The growing demand for sustainable and high-performance asphalt binders has prompted the exploration of waste-derived modifiers. This study investigates the performance enhancement of Natural Asphalt (NA) using Sugarcane Molasses (SM) and Waste Engine Oil (WEO). The modified blends were prepared by partially replacing 50 % NA with varying proportions of SM and WEO ranging from 10 % to 40 % of the total weight of NA. Comprehensive testing was conducted, including penetration, softening point, ductility, viscosity, Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR), Multiple Stress Creep Recovery (MSCR), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results demonstrated that modified blends with a high WEO content significantly increased fluidity, reducing rotational viscosity by up to 91 % for the blend with 40 % WEO and 10 % SM at 135 ◦C. Conversely, higher SM content increased stiffness, as seen in the blend with 40 % SM and 10 % WEO, with penetration values rising by 305 % compared to unmodified NA. Rheological testing showed that the 40 % SM and 10 % WEO blend achieved the highest rutting resistance with a Performance Grade (PG) of 88 ◦C, while the 40 % WEO and 10 % SM blend exhibited the best fatigue resistance with a 55 % reduction in G* .sinδ. Low-temperature performance was significantly improved across all blends, with the 40 % WEO and 10 % SM blend achieving the lowest creep stiffness and highest m-value, ensuring superior thermal cracking resistance. Chemical analysis revealed increased oxygen content (18.6 %) and reduced sulfur content (60 %) in the 40 % SM and 10 % WEO blend, indicating enhanced oxidation resistance. SEM analysis confirmed the development of dense morphology in the 40 % SM and 10 % WEO blend, correlating with superior structural integrity. Grey decision analysis identified the 40 % SM and 10 % WEO blend as the optimal blend with the lowest bull’s-eye distance, reflecting balanced performance across all parameters. These findings highlight the complementary effects of SM and WEO in enhancing the performance of NA, with the 40 % SM and 10 % WEO blend emerging as the most promising blend for bio-asphalt applications.
This paper presents the implementation of a complex fractional order proportional integral derivative (CPID) and a real fractional order PID (RPID) controllers. The analysis and design of both controllers were carried out in a previous work done by the author, where the design specifications were classified into easy (case 1) and hard (case 2) design specifications. The main contribution of this paper is combining CRONE approximation and linear phase CRONE approximation to implement the CPID controller. The designed controllers-RPID and CPID-are implemented to control flowing water with low pressure circuit, which is a first order plus dead time system. Simulation results demonstrate that while the implemented RPID controller fails to stabi
... Show MoreA single specimen of the African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, was recorded for the first time in Baghdad, Iraq. The specimen was caught during a fish survey to document some local species in northern Baghdad (Al-Rusafa) on March 21, 2023. The total length of the specimen was 43 cm, and its weight was 590 grams. Some biometric measurements of the specimen were studied and found to be consistent with the general characteristics of the African catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822). It is possible that the fish entered Iraqi inland waters, specifically from the Euphrates River via Syria or from the Tigris River via Turkey.
The service system has become a necessity of life in modern cities to be the most basic necessities of modern humans, they constitute a major base, which is based on the sustainability of life in the city and a standard measured through the degree of well-being and progress of civilized peoples and their interaction with the surrounding environment, making the services sector as a need not be an option, whenever the cities widened in population and space whenever provision of services and upgrading the quality and quantity more pressing, which made the subject of the services takes the biggest area of the trends and thinking of urban planners and those who in charge of drawing the cities policies. Consideri
... Show MoreThis research is carried out to investigate the behavior of self-compacting concrete (SCC) two-way slabs with central square opening under uniformly distributed loads. The experimental part of this research is based on casting and testing six SCC simply supported square slabs having the same dimentions and reinforcement. One of these slabs was cast without opening as a control slab. While, the other five slabs having opening ratios (OR) of 2.78%, 6.25%, 11.11%, 17.36% and 25.00%. From the experimental results it is found that the maximum percentage decrease in cracking and ultimate uniform loads were 31.82% and 12.17% compared to control slab for opening ratios (OR
... Show MoreObjective: To assess the impact of a social support for pregnant women upon their pregnancy outcome Methodology: A descriptive purposive study was used to assess the impact of a social support on their pregnancy outcomes. The study was conducted from (22 \ September \ 2020 to 15 \ February \ 2021). A non-probability sample (purposive sample) was selected from 100 women. Data were collected through an interview with the mother in the counseling clinic, during the third trimester of pregnancy, as well as after childbirth in the labor wards to assess the outcome of pregnancy. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics (frequency and percentages). Results: The most important thing observed in this study was the positive pregnancy outcome
... Show MoreThe reconciliation of tax reconciliation is one of the legal methods used by the financial authority in Iraq, which is done with the taxpayer
The research dealt with the weakness of tax revenues for many reasons, including tax evasion, which led to the search for ways to reduce evasion to increase the tax revenue, and settlement reconciliation one of these means .
The research proceeded from the premise that the use of a more broadly settled settlement would govern the tax evasion of taxpayers.
The researchers used a series of studies and previous research, books and other sources related to the subject of research, and this was done through the theoretical framework, and the practical aspect that included the fin
... Show MoreConsequence of thermal and concentration convection on peristaltic pumping of hyperbolic tangent nanofluid in a non‐uniform channel and induced magnetic field is discussed in this article. The brief mathematical modeling, along with induced magnetic field, of hyperbolic tangent nanofluid is given. The governing equations are reduced to dimensionless form by using appropriate transformations. Exact solutions are calculated for temperature, nanoparticle volume fraction, and concentration. Numerical technique is manipulated to solve the highly non‐linear differential equations. The roll of different variables is graphically analyzed in terms of concentration, temperature, volume fraction of nanoparticles, axial induced magnetic fie
... Show MoreWhen optimizing the performance of neural network-based chatbots, determining the optimizer is one of the most important aspects. Optimizers primarily control the adjustment of model parameters such as weight and bias to minimize a loss function during training. Adaptive optimizers such as ADAM have become a standard choice and are widely used for their invariant parameter updates' magnitudes concerning gradient scale variations, but often pose generalization problems. Alternatively, Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) with Momentum and the extension of ADAM, the ADAMW, offers several advantages. This study aims to compare and examine the effects of these optimizers on the chatbot CST dataset. The effectiveness of each optimizer is evaluat
... Show MoreThis paper assesses the impact of changes and fluctuations in bank deposits on the money supply in Iraq. Employing the research constructs an Error Correction Model (ECM) using monthly time series data from 2010 to 2015. The analysis begins with the Phillips-Perron unit root test to ascertain the stationarity of the time series and the Engle and Granger cointegration test to examine the existence of a long-term relationship. Nonparametric regression functions are estimated using two methods: Smoothing Spline and M-smoothing. The results indicate that the M-smoothing approach is the most effective, achieving the shortest adjustment period and the highest adjustment ratio for short-term disturbances, thereby facilitating a return
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