The performance of a solar assisted desiccant cooling system for a meeting-hall located in the College of Engineering/University of Baghdad was evaluated theoretically. The system was composed of four components; a solar air heater, a desiccant dehumidifier, a heat exchanger and an evaporative cooler. A computer simulation was developed by using MATLAB to assess the effect of various design and operating conditions on the performance of the system and its components. The actual weather data on recommended days were used to assess the load variation and the system performance during those days. The radiant time series method (RTS) was used to evaluate the hourly variation of the cooling load. Four operation modes were employed for perform

Recently Genetic Algorithms (GAs) have frequently been used for optimizing the solution of estimation problems. One of the main advantages of using these techniques is that they require no knowledge or gradient information about the response surface. The poor behavior of genetic algorithms in some problems, sometimes attributed to design operators, has led to the development of other types of algorithms. One such class of these algorithms is compact Genetic Algorithm (cGA), it dramatically reduces the number of bits reqyuired to store the poulation and has a faster convergence speed. In this paper compact Genetic Algorithm is used to optimize the maximum likelihood estimator of the first order moving avergae model MA(1). Simulation results

Used cooking oil was undergoing trans-esterification reaction to produce biodiesel fuel. Method of production consisted of pretreatment steps, trans-esterification, separation, washing and drying. Trans-esterification of treated oils was studied at different operation conditions, the methanol to oil mole ratio were 6:1, 8:1, 10:1, and 12:1, at different temperature 30, 40, 50, and 60 ^º C, reaction time 40, 60, 80, and 120 minutes, amount of catalyst 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 wt.% based on oil and mixing speed 400 rpm. The maximum yield of biodiesel was 91.68 wt.% for treated oils obtained by trans-esterification reaction with 10:1 methanol to oil mole ratio, 60 ^º C reaction temperature, 80 minute reactio

This study aims to assess the accuracy of digital elevation model (DEM) created with utilization of handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) and comparing with Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model (ASTER GDEM), version 2. It is known that the quality of the DEM is affected by both of accuracy of elevation at each pixel (absolute accuracy) and accuracy of presented morphology (relative accuracy). The University of Baghdad, Al Jadriya campus was selected as a study area to create and analysis the resulting DEM. Additionally, Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to visualize, analyses and interpolate GPS track points (elevation data) of the study area. In this

Bauxite residue (red mud) is a waste material from alumina refineries in the Bayer process, containing significant quantities of valuable metals, notably scandium (Sc). The objective of this study is to recover Sc (III) from Hungarian bauxite residue by using hydrometallurgical processes, including solvent extraction and leaching. Red mud directly leached with hydrochloric acid to generate the leachate solution. The significant iron content (~38 %) in red mud makes it hard to recover scandium selectively due to comparable physicochemical characteristics. According to the findings, Fe (III) could be effectively extracted from hydrochloric acid leachate as HFeC14 using diethyl ether before Sc extraction. Protocol B demonstrated superior recov

This paper proposes a novel finite-time generalized proportional integral observer (FTGPIO) based a sliding mode control (SMC) scheme for the tracking control problem of high order uncertain systems subject to fast time-varying disturbances. For this purpose, the construction of the controller consists of two consecutive steps. First, the novel FTGPIO is designed to observe unmeasurable plant dynamics states and disturbance with its higher time derivatives in finite time rather than infinite time as in the standard GPIO. In the FTGPO estimator, the finite time convergence rate of estimations is well achieved, whereas the convergence rate of estimations by classical GPIO is asymptotic and slow. Secondly, on the basis of the finite and fast e

Bendable concrete, also known as Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a type of ultra-ductile cementitious composites reinforced with fibres to control the width of cracks. It has the ability to enhance concrete flexibility by withstanding strains of 3% and higher. The properties of bendable concrete mixes (compressive strength, flexural strength, and drying shrinkage) are here assessed after the incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials, silica fume, polymer fibres, and the use of ordinary Portland cement (O.P.C) and Portland limestone cement (IL). Mixes with Portland limestone cement show lower drying shrinkage and lower compressive and flexural strength than mixes with ordinary Portland cement, due to the ratio o

Conventional concretes are almost unbending, and even a small amount of strain potential leaves them brittle. This lack of bendability is a major source of strain loss, and it has been the main goal behind the development of bendable concrete, often known with engineered ce ment composites, or ECC. This form of concrete has a lot more flexibility than regular concrete. Micromechanical polymer fibers are used to strengthen ECC. In most cases, ECC uses a 2% amount of thin, separated fibers. As a result, bendable concrete deforms but unlike traditional concrete, it does not crack. This study aims to include this kind of concrete, bendable concrete, which can be used to solve concrete problems. Karasta (CK) and Tasluja (CT) Portland Lime