The introduction of concrete damage plasticity material models has significantly improved the accuracy with which the concrete structural elements can be predicted in terms of their structural response. Research into this method's accuracy in analyzing complex concrete forms has been limited. A damage model combined with a plasticity model, based on continuum damage mechanics, is recommended for effectively predicting and simulating concrete behaviour. The damage parameters, such as compressive and tensile damages, can be defined to simulate concrete behavior in a damaged-plasticity model accurately. This research aims to propose an analytical model for assessing concrete compressive damage based on stiffness deterioration. The prop

In this work, diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin films were prepared from Cyclohexane. Thin films were deposited on quartz substrate by atmospheric pressure Argon plasma jet system. The plasma jet system was applying high voltage sinusoidal waves of frequency 28 kHz and potential difference of 7.5kV peak to peak across the electrodes. The effect of annealing at 400, 500 and 600 °C under vacuum for two hours on optical properties and structural properties of the DLC thin films were investigated. This effect was clarified by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, UV-Visible absorption, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Raman Spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction patterns for the annealing DLC thin films show two broad peaks at 2θ, 26.62° and 51.58

The fractional free volume (Fh) in polystyrene (PS) as a function of neutron -irradiation dose has been measured, using positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) method. The results show that Fh values decreased with increasing n-irradiation dose up to a total dose of 501.03× 10-2 Gy.
A percentage reduction of 2.14 in Fh values is noticed after the initial n-dose corresponding to a percentage reduction in the free volume equal to 42.14/Gy.
The total n-dose induces a percentage reduction of 7.26, corresponding to a percentage reduction of 1.45/Gy. These results indicate that cross -linking is the predominant process induced by n-irradiation.
The results suggest that n-irradiation induces structure changes in PS, causing cross-linking

In recent years, there has been expanding development in the vehicular part and the number of vehicles moving on the road in all the sections of the country. Vehicle number plate identification based on image processing is a dynamic area of this work; this technique is used for security purposes such as tracking of stolen cars and access control to restricted areas. The License Plate Recognition System (LPRS) exploits a digital camera to capture vehicle plate numbers is used as input to the proposed recognition system. Basically, the developing system is consist of three phases, vehicle license plate localization, character segmentation, and character recognition, the License Plate (LP) detection is presented using canny

Background: Differentiation between malignant and benign vertebral compression fracture is often problematic. This is precisely difficult in elderly who are predisposed to benign compression caused by osteoporosis .Establishing correct diagnosis is of great importance in determining the treatment andprognosis.A study was performed to determine which magnetic resonance imaging findings are useful in discrimination between metastatic and acute osteoporotic compression fractures of the spine. Recently MRI is being increasingly used for evaluation of these fractures.Objectives: The aim of this study is to establish the correct diagnosis of malignant and benign compression vertebral fracture by MRI to determine treatment and prognosis.Methods

Developments are carried out to enhance the performance of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT). This paper studies the performance of the ducted wind turbine with convergent duct (DAWT). Basically, the duct technique is utilized to provide the desired wind velocity facing the turbine. Methodology was developed to estimate the decisive performance parameter and to present the effect of the convergent duct with different inlet angles. The ducted wind turbine was analyzed and simulated using MATLAB software and numerically using ANSYS-Fluent 17.2. Result of both approaches were presented and showed good closeness for the two cases of covering angles 12  and 20 respectively. Results also showed that the convergent duct with an inlet angl

    In this paper, the ability of using corn leaves as low-cost natural biowaste adsorbent material for the removal of Indigo Carmen (IC) dye was studied. Batch mode system was used to study several parameters such as, contact time (4 days), concentration of dye (10-50) ppm, adsorbent dosage (0.05-0.25) gram, pH (2-12) and temperature (30-60) oC. The corn leaf was characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy device before and after the adsorption process of the IC dye and scanning electron microscope device was used to find the morphology of the adsorbent material. The experimental data was imputing with several isotherms where it fits with Freundlich (R2 = 0.9937) and followed pseudo second order kinetic. The hi

In the leaves of Olea europaea L. Olive trees an endophytic fungus was discovered. Cladosporium sp. was identified to be the fungus based on its morphological characteristics and nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS sequence analysis and was registered in NCBI as the Cladosporium genus has been registered under the number (0P939922.1) The species was not specified, and it was considered of unknown species after comparing it to global isolates. In comparison to olive leaf extract, Cladosporium sp. including total flavonoid, total phenolic, total terpenoid, and total saponins, Which were 121.9%, 198.1%, 89.13%, and 29.87 % respectively compared to its content in olive leaf extract, which was 61.54 %, 67.88 % , 17.1

The Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) process has become one of the most important processes to enhance oil recovery in both secondary and tertiary recovery stages and through immiscible and miscible modes.  Its advantages came from the ability to provide gravity-stable oil displacement for improving oil recovery, when compared with conventional gas injection methods such as Continuous Gas Injection (CGI) and Water – Alternative Gas (WAG). Vertical injectors for CO2   gas were placed at the top of the reservoir to form a gas cap which drives the oil towards the horizontal oil producing wells which are located above the oil-water-contact. The GAGD process was developed and tested in vertical wells to increase oil r