildings, sequentially, when subjected to near-fault compared to short-duration earthquakes.
Background: Ceramic veneers represent the treatment of choice in minimally invasive esthetic dentistry; one of the critical factors in their long term success is marginal adaptation. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the marginal gap of ceramic veneers by using two different fabrication techniques and two different designs of preparation. Material and methods: A typodont maxillary central incisor used in the preparation from which metal dies were fabricated, which were in turn used to make forty stone dies. The dies divided into four experimental groups, each group had ten samples: A1: prepared with butt-joint incisal reduction and restored with IPS e.max CAD, A2: prepared with overlapped incisal reduction and restored with IPS e.
... Show MoreBackground: The marginal adaptation has a key role in the success and longevity of the fixed dental restoration, which is affected by the impression and the fabrication techniques .The objective of this in vitro study was to evaluate and compare the marginal fitness of lithium disilicate crowns using two different digital impression techniques (direct and indirect techniques) and two different fabrication techniques (CAD/CAM and Press techniques). Materials and Methods: Thirty two sound upper first premolar teeth of comparable size extracted for orthodontic reason were selected in this study .Standardized preparation of all teeth samples were carried out with modified dental surveyor to receive all ceramic crown restoration with 1 mm deep
... Show MoreThis study investigated the structural behavior of a beam–slab member fabricated using a steel C-Purlins beam carrying a profile steel sheet slab covered by a dry board sheet filled with recycled aggregate concrete, called a CBPDS member. This concept was developed to reduce the cost and self-weight of the composite beam–slab system; it replaces the hot-rolled steel I-beam with a steel C-Purlins section, which is easier to fabricate and weighs less. For this purpose, six full-scale CBPDS specimens were tested under four-point static bending. This study investigated the effect of using double C-Purlins beams face-to-face as connected or separated sections and the effect of using concrete material that contains different recycled
... Show MoreThe problem of the research lies in finding aiding means that improve and facilitate learning artistic skills during the main part of a teaching sessions due to their great importance in developing the accuracy of forehand and backhand skills in tennis. Players are usually faced with difficulties at the beginning of learning due to lack of coordination in ball striking thus including a teaching aid will have a positive effect on learning some forehand and backhand skills. The research aimed at designing exercises using teaching aid in tennis as well as identifying the effect of these exercises on the accuracy of performing forehand and backhand shots in tennis. The researcher used the experimental method on (38) tennis players from Al Zewra
... Show MoreThe continuous increase in population has led to the development of underground structures like tunnels to be of great importance due to several reasons. One of these reasons is that tunnels do not affect the living activities on the surface, nor they interfere with the existing traffic network. More importantly, they have a less environmental impact than conventional highways and railways. This paper focuses on using numerical analysis of circular tunnels in terms of their behavior during construction and the deformations that may occur due to overburden and seismic loads imposed on them. In this study, the input data are taken from an existing Cairo metro case study; results were found for the lateral and vertical displacements, the Peak
... Show MoreAn integrated seismic sequence stratigraphy and facies analysis has been carried out with a view to understanding the depositional environment and stratal stacking pattern of Nandy Field of Niger Delta. Well logs and biostratigraphic information were used to identify the lithologies, stratal stacking patterns, stratigraphic surfaces, system tracts and reservoir potentials of the field. Seismic sequence stratigraphy and seismic reflection patterns were used to identify the seismic facies. Facies-related attributes were employed to identify the continuity and amplitude of seismic events. Three seismic facies packages and three reservoir sands were identified. The environments of deposition of the area consist of marginal marine to continen
... Show MoreThe research aims to determine the impact of Human Resources Accounting (HRA) on employee’s performance. The research’s problem was embodied in the lack of interest in HRA, which was reflected on the performance of employees in the Ministry of Education; the research adopted the descriptive-analytical approach, and the research community included the directors of departments and people at the headquarters of the Ministry of Education. The sample size was (224) individuals from the total community of 533. The questionnaire was adopted as the main tool for collecting data and information, as well as the interviews that were conducted by the researcher. In order to analyze t
... Show MoreThe objective of the research is to measure the impact of social responsibility on the financial performance of the National Bank of Iraq for the period from 2014 to 2016 (3 years) through discussing and analyzing the level of practice of the Bank of Baghdad for social responsibility and the impact on their financial performance during the period. To measure the independent variable (CSR), the researcher used the CSR Disclosure Index and relied on the ROA as an indicator to measure the dependent variable (financial performance). The results of the research showed the main hypothesis of the research, which states that the social responsibility of the banks has no significant impact on the financial performance. In relation to the disclosu
... Show MoreThe civil engineering field currently focus on sustainable development. It is important to develop new sustainable and economic generations of concrete, using eco-friendly materials in the construction industry with a fair amount of costs and minimizing the impact upon the environment by reducing CO2 emissions from the cement industry as a whole while still obtaining high cement quality and strength. The main objective of this research is to clarify the mechanical behavior and ability to use Portland limestone cement in producing self compacted concrete, due to the beneficious effec of the limestone cement economically and enviromently. The research investigates the effect of using steel and polymer meshs as reinforcement, where the results
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