This paper presents a study to investigate the behavior of post-tensioned segmental concrete beams that exposed to high-temperature. The experimental program included fabricating and testing twelve simply supported beams that divided into three groups depending on the number of precasting concrete segments. All specimens were prepared with an identical length of 3150 mm and differed in the number of the incorporated segments of the beam (9, 7, or 5 segments). To simulate the genuine fire disasters, nine out of twelve beams were exposed to a high-temperature flame for one hour. Based on the standard fire curve (ASTM – E119), the temperatures of 300◦C (572◦F), 500◦C (932◦F), and 700◦C (1292◦F) were adopted. Consequently, the beams that exposed to be cool gradually under the ambient laboratory condition, after that, the beams were loaded till failure to investigate the influence of the heating temperature on the performance during the serviceability and the failure stage. It was observed that, as the temperature increased in the internal layers of concrete, the camber of tested beams increased significantly and attained its peak value at the end of the time interval of the stabilization of the heating temperature. This can be attributed to the extra time that was consumed for the heat energy to migrate across the cross-section and to travel along the span of the beam and deteriorate the texture of the concrete causing microcracking with a larger surface area. Experimental findings showed that the load-carrying capacity of the test specimen, with the same number of incorporated concrete segments, was significantly decreased as the heating temperature increased during the fire event.
A simple, environmental friendly and selective sample preparation technique employing porous membrane protected micro-solid phase extraction (μ-SPE) loaded with molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for the determination of ochratoxin A (OTA) is described. After the extraction, the analyte was desorbed using ultrasonication and was analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits of OTA for coffee, grape juice and urine were 0.06 ng g−1, 0.02 and 0.02 ng mL−1, respectively while the quantification limits were 0.19 ng g−1, 0.06 and 0.08 ng mL−1, respectively. The recoveries of OTA from coffee spiked at 1, 25 and 50 ng g−1, grape juice and urine samples at 1, 25 and 50 ng mL
... Show MoreFlexible molecular docking is a computational method of structure-based drug design to evaluate binding interactions between receptor and ligand and identify the ligand conformation within the receptor pocket. Currently, various molecular docking programs are extensively applied; therefore, realizing accuracy and performance of the various docking programs could have a significant value. In this comparative study, the performance and accuracy of three widely used non-commercial docking software (AutoDock Vina, 1-Click Docking, and UCSF DOCK) was evaluated through investigations of the predicted binding affinity and binding conformation of the same set of small molecules (HIV-1 protease inhibitors) and a protein target HIV-1 protease enzy
... Show MoreCopper (Cu) is an essential trace element for the efficient functioning of living organisms. Cu can enter the body in different ways, and when it surpasses the range of biological tolerance, it can have negative consequences. The use of different nanoparticles, especially metal oxide nanoparticles, is increasingly being expanded in the fields of industry and biomedical materials. However, the impact of these nanoparticles on human health is still not completely elucidated. This comparative study was conducted to evaluate the impacts of copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) and copper sulphate (CuSO4 0.5 (H2O)) on infertility and reproductive function in male albino mice BALB/c. Body weight, the weight of male reproductive organs, mal
... Show MoreThirteen morphometric characters of catfish
This work includes preparation of Az, Qz, and Tz derivatives from the reaction of Schiff base (Sb) derivative with anthranilic acid, chloroacetyl chloride, and sodium azide, as well as, the characterization via FT-IR, 1H-NMR, and 13CNMR. The anticorrosion inhibition of these compounds was studied and the measurements of carbon steel (CS) corrosion in sodium chloride solution 3.5% (blank) and inhibitor in solutions were calculated at a temperature range of 293-323 K by the technique of electrochemical polarization. In addition, some thermodynamic and kinetic activation parameters for inhibitor and blank solutions (Ea⋇, ΔH⋇, ΔS⋇, and ΔG⋇) were determined. The results showed high inhibition efficacy for all the prepared compounds,
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