A novel demountable shear connector for precast steel‐concrete composite bridges is presented. The connector uses high‐strength steel bolts, which are fastened to the top flange of the steel beam with the aid of a special locking nut configuration that prevents slip of bolts within their holes. Moreover, the connector promotes accelerated construction and overcomes typical construction tolerances issues of precast structures. Most importantly, the connector allows bridge disassembly, and therefore, can address different bridge deterioration scenarios with minimum disturbance to traffic flow, i.e. (i) precast deck panels can be rapidly uplifted and replaced; (ii) connectors can be rapidly removed and replaced; and (iii) steel beams can b

Huge number of medical images are generated and needs for more storage capacity and bandwidth for transferring over the networks. Hybrid DWT-DCT compression algorithm is applied to compress the medical images by exploiting the features of both techniques. Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) coding is applied to image YCbCr color model which decompose image bands into four subbands (LL, HL, LH and HH). The LL subband is transformed into low and high frequency components using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) to be quantize by scalar quantization that was applied on all image bands, the quantization parameters where reduced by half for the luminance band while it is the same for the chrominance bands to preserve the image quality, the zig

Reading is one of the essential components of the English language. Countries that use English as a second language (ESL) sometimes have difficulties in reading and comprehension. According to many researches, mother tongue has proved some interferences with learning a second language. This study investigated the results of reading difficulties of young second language learners in terms of accuracy, comprehension, and rate using the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability test. The study was carried out in one of the High Schools for Boys in Hyderabad, India and included Grade five, aged 10-12 years. In order to understand the reading difficulties of English as a second language, a qualitative approach was employed. Interview, reading tes

Background: Numerous epidemiological studies were conducted in Iraq, concerning dental caries and related etiological factors however; most of these studies were concerned with pre-and primary school children and/or those at index ages (12-15years old). At the time studies regarding older ages are very limited. This study was done to determine the prevalence and severity of dental caries and treatment need among high schools girls (16-18 years old) in Al-Mussayb city, Babylon Governorate. Thus, it can be considered as a base line data that allows studying dental caries among permanent dentition, also allows the comparison with other studies in other parts of the world. Material and Method: A total number of 900 high school girls were examin

Land Use / Land Cover (LULC) classification is considered one of the basic tasks that decision makers and map makers rely on to evaluate the infrastructure, using different types of satellite data, despite the large spectral difference or overlap in the spectra in the same land cover in addition to the problem of aberration and the degree of inclination of the images that may be negatively affect rating performance. The main objective of this study is to develop a working method for classifying the land cover using high-resolution satellite images using object based method. Maximum likelihood pixel based supervised as well as object approaches were examined on QuickBird satellite image in Karbala, Iraq. This study illustrated that

The main objectives of this study are to study the enhancement of the load-carrying capacity of Asymmetrical castellated beams with encasement the beams by Reactive Powder Concrete (RPC) and lacing reinforcement, the effect of the gap between top and bottom parts of Asymmetrical castellated steel beam at web post, and serviceability of the confined Asymmetrical castellated steel. This study presents two concentrated loads test results for four specimens Asymmetrical castellated beams section encasement by Reactive powder concrete (RPC) with laced reinforcement. The encasement of the Asymmetrical castellated steel beam consists of, flanges unstiffened element height was filled with RPC for each side and laced reinforced which are use

      The present study deals with the strategies used in the Arabic translations of the most popular genres of children’s literature; namely fairy tales and fables as an attempt to identify the best methods and strategies to be adopted in translating these genres to fulfill the ultimate purpose of enriching the children’s knowledge in addition to attracting their interest and arousing the joy sought for in every piece of literature.

The study sets off from three dominating trends: the first calls for the adoption of domestication strategy of translation as the most appropriate and effective strategy in translation for children. In the same line, the second opposes using the foreignization strategy, w

The impact of exposure to different sizes of particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5, PM7, and PM10) was evaluated in  Babylon concrete plant workers who had been exposed to concrete dust for at least 10 years.  The effects of  these particles on the hematological parameters, malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, and  antioxidant enzymes (catalase and glutathione peroxidase ) were examined. The results exhibited that the levels of PM2.5 and PM10 were higher than the acceptable limits approved by the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The blood parameters, namely white blood cells (WBC), red blood cell (RBC) and platelets counts, demonstrated non-significant differences between workers exposed to the PM as compared to the control gro

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare regional bond strength at middle and cervical thirds of the root canal among glass fiber-reinforced composite (FRC) endodontic posts cemented with different cements, using the push-out test to compare the performance (retention) of two types of luting cements; polycarboxylate cement and Zinc phosphate cement used to cement translucent fiber post and to compare the result of the push-out test at different storage times;1 week ,1month and 2 months. Materials and methods: Ninety caries-free, recently extracted single-rooted human teeth with straight root canals was used in this study, The root canals were endodontically instrumented at a working length of 0.5 mm from the apex by m