Hard-grade asphalt binders like AC20-30 typically exhibit excessive stiffness, reduced penetration, and compromised workability, necessitating modification before use in paving applications. This study evaluates the efficacy of regular polyalphaolefin (PAO), a synthetic olefin-based lubricant, as a performance-enhancing modifying agent for such binders. AC20-30 was blended with PAO at dosages ranging from 2 wt.% to 10 wt.%, and the modified binders were characterized via penetration, ductility, softening point, and rotational viscosity measurements, alongside advanced rheological and chemical-morphological analyses. Incorporating PAO in AC20-30 asphalt progressively reduced the binder stiffness and enhanced its flexibility, with all modifie

I

In this study, optical fibers were designed and implemented as a chemical sensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to estimate the age of the oil used in electrical transformers. The study depends on the refractive indices of the oil. The sensor was created by embedding the center portion of the optical fiber in a resin block, followed by polishing, and tapering to create the optical fiber sensor. The tapering time was 50 min. The multi-mode optical fiber was coated with 60 nm thickness gold metal. The deposition length was 4 cm. The sensor's resonance wavelength was 415 nm. The primary sensor parameters were calculated, including sensitivity (6.25), signal-to-noise ratio (2.38), figure of merit (4.88), and accuracy (3.2)

Nuclear emission rates for nucleon-induced reactions are theoretically calculated based on the one-component exciton model that uses state density with non-Equidistance Spacing Model (non-ESM). Fair comparison is made from different state density values that assumed various degrees of approximation formulae, beside the zeroth-order formula corresponding to the ESM. Calculations were made for 96Mo nucleus subjected to (N,N) reaction at Emax=50 MeV. The results showed that the non-ESM treatment for the state density will significantly improve the emission rates calculated for various exciton configurations. Three terms might suffice a proper calculation, but the results kept changing even for ten terms. However, five terms is found to give

The software-defined network (SDN) is a new technology that separates the control plane from data ‎plane for the network devices. One of the most significant issues in the video ‎surveillance system is the link failure. When the path failure occurs, the monitoring center cannot receive the ‎video from the cameras. In this paper, two methods are proposed to solve this problem.  The first ‎method uses the Dijkstra algorithm to re-find the path at the source node switch. The second method ‎uses the Dijkstra algorithm to re-find the path at the ingress node switch (or failed link).

Water is necessary for sustainable development and healthy society.  Groundwater, often, is not sufficient and protected for direct human consumption. Due to increase in the density of population the requirement of water is increasing.  In this work, the assessment of groundwater quality was conducted in the south-west part of Basrah province. Spatial variations in the quality of groundwater in the study area have been analyzed utilizing GIS technique. The geochemical parameters of groundwater samples including pH, EC, TDS, Ca, Mg, Na, Cl, HCO₃, SO₄, and NO₃ were assessed in this study. Information maps of the study area have been actually prepared to make use of the GIS spatial