Several previous investigations and studies utilized silica fume (SF) or (micro silica) particles as supplementary cementitious material added as a substitute to cement-based mortars and their effect on the overall properties, especially on physical properties, strength properties, and mechanical properties. This study investigated the impact of the inclusion of silica fume (SF) particles on the residual compressive strengths and microstructure properties of cement-based mortars exposed to severe conditions of elevated temperatures. The prepared specimens were tested and subjected to 25, 250, 450, 600, and 900 °C. Their residual compressive strengths and microstructure were evaluated and compared with control samples (CS) subjected to similar conditions (the same temperature category). The outcomes indicated that including silica fume particles in mortar mixtures lowered the amount and width of microcracks, upgraded the mass-loss performance, lowered crystalline calcium hydroxide, and reinforced the cement paste, which explained the improvement in residual mechanical strengths.
The synthesis, characterization and mesomorphic properties of two new series of triazine-core based liquid crystals have been investigated. The amino triazine derivatives were characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR), 1HNMR and mass spectroscopy. The liquid crystalline properties of these compounds were examined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarizing optical microscopy (POM). DSC and POM confirmed nematic (N) and columnar mesophase textures of the materials. The formation of mesomorphic properties was found to be dependent on the number of methylene unit in alkoxy side chains.
The rapid development of telemedicine services and the requirements for exchanging medical information between physicians, consultants, and health institutions have made the protection of patients’ information an important priority for any future e-health system. The protection of medical information, including the cover (i.e. medical image), has a specificity that slightly differs from the requirements for protecting other information. It is necessary to preserve the cover greatly due to its importance on the reception side as medical staff use this information to provide a diagnosis to save a patient's life. If the cover is tampered with, this leads to failure in achieving the goal of telemedicine. Therefore, this work provides an in
... Show MoreFinding communities of connected individuals in complex networks is challenging, yet crucial for understanding different real-world societies and their interactions. Recently attention has turned to discover the dynamics of such communities. However, detecting accurate community structures that evolve over time adds additional challenges. Almost all the state-of-the-art algorithms are designed based on seemingly the same principle while treating the problem as a coupled optimization model to simultaneously identify community structures and their evolution over time. Unlike all these studies, the current work aims to individually consider this three measures, i.e. intra-community score, inter-community score, and evolution of community over
... Show MoreHuman identification is crucial in forensics for the investigation of large-scale disasters such as fires, epidemics, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Even though biometric identification using panoramic dental radiography (PDR) has been the subject of several studies in the literature, further study remains a necessary and challenging issue. In this research, a human identification system was developed based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) and contour transform (CT). The proposed system was implemented on a total of 1540 PDR from 302 individuals. The preprocessing applied to PDRs for enhancing and taking the Region of Interest (ROI). The features were extracted using CT transform. These features were fused with features extracted
... Show MoreBackground: Scientific education aims to be inclusive and to improve students learning achievements, through appropriate teaching and learning. Problem Based Learning (PBL) system, a student centered method, started in the second half of the previous century and is expanding progressively, organizes learning around problems and students learn about a subject through the experience of solving these problems.Objectives:To assess the opinions of undergraduate medical students regarding learning outcomes of PBL in small group teaching and to explore their views about the role of tutors and methods of evaluation. Type of the study: A cross-sectional study.Methods: This study was conducted in Kerbala Medical Colleges among second year students
... Show MoreThe key objective of the study is to understand the best processes that are currently used in managing talent in Australian higher education (AHE) and design a quantitative measurement of talent management processes (TMPs) for the higher education (HE) sector.
The three qualitative multi-method studies that are commonly used in empirical studies, namely, brainstorming, focus group discussions and semi-structured individual interviews were considered. Twenty
ABSTRACT This study presents an efficient approach for the separation and preconcentration of norepinephrine (NOR) from pharmaceutical formulations, environmental water, and human urine samples using a dispersive micro – solid phase extraction (DμSPE) technique employing magnetic nanoadsorbents. Two adsorbents, Fe3O4@TTAB and Fe3 O4@SiO2@TTAB, were prepared by functionalising iron oxide and silicacoated iron oxide nanoparticles with the cationic surfactant tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB). NOR was first converted into a sensitive diazonium dye via reaction with diazotised sulphamethazine and then extracted using mixed ademicelle – hemimicelle magnetic solid-phase extraction, followed by spectrophotometric quantification. Key
... Show MorePhosphorus‐based Schiff base were synthesized by treating bis{3‐[2‐(4‐amino‐1.5‐dimethyl‐2‐phenyl‐pyrazol‐3‐ylideneamino)ethyl]‐indol‐1‐ylmethyl}‐phosphinic acid with paraformaldehyde and characterized as a novel antioxidant. Its corresponding complexes [(VO)2L(SO4)2], [Ni2LCl4], [Co2LCl4], [Cu2LCl4], [Zn2LCl4], [Cd2LCl4], [Hg2LCl4], [Pd2LCl4], and [PtL
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