Background: Deterioration of maxillofacial silicone properties due to microbial colonization is a common problem and leads to the replacement of the prosthesis. Incorporation of the antimicrobial agent into the silicone could be a solution. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of silver-zinc zeolite addition on some mechanical properties of a maxillofacial silicone (VST-50). Materials and methods: Total 120 specimens were fabricated and divided into 3 groups: 40 specimens for tear strength test, 40 specimens for tensile and percentage of elongation tests and 40 specimens for Shore A hardness and surface roughness. Each group was divided into 4 subgroups according to the amount of zeolite added (0% “control”, 0.5%, 1% and

A field experiment was carried out during winter season of 2019 at Al-Muradiya research state, Babylon government, Iraq, to study the role of the sprayed types of potassium fertilizer in improving of flag leaf contribution in grain yield of wheat. The layout of the experiment was randomized complete block design in factorial arrangement at three replicates. The experiment included spraying common and nano potassium fertilizer at booting stage, in addition to control treatment (spraying of distilled water) as a first factor, and removal treatments (removal of flag leaf at 10% anthesis stage and nonremoval) as a second factor. The results showed that the spraying of nano potassium fertilizer was significantly superior in the dry matter transp

There are many different methods for analysis of two-way reinforced concrete slabs. The most efficient methods depend on using certain factors given in different codes of reinforced concrete design. The other ways of analysis of two-way slabs are the direct design method and the equivalent frame method. But these methods usually need a long time for analysis of the slabs.

In this paper, a new simple method has been developed to analyze the two-way slabs by using simple empirical formulae, and the results of final analysis of some examples have been compared with other different methods given in different codes of practice.

The comparison proof that this simple proposed method gives good results and it can be used in analy

The massive growth of the automotive industry and the development of vehicles use lead to produce a huge amount of waste tire rubber. Rubber tires are non-biodegradable, resulting in environmental problems such as fire risks. In this search, the flexural behavior of steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) beams containing different percentages and sizes of waste tire rubbers were studied and compared them with the flexural behavior of SCC and SFRSCC. Micro steel fiber (straight type) with aspect ratio 65 was used in mixes. The replacement of coarse and fine aggregate was 20% and 10% with chip and crumb rubber. Also, the replacement of limestone dust and silica fume was 50%, 25%, and 12% with ground rubbe

The reclamation of makeup water is studied in terms of breakthrough time (i.e., the leakage of the cations). Makeup water was subjected to lab-scale ion exchangers of two types: strong acid cation and weak base anion exchanger. The experimental investigation was directed to study the ion exchanger performance in terms of four different parameters (i.e., copper concentration, total dissolved solids (TDS), feed rate and bed depth). Box-Wilson composite rotatable design was adopted in designing the experiments. Breakthrough times of the effluent stream are measured in terms of copper concentration of 2 to 25 ppm, TDS concentration of 250 to 1250 ppm, feed rate of 0.38 to 5.34 l/h and bed depth of 5 to 70 cm. Simulation the effect of the stu

This study aimed at evaluating the torsional capacity of reinforced concrete (RC) beams externally wrapped with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials. An analytical model was described and used as a new computational procedure based on the softened truss model (STM) to predict the torsional behavior of RC beams strengthened with FRP. The proposed analytical model was validated with the existing experimental data for rectangular sections strengthened with FRP materials and considering torque-twist relationship and crack pattern at failure. The confined concrete behavior, in the case of FRP wrapping, was considered in the constitutive laws of concrete in the model. Then, an efficient algorithm was developed in MATLAB environment t

Waste materials might be utilized in various applications, such as sustainable roller compacted concrete pavements (RCCP), to lessen the negative environmental consequences of construction waste. The impacts of utilizing (brick, thermostone, granite, and ceramic) powders on the mechanical characteristics of RCCP are investigated in this study. To achieve this, the waste materials were crushed, grounded, and blended before being utilized as filler in the RCCP. After the mixes were prepared, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, flexural strength, water absorption, density, and porosity were all determined. According to the research results, adding some of these powders, mainly brick and granite powder, enhances the mechanical

Concrete structures are exposed to aggressive environmental conditions that lead to corrosion of the embedded reinforcement and pre-stressing steel. Consequently, the safety of concrete structures may be compromised, and this requires a significant budgets to repair and maintain critical infrastructure. Prediction of structural safety can lead to significant reductions in maintenance costs by maximizing the impact of investments. The aim of this paper is to establish a framework to assess the reliability of existing post-tensioned concrete bridges. A time-dependent reliability analysis of an existing post-tensioned involving the assessment of Ynys-y-Gwas bridge has been presented in this study. The main cause of failure of this bridge was c

 The relative strength index (RSI) is one of the best known technical analysis indicators; it provides the speculators by prior signals about the future stock’s prices, and because the speculations in shares of companies which listed in the Iraq Stock Exchange have a high degree of risk, like risk of shares prices felling, so the speculators became committed to use some methods to reduce these risks, and one of these methods is the technical analysis by using the relative strength index (RSI) which enable the speculators of choosing the right time for buy and sell the stocks and the right time to enter or leave the market by using the historical rice data. And from here the problem of the research formulated as “Is the using of