Steel–concrete–steel (SCS) structural systems have economic and structural advantages over traditional reinforced concrete; thus, they have been widely used. The performance of concrete made from recycled rubber aggregate from scrap tires has been evaluated since the early 1990s. The use of rubberized concrete in structural construction remains necessary because of its high impact resistance, increases ductility, and produces a lightweight concrete; therefore, it adds such important properties to SCS members. In this research, the use of different concrete core materials in SCS was examined. Twelve SCS specimens were subjected to push-out monotonic loading for inspecting their mechanical performance. One specimen was constructed from co

This research investigates the pre- and post-cracking resistance of steel fiber-reinforced concrete specimens with Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) bars subjected to flexural loading. The purpose is to modify the ductility and cracking resistance of GFRP-reinforced beams, which are prone to early cracking and excessive deflections instigated by the low modulus of elasticity of GFRP. Six self-compacting concrete specimens (1500×240×200 mm), incorporating steel fibers of two lengths (25 mm and 40 mm) with varying distribution depths, were tested to assess their structural performance. The results indicate significant enhancements in cracking resistance, stiffness, energy absorption, ductility, and flexural strength. Tested beam

The increasing drinking water demand in many countries leads to an increase in the use of desalination plants, which are considered a great solution for water treatment processes. Reverse osmosis (RO) and electro-dialysis (ED) systems are the most popular membrane processes used to desalinate water at high salinity. Both systems work by separating the ionic contaminates and disposing of them as a brine solution, but ED uses electrical current as a driving force while RO uses osmotic pressure. A direct comparison of reverse osmosis and electro-dialysis systems is needed to highlight process development similarities and variances. This work aims to provide an overview of previous studies on reverse osmosis and electro-dial

In solar-thermal adsorption/desorption processes, it is not always possible to preserve equal operating times for the adsorption/desorption modes due to the fluctuating supply nature of the source which largely affects the system’s operating conditions. This paper seeks to examine the impact of adopting unequal adsorption/desorption times on the entire cooling performance of solar adsorption systems. A cooling system with silica gel–water as adsorbent-adsorbate pair has been built and tested under the climatic condition of Iraq. A mathematical model has been established to predict the system performance, and the results are successfully validated via the experimental findings. The results show that, the system can be operational

The Gram-negative bacillus Serratia marcescens (S. marcescens) belongs to the Enterobacteriaceae family. S. marcescens was once thought to be a nonpathogenic saprophytic organism that appeared on decomposing organic matter, animals, plants, and foods, water, and soil. However, it has evolved into an opportunist pathogen that causes nosocomial infections, where it is linked to a variety of hospital-acquired infections, including conjunctivitis, septicemia, wound, and eye infections, pneumonia, meningitis, osteomyelitis, and endocarditis, in addition to respiratory tract and urinary tract infections (UTI). Chitinase, protease, nuclease, lipase, and hemolysin are among the products released by S. marcescens strains, and many of these c

A new carbonyl complexes of triazole and oxadiazole were synthesized. These complexes were identified and their structural geometric were suggested by using FT-IR and UV-Vis spectra, conductivity measurements and other chemical and physical properties. The spectra data (FT-IR, UV, Vis.) with the substantial aid of group theoretical calculations gave so many evidences for the proposed geometries and the type of bonding of these compounds

The compounds 3-[4̄-(4˭-methoxybenzoyloxy) benzylideneamino]-2-thioxo-imidazolidine-4-one(3)aand 4-(1-(5-oxo- 2-thioxoimidazolidin-1-ylimino)ethyl)phenyl acetate(3)b were prepared from the reaction of aromatic aldehyde or ketone(1)a,bwith thiosemicarbazide to give aryl thiosemicarbazones(2)a,b ,followed by cyclization with ethylchloroacetate in the presence of fused sodium acetate. Treatment the compounds(3)a,bwith 4- hydroxybenzenediazoniumchloride yielded the correspondings4-((4-((4-hydroxyphenyl)diazenyl)-5-oxo-2- thioxoimidazolidin-1-ylimino)methyl)phenyl 4-methoxybenzoate(4)aand4-(1-(4-((4-hydroxyphenyl)diazenyl)-5-oxo-2- thioxoimidazolidin-1-ylimino)ethyl)phenyl acetate(4)b.The new 2-thioxo-imidazolidin-4-one with esters (5-7)a,b sy

In this paper, variable gain nonlinear PD and PI fuzzy logic controllers are designed and the effect of the variable gain characteristic of these controllers is analyzed to show its contribution in enhancing the performance of the closed loop system over a conventional linear PID controller. Simulation results and time domain performance characteristics show how these fuzzy controllers outperform the conventional PID controller when used to control a nonlinear plant and a plant that has time delay.

In this work, the fusion cross section ,  fusion barrier distribution  and the probability of fusion  have been investigated by coupled channel method  for the systems ⁴⁶Ti+⁶⁴Ni, ⁴⁰Ca+¹⁹⁴Pt and ⁴⁰Ar+¹⁴⁸Sm with semi-classical and quantum mechanical approach using SCF and CCFULL Fortran codes respectively. The results for these calculations are compared with available experimental data. The results show that the quantum calculations agree better with experimental data, especially bellow the Coulomb barrier, for the studied systems while above this barrier, the two codes reproduce the data.