The Iraqi marshes are considered the most extensive wetland ecosystem in the Middle East and are located in the middle and lower basin of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers which create a wetlands network and comprise some shallow freshwater lakes that seasonally swamped floodplains. Al-Hawizeh marsh is a major marsh located east of Tigris River south of Iraq. This study aims to assess water quality through water quality index (WQI) and predict Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentrations in Al-Hawizeh marsh based on artificial neural network (ANN). Results showed that the WQI was more than 300 for years 2013 and 2014 (Water is unsuitable for drinking) and decreased within the range 200-300 in years 2015 and 2016 (Very poor water). The developed ANN mode gave a high correlation coefficient reaching 0.927 for the prediction of TDS from the model and showed high levels of TDS in Al-Hawizeh marsh that pose threats to people using the marsh for drinking and other uses. The dissolved Oxygen concentration has the highest importance of 100% in the model because the water of the marsh is fresh water, while Turbidity had the lowest importance.
The placement of buildings and structures on/or adjacent to slopes is possible, but this poses a danger to the structure due to failures that occur in slopes. Therefore, a solution or improvement should be determined for these issues of the collapse of the structure as a result of the failure of the slopes. A laboratory model has been built to test the impact of some variables on the bearing capacity factor. The variables include the magnitude of static axial load applied at the center of footing, the depth of embedment, the spacing between geogrid reinforcement layer and the numbering of the geogrid sheet under the footing, the inclination angle of slope clayey soil (β), the spacing between the footing's edge and the slope's end (b/H). Th
... Show MoreRecently, a new secure steganography algorithm has been proposed, namely, the secure Block Permutation Image Steganography (BPIS) algorithm. The new algorithm consists of five main steps, these are: convert the secret message to a binary sequence, divide the binary sequence into blocks, permute each block using a key-based randomly generated permutation, concatenate the permuted blocks forming a permuted binary sequence, and then utilize a plane-based Least-Significant-Bit (LSB) approach to embed the permuted binary sequence into BMP image file format. The performance of algorithm was given a preliminary evaluation through estimating the PSNR (Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio) of the stego image for limited number of experiments comprised hiding
... Show MoreTwo of the main advantages of segmental construction are economics, as well as the rapid construction technique. One of the forms of segmental construction, for structural elements, is the segmental beams that built-in short sections, which referred to segments. This research aims to exhibit a new technique for the fabrication of short-span segmental beams from wedge-shaped concrete segments and carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) in laminate form. The experimental campaign included eight short-span segmental beams. In this study, two selected parameters were considered. These parameters are; the number of layers of CFRP laminates and the adhesive material that used to bond segments to each other, forming short-span segmental be
... Show MoreThe main objective of this study is to introduce a systematic design procedure for short-span segmental beams following a sophisticated ACI 440.2R-17 design procedure. The general aspects of innovative short-span segmental beams are easy to fabricate, economical and rapidly placed in pre-specified positions. Short-span segmental beams fabricated from individual precast plain-concrete blocks and CFRP plates. Recently, experimental tests performed on short-span segmental beams, by the authors, investigated CFRP plate-bonding, CFRP plate cross-sectional area, the thickness of plate-bonding epoxy resin, surface-to-surface condition of concrete blocks, as well as, interface condition of the bonding surface. The experimental program comprises tes
... Show MoreThe aesthetic contents of data visualization is one of the contemporary areas through which data scientists and designers have been able to link data to humans, and even after reaching successful attempts to model data visualization, it wasn't clear how that reveals how it contributed to choosing the aesthetic content as an input to humanize these models, so the goal of the current research is to use The analytical descriptive approach aims to identify the aesthetic contents in data visualization, which the researchers interpreted through pragmatic philosophy and Kantian philosophy, and analyze a sample of data visualization models to reveal the aesthetic entrances in them to explain how to humanize them. The two researchers reached seve
... Show MoreThis paper presents a study (experimentally) for strengthening reinforced concrete (RC) beams with Near-Surface-Mounted (NSM) technique. The use of this technique with CFRP strips or rebars is an efficient technology for increasing the strength for flexure and shear or for repairing damaged reinforced concrete (RC) members. The objective of this research is to study, experimentally, RC beams either repaired or strengthened with NSM CFRP strips and follow their flexural behavior and failure modes. NSM-CFRP strips were used to strengthen three RC beam specimens, one of them was initially strengthened and tested up to failure. Four beam specimens have been initially subjected to preloading to 50% and 80% of ultimate load. Two of the sp
... Show More