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

Recently times, industrial development has increased, including plastic industries, and since plastic has a very long analytical life, it will cause environmental pollution. Therefore studies have resorted to reusing recycled plastic waste (sustainable plastic) to produce environmentally friendly concrete (green concrete). In this research, some studies were reviewed and then summarized into several things, including the percentage of plastic replacement from the aggregate and the effect of this percentage on the fresh properties of concrete, such as the workability and the effect of plastic waste on the hardening properties of concrete such as dry density, compressive, tensile and flexural strength.

Worldwide, enormous amounts of waste cause major environmental issues, including scrap tires and plastic, and large waste, a consequence of the demolition of buildings, including crushed concrete, crushed clay bricks, and crushed thermo-stone. From that point, it’s possible to consider that the recycling processes for these materials and using them in the manufacturing field will reduce the adverse effects on the environment of these wastes and the consumption of natural resources. Sustainable concrete blocks can be considered as one of the products produced by using these materials as partial volume replacement of the coarse, fine aggregate, or cement content, considering their dry density, workability, absorption, co

Abstract Objective: To identify correlation of elevated LDH & CRP levels with the outcomes of COVID-19. Methodology: The cross-sectional retrospective study consisted of 200 COVID-19 patients who presented at a private clinical in Baghdad, Iraq. It was carried out from February 2021 to February 2022. Data included age, gender and clinical presentation. Blood samples were taken for high sensitivity CRP and LDH in the serum. Results: Out of 200 patients, 50 were critical and 150 severe according to clinical features. LDH and CRP showed a significant increase (p=0.000) in critical patients. This group involved admission to the respiratory intensive care unit requiring mechanical ventilation than in patients with severe COVID-19 (760.5±6.3 vs.

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesized using a modified hydrothermal approach at different reaction temperatures and growth times. Moreover, a thorough morphological, structural and optical investigation was demonstrated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), ultra-violate visible light spectroscopy (UV-Vis.), and photoluminescence (PL) techniques. Notably, SEM analysis revealed the occurrence of nanorods-shaped surface morphology with a wide range of length and diameter. Meanwhile, a hexagonal crystal structure of the ZnO nanoparticles was perceived using XRD analysis and crystallite size ranging from 14.7 to 23.8 nm at 7 and 8 ℎ𝑟𝑠., respectively. The prepared ZnO samples showed good abso

ZnO nanostructures were synthesized by hydrothermal method at different temperatures and growth times. The effect of increasing the temperature on structural and optical properties of ZnO were analyzed and discussed. The prepared ZnO nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Vis. absorption spectroscopy (UV–Vis.), Photoluminescence (PL), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In this work, hexagonal crystal structure prepared ZnO nanostructures was observed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and the average crystallite size equal 14.7 and 23.8 nm for samples synthesized at growth time 7 and 8 hours respectively. A nanotubes-shaped surface morphology was found using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The optic

The need for wireless sensing technology has rapidly increased recently, specifically the usage of electromagnetic waves which becoming more required as a source of information. Silicon carbide (SiC) Nano particles has been used in this study, the material under test (MUT) was exposed directly to a microwave field to examine the electromagnetic behavior. The permittivity and permeability were investigated with different filler materials to approach best and optimal electromagnetic absorbing characteristics to assist engineers to monitor structure-based composite for defects evaluation that may occur during operation conditions or through manufacturing process. XRD, FESEM and both complex permittivity and permeability were measured f

Indium Antimonide (InSb) thin films were grown onto well cleaned glass substrates at substrate temperatures (473 K) by flash evaporation. X-ray diffraction studies confirm the polycrystalline of the films and the films show preferential orientation along the (111) plane .The particle size increases with the increase of annealing time .The transmission spectra of prepared samples were found to be in the range (400-5000 cm-1 ) from FTIR study . This indicates that the crystallinity is improved in the films deposited at higher annealing time.