This research aims to improve the radiation shielding properties of polymer-based materials by mixing PVC with locally available building materials. Specifically, two key parameters of fast neutron attenuation (removal cross-section and half-value layer) were studied for composite materials comprising PVC reinforced with common building materials (cement, sand, gypsum and marble) in different proportions (10%, 30% and 50% by weight). To assess their effectiveness as protection against fast neutrons, the macroscopic neutron cross-section was calculated for each composite. Results show that neutron cross-section values are significantly affected by the reinforcement ratios, and that the composite material PVC + 50% gypsum is an effective shield against fast neutrons.
Buildings begin to deteriorate gradually over time due to several factors, including environmental influences, improper use of the building, and neglected repairs for damages during the building's life span. Effective maintenance practices can minimize operational costs, extend the life of building systems and components, improve energy efficiency, and maintain property value. This paper aims to review articles related to building maintenance to identify factors affecting maintenance practices. After conducting the review, the result was that there were 33 factors affecting building maintenance categorized into six groups: management-related factors, manpower-related factors, technical-related factors, financial-
... Show MoreBackground: Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) has relatively unsatisfactory mechanical properties such as low flexural strength and impact strength also dimensional instability. Material and method: Zirconium silicate nanoparticles were coated with a layer of trimethoxysilylpropylmethacrylate (TMSPM) before sonication in monomer (MMA) with the percentages 1% and 1.5% by weight then mixed with powder using conventional procedure, (150) samples were prepared and divided into three groups, each group consisted of (50) samples, the first group prepared from PMMA without addition (control), another group with the addition of 1% wt Zrsio4 nanoparticles (experimental) and the third one with 1.5% wt Zrsio4 nanoparticles (experimental). Each group
... Show MoreBackground: Sprite coding is a very effective technique for clarifying the background video object. The sprite generation is an open issue because of the foreground objects which prevent the precision of camera motion estimation and blurs the created sprite. Objective: In this paper, a quick and basic static method for sprite area detection in video data is presented. Two statistical methods are applied; the mean and standard deviation of every pixel (over all group of video frame) to determine whether the pixel is a piece of the selected static sprite range or not. A binary map array is built for demonstrating the allocated sprite (as 1) while the non-sprite (as 0) pixels valued. Likewise, holes and gaps filling strategy was utilized to re
... Show MoreThere is a great deal of systems dealing with image processing that are being used and developed on a daily basis. Those systems need the deployment of some basic operations such as detecting the Regions of Interest and matching those regions, in addition to the description of their properties. Those operations play a significant role in decision making which is necessary for the next operations depending on the assigned task. In order to accomplish those tasks, various algorithms have been introduced throughout years. One of the most popular algorithms is the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT). The efficiency of this algorithm is its performance in the process of detection and property description, and that is due to the fact that
... Show MoreSolutions of dyes Rhodamine 6G (Rh6G) and Coumarin480(C480) were prepared at five concentrations (1x10-3, 5x10-4, 1x10-4, 5x10-5 and1x10-5) mol/l, the mixing was stirred to obtain on a homogenous solution, the(poly methyl-methacrylate) (PMMA) was solved by chloroform solvent with certain ratio, afterward (PMMA+Rh6G) and (PMMA+C480) thin films were prepared by casting method on glass block which has substrate with dimensions (7.5 x2.5)cm2, the prepared samples were left in dark place at room temperature for 24 hours to obtain uniform and homogenous thin films. UV-VIS absorption spectra, transmission spectra and fluorescence spectra were done to measure linear refractive index and linear absorption coefficient. The nonlinear optical proper
... Show MoreAn experimental analysis was included to study and investigate the mass transport behavior of cupric ions reduction as the main reaction in the presence of 0.5M H2SO4 by weight difference technique (WDT). The experiments were carried out by electrochemical cell with a rotating cylinder electrode as cathode. The impacts of different operating conditions on mass transfer coefficient were analyzed such as rotation speeds 100-500 rpm, electrolyte temperatures 30-60 , and cupric ions concentration 250-750 ppm. The order of copper reduction reaction was investigated and it shows a first order reaction behavior. The mass transfer coefficient for the described system was correlated with the aid of dimensionless groups as fo
... Show MoreThis paper is a review of the genus Sitta in Iraq, Five species of this genus are recognized
Sitta kurdistanica, S. neumayr, S. europaea, S.dresseri and S. tephronota. Geographical
distribution and systematic nots were given for separation and identification, also some notes
on nest building and nest sites of S. tephronota supporting by figures are presented.
This research aim to exploring the positive psychological capital concept (PsyCap) which drawn from positive psychology and applying it at workplace. PsyCap emerged as extending for recent another types of capital, such as human capital and social capital. It has been defined as “an individual’s positive psychological state of development". The PsyCap consist of four core constructs (self- efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience). Each of the four components has considerable theorizing and researching that can contribute to developing an integrative theoretical foundation for PsyCap. But their combined motivational effects will be broader and more impactful than any one of t
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