In Australia, most of the existing buildings were designed before the release of the Australian standard for earthquake actions in 2007. Therefore, many existing buildings in Australia lack adequate seismic design, and their seismic performance must be assessed. The recent earthquake that struck Mansfield, Victoria near Melbourne elevated the need to produce fragility curves for existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Australia. Fragility curves are frequently utilized to assess buildings’ seismic performance and it is defined as the demand probability surpassing capacity at a given intensity level. Numerous factors can influence the results of the fragility assessment of RC buildings. Among the most important factors that can affect the performance-based seismic assessment of buildings are the building height and the characteristics of the earthquake. Despite this, very few studies accounted for the earthquake characteristics and the influence of height on the vulnerability of buildings in Australia. Consequently, the combined effect of building height and the characteristics of the earthquake were investigated in this study. This was achieved through numerical modeling and time-history analyses of three typical two-, four-, and nine-story RC frame buildings in Australia. Moreover, these buildings were subjected to three different types of ground motions which were: short- and long-duration, and near-fault earthquakes. Fragility analysis was then conducted for the three buildings under all the selected earthquake suites. It was noted from the median values of the fragility curves that the four-story and the nine-story RC buildings were 17% and 18% more susceptible to damage in comparison with the two-story building under short-duration earthquakes. Moreover, it was also noted that the median value of the vulnerability increased by 33%, 40%, and 50% for the two-, four-, and nine-story buildings, sequentially, when subjected to near-fault compared to short-duration earthquakes.
This study shows that it is possible to fabricate and characterize green bimetallic nanoparticles using eco-friendly reduction and a capping agent, which is then used for removing the orange G dye (OG) from an aqueous solution. Characterization techniques such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDAX), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) were applied on the resultant bimetallic nanoparticles to ensure the size, and surface area of particles nanoparticles. The results found that the removal efficiency of OG depends on the G‑Fe/Cu‑NPs concentration (0.5-2.0 g.L-1), initial pH (2‑9), OG concentration (10-50 mg.L-1), and temperature (30-50 °C). The batch experiments showed
... Show MoreThe present work reports the performance of three types of polyethersulfone (PES) membrane in the removal of highly polluting and toxic lead Pb2+ and cadmium Cd2+ ions from a single salt. This study investigated the effect of operating variables, including pH, types of PES membrane, and feed concentration, on the separation process. The transport parameters and mass transfer coefficient (k) of the membranes were estimated using the combined film theory-solution-diffusion (CFSD), combined film theory-Spiegler-Kedem (CFSK), and combined film theory-finely-porous (CFFP) membrane transport models. Various parameters were used to estimate the enrichment factors, concentration polarization modulus, and Péclet number. The pH values signif
... Show MoreThis work investigates the impacts of eccentric-inclined load on ring footing performance resting on treated and untreated weak sandy soil, and due to the reduction in the footing carrying capacity due to the combinations of eccentrically-inclined load, the geogrid was used as reinforcement material. Ring radius ratio and reinforcement depth ratio parameters were investigated. Test outcomes showed that the carrying capacity of the footing decreases with the increment in the eccentric-inclined load and footing radius ratio. Furthermore, footing tilt and horizontal displacement increase with increasing the eccentricity and inclination angle, respectively. At the same time, the increment in the horizontal displacement due t
... Show MoreHepatitis C virus (HCV) is a liver disease that affects14 million people. Feasible research was conducted for identifying the genotypes and allele frequency of some single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the IL-28β genes and their predictive role in disease incidence in Iraqi patients. The SNPs (rs28416813, rs4803219, rs11881222, and rs8103142) of IL-28β have been associated with susceptibility to several diseases. Ninety eight (98) HCV patients were included in this research; with average age ± SE (42.28 ± 3.44) years. Also, 80 healthy people (with average age ± SE (29.40 ± 2.84) years) were included as a control group. The SNPs were detected by allele-specific PCR (polymerase chain reaction) using specific primers. The re
... Show MoreThis research deals with the design and simulation of a solar power system consisting of a KC200GT solar panel, a closed loop boost converter and a three phase inverter by using Matlab / Simulink. The mathematical equations of the solar panel design are presented. The electrical characteristics of the panel are tested at the values of 1000 for light radiation and 25 °C for temperature environment. The Proportional Integral (PI) controller is connected as feedback with the Boost converter to obtain a stable output voltage by reducing the oscillations in the voltage to charge a battery connected to the output of the converter. Two methods (Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Zeigler- Nichols) are used for tuning
... Show MoreThe two-neutron halo-nuclei (17B, 11Li, 8He) was investigated using a two-body nucleon density distribution (2BNDD) with two frequency shell model (TFSM). The structure of valence two-neutron of 17B nucleus in a pure (1d5/2) state and in a pure (1p1/2) state for 11L and 8He nuclei. For our tested nucleus, an efficient (2BNDD's) operator for point nucleon system folded with two-body correlation operator's functions was used to investigate nuclear matter density distributions, root-mean square (rms) radii, and elastic electron scattering form factors. In the nucleon-nucleon forces the correlation took account of
... Show MoreHybrid architecture of ZnO nanorods/graphene oxide ZnO-NRs@GO synthesized by electrostatic self-assembly methods. The morphological, optical and luminescence characteristics of ZnO-NRs@GO and ZnO-NRs thin films have been described by FESEM, TEM, HRTEM, and AFM, which refers to graphene oxide have been coated ZnO-NRs with five layers. Here we synthesis ZnO-NRs@GO by simple, cheap and environmentally friendly method, which made it favorable for huge -scale preparation in many applications such as photocatalyst. ZnO-NRs@GO was applied as a photocatalyst Rodamin 6 G (R6G) dye from water using 532 nm diode laser-induced photocatalytic process. Overall degradation of R6G/ ZnO-NRs@GO was achieved after 90 minutes of laser irradiation while it ne
... Show MoreA phytoremediation experiment was carried out with kerosene as a model for total petroleum hydrocarbons. A constructed wetland of barley was exposed to kerosene pollutants at varying concentrations (1, 2, and 3% v/v) in a subsurface flow (SSF) system. After a period of 42 days of exposure, it was found that the average ability to eliminate kerosene ranged from 56.5% to 61.2%, with the highest removal obtained at a kerosene concentration of 1% v/v. The analysis of kerosene at varying initial concentrations allowed the kinetics of kerosene to be fitted with the Grau model, which was closer than that with the zero order, first order, or second order kinetic models. The experimental study showed that the barley plant designed in a subsu
... Show MoreThe beet armyworm (BAW), Spodoptera exigua (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is a highly destructive pest of vegetables and field crops. Management of beet armyworm primarily relies on synthetic pesticides, which is threatening the beneficial community and environment. Most importantly, the BAW developed resistance to synthetic pesticides with making it difficult to manage. Therefore, alternative and environment-friendly pest management tactics are urgently required. The use of pesticidal plant extracts provides an effective way for a sustainable pest management program. To evaluate the use of pesticidal plant extracts against BAW, we selected six plant species (Lantana camara, Aloe vera, Azadirachta indica, Cymbopogon citratus, Nicotiana tabacum ,
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