This study presents experimental and numerical investigations on seven one-way, reinforced concrete (RC) slabs with a new technique of slab weight reduction using polystyrene-embedded arched blocks (PEABs). All slabs had the same dimensions, steel reinforcement, and concrete compressive strength. One of these slabs was a solid slab, which was taken as a control slab, while the other six slabs were cast with PEABs. The main variables were the ratio of the length of the PEABs to the length of the slab (lp/L) and the ratio of the height of the PEABs to the total slab depth (hP/H). The minimum decrease in the ultimate load capacity was about 6% with a minimum reduction in the slab weight of 15%. In contrast, the maximum decrease in the

Portulacaria afra is a small succulent tree, previously belonging to the Portulacaceae family, but with further studies, the plant transferred to the Didieracea family. P. afra was used as an ornamental, vegetable, and ethnomedicinal plant. Uses of the plant by rural South Africans to treat chronic skin conditions and rashes, alleviate exhaustion, and aid in treating TB and diarrhea have been documented in folklore. According to pharmaceutical research, plant extracts off er a wide range of remedial outcomes, such as antidiabetic, antifungal, antibacterial, anticancer, antioxidant, and anti-infl ammatory. The study aims to determine some bioactive constituents responsible for pharmacological activities and traditional usefulness. Th

A potential alternative energy resource to meet energy demands is the vast amount of gas stored in hydrate reserves. However, major challenges in terms of exploration and production surround profitable and effective exploitation of these reserves. The measurement of acoustic velocity is a useful method for exploration of gas hydrate reserves and can be an efficient method to characterize the hydrate-bearing sediments. In this study, the compressional wave velocity (P-wave velocity) of consolidated sediments (Bentheimer) with and without tetrahydrofuran hydrate-bearing pore fillings were measured using the pulse transmission method. The study has found that the P-wave velocity of consolidated sediments increase with increasing hydrate format

In high-dimensional semiparametric regression, balancing accuracy and interpretability often requires combining dimension reduction with variable selection. This study intro- duces two novel methods for dimension reduction in additive partial linear models: (i) minimum average variance estimation (MAVE) combined with the adaptive least abso- lute shrinkage and selection operator (MAVE-ALASSO) and (ii) MAVE with smoothly clipped absolute deviation (MAVE-SCAD). These methods leverage the flexibility of MAVE for sufficient dimension reduction while incorporating adaptive penalties to en- sure sparse and interpretable models. The performance of both methods is evaluated through simulations using the mean squared error and variable selection cri

This work was conducted to study the extraction of pelletierine sulphate from Punica granatum L. roots by liquid membrane techniques. Pelletierine sulphate is used widely in medicine. The general behavior of extraction process indicates that pelletierine conversion increased with increasing the number of stages and the discs rotation speed but high rotation speed was not favored because of the increased risk of droplet formation during the operation. The pH of feed and acceptor solution was also important. The results exhibit that the highest pelletierine conversion was obtained when using two stages,(10 rpm) discs speed of stainless steel discs,(pH= 9.5) of feed solution and (pH= 2) of acceptor solution in n-decane. Assuming the existence

In this paper, we have extracted Silica from rice husk ash (RHA) by sodium hydroxide to produce sodium silicate. 3-(chloropropyl)triethoxysilane (CPTES) functionalized with sodium silicate via a sol-gel method in one pot synthesis to prepare RHACCl. Chloro group in compound RHACCl replacement in iodo group to prepere RHACI. The FT-IR clearly showed absorption band of C-I at 580 cm^-1. Functionalized silica RHACI has high surface area (410 m²/g) and average pore diameter (3.8 nm) within mesoporous range. X-ray diffraction pattern showed that functionalized silica RHACI has amorphous phase .Thermogravemitric analysis (TGA) showed two decomposition stages and SEM morphology of RHACI showed that the particles have irregu

Coupling reaction of 2-amino benzoic acid with phenol gave the new bidentate azo ligand. The prepared ligand was identified by Microelemental Analysis, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopic technique. Treatment of the prepared ligand with the following metal ions (CoII, NiII, CuII and ZnII) in aqueous ethanol with a 1:2 M:L ratio and at optimum pH, yielded a series of neutral complexes of the general formula [M(L)2]. The prepared complexes were characterized using flame atomic absorption, (C.H.N) Analysis, FT-IR and UV-Vis spectroscopic methods as well as magnetic susceptibility and conductivity measurements. The nature of the complexes formed were studied following the mole ratio and continuous variation methods, Beer's law obeyed over a concentr

Selenium is naturally present in the human body, animals, and plants, and is one of the important elements in their growth and maintenance. Recently, the nanoform of selenium has attracted attention due to its low toxicity and a high degree of adsorption compared to its organic and inorganic forms. The current study aimed to examine the effect of Cress leaves (Lepidium sativum L.) extract in combination with selenium nanoparticles in alleviating polycystic ovary syndrome in letrozole-induced PCOS in adult female rats. Nonthermal or cold plasma was used in the synthesis of selenium nanoparticles. Subsequently, the produced nanoparticles were identified, the 30 rats were divided into 6 equal groups, the first group was healthy (negative contr

Various nutritional solutions given to patients contain amino acids. Possible interference of this supplementation with selected aminoglycoside antiboiotics, namely gentamycin and streptomycin was evaluated in vitro. In minimal medium, E.coli was inhibited by gentamycin and by streptomycin. Circumvention of this inhibition was obtained with a mixture of 20 amino acids in the medium. Deletion of amino acids revealved that circumvention. specific amino acids were required for such Deletion of the aromatic amino acids or cysteine abolished the protection against gentamycin and streptomycin, while the deletion of the branched chain amino acids abolished the protection against streptomycin only. Thereonine, on the other hand, appears to be essen