Two novel demountable shear connectors for precast steel-concrete composite bridges are presented. The connectors use high-strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the steel beam with the aid of a special locking configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connectors promote accelerated construction and overcome typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connectors allow bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (1) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (2) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (3) steel beams can be replaced, while precast

In this work, fluid catalytic cracking of vacuum gas oil to produce gasoline over prepared faujasite type Y zeolite was investigated using experimental laboratory plant scale of fluidized bed reactor.
The catalytic activity of prepared faujasite type NaY, NaNH4Y and NaHY zeolites was investigated. The cracking process was carried out in the temperature range 440 to 500 oC, weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) range 10 to 25 h-1 ,and atmospheric pressure . The catalytic activities of the prepared faujasite type NaY , NaNH4Y and NaHY zeolites were determined in terms of vacuum gas oil (VGO) conversion, and gasoline yield . The conversion at 500oC and WHSV10 hr-1 by using faujasite type NaY, NaNH4Y and NaHY zeolite were 50.2%, 64.1% and 6

This paper proposes and tests a computerized approach for constructing a 3D model of blood vessels from angiogram images. The approach is divided into two steps, image features extraction and solid model formation. In the first step, image morphological operations and post-processing techniques are used for extracting geometrical entities from the angiogram image. These entities are the middle curve and outer edges of the blood vessel, which are then passed to a computer-aided graphical system for the second phase of processing. The system has embedded programming capabilities and pre-programmed libraries for automating a sequence of events that are exploited to create a solid model of the blood vessel. The gradient of the middle c

The specific activity of 29 soil samples collected from Fuel
Fabrication Facility FFF at AL-Tuwaitha site, 20 km south of
Baghdad were determined using HPGe detector in a low background
configuration, it's relative efficiency of 40%, and resolution of 2keV
for the 1332 keV gamma ray emission of 60Co. The range of activity
concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were between (12.56-31.96),
(10.2-18.4) and (47.47-402.1) Bq/kg respectively. In order to assess
any radiological hazard to human health, the absorbed gamma dose
rate D in air at 1m above the ground surface was calculated in the
range (18.87 to 36.46) nGy/h; the outdoor annual effective dose
equivalent AEDE was evaluated to vary from 0.0039 to 0.0076

Various speech enhancement Algorithms (SEA) have been developed in the last few decades. Each algorithm has its advantages and disadvantages because the speech signal is affected by environmental situations. Distortion of speech results in the loss of important features that make this signal challenging to understand. SEA aims to improve the intelligibility and quality of speech that different types of noise have degraded. In most applications, quality improvement is highly desirable as it can reduce listener fatigue, especially when the listener is exposed to high noise levels for extended periods (e.g., manufacturing). SEA reduces or suppresses the background noise to some degree, sometimes called noise suppression alg

The Ant System Algorithm (ASA) is a member of the ant colony algorithms family in swarm intelligence methods (part of the Artificial Intelligence field), which is based on the behavior of ants seeking a path and a source of food in their colonies. The aim of This algorithm is to search for an optimal solution for Combinational Optimization Problems (COP) for which is extremely difficult to find solution using the classical methods like linear and non-linear programming methods. 

The Ant System Algorithm was used in the management of water resources field in Iraq, specifically for Haditha dam which is one of the most important dams in Iraq. The target is to find out an efficient management system for

The objective of this study is to verify the overall performance and evaluate the wastewater quality of the wastewater treatment plant at the Abu Ghraib Dairy Factory and compare the results with the Iraqi Quality Standards (IQS) for effluent disposal and with the national determinants of treated water use. Agricultural irrigation wastewater, which included daily assessment records of the main parameters affecting wastewater [five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total dissolved solids (T.D.S), total suspended solids (TSS), phosphate (PO4), nitrate (NO3), hydrogen ion concentration (pH)] obtained from the quality control department of Abu Ghraib dairy plant registered from January 2017 to December 2020. Th

Free Space Optical (FSO) technology offers highly directional, high bandwidth communication channels. This technology can provide fiber-like data rate over short distances. In order to improve security associated with data transmission in FSO networks, a secure communication method based on chaotic technique is presented. In this paper, we have turned our focus on a specific class of piece wise linear one-dimensional chaotic maps. Simulation results indicate that this approach has the advantage of possessing excellent correlation property. In this paper we examine the security vulnerabilities of single FSO links and propose a solution to this problem by implementing the chaotic signal generator “reconfigurable tent map”. As synchronizat

Aggregate production planning (APP) is one of the most significant and complicated problems in production planning and aim to set overall production levels for each product category to meet fluctuating or uncertain demand in future. and to set decision concerning hiring, firing, overtime, subcontract, carrying inventory level. In this paper, we present a simulated annealing (SA) for multi-objective linear programming to solve APP. SA is considered to be a good tool for imprecise optimization problems. The proposed model minimizes total production and workforce costs. In this study, the proposed SA is compared with particle swarm optimization (PSO). The results show that the proposed SA is effective in reducing total production costs and req

Endophytic bacteria produced analogous secondary metabolites of their hosts. Similarly, the ability to generate antioxidants is not an exception. Dragon scales (Pyrrosia piloselloides), an epiphytic plant of the Polypodiaceae family, are frequently overlooked. This research aims to isolate antioxidant-producing bacteria from dragon-scale fern leaves. The antioxidant activities were tested after the extraction procedure using ethanolic extract. Bacteria were characterized and selected as candidates for antioxidant production by screening for the production of total phenolic compounds. Antioxidant levels were determined utilizing the ABTS, FRAP, and DPPH techniques. The preliminary findings of the entire phenolic compound test rev