The performance grading system (superpave) has provided means to incorporate binder characteristics with
pavement failure types. It’s a comprehensive system that relates climate, traffic conditions and aging with
critical pavement distress. The objective of this paper is to develop an improved asphalt binder grading
system for Iraq based on the principal of superpave. The country was divided into different zones according
to the highest and lowest temperature ranges and traffic loading. The Performance graded binder proposed
for each zone was compared with some States of USA that have same hot weather of Iraq by using Long
Term Pavement Performance (LTPP v3.1) software. Iraqi asphalt samples were tested using the Supe

Objective. Glass-ionomer and resin-modified glass-ionomer cements are versatile materials with the ability to form a direct bond with tooth tissues. The aim of this study was to formulate a novel class of dental bio-interactive restorative material (pRMGIC) based on resin-modified glass-ionomer cements via the inclusion of an organophosphorus monomer, ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate, with a potential to improve the mechanical properties and also function as a reparative restorative material. Methods. pRMGIC was formulated with modification of the resin phase by forming mixes of ethylene glycol methacrylate phosphate (EGMP; 0–40%wt) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate monomer into the liquid phase of a RMGIC (Fuji II LC, GC Corp.).

This paper proposes a new structure of the hybrid neural controller based on the identification model for nonlinear systems. The goal of this work is to employ the structure of the Modified Elman Neural Network (MENN) model into the NARMA-L2 structure instead of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) model in order to construct a new hybrid neural structure that can be used as an identifier model and a nonlinear controller for the SISO linear or nonlinear systems. Weight parameters of the hybrid neural structure with its serial-parallel configuration are adapted by using the Back propagation learning algorithm. The ability of the proposed hybrid neural structure for nonlinear system has achieved a fast learning with minimum number

The health of Roadway pavement surface is considered as one of the major issues for safe driving. Pavement surface condition is usually referred to micro and macro textures which enhances the friction between the pavement surface and vehicular tires, while it provides a proper drainage for heavy rainfall water. Measurement of the surface texture is not yet standardized, and many different techniques are implemented by various road agencies around the world based on the availability of equipment’s, skilled technicians’ and funds. An attempt has been made in this investigation to model the surface macro texture measured from sand patch method (SPM), and the surface micro texture measured from out flow time (OFT) and British pendul

Water is the basis of the existence of all kinds of life, so obtaining it with good quality represents a challenge to human existence and development especially in the desert and remote cities because these areas contain small populations and water purification requires great materials and huge amounts of fossil fuels resulting pollution of the environment. Cheap and environmentally friendly desalination methods have been done by using solar distillations. Passive solar stills have low yields, so in this research, the problem is overcome by connecting four heat pipes which are installed on the parabolic concentrator reflector with passive solar still to increase the temperature of hot water to more than 90°C, as a resul

Rice is a major staple food for more than two thirds of the world population. Pathogenesis-related proteins-10 (PR10) have a range of 154 to 163 amino acid with molecular weight ~ 17 kDa.  They are acidic and generally intracellular and cytosolic proteins accumulate in plants in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. In the present study, a PR10 gene and its corresponding protein were characterized in O. sativa, O.  barthii, O. glaberrima, O. glumipatula, O. meridionalis, O. nivara, O. rufipogon and  O. punctata. The results revealed a narrow range of variation at both DNA and protein levels in all examined species except O. glumipatula. The latter showed a relatively

This study investigates the characterization and mechanical performance of Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) mixtures modified with two types of polymers: styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) and high-molecular-weight polyethylene (PE). Neat asphalt cement PG 64-16 was modified using a higher content of SBS and PE at concentrations of 6%, 7%, and 8% by weight of asphalt through the dry blending method to produce Highly Modified Asphalts (HiMA). The physical and rheological properties of the modified binders were evaluated using penetration, softening point, rotational viscosity, and dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) tests. Also, their phase compatibility and morphological changes were evaluated using the storage stability testing and scanning electron