The Moisture damage is considered as one of the main challenge for the experts in the field of asphalt pavement design. The aims of the present study is to modify moisture resistance of the asphalt concrete by utilizing ceramic fibers as a type of reinforcement incorporated with hydrated lime. For this purpose, a penetration grade of the asphalt cement (40-50) was utilized as a binder with an aggregate of the maximum nominal size of 12.5mm and mineral filler limestone dust. A series of specimens has been fabricated by utilizing 0.50, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 percentages of ceramic fibers. For each of these contents, another subsequent group of specimens with hydrated lime with 0.0, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 percentages were moulded. For the addition of ceramic fiber and hydrated lime to the mixtures the dry method for ceramic fiber was adopted while for the hydrated lime, the saturated surface dry method was adopted. The results of this study have shown that the addition of 1% ceramic fiber with 1.5% hydrated lime recorded the highest levels of growth. Furthermore, the outputs of the tests used in this study have shown that the use of ceramic fibers resulted in a growth in the value of tensile strength ratio (TSR) and in the index of retained strength (IRS) compared with the control mixture. Maximum values for TSR were achieved at 1% ceramic fibers with 1.5 % hydrated lime.
The consumption of dried bananas has increased because they contain essential nutrients. In order to preserve bananas for a longer period, a drying process is carried out, which makes them a light snack that does not spoil quickly. On the other hand, machine learning algorithms can be used to predict the sweetness of dried bananas. The article aimed to study the effect of different drying times (6, 8, and 10 hours) using an air dryer on some physical and chemical characteristics of bananas, including CIE-L*a*b, water content, carbohydrates, and sweetness. Also predicting the sweetness of dried bananas based on the CIE-L*a*b ratios using machine learn- ing algorithms RF, SVM, LDA, KNN, and CART. The results showed that increasing the drying
... Show MoreMammals are under threat worldwide due to deforestation, hunting, and other human activities. In Iraq, a total of 93 species of wild mammals have been recorded including species with global conservation concern. Bamo Mountain is situated within the Zagros Mountains in northern Iraq which is a suitable habitat for wild mammals. Due to scarcity of the field survey efforts and cryptic behavior, monitoring of the wild mammals fauna in Zagros Mountain seems challenging. Therefore, we used a camera trap which seems to be an ideal way to determine species diversity of wild mammals in Bamo Mountain. Moreover, interviews with local villagers were performed. The mammalian diversity of Bamo Mountain is not fully explored but seemed threatened by lo
... Show MoreIn this study, doped thin cadmium peroxide films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition with different doping concentrations of aluminium of 0.0, 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 wt.% for CdO2(1-X)Al(X) and thicknesses in the range of 200 nm. XRD patterns suggest the presence of cubic CdO2 and the texture factor confirms that the (111) plane was the preferential growth plane, where the texture factor and the grain size decreased from 2.02 to 9.75 nm, respectively, in the pure sample to 1.88 and 5.65 nm, respectively, at a concentration of 0.5 wt%. For the predominant growth plane, the deviation of the diffraction angle Δθ and interplanar distance Δd from the standard magnitudes was 2.774° and 0.318 Å, respectively, for the pure sample decreased to
... Show MoreDiarrhea is a real disease in childhood which could cause death. Therefore, this study was conducted to isolate Salmonella from 350 stool samples taken from children under five years in age, suffering from diarrhea during the period from March 2019 to March 2020 in Tikrit city / Iraq. The results showed the possibility to isolate ten isolates of Salmonella enterica subsp. Enterica, an infection rate, represents 2.875% of the total rate of patients who suffer from diarrhea. The virulence genes were investigated for ten isolates of S. enterica subsp. enterica, the result is that all isolates possessed the genes stn, invA, lpfA with an appearance percentage of 100%, whi
... Show MoreThe Cu2SiO3 composite has been prepared from the binary compounds (Cu2O, and SiO2) with high purity by solid state reaction. The Cu2SiO3 thin films were deposited at room temperature on glass and Si substrates with thickness 400 nm by pulsed laser deposition method. X-ray analysis showed that the powder of Cu2SiO3 has a polycrystalline structure with monoclinic phase and preferred orientation along (111) direction at 2θ around 38.670o which related to CuO phase. While as deposited and annealed Cu2SiO3 films have amorphous structure. The morphological study revealed that the grains have granular and elliptical shape, with average diameter of 163.63 nm. The electrical properties which represent Hall effect were investigated. Hall coeffici
... Show MoreThis study investigated the outcome of Alstonia boonei stem bark on liver enzymes after inducing the Wistar albino rats with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). This effect of plant extract was compared with silymarin – a drug commonly used for the treatment of chronic hepatocyte disorder. The plant sample was extracted with ethanol; acute toxicity study of the extract was performed on eighteen Wistar mice, while 30 rats were sacrificed for liver enzymes assay. The rats were divided into six clusters: each cluster has five rats, culster 1 served as control and was given 2 mL/kg b.w - distilled water; clusters 2 – 6 were CCl4 induced. Cluster 2 was untreated but served as the negative control while cluster 3 wa
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