A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel‐concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high‐strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (i) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (ii) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (iii) steel beams can b

This study was conducted for evaluating the cytotoxic effect of heat stable enterotoxin a (STa) produced by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli on the proliferation of primary cancer cell cultures, obtained from tumor samples that were collected from (13) cancer patients and as follows: (five colon cancer patients, two bladder cancer patients, two breast cancer patients, two stomach cancer patients and two lung cancer patients), and on normal cell line (rat embryonic fibroblast / REF) (in vitro) with the use of different concentrations starting from (1) mg/ml and ending with (0.0002) mg/ml by making two fold serial dilutions by using the 96- well microtiter plate, and in comparison with negative (PBS) and positive (MMC, at concentration

Simultaneous determination of Furosemide, Carbamazepine, Diazepam, and Carvedilol in bulk and pharmaceutical formulation using the partial least squares regression (PLS-1 and PLS-2) is described in this study. The two methods were successfully applied to estimate the four drugs in their quaternary mixture using UV spectral data of 84synthetic mixtures in the range of 200-350nm with the intervals Δλ=0.5nm. The linear concentration range were 1-20 μg.mL-1 for all, with correlation coefficient (R2) and root mean squares error for the calibration (RMSE) for FURO, CARB, DIAZ, and CARV were 0.9996, 0.9998, 0.9997, 0.9997, and 0.1128, 0.1292, 0.1868,0.1562 respectively for PLS-1, and for PLS-2 were 0.9995, 0.9999, 0.9997, 0.9998, and 0.1127, 0.

Purpose: This research is to identify the most important challenges for the local investment commissions and to develop solutions and proposals to encourage local and foreign investment in local governments in Iraq (the Iraqi provinces are irregular in the region).   Theoretical Framework: This research suggests a conceptual framework for the local investment commissions in order to solve their problems, the most important of which was to identify the most critical challenges which are facing the Baghdad Investment Commission BIC and how to overcome them.   Design/The methodology approach: Research involved a mixed-methods approach through two stages. During the first stage, the researcher gathered quantitative data from all inves

Background: Most prevalent chronic liver disease in developed and developing nations is non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. From fatty liver, which often has benign, non-progressive clinical history, to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, a more serious variant of fatty liver that can lead to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease encompasses broad spectrum of diseases. The gold standard for determining extent of hepatic fibrosis is still liver biopsy; however, number of noninvasive tests have been established to make diagnosis and assess effectiveness of treatment.

Objective: Aim of study was to assess effectiveness of the combination of fibroscan and

The behavior corrosion inhibition of aluminum alloy (Al6061) in acidic (0.1 M HCl) and saline (3.5% NaCl) solutions was investigated in the absence and the presence of expired diclofenac sodium drug (DSD) as a corrosion inhibitor. The influence of temperature and was studied using electrochemical techniques. In addition, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the surface morphology. The results showed that DSD acted as a powerful inhibitor in acidic solutions, while a moderate influence was observed with saline one. Maximum inhibition efficiency was 99.99 and 83.32% in acidic and saline solutions at 150 ppm of DSD, respectively. Corrosion current density that obtained using electrochemical technique was increased with temperat

Background: One effective second-generation triptan for migraine attacks is sumatriptan. Following oral use, it has a 40% restricted bioavailability because of the first-pass metabolism. Aim: To develop the best intranasal Solusomes formula as a substitute that delivers into the brain directly, improving its bioavailability, and removing the first-pass outcome was the aim of this effort. Methodology: We developed solute formulations based on the Box-Behnken design and subsequently produced them via thin-film hydration. The quality by design technique was used to establish a correlation between the formulation parameters (Soluplus® and phosphatidylcholine (PC) concentrations) and signif¬icant quality powers (entrapment efficiency (

Empirical and statistical methodologies have been established to acquire accurate permeability identification and reservoir characterization, based on the rock type and reservoir performance. The identification of rock facies is usually done by either using core analysis to visually interpret lithofacies or indirectly based on well-log data. The use of well-log data for traditional facies prediction is characterized by uncertainties and can be time-consuming, particularly when working with large datasets. Thus, Machine Learning can be used to predict patterns more efficiently when applied to large data. Taking into account the electrofacies distribution, this work was conducted to predict permeability for the four wells, FH1, FH2, F

Although renewable energy systems have become an interesting global issue, it is not continuous either daily or seasonally. Latent heat energy storage (LHES) is one of the suitable solutions for this problem. LHES becomes a basic element in renewable energy systems. LHES compensate for the energy lack when these systems are at low production conditions. The present work considered a shell and tube LHES for numerical investigation of the tube rotation influence on the melting process. The simulation and calculations were carried out using ANSYS Fluent software. Paraffin wax represents the phase change material (PCM) in this work, while water was selected to be the heat transfer fluid (HTF). The calculations were carried o