Lignin has emerged as a promising asphalt binder modifier due to its sustainable and renewable nature, with the potential to improve flexible pavement performance. This study investigates the use of Soda Lignin Powder (SLP), derived from Pinus wood sawdust via alkaline treatment, as an asphalt modifier to enhance mixture durability. SLP was characterized using Fourier Transformation Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (SEM/EDX), revealing significant changes in its chemical structure post-extraction. These analyses showed the presence of phenolic units, including hydroxyphenyl propane, syringyl, and guaiacyl units. The morphology of SLP was identified as irregular and spherical particles consisting of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur. Experimental evaluations involved three SLP dosages (2%, 4%, and 6% by weight of asphalt binder), with tests for penetration, softening point, ductility and rotational viscosity. Additionally, the asphalt mixtures were tested for their performance in terms of moisture susceptibility, resilient modulus, permanent deformation, and fatigue resistance. Results indicated that SLP effectively reduces the temperature susceptibility of asphalt by increasing its stiffness and rotational viscosity. Furthermore, mixtures with 6% SLP showed enhanced moisture resistance, with a Tensile Strength Ratio (TSR) of 86.98%, a 74.1% reduction in accumulated permanent deformation at 10,000 cycles, and a 38.1% increase in the Cracking Tolerance Index (CT index) compared to the control mix (0% SLP content). These findings confirm that SLP has the potential to be an effective additive in the design of asphalt mixture. Moreover, it allows producing endurable mixtures with higher resistance to distress.
In this research the results of applying Artificial Neural Networks with modified activation function to
perform the online and offline identification of four Degrees of Freedom (4-DOF) Selective Compliance
Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) manipulator robot will be described. The proposed model of
identification strategy consists of a feed-forward neural network with a modified activation function that
operates in parallel with the SCARA robot model. Feed-Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) which have
been trained online and offline have been used, without requiring any previous knowledge about the
system to be identified. The activation function that is used in the hidden layer in FFNN is a modified
version of the wavelet func
In this research the results of applying Artificial Neural Networks with modified activation function to perform the online and offline identification of four Degrees of Freedom (4-DOF) Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) manipulator robot will be described. The proposed model of identification strategy consists of a feed-forward neural network with a modified activation function that operates in parallel with the SCARA robot model. Feed-Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) which have been trained online and offline have been used, without requiring any previous knowledge about the system to be identified. The activation function that is used in the hidden layer in FFNN is a modified version of the wavelet function. This approach ha
... Show MoreIn this paper, precision agriculture system is introduced based on Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). Soil moisture considered one of environment factors that effect on crop. The period of irrigation must be monitored. Neural network capable of learning the behavior of the agricultural soil in absence of mathematical model. This paper introduced modified type of neural network that is known as Spiking Neural Network (SNN). In this work, the precision agriculture system is modeled, contains two SNNs which have been identified off-line based on logged data, one of these SNNs represents the monitor that located at sink where the period of irrigation is calculated and the other represents the soil. In addition, to reduce p
... Show MoreObjective: This study aims to examine how implementing Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) enhances the efficiency and quality of environmental audits and sustainability reporting in eco-friendly universities. Aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), the study emphasizes promoting transparency and precision in sustainability reporting to encourage responsible management of resources within academic institutions. Theoretical Framework: The importance of our study is evident in the importance of accurate and transparent reports in the development of environmental performance with theories of sustainable reporting and environmental auditing. One of the most important digital
... Show MoreThe public budget is on the same time an art and a science .As an accountable science it seeks balance between public income and public expenditure for an accountable year. And as an accountable art it seeks to achieve economic balance by distributing equitable income in order to reach sustainable development .This is the optimal use of all natural and human resources to address scarcity of natural resources facing the increase need of human resources by spending on education, health, environment, housing, agriculture and industry to achieve social justice for the current generation and future generations. Since the first budget in Iraq on 1921 an accounting budget, is balancing the sections and items has been adopted and since the publi
... Show MoreA series of new imides compounds[1-4] were synthesized from reaction of tetrachlorophthalic anhydride or nitro phthalic anhydride or malic anhydride or Succinic anhydride with 4-amino benzene thiol under fusion conditions. Chloroacetic acid has been added after compounds [1-4] reacted with distilled H2O and Na2CO3, producing compounds [5-8]. In benzene, compounds [5-8] also interacted with the thionyl chloride to produce [9-12]. Poly (vinyl alcohol) was chemically modified by reacting PVA with compounds [9-12] and dimethyl formamide to produce compounds [13-16]. Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are mixed with modified PVA [13-16] to create nanocomposites [17-20]. Spectral and analytical data from synthesized compounds, such as 1H-NMR, FTI
... Show MoreAn intrusion detection system (IDS) is key to having a comprehensive cybersecurity solution against any attack, and artificial intelligence techniques have been combined with all the features of the IoT to improve security. In response to this, in this research, an IDS technique driven by a modified random forest algorithm has been formulated to improve the system for IoT. To this end, the target is made as one-hot encoding, bootstrapping with less redundancy, adding a hybrid features selection method into the random forest algorithm, and modifying the ranking stage in the random forest algorithm. Furthermore, three datasets have been used in this research, IoTID20, UNSW-NB15, and IoT-23. The results are compared with the three datasets men
... Show MoreThis paper proposes a new structure of the hybrid neural controller based on the identification model for nonlinear systems. The goal of this work is to employ the structure of the Modified Elman Neural Network (MENN) model into the NARMA-L2 structure instead of Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) model in order to construct a new hybrid neural structure that can be used as an identifier model and a nonlinear controller for the SISO linear or nonlinear systems. Weight parameters of the hybrid neural structure with its serial-parallel configuration are adapted by using the Back propagation learning algorithm. The ability of the proposed hybrid neural structure for nonlinear system has achieved a fast learning with minimum number
... Show MoreObjectives: This study aims to assess and compare the micro-shear bond strength (μSBS) of a novel resin-modified glass-ionomer luting cement functionalized with a methacrylate co-monomer containing a phosphoric acid group, 30 wt% 2-(methacryloxy) ethyl phosphate (2-MEP), with different substrates (dentin, enamel, zirconia, and base metal alloy). This assessment is conducted in comparison with conventional resin-modified glass ionomer cement and self-adhesive resin cement. Materials and methods: In this in vitro study, ninety-six specimens were prepared and categorized into four groups: enamel (A), dentin (B), zirconia (C), and base metal alloys (D). Enamel (E) and dentin (D) specimens were obtained from 30 human maxillary first premolars e
... Show MoreThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of hydrated lime addition methods as filler replacement on fatigue performance of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA). Three types of addition methods of hydrated lime were introduced namely dry HL on dry aggregate and saturated surface aggregate above 3% and slurry HL on dry aggregate, ordinary Lime stone powder was reduced by three HL percentage (1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 %). The effect of different methods were investigated on the fatigue properties of HMA using, third-point flexural fatigue bending Test. Pneumatic Repeated Load System (PRLS) was carried out to establish the effect of hydrated lime on the fatigue failure criteria and to select the proper hydrated lime application methods on fatigue behavior o
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