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 be replaced, while precast decks and shear connectors can be reused. A series of push‐out tests are conducted to assess the behavior of the connector and quantify the effect of important parameters. The experimental results show shear resistance, stiffness, and slip capacity significantly higher than those of welded shear studs along with superior stiffness and strength against slab uplift. Identical tests reveal negligible scatter in the shear load – slip displacement behavior. A design equation is proposed to predict the shear resistance with absolute error less than 8%.
The field of Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is the process of converting an image of text into a machine-readable text format. The classification of Arabic manuscripts in general is part of this field. In recent years, the processing of Arabian image databases by deep learning architectures has experienced a remarkable development. However, this remains insufficient to satisfy the enormous wealth of Arabic manuscripts. In this research, a deep learning architecture is used to address the issue of classifying Arabic letters written by hand. The method based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture as a self-extractor and classifier. Considering the nature of the dataset images (binary images), the contours of the alphabet
... Show MoreBACKGROUND: Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a proangiogenic factor that exerts different effects over stem cell survival growth, apoptosis, and adhesion. Its impact on leukemogenesis has been established by many studies. AIM: This study aimed to determine the effect of plasma HGF activity on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients at presentation and after remission. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional prospective study of 30 newly-diagnosed, adult, and AML patients. All patients received the 7+3 treatment protocol. Patients’ clinical data were taken at presentation, and patients were followed up for 6 months to evaluate the clinical status. Plasma HGF levels were estimated by ELISA based methods in the pa
... Show MoreThe research aims to define the main and subsidiary criteria for evaluating the industrial market sectors and proposing a model for arranging these criteria according to priority and knowing the highest criteria in terms of relative importance in the General Company for Automobile Trade and Machinery, and for the purpose of establishing this model, experiences in the concerned company were approved, and this study proposes a multi-criteria decision model According to the FEAHP, the expanded fuzzy hierarchical analysis method enables the commercial company to develop clear strategic policies on which the company’s management system depends on determining criteria for evaluating and selecting market sectors and making appropriate
... Show MoreLead toxicity elicits neurological damage which is a well-known disorder that has been considered to be a major cause for multiple condition such as behavioral defect; mental retardation; and nerve insufficient activity.
This research is designed to estimate potential protective effect of vinpocetine on neurotoxicity stimulated by lead acetate in rats.
Eighteen adult rats of both sexes were randomly enrolled into three groups. Each group includes 6 rats as followings: Group I- Rats were given 0.3ml normal saline solution orally; then intraperitoneal injection of 100μl of the normal saline was given 1h later; this group was considered as control. Group II- Rats were given an intraperitoneal injection of 20mg/kg lead acetate
... Show MoreThis study estimated seven heavy metals (Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Ni, Cd, Cr) in water (dissolved and particulate phase), sediments and some aquatic organisms including two species from aquatic plants (Ceratophyllum demersum&Phragmites australis); one species of clam (Psedontopeses euphratics) and two species from fish (Oreochromis aureus& Leuciscus vorax)in four sites within Mashroo AL- Musayyib channel project/ branch of Euphrates river, Babylon , medial of Iraq . This aims to show the concentration of these elements, their fate and the mechanisms of their transmission through the food chain in this lotic aquatic system ; also in addition to examining some physicochemical properties of ri
... Show MoreBackground: The long term survival of dental implants is evaluated by the amount of crestal bone loss around the implants. Some initial loss of bone around dental implants is generally expected. There is reason to believe that reflecting a mucoperiosteal flap promotes crestal bone loss in the initial phase after an implant has been inserted. The surgical placement of a dental implant fixture is constantly changing and in recent years, there has been some interest in developing techniques that minimize the invasive nature of the procedure, with flapless implant surgery being advocated. The purpose of this study was to compare the radiographic level of the peri- implant bone after implant placement between traditional flapped surgery and f
... Show MoreObjective(s): The study aims to evaluating the quality of nursing care provided to children under five years to compare between quality related to type of health sectors; to determine the quality of nursing care and to compare between such care in Baquba Health Care Sector I and II.
Methodology: A descriptive study is carried out for the period from December 15th 2019 to May 1st 2020. A purposive "non- probability" sample, of (60) staff nurse and (60) children is selected. An adopted questionnaire has been selected for the study which consists of three parts. The first part is nurses’ socio-demographic characteristic; the second part is ch
... Show Moresix specimens of the Hg0.5Pb0.5Ba2Ca2Cu3-y