Globally, Sustainability is very quickly becoming a fundamental requirement of the construction industry as it delivers its projects; whether buildings or infrastructures. Throughout more than two decades, many modeling schemes, evaluation tools, and rating systems have been introduced en route to realizing sustainable construction. Many of these, however, lack consensus on evaluation criteria, a robust scientific model that captures the logic behind their sustainability performance evaluation, and therefore experience discrepancies between rated results and actual performance. Moreover, very few of the evaluation tools available satisfactorily address infrastructure projects. The research introduces a system engineering model that abstracts the environment, the construction product, and its production system as three interacting systems that exchange materials, energy, and information. The model utilizes this setup to capture and quantify essential flows exchanged between such three systems, to evaluate sustainability. The research walks through the development of a generic case of the model, and then demonstrates its utility in evaluating the sustainability performance of civil infrastructure projects. The developed model will address an identified gap within the current body of knowledge by considering infrastructure projects. Through the ability to simulate different scenarios, the model will enable identifying which activities, products, and processes impact the environment more, and hence potential areas for optimization and improvement.
Simple and sensitive kinetic methods are developed for the determination of Paracetamol in pure form and in pharmaceutical preparations. The methods are based on direct reaction (oxidative-coupling reaction) of Paracetamol with o-cresol in the presence of sodium periodate in alkaline medium, to form an intense blue-water-soluble dye that is stable at room temperature, and was followed spectrophotometriclly at λmax= 612 nm. The reaction was studied kinetically by Initial rate and fixed time (at 25 minutes) methods, and the optimization of conditions were fixed. The calibration graphs for drug determination were linear in the concentration ranges (1-7 μg.ml-1) for the initial rate and (1-10 μg.ml-1) for the fixed time methods at 25 min.
... Show MoreThis paper proposes a new approach to model and analyze erect posture, based on a spherical inverted pendulum which is used to mimic the body posture. The pendulum oscillates in two directions, [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], from which the mathematical model was derived and two torque components in oscillation directions were introduced. They are estimated using stabilometric data acquired by a foot pressure mapping system. The model was quantitatively investigated using data from 19 participants, who were first were classified into three groups, according to the foot arch-index. Stabilometric data were then collected and fed into the model to estimate the torque’s components. The components were statistically proce
... Show Moreon the subject of the provisions of recitation among students of the Islamic Sciences Colleges).
The researchers adopted the experimental method and chose an experimental design for the two equivalent groups by post-test. The research sample consisted of (60) male and female students from (second stage) - Department of Qur’an Sciences and Islamic Education - University of Diyala, and the two researchers were rewarded between the two groups of research in the following variables: (Chronological age calculated in months, degrees of recitation rulings subject in the previous year, the two researchers studied the same research groups, and lasted for an entire semester, the researchers prepared the observation card to measure the ru
... Show MoreAn efficient modification and a novel technique combining the homotopy concept with Adomian decomposition method (ADM) to obtain an accurate analytical solution for Riccati matrix delay differential equation (RMDDE) is introduced in this paper . Both methods are very efficient and effective. The whole integral part of ADM is used instead of the integral part of homotopy technique. The major feature in current technique gives us a large convergence region of iterative approximate solutions .The results acquired by this technique give better approximations for a larger region as well as previously. Finally, the results conducted via suggesting an efficient and easy technique, and may be addressed to other non-linear problems.
The covid-19 pandemic sweeping the world and has rendered a large proportion of the workforce as they are unable to commute to work. This has resulted in employees and employers seeking alternative work arrangements, including the software industry. Then comes the need for the global market and international presence of many companies to implement the global virtual teams (GVTs). GVTs members are gradually engaged in globalized business environments across space, time and organizational boundaries via information and communication technologies. Despite the advancement of technology, the project managers are still facing many challenges in communication. Hense, to become a successful project manager still a big challenge for them. This study
... Show MoreThis paper proposes two hybrid feature subset selection approaches based on the combination (union or intersection) of both supervised and unsupervised filter approaches before using a wrapper, aiming to obtain low-dimensional features with high accuracy and interpretability and low time consumption. Experiments with the proposed hybrid approaches have been conducted on seven high-dimensional feature datasets. The classifiers adopted are support vector machine (SVM), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and K-nearest neighbour (KNN). Experimental results have demonstrated the advantages and usefulness of the proposed methods in feature subset selection in high-dimensional space in terms of the number of selected features and time spe
... Show MoreSeveral directional wells have been drilled in Majnoon oilfield at wide variation in drilling time due to different drilling parameters applied for each well. This technical paper shows the importance of proper selection of the bit, Mud type, applied weight on Bit (WOB), Revolution per minute (RPM), and flow rate based on the previous wells drilled. Utilizing the data during drilling each section for directional wells that's significantly could improve drilling efficiency presented at a high rate of penetration (ROP). Based on the extensive study of three directional wells of 35 degree inclination (MJ-51, MJ-52, and MJ-54) found that the applied drilling parameters for MJ-54 and the bit type within associated drilling parameters to drill
... Show MoreThe dynamic behavior of laced reinforced concrete (LRC) T‐beams could give high‐energy absorption capabilities without significantly affecting the cost, which was offered through a combination of high strength and ductile response. In this paper, LRC T‐beams, composed of inclined continuous reinforcement on each side of the beam, were investigated to maintain high deformations as predicted in blast resistance. The beams were tested under four‐point loading to create pure bending zones and obtain the ultimate flexural capacities. Transverse reinforcement using lacing reinforcement and conventional vertical stirrups were compared in terms of deformation, strain, and toughness changes of the tes