The conception and experimental assessment of a removable friction-based shear connector (FBSC) for precast steel-concrete composite bridges is presented. The FBSC uses pre-tensioned high-strength steel bolts that pass through countersunk holes drilled on the top flange of the steel beam. Pre-tensioning of the bolts provides the FBSC with significant frictional resistance that essentially prevents relative slip displacement of the concrete slab with respect to the steel beam under service loading. The countersunk holes are grouted to prevent sudden slip of the FBSC when friction resistance is exceeded. Moreover, the FBSC promotes accelerated bridge construction by fully exploiting prefabrication, does not raise issues relevant to precast co

Zirconia ceramic restoration (ZCR) has a higher fracture incidence rate than metal ceramic restoration. Different surface treatments were used to improve fracture performance of ZCR such as grit blasting (GB) by aluminium oxide powder. This type of surface treatment generate residual stresses on veneering ceramic causing crack initiation and ending with a fracture. In order to overcome the stress generated by GB, zirconia surface coating is used as a surface treatment to improve fracture resistance and to accommodate stresses along the ZCR layers. Fifty zirconia ceramic crowns were fabricated and divided according to the type of surface treatment into three groups; the first group is (ZG), involving 20 cores were coated with a mixture of pa

   Molecular barcoding was widely recognized as a powerful tool for the identification of organisms during the past decade; the aim of this study is to use the molecular approach to identify the diatoms by using the environmental DNA. The diatom specimens were taken from Tigris River. The environmental DNA(e DNA) extraction and analysis of sequences using the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) method showed the highest percentage of epipelic diatom genera including Achnanthidium minutissimum (Kützing) Czarnecki, 1994 (21.1%), Cocconeis placentula Ehrenberg, 1838 (21.3%) and Nitzschia palea (Kützing) W. Smith, 1856 (16.3%).

   Five species of diatoms: Achnanthidiu

Drought is a natural phenomenon in many arid, semi-arid, or wet regions. This showed that no region worldwide is excluded from the occurrence of drought. Extreme droughts were caused by global weather warming and climate change. Therefore, it is essential to review the studies conducted on drought to use the recommendations made by the researchers on drought.  The drought was classified into meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and economic-social. In addition, researchers described the severity of the drought by using various indices which required different input data.  The indices used by various researchers were the Joint Deficit Index (JDI), Effective Drought Index (EDI), Streamflow Drought Index (SDI), Sta

In this work, some mechanical properties of the polymer coating were improved by preparing a hybrid system containing Graphene (GR) of different weight percentages (0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2wt%) with 5wt% carbon fibres (CF) and added to a polymer coating by using casting method. The properties were improved as GR was added with further improvement on adding 5wt% of CF. The impact strength of acrylic polymer with GR increases with increasing weight ratio‏‏ of GR; maximum value was obtained when the polymer coating was incorporated with 1wt% GR and 5wt% CF. The impact strength of acrylic polymer with GR and GR/CF composites incorporated with GR at 1wt% and CF at 5wt%. Hardness increase with increasing weight ratio of Gr and a significant imp

Carbonized nonwoven nanofibers composite were fabricated using the electrospinning method of a polymeric solution composite followed by heat treatment including stabilization and calcination steps. The spun polymeric solution was a binary polymer mixture/organic solvent. In this study, two types of polymers (Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and Polyethylene glycol (PEG)) were used separately as a copolymer with the base polymer (Polyacrylonitrile (PAN)) to prepare a binary polymer mixture in a mixing ratio of 50:50. The prepared precursor solutions were used to prepare the precursor nanofibers composite (PAN: PMMA) and (PAN: PEG).  The fabricated precursors nonwoven fibers composite were stabilized and carbonized to produce carbon nonw

The effects of shot peening treatment (SPT) were studied at (10,20, and 30) minutes on the rotating bending fatigue behavior and the behavior of the alloy steel DIN 41Cr4 vibrations. The hardness test, tensile test, constant amplitude fatigue tests, and the vibration measurements were performed on samples with and without cracks at room temperature (RT), also, the fracture surface was examined and analyzed by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results of the investigations, for example, Stress to Number of cycles to failure (S-N) curves, fatigue strength improvement factor of 5% to 10%, the decreasing percentage of maximum Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) acceleration of the shot-peened condition were compared to untr

The present investigation aims to study the effect of heat treatment by quenching in different quenching media (salt water, water and oil) following by tempering on wear resistance of EN25 steel. EN25 steel is an alloy of medium carbon low alloy steel which is used for many applications requiring high tensile strength and wear resistance such as connecting rods, adapters and in power sectors extensively. The specimens are machined to 20 mm in length and 10 mm in diameter. This study is done by two stages: The first stage is done by austenitizing EN25 steel to 850  for 1 hr by quenching the specimens in three different quenching media and then tempered at 300   in air. While the second stage is performed by wear

The inhibitor property of curcuma longa L. extract in different concentrations of simulated refinery wastewater (0.05% - 2% wt) and at various temperatures (30, 35 and 40 ˚C) was investigated using weight loss method. The results showed that the presence of about 1.2 % (v/v) of curcuma extract gave about 84% inhibition indicating its effectiveness on mild steel corrosion in simulated refinery wastewater, besides the adsorption process on the mild steal surface obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm.