In this study, plain concrete simply supported beams subjected to two points loading were analyzed for the flexure. The numerical model of the beam was constructed in the meso-scale representation of concrete as a two phasic material (aggregate, and mortar). The fracture process of the concrete beams under loading was investigated in the laboratory as well as by the numerical models. The Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) was employed for the treatment of the discontinuities that appeared during the fracture process in concrete. Finite element method with the feature standard/explicitlywas utilized for the numerical analysis. Aggregate particles were assumedof elliptic shape. Other properties such as grading and sizes of the aggregate particles were taken from standard laboratory tests that conducted on aggregate samples.Two different concrete beamswere experimentally and numerically investigated. The difference between beams was concentrated in the maximum size of aggregate particles. The comparison between experimental and numerical results showed that themeso-scale model gives a good interface for the representing the concrete models in numerical approach. It was concluded that the XFEM is a powerful technique to use for the analysis of the fracture process and crack propagation in concrete.
Background: Congenital club foot is a complex deformity of foot .It is a collection of different abnormalities, with different etiologies. Consequently, Severity varies with difficulties in evaluating treatment strategies with outcome results. The treatment of congenital club foot remains controversial. Usually, the orthopedist's goal is to obtain anatomically and functionally normal feet in all patients. Objective: To asses short term follow up result of conservatively treated club feet in relation to the age
... Show MoreReliability is an essential measure and important component of all power system planning and operation procedures. It is one of the key design factors when designing complex, critical and expensive systems. This paper presents a fuzzy logic approach for reliability improvement planning purposes. Evaluating the reliability of the complex and large planned Iraqi super grid ;as Al- Khairat generating station with its tie set is intended to be compact to that grid; and determination of the given reliability improvement project are the major goals of the paper. Results show that the Iraqi super grid reliability is improved by 9.64%. In the proposed technique, fuzzy set theory is used to include imprecise indices of different components in normal
... Show MoreSentiment analysis refers to the task of identifying polarity of positive and negative for particular text that yield an opinion. Arabic language has been expanded dramatically in the last decade especially with the emergence of social websites (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, etc.). Several studies addressed sentiment analysis for Arabic language using various techniques. The most efficient techniques according to the literature were the machine learning due to their capabilities to build a training model. Yet, there is still issues facing the Arabic sentiment analysis using machine learning techniques. Such issues are related to employing robust features that have the ability to discrimina
... Show MoreThe purpose of this work is to concurrently estimate the UVvisible spectra of binary combinations of piroxicam and mefenamic acid using the chemometric approach. To create the model, spectral data from 73 samples (with wavelengths between 200 and 400 nm) were employed. A two-layer artificial neural network model was created, with two neurons in the output layer and fourteen neurons in the hidden layer. The model was trained to simulate the concentrations and spectra of piroxicam and mefenamic acid. For piroxicam and mefenamic acid, respectively, the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm with feed-forward back-propagation learning produced root mean square errors of prediction of 0.1679 μg/mL and 0.1154 μg/mL, with coefficients of determination of
... Show MoreThis study introduced the effect of using magnetic abrasive finishing method (MAF) for finishing flat surfaces. The results of experiment allow considering the MAF method as a perspective for finishing flat surfaces, forming optimum physical mechanical properties of surfaces layer, removing the defective layers and decreasing the height of micro irregularities. Study the characteristics which permit judgment parameters of surface quality after MAF method then comparative with grinding
In high-dimensional semiparametric regression, balancing accuracy and interpretability often requires combining dimension reduction with variable selection. This study intro- duces two novel methods for dimension reduction in additive partial linear models: (i) minimum average variance estimation (MAVE) combined with the adaptive least abso- lute shrinkage and selection operator (MAVE-ALASSO) and (ii) MAVE with smoothly clipped absolute deviation (MAVE-SCAD). These methods leverage the flexibility of MAVE for sufficient dimension reduction while incorporating adaptive penalties to en- sure sparse and interpretable models. The performance of both methods is evaluated through simulations using the mean squared error and variable selection cri
... Show MorePurpose: To determine the impact of service encounter in stimulating voluntary customer behaviors.
- Approach / methodology: It was selected a sample of customers Bank Iraqi Trade (TBI) was (105) individual, using a questionnaire designed in the light of previous studies, was drafted scale and tested in the light of a group of statistical methods developed (reliability coefficient, reliability coefficient composite, convergence). Then test hypotheses through structural equation modeling.
- Results: The behaviors and characteristics of the service provider in effect urged bank customers to perform voluntary extra, as the service environment service encounter
The child spends several hours watching animated films, which affect their behavior negatively and positively. This calls parents to monitor what their children are watching, to show them the serious risks of some violent films, and to direct them toward choosing both positive and educational programs that develop their positive behavior. This study aimed to explore the positive and negative effects of watching animation films as well as to identify the role animation films in increasing the cognitive knowledge of kindergarteners. To do this, the descriptive and analytical methods were used. A questionnaire was adopted as a tool for data collection. A scale of (45) items classified into three categories was applied on the r
... Show More