In this study, six square reinforced concrete flat plates with dimensions of (1500×1500×100) mm were tested under a concentrated load applied on a column located at the center of the slabs. One of these slabs was the control specimen, whereas, in the others, steel angles (steel collars) were used, fixed at the connection region between the slab and the column to investigate the effect of the presence of these collars on punching shear strength. Five thicknesses were used (4, 5, 6, 8, 10mm) with constant legs of angles (75×75) mm of the steel collars to investigate the effects on the punching shear resistance with respect to the control slab. The results of the experimental study show that the punching shear resistance increased b

Background: Surgery is one and may be the most effective method to treat obesity. In the last decade, Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy is perceived to be less invasive, technically simple, less morbid and more popular form of bariatric surgery.

Objectives: This study aims to assess the effect of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy on Fasting Blood Glucose Levels and Blood Pressure.

 Methods: A prospective controlled study in which 50 obese patients were involved, 36 of patients have hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus , 7 patients have type 2 diabetes mellitus only, and 7 patients don’t have hypertension or type 2 diabetes. All patients were submitted to Laparosco

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 bolts from slipping within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes the typical construction tolerance issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly. Therefore, it can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow including the following: (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MaMi) systems have attracted much research attention during the last few years. This is because MaMi systems are able to achieve a remarkable improvement in data rate and thus meet the immensely ongoing traffic demands required by the future wireless networks. To date, the downlink training sequence (DTS) for the frequency division duplex (FDD) MaMi communications systems have been designed based on the idealistic assumption of white noise environments. However, it is essential and more practical to consider the colored noise environments when designing an efficient DTS for channel estimation. To this end, this paper proposes a new DTS design by exploring the joint use of spatial channel and n

Galvanic corrosion of stainless steel 316 (SS316) and carbon steel (CS) coupled in 5% wt/v sulfuric acid solution at agitation velocity was investigated. The galvanic behavior of coupled metals was also studied using zero resistance ammeter (ZRA) method. The effects of agitation velocity, temperature, and time on galvanic corrosion current and loss in weight of both metals in both free corrosion and galvanic corrosion were investigated. The trends of open circuit potential (OCP) of each metal and galvanic potential (E_g) of the couple were, also, determined. Results showed that SS316 was cathodic relative to CS in galvanic couple and its OCP was much more positive than that of CS for all investigated ranges of

       In recent years, the attention of researchers has increased of semi-parametric regression models, because it is possible to integrate the parametric and non-parametric regression models in one and then form a regression model has the potential to deal with the cruse of dimensionality in non-parametric models that occurs through the increasing of explanatory variables. Involved in the analysis and then decreasing the accuracy of the estimation. As well as the privilege of this type of model with flexibility in the application field compared to the parametric models which comply with certain conditions such as knowledge of the distribution of errors or the parametric models may