Fine aggregates used for concrete works in Sulaymaniyah city frequently fail to meet the standard requirements for gradation and fineness modulus in cement concrete. This paper aims to critically evaluate gradation, fineness modulus, and clay contents of various natural sands produced and used for concrete work in the region.  Sixteen field sand samples were collected from various sites in Darbandikhan (5 samples), Qalat Dizah (5 samples), Koysinjaq (5 samples), and Piramagroon (1 sample) confirming to ASTM D75. The field samples were parted into test specimens based on ASTM C702. Then, sieve analysis was carried out on the oven-dry test specimens in compliance with ASTM C136. The test results of fine aggregates wer

In the literature, several correlations have been proposed for hold-up prediction in rotating disk contactor. However,
these correlations fail to predict hold-up over wide range of conditions. Based on a databank of around 611
measurements collected from the open literature, a correlation for hold up was derived using Artificial Neiral Network
(ANN) modeling. The dispersed phase hold up was found to be a function of six parameters: N, vc , vd , Dr , c d m / m ,
s . Statistical analysis showed that the proposed correlation has an Average Absolute Relative Error (AARE) of 6.52%
and Standard Deviation (SD) 9.21%. A comparison with selected correlations in the literature showed that the
developed ANN correlation noticeably

The present work deals with an experimental investigation of charging and discharging processes in thermal storage system using a phase change material PCM. Paraffin wax was used as the PCM which is formed in spherical capsules and packed in a cylindrical packed column which acted as an energy storage system. Air was used as the heat transfer fluid HTF in thermal storage unit. The effect of flow rate and inlet temperature of HTF on the time of charging and discharging process were studied. The results showed that the faster storage of thermal energy can be made by high flow rate of heat transfer fluid HTF and high inlet temperature of heat transfer fluid. It was found that at 65°C HTF inlet temperature, the melting and solidification pr

The work reported in this study focusing on the abrasive wear behavior for three types of pipes used in oil industries (Carbone steel, Alloy steel and Stainless steel) using a wear apparatus for dry and wet tests, manufactured according to ASTM G65. Silica sand with
hardness (1000-1100) HV was used as abrasive material. The abrasive wear of these pipes has been measured experimentally by measuring the wear rate for each case under different sliding speeds, applied loads, and sand conditions (dry or wet). All tests have been conducted using sand of particle size (200-425) µm, ambient temperature of 34.5 °C and humidity 22% (Lab conditions).
The results show that the material loss due to abrasive wear increased monotonically with

The control of an aerial flexible joint robot (FJR) manipulator system with underactuation is a difficult task due to unavoidable factors, including, coupling, underactuation, nonlinearities, unmodeled uncertainties, and unpredictable external disturbances. To mitigate those issues, a new robust fixed-time sliding mode control (FxTSMC) is proposed by using a fixed-time sliding mode observer (FxTSMO) for the trajectory tracking problem of the FJR attached to the drones system. First, the underactuated FJR is comprehensively modeled and converted to a canonical model by employing two state transformations for ease of the control design. Then, based on the availability of the measured states, a cascaded FxTSMO (CFxTSMO) is constructed to estim

This study sheds light on female entrepreneurship in Palestine, and explores the reasons behind its relative weakness as compared with men, and with female entrepreneurship in other countries. This study aims at proposing effective policies and doable measures to enhance female entrepreneurship. Achieving this objective will carry significant impact on employment and economic growth at large, and increase women’s economic participation, scaling up their independence, and demonstrating their skills and abilities, and putting women on an equal footing with men. Furthermore, entrepreneurial activity has increasingly become one of the key drivers of economic development. An increased rate of entrepreneurial activities among women,

The optimum conditions for production of fibrinolytic protease from an edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus grown on the solid medium , Sus medium, composed of Sus wastes (produced from extracted medicinal plant Glycyrrhiza glabra) were determined. Addition of 5% of Soya bean seeds meal in Sus medium recorded a maximum fibrinolytic protease activity resulting in 7.7 units / ml. The optimum moisture content of Sus medium supplemented with 5% Soya bean seeds meal was 60% resulting in 7.2 units / ml.Pleurotus ostreatus produced a maximum fibrinolytic protease activity when the spawn rate,pH of medium and incubation temperature were 2,6 and 30°C, respectively. The maximum fibrinolytic protease activity was 7.6 units / ml when incubat

Ex-situ bioremediation of 2,4-D herbicide-contaminated soil was studied using a slurry bioreactor operate at aerobic conditions. The performance of the slurry bioreactor was tested for three types of soil (sand, sandy loam and clay) contaminated with different concentration of 2,4-D, 200,300and500mg/kg soil. Sewage sludge was used as an inexpensive source of microorganisms which is available in large quantities in wastewater treatment plants. The results show that all biodegradation experiments demonstrated a significant decreases in 2,4-D concentration in the tested soils. The degradation efficiency in the slurry bioreactor decreases as the initial concentration of 2,4-D in the soils increases.A 100 % removal was achieved at initial con