In the field of construction project management, time and cost are the most important factors to be considered in planning every project, and their relationship is complex. The total cost for each project is the sum of the direct and indirect cost. Direct cost commonly represents labor, materials, equipment, etc.
Indirect cost generally represents overhead cost such as supervision, administration, consultants, and interests. Direct cost grows at an increasing rate as the project time is reduced from its original planned time. However, indirect cost continues for the life of the project and any reduction in project time means a reduction in indirect cost. Therefore, there is a trade-off between the time and cost for completing construction activities.
In this research, modeling of time-cost optimization, generating global optimum solution for time and cost problem, and lowering construction time and cost using ant colony optimization algorithm
Spraying pesticides is one of the most common procedures that is conducted to control pests. However, excessive use of these chemicals inversely affects the surrounding environments including the soil, plants, animals, and the operator itself. Therefore, researchers have been encouraged to...
Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is considered to be one of the most crucial tools for different applications, i.e. transportation, geographic information systems, mobile satellite communications, and others. Without a doubt, the GNSS has been widely employed for different scientific applications, such as land surveying, mapping, and precise monitoring for huge structures, etc. Thus, an intense competitive has appeared between companies which produce geodetic GNSS hardware devices to meet all the requirements of GNSS communities. This study aims to assess the performance of different GNSS receivers to provide reliable positions. In this study, three different receivers, which are produced by different manufacturers, were fi
... Show MoreIn this research, a variable stiffness actuator is proposed to enhance the damping of the mechanical vibrating system. The frequency response analysis of the vibrating system is dependant in order to analyze and synthesis this semi-active damping, where the suggested process is using active filter to estimate the present frequency of the vibration system, and this will limit the value of the stiffness of the vibrated system. Two active filter s are needed, low-pass-filter (LPF) to choose the higher stiffness of the actuator at small frequencies as well as more damping and high-pass-filter (HPF) to choose the lower stiffness of the actuator at high frequencies as well as more damping, and so
... Show MoreRoot research requires high throughput phenotyping methods that provide meaningful information on root depth if the full potential of the genomic revolution is to be translated into strategies that maximise the capture of water deep in soils by crops. A very simple, low cost method of assessing root depth of seedlings using a layer of herbicide (
Production of fatty acid esters (biodiesel) from oleic acid and 2-ethylhexanol using sulfated zirconia as solid catalyst for the production of biodiesel was investigated in this work.
The parameters studied were temperature of reaction (100 to 130°C), molar ratio of alcohol to free fatty acid (1:1 to 3:1), concentration of catalyst (0.5 to 3%wt), mixing speed (500 to 900 rpm) and types of sulfated zirconia (i.e modified, commercial, prepared catalyst according to literature and reused catalyst). The results show the best conversion to biodiesel was 97.74% at conditions of 130°C, 3:1, 2wt% and 650 rpm using modified catalyst respectively. Also, modified c
... Show MoreBiodiesel as an attractive energy source; a low-cost and green synthesis technique was utilized for biodiesel preparation via waste cooking oil methanolysis using waste snail shell derived catalyst. The present work aimed to investigate the production of biodiesel fuel from waste materials. The catalyst was greenly synthesized from waste snail shells throughout a calcination process at different calcination time of 2–4 h and temperature of 750–950 ◦C. The catalyst samples were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR). The reaction variables varying in the range of 10:1–30:1 M ratio of MeOH: oil, 3–11 wt% catalyst loading, 50–
... Show MorePorous materials play an important role in creating a sustainable environment by improving wastewater treatment's efficacy. Porous materials, including adsorbents or ion exchangers, catalysts, metal–organic frameworks, composites, carbon materials, and membranes, have widespread applications in treating wastewater and air pollution. This review examines recent developments in porous materials, focusing on their effectiveness for different wastewater pollutants. Specifically, they can treat a wide range of water contaminants, and many remove over 95% of targeted contaminants. Recent advancements include a wider range of adsorption options, heterogeneous catalysis, a new UV/H2O
